//------------------------------//
// Chapter 14 
// Story: The Stronger Tiara 
// by computerneek 
//------------------------------//

“Because I killed you.”
She blinked.  The translation had to be wrong- as near as she could tell, Twilight was trying to tell her she murdered her.  Which was rather evidently false, since she was still very much alive.  She tried translating it again, then back and forth a few times- but no matter how she looked at it, the concepts matched up- the translation couldn’t be wrong.
So she chose to decline, to declare the statement false.
“Uh, no you didn’t.”
“I did!” Twilight insisted.  “I- I spent myself so completely in looking for another of those fortress things…  I…”  She took a great shuddering breath.  “It only took once.  I didn’t stop to check the danger zone…  and you were crushed to death.”
She found the images that other context came up with for the translation immensely amusing.  Twilight leaped into the air at a store, smashed herself into coinage, and landed in the register…  then lifted binoculars off the sales counter to look out the window at a battalion of Bolos that kept turning invisible whenever she looked in their direction.  Then, just outside, she walked past a spike pit while looking very pointedly away from it, and smashed her- armor and all- flat with a hoof while she wasn’t looking.
She smiled, patting Twilight’s neck comfortingly, and prayed the translations were holding up.  One of the images she used in translating her response back to that context was one of her standing on the ground…  and a few thousand Twilights stomping determinedly on her armor, for no effect.
“Hey, Twilight.  It’ll take a lot more than that to crush me.”
“But-!” Twilight cried.  “But you went splash!”
She didn’t quite understand that one, but she did get that Twilight was trying to describe how she died.  She shook her head.  “No I didn’t.”  Perhaps Twilight thought that her body was her?  She tried translating that.  “My body might have, but I didn’t.”
“But-!  You can’t survive being crushed like that!  It’s impossible!  How-?”
She stopped Twilight with a hoof on her chin.  Her pony context wanted to refer to something Twilight told her some time ago, back when that was the one she thought in.  She let it, even though she didn’t understand its confusing attempts at translation.
“You were right.  With the body-meld, if I died, I’d simply wake up again in my Bolo.”
Twilight hugged her again.  “What’s…  a ‘Bolo’?”
“It’s what the fortress things are called.”
Twilight drew back, holding her at forelegs’ reach.  “What?  But you’re…  Wait.  Since when were you a pegasus?”
She shrugged her wings.  I don’t know, all I wanted was hooves.  Medical realized I wanted that, and grew me a body- which happened to be a pegasus.  Even medical doesn’t know why.  Unfortunately, no matter what she tried, her translation verification came up negative- that other context seemed to be just guessing on that one.  “I can’t talk.”
Twilight stared at her.
She stared back.  She wasn’t sure how to explain it.  She decided to raise her bar- and only be satisfied with translations she could understand.  That way, at least she wouldn’t accidentally stick her hoof in her own mouth.
Finally, Twilight spoke.  “It…  It’s working.  And you’re… it, and it has something that let you…  revive yourself.”
She tried several times, but was unable to figure out what was being said.  That other context wanted to wrinkle her nose, so it can’t have been very appealing- but the rest refused to translate.  She spent close to a whole second looking for something that might translate, and eventually found something.
She averted her eyes.  “Translation wrongness.”  She was fairly sure even that wasn’t exactly accurate, but it felt close enough for Twilight to understand.
Twilight stared at her.  “Translation…  wrongness,” she repeated, slowly.  “Then…”  She took a deep breath, and let it out, looking in the direction of her hull.  “Does that mean…  you actually are it now, and so are on the other side of the language barrier?”
Twilight seemed to be referring to her chasing things around- then dodging behind a wall made out of words.  Which made absolutely no sense to her, so she decided her translation was wrong.  Unfortunately, no subsequent re-translations gave her any other ideas- and whenever she tried reversing the translation, all she got was a vehement denial from the other context.  So, her translation was obviously wrong…  and not working.
“Translation wrongness?” she repeated.
Twilight scowled.  “If…  If translating isn’t working…”  She tapped her chin with a hoof, scowling at Diamond.  “Maybe…  Can you show me?”
