I opened my eyes... to see two very unfamiliar faces. I stared at them. ...They stared back.
...
.....
A silence descended between us. My mind was hyperactive yet numb at the same time. The countless questions that raced in my mind were silenced by the moments of confusion and shock between me and these.... things. First things first. 'What are these animals?' My mind scrambled in that direction, but made almost as little progress.
'Are they wild? No; if they were, they would have ran the second I made the abrupt motion of sitting up. Are they tamed?' In a millisecond's time, I glanced over them. That was all it took: a tactician must be able to take all his circumstances in at a moment's notice. I immediately noticed symbols toward their rears, but I couldn't make them out clearly from this distance. 'Signs of branding - of ownership? Different symbols... different owners? Why would they be tamed to begin with?'
Something clicked. '...They look like horses, somewhat - one of them has a horn! Perhaps, perhaps they're a type of foreign mount: some hybrid of horse and pegasi? It would explain the horn, and the odd colors, but where would they come from? Maybe one of the northern or southern continents Chrom and I didn't explor-' My mind ran a thousand miles in five seconds to hit a brick wall.
"CHROM! Gods, where are you!?" I shouted. I hastily stood up and simultaneously began to thoroughly scan my surroundings. My mind swiftly took count of what I saw in order: 'Grass, fields, shocked and scared horse-pegasi things (understandable), trees - apple trees, barn, house (possible inhabitants?), gate (to a town?), angry and threatening horse-pegasi things - wait what?' I averted my sight from my surroundings to specifically the hybrids. My mind ran into another brick wall; I gulped. 'I'm standing on somebody's farm - no, trespassing on somebody's farm. The two animals are probably owned by the farm's owner(s), and based on the lowered fighting stance and expressions pointed at me, they are most likely trained to defend against trespassers, and I currently am one. Great...' I lowered my own stance and prepared to brace myself for the charge of two horses.
The hybrid with a horn - a shade of purple, probably resulting from a cross between a horse and Dark Pegasus - began to move it's mouth. What happened next pretty much made my mind break.
"St- stand down and surrender, or I will have to use force to subdue you if necessary," it said.
I blinked. 'Who said that?...' I instinctively looked around, expecting to find its owner somewhere I didn't notice before, but I saw nothing. 'Is she behind me?' I glanced over my shoulder. 'Nothing.' I slowly drew my gaze back in front of me. My brain could not process that this horse thing had spoken. The purple creature leveled its horn at me.
"I w-won't ask again!" The quivering female voice again sounded from its mouth. My mind would not, and could not comprehend that this thing could speak, so it settled on a distant, although not completely unrelated conclusion. 'She sounds kind of like Lissa...'
After a moment, the other hybrid (which didn't have a horn and was orange, confusing me to no end) turned to the purple one and opened its mouth. Another voice echoed from it, saying, "Twi, Ah've never seen anythang like this thing befur. There's a good chance that it doesn' understand us." This voice sounded oddly like a female version of Donnel.
Besides those two thoughts, my mind was in turmoil; nothing I knew about horses or pegasi was adding up anymore. Every idea was more ludicrous than the last, until one last rational conclusion appeared like a ray of sunlight from Naga and comforted me (thank the gods I took the time to talk to Panne more). 'These are Taguel! Panne mentioned races other than her own! Since the Shepherds never traveled to the northern or southern continents, there may very well be Taguel settlements we don't know about! These Taguel probably turn into horses, pegasi, or hybrids created through cross-breeding. ...Did the orange one just say she's never seen a human before? Gods, I knew Taguel were secluded, but leaving their coming-of-age generation completely uneducated about mankind?... It seems pretty ignorant. Either way, I'll have to be careful unless I want yet another international incident on Chrom's hands. It's now or never...'
I began to speak up. "Hello? Excuse me; sorry, I don't mean to trespass on your land, but I'm quite lost. Where am I, exactly?"
The two Taguel loosened up a bit, but went completely slackjawed in the process.
"Did it just politely ask why it's on mah farm?"
"Did it just apologize for trespassing?"
I was still confused, but apparently it was up to me to explain a situation we all didn't understand, starting with my gender. "Again, I'm sorry for trespassing." I raised my hands up to shoulder level, palms facing them, to show I meant no harm. "But I am what's known as a human. And I am male; I would... prefer to be referred to as such, thank you." 'Be as diplomatic as possible; I can remember most of what Panne told me about Taguel society, but I don't know how hers could differ from these Taguels'.'
Seeing that they wouldn't respond immediately, I put my hands down and continued speaking. "Based on your voices, I can only assume that both of you are female." I went out on a limb to make myself appear less ignorant, maybe get on their good side. "And based on your appearances, I can only guess that I'm looking at two of the three races that live here." I mentally noted the three supposed races I concluded earlier: 'There are horse Taguel, pegasi Taguel, and hybrid Taguel (probably)... I wonder, is there any societal discord between the races? I'll figure that out soon enough; there's a horse and a hybrid - two separate races - right in front of me.'
The two Taguel looked me over again; I immediately stood up straighter. I figured that as long as I was here, I should make a good impression as they don't seem familiar with humans. I must have looked pretty foreign in my signature garb: black clothing and robes, the inside lined with purple, the outside laced with gold. For protection, I wore a chestplate and greaves that extended up to my thighs, the joints intricately forged to allow completely unimpeded movement. Pauldrons were carefully attached to the robe, which had two layers: the upper layer was blue; it extended from below my chest up to a cylindrical shape that covered my neck. The layer beneath was black with stripes of purple running down its outside; this layer ran beneath the blue layer and almost as high, but continued downward almost to my feet. The robes' sleeves were adjusted to reach centimeters beyond my wrists when my arms were held at my sides. The entire set was forged and tailored by Ylissean blacksmiths and Plegian artisans, respectively: the blue layer, armor, and other intricate designs were added on Chrom's orders to formally represent my position as Ylisse's Royal Tactician and, in his words, "the best damn strategist he's ever seen". The fact that the original robes were tailored specifically by Plegia's best for me was somewhat disturbing, due to my origins, but nevertheless, the outfit was comfortable and functional. It felt somewhat metaphoric: that Chrom's ragtag royal army, the Shepherds, grew enough to unite the known world with my help, so I get to wear this outfit that was created by some of the world's best craftsmen. It held no political significance in this land as it did in my own, but its regal flair was quite enough to indicate at least some significance of my social position.
This clearly had an effect on the direction our conversation took, but we still had to start out slow. Fortunately, the air seemed much less hostile at this point.
The purple Taguel started to talk. "Well, that would be correct. Oh Celestia, I already have so many questions right now-"
"Well, let's start off simple," the orange one cut in, "what's yer name?"
I smiled and loosened up a bit; despite my extensive knowledge of warfare among other things, I've always preferred honest and simple conversation.
"Robin. My name's Robin."
She nodded. "The name's Applejack. This 'ere is Twilight Sparkle. She's one of mah friends and the personal protegee of the Princess." She put an almost imperceptible emphasis on "princess" and flashed me an expectant look. I got the message. 'Right. Don't mess with the private student of a foreign dignitary.' I responded with an equally imperceptible nod; she picked it up just as easily.
"I understand, Applejack." I noticed Twilight. "...Miss Sparkle, would you like to ask something?"
By this point, the purple Taguel looked like she was about to burst with too many questions.