Language check. Anything wrapped in < > in this chapter is spoken English, everything else is in Equish.
"Are we there yet?" Misty Rainfall was bouncing along beside her mother, somehow still overflowing with energy despite all the walking she had done. "It has been ages since we left the train. Why is this place so far away?" The stormy-blue filly kicked a stone along and swished her well-kept blue-white mane to the side.
Candela laughed at her daughter’s impatience. "Not everywhere has a train going past it twice a day, sweetie." She leaned a wing down and brushed the filly's mane back while adding, "And it shouldn't be much further." The mare paused afterwards as a thought occurred to her, halting in her tracks. Candela tilted her head up into the breeze fluttering her violet mane, shook her light-yellow frame, and let her folded wings hang a little before glancing down at the filly with a small smirk.
Both mare and filly narrowed their eyes at each other and, spreading their wings wide both exclaimed, "Race you!" at the same time. Laughter and feathers filled the air as mother and filly flapped hard. The early-afternoon air was warm and each found themselves racing through it with abandon. Rounding a corner in the road their eyes fixated on their target.
"Told you it wasn't far!" Candela flapped her wings but didn't put all her effort into it, after all it wasn't about winning when your foal was your opponent. Her load was light; the supplies in her saddle bags were dwindling after the trip which meant she was almost unencumbered for the first time since they left.
Misty Rainfall beat her little wings hard and was managing to keep up with her mother. "I am so going to beat you!" Luckily the filly’s wings were fresh and rested from the two days walk to get to their new home, so she eventually pulled out ahead.
Both pegasi glided the last few lengths into the main street of the tiny town. "You won!" Candela proclaimed as she picked up her filly, pulling Misty to her neck and snuggling her as a reward. "Now let's find out where we are going to be living."
After squeezing her mom back tightly, Misty dropped back to the ground and began prancing proudly. "They better have built the best schoolhouse ever for my mom!"
“I am sure they will.” Candela leaned down to kiss Misty on the head. “Oh, looks like our welcoming committee. Best behavior now.” The pair walked up to an approaching pony.
The approaching pony spoke first. "Well, howdy there. My name's Porcelain Clay. Welcome to Stonecrop!" Porcelain took off her hat to reveal a blonde mane, and smiled widely. The mare stood tall for an earth pony, almost like she had some of the “leggy” unicorn breed in her heritage. She looked like she had just been working with her namesake, her white forehooves sporting mud-like stains. Looking the two newcomers up and down, her eyes lingered on the Candela’s cutie mark of a stack of paper pages. "I don't suppose you are the new teacher we asked for?"
Candela's face lit up and she nodded. "Bingo, got it in one. This is a lovely little town you have here," she said while gazing around at the nearly dozen houses. Each building looked to serve not only as a home for the ponies within, but also as a place of business. There was no room in such a small community for ponies not willing to work. The architecture was a little strange compared to what Candela was familiar with—unlike buildings further to the north, these homes never saw an inch of snow—each and every one reflected the uniqueness of its owner. She refocused her attention on Porcelain, hoping to clear up something that had been bothering her. "How many fillies and colts am I signing on for? The position was strangely vague, listing between five and fifty charges."
Porcelain let out a bark of laughter before sighing, "Oh Celestia, not that many…" She adopted a conflicted expression before motioning to a building behind her. "Well, why don't you come to my house and we can have some tea while we discuss the arrangements?" Her eyes turned to Misty and gave her a wink. "My little filly is just about the same age as you, I wager."
"I am eight!" Misty fairly bounced around her mother, before suddenly becoming a little shy.
"Where are my manners!" Candela froze in place. "Candela," she gave a little bow to Porcelain before glancing at Misty hiding behind her. "And this adorable little hay-bale is Misty Rainfall."
Misty poked her head around her mother's hooves and gave a little wave to Porcelain.
"It's great to finally have you here. The older foals were trying to keep the little ones up with their numbers and writing, but there is no substitute for a good teacher." Porcelain led the way to her shop that appeared to double as her home and workshop. "Don't mind the mess, I am sure you know how it is with your own foal and work."
