Entry 21
Rather than continue on my previous entry, I'm just going to start a new one even though It's still the same day. The sun has since set, and I've fully unpacked and have been given a bed on the second floor of Peaches' cottage. First off, an explanation:
Earlier when I had first arrived at the cottage, I was attacked by Rainbow, the blue coated, rainbow haired pegasus. Charged at, actually, when she showed up at the cottage.
What I can tell from the incident is that my presence is definitely unknown to the other ponies, or at least Peaches did not tell others that I was coming to the cottage today. The very aggressive behavior Rainbow displayed brings up a few questions: Is Peaches a particularly important pony, or is Rainbow just overprotective? Are they sisters or is there some greater social reason? I have no way to establish a hypothesis at this time. The vastly different color schemes between the two pegasi makes it unlikely that they are blood related. Although stallions can sire multiple mares, I have no way of finding out the social norms on this issue or lineage to see whether or not the the pegasi are related. To that end, where are the male ponies? Is it normal for a female to be living alone?
But going back to the incident itself, I have to admit that watching the two ponies' interactions was interesting. Peaches not only stopped Rainbow's attack, but then displayed dominance over the blue pegasus after she did so. (Peaches: Ears up and head held high, whinnied strongly and spoke sternly; Rainbow: ears down and eyes averted, whinnied strongly when attacking but spoke softly after being stopped.) Is it possible that the ponies have developed a matriarchal society? Where do Peaches and Rainbow fit? Indeed, the six ponies I've observed thus far have all been assumed to be female, and with zero presence of males thus far, it would be difficult for me to know with full certainty at this time.
There was much chatter that was obviously about me, since they would glance at me every so often. So I decided to busy myself and found a calendar on a nearby wall. Flipping through it, I've found that it was composed of several pages that displayed grid formations that were differed in number between 28 and 32 "days". The first six boxes of the current “month” were crossed out, not entirely different from how people mark off days that passed. There was also evidence at the top of the calendar of pages being ripped off and on the leading edge of the bind were scraps of paper.
What I assumed was the local language written on the calendar had no likeness to any human form. Not Greek, Latin, Arabic, Chinese/Eastern characters, Sanskrit, cuneiform or western-style alphabet. At first glance it just looks like scribbles.
I was unable to fully investigate at the time because I felt my shirt tugged at, and upon turning around, Peaches' pet rabbit was staring at me. I decided to stare back, but I've become worried because of his intense glare: I think the pet rabbit knows that I've eaten his kind during my time in the forest. He hasn't done or said anything to Peaches yet, so I'll have to keep an eye on him.
Later I was given a chance to shower and clean up. I've discovered that ponies have indoor plumbing since a bathtub and sink were present, as well as a toilet. They were constructed of wood and porcelain. My appearance in the bathroom mirror looked less than stunning. I guess I looked like a wild animal with the way my hair's gotten disheveled and long. Of course even at the age of 18 I've still yet to grow facial hair, so I didn't have the need to shave, though I hoped that living outdoors would change that. Oh well.
When I came out of the shower, it seemed that Peaches had also washed my clothes for me. She was scrubbing my dirty clothes using a washboard, and it looked like she had gone through my bag to get them all. I can't really be angry, and it's not like I'm a super personal person, anyways. It took some time to convey that I was thankful to her for that. I'm surprised that she recognized the meaning of “thumbs up.” Perhaps she's acquainted with other sentient animals with opposable thumbs?
In her pony language Peaches called all the animals to dinner and also brought me to the table to eat as well. Dinner consisted of vegetables like lettuce, tomatoes, green beans, spinach, mushrooms, carrots, and assorted fruits and nuts, all of which were cooked in a variety of ways. This was made possible by a well stocked kitchen that comprised of an iron-style stove and oven. The animals ate a variety of pet food in bowls and dishes of vegetables/fruits/nuts.
So far I've seen that she has squirrels, mice, chipmunks, chickens, cats, rabbits, badgers, a number of birds like blue jays, robins, a flamingo, buzzard, eagle, hawk, and other animals I don't know the names of.
