Spring, Twenty-Sixth Day of the Third Moon, Year of Peace
I packed up my camp last night, put it into my wagon, and dragged it closer to their cave. I set up right outside of the moss covered hatch. My wagon sits between the ocean and it to provide cover from the wind coming off of the sea.
I awoke before the sun rose to find Celuleunelnen in my tent. She had the flap open and was staring at the pre-dawn sky. She pointed at the moon.
Celuleunel - say-loo-lay-oo-nel - Moon.
This does mean -nen is a modifier of some kind. I will figure it out later. She is now pointing at the twinkling lights of the stars before the sun chases them away and speaking excitedly. I think I just want to listen to her talk about them for a while without writing all of her words down.
She deserves my attention.
-Starswirl
—-Addendum—-
I had a very interesting discussion with the fillies today. Well…“discussion” in the loosest sense of the word. It was our characteristic dance of me trying to explain what I was confused about and them doing their best to understand and explain through pantomime.
I knew that Celuleunelnen’s name now had something to do with the moon. While I wasn’t ready to dive back into the contents of Cer’s final message, I hoped that learning about them would be enough to get both of our minds off of the events of yesterday.
The suffix -nen is what separates her name from the moon itself. So I asked about that.
Celusastisina motioned with her hooves close together and repeated nen several times. I put my hoof just above the ground to make sure I understood.
-nen - nen - Modifier. Small/diminutive.
This of course means their names also have the same root word. Celu. I will repeat my previous translation attempts by writing down what I say and do and recording the responses.
“Celu?” Said while shrugging.
Both fillies are gesturing up at the sky.
Celu - seh-loo - sky?
“Sun?” Said as I pointed up at the sun.
Celusastis - seh-loo-sahs-tis - sun
This would indicate that -sastis and -leunel mean something akin to night and day, I believe. Sun and moon would translate literally to ‘sky-day’ and ‘sky-night’. I assume I am missing more cultural context here or perhaps even celu is two separate words.
“Ina” Said while shrugging again
They both are conversing in hushed tones. Now Celuleunelnen is laying on the ground and getting slowly to her hooves. Celusastisina pointed at the horizon and now her hoof is tracking up through the sky. Both things are being lifted. Or, perhaps, Rising? That would make sense in terms of the sun.
Ina - ee-nah - Rising
Therefore we now can have full translations of their names. It will be useful as their native tongue is not kind to my Ponish accent. I will still endeavor to call them their native names while speaking to them, but I will write their more simple Ponish translated names.
Celuleunelnen - seh-loo-leh-oo-nehl-nen - Little Moon
Celusastisina - seh-loo-sah-stee-see-nah - Rising Sun
There is one thing I wish to know, just one more word. It is in the final message, but they have also said it before.
“Kres?”
They seem stumped on how to explain it. Both keep talking to one another in a very quick manner. Little Moon points to her leg and chest but the Rising Sun shakes her head and repeats ‘yetan’ again and again. Rising Sun makes a motion across her chest and then her hooves go from her chest and out in front of her multiple times with an accompanying sound effect of ‘psssssh’.
A bit comical, but it gives me an idea.
Then the Little Moon lights up her horn. It is surrounded with a faint blue glow. She points at it and repeats the word ‘kres’
Does it have a dual meaning?
My mind, sadly, goes back to Cer. Her blood, pink and shimmering, looks just like the mana that flows through the ground in this very spot. I had not connected that until now. Yesterday it had caught me off guard but now that I think back on it.
Nothing should be able to live with pure mana flowing through its veins. It should be burning them up.They should be ash where they stand. So how are they not? How are they alive? If this is true and is not a childish misunderstanding. What I have seen with my own eyes confirms it, though.
Kres - krehs - blood/magic
Epkres - ehp-krehs - My blood. This could be translated to ‘my kin’ or just ‘family’.
This would mean when Little Moon told me “Epkres hallen” the other day, she was really saying “My sister says hello” then to extrapolate that further, when referring to her sister what Little Moon truly meant was “Rising Sun says hello” so…good morning! How wonderfully dense. To have so much meaning put into two little words. How compact and meaningful.
With this, I feel like I can get some more cultural context. Cer’s words literally translated to ‘My promise and I’ so what is a promise? These two have been using the same concept when using pronouns so perhaps they understand it.
I will try to separate the ‘ep’ and the ‘il’ and see if they can explain it. Well, I will do it with the second person pronoun that I know, so I will say “Legil” then separate the words and isolate “-il” in an attempt to show confusion.
Rising Sun immediately points to the sun, then back to herself. “Epil” she insists repeatedly as she gestures back and forth.
“Moo-trah pehp Celusastis.” Mutra pep Celusastis. She says this a few times.
