//------------------------------// // Chapter 6: An alien solution // Story: Sun Rise: A new dawn // by Jet Storm //------------------------------// “No, that’s not going to help,” grumbled Twilight as she glimpsed through the contents of the book levitating only inches from her muzzle. Tossing it aside, she grabbed another, then another with increasing speed and frustration. “No that one’s not going to help either. This one doesn’t even come close. SPIKE! SPIKE!” she bellowed calling for her assistant. It had only been a few hours since her last visit to Ponyville Hospital and Twilight was busy researching alone in the castle library. The otherwise tidy and ordered room had become an organized chaotic mess with ancient scrolls littering the floor and books heaped in large piles. Her eyes were bloodshot and puffy as she continued to scour them in no particular order. Spike entered the room with a serving tray of sandwiches, cakes, and a cup of warm coffee. “How are things going?” he asked. Twilight let out an exasperated groan. “Well I managed to find a translation spell,” she began raising the dragon’s spirits, “but in order for it to work, I need to have some basic understanding of his language or at least the origin of his language.” “So … did you find it?” “No. It’s a language I’ve never heard of before, and I don’t even know where to start,” she complained loudly. “I’ve looked in Modern Languages and Dialect over the past century, different foreign language books, and ancient languages but I can’t find anything. ‘Ohyao’. ‘Uma-san’. ‘Arigato’. What do these words even mean?” she screamed throwing up her arms in defeat. Spike hesitated in his response, and instead waited for Twilight to calm down as she took deep breaths. “Any word from Starlight? Did you get any response from our letters?” Twilight asked hopefully. Spike shook his head. “Sorry Twilight. I haven’t got any word from Starlight, and every other pony appears to be as stumped as you.” Twilight’s shoulders slumped as her head dropped defeatedly at his response. “What am I going to do?” she whimpered and feeling a little teary, “what am I going to do? Everypony is counting on me” Placing the tray of food down, he pulled her face towards his. “Cheer up, Twilight. You’ll figure it out,” he said reassuringly. “Everypony knows you’re the best pony for the job, and we believe in you. You just need to relax.” Twilight smiled weakly as Spike wrapped his arms around her neck. She felt comforted as her troubles seemed to melt away. The moment however was short lived as her stomach growled hungrily and loudly. “And a bite to eat,” added Spike as he pulled himself away. He turns to pick up the tray of food once more and presents it to her. “Here have something to eat, I made you a snack,” he said. “Thanks Spike,” Twilight said smiling weakly. She took a glance at the tray before grabbing one of the sandwiches and taking a large bite. Twilight hummed happily as she chewed the tasty treat. She felt re-energised and much better after having vented her frustrations and satisfying her appetite. Taking another sandwich from the tray, Twilight continued her research. Feeling rather pleased with himself, Spike took a few steps back and watched the alicorn enjoying the light meal. “You know, if only there was a stone that had lots of different languages on it all saying the same thing,” joked Spike. “Not helping,” mumbled Twilight between bites. She swallowed hastily and looked at the dragon. “Seriously, Spike, the fate of Equestria could be in jeopardy!” “When is it not?” he muttered sarcastically under his breath as he picked up a nearby book from the floor. Twilight glared quickly at Spike’s cheekiness, but ignored it for the most part as she continued her tireless search. Spike shrugged his shoulders. “Hey, you know it was weird,” mused Spike as flicked through its pages. “Hmm?” replied Twilight. “That he screamed at his own reflection,” said Spike. “I wonder what that was all about?” At those words, the clogs in Twilight’s head began turning. It was weird, thought Twilight. Why would he scream at his own reflection … unless. “He’s not a pony,” she uttered. A wide grin began to form on her face confusing the dragon. “Huh? What did you say, Twilight?” asked Spike. “Spike you’re a genious!” “I am?” “Yes! Why didn’t I think about that before! It’s so obvious!” squealed Twilight merrily as she pranced around whilst throwing the dragon up and down into the air in celebration. “He’s not a pony. He’s not a pony!” she sang gleefully. Spike was baffled by her statement but before he could ask for further clarification, his thoughts turned to fear as he gained more altitude with each throw. His eyes widened as he realised that Twilight was no longer celebrating. Instead she sat with her forearms folded and eyes slammed shut as her horn continued to glow and her head bobbing along to Spike’s ascent and descent. “Hehe, you can put me down now, Twilight,” he requested nervously as he began to creep ever so close to the ceiling above. “Twilight? Twilight!” Twilight was too deep in her thought process however couldn’t hear her assistant’s as she soon came to conundrum. “So