Triangle

This is...

Twenty six letters in the English Alphabet. Twenty seven in the Spanish one. Then there was this...

Flipping to a page that contained the image of a house I saw it had three characters. I went to another to find a picture of a park. Two characters. Went to a picture of a book. Four characters. I know how to speak two languages. English and Spanish. At least with those two the letters were pretty much the same. But this? It was like reading Kanji!

Ok maybe it won't be THAT bad. Just learn how to say each letter and work your way up to speaking sentences. But what if it didn't work like that? What if everything I knew about language didn't apply here? Sure it sounded easier said than done but I need to learn this. I can't keep using gestures to communicate forever. If I can learn to understand, write and say basic things I should be ok for a good while. Currently I was waiting for Butterfly to finish up on something. She went ahead and either bought these books or checked them out from a library. I really hope it was the latter because it was already enough that she was letting me stay, eat and shower here. I mean, yeah I pretty much saved her life but still, I didn't want to use that as an excuse to mooch off her. I didn't really know what I would be doing in the future but the first and one of the most crucial steps towards making a new life for myself in whatever type of society these equines have was learning to read write and speak their language.

Looking back down I flipped the page to see an image of a mountain. A word with six characters. Before I had the chance to see what was on the next page was interrupted by the feeling of the bed shift. Looking to the left side of the bed I saw Butterfly hoist herself up on the bed. She got comfortable before she looked at me and said something. Now that I was staring at her she repeated the phrase. Seeing that I wasn't getting it she tried a waving gesture with her hoof while saying it again.

Ok, so that phrase meant hello, I think. I did my own wave with my hand before I said the same thing, which caused her to smile and nod. With that she said something else. The same word followed by a sentence. She paused briefly before she gestured to herself and said her name. I repeated the last word she said, which I assumed was her name. Sadly I wasn't able to translate that into English or Spanish, so for now I made a note of memorizing how to say her name. Fluttershy. With that she looked at me expectantly. I guess she wanted me to introduce myself. So I repeated what she said and said my name. When I said my name she paused and looked like she was thinking about something. She was quick to come back though and focused more on the task at hand.

After that we went over the Alphabet, with each letter I learned one way to say them. I wasn't sure if this language had homographs or not. I guess I would have to find out when we get to it. That would have to wait, because we were interrupted by something. I couldn't hear it but she could. Fluttershy's ears stood at attention before she folded her ears and looked at me with a meek expression. I just smiled and shrugged. She sighed before she got off the bed and walked out of the room and down the hall. I waited until I was sure she started to descended the stairs before I followed her. I waited by the top of the stairs. I listened to Fluttershy and someone else converse. I realized the familiar sounds of when Prism spoke, so I made my way down the stairs.

I made it to the bottom step as Prism walked in. She paused for a moment and gave a quick nod at my presence. Her and Fluttershy sat down on the couch. I sat down somewhere before I waited for an opportunity. When it presented itself by a pause in their conversation I repeated the word for "Hello."

She paused as her ears turned in my direction. Her eyes slightly wide as she slowly looked towards me.

[Rainbow Dash POV]

As I heard somepony speak my ears turned in the direction of the sound. No, there's no way that he-

I slowly turned my head to face where he was sitting. I stared at him thinking I was just hearing things. That was until I saw his mouth move and the word "Hello" came out.

After this he asked for my name. I hesitantly offered mine. He paused for a moment before he placed one of his hands on his chest and spoke his name, which sounded as alien as he looked.

That thing was learning to speak?

"Ok Fluttershy what's going on?" I asked.

"He wanted to learn. I could see why. It was getting kind of tiresome using gestures to communicate." She said.

"Seriously? I didn't think it could learn to speak."

"Well I heard him a few times speaking to himself. His language is so strange but it sounded similar to Ponish."

"Well the way he sounds when he speaks Ponish is kind of freaky."

"It sounded like that when he spoke in his language too. Almost like a low rumble."

We both looked at him. He was stretching his neck backwards. Seeing is how his species is smart enough to form their own language and learn others, I wonder why nopony has heard of his kind before?

"Ok, so freaky sounds aside what's it like living with him so far?"

"Oh he's not difficult at all. In fact he helps out around here and he's so considerate to those around him. He makes sure to move slowly as to not scare any of the animals."

He lifted his head back upright before he yawned. I took notice at the two canines on his top and bottom row of teeth, which caused a chill to run up my spine.

"Is he a carnivore?" I asked, slightly uneasy.

"I don't think so. I only served him vegetable's and fruits. He does have canines so maybe an omnivore. I was thinking of trying to feed him fish at some point."

Looking back at her I tried to remember something she taught me awhile back.

"Aren't omnivores kind of rare?"

"Mhm." She hummed.

After that there was a long silence.

[Protagonist POV]

Rainbow Dash. Well at least I knew how to say her real name. Again I had no idea what that meant in English or Spanish.

I sat there and watched the two go back and forth before a long silence washed over the room. I thought that was going to be it but Rainbow Dash started it up again. Before she did she glanced at me, and they continued to converse about something. Whatever the topic was made Fluttershy's expression change to slight worry. As curious as I was I soon found out what it was. Once they were done they both got up. Rainbow waited by the front door while Fluttershy walked off somewhere. When she came back I watched as she nodded to Rainbow, who then looked to me and gestured with her hoof to follow her.