As for sleeping arrangements, I'm settled right now in what looks like a guest bed set up on the second floor in the hallway that the stairs immediately leads up to, across from Peaches' bedroom. The area is well sized, about 20' x 20' with a stone chimney and a queen-sized bed with a wooden backboard. The sheets are decorated with butterflies and in fact all of the room's decorations give off an all around feminine feeling. I've been provided a lamp that uses fireflies for a surprisingly bright light. But for writing purposes, it's not the best. On the desk that the lamp is on there is a shelf of books that I'll read through to try to find out more about the pony language tomorrow.
Entry 22
It's been at least four or so months since I last slept indoors and in a soft, warm bed. I almost cried. Didn't, but I'll at least admit that I shed a tear or two.
I'm a bit embarrassed about what I wrote last night. What I thought was the guest room was actually Peaches' room. And the room I thought was hers upon sneaking a peek...was actually a linen closet. In fact, now that I've been able to have a better look around the cottage with the sun up, I've realized that the entire top floor is just a single bedroom. I never would have guessed that she would have me sleep in the same bed as her, and if I had known I would have slept on the couch.
I felt a mix of apprehension and wariness. First, I was unsure if this is the local practice. Herd animals, like some human tribes, are communal and the idea of the western point of view on private property and individualism and privacy in general is quite different or sometimes completely unheard of. Although admittedly only the most isolated of groups can sustain that way of life because international corporations often take advantage of tribal land usage to parcel up areas for their own development. The pervasiveness of new ideas that stems from group interaction and development of cities that lure the youth from jungles and rural forests as well as the bringing of technology to tribes has also changed them
Then again, Peaches could just be thinking of me as just another animal she's picked up, hence the almost motherly treatment she's been providing me that's similar toward the other animals. The only difference is that she's more able to communicate with her pet rabbit, or the squirrels or birds, as though they truly and mutually understand one another, but not with me.
Could this be because of the fact that ponies are animals as well? But then what is the definition of sentience, since humans are mammals just like horses and cats and dogs. There are stories and instances of mediums and psychics being able to talk to animals, and other stories of animals and their owners understanding one another. Maybe it's that “animal sense” that most humans just don't have? Can all ponies talk with animals, or is Peaches an exception? That begs the question of why and how ponies are as far as I can tell thus far, the dominant species.
Anyways, today was relatively uneventful. Before I had a chance to look through the books like I said before, Peaches introduced me to meet her animals (She would gesture between myself and the particular animal. It appears she gave me a name like I did for her, though I wasn't able to take note of what she said my name was, or the pony equivalent for the names of animals, or if she was calling those animals by personalized names she gave them) and gave a guided tour around the cottage, though out of sight of the dirt road, remaining in her back yard. I'll make sure to make a more comprehensive list of the animals tomorrow.
Breakfast consisted of pancakes with honey syrup, with a side of fruit and juice, while lunch and dinner were more or less the same as yesterday. Though I tried to insist that I wanted to sleep on the couch, It looks like I'll be sleeping in the bed again tonight.
Entry 23
All of today I tried to write a list of animals that live at Peaches' cottage, and every time that damn rabbit rips the page right out of the journal! I'll give up for now, until I can secure another source of paper and figure out a way to get that rodent out of my hair! It wouldn't be prudent to bring it up with his owner, since I wouldn't doubt that she might think it's a petty squabble. A precedent is available of when she had me meet a bear today. It gave me a hug after she said something and even though I was screaming and hollering to tell her to get it off of me or at least loosen its grip, she just sat there and smiled.
Breakfast, lunch and dinner were generally the same. By the way, I actually managed to persuade Peaches, with lots of miming, to let me sleep on the couch last night. But I woke up to find her sleeping with me, anyways.
Entry 24
I suspect Peaches is a scout of some kind. Maybe part of a frontier garrison?
Her cottage is situated close to the forest, far from any other sort of pony home. There is a dirt road that leads away and out of sight that looks quite well used. I can tell that there are a number of hoofprints tracking through it, some that look quite recent. Looking at the cottage itself, the moss and abundant use of vegetation gives it a very “nature” feel. If it weren't for the suspiciously large and diverse population of woodland creatures hanging around outside, I might not have noticed the cottage until we got very close to it when I was first brought here. This camouflage might be the reason I haven't seen other houses. There could be a hamlet of like-designs down the dirt road for all I know.