how should I do it then?” she muttered to herself. “How am I going to test my hypothesis?” “Put me down, Twilight!” screamed Spike waving his arms and legs about as she threw him much higher than before. Suddenly she was hit with an epiphany and the magical energy surrounding the purple dragon disappeared as he begins to fall. “That’s it! I know what I need to do,” she shouted as Spike came crashing down onto the floor landing flat on his face. “Oh sorry, Spike,” blushed Twilight. “Do you want to tell me your grand plan then?” he asked as he rubbed his sore snout. “I’ll tell you along the way,” she replied as she picked up the dragon and put him on her back. “Come on! We need to go to Ponyville Elementary.” “Okay?” he asked slowly and still confused. “Why?” “For a book, of course,” she answered with determination. “A book?” he replied more baffled than ever. “You have a ton of books here,” he exclaimed pointing to the mess around them. “What book could you possibly need?” “A specific book! One I know we don’t have,” she asserted. “I’m sure Cheerilee won’t mind.” “Okay then,” he said still somewhat unconvinced. “Also, when this is all over,” Twilight smiled as they exited the library and began to walk down the hallway, “I’m going to need your help to clean up the mess.” Spike peered over his shoulder at the mountainous task. His shoulders slumped and groaned in response as the library doors closed behind them. “Ah ha ha ha … uma … ka? (A horse, huh?)” muttered the stallion underneath his breath as he stared out of the window. It had been a couple of days since the stallion woke. The medical staff at Ponyville Hospital had tried everything to communicate to the strange earth pony, but to no avail. With no way to effectively communicate to the creatures that cared for him, the stallion quickly fell into a depressed state. They continued to observe and monitor his physical progress but were quite concerned about his mental well-being. Applejack, Fluttershy, Rarity and Pinkie Pie had offered to keep the stallion company, whilst Twilight and Spike were busy finding a translation spell, giving the medical staff some relief. For the stallion, their presence was welcomed and appreciated despite being unable to convey these feelings. These horses seemed nice enough, with the exception of the rainbow coloured one who also visited him but appeared more reluctant to do so. “Is that all he really says?” asked a bemused Rainbow Dash as she entered his room. “Uma this, and Uma that, why don’t you say something else already!” The stallion panicked at the sound of her voice and retreated into a defensive position. This happened every time she entered. After all, their first meeting had been quite traumatic. The memory of Rainbow Dash riding him like a cowmare on a bucking bull at a rodeo was still fresh in his mind, and he wasn’t keen on repeating it. At first, Rainbow Dash had enjoyed his terrified reactions, but it got tiring very quickly, especially as her friends began to tease her. “Well, unless Twi can up with some sort of translation spell, Ah guess this is as good as we’re going to get,” replied Applejack nonchalantly. “You always could try riding on his back again, darling, and force the answer out of him,” proposed Rarity with a smug look on her face, as she continued to knit. “He had quite a bit to say after that.” “I don’t think Nurse Redheart would like that though,” said Fluttershy sincerely. “She wasn’t too happy having to pick up all the feathers.” “Ah don’t think that’s going to help anyways, Rarity,” chuckled Applejack. “After all, it appears the poor fella is already broken.” “Hey, I know, Dashie should totally join the rodeo,” Pinkie Pie proposed with a wide grin. “That’s a fantastic idea, Pinkie,” smirked Applejack. “With Rainbow on our side, Ponyville will win first prize fer sure.” “YEEEHAA!” sang Pinkie Pie as she re-enacted the entire scene. Rainbow Dash pulled her face down with her hoof. “Will you guys just drop it already. I still get an ear full from Twilight whenever he and I are in the same room, and he reacts like that,” she complained as she pointed to the stallion who responded by cowering under his blanket. “WILL YOU KNOCK IT OFF!” she barked to which he replied, “eeeek!” further aggravating her. “There, there it’s okay,” said Fluttershy in her sweetest voice as she tried to calm the terrified pony. He pulled the blanket down and looked at the yellow pegasus. Since the incident, Fluttershy had gone to great lengths to make him feel welcome and comfortable. Her gentle feminine voice and sweet nature soothed him. Although they couldn’t properly talk to each other, her ability to understand all animals, allowed them to communicate on an almost primordial level. It was a welcome relief for the stallion. He looked at her serenely and smiled. “That mean old Rainbow Dash is not going to hurt you anymore,” she said sweetly. “What! I’ll show you mean!” Rainbow Dash threatened with a raised hoof, causing the stallion to cower in fear once again. “Quick somepony hide the pillows,” joked Pinkie Pie. “Already on it,” responded Applejack. Her friends broke into roars of laughter as Rainbow Dash