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// Membership 
// Story: Foreigner 
// by Salnax 
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	It bothered Terra that she had been living with the Aqua and Cream Mares for a couple of weeks now, but she still could not really understand what they called themselves. Aqua Mare was called something like “La” and Cream Mare was “Buhbuh,” but she simply couldn’t keep track of all the sounds. She could barely keep track of her designation, “Tra” or something like that. Terra got in the habit of assuming that anything starting with a “Tr” sound was likely to be a call for attention of sorts, and so far this seemed to have worked well. And her attempts to respond with their names were, if not successful, at least recognized and appreciated.
Apparently, the damage on her leg was worse than she had realized at time, because everypony insisted that she give it first a few days in the hospital and now another two weeks resting at the duo’s home to heal. For the past dozen or so days, Terra had spent most of her time in a large bed, big enough for the two mares. When she was hungry, Cream Mare would bring some delicious sweet things, or Aqua Mare would bring a less tasty yet still appetizing morsel, sometimes a less fresh version of one of Cream Mare’s treats. 	When the mares had time available, they attempted to amuse Terra in a variety of ways. Cream Mare would bring small toys, picture books, and stuffed animals, and try to play with her while chatting. Terra merely tolerated the toys, and struggled with the picture books thanks to her poor coordination with either mouth or hoof, but she gratefully spent hours with the stuffed animals. Those had reassuring textures, took a variety of fantastical forms, and, when Cream Mare was not looking, they had interesting tastes. For some reason, Cream Mare thought it was wrong to chew on things other than food, despite carrying things around in her mouth. Odd.
Aqua Mare sometimes followed her friend’s method of interaction, but she brought along her own variety of activities. For one, sometimes she would play her string instrument. It was also called something like “La,” which puzzled Terra to no end. Did ponies intentionally make this complicated, was it a coincidence, or was the instrument named after Aqua Mare? Whatever the instrument was called, Terra soon came to appreciate it. She could not always put all the notes together, but she could recognize organization and beauty when she heard it. Aqua Mare shared victory, despair, mourning, love, anger, and anarchy with that piece of metal with bits of strings.
Aqua Mare’s other major way of entertaining Terra, though amusing, confused her to no end. What were these biped “hms” exactly? Terra was shown countless pictures of these two-legged freaks and their artifacts, but she, quite frankly, didn’t get it. What exactly did humans do? Where were they? Why should she care? 
Cream Mare would sometimes work together with Aqua Mare together when spending time with Terra, but for some reason, whenever “hmns” came up, she would let Aqua Mare take charge. If Terra had to guess, Cream Mare had the same questions as she did, but also like Terra, enjoyed her time with Aqua Mare anyway.
One time, the trio of fillies that had discovered Terra alongside Aqua Mare came over. They just started jumping around and babbling even more incomprehensibly than the typical pony. Even they were a bit bigger than Terra, and she had been more injured at the time, so their company, although appreciated as a gesture of friendliness, was frightening. Fortunately, Aqua Mare seemed to recognize this, and rushed to distract the trio with some of Cream Mare’s treats.
All in all, things were not going the way she expected, but they were going well. The two mares had found a place in their home for Terra, the fillies seemed to be on her side, and despite the looks from ponies on the first day, there was no sign of trouble.
Her plans could be adjusted accordingly.
******
“Terra, wake up!”
Terra made a small moaning sound, and then pushed herself around with her forelegs. Lyra noted how she no longer made a habit of avoiding any pressure on her bandaged leg. Honestly, it was a miracle that it only took a couple of weeks to heal.
Terra looked straight into Lyra’s eyes, and then, at her mouth. Terra made a nasty look, but then raised her hooves to her cheeks, pressing upwards.
“Oh, you’re smiling back,” said Lyra. “I know you have trouble smiling yourself, but it’s great that you understand them and want to return them at least.”
While saying this, Lyra continued smiling at patted Terra on the head with her hoof. Unfortunately, Terra hadn’t made much progress with speaking or understanding language. This did not stop Lyra from trying though, by combining language with simple gestures that she did understand.
“Are you ready? Today’s the day you go back to the clinic to get you cast removed. And then we’re meeting Twilight Sparkle and Nurse Redheart to talk about your problems.” Using her magic, Lyra picked up a picture she had drawn using a set of crayons earlier. It portrayed a smiling grayish-blue filly with a cast sitting on the ground next to her. There were also pictures of a white earth pony and a purple unicorn.
Terra grabbed the picture with her hooves, frowning in concentration as she stared at it. After a few moments, she looked back up at Lyra and smiled. For real this time.
