//------------------------------// // Is an IT or a SHE? // Story: A face doesn't tell you who you are // by xluferx //------------------------------// The wind went across the forest through the regular dense vegetation that it has to offer, the leaves whistled as some of them accompanied the wind in its course. The symphony of Mother Nature never changed despite the Great Collapse, moreover the natural music got better every year until the present time and it had been far too long since the Great Collapse. A bird was heard chirping aloud trying to contact another bird which was responded a time after, despite the fact that Colony 24 lacks of birds they still appear often around the area. Chris was in utter concentration; his eyes were straightly looking to the small equine through his darkened lens of the mask. His breaths were slow but inside him he was completely confused and ignorant to the situation which he just got into, he still didn’t believe that the animal in front of him wrapped into a taco could be intelligent, let alone talk. But the scream couldn’t have come from nowhere somebody must have done it and there wasn’t anybody around except for him and the winged unicorn. He allowed his legs to rest as he sit on the ground cross-legged near the position of the taco, the other being in front of him glared at him but didn’t say a thing; also its struggles to break free from the blanket ceased. Chris observed the purple pony a bit closer noticing that its eyes were a bigger than a normal equine and the color of its irises matched its coat of fur and there was a pink streak on its mane but those were the only things which he was able to see with more details because the rest of its body was covered by the old blanket. ‘Probably my mind is really fucked up for doing this’ Chris returned to his original position on the ground with his back upright like a proper Sentinel. ‘’Are you a talking animal?’’ He knew before thinking the question that it was a shoot in the darkness without any probability to succeed, animals couldn’t and would never be able to talk. Well except for a parrot, those feathered friends can pronounce a few sentences. He laughed internally when his mind recalled the events from a year ago when Ghost brought a parrot to keep him company and he taught the parrot to insult without stop a- ‘’Excuse me?! I’m a sentient being just like you!’’ ‘‘OH SWEET LORD FUCKING JESUS YOU CAN FUCKING TALK?!!!’’ Chris stumbled back trying to get away from it; he was shocked despite his mind told him several times that the small horse could talk. Those warnings meant so little to him. Though he was shocked his hand instinctively went to get a grip on his gun and then aim to the animal directly to the head between its eyes and his index finger was right on the trigger, a weak pull would be enough to blow up its head. Twilight was angry but at the same time there were other to emotions passing her still weakened body; confusion and curiosity. Confusion for the object that has been pointed at her and the sudden change of attitude from the newcomer, also Twilight was confused for the appearance. After hearing the tone she knew in a instant that is a he, but she couldn’t tell the real image of him because he was wearing a different kind set of armor. Curiosity because she was accidentally transported to a whole new world with new knowledge, she couldn’t imagine new discoveries she could make, the research, the notes and the best of the best; the books. However Twilight was angry at the unknown male for calling her an animal, doubting of her intelligence. What he did is considered the biggest disrespect; she knew that if he would have said that to Rainbow Dash or Rarity, he would be 7 hooves underground. ‘’HORSES CAN’T TALK!!’’ He was adding more logs to the fire inside her, she may be the Princess of Friendship but an insult can hurt far worse that an actual wound. ‘’Hey! I am not a HORSE!!’’ Her voice was getting a bit out of hoof but she doesn’t notice it, being enveloped in something that doesn’t let you move a thing can get anypony frustrated and irritated. She hoped that he just stop shouting so they could engage a civilized conversation between two sentient beings. But he never shut. ‘’EVEN LES THEY HAVE A HORN AND WINGS!!’’ She watched him get up and walk around in an erratic pace in circular laps; at least he stopped pointing at her that strange object which probably was a weapon of defense in her opinion. Twilight then noticed that the effects of the analgesic were wearing off quickly on her system which was a good sign but she was still in the problem in being trapped completely at the mercy of a strange sentient being that showed clearly sign of aggressions. In that moment the deepest part of her mind started to play with her, recreating all kind of possible scenarios. Even naughty ones. ‘’ALRIGHT! Probably the drugs Chris, YEAH! That must be… I’ve just left the drugs so they are still in my system doing shitty things to my brain’’ The princess of Friendship Twilight Sparkle decided that it was enough of this situation ‘‘ENOUGH!’’ Much to her embarrassment she used the Royal Canterlot Voice which she never have used before, it would be intimidating if she only wasn’t on the ground wrapped in some kind of fabric and her head the only body part be able to move of her whole body. At least her yell worked quite well because Chris, name which she assumed after hearing it coming from him, stopped his denial and stared. It was needless to say that he was on the sat on ground thanks to the expansive wave that she did with her own Royal Canterlot Voice. From the sky she was able to see a few silhouettes of birds flying away into the security of the blue sky. Several seconds of tense silence did Chris speak ‘’So you have a name?’’ *An explanation and the process of unwrapping a taco later* ‘’And with this you are…free!’’ Chris voice sound cheery despite the last events of senseless occurrence. But deep inside him he perfectly knew that this will bring him troubles in a future. ‘’Thanks, is really appreciated’’ Twilight Sparkle was her name and by Discord’s fault she is stuck in the perimeter of the Colony 24. She made him understood his mistake of calling her a horse instead of a pony, still he can only look at her as some kind of animal . ‘Though animals can’t talk, let alone think’ If he continues with these ideas he might get a migraine, and of course he didn’t want that in the slightest. Christopher looked at Twilight stretching her limbs one by one and felt a bit of guilt for doing that cruel joke to her, even if it was a dumb animal he shouldn’t have done it in the first place. Suddenly she yelped in pain, which Chris as instinct kneeled near her ready to offer any kind of aid possible. ‘’Is something wrong?’’ His eyes scanning the source of the pain which was quickly discovered after he remembered that one of her wing got injured. Twilight carefully brought moved her injured wing and such action was greeted by another surge of pain. ‘’My wing, I think it is dislocated’’ Chris glanced for a moment to her eyes and noticed her saddened expression, as he examined the wing he debated with himself about selling her or not. He could get a lot of money for this discovery but he perfectly what fate lays for her if he dares to do that. Countless surgeries and heartless experimentations completely ignoring her pleads to stop. He wouldn’t have cared if it was an animal but doing that to her would be beyond cruel, he imagined hearing her scream of pain as the Scientifics injected her a several syringes and then note every single reaction to the substance, then dissecting her without using any kind of analgesic. No he couldn’t and wouldn’t do that or all what his father had taught him about morality would be in vain. Forgetting all about those problems Twilight said that her friends would come and pick her up eventually because travel between dimensions isn’t all complicated. She even went to the human world, fact that surprised him a lot. And surprised Twilight too because Chris didn’t have any resemblance to a human she had seen in her travel through the mirror. (But she could understand that because Chris was using clothes that covered almost everything of him except of his hair) But both of them came to the conclusion that it must have been another dimension where she met for the first time the humans. ‘’So to sum up everything told, are you stuck up here?’’ Twilight’s ears folded back, despite knowing that her friends would come to save her eventually she couldn’t tell the time such task would take even less when they notice that she is gone. She isn’t powerful like Princess Celestia or Luna, so casting the dimensional travel was out of the options, so that left wait for a rescue. And in the time of wait she will be alone in an unknown territory; those thoughts caused her to let a small tear touch the ground. Probably It wasn’t even day and she already misses her friends. Christopher in the other hand had a hand over his chin. ‘I might have struck a nerve’