Candela wouldn't have said anything, but she could certainly think it. ’I wouldn't keep my home this untidy, even if it had a timber-wolf living in it.’ The thought was a little below her so she shook it away. "Oh don't fuss about that. Having little ones around means your priorities shift a little." ’Is that why she really wants a teacher here, to foalsit during the day?’ With the slightly negative thoughts in her head, Candela had to step over some building blocks and not one, but two little wooden trains. ’At least there isn’t any clay…’
"Come through and take a seat, I bet it has been a tiring journey. Things were so much livelier here when I was a filly, no train to Las Pegasus back then, this old road was really bustling. Although some new work in the mines is seeing more regular traffic along here again." Porcelain began preparing some tea on the hot stove. "How do you take your tea?"
"Hot and straight, just on its own will be fine." Candela had noticed the milk and sugar being prepared and nearly sighed at the desecration of her beloved beverage. "You didn't actually say how many I would be teaching?" She spotted a drawing pinned to the refridgerator and her heart suddenly could forgive the mess; it showed a little filly and her mommy—both playing with mud.
"That is why I am making tea. This is all a little complicated." Porcelain carried the tray over with the two cups of tea and a fruit juice for Misty. "You see, we actually have a sister town.” She paused and fidgeted uncomfortably for a moment before adding, “If I mess this up, blame it on the others. We had a vote on who to explain this and… I guess I won." She certainly didn’t sound like she had won.
"Sister town? Where is it?" Candela took her cup and had a sip; immediately her muscles relaxed a little and she gave a happy sigh. ’Whatever the state of her home, whatever strange things she puts in her own tea; all is forgiven for this cup of brown joy.’ Candela sipped more of the smooth tea, not quite able to determine where in Equestria it was from. ’Maybe it is from further away? Odd that a simple potter would be able to afford such things, especially if she would ruin the flavor with milk and sugar.’
"Well, it is just on the other side of the mountains, you see." Porcelain tried to hide her snout behind her cup in an obvious attempt to cover what had to be a lie. "The schoolhouse is actually over there. I spoke with the—"
"Please, don't insult my intelligence. The only thing on the other side of that mountain—according to the map—is a rock farm that has been there for generations." Candela sipped more of the tea and felt her nerves calm. "The truth, please."
Misty looked up at her mom, then across to the nice earth pony who gave her juice.
Porcelain slumped a little, clearly looking defeated. "It is probably easier to show you than explain." She gave a sigh and downed the remainder of her tea in a gulp. "Wish I had some cider, heading over there always gives me the heebie-jeebies."
"Please, language!" Candela pinned Porcelain with a derisive look. "I almost regret making this trip. Should I go back to the school department in Canterlot and tell them just how you treat new teachers? Lying, saying horrible words…" She put down her own cup—no amount of tea would calm her now—and leaned down to Misty. "Come along darling, we are leaving this horrible place."
"Wait, please! I… Just come and see the schoolhouse, I promise you it is just on the other side of the tunnel in the hill. Please, we need a teacher… I am so sorry." Porcelain prostrated herself on the floor with her eyes squeezed shut, awaiting Candela passing sentence on her.
Candela gave a sigh before relenting at the sight of the groveling mare. "For the foals, I will come and see if this schoolhouse is tenable. Though why you wouldn't build it in town I have no idea." She really wanted to say more, but decorum and a good upbringing kept it back. "Lead on."
"Just follow me, you will see." Porcelain trotted out of her house, leaving the tea set where it lay. Her head was bowed, as if Candela was a judge to be deciding her fate. Leading the way across town, Porcelain kept turning to make sure Candela and Misty were following. They passed a few other ponies, each waving to both local and visitors alike. At last they entered a simple mine yard and approached what appeared to be more mine shaft than tunnel; heavy wooden supports braced the sides and roof and it had tracks laid down the middle for mine carts to traverse.
"This," Candela gestured with a hoof, "is a mine, not a tunnel. Is this safe?" By her tone the mare clearly had ideas about the safety of the excavation. She stepped a little closer and inspected the timbers holding it all up.
"It is safe, there hasn't been a single problem with Delves Deep leading the mining." As Porcelain was talking, a soft rumbling was coming from the mine and, with the two mares and the filly waiting, a mine cart was soon pushed out.
