Chapter 2: Realized Something...
Chapter 2: Realized Something...
"Ouch," rose the only sound since the devastating explosion, rainbow dust still slowly falling back to the ground.
In the basement, a dragon lay, large, young, and covered in mottled brown scales, beaten. By a tiny horse creature and its friends. Rising without a question, the Dragon of Tamriel quickly spread his wings, knocked over one of the few remaining walls, and took to the sky purely on instinct. Once in the air, an almost voice in his head told him to run, to escape, that death was not an option here, while the other part told him to turn back, and burn them where they stood! His mind was clouded by pain, and fear and confusion, how did this happen? They were horses, he was a Dragon! In Tamriel, horses were a dime-a-dozen creature, he literally almost killed one daily because they were too stupid to realize that that troll, or Dragon, or sabre cat has the mutual advantage. He was a Dragon! How did he just lose to a creature so small and pitiful and- ... Oh... Was that what it was like? Finally gaining some amount of sense, he found himself over a forest, and so searched for a clearing amongst the sea of vegetation below. Landing haphazardly, he sat there alone, thinking.
Was that what a Dragon felt like when he had defeated it? When they soared the open skies and prowled the air, did they see him as weak? Pitiful? But a horse amongst beasts, ripe for the kill? And when he brought them down to earth and cut at their body with weapons hewn from their very bones, did they despair? Think what he thought? Was he becoming a Dragon in the way that he thought himself superior? What had happened... mere minutes ago, Akatosh, God of Time himself had asked that he Dragonborn to live a righteous life as he did on Nirn... why did he attack that village? Perhaps... Perhaps Alduin himself had been given a similar mission, to live righteously... but the knowledge of being immortal, being so powerful... why should he allow them to govern his days, when he could slay them with a whisper!? No... that was the Dragon speaking, not him, not Ylven! He was a hero, a warrior who slew evil in all it's forms! HE did not attack that village, the Dragon did, something he was going to have to keep in check from now on.
Groaning and wiping his face with a claw, he sighed aloud, "Divines, I understand you cannot hear me, but know that I have been a fool... please, forgive my wretched soul..."
He needed to rest, someplace to stay... A thought came to him, a mountain would be fantastic right now. Spreading his leathery wings he took to the sky once more, and began to search for a suitable home, someplace where these... ponies, would not find him, and where he could not harm them again. Overlooking the woodlands, he saw a small range just a few kilometers away. Perfect. Steeling his will, he began to rise through the air, and make way to the mountains. As he travelled, a thought came to him. The Whirlwind Sprint... he wondered, now that his soul was on par with that of a Dragon's...
Opening his razor lined maw, Ylven prepared a Thu'um, one he had been taught by the Greybeards themselves, "Wuld Nah Kest!"
Suddenly, the world around him stretched out, and he laid his wings flat at his sides, allowing him to move through the air with little trouble. Colours became stretched out lines, and the forest beneath him became like a stream of green, followed by a quick flash of gold and white as he passed over the town again -that was some impressive distance already. The air tore around him, and he could actually feel his scales warm a little from the sudden burst of heat, nothing he couldn't manage though, being a dragon and all. It ended as soon as it came, spreading his wings, he saw that he was substantially closer to his goal than before, an impressive distance indeed.
"Wuld... Nah... Kest..." came the whisper from behind, followed by a thunderous sound he had heard only once before.
Swinging around, he readied himself for a fight before seeing that there was no Dragon to speak of, and realized that it was his Shout that he had just heard... had he truly just travelled faster than sound?
A mock smile spread across his scaly features, this new body had its advantages, it would seem. Forgetting about the event, he corrected his course, and returned to reaching the mountain. It was so close now, and he could feel himself ready again. Opening his mouth once more, he readied himself for the journey, laying his wings flat and straightening his tail...
"Wuld..."
Skies above, it was hot out! Celestia stood upon her balcony, alone on her tower, she stared into her own sun. Had she done that? Yes, perhaps it was a tad warm today, but moving the sun out of position could be such a hassle, she didn't really feel like ruining its trip now. Taking a deep breath, she closed her eyes and enjoyed the warmth from her golden globe, all you had to do was believe it was warm, really, and then it would be. Content that she had gotten her balcony time all wrapped up, Celestia returned to her room, shutting her doors and sitting behind an oak carved desk. A few stacks of paper had accumulated, invaded her space, and she was going to have to fend them off the only way she knew how. A quill and inkwell appeared behind her, and she readied her chosen weapons, her way of defeating them was simple: Literature! Charging at the stacks she furiously began to read and sign every note, occasionally dipping her quill in the ink as to not run dry. Papers in the 'In' box began to lose numbers, and papers in the 'Out' box suddenly found themselves a considerable bolster. Every now and again, she would pick a traitor out from their midst, and it would promptly be incinerated. She would not tolerate tax evasion.
