//------------------------------// // Day 4: Around Town // Story: Phase Shift // by redtau //------------------------------// Notes on a new world day 4 My hosts, who I've taken to referring to by their color, have proven intelligent and generous. Purple seems to be the smartest and has subjected me to a battery of simple tests, some physical, some magical, and recording volumes of data on me. Sadly, dispite our best efforts we have not been able to comunicate verbally. Purple is some kind of writer, but he has a tendancy to use his little dragon to burn letters he doesn't like. I wonder what the criteria is for burnable since he clearly throws away a number of pages in the trash can. Blue is the most athletic and is somehow in charge of the weather. I was amazed to see him pushing around clouds the other day. He seems most interested in physical comparisons and the least patient when trying to bridge the comunication barrier. There are times where, when I have not wanted to test my strength against his, I have been intentionaly unhelpful with comunication. Orange is warry of me, more so than most of the others. I suspect something in his past prejudices him against either outsiders or the unusual. Not that I blame him. I still refuse to take food from him on principal, often swaping whatever I am given for what he is eating. I do it randomly though, so as to prevent a double swap. Pink is..... energetic. He bakes, something I have learned to love in the last few days, but is more social than I can normally deal with. I get the impression he is suggesting something to Purple about me, but Purple keeps shooting him down. Strangely though I have even less ability to comunicate clearly with Pink he is the one most likely to understand my requests. His giberish and my giberish must mix in his head and come out making sense somehow. Yellow is shy, but friendly. He takes care of animals, and brought a few over for me to meet. Most are nice, but that rabbit has a bad attitude. He is startlingly quiet, and more than once I have be startled by his appearance when I thought I was alone. White is a tailor. He was more interested in my clothing than me. I get the sense that, next to Purple, he is the most frustrated by the language barrier. Once or twice he has shown me fashion magazines, but I don't know if he wants me to dress up in his fashion or give him tips on mine. Finally there is the dragon. Young, childish, a little chubby, and tough. Purple seems to use it to burn up documents he doesn't like. It She seems very attached to White, though White is somewhat oblivious to her advances. She is the most like me in structure, posessing dexterous claws and a non-vegitarian apetite. That last bit is something I'll have to broach sooner or later, one can only eat so many eggs. Without written or verbal communication things have been going slow. I've managed to work out a few simple pictograms for food, water, rest, etc, and carry a small chalkboard, chalk and eraser with me everywhere. I've proven to the ponies that I'm not a threat, at least when I'm not threatened, and today they are going to show me around town. I put up my journal and gave Purple the thumbs up. He had been impatiently waiting for the last twenty minutes for me to get ready to go. He and the lizard were escorting me around town, hoping to keep me out of trouble and safe from ponies who jump to conclusions. First was the market. I was a pretty big attention draw, standing nearly a head taller than most of the other ponies. The conversation around me made me feel more like a pet being shown off than a friend, and I glared at one or two ponies who tried to pet me. From the way Purple was talking I got the sense he was repeating the same story over and over again. Not able to communicate very well, I settled into the fallback of diplomats everywhere: smile and wave. I did get to see at least one friendly face. Orange's sister, a large red mare that I wanted to call Big Red, was minding a cart full of apples. The little brother was there too, and he ran up to say hello. He offered me an apple, first taking a bite out of it. "" Purple asked, watching me accept the apple and eat it easily. "" "" "" the lizard chimed in. We went by the more permanent shops after. Bookstores, clock makers, the works. I pointed curiously to a shop that seemed to sell sofas and quills, and nothing else. "" Purple said, as I conveyed my confusion over how such a store could stay open more than one week. The blacksmith proved to be quite a learning experience as I watched a burly pony operate the forge without the aid of magic. Next stop was White's home/ buisness, a three story botique. Inside was filled with what I could only assume was high fashion for ponies. Having seen the more rural life many lived here I didn't think there would be much call for such extravagent garments around town. Then again, most of the ponies I'd seen walked around completely naked. White was there, and even had a timid little brother to introduce to us. "" White instructed. The little one edged closer and made soft greeting sounds, so I smiled and waved. At that point I noticed something. While White had a tattoo or brand of some kind, this younger one did not. I pointed to the three blue diamond's on White's side, making an inquiring motion. "