Sunset's human world origin

Sunset’s new bedroom
Date: a moon and a half since the portal closed, time: morning

*Sunset’s perspective*

Sunset was woken up by the sound of the Brigid creature calling her nickname. Sunset saw the Brigid creature standing at the bottom of her stairs, motioning for her to come down. Sunset got her shoes on and followed the Brigid creature out of her room and into the dinning room. The Anzhong creature was in the kitchen, making food, and the Emi creature was trying to chase the dog. The dog’s name was Ki, if she remembered correctly. The Brigid creature motioned for Sunset to sit at the table. The Emi creature came up to Sunset and poked her while saying ‘touch’. Sunset didn’t know how to respond to that until the Emi creature repeated its actions. Sunset then poked the Emi creature and said, “tou-ch”. That made the Emi creature giggle and run off again.

The Brigid creature placed four plates and glasses on the table and called the Emi creature over. The Anzhong creature took a seat at the head of the table. The Brigid creature pointed to Sunset’s plate and then said a single word. Sunset paused for a moment until she realized what the creature wanted. She’s trying to teach me their language. With that realization, Sunset mimicked the word back, “fo-od”. With a smile, the Brigit creature pointed to Sunset’s glass and said another word. Like last time, Sunset mimicked the word back, “wa-te”. The Brigid creature’s smile grew, and she took her seat. The Anzhong creature said something that earned him the showing of the tongue of the Brigid creature. Sunset recognized most of the food on the plate. There were eggs, Prench toast with maple syrup, and a third food she didn’t recognize. The third food somewhat resembled her hair. Sunset decided to try this mystery third food first. The moment the food entered her mouth she realized it was meat. Sunset had eaten meat before. Her parents had developed a taste for it when they were overseas, in the griffon lands. Her family would have fish for dinner whenever they could get their hooves on it, but this was not fish. She had no idea what animal it came from, but it was good. Sunset devoured the whole plate of food. The display made the Brigid creature smile.

Every creature finished up their food, and now the adult creatures were busying themselves with cleaning up. Sunset sat at the table, not knowing what to do; when the Emi creature came up to her and started talking. The creature was bouncing up and down and pulling on Sunset’s arm. Sunset decided to get up and let the creature lead her to wherever it wanted her. “Okay strange creature foal, where do you want to take me?”, Sunset said in Ponish. The small creature dragged Sunset out to the courtyard, at least that was the closest thing she could compare it to. This courtyard was not surrounded by the house but rather by a fence. Sunset found it strange how all of the houses had a lot of unused space in the front and big courtyards. Are all these noble family houses? The small creature let go of Sunset’s hand, touched her, said something, and then began running away. Sunset was more than a little confused. The Small creature stopped, turned back towards Sunset, waved its front legs, and started shouting. The creature ran back to Sunset and repeated its actions and ran off again. Still very confused, Sunset began to run after the small creature. The small creature was surprisingly fast, and it took Sunset a while to catch it. When she did catch up to it, Sunset mimicked the actions of the creature. Sunset tapped the creature and said, “Tag, yo-u’re it.”. The creature giggled and bagan chasing after Sunset. The two of them went on repeating this activity, Sunset barely tiring but also sweating a lot. Is this normal for these creatures?

After about ten minutes, the Anzhong creature, the dog Ki, and the Brigid creature came out. The Brigid creature was carrying several articles of clothing with her. Sunset recognized two of the pieces as her hoodie and beanie. Her hoodie appeared to have been washed, but it was still rather gross looking. The Brigid creature was, herself, wearing a beanie and hoodie with an opening down along the front. The Brigid creature also had a smaller, matching set for the Emi creature. The Brigid creature gave Sunset her cloth and helped the Emi creature into its. Once they were both dressed, the Brigid creature led them both into the carriage house. Since Sunset came to this world, she has learned that these “fast creatures” were not creatures at all. They’re some sort of cross between a train and drawn carriage. It was about the size and shape of a carriage, but did not require anypony to pull it. However, whatever these things burned, it was not coal. It was a lot smellier, not that coal wasn’t smelly to burn, and these self-drawn carriages were very loud when starting up. When she first had to get into the carriage, last night, she was completely terrified, to put it lightly, but once she was actually in the machine, she found that she liked riding in them. Sunset remembered the motions from last night: wait for the clicking sound, pull handle out, slide door back, climb in, slide door closed, sit in seat, latch the restraints. The Anzhong creature said something to her. She could only guess he was commenting on her ability to get in on her own.

On the black pathways in the city
Date: same day, time: day time

*Sunset’s perspective*

The self-drawn carriages seem to be restricted to the black portions of the pathways, unless they need to cross them, and then they are only permitted to do so at specific, recognizable places. Sunset locked that piece of information away and memorized what all the crossing spots looked like.

The Brigid creature dropped the Anzhong creature off at a building. The Anzhong creature got out with the dog. Why does he bring that dog everywhere with him? Why would his work allow him to bring the dog? Before she could come up with any more questions, they were off again.

The Brigid creature brought them to one of those large, indoor markets. While getting out of the self-drawn carriage, the Brigid creature put a leash on the Emi creature. That seemed like a good idea to Sunset. The Emi creature would get badly injured if it was struck by one of the many carriages passing by them. With the Emi creature secured, the three of them made their way to the indoor market. The Brigid creature grabbed a large, wheeled basket with a fake carriage in the front and placed the Emi creature in the fake carriage, and the Emi creature started mimicking the sounds the carriages make. Upon reaching the doors, Sunset was left gobsmacked when they opened on their own. But- this world doesn’t have magic. How?