As the battle began to reach its climax, a familiar fizzling sound caught her ear, and she stopped, catching the note that had materialized behind her.
"Dear Princess Celestia... We were attacked by a dragon?!" she read aloud, and quickly began to scan the rest of the page,
"Fought it off... flew into woods... last seen making it's way to Canterlot?!"
Just as she finished, a thundering sound echoed from the distance, "Nah... Kest..."
Freezing, she quietly waited... listened. Screams echoed shortly afterwards, and she teleported to where they seemed to be originating from. She found herself above the street, as intended, and spread her wings and began to hover. Looking down she saw the townsponies running in the streets, faces filled with fear and panic, and then she heard it. Wingbeats. Not her own, but massive, strong and rhythmic wingbeats, something dragons were quite commonly associated with. Following the sound, Celestia spotted the culprit -a dragon, at least the size of a small house, was flying in place, it's long, armored neck stretching around as it observed the city... her city. She watched it for a while, waiting for it to make the first move. So far as she could tell it didn't seem to be hostile... assuming this was the same dragon that attacked Twilight though, it could merely be plotting. Soon, it began to shake its head, and she watched as it nearly fell from the sky, grasping its head between its claws, it began to plummet. As quickly as it came though, it stopped, the dragon regained height, but there something different about it... something... darker, something about the way it moved, the way it began to scan the ground below it. Suddenly, it didn't feel like a friendly visitor anymore, and more like a warlord studying the battlefield.
It opened its mouth, and Celestia watched closely as it spoke, "Yol..."
"Toor Shul!"
A jet of flames erupted from his maw as he burned the desecrators below. Heathens! This was HIS mountain! Moving from one place to another, he began to torch the city below, wooden roofs and flammable materials igniting from the massive gouts of flame being sprayed from the sky, how DARE they build here, upon his temple?! It was an outrage! As he was about to set fire to another building, something struck him in the side. Roaring in anger, he followed it's source to a pony, but this one... there was something different about this one... She was taller, much more regal, had a mane that was as large as she was, and her horn had to be as long as one of his talons. She seemed quite angry with him. That would change soon. He saw her charge another spell, and at the same time he released another Shout.
"Tiid Klo Ul!"
Time shivered, and then slowed. Suddenly, he could see every movement, and released his Whirlwind Sprint again. Just as she fired the spell in slow motion, he appeared beside her, and did a midair somersault, slamming her with his tail, in slow motion. Before she could even react, she fell to the ground, creating a small crater in the street below. In slow motion.
Time began again, and soon everything returned to normal. Below him she lay, eyes wide open, face plastered with surprise. Roaring victoriously, he began his assault again. A blast of energy knocked his mouth sideways, though, and he turned to see his assailer. She was back up, and looked angrier than ever.
"Give up!" she yelled to him, charging a spell with her horn, "Before i have to get serious."
Dragon Ylven merely smiled, "You believe that you can defeat me?"
She lowered her horn again, ready to fire.
"If you wish for an untimely demise, so be it..."
With that, he opened his mouth again, but this time, made the words in his mind, creating his own shout there and then, "Guard... Ward... Shield!"
A great barrier of energy appeared before him, just as she released her spell, and a beam of golden power crashed into his Shout. The spell was powerful, he had to admit, but his Thu'um was stronger, and withstood the attack. A great explosion ensued, and a cloud of smoke appeared. Using it as cover, Dragon Ylven closed the distance between them with a single powerful wingbeat, trying to ram her head first. She seemed to anticipate his attack and evaded it with ease, getting behind him. He felt a powerful shot strike his back, enough to cause him some minor pain. Annoyed with her efforts, he released his Fire Breath Shout, engulfing her in flames. To his surprise, she didn't try to avoid it. The Fool! Feeling victorious once again, he allowed a smile to crease his lips, before another powerful beam of energy struck him into the earth. Clambering out of the crater, Ylven snorted, this creature was making far too many comebacks...