Now curious I got up and walked towards the front door. Once they opened it I went through and shut it behind me. Following them all the way to the bridge my sense of curiosity kept growing as we went left once we crossed. After a bit of walking we came across a barn off the left side of the road. The continued walking of my two travel buddies indicated that wasn't our destination.

Shortly after the path moved to the right I saw something that made got my full attention. In the distance I could see buildings, many buildings. The design were like the ones I saw at the windmill area, but not run down. There was also another building larger than others, it had a balcony that wrapped around the second floor and a design that made it stand out from the rest. At this point I stopped walking and just stared at the sight. I was snapped out of my thoughts when I heard a whistle from Rainbow, who jerked her head in the direction Fluttershy was walking. Taking one last look at the town I follow them both to a park. Crossing another arch bridge we walked into the park that had a fountain with our path encircling around it. There were other types equines here. So far up until this point I had only seen Pegasus. There was two Pegasus, one male, one female sitting on a bench keeping an eye on a foal that was no doubt there's that was some distance away. The unicorn was sitting on the ground reading a book, his horn glowing a pale green, with the book enveloped in the same glow, floating. Violation of physics aside, the last was three males that lacked both a horn and wings.

The first one to notice me was the unicorn, who's eyes widened as the glow around his horn vanished, which caused the book to drop. Next was the Pegasus couple, last was the three males, one who was facing my direction alerted his two friends who turned to face me. The filly was still unaware of me, chasing a butterfly around. They all had the same expression, eyes wide and still as stone. Fluttershy hid her face behind her hair from all the stares we were receiving, while Rainbow occasionally looked back at me then to the still crowd with a slightly worried expression. I just did the best thing I could come up with, I slowly backed up one step and sat on the edge of the fountains basin. Fluttershy laid in the grass near me. When it seemed like it calmed down enough, Rainbow said something to Flutter, to which she nodded and flew off somewhere.

Some time passed, the unicorn left, giving me and Flutter a wide berth as he made his exit. The three males kept looking in our direction every now and again. The Pegasus mother kept eying her foal more frequently while the father kept an eye on me almost constantly. For the most part I just kept still my hands folded. Shutting my eyes I listened to the sound of the water falling. It was relaxing until I started to remind me of the wind I knew all to well. I heard the swooshing sound of Dash landing and approaching Fluttershy and I. Opening my eyes I saw them exchange words before Flutter looked at me before she got up and walked over to Dash, who then stared at me and did the same "stay here" gesture she did from before. I just nodded, to which she smiled and walked off with Fluttershy somewhere.

Seeing is how I was alone I closed my eyes again. Somewhere in between the sounds of streaming water I heard a male gasp, followed by a feminine one. Opening my eyes I looked over to see the two parents hop off the bench and gallop over to me before stopping. Their expressions were that of worry. If they reacted like that then did that mean...

Slowly looking to my left I saw the little foal, her left front leg raised looking up at me curiously. I just slowly blinked, shortly after she mimicked the movement. I heard her parents call her several times, to which she ignored after the first three times. When I thought the situation couldn't get any worse she took a step forward, then another, then another until she was in front of my left leg, her head reaching past my knee. She thankfully didn't attempt to jump up and just sat in that spot, staring up at me. This foal has a blue coat with a dark blue mane with green eyes. Her parents both shared traits of her. The father had a brown coat and mane with the same green eyes while the mother had a lighter shade of blue for her coat while her mane was pale blue. Unlike her parents however, there wasn't any hint of fear. I guess like human kids, there are some who have a lot of curiosity about the world around them caused them to do stuff like this. Minutes went by, every now and again I looked back at the parents who looked ready to charge at this point. I had thought of moving away from her but I didn't want to move in fear of retaliation. I could see the three males walk over towards where the parents were. They were talking about something with the mother and father. One of the three males was giving me a nasty looking expression that made me nervous. I honestly thought at any moment things could turn bad, but it never did because I was saved just in the nick of time by Rainbow and Fluttershy. The filly seemed to take a newfound interest in Rainbow when she noticed them approach. The reaction from the foal was interesting to say the least. It seems Rainbow held some degree of popularity amongst the locals. She used this leverage to lure the foal away from me and to her parents.

Letting out a breath I was holding I saw Fluttershy walk over to me with a worried expression. After I reassured her I was ok by giving a nod I looked over to see the parents moods changed from worry to relief with the return of their foal. Rainbow, in a confident looking manner spoke to the small crowd. About what I could only guess. After the interaction the parents left in a bit of a hurry with their foal giving me a wide berth like the unicorn did. After they disappeared and went in the direction of town, I could see Rainbow conversing with the three males. I also took notice on how Fluttershy was hiding her face with her hair as she sat near me. At first I was confused as I didn't see what could be causing this, but when I saw that she was taking glances at one of the guys Rainbow was talking to, I pieced together she must be into one of them. Before I could guess who I felt Fluttershy nudge my leg with her nose. She looked up at me before she pointed a hoof towards her cottage.

