//------------------------------//
// 17 - People's Republic 
// Story: Universal Language 
// by David Silver 
//------------------------------//

Twilight ran her hooves through her mane and over her face, straightening herself out before the mirror as she practiced smiling again, happy with the way it looked. "Alright, let's do this." She took a deep breath, stepping out into the main area of the ship to where the controls were, where Rainbow Dash sat on her rump, kicking her hooves at the console. "Excited?"

Rainbow Dash glanced over her shoulder at Twilight. "Just a little. Finally, something interesting!" She pulled herself up with a great flap of her wings, following Twilight back into the room where the rest of the communication equipment was. "At least we're talking to someone new today!" She began pressing buttons with rapid touches of her wing tips and agile hoof motions. "Let's connect. Oh yeah."

Twilight smirked at Rainbow's words, allowing herself a moment of happiness as the communication system came alive around her, including a view of earth below them. The world span a moment before zooming in on one of its many continents. Ponish words formed over it, "China," being the largest, but others appeared over nearby other nations.

She nodded firmly. "Let's speak with the second most populous humans. Ready?" Rainbow thrust a hoof up. "Then let's begin." With a crackle, Twilight knew it had begun. Humans could see her. She spoke in Mandarin, Fluttershy's translator converting her words seamlessly. She flicked her ears at the sound of the words. They were closer to the melodic whistling of her own people. Perhaps they should have started there? But they didn't know before. "Greetings and well-met. I am informed that you are the leader of your people."

She allowed the human a moment to gather his response. "Yes, I am." He straightened up with a stern expression, just the way the other leaders had done, when she first contacted them. It was funny how many different ways they expressed themselves, but she still loved their subtle little nuances that often times felt very similar. "What are your intentions?"

Twilight perked at that. "So direct. My intentions are simple. I want to live here. To do that, I require neighbors that are not making a mess, of themselves or the area around themselves. To see that—"

The man signaled Twilight for quiet. "We are managing our own affairs. You speak with the Americans? Their crime is ten times ours! Our people are well-behaved, and understand the importance of the greater good over little personal needs."

Twilight nodded along with his facts, smirking all the while as she glanced towards Rainbow Dash, who rolled her eyes and mimed falling asleep, only to catch herself at the last moment and pay attention again. "China is a great nation, and you have done very well in making it what it is today. By population, yours is the largest." She paused. "Second-largest nation. I apologize that it took so long to reach you. You're on the other side of the world from us."

She tapped at her throat. "We have also gotten past the language barrier. We have created a device that will translate our words into human languages, as we speak them." She flicked her ears as her translator translated her speech for the man as she went on. "Though you speak for all of your people, I find it only fair that I also speak with some of them, to learn from them, and see what they believe should happen next."

"Of course! I will pick some to speak with you." The man made some gesture. Of parting, perhaps? The call ended.

Twilight wrinkled her snout. "I have no need to speak to any ruler's cronies. Rainbow, prepare to contact some of their people. Make it as scattershot as possible. I want a wide net."

Rainbow saluted, giving the closest she could come to a serious nod of her head. "Will do." She took over the controls, still grumbling under her breath about how long this was taking, but there was a smile on her lips all the same.





"The president of China has announced that America's monopoly on ponies has been shattered." An image appeared, showing Applejack falling to pieces. "Exactly how, they haven't elaborated. Experts say it's likely the President just means he spoke with them too."

"It seems strange that this is even news." A different anchor showed up, addressing the camera directly as she spoke. "A few weeks ago, they were speculating about when China would finally speak to the ponies. It's only natural that the ponies would reach out to other large countries. I'd be surprised if they haven't already spoken with India or tried their hands, er, hooves in Africa."

A new window appeared on the screen, one of a Chinese family sitting around a table, speaking to the camera in Mandarin. It took a moment for the translation to catch up, but the words flowed over it with a mild delay that faded into the background quickly enough.

"If Yaoguai from space want to come and visit us, what's so strange about that? Set a place at the table, and don't offend them. That's all you need to do to be nice to a guest." The man straightened up as he folded his hands on the table, speaking more slowly as he went on. "It's their choice if they take your hand in friendship. When it comes to such beings, you have very little say in it, other than your own actions."

"In other news, Angel Miller, the native-born pony, is off to pre-school." Images of Angel holding Applejack's hoof and following her closely filled the screen, set to an accompaniment of soft music. "The normally shy foal isn't afraid to head out for his first day, knowing his parents are nearby to support him."

Despite her words, Angel was left to meet other little children closer to their age. Of course, all the others were humans, and Angel was a pony. "How well he gets along is a matter of curiosity for many. We'll bring you news as it develops."

"Angel's growth has been a matter of curiosity for many around him, his parents of course included." A window popped open. "With us to discuss this, and other questions, we have two experts in psychology and developmental behavior, to speak about how the little foal might be growing up, and what is being learned from it."

One of the experts, a woman with a small beard and wire-rimmed glasses, spoke first, "They are not a pony, neither are they human. They have a parent of either, and they are growing in that shared environment. Even linguistically, Angel seems to be learning both English and Ponish eagerly. He's picking up the sounds and words of each and practicing with them regularly."