Breakfast was always a pleasant affair at the Heartstrings household, as Lyra proudly named it shortly after the two became an item. Bon Bon tolerated the name, despite being the original owner, which was good enough for her. Terra usually ate in the bed they slept in before she came around, but today, they had her sit at the table. She was confused at first by the concept of asking for more morning buns before taking any, but by her third bun, she got the hang of the matter.
One other thing that had once taken Terra some time to understand was Lyra’s choice in beverages. Whereas Terra and Bon Bon drank orange juice with their buns, Lyra drank salt water, a personal favorite. The first time Terra tasted some, taking a glass from an absentminded Lyra during a group lunch in bed, she vomited all the place, and had to be moved to the couch for the rest of the day. It had been hard to convince her to trust their taste in food again.
Lyra and Bon Bon appreciated their breakfasts together. As a professional musician, Lyra often worked late, whereas Bon Bon, who split her time between making sweets at home and working part time at Sugarcube Corner, often had to wake up before the crack of dawn. Although this conveniently meant that Terra always was sharing the house with somepony during her two week stay, it did mean that the duo came to treasure their time together.
“So how are the Cakes and Pinkie Pie doing?” asked Lyra.
“Oh, the Cakes are doing great. Carrot and Cup have reached a point in their professional lives where they are secure enough to spend some time with their foals yet capable of dealing with emergencies as they rise up. Plus, Pinkie Pie is their official sitter, so they are able to go out and have some alone time when necessary. And the foals are doing great! I’m sure Terra here will have fun playing with them when they get older.”
Terra looked up for a second, reacting to the sound of her name, but realizing that she was merely mentioned, went back to her bun and juice.
“You never mentioned Pinkie Pie” said Lyra. She was on her fourth bun, and was drinking some salted water with it.
“Well… she’s been polite.”
“From the way you said it, she hasn’t.”
“Oh, she’s been perfectly nice! It’s just… usually, when we work together, Pinkie will try to get me involved in a song, or pull some prank, or pour flour on me to entertain the foals. But for the past couple of weeks, she’s been talking to me a lot less, and hasn’t tried to invite me to any surprise parties or anything like that. She’s just acted like an ideal worker.”
“The Cakes must be thrilled.”
“They were at first, but I think they realize that something is wrong. They asked me if I knew anything, but of course I didn’t. Any ideas Lyra?”
Lyra started to answer no, but then she thought for a moment. “Pinkie hasn’t thrown a party for Terra, or even barged in to see her. This is a pony who celebrated the babies’ birthdays the day they were born. I can’t think of any reason why Terra would have scared off Pinkie, but maybe you should talk to her about it.”
Once again, Terra looked up, realized she was not a part of the conversation, and then sipped her juice.
“I’ll talk to her about it tomorrow after work,” replied Bon Bon. "Today, we are going to get Terra’s cast off and show her around town. We’re going to go to Town Hall and sign her adoption papers. And then we're going to talk to Cheerilee about Terra’s education.”
******
The walk to Nurse Redheart’s infirmary was reminiscent, Lyra thought. For one thing, ponies that had only heard of Terra, or had only briefly seen her on her trip to and from the clinic, were curious about the young filly. The variety of bandages and the cast on her leg only served to draw more attention. Terra, on her part, was only somewhat calmer than she had been the last time, and for that, Lyra couldn’t blame her. She had spent the past few weeks around only Bon Bon and her, plus a couple of visits from Nurse Redheart to check her progress. Seeing all these new faces, male and female, young and old, must have been a shock in addition to being a reminder of the last time she walked through town. At least she was brought to the Heartstrings residence by carriage.
Fortunately though, the trip to the infirmary passed without incident. There, Terra was greeted by an enthusiastic Nurse Redheart and Twilight Sparkle. While Nurse Redheart went into an examination room, Twilight Sparkle gave her theories about Terra’s origins and dilemmas.
“According to the records I requested from Canterlot, it turns out that there were reports of a runaway filly on the railroad as early as two weeks before you found Terra. However, there are no records of any families missing a filly of her age and color. Of course, based on my previous hypothesis, any guardians are probably dead. Based on her size, I’d say she’s just barely old enough to attend school, making her younger than Apple Bloom and her friends by about a year. Seeing as her injuries and malnourishment were fairly recent, there is little reason to suspect they’ve stunted her growth.”
“But why can’t she talk?” asked Bon Bon. “Even when she tries to pick up new words, it’s as if she doesn’t hear all the sounds or something.”
“That’s because she doesn’t.”
“What?” cried Lyra. “She’s not deaf!”