Peaches herself is also a very curious character. At first I thought she was just a curious pony who had noticed my presence, but her ability to stop Rainbow's sudden attack a few days ago makes me think she commands great respect from the other ponies. Or at least with Rainbow. She'd also have to be brave to be able to approach a two legged creature like me, someone unlike any of her animals or ponies she may have come across before. It'd be ethnocentric of me if I assumed they were part of some chain in command. Or even if ponies fought wars or, beyond being protective of friends/family, if they fight at all. Ponies aren't humans after all, so who's to say that they too would suffer the pains of jealousy, pride, spitefulness, hate, greed? Not only is there no proof of the existence of an army, what's to say that the ponies simply export those jobs to larger, stronger creatures? Again, no proof of that either
Entry 25
I've tried several times now to leave the cottage, and every time Peaches tries to stop me. Sometimes with the help of her rabbit, other times it seemed as though she's just on watch all the time. She would corral me just as I get close to the dirt road, or keep me busy tending to the animals with her in the backyard. But most of the time she'd try to simply keep me inside of the cottage. I'll play along since she's letting me sift through the books in exchange for not going out. I've managed to take note of a few other pegasi flying about the area by peeking through the window and noticed that there is a male gardener that passes by every so often to tend to the flowers at the front. Old looking, too. Does my staying here present some sort of hazard for her?
Entry 26
I've been looking through the books at the cottage, and I can't make heads or tails of their writing. No matter how long I stare at the pages, it still literally looks like scribbles to me. One long, unending scribble after the other, with loops and arched points.
Maybe pony writing looks this way because they write with their mouths? Anatomically speaking, the ponies are pretty similar to the ones back home, horns and wings aside. It's not like they can pick things up specifically with their hooves. Peaches uses her mouth for most of everything and holds things on her front ankles like a person would their wrist to carry and pull things. She also has saddlebags that she can place on her back and put things into the pockets.
How do I ask Peaches to write something for me so I can study it?
--
June-ish
Entry 28
My decision to voluntarily do chores around the cottage has been working out handsomely. It gives me an opportunity to go outside, works off my cabin fever, as well as it ingratiates some trust with Peaches. Not to mention that I feel it's just common courtesy as thanks for taking me into her home. Even if her reasons for doing so are still hard to figure out. I do lots of farm things: tending to chickens in coop, collecting eggs, repairing broken fence, catching fish that she takes to give to ferrets that live under her bridge. I would take the opportunity to try to have her teach me some pony words, but without any success. She simply smiles and nods as though I'm trying to affirm what she wants me to do.
All the while Peaches seems to be singing or humming some sort of tune. I remember there were times I would listen to music and not pay attention to the lyrics, enjoying the rhythm and sound from the instruments and the singer nonetheless. Her voice is soft and obviously charming to the animals as they eagerly approach her wherever she goes.
Entry 29
Started working on studying books without pictures.
Peaches has apparently come to think of it as me being cute, and has thus started a sort of story-time for all the animals and reads from a book with myself and the animals forming a circle around her. The animals seem to enjoy it, but I've yet to understand a thing she says. Although I can feel certain energies from the way she reads, just like a librarian would reading to a group of kids. The use of facial expressions, volume and body gestures synch up with the book. Of course Peaches is using a book with pictures, so whenever she shows the page she read off of, I can glean the gist of what the story is about.
The one she read today was about a princess pony in a tower. The art is quite good, and vividly colored like any other kid's book I've seen, so it looks like ponies have adapted to not having hands and opposable thumbs much better than I thought. The writing is still scribblish, but much shorter than I've seen in other books. I guess that reflects the simpler usage of vocabulary.
There is a dragon involved, probably keeping the princess hostage. The ongoing theory of dragons stems from early discovery of dinosaur fossils, and primitive humans created elaborate stories that often led to myths of giant humans and monsters existing, and ferocious dragons came about all over the world. Another is that the image of a dragon is a culmination of large cats, birds of prey, and large reptiles/lizards that attacked early man as their only known predator. This gives me hints that both humans and ponies have great usage of imagination as they've developed over time.