But it was the contents of the cart that suddenly had Candela's attention. "That… that looks like iron…" She blinked, recognizing the rocks from her geological studies. "That isn't meant to be here, this is listed on maps as an old tin mine!"
"Well, that there is where you would be wrong and right." The dust-stained miner grinned as he pulled the brake on. "Mighty fine eye ya got fer the rocks though. Ah'm Burrow Down." The dirty stallion held out a hoof to Candela and got a surprisingly solid clop in return. "Y'see, we went down nice and deep and found all sorts'a interestin' things."
“Candela, and my daughter Misty Rainfall.” Candela gave a nod to the miner before looking to Porcelain. "I don’t suppose one of those interesting things was a schoolhouse?” Candela was not a mare to be distracted from her task, no matter how intriguing it was to see the odd ore being taken from the mine. "Please lead on."
Porcelain gave another nod to the miner and headed down into the tunnel, Candela and Misty following. Little crystal lamps were spaced out regularly in the big section of the tunnel. "Just down here a little further." Porcelain seemed to be vibrating in anticipation. "Just wait until you see it, the building is amazing!"
Misty was dancing along after her mother, little hooves balancing on one of the ubiquitous rails that seemed to follow the mine.
All three ponies shivered, one after another, at exactly the same place in the tunnel. A startling moment of vertigo had Candela realizing that although they had been following a slightly descending shaft, the one they were now in was angled upwards. ’I didn’t even feel it straighten out, or angle up. What just happened?’
The light was brighter and Candela found herself examining one of the little lamps. It wasn't a crystal lamp at all now; it was a small beam of glowing white, with some kind of cable chaining it to another one just ahead, then another, and another. "What… what is this?" She reached out a hoof toward one of the beams and found it behind some kind of glass. A glance behind her sent her jaw dropping at the sight of the cable chaining together all the visible lamps they had already passed, none of which were the crystal lamps she had been observing since entering the tunnel.
"Never mind those, please follow me and… be courteous." Porcelain walked off along the tunnel, her hooves making soft clopping sounds on the stone floor.
"Mom, we should keep up." Misty tapped Candela's shoulder and pointed after the departing mare. "Momma?"
"I have never seen anything like this… but you are right, my little darling." Candela trotted after Porcelain, checking from time to time that her filly was following along beside her. She followed, that is, until the most strange creature she had ever seen stepped from a side tunnel, pushing a mine cart on a set of tracks that merge with the main ones—loaded with gems.
"G'day." The heavily clothed creature lifted their helmet a little, revealing a pair of tufted ears atop their head that were strange simply because the ears didn’t seem to fit in with the rest of their body. "You frost." The strange creature that had a rough smattering—or so it seemed—of Equish, gestured before themself.
"Oh, thank you!" Candela felt much relieved: a monster simply wasn't a monster if they had manners. She trotted on past the cart and left the strange biped behind. "Misty?"
"What was that, momma?" Misty was cantering after her longer-gaited mother, with her head turned to look back at the creature. "It looked a little like a diamond dog. Its ears were cute!"
"Dear, a mare does not refer to another species' features until she knows exactly how they like to be talked about." Candela saw every moment of every day as a lesson, even such a strange moment of such an odd day, as was the case today. “Also, ‘it’ is a terrible word to use for anypony, ‘they’ is acceptable until we can pick the fillies from the colts.”
“Yes momma.” Misty took the words in, her face a picture of contemplation.
A bright light ahead proved—as the Candela and Misty approached—to be the sun. Stepping from the tunnel, Candela looked up and froze. "It… that isn't where the sun was on the other side… ow!" She looked away from the strangely hostile sun and blinked rapidly as her eyes flooded with tears. "What is going on Porcelain? What is the meaning of all this?"
Porcelain was standing beside another of those bipeds, this one bearing their teeth in a bright smile; or so they clearly hoped it to be. The creature had seemed to appear from nowhere, but Candela was sure they had likely wandered over to the ponies while she was recovering from looking at the sun.