“I never said she was. Look,” Twilight said, trying to calm the duo down, “I think Terra has a condition similar to color blindness. You know how some ponies can’t see certain colors, or have trouble distinguishing between them? Well, my theory, based on the tests we did during her first days here and Nurse Redheart’s reports, is that Terra has trouble distinguishing between similar and adjacent sounds. She can hear everything just fine, but her brain deemphasizes sounds to the extent that she has troubles separating syllables, or detecting inflections. If anything, it’s like a pony being near sighted or permanently numb. Her sense of hearing simply isn’t as developed.”
“The good news,” Twilight continued, hoping to reassure the pair, “Is that Terra probably has other improved senses to compensate for her lack of hearing finesse. For example, you know how she likes touching you two? If I had to guess, she has a more refined sense of touch than most ponies. Is there anything else she does that suggests she has enhanced senses?”
Bon Bon thought about how Terra kept on chewing on stuffed animals when she thought she wasn’t looking. Lyra thought about how violently Terra reacted to her salt water. The two lovers looked at each other.
“Taste” they said together.
“Well, there you go. She’ll probably grow up to be a fine chef like you someday Bon Bon.”
At this point, the front door of the clinic burst open. In came Mayor Mare, holding a bundle of papers in her mouth, grinning like she had just won her reelection a few months early.
“Ms. Mare!” yelped Twilight Sparkle. “I thought Lyra and Bon Bon were going to meet you later!”
“Well, I decided to have my lunch break early, and realized that you all ought to still be here. Besides, it’s not everyday Ponyville gets a new resident. Remember what happened when you moved in, Twilight Sparkle?”
“I’ll have you know that it was just a visit at the time. I was going to deal with the celebration and go.”
“But you made friends here. And that’s the Ponyville charm in a nutshell. If any town can befriend a stranger in a moment’s notice, it’s Ponyville. After all, what did the first pony you met here do?”
“She threw me a party.”
“And the second pony?”
“She and her family gave me a free lunch”
“And the third?”
“Gave me a bad hair day.”
“Well… two out of three isn’t that bad!”
The door to the examination room slowly opened. Out came a completely bandage-less Terra, followed by a smiling Nurse Redheart.
“I’m glad to say that Terra is perfectly fine.”
“YES! NOW WE CAN HUNT DOWN HUMANS AS A TEAM!” shouted Lyra in a fair impression of the Royal Canterlot Voice.
“I recommend she take it easy for a few da-”
“TOGETHER, WE WILL RECOVER THEIR CIVILIZATION AND DISCOVER THEIR LOST TREASURES!!!”
Terra had a smile on her face, so enthused she was by her recovery and guardian’s joy. Everypony else in the room stared at Lyra stoically.
“Or I could wait until she asks if she wants to come along,” Lyra conceded.
There was a collective sigh of relief. Mayor Mare put her papers down on the counter.
“I’ve filled out most of the nitty gritty stuff. Consider that to be your bribe to reelect me in a couple of months. All you have to do is sign in about a dozen places each”
Lyra held a pen with her magic while she signed the papers, before handing it over to Bon Bon, who did the same thing with her mouth.
“Congratulations you two. You are now the legal guardians of this young filly.”
And there was much rejoicing.
******
Terra realized that life was going to be different when she was considered healed. What she didn’t expect were for the changes to come so soon. After leaving the examination room, she discovered Aqua Mare and Cream Mare talking to Purple Unicorn and Brown Leader. 
Aqua Mare’s cheering was encouraging, if a bit loud, but what happened next confused Terra. Her two hostesses took turns marking some papers with what appeared to be a crayon of sorts. Then everypony in the room started cheering.  
Lyra and Bon Bon rushed to Terra, putting their forelegs around her. A couple of weeks ago, Terra would have assumed this was an attack. But that did not make sense in this context; the two had never shown any inclination to cause harm.
They were blabbering again. Why were they blabbering now? It sounded different from normal… wait. Was that the taste of salt water? It was coming down their faces… oh they were crying.
Whatever had happened was big enough to make them lose control of themselves in front of a pony that they were used to giving support to. However, the fact that they let their guard down around her suggested that she was welcome in whatever they were going through.
That was it.
She was welcome.
Terra didn’t understand this place. She didn’t know why these two mares lived together in a building with just one bed, or how the hierarchy worked when the leader came down here to do business with the common, or why they would be so accepting of a complete stranger. This place almost definitely had an even worse understanding of her. But they welcomed her into their lives. No one had done that for a long time.
And for the first time since she arrived in Ponyville, Terra cried.