//------------------------------// // Chapter V: Reptiles and Mutants // Story: Distorted Fate // by Silvak //------------------------------// Normally, people like free breakfast. I, however, wasn't so keen at staying with two horrible monsters- I mean two baby creatures staring at me as they ate on their high chairs.  I was fairly certain those two were plotting something against me, but hey, newborns never did like me unless I was in their stomachs, which led me to wonder why I appeared so yummy to babies. My new appearance made me less appetizing, I hoped, but considering my luck so far I wouldn't be surprised if it had the opposite effect instead.  That was why I was actually glad to follow my pink tormentor outside, after going through the process of communicating it to me, which consisted of it trotting in place as well as pointing at me, itself, and the door, several times. The pink menace started to rant again, to which I just simply slowly tuned it out to observed my surroundings as I followed it-no, not it, her.  One of the benefits of having a language barrier is that you can just tune out other folk; it's not like you're gonna understand them anyway without some kind of hand signals, or hoof signals as the case may be.  As I looked around, my eyes drifted towards the sky, where I caught sight of the winged creatures actually moving the clouds around, a few even jumping on them to make them rain.  Once again, my mind became boggled by the sight, before I quickly shook my head clear of it.  This world is just gonna keep getting stranger and stranger.  Might as well give up making any sense of it now, or I'll end up with my brain literally melting down, I thought to myself. Eventually, we arrived at some giant tree in the middle of town, which caused my head to tilt in confusion before noticing that it had windows, doors, and even a balcony.  As I began to wonder if giant eyesores were going to be a common sight in this town, my pink warden knocked on the front door with its hoof, which was shortly answered as it was opened by a short purpl- "Oh shit!" I screamed, jumping back in shock at seeing another reptilian creature, this one being a bipedal, opening the door.  Using the pink menace as a shield, since she was apparently my caretaker and had to protect me as a result, I kept my distance from the reptile, since my last encounter from one of this world resulting in it trying to eat my mane. The purple reptile just blinked at my outburst, before turning to the pink menace as it asked it a question.  After the pink menace gave it an answer, the reptile turned back towards me as it asked me something.  In response, I simply gave it a deadpan stare as I peeked past the pink creature, having came to the conclusion that if the reptile was capable of speech, then it wouldn't be keen on eating me, though I wasn't so sure on that idea so far. Suddenly, the pink creature unleashed an overexcited speech. After she finished its speech the reptile gave her a short reply with a skeptical look as it headed inside the tree house, where the pink menace bounced inside as well before turning to me and indicating with a hoof that she wanted me inside as well.  Sighing, I simply walked inside, before getting the view of the interior.  My eyes widened as I spotted shelves and shelves just full of books, where I realized that this tree house was actually a library, which means that there must have been someone that worked here who might be truly educated, at least compared to the pink menace.  My thoughts then drifted to the idea that the reptile might be the educated one, but that idea was dashed when I heard a new voice speaking out. Turning my head towards the source of the voice, I saw a lavender coated creature with a purple mane walk down a set of stairs as it announced something to the two of us.  As my eyes started to examine it, they suddenly widened as I got a clearer view of it.  This creature has a horn AND wings!  Is this creature a hybrid?  Why didn't I see other hybrids earlier?  Wait, one of those twin monsters had a horn while the other had wings. Wouldn't it make more sense for them to be hybrids instead since they're twins?  Furthermore, their parents, assuming they were their birth parents, didn't have horns or wings, so how did the twins get them? My mind started to hurt as I began to go cross eyed from the mental strain, before I shook my head to clear it as I thought, Screw it, this place makes no sense at all.  I'm just going to say that they're all mutants. That's the only thing that would make sense now.  They all probably got mutated by some radioactive material present on this world, or the world was being bombarded by cosmic radiation.  Which, actually would explain all the weird shit going on, so yeah, gonna go with them all being mutants.  