Looking up, he saw that she was totally unscathed, and had a smug grin creased across her face as she charged another spell. Great. Immune to fire. He formulated a plan, he needed to level the playing field, he had ice or frost, call a storm? Blast her back, create a cyclone, drain her strength, or bite her, that worked too. Trying to figure something out, he allowed her to humor herself as she released another blast that was absorbed by his hide. Fire doesn't work, but as a Dragon, he had the entire language at his disposal... hmm... Got it.
Just as she charged another spell, he spoke from the ancient language again, making words no regular Dragon could, "Behind... Location... Shift."
Suddenly, his body became a void, and he disappeared. Confused by this, the pony began to search desperately for him, until he appeared again behind her, teeth rearing and ready to go. Releasing a devastating roar, he reached out and grabbed her between his jaws, and then began to squeeze. She cried out in pain, and instantly began to try and escape his razor prison, but to no avail. Chuckling inwardly, he began to squeeze harder, he had her now... She began to scream as his teeth actually began to cut through her flesh, she was tough, but not invincible. That honor belonged to the Dragons alone. He saw that she was trying to cast spells, to thrash her way out, but with so much pain it must have been awfully hard for her to concentrate... heh. Her heard a solid, and sickening snap, this time, there was no scampering free of his victory again!
"Sister!"
Ylven cocked a brow, but before he could look to see who it was, his prey disappeared in a flash of blue energy, causing him to snap his jaw shut. Feeling his rage boil over, he quickly looked to see another wing/horn combo holding his prey on her back, carefully checking her vitals.
"YOU!" he screamed, causing the newcomer to stare directly at him, "I've about had enough with you pony creatures! Your doom draws near!"
She had a slightly more serious face plastered on, and took a midair combat stance, slowly igniting her horn. Using the same Shout, he appeared behind her, but a beam of midnight energy was blasted into his face, causing him to stagger backwards. Next a hellstorm of tiny energy pellets was launched at him, like a small rain of power. Each pellet did little to harm him, but there were enough to actually push him backwards and make him close his eyes. As he was blinded, there was another flash of energy, and the assault ceased. Allowing himself to see again, the newcomer was nowhere to be found. He felt his power surge, and he roared violently into the air. These magic users were becoming QUITE annoying. Deciding to take his rage out on the people, he released a burst of fire more powerful than ever that easily engulfed three more homes or businesses, and began to incinerate them. As he rampage continued to destroy the town, the pony returned, Ylven could feel it.
He turned, ready to torch her into Oblivion, but saw a single green beam fire from her horn, followed by the sensation that he had just been hit by a lightning bolt, and was frozen. Unable to move, he lost altitude, and crashed into the ground, totally frozen. Unable to move or think, Dragon Ylven was frozen in mid-flight, but now on the ground, and slowly being approached by the pony. He heard the sound of armor, and realized that he had been surrounded by knights of some degree, with the more noble blue one hovering over him.
"Take this beast into the dragon holding cells, and make sure to get it muzzled, its words are... odd," she commanded, and the ponies saluted, before approaching his still frame.
At first he thought it was a fool’s effort, until they picked him up with magic and hauled him onto a sizeable cart. This magic was different from Tamriel’s magic due to the fact that he certainly couldn't move, but he seemed to be quite malleable at the hands... er, hooves, of these ponies. As he was hauled off to Gods know where, all he could do was stare the blue pony down. She would pay... soon... so soon.
Luna took a sigh of relief as her personal guard carted the dragon away. There was something different about him... most dragons couldn't teleport. Or beat Celestia in a fight. Given, she had grown a little soft over the years, but that thing’s armored hide, it's intellect, it's... magic were all quite formidable. During the fight she had been able to bind it and get Celestia to an emergency room --whether she needed it or not had yet to be seen, but it was always nice to be sure. She looked to Canterlot, and sighed as Fireponies began to douse the raging flames that had come with the attack. Luckily, it looked like nopony had been harmed, save for Celestia, but it would take more than a single bite to end her spark, Celestia was, if nothing, durable. Still, she couldn't help but feel that her sister had given the beast too much slack and had underestimated her opponent, who seemed to be quite versed in combat spells and tactics. What kind of a dragon was he, anyway?