The upright creature held out a hand at first, then clearly realized it was way too high up to be returned. "G'day… uh…"
It was almost impossible not to stare at the strange creature. Swathed in clothes, they stood nearly three times the height of a pony—like the one she had passed in the mine—but unlike that one this biped lacked the pony-like ears. Small eyes peeked out from a large head that was topped with a neatly trimmed dark brown mane. What was the oddest thing to Candela however, was that they seemed to lack a fur coat on most of their body—if the exposed parts of them were to be believed.
"Please forgive Robert Gaylor, his Equish is almost as terrible as my Engrish." Porcelain smiled. "But nonetheless, they are the mayor of the town on this side of the mine, and they have a little schoolhouse and a whole group of little foals that need to be taught."
Candela's eyes were wide as saucers, she looked out over the wild-looking terrain. There was not a single spot in Equestria that looked half as… solid, as this did. Even the trees looked like an earth pony couldn't buck them down. "This is… this is a lot to take in…" Candela shook her head and looked down to her equally surprised filly. ’Misty don't you dare freak out at this or I don't know what I will do.’
"This place looks awesome." Misty's little head turned this way and that, staring at everything for as long as it would take the average hummingbird to beat its wings a dozen times.
The adorably foal-like reaction steadied Candela. "It does look unique. Show me the schoolhouse first, then where I will be staying." ’Normal things, I need to see normal things and everything will be fine.’
Porcelain blinked and thought for a moment. She tapped the big biped on the leg with a hoof to get their attention. "School… oh, <school>." She pointed to Candela.
Robert Gaylor looked at the ponies. "<Jed… I'm gonna kill ya later… School! Yes, the school is this way>." He waited for the pony (thigh-high at their withers) to nod to him before he turned and led the way. "<This is the strangest thing I have ever had to deal with, but it's okay, pub doesn't close 'till late tonight>."
The biped was chatting away in its own language and—or so far as Candela could tell—nopony was understanding a word of it. "What are they?" She trotted to catch up with Porcelain. "They look a little like diamond dogs, but they very much aren't."
"They prefer to be called hoomans." Porcelain gained a superior air as she explained what Candela clearly was clueless about. "They speak a whole other language. Delves and Burrow know a little more than I do," she grinned widely as she turned her head, "I am sure you will pick it up quickly; being a teacher and all."
’Ohhh somepony left a horse-apple in her hay.’ Candela blinked and grimaced at the thought, before shaking it from her head. ’This is getting too much, I am a fine mare to accuse somepony of using bad language when I thought that!’ "Well… no time like the present." She trotted forward a little until she was beside the hooman. "Hello? You said the school house was this way?"
"<Sorry luv, got no clue what'cha sayin'>." Robert blinked down at the pony. "<The school is this way, though>."
"<School>?" Candela got excited. "School… <School>!" This is just like back in college! "<School...> house?" She held up both forelegs, tracing a house in the air.
"<Building… oh, House! School house>. hooose?" Robert couldn't keep from smiling. "<Clever little thing. Guess you are a teacher then, with all ya learnin'. Strange, never thought about fairy critters bein’ smart like this>."
"<Schoolhouse>." Candela was practically prancing by then. "Their language is a little odd, they tend to mangle our words more than I mangle theirs… I think." She trotted in front of Robert before tapping her hoof down meaningfully. "Ground?"
"<Dirt? Ground? Oh yes>," Robert stopped and reached down, getting on a much closer level with the little pegasus, "<Earth>."
"<Earth>." Misty tapped the ground with her hoof. "Mom, they speak a little funny, but I think I am getting some of it!"
"You are dear, you really are." Candela started humming a little song as she trotted along with her filly, following the hooman to the <school house>.
"This isn't Equestria, is it momma?" Misty finally asked after a minute of looking around herself, eyes huge and taking in every aspect of the world. "Look at the funny trees." She trotted closer to one they were passing and was about to break a leaf off with her mouth when the smell caught in her nose. "Ewww."
"Sweetie, don't eat anything here until we test it, okay?" Candela reached her wing out invitingly to Misty, the filly trotting back and snuggling up under it. "I am sure the nice hooman can find us somewhere to spend our bits for food."
No sooner had Candela said the word than the hooman turned around again. "Food? <Food>." They smiled to the two ponies. "Food… frost?"