With my mind settling on the most logical explanation I could come up with, I prepared myself for the purple mutant, suspecting that with how things been going so far for me, I was going to be tormented again in some bizarre way. As Twilight reached the bottom of the stairs, she spotted the purple filly next to Pinkie, who was simply staring at her, though the filly did go cross eyed for a moment.  Must be surprised to see a princess, Twilight thought with a mental chuckle before she said, "Is this the filly Spike told me you need help with, Pinkie?  Though I'm surprised you needed my help since you're a natural with foals." "Aw, thanks Twilight, but this silly filly is different, she doesn't speak or understand Equestrian!"  Pinkie replied. Blinking in shock, Twilight stared at the filly, who simply stared back as she said "She really can't speak Equestrian?  What's wrong with her?" "Oh, nothing is wrong with her, or at least that's what the doctors say.  She's just lost from her parents, and I volunteer to watch over her until her parents come back to pick her up!" "That's quite responsible of you Pinkie, but are you sure you can handle a filly that can't understand you?" Twilight asked, as she kept looking at the filly who continued to stare back at her, like her eyes were trying to bore into the depths of Twilight's mind. "Oh, the silly filly is no trouble, but I thought that maybe you can help me teach her to understand Equestrian!" "I'm not certain the filly is old enough to pick up on a new language so quickly.  After all, it won't be long before her parents are found and informed of her current location.  Though, I have an idea that I want to try," Twilight said as she looked over the bookcases.  Spotting what she was looking for, she pulled the book out with her magic, whose title was 'Foreign Greetings'.  Opening the book before her, Twilight then started off saying a basic greeting in a different language before looking at the filly, who simply just stared back, her mouth not even twitching.  Twilight proceeded to say greetings in other languages, before moving onto dead dialects, before she finally gave up. "Pinkie, are you sure this pony doesn't understand you?  Maybe she's just playing a game with you," Twilight said as she waved a hoof in front of the filly, wondering if the filly zoned out during all the greetings. Stopping the hoof with one of her own, the filly said something to Twilight in a chastising tone with foreign words that caused Twilight's ears to perk up.  Her jaw dropping in shock, Twilight simply stared at the filly as her pupils shrink.  Moments passed until Twilight finally squeaked out, "She does speak a foreign language, but it's one that doesn't resemble any languages in the book."  Her pupils started to widen as her body started to shiver, causing the filly to take a few steps back before Twilight exclaimed, "This could be a momentous discovery!  Her family might be speaking a long lost language, or they were part of some tribe of ponies that been in isolation for hundreds or maybe even thousands of years! Maybe their phonetics could be completely unrelated to any known languages!  The possibl-" before a book slammed into her face, which caused Pinkie to burst out in laughter. The filly started to say something in her language in an annoyed tone, before she suddenly looked at her own hooves as she started to mutter to herself in confusion.  Shaking her head after being hit, Twilight then glared at the filly as she said, "That wasn't nice, you shouldn't be abusing books like that." As her laughter died down, Pinkie replied, "Oh come on Twilight, it couldn't have hurt, she's just a filly after all, silly." "Still, that wasn't polite of her to do that.  So, what makes you think she can learn to understand our language, Pinkie?  The possibility of our language structure being a match to hers is astronomically low." "Well, I did teach her to say yes and no, and I think she understands their meaning." Looking skeptical, Twilight replied "Pinkie, she could just have been parroting you, just saying yes and no doesn’t mean anything." "Oh, I'm sure she knows silly, watch this!" Pinkie said, before turning to the filly as she raised her forehooves as she spread them wide, like she's about to hug the filly. Her eyes widening, the filly started shaking her head as she said "No, no!" backing away from Pinkie. Though the reaction wasn't what she wanted, Pinkie turned to Twilight with her smile a bit less joyful as she said, "See, I think she knows what no means." "Amazing... how did you teach her that, Pinkie?" Twilight asked, as her mind pondered for a possible way of communications. "Oh, I just nodded my head and said yes and then shook my head for no.  The filly may be silly, but she's smart like you, Twilight." "Interesting, it appears that she may be able to associate our words with physical representations of them with ease.  Perhaps there is a way to teach her some Equestrian words. Give me a moment. I think I have something that may be of use," Twilight said before she headed to her storage, all the while the filly remained seated, wondering just what Twilight had in store for her.