glared at the shivering stallion. Her friend’s constant teasing was all his fault. If he hadn’t scared Fluttershy, she wouldn’t have reacted like that. Rainbow Dash had decided that once they were able to communicate, she would hope to clear up their misunderstanding. Alternatively, if he wasn’t prepared to listen to her, she would give him a good wallop instead and thereby giving him a genuine reason to fear her. “Where’s Twilight? Wasn’t she supposed to be here by now?” asked Rainbow Dash, hoping to change the subject. “She’s still in her library,” answered Pinkie Pie wiping a tear from her eye. “I hope she gets here- “AH-HA!” shouted Twilight, as she burst into the room with a proud look on her face. Spike appeared just behind her with an equally wide grin on his face. “Twilight!” said the girls in unison. “You’re back,” beamed Applejack. “Whatever took you so long, darling?” inquired Rarity. “Did you find a translation spell?” asked Fluttershy hopefully. “No, I didn’t,” beamed Twilight. The girls, however, were perplexed as they looked at the proud purple alicorn. “So that’s it. You came bursting in here just to tell us you failed?” remarked Rainbow Dash. “Nope,” she replied still holding her beaming smile. “So what then?” asked Applejack hesitantly. “Do you have a plan?” asked Fluttershy. “You bet she does,” boosted Spike. “Well, do you girls remember what I said before?” asked Twilight rhetorically. “Oh, I do! I do!” jumped Pinkie Pie before taking over the conversation. “Applejack was like -” she began to explain mimicking Applejack’s mannerism - “‘Say, Twi, do you have a way we can understand what in the doohickey he is saying?’ to which you replied” - now mimicking Twilight - “ ‘I’m not sure, but I will need to do some research.’ ” “Yes - “But no matter how hard you looked you couldn’t find anything, with the exception of one spell, however for that spell to work you needed a basic understanding of his language or at least the origin of his language.” “Yes, and - “You and Spike kept searching through the library becoming increasingly frustrated, until Spike said ‘Hey, you know it was weird that he screamed at his own reflection. I wonder what that was all about,’ which got you thinking.” Pinkie paused for dramatic effect. “What if he was recently changed into a pony!?!” “What?” gasped Rarity, raising her hooves to her mouth. “Yes, but then I - “Came up with a brilliant, clever plan to see whether he could recognize any other creatures, and possibly find out exactly what language he speaks so that the translation spell would work!” shrieked Pinkie Pie unable to contain her excitement. The girls paused for a moment allowing the pink party mare to catch her breath. “So what’s the plan then?” asked Rainbow Dash smacking two hoofs together. Pinkie Pie bounced up and down with her hoofs up in the hair, seeking permission to answer the question. Twilight sighed. Pinkie had already stolen her thunder, may as well let her finish. “Go ahead,” she sighed dejectedly. “Her plan is to show him a bunch of pictures of different creatures from all over the world that are able to speak. Through a process of elimination, she will be able to find out. So you had Spike get a few simple picture books from the school to show the stallion. Oh my gosh, it’s so brilliantly, amazing! You are one clever pony.” “Thank you, Pinkie.” “But how is he going to understand?” asked Applejack finding a flaw in her plan. “What’s the one word he keeps say?” asked Twilight with a confident smile. “Uma?” replied Applejack hesitantly. “Yes. When he looked at his reflection, he kept on saying it over and over again. Whenever we come into his room, he always says it. It must mean pony. He keeps saying pony,” she explained. “I guess that makes sense,” said Fluttershy thinking Twilight’s theory over. “I will first show him a picture of a pony, and say ‘Uma’. Then I will show him different pictures of the other creatures. Hopefully, he understands and can give us some sort of yes or no signal. What do you think?” She looked to her friends hopefully. They had glanced at each other before Applejack was brave enough to assert her concerns. “Ah dunno? This is all assuming he’s not a pony," Applejack said hesitantly. "What if he is, and he still doesn’t understand.” “Applejack, I know it’s a long shot, but it’s the best we can come up with for the time being,” asserted Twilight. “May as well give it a try,” said Rarity. “Well it’s not like we have anything to lose, darling.” “I say go for it,” cheered Pinkie Pie. Twilight turned to Spike and nodded. Understanding the gesture, he grabbed a picture book from the bag and gave it to Twilight. She accepted the book with her magic and approached the stallion. The stallion had been listening to their conversation, albeit he didn’t understand them. Now sitting beside him, she opened the book with her magic, revealing a picture of a pegasus, a unicorn and an earth pony. Using her hoof, she pointed to the picture and then herself. “Uma?” asked Twilight. The stallion’s eyes widened, realizing what she was trying to do. Nodding feverishly, he does his best to communicate as clearly as possible. “Hai! Uma