The image she got from that context, was a bit more complicated than she was expecting from that short of an oration.  The first part was explained by Twilight producing speech bubbles full of squiggly lines, which kept breaking apart before they reached her.
The second part was the more complicated part- in which Twilight was looking around in the middle of a field of Bolos that kept turning invisible whenever she looked in their direction- then she trotted up, and held some binoculars to Twilight’s face…  and the Bolos stopped disappearing.
Perhaps…  Was Twilight asking her to show her something?
She quickly ran back over the conversation so far.  Twilight might be asking her to show…  how she became a pegasus, maybe?  She was pretty sure that’s what that question was, at least.  She decided to answer it with a translated nod…  followed by the mark that had ended all the questions on her homework.
“Probably?”
“Okay, lead the way.”
The translation on that was easy.  She bowed her head, and headed back towards her hull- checking back frequently to make sure Twilight was still following.
She had only gotten about halfway back to her hull when she was intercepted, by…  This was Lyra Heartstrings, with her friend Bonbon.
“Diamond Tiara,” Lyra stated.  “I thought you died.”
She shook her head, and selected her translation concepts with the expectation that it would be difficult.  “No.  Can I show you?”
Lyra tilted her head.  “Show…?  Why?”
She stopped trying to translate after the first couple times didn’t match, and looked at the ground in disappointment.  “Translation wrongness.”
At the same time as she said that, Twilight spoke.  “I think she’s on the other side of whatever language barrier was keeping her from explaining those things before,” she muttered.
Lyra blinked.  “Then…  Diamond?”  She looked at Diamond.
She looked up, and raised her eyebrows inquisitively.
“Do you understand me?”
It wasn’t Equestrian.  However, she understood it perfectly.
She didn’t answer ‘yes’, though.
“You know Concordiat Standard?”
Lyra blinked.  “Is that what it’s called?”
She nodded.  “Yes.”
Then Lyra took a deep breath, and looked at Twilight, who was staring at her.  “Yes, she’s on the other side of that language barrier.”
“How did you understand that?” Twilight asked.  “What language was it?”
Lyra shrugged.  “Do you remember the, um…”  She tapped her chin.  “I think we called it the ‘Iron Bunker’ back then?”
“Iron Bunker…?” Twilight asked, confused.
“The-?” Lyra began, then blinked.  “... Right.  I keep forgetting they had to erase your memory.”  She turned to Bonbon.  “Permission to un-erase?”
Bonbon didn’t miss a beat.  “You know that spell?”
Lyra nodded.  “Let’s be honest, they erased my memory three times, though they were all after the Meld.  I never anticipated using it on somepony else, but I use it regularly on myself.”
Bonbon rolled her eyes.  “And you call me paranoid.  And she’s a Princess, you know what that means.”
“It’s not paranoia,” Lyra retorted.  “It’s being cautious.”  Then she turned to Twilight.  “It’s Oblivia Tea’s Memory Restoration.  Do I have your permission?”
Twilight, who had looked more than a little put off, blinked, straightened her face, and took a deep, calming breath.  “I…  I can’t say I’m familiar with Oblivia Tea?”
Lyra nodded.  “Not surprised.  Her Memory Restoration was basically her only contribution, before she used it on herself, remembered something terrible from her past, and jumped off a cliff.”
Twilight stared.  “Jumped-?”
Lyra nodded sadly.  “Three hundred and eighty-seven years ago.  And I’ve asked, even Starlight can’t go back that far, or I would’ve caught her out of that fall- they never found the body.  Anyways, her Memory Restoration feels about like Broken Lingo’s General Translation.”  She glanced briefly at Diamond.  “Which won’t work for that language, since it doesn’t have its roots in a magical race.”
Twilight winced, and took another deep breath.  “Alright, go ahead.  I’m ready.”
Lyra also took a deep breath, and closed her eyes.  “Alright.”  Then her horn glowed, and her aura wrapped around Twilight.

Diamond, who had been able to translate very, very little of what had been said right in front of her, looked at Bonbon and tilted her head.  “Huh?”