Nodding at her gesture I watched as Fluttershy said her goodbye to Rainbow. After standing up I saw the one pony who was giving me the stink eye earlier still looking at me. He had a tan coat with his mane being green with matching green eyes. His expression was a mix of contempt and slight disgust, whereas before it was just a glare. He did have one of those tattoos on his flank like his friends had, but I didn't get to see what it was. Seeing is how Fluttershy was already making her way back home I followed. I guess I should have known some would take offence to my presence. As long as it remained a minority amongst the population I could deal with a few nasty looks my way.

[Later that night, Golden Oaks Library]

Twilight was pacing back and forth across the first floor of the library. Normally she would have been in bed hours ago but something was keeping her awake. Ever since Fluttershy had returned from the Everfree her minds been constantly running non-stop. She was still trying to figure out how Fluttershy managed to survive for that long and still manage to get back alive. While she had confidence in her friend, surviving the Everfree for a little over a week was no small feat. There had been tales of species hardened by war going through that place and never coming out. What adds to this mystery is the fact that she came back in bandages. Until recently Rainbow Dash had been too busy to talk, so she was still unsure about a lot of things.

Stopping to look over the notes she had made about this there was also the question of her recent checking out of certain books. The books in question were the kind that you would have at a school. For foals just learning to read. I knew Fluttershy was more literate than that. She ruled out the possibility of Fluttershy watching over someponies foals. For one almost everypony in town had heard of what happened and I doubt anypony would be willing to just shove that responsibility on her so soon after going through that.

From what I managed to get from Rainbow she found her outside the forests southeast border. She didn't elaborate as during that moment all were too focused on the fact that Fluttershy was alive. However, a few days before her return we had to get one of the girls to occasionally visit the cottage to feed the animals and to make sure everything was ok there because Rainbow was absent during that length of time. When I have the free time I am going to go visit that area and see if there is anything to see before I go visit Fluttershy.

[Some days later]

Picking up the saddle bag and putting it on I said goodbye to spike. At most I was going to be gone for a day, so he should be fine. Walking out of the front door and locking it with the key I pulled out the map and looked at the area I circled. Putting the map away I closed my eyes and focused my magic. Upon casting the spell I felt the familiar sensation as I warped from the front of the library to an open grass field. After I spotted the sea of dark colored trees I made my way over to them. I had originally thought I would find something small. Like signs of a struggle, signs of Timberwolves. But no. I found something much more.

When I had started to descend the hill that was closest to the forests edge, I found something I couldn't explain. The best thing I could compare it to would be a caravan cart. This thing had wheels, it looked to be made of some type of dark grey metal with strange shaped windows. It was so different than anything I had ever seen. Moving closer I was on high alert for anything that could be nearby or even inside this thing. Getting closer I took notice of how the windows on the thing were broken. I moved carefully as I levitated any broken pieces of glass I could find. Turning to get a look at the other side I saw it was identical. I couldn't really tell which was the front or back, but when I was able to peek inside to see seats made of some kind of leathery material I noticed that all of them seem to be facing the same direction. I don't like to make any assumptions of course but for now I'll identify what is the front and back based on which direction the chairs were facing.

After I levitated more glass off the ground I examined one of the four doors. The handle, like the rest of whatever this is, it looked just as alien as everything else. I tried pulling with my magic up and down, side to side, but it didn't budge. It was only when I pulled towards me that the handle moved, but the door remained shut. I didn't want to have to crawl in through the window, so for now I took to examining the "back". Like the "front" there was two glass looking objects near the edges. Unlike the front however these were red. There was a metal plate written in a language I couldn't read. There was also what looked to be some kind of handle. Again, pulling on it with my magic I tried different directions of pulling before I managed to once again pull it towards me. The handle went upwards and the top of the whole back end swung down and landed with a loud boom. The whole thing scared the crap out of me. It was hard to see since there was a thin black surface covering the top of this space blocking most natural lighting. With my heart pounding twice as fast I illuminated the dark space, half expecting to see some kind of freaky looking alien creature, but to my relief it was a few metal boxes and a couple of bags.

I examined some of the objects within. Tools, canned goods with writing I again couldn't read, and some objects I had no idea what purpose they served. After I was done I levitated it all back into the space I used my magic to see if I could shut the door that I opened. It was a little heavy but when I set the door back to its original position I heard a click. After loosening my magic grip it stayed in place. Going back to the side I looked at the broken window next to the one that was still in tact. After I cast a life detection spell I saw that there was nothing living nearby save for the nearby bugs in the grass. I thought about what my next step should be, should I contact Celestia? Should I keep this a secret for now and study it further on my own time? After I had contemplated on whether or not to pursue the latter option I decided against it. The last thing I needed was to get in trouble with the authorities. Or Celestia forbid, The Council.

Now of course the question concerning Rainbow and Fluttershy, why would they keep this a secret? The only way I could get clarity was to ask them myself. I needed to be careful on who I choose to reveal this information to as to not spread panic. For now I won't bring the rest of the girls into this, but I needed to get answers.

Starting with Fluttershy.