The market was very loud and there were a lot of the creatures in there. The situation made Sunset nervous, and she inched her way closer to the Brigid creature. The Emi creature just started smiling and waving at the passing creatures. The passing creatures waved and smiled back at the Emi creature. They tried to wave and smile at Sunset, but she just buried her face into the Brigid creature.

The Brigid creature brought them over to a section with a lot of clothing in it. The Brigid creature grabbed several articles of clothes and then led them over to a construct within the section. She talked to a creature wearing a blue shirt, grabbed something from her, and led them into the construct. It was then that Sunset realized it was changing rooms. I guess these creatures also don’t want others dressing in public. The three went up to the largest stall. The Brigid creature opened the door, gestured for Sunset to enter, removed the Emi creature and the clothes from the basket, and then entered the stall, closing the door behind her. The Brigid creature motioned for Sunset to undress, she did, and then the Brigid creature gave her some clothing and motioned for her to dress. Sunset’s cheeks turned scarlet. “You want me to dress in front of you! We do not have that kind of relationship.”, Sunset said in Ponish. The Brigid creature looked confused by her outburst. Of course, she has no idea what I’m saying. Sunset mentioned for the Brigid creature to turn around. The creature did so, still looking confused, and Sunset put the cloth on. Sunset tugged on the Brigid creature’s hoodie to let her know she was done. She turned back around to see Sunset and said something while pointing between the shirt and Sunset. Is she asking me if I want these? Sunset nodded her head, and the Brigid creature handed her more clothes. This process repeated, with the only variation being Sunset’s answer, until the basket was almost filled with clothes.

They then left the clothing section and headed to a new section. This new section was filled with toys and art supplies. The Brigit creature stopped at the end of one of the aisles and motioned for Sunset to go ahead. Sunset didn’t move. She’s getting me all these clothes, and now she’s offering to get me toys. No way. Nopony’s this generous to somepony that isn’t their foal. Besides that, I’m an adult. I don’t play with toys anymore. This has to be a trap. The Brigid creature repeated the gesture and gave Sunset a reassuring smile. Sunset slowly walked over to a box of colored pencils, picked one up, and brought it back over to the basket. The Brigid creature repeated her gesture and smiled at Sunset. She really is offering this. Sunset went back into the aisle and picked out more art supplies. When Sunset got to the end of the aisle, she noticed one of the stuffed toys on the back wall. It was a stuffed phoenix. Sunset went over and picked it up. This looks like Philomena. -I left Philomena alone. How could I? How am I ever going to explain this or apologize to her? I’m a rotten parent. “Ugh, not like I can do anything about it now.” Sunset took the plushy with her as she made her way back to the Brigid creature.

The Brigid creature said something to Sunset, but unlike the previous times, Sunset recognized one of the words ‘phoenix’. “You know about phoenixes?”, Sunset asked. The Brigid creature spoke again, but Sunset didn’t need to understand her to know what she was saying; she was thinking the same thing. Our languages share a word. How is this possible? I’m literally on an alien planet?

Katon family home
Date: Oct 21st, time: 5:20 pm

*Brigid’s perspective*

Brigid and the girls spent the whole day running errands of various types. Got clothes, toys, and learning materials for Red, groceries, car insurance, stuff to fix the leaky sink. Good, dat's everythin’. Now, time to start Red’s English lessons. After putting the groceries away, Brigid walked over to the living room with one of the other bags. “Little Red”, she called and made a ‘come here' gesture. Red quickly made her way over to Brigid. Brigid sat on the sofa and gestured for Red to do the same. “Ah’m gonna teach ya how to speak n’ read English... Maybe someday Ah can teach ya Irish... Now then.” Brigid spent the rest of the evening teaching Red the alphabet and some basic worlds. By the time dinner rolled around, Red was reading at a first grader level. Either ‘his kid is crazy smart, has experience in learnin’ other languages, or both.

Now sitting at the dinner table, Brigid and Anzhong were talking about their plans involving Red. “How long do you think it will take you to get Little Red to a communicative level of English?”, Anzhong asked.

“She’s already reading some of the books Ah got ‘er. Ah think it will only be a month or two before she’s speaking in full sentences.”, Brigid answered.

“You can’t be out of work for two months.”

“Ah know.”

“Do you think we can leave her with a babysitter?”

“No, she’s way too skittish, n’ she wouldn’t be able ta let the sitter know if she had a problem. You should’ve seen ‘er in da stores today. She would jus’ try ta hide ‘erself in me jacket wheneve’ someone would come close. Ah think Ah’m jus’ gonna half ta bring ‘er ta work with me.”

“Are you sure that’s a good idea?”

“It be da bes’ Ah got.”

Sunset’s bedroom
Date: same day, time: night

*Sunset’s perspective*

Sunset laid in her bed reading one of the books the Brigid creature gave her. “The cow jumped over the moon.”, Sunset said in English. She laid the book down on her chest with a quizzical look on her face. “Can cows jump over the moon here?”, she asked, switching to Ponish, “No, that’s stupid. The moon is beyond even where the pegasi can fly. No cow can jump over it. I guess this book is more for teaching their foals how to read than teaching them about cows.” Deciding to put the book down, Sunset exchanged it for her stuffed phoenix. “Why are they being so nice to me? I’m not their foal. They have a foal. Why were Blackfeather and Doc so nice? All the other creatures ignored me, poured their drinks on me, or tried to hit me.” The plushy didn’t answer. “Well, I’m going to be here for another 28 and a half moons. I guess I’ll learn everything in time. I should start writing my questions down, but first I need to learn how to write and draw with my hands. I’ll start tomorrow.”