Twilight Sparkle bounced out of the school building, excited to tell her dad all about her first day of school and all the new things she learned. The kindergartener bounded over to her father and jumped up into his arms.
"Hi Daddy!" she exclaimed, snuggling into his neck. Her father laughed into her ear, tickling her. She giggled as he placed her down on her feet and heard a noise above her. She looked up and saw that a bird was flying above her. She watched the bird fly into a tree, where a small nest was and sit in it comfortably. She always loved birds, she liked the way they flew around and the songs they sung, she thought they were pretty. She turned her head to her father, ready to leave, but quickly noticed a woman and young girl, who looked about her age. What caught her eye was that they weren't talking at all, they were making motions with their hands. Twilight pulled on her father's pant leg, continuing to watch the foreign exchange between the two.
"Daddy," she said, glancing up for a brief moment with a look of confusion. "What are they doing?" Night Light followed his daughters gaze to the pair and turned back to her.
"That's called sign language." He said. He watched as cars drove by on the street behind the girl and the child never turned, obviously not hearing the horns and sounds behind her. "It looks like that little girl is Deaf."
"Oh." Twilight said, still confused. She watched a bit longer and turned once again to her father. "Daddy, what does deaf mean?" Night Light crouched down, making his eyes level with the 5 year old, before smiling softly.
"Deaf means you can't hear." He said. "If that little girl is deaf, she can't hear. And people who are deaf talk with sign language, with their hands." Twilight looked confused still but nodded, slowly understanding. She was intrigued by the deaf girl and the sign language she spoke. Twilight wondered if it would be easier to talk to other kids and befriend them if she spoke with her hands as opposed to with words.
"Hey Daddy." She said, looking up at her father after a moment of thinking. "Can we go to the library? I want to learn more about being deaf and learn sign language to talk to her. I want to try and be her friend" Twilights father looked at his daughter in surprise. This was the first time he ever heard her say she wanted to make a friend.
"Sure thing my little light, lets go get you some books" He smiled taking her hand and walking to the library.
Twilight had checked out about three books and a movie on learning sign language. She decided to dedicate her entire weekend to learning the very basics to make sure she could talk to the girl.
"Twilight it's wonderful that you're doing all this to make a friend" Twilights mom smiled, as the family sat down for dinner that night.
"I'm so proud of you Twily" Her brother smiled.
"Well I'm curious about sign language." Twilight shrugged "But I also think it'll be easier to make a friend if I don't have to actually talk to her. I don't like talking to people." Twilight spoke plainly as her family looked around at each other with concerned expressions. They really hoped this would work out well for their little girl.
All throughout the weekend Twilight worked her little fingers off making sure every sign she learned was right. She made sure she could finger sign her name and proceeded to memorize the entire alphabet. She then set to learning a few phrases and practicing them with her parents so she would be able to recognize them as well as sign them.
When Monday came, she found her cutest dress and her favorite shoes to wear. Her mother and father always told her first impressions were key and she wanted to make a great one, so she made sure that she had no stains or rips and it fit perfectly. She had her mother tie her dark purple hair in two pigtails with pink bows at the ends to match her pink dress. She ate her breakfast as fast as she could and practically sprang into the car with her mother, excited to go to school and try out the new signs she learned. The moment her mothers car stopped in front of the school Twilight was unbuckled and out the door, running into the school shouting a goodbye to her mom.
The day went slow for her, knowing the one time she would get a chance to try out her new sign language would be after lunch at recess. When the bell rang for lunch it took all of Twilights self control to not run to the lunch room, leaving her class behind. Instead, she slowly made her way there with the class, her whole body itching with excitement to show the girl that she knew sign language too. She sat down at the lunch table with her class and ignored the conversation her classmates were having beside her. She instead pulled out one of her sign language books and started to read, practicing in between bites of food.
Lunch had seemed to go on longer than the day had. She grew tired of reviewing the same signs over and over again, so she put her book away and stared at the clock. Swinging her feet under the table, impatience was working on her last nerve, until the bell rang signaling recess. She threw out her trash and was the first in her class to line up to go outside to the playground, which was very unusual for her. As soon as they were outside Twilight started to scan the playground, her sign language book clutched to her chest as she looked for the girl she saw on Friday. Her eyes quickly landed on her, sitting on the grass near the blacktop, drawing with chalk. She walked over and hesitated for a moment before tapping her on the shoulder.
The girl looked up, her red and yellow hair held back by a yellow headband. She had on a red t-shirt with a sun design on it and jean pants. She looked at Twilight curiously but didn't speak or make any movements with her hands.
"Hi." Twilight signed slowly. "My name is T-W-I-L-I-G-H-T" She signed slowly, making sure she had done everything correctly. "I don't know many signs." Her father had suggested she learn that phase in particular. Over the long weekend he informed the small child that she wouldn't be able to learn the entire language in one weekend, and he was right. Now that she was here in front of the girl, putting her new skills to the test, Twilight could barely remember what she had wanted it say.
"I'm S-U-N-S-E-T." The girl signed back with a smile, which Twilight returned. "Its ok."
"Can I draw with you?" She had signed super slowly, making sure it was right. Sunset nodded, patting the grass next to her. Twilight sat down with her legs crossed like a pretzel and grabbed a piece of chalk. Twilight was never that great at art, but she much preferred this over playing ball or tag with the other kids.
They worked in silence for a while Sunset tapped her shoulder. Twilight looked up and looked down to the blacktop, where Sunset was pointing. It was a drawing of a castle. On top was a girl with purple hair in a purple dress and a matching purple crown on her head.
"Princess" Sunset signed, writing the word above the girls head, Twilight signed the word back to her. "You look like a princess" She signed slowly, hoping Twilight understood. When Twilight blushed, Sunset could tell that she understood what she said. "Princess Purple" She signed, writing the words above the girl on the blacktop and Twilight felt that the name suited the drawing.
"Princess Red" Twilight wrote the words next to Sunsets and drew another girl, this one though had a red dress with a large red crown next to the purple girl, Sunset nodded and signed the words to her, Twilight repeated them and smiled. "You and me" She signed to the deaf girl. "Princess Red and Princess Purple". Sunset nodded and Twilight could help but be excited that they now had nicknames for each other.
"I can teach you" Sunset wrote the words underneath the drawing of the castle and Twilight smiled up at the redhead and nodded. During that recess, Sunset and Twilight sat on the grass as Sunset pointed to things, showing Twilight the signs, making sure to repeat them until she got it. All too soon bell rang, signaling the end of recess. Twilight looked up and tapped Sunset's shoulder, who looked up and saw all the kids leaving the playground, causing his shoulders to slump.
"Time to go it." Sunset signed. Twilight nodded, signing the words back to her, and started helping her clean up the chalk. As Twilight closed the lid to the chalk she saw Sunset heading towards the door.
"Wait!" She yelled, grabbing her shoulder. She started to open her mouth to say something but quickly remembered Sunset can't hear and took a breath. "Can we do this again tomorrow?" She attempted to sign the words slowly in hopes of not messing up. Sunset smiled and nodded at her words.
"Yes, I would like that Twilight" She signed back, causing her to smile. Sunset then reached down and grabbed Twilights hand and the two kindergartners headed back into the school, hand in hand.
Author's Note
I'm thinking of doing a story where Sunset Shimmer finds and family and becomes friends with the girls shortly after she first gets through the portal, around age 10/11. Timeline stuff would be different once they get to high school though, so it would be very AU.
Would you be interested in reading a story like that?
Please do not leave a comment correcting minor grammar mistakes. I'm not perfect. There will always be grammar mistakes. So don't point them out to me!