The other expert was a man, whose hair had gone entirely white, despite the lack of wrinkles on his face. "There's very little about how this foal is developing that we could have predicted. He's maturing quite rapidly. Credit where it's due, his parents are responding to his actual developmental progress and getting him into schooling as he matures into readiness, rather than adhering to strict timetables that work more often on standard human children."

"So, by setting aside their preconceptions, the parents are making the most out of the child's growth." The anchor looked off-camera a moment. "Speaking of which, the little foal has been seen heading home with a friend."

The image switched to Angel in a nearby park, sitting in the grass with a young girl beside him. He held out a piece of grass to her. She giggled and accepted the grass, saying something that couldn't be picked up from that distance.

"Aw." The anchorwoman smiled at the frozen last frame. "Looks like Angel's already found a good friend. I hope this is a sign for how well we'll get along with ponies in general."





Applejack caught Cindy as she crashed forward and the two became a pile of gently entwined limbs, the two nuzzling one another gently. "Hard day?"

Cindy buried herself in the soft fur of her partner. "Yeah, but I made it. I'd rather have spent it doing almost anything else, but that's bills for you."

Applejack sat up slowly, carrying Cindy with the motion. "'Bout that! What all do you have to pay bills on 'xactly? The movies on the television?"

"To start." She waved off at the television. "I'm still paying that TV itself off. The movies, I'm doing two different streaming services, so that's two more bills." She rested her head against Applejack's shoulder as she looked off into the distance in thought. "And my laptop. Aaaand all the programs and things that go with it. That's a lot more than what you'd think!"

Applejack inclined an ear. "Huh. Thin's work differently, back where ah'm from. Most ponies ain't trottin' just to keep in place." She nuzzled the top of Cindy's head a moment. "Don't it get tirin'?"

"Ugh!" Cindy laughed even as she cuddled into Applejack. "I'm tired, yes. But that's the world I have, and I'm not giving up. Also, I get an Applejack to cuddle, which makes it worth it."

Applejack burst into giggles, eagerly returning the hugs and nestling. "Speakin' ah that. Had someone come up an' ask me about us. You know, our relationship. They thought we were, you know, more than roomies." She waggled her brows for meaning. "But ah told 'em we're just good friends."

"Good friends." Cindy sat back a little. "Not sure I'd say good friends covers it, seeing as we have a kid."

"Well, sure, there is that... but we ain't married." Applejack turned her head away as she huffed softly, the colors on her cheeks starting to deepen a little. "Wouldn't that be the biggest mess of wires?" She gave her partner a gentle nuzzle. 

Cindy drew back a little at the words, thinking them over with furrowed brows. "Mm, true. That would make things confusing. We don't even have laws that'd let us do that."

"What?" Applejack twitched her ears. "Is it 'bout us both bein' mares?"

"Not that." Cindy waved it away. "At least, not recently, but not that. No, actually." She frowned with thought. "Since you are a person, it may not be a big deal." She took out her phone and made a quick call, nodding along with what she was hearing before hanging up and turning back to Applejack. "Did you know you need a birth certificate to get married? It's true."

Applejack stared at Cindy. "A what now?"

Cindy pressed a hand to one side of her face. "A paper that says when and where you were born and who your parents are. Everyone in America gets one. I have one. You don't."

Applejack blinked at that. "Oh right! We hadda do that whole ordeal to get Angel one of—" She jumped as someone closed the door. "Who is that?" She hopped to her hooves and trotted out. "Angel!"

"Momma!" Angel waddled up to Applejack and hugged her leg. "I made a friend today!" He dragged Applejack over to a little girl with freckles and pigtails, standing on the other side of the fence.

The girl shrank a little as Applejack drew up, but she didn't run. "This is your momma?"

Angel bobbed his head. "One of." A door opening made him glance. "There's the other."

"You get two mommas?!" The girl looked amazed at the idea. "Cool!" She turned to the new arrival, Cindy, who had stepped out to see what was going on. "Hello, miss."

Cindy waved back gently. "Hello, yourself. What's your name, little girl? Make a new friend today?"

"Yes!" blurted out Angel, even if he hadn't been asked. "Her name's Sam! And she's the best."

Applejack wandered over to the fence to speak with Sam's mother, who seemed all too happy to talk to her, which was something of a novelty in and of itself. Angel took the opportunity to climb up onto his own fence to peer over at Sam, the two children gushing over one another.

Cindy kept an eye on them out the window of her kitchen, preparing some dinner for them all. "Ask Sam if she wants to stay over for dinner or not. She's welcome either way."

Applejack nodded along as she listened to Sam's mother explaining about their upcoming family vacation, something about the beach, which sounded interesting to Applejack, who hadn't been to one yet in this world. The word 'ham' got her attention though, so she perked up a little as she made a quiet mental note to check what that was. "As Cindy said though, Sam's welcome whenever they wanna play. Ain't no problem from either of us 'bout it!"