des. (Yes. That’s a horse).” Twilight turned to Applejack and smirked. Applejack scoffed. “It doesn’t prove he wasn’t a pony in the first place.” “Okay then, here we go,” said Twilight as she prepared herself. Pointing at the picture of the earth pony, she looked at the stallion and repeats. “Uma. Pony. Uma. Pony.” “Hai” nodded the stallion. “I guess ‘hai’ means yes,” proposed Rarity. Twilight pointed to herself. “I am a Uma. I am a pony.” The stallion nodded, “hai. Uma-san.” “Twilight.” She pointed at herself again. “Twilight.” “Towairato?” “Twilight” she repeats. “Twi. Light” “Twi … lighto ...” “Hai,” she replied which seemed to get the stallion quite excited. She pointed at the stallion. “Uma?” He shook his head. “Iya.” “That must mean ‘no’,” proposed Rarity. “Chikyūjin,” he responded pointing at his chest. “Chi - kyū - jin?” “Hai.” She turns the page to the next creature. “Griffon.” He looked at the image of the strange creature. He had never seen this creature before. “Gurifon?” “Griffon,” she repeats pointing at the picture. “Griffon.” “Hai.” She then points to him. “Griffon?” He shakes his head. “Iya. Chikyūjin.” “Do you really think he understands us?” complained Rainbow Dash who was starting to have doubts. “I think he does,” muttered Fluttershy as she observed them intensely. Her eyes sparkled as she had an epiphany. “Twilight.” “What is Fluttershy?” “He said he was a Chikyūjin. What if you pointed to every picture and asked if it is a Chikyūjin," Fluttershy proposed. "It is probably the name of his species.” “That sounds like a great idea. Let’s give it a try.” Five minutes later. Twilight and the girls had pointed to every picture in the book and repeatedly asked, “Chikyūjin”, to which his answer was always “Iya.” Whilst they were making progress, the constant “Iya” response was disheartening to say the least. “This is hopeless,” groaned Rainbow Dash as she collapsed on the couch. “Not really,” said Pinkie Pie. “What are you talking about, he said no to everything,” said Applejack. “Exactly, he said no to every creature on this planet. But he came from the stars, right? So what if he’s a different species altogether,” proposed Pinkie Pie. "He's an alien!" “Hmm … I wonder,” muttered Twilight, pondering at Pinkie’s words. “You know, given the current circumstances that doesn’t sound quite as ridiculous,” contemplated Rarity. “What do you mean ridiculous? It’s a totally valid point,” shrieked Pinkie Pie incredulously. “Come on, let’s be realistic. He either doesn’t understand, or he’s lying,” added Rainbow Dash. “Either way it didn’t work.” “It’s not either,” said Fluttershy in the stallion’s defense. “Oh, yeah? And how would you know?” snapped Rainbow Dash. “I think I can … understand him ... somewhat,” muttered Fluttershy sheepishly. “Rainbow Dash! Whilst I quite understand your feelings of frustration over the matter that does not give you permission to take it out on poor Fluttershy,” reprimanded Rarity. Rainbow Dash rolled her eyes. “Yeah, well- “GIRLS” shouted Twilight interrupting the fight and stunning her friends. Without any further explanation, she disappeared in a flash of light startling the stallion before magically reappearing next to Spike. “Sugoi (Amazing),” escaped the stallion’s lips as he watched the event unfold. “Spike, I’m going to need your help for a moment,” said Twilight and offering him her hoof. “Okay, Twilight,” he said hesitantly before accepting her hoof. “Where are you going, Twi?” asked Applejack. “We’ll be back in a moment,” said Twilight cryptically before she and Spike disappeared and teleported away. “Where do you think she went to?” asked Rarity. Before anypony could answer, however, Twilight reappeared holding onto a photo album. “What you got there, Twilight?” asked Pinkie Pie. Ignoring the question, Twilight opened her book and grabbed a picture to show it to the stallion. The stallion’s jaw dropped as he stared at the picture intensely. “Chikyūjin?” asked Twilight hesitantly. “Hai! Chikyūjin. Chikyūjin des!” shouted the Stallion in excitement and pointing his hoof between the picture and himself. The girls looked at each other baffled by the sudden development. "No way," muttered Spike with amazement. Twilight stared at him for a moment but then shook her head. "Come on, Spike, we’ve got to go.” Spike nodded and jumped onto her back. “Wait, what? You figured it out?” asked Rainbow Dash. “So what is he?” asked Rarity impatiently. "Yeah, tell us, Twi," the others begged. “No time to explain. I'll be back as soon as I can," and with that, she and Spike teleported away. “Where’s she off to in a hurry?" said Applejack annoyed with the lack of an explanation. “Hey, this looks like me … only weird,” said Pinkie Pie as she picked up the picture. Pinkie looked at the photo and pointed to one of them. “And this one looks like you Rainbow Dash. You too, Applejack.” “Let me see,” said Rainbow Dash. “By golly, they really do look like us,” said Applejack as she, Rarity and Fluttershy joined them. The five ponies stared at the photo with immense curiosity. “What do you suppose that creature is?” pondered Fluttershy. “I don’t know, dear. But I do love those dresses.”