"First," Candela immediately corrected. "First." She smiled but shook her head. "<Schoolhouse> first."
The hooman clearly understood because they resumed travel in the same direction. "<First>… First?" They looked back to the mare again. "<Never thought I would be learnin' a new language at my age>."
Candela nodded happily, her mind soaking up the cadence and flow of the language she heard, there was a very distinct twinge to it. 'I wonder how long this will take to pick up? Oh… oh drat, I am going to have to be quick about it, I bet the deal is I teach their foals too.'
The trees they had been walking through seemed to part and both ponies' jaws dropped. "Mamma, where are we?" Misty moved as close to Candela as she could. "This place is strange."
"Darling, they don't mean us any harm, they want me to teach here." Candela nonetheless picked Misty up and set the filly on her back. Their guide had led them to one of the flatter, blockier-looking buildings.
"<G'day mate, just showing the new school teacher around>." Robert lifted one of his hands and waved to another, similarly clothed hooman. "<Not much to look at, and she ain't speaking much English, but I got a hunch she's a pretty smart cookie>."
Candela missed most of the words, but she paused and looked at the other hooman. Lifting one hoof, she tested her new hypothesis, "<G'day>!"
"<G'day to you too. Thought you said she didn't know English, Robbo>?" The new hooman wandered closer to the little procession and gave a special wave to Misty. "<This your daughter? Cute as a button>."
"<She doesn't, but she is picking up some words. Seemed to know nothing when she first walked out of the mine, but I'll be buggered if she doesn't soak up words faster than a sponge>." Robert's words tumbled from his mouth, not that Candela managed to get more than the flow of the language.
Leaving her guide to talk to their friend, Candela stepped up onto the little porch of the building and, pushing at the door, made her way inside. "Everything is built for taller ponies, probably the hoomans. All the foals here are going to have trouble reaching things." She walked further in, hearing her hooves clop on what sounded like wood, but felt smooth and rubbery. A sliding door—with a hoof suitably applied to one end of it—revealed a classroom.
Words would not fully describe the feeling of a classroom. It was a place where young minds were fed knowledge, where they were encouraged to hunt it like timberwolves, where a teacher could direct those minds and guide them to the things they would need to know for the rest of their lives. Candela inhaled deeply. 'My classroom.' She looked up at the desk and trotted over. Halfway to the front the weight of Misty left her back, the mare letting her foal explore just as she was.
'This is a teacher's desk but almost double the scale I am used to.' She flapped her wings to get up onto the chair easily. Looking over the desk she realized there would need to be changes. "That would be an alphabet," Candela began to look around the room, "not that I understand it… yet." Her smile grew wider and wider.
"Momma! The desks are huuuuggeeee!" Misty had apparently gotten up onto the smallest desk in the front row, but unlike her mother her head couldn't see over the desk itself.
"<We're gonna need some work done>." Robert had slipped into the room while Candela's attention was focused on her filly. Reaching carefully under the chair the pegasus was seated on, he adjusted something.
"Oh my!" Candela jumped off the chair, helped by the way it seemed to shoot upwards. Looking back she saw that the cushion was only barely lower than the desk itself. "Thank you!" She looked up at the human, realizing that sitting on the desk as she was, they were at eye level.
"Thank you?" Robert lifted a hand up and tapped his chin. "<Oh, I bet I know this one>." He paused a moment significantly. "Thank you. <Thank you>."
"<Thank you>." Candela felt almost giddy at the prospect of learning a language nopony knew. "<Thank you> very much." It felt just right that she now could greet and thank in the hooman's language.
"<How about some tucker now>?" Robert mimed putting things in his mouth. "<Food>?"
Candela narrowed her eyes as she tried to work out what the hooman was saying to her, but when he mimed eating she knew right away and nodded. "<Food> would be lovely, <thank you>." She dropped down from the chair, using her wings to steady her fall. "Misty, where are you off to my little storm cloud?"
"Mama, I found a book!" Misty trotted from the back corner of the otherwise bookless schoolhouse, carrying a sky-blue book in her snout. "Look, it is about a dog that is really big, but then he is really small and he could fit in and all the hoomans played with him too."
