//------------------------------// // Miscommunication // Story: Brain, Brawns, and a Lot of Ponies // by Damaged //------------------------------// "Kiera, I guess now would be a good time to work on learning their language." Dust followed Twilight Velvet back to her home, the sounds of ponies talking all around pinging in her ears. She waited for Twilight to open the front door and gesture before going inside. "I don't know if you can understand me, but I can't help but keep talking while somepony else is home." Twilight followed Dustin inside and closed the door behind her. "Why don't you have a seat on the couch and I will make us some tea." Dust blinked a few times at the unfamiliar words. She had no idea what was being said, but when Twilight patted the couch she got the clue quickly enough. Twilight left her alone in the room, and suddenly Dust was confronted with an etiquette problem. "Kiera, can you scan your footage for any ponies sitting on couches?" The room was still silent, Dust resorting to sub-vocalizations to talk to Kiera. "I have exactly zero images of such. Sorry Dust. What's the problem?" Kiera was interested to find out what was happening to Dust, she was a little on edge about her brawn being without much in the way of comms. "Well, I have to sit on a couch. Twilight just left the room and I have no clue if I should sit on it like a human would, or if I can climb up as a pony and lay down…" Dust stared at the couch as if it were a monster ready to devour her. Kiera gave a little pop of static to Dust's ear. "I don't think she will mind if you overstep a social norm. She seemed to have her head screwed on right. Why don't you fold your front legs to keep your hooves off, then flop to your side?" "That is why you are the brain, Kiera. Thanks." Dust lifted her front end up, braced her forelegs on her shins and turned to flop against the couch. Wiggling her hooves over the edge of the couch, she gave a little giggle. "Perfect." "Your vitals are almost back to normal. This was definitely the right choice." Kiera fussed over every number Dustin's implant fed to her, studying his vitals. "I am amazed this still works, I guess magic is… magic. Oh, she's back." Dust turned her attention to Twilight Velvet as she walked into the room. Floating along before Twilight was a tea set and some biscuits, and Dust had no clue how more perfect the scene could be. She swapped to using her voice, since Twilight was. "Sorry, I didn't know how to climb up…" Not understanding the more guttural language, Twilight took in how Dust was laying. "Have yourself nice and comfortable? Good, this tea will help you relax some more." She climbed up on the couch beside Dustin, and folded her legs under her. Due to the size of the couch, and how Dust was laying, this meant she was pressed against the other mare. Dust watched Twilight as she settled herself. "Well, hooves on the couch doesn't seem taboo." Adjusting how she was laying, Dustin got into a more comfortable position. She gave a deep sigh and looked down at the cushion she was laying on. "I am sorry, I just really got freaked out back there. I don't—" Twilight planted a hoof gently on Dust's mouth, silencing her. "I might not know what you are saying, but having raised two foals through their teenage years I know what you mean by that tone. It wasn't your fault." Leaving the tea set aside, Twilight leaned closer and hugged Dust. Going stiff at first, Dust relaxed a little and closed her eyes. Lifting her forelegs, she hugged Twilight back. "I just don't know what to do! I don't know why this happened, and I don't know how to fix it. Even Kiera doesn't know!" Tears started to flow, and once they started she couldn't stop. Not matter how much she cried, Twilight held on. "Shh. Shh now. I wish I could just tap my hoof and fix all this, but that is for my little filly to do." Twilight kept hugging Dust, and set the tea down carefully. She held on tightly until she felt Dust fuss a little, then gave her some room to pull back. "Better?" Dust looked directly in Twilight's eyes, studying them as best she could. Before she could think of how to respond to the comforting, Twilight's eyes closed and she moved closer. Before Dust knew what was happening, she got a kiss on the lips. "Dustin, your heart rate is going up again, are you alright?" Kiera was only mildly worried. Dust might be showing a few signs of stress, it was nothing compared to what had happened during the attack earlier. "Tell me what is going on or I will blast you with static and fly there myself!" The kiss lingered. Dustin wasn't quite sure what was going on, but it actually felt nice. Pulling back, she shook her head. "Kiera, I don't know what I did, but I think I might have given her the wrong signs… or something." Kiera had to modulate her vocals, she didn't want to make Dust feel worse. "What happened?" She was proud of how even her voice was. "She kissed me. I don't… she is looking at me with a smile on her face. Kiera, I don't really know what this means, what she means." Dust, in her confusion, hadn't even subvocalized. Before she could freak out anymore, a cup of hot tea floated up to her. Lifting her forehooves, she gripped each side of the cup carefully and felt the warmth soaking into her frogs. Twilight Velvet's heart was hammering in her chest. She floated her own cup up and took a sip from it. "I am not even sure why I did that. You looked so lost, so down. I just wanted to do something to make you happy." The softly spoken words made Dust looked up from the cup, stared into Twilight's eyes. "Okay, I am pretty sure I know what she means now." She sipped the tea, the flavor welcome in her mouth and the wetness in her throat. "You dolt. She likes you, Dust." Kiera didn't hold back on her tone now. "So… kiss her back." "Kiera!" Dust jumped up