“Moo-trah” is an unknown
“pehp” is obviously another pronoun, but what could the difference here be?
Wait. I am having an epiphany. “legil” and “pep” both break the conventions I know about their pronoun system in that they have a letter before ‘e’. The common theme between them is that the last letter is transposed to the beginning of the word. “Ep” means I/me. So this is a modification of that. Could the last letter being put in front signify possession?
When Little Moon asked where my wings were that first night she said: “Fetram legil keh?” If this new rule is true then what she was asking was “The wings that belong to them, where are they?” That is, if this is correct. These are educated guesses, but still guesses nonetheless. I have been wrong twice before on this word, legil, I will hope that the third time is indeed the charm.
There is only one way to confirm this, by speaking it.
I know that ‘Ez’ is a second person pronoun. So If this rule is correct then I should ask “Mutra zez Celusastis?” as confirmation.
Aha! Success! They both nodded at me and stamped their little hooves in congratulations. It is good to know that I am not totally lost when it comes to their language. Though there is still the question of what “mutra” means. The inkling I have currently is “promise”. Once again, there is only one way to know.
“Ezil Celusastis Celusastisina?”
“Epil Celusastis et Celusastisina.” Was the response I received, with extra influence on “et”. I will assume this means “and” as is yet another connection between their language and our own, as sayings such as et cetera and et al still persist in academia.
“My promise and I are the sun and Rising Sun.”
Fascinating.
It is difficult to grasp at this moment just what this means, but it seems as if they think themselves connected with something else and include it as part of themselves. Rising Sun is named that because, in her culture, she is thought to be both this body and the sun itself. As must be the case with Little Moon and the moon itself.
Is everypony in Skaros like this or are these two special? If they have a whole system of pronouns dedicated to this concept I must assume that this extends just beyond these two ponies. The problem is that I only know of two other ponies from Skaros and both of them are buried.
Should I bring them up now? Is it too soon? Would talking about their parents just be painful or would it be a catharsis? I am not good with ponies and little ponies are even more of an enigma. I know after my parents died I buried myself in my work for months afterwards.
I must know, though. Curiosity is now weighing more heavily upon my shoulders than empathy. There is a puzzle before me and it must be solved.
“Mutra Cer…?” I will ask this softly and with a heavy heart.
They both gestured up at the sky after a moment.
“Averlas…Ire.” Rising Sun picked up some dirt with her hoof and let it fall back down.
The name of their other parent: Ire.
Ire - ee-reh - Earth/ground
“Ken Cel et Ire medentan, liuflasam kumamtan. Ez per celiredun nit celusastis celuleunel mutratelfetam.”
Thank the heavens for my good ear and quick writing ability. That is an extremely loaded sentence. Knowing how dense their language is, I can only assume this is akin to a full paragraph. This is not as daunting as Cer’s final message at least, but it is still intimidating.
I will figure it out later.
Spring, Twenty-Seventh Day of the Third Moon, Year of Peace
I went back into the caves today and found a way down to the leyline itself through a variety of very tight passages. Thank the stars above for my slim frame or else I might not have fit. I have retrieved a sample of the pure mana that flows through the veins of the earth. It is just as pink and brilliant as the blood I saw the other day.
Just fascinating.
To test that I had not slipped into some parallel world where pure mana was not a dangerous substance, I put a drop of it on my exposed hoof. The tingling and shock was enough to make my head go fuzzy. So yes, having this as blood would be extremely hazardous. But I saw it with my own eyes. I felt Cer cast that spell on me and the power behind it.
What their capacity for magic must be…I would hazard a guess that they are some of the most magical things on the planet. How dangerous.
I cannot tell anypony back home. Not until I can be absolutely sure that they will not be used as weapons or harmed. It is hard to say what the warmongers that reside in the palace might see them as. It will either be threats or tools and they are neither. They are just little fillies and they should be treated as such, not anything else.
At the same time, I worry about bringing them home for other reasons. Their parents are both gone now, but I know nothing about their home. I do not know if I should try to bring them to Skaros, keep them here, or some other option.
It is imperative that I translate Cer’s message. Tomorrow I will ask them for their help, no matter how much it may hurt.
- Starswirl
—-Addendum—-
I am down in their cave and they finally let me put up a shield to keep them from the harsh sea air. I have also found that they pushed their beds together since the day Cer came here. I suppose for comfort.
I have learned two more words at the behest of Little Moon.
Kiz - keez - Story
Kizelis - keez-eh-lees - literally ‘place where stories are’ but we shall just call it a book.
I am being asked to read them both a bedtime story.
I think I will tell them the story of the ancient unicorn king who befriended the wild earth pony stallion. I think it is appropriate given the circumstances. They may not understand my words, but I’m sure with the help of my magic I can illustrate some of it for them.