"<Ah, Clifford. I remember reading this to my kids. His name is Clifford>," Robert held a finger out to the name on the cover, and then pointing to the red dog. "<Clifford's first school day>."
"Clifford? Mama his name is Clifford!" Misty was bouncing around, ruffling her wings excitedly.
"We can get somehooman to read it for you later, it will help both of us with word sounds." Candela reached a wing out to hug her clever little filly. "But first we need some dinner and to find out where we are staying." She looked up at the hooman. "<Food>?"
The perfectly spoken English word had Robert looking surprised. "<Ah yeah, food. Come on then>." Heading out of the schoolhouse he began leading the way toward the only two-story building in the whole town. Noise with rhythm—that Candela could only assume was music in this strange place—got louder and louder as they neared the building. When Robert opened the door, the music and the sound of that odd language washed over her and her filly.
"<Thank you>." Candela couldn't believe how gracious Robert was, holding the door open for her. 'This makes me feel like a princess!' She trotted into the building and quickly gathered Misty up on her back. "Misty-darling, please keep close."
"<Good thinkin', don't want the little guy stepped on. Hey Mavis, can I get a… uh...>" Robert looked down at the new school teacher. "<Err, little… lady. Mavis, bringing the new teacher on through. She doesn't speak English and I don't know what she would want to eat>."
"<Aww, well, bring 'er through>."
Candela's ears were working overtime, trying in desperation to track where each speaker was and what they were saying. It was a fool's errand to attempt it, but it was ingrained into a pony to do so. She found herself following Robert into a place that was at once quieter, noisier, and hotter than the rest of the building. "Oh, the kitchen. I wonder what they… eat…" Candela looked around at all the food.
Robert noticed where Candela's vision lingered the most. "<You want the salad? Mavis, can you get Sal to whip up two big plates of salad, thanks darl'>."
"<Sure thing luv>."
This time Candela's ears found the source of those words. A tall hooman with their mane all pinned up in a bun was working at the far end of the kitchen, over a hot stove. She gave a little wave to them and was led back out by Robert.
Once at a table, Candela and Misty were left alone again. "Mama, what was that red stuff in the kitchen?" Misty was looking around, her eyes wide as she examined everything. Then she saw them. "Momma, is that a hooman foal?" She pointed a hoof at the red maned hooman who, as well, had stopped and was staring at Misty and her mom.
"<Hi, are you a pony>?" The little hooman had raced over and was staring up at Misty with absolute amazement in their eyes.
Misty looked back to her mother, who was smiling. "Uh… <G'day>? I don't speak—" She got no further, a hand reached up for her hoof and was dragging her away.
"<Mummy mummy, I have a pony>!" The little hooman seemed quite excited and was tugging on Misty's hoof insistently.
Candela got up, ready to intercede but another of the hoomans walked over and crouched down before the hooman foal. "<Now Kelly, that isn't a pony. She is just a little girl like you>." She ruffled her daughter's hair and looked up at Candela. "<They will be fine, just let them play for a bit>."
Unable to understand any of the words, Candela could however see that this hooman was a mare just like herself and their foal was just wanting to play. "Play nicely, dear." Candela climbed back up on her seat as her filly was being—literally—dragged off to play with somehooman's foal. "Come back soon for your dinner, okay?"
"Yes momma!" Misty was off her seat and running beside the other foal.
'Giggling just how a foal should be. Maybe this will be good for my little darling?' Candela reached to her mostly empty pack, pulled out the book Misty had liberated from the school, and set it on the table. "It really is a very large dog." She flipped the pages with a wing-tip, idly admiring the art work to make the book so very attractive and useful as a learning tool.
"<I heard you can't understand English>." The hooman mare took the seat opposite Candela, to the pegasus' surprise. "<This is Clifford>."
Candela watched the thin finger on the end of the hooman's hand point at the big canine. "Clifford." Repeating the word back seemed to help. 'Thank Celestia that I can at least make the same sounds as their language, that would have been a bad way to start teaching.' "Dog? Uh… woof woof!"
"<Dog>!" The hooman pointed to herself now. "<Maureen>." She gestured to Candela with what the pegasus had worked out was a questioning look.