Next, an armored stallion (a larger, masculine character design compared to the princess) arrives and starts to fight the dragon. The fact that an armored stallion could exist shows that there has or is(?) a medieval period going on. The only male I've seen so far is an old gardener, so I don't know how younger stallions are. The mix of technology is also a bit confusing, so I cannot establish what sort of level of advancement the ponies are at.
In the end, the princess persuades all of them to be friends. I don't know, I think that's what happened because the last picture involves the three characters having some celebration in town with other ponies. The town looks quite generically made into colored rectangles, but they are at least two stories off the ground. The princess solving the problem and the fact that it's a peaceful solution is quite telling of the expectations of females and conflict resolution among ponies. Cooperation is key, and of course, girls were the target audience of the book, taking the lead. It could just be the personal decision of whoever published the story, but I somehow doubt it.
Entry 30
I just wish there was a...uh, what do you call it? A Bruschetta stone? No, I know it's not bread. What they used to translate the hieroglyphs...I'm so pissed that I can't remember! The best I have are a couple of kids' books with words next to pictures that are supposed to teach how to read. I am nowhere close to being able to go back to the more serious books that Peaches has.
In addition to the princess story Peaches read the other day, a few of the other books takes the point of view of a lonely-looking blue bird, a pegasus pony standing on a cloud having difficulty flying, a fish with a single silver scale (very similar to a book I read as a kid back home) and a book with pictures of cute puppies and kittens.
--
Entry 33
Rainbow has started visiting just about every day, for the past 3 days including today, though not usually for long. Like as though she's just checking up on Peaches. I personally think it's because of me that she does so, but I can rule out that she did it before I arrived, since I've been here for at least a week or so now. The two seem very close, but I can't assume it's just because they're both pegasi, though they could have some reasons to associate based on that. I just can't imagine that's the only reason. I wonder where exactly Rainbow lives.
The first day Rainbow started visiting was strange enough. Adding to what I wrote in entry 31, I recall that Peaches had left and her rabbit was put in charge of keeping me inside. She had apparently left early in the morning as I woke up late when the two pegasi came bursting in as though they were running away from something. Rainbow had brought a whole bag of books which I thanked her for, of course, and began trying my best at analyzing them too.
I've since been poring over the books as carefully as I could. The covers of these books are a lot more detailed and pristine. Much more elegant than the books in the cottage. The lettering too is, lack for a better word, fancier looking.
Another thing: I noticed that Rainbow also has a symbol on either side of her hindquarters: hers is a cloud with a rainbow-colored lightning bolt. I thought that Peaches' peculiar markings of three butterflies was unique, but maybe it serves an important social role? Do all ponies have it? What does it mean?
Entry 34
Beyond my expectations, Peaches has been cooperating with me to learn the pony language. During the day while I help out with chores I would continue to point at items as I have been and she would say what it was. Though there could be some misunderstanding on her part, because thus far she's called the same chair at least three different names. Now, unless that's how the language works (which I doubt because that would be grossly inefficient) I think she's been saying something different whenever I pointed at that chair. Perhaps something about the color, or using it in a sentence, or is starting to get frustrated and is telling me to stop doing that. But what's confusing me is that her facial expression and tone don't signal any anger or frustration.
Which is remarkable that we had a “language” session at all last night. Long story short, one night she noticed that I was reading the kids' book and taking notes on it. She watched me for a bit, but then suddenly started pointing things out around the room of her own accord. She would point, say something and I would repeat until she deemed it acceptable.
I did not take notes because I wanted to focus on how she spoke. I am not a linguist by any means, so I think it's more distracting if I worked off of any written notes since there are so many things I may miss, and thus actually handicap my ability to understand. I don't know how to use accent marks or specialized letters to denote particular sounds, so that limits my ability to write what I learn down for others to learn.
Consider this: About 75% of human speech is verbal, and 25% is non-verbal. Things like gestures, body language, facial expressions, intonation, pitch, pace and volume are essential. I think for ponies it could be a 70/30 or maybe even 65/35. Peaches and Rainbow have been able to communicate more through non-verbal than verbal cues. Whether it's because I can't perceive it or not I simply don't know. Like how a dog can hear more than a human can. But even though I may be physically prevented from learning, I'm going to keep trying.