and stared over the top of Twilight. "I… I am a human, not a pony!" She stomped a hoof in impotent rage. "And I am a guy, not a girl!" Catching the teacup in her magic with all the skill of a mother used to foals who get distracted, Twilight watched as Dust had a conversation with the air. "I admit, it is a little odd having an intimate moment with somepony, when they are having a conversation with somepony else. You are a lot of puzzles." She sighed. "But Twily said that you were trustworthy… and I am curious." Dust couldn't understand Twilight Velvet, but she was adamant about one thing. "Kiera, close this link. You know the rules and reg's on privacy." She was feeling hot and flustered just thinking that. "Are you still there?" She waited a few moments, but could only hear the thumping of her heart and Twilight's soft voice. "S-S-Sorry…" Twilight understood an apology when she heard it. "You are most welcome. Please lay back down with me. I still have your tea." She offered the cup up to Dust. "Oh… thank you." Dust was almost squirming. She decided that plopping back down and dealing with the situation was for the best. On her belly once more, she lifted the cup out of Twilight's magic. "I know you can't understand me, but I just don't know if this would work. Your daughter might solve the problem tomorrow…" "Now just have a sip of that, relax. Once we get your translator thingy back, we can have a good chat about all this." Twilight Velvet sipped her own tea, looking into Dust's eyes, studying them as Dust studied her. "You are kinda cute—even pretty…" Dust blinked as her words came out, tumbling from her brain without any filter. Not that she needed to filter her words, not with the language gap. "I have a lot of questions to ask you, and some to ask myself, but I need to be alone to ask those." She took a deep breath, held it, and slowly let it out again. Twilight sipped more of her tea, just watching Dust. "I wonder what Nighty will say, it was always him finding friends." She smiled at the thought of telling him. "Well, it isn't like she can understand me so I guess I can try to focus on this. I am a woman… mare. I don't think I should feel this comfortable like this, but I am comfortable. Why am I so relaxed?" Dustin sipped the tea and looked up at Twilight. "And I am comfortable around her, when I should be going crazy. She is a xeno, there are rules about this I think?" "Well, why do I get the sense that you aren't really talking to me. I can hear a lot of questions in that, with no waiting for answers." Twilight sipped at the last of her tea. "Maybe I should kiss you again?" She immediately discarded the idea. "This would be so much easier if I could understand you, or maybe it would be worse. I don't even know." Sipping the last of her own tea, Dust swapped to subvocalizing. "Kiera, can you patch me through to Belay?" "I thought you didn't want me here?" Kiera was more amused than annoyed with her brawn. "Don't start. I just want to talk to her, privately." Dust knew that so long as the data hit Kiera's comms, she couldn't ignore it, but hoped that she would realize that Dust wanted to have a conversation with just Belay. Kiera gave a little pop of static. "Alright, alright. I get it. Meatspace problems. Patching you through. Belay, are you there?" "Oh… Kiera, I am a bit busy." Belay's voice sounded odd to both Kiera and Dustin. "Wait, is that Dust as well? How are you doing?" "Twilight Velvet kissed him, and I mean kissed kissed him. I mean her…" Kiera couldn't stop her giggle from hitting the comms line. "I think she needs advice on what to do." "Kiera, what did I say?" Dustin dropped her head to the couch, looking up at Twilight while talking to her friends. "Private line please." "Spoilsport. Okay, it's just you two." Kiera did her best to avoid listening; she shunted the conversation to auto record and turned to the map of the solar system. "This really is amazing," her voice echoed through the halls of her empty ship, "this planet shouldn't survive like this…" "I think she is gone. Okay Dust, what is going on?" Belay's voice was still oddly toned. Dust took a breath. "She kissed me, and not like a mother kissing their child, or a playful kiss, or even a cheek-kiss in greeting. Bel, she kissed me on the lips and meant it." "Sounds familiar." Belay's voice was suddenly clear again. "Look, Dust, we can talk about this later, but I am…" His voice paused a moment. "I have a really cute mare here, and I am a stallion, and I really don't know if I will ever feel this again. I need to sign off, but why not have some fun?" With her heart beating in her ears, Dust heard nothing from her friend's mic. "He is busy making out with someone, and is going to… what is up with this world?" "This from the guy who had a girl at every station when we were doing cargo runs." Kiera came in over Dust. "I happen to remember you running back to me, several times, with your pants in your arms and with their brothers or fathers chasing you." Dust gave a huff. "That's different, Kiera. I was—" "You were the guy, Dust. That is all that was different. Do you think Twilight Velvet is anything like those young ladies you dallied with?" Reaching into her databases, Kiera found her "old words to use" list, and marked off "dally." "She is nothing like them. For a start, I chased them." Dust smirked a little. "But I am sure that she has someone just as problematic to deal with if something goes… awry. Her daughter and son are royalty!" Somewhere along the conversation, Dust had dropped back to actually talking instead of subvocalizing. "You sound really worked up over something, and your blush tells me it is me." Twilight smiled for all the world like a predator. "Oh this will be fun, but we need to be able to actually talk before I can truly set my sights on you, Dustin y Neil."