"<G'day Maureen>." Flicking her tail excitedly, Candela was quite excited. She pointed to herself with a hoof, "<Candela. Thank you>."
Working through the book, Candela learned that the hooman language was, structurally, much like Equish. Figuring it was time to try some of her new learning out, she looked to Maureen. "<Does your children go to school>?"
Maureen froze in shock. She had been showing the book to the strange little person, but that she had picked up so many of the words had shocked her even past the slight mistakes in it. "<Oh, uh, yes. Kelly goes to school, will go to school when you are teacher>."
'A few words still missing, and I can bet I messed some words up, but she understood me.' Candela was about to engage in more English when a piled-high plate of salad came out. Her mouth was watering at the sight of it.
"<I found your little-un playing with Kelly, they are both eating>." Mavis herself set the plate down before the pony. "<Mause, can I get ya anythin' luv>?" Candela lost any hope of following the conversation, she thought the hooman had said a little of "Maureen" but couldn't be sure.
"<No thanks Mavis, I ate already>." Maureen's attention was focused on Candela and the pony realized that there was a hungry look in the hooman's eyes that spoke to her own. Dismissed, the cook turned and headed back to her kitchen. Maureen took a deep breath. "<How did you learn all this so fast>?"
Candela caught enough of the words to piece things together, her clever mind grabbing more of the words, adding tags and patterns to them like a jigsaw puzzle player filing away "good pieces." "<Learn fast, and listen>." Candela reached a hoof up and tapped her ear.
"Mamma mamma! We found a bug!" Misty would not be ignored, her hooves rocketing her into the room with Kelly a moment behind her. "LOOK BUG!"
Maureen looked across at her new friend, then down at the filly's offering of a little bug. "<Children>."
Candela gave a nod and dutifully looked at her filly's hoof, the bug didn't look happy about the race to find her. "<Children>." Candela reached a hoof down to ruffle Misty's mane. "Can you put it back where you found it, Misty?"
"Okay!" Five legs carried the two back out again, but as Misty rounded the doorway into the next room she slipped on the carpet and plonked her fourth hoof down. Misty and Kelly both looked down at what was surely the bug's grave. "No more bug…"
Kelly nodded to her new best friend's assessment.
"<Guess I should be showing ya your house>." Robert wandered up to the two mothers and leaned down to kiss Maureen on the cheek. "Err, house…" He was clearly fishing for words he simply didn't know.
"<It okay, I know>." Candela grinned extra wide at being able to reply. 'Who am I fooling, I am butchering their language, I need to get on top of this.' She climbed off her chair and fished around in her saddlebag for some coins. When she had a few bits out, she saw both Robert and Maureen waving her money away.
"<Oh no, your meals are covered here… uh… for a week>." Robert shook his head and tried a smile instead.
'I have no clue what he is saying, but I think he means the food is paid for.' Candela smiled back. "Misty, dear, come on now it is time to go home now."
Misty looked trapped between her desires and her mother's words. "<Gotta go Kelly>!" She waved a hoof and bounced over to her mother. "Where is 'home'?" Having spotted a chair close enough, Misty pronked up onto it and then onto her mother's back, settling down and giving a happy sigh.
"That is what I need to find out. <Where is house>?" Candela looked up at Robert just in time to see his surprised look. He quickly nodded and she followed along as he made his way from the building. They were a block from the oversized public building where they had eaten when Candela noticed something. <Robert, your children are following>."
"<Ah bloody heck. Kelly, stop sneakin' around, girl>." Robert held out his arms as he crouched down, scooping the girl up into them and rising back up. "<Up you go>."
Kelly laughed loudly as she was hefted up onto her father's shoulders. "<Dad, Misty is a nice pony, she says her mum is too>!"
Candela tuned out of the conversation, focusing on her filly instead. "A long day for both of us, Misty Rainfall." She took comfort in finding these hoomans had foals themselves, and that they cared for them every bit as much as ponies did for theirs. 'Even carrying their foal the same as me… I am sure once I can speak their language a little better things will be just fine.'
"<Here y'are, all paid for and covered by the town for as long as you teach>." Robert gestured at a monstrously huge—compared to Candela—house. "<I better get home before this little one falls asleep>." He waved to Candela and walked off.