Taking off after her guards, she saw them load the beast into the castle, the townsfolk gathered around the creature as it was imprisoned in the courtyard, a massive set of chains and heavy wooden shackles being latched onto every joint and limb, before being enchanted so that he couldn't break free. Perhaps the most vital was the solid Arcanium collar being attached to its neck, Arcanium ore being one of the few metals that totally negated magical effects, even Discord's masterful powers were useless against the rare metal. She had to wonder what a dragon was doing so far away from any woodland, local mountain, or cave, considering that Canterlot Mountain was swept weekly for the things and all known caves had been sealed. How did it get here without the guard being notified? Dragons usually kept each other in check, and most were content living their days out in caves hoarding treasure - why had this one so suddenly attacked them? And where did it get it's filthy claws on that kind of magic?! It's power was... raw. She could feel it, like the Dragon itself was using its very soul to give power to it's magic. However such magic usually required a very powerful being, something of a god itself, like an Alicorn, or Discord, could use Soul Magic, but even then it was quite taxing.
She had many questions for it, and all the time in the world for it to answer. Floating down to the dragon she saw that he had closed his eyes. She would let it rest, for when it woke, it was going to need all the energy it could muster.
Ylven was asleep. Something had happened... he was going to the mountain and then... ugh... his head... wait, why couldn't he move? Shuffling his wings, he heard the heavy clanking of iron clasps, and felt something wrapped around his neck. Opening his eyes, he found himself face to face with another pony creature, this one, though, was taller than the rest, had both a set of wings and a horn as well as a... a crown... oh great, the leader.
"Are you awake now, beast?" she questioned, looking deeply into his orbs.
He shuffled slightly, was this like prison for Dragons? Well. Crap.
"I asked you a question, monster!" she asked a little more forcefully, and he could hear the rage in her voice, was this about the little town?
"I... I think so," he stated, trying to get comfortable in the shackles, which were obviously designed to be the opposite of comfortable.
"Good, good," she began, and stood up on all fours, "To begin with, what do you have to say for yourself?"
Ylven blinked, this was about the town, "I'm sorry, I was so confused... And that building, those ponies, I could help to repair it..."
She squinted, "Oh, so suddenly you're very kind are you, what happened to the animal that was trying to eat my sister and burn down our city?!"
Burn down her... Ylven could see something, smoke. Black billowing clouds of smoke. Black billowing clouds of smoke being made by fires that were currently being doused by ponies in odd red chariots... it had happened again, and this time, he couldn't even remember it!
Sighing, he shuffled in his shackles again, "Your Majesty, if you'd please bring me your tallest glass..." his stomach grumbled, and he realised that he was, in fact, Dragon size, "...Tallest barrel of mead, I would be happy to tell you."
She squinted again, this time in bewilderment, "What is mead?"
Suddenly something cracked inside of Ylven, and he lowered his neck, craning it as close to the Princess' face as possible, he faced a fear that no warrior should ever have to, one that was currently causing an internal breakdown as he sat there, chained against his will, he had but one question for her:
"What?"
In the realm where the Gods dwelt, Akatosh looked up at the 'sky' where the Dragonborn had left them. Kynareth joined him there, and looked with him, wondering with him.
"What is that troubles you Akatosh?" she asked.
"The Dragonborn... He had become a Dragon as he left this place to find another," came his response.
"Why does that worry you?" she asked again.
"He was a man. A man who has become something else, like the Daedra's Werewolves and Vampires, men often lose themselves in their bestial forms. He was no Daedra, far from it, but that does not mean the influence of a Dragon, to overcome and dominate, will not infest him. If he cannot tame it then he will look for a place to call his own. He will find this place, and defend it dearly. Should anyone defy him, they will suffer. Alduin was my Firstborn and most powerful. He defeated Alduin in the form of a man. Now that he is a Dragon, he may be unstoppable."
She smiled, "If there is one thing I know of Ylven, it is that he can overcome anything. He was a wolf once too, remember that."
"I do. But a wolf is very different from a Dragon, especially when you cannot become what you once were ever again, he may soon look upon himself as more of a beast than a man anymore."
"He will not. Nords are stubborn amongst men."
"Perhaps," Akatosh allowed himself to admit, "perhaps..."
Stats
Page generated in 0.031 seconds
Total duration
1,008 users online
2,024,075 hits today, 2,280,440 yesterday
FIMFiction
My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic Fanfiction
Designed and coded by knighty & Xaquseg - © 2011-2024
Follow & Support Us
Support us
SubStar
Chat!
Discord
Follow us
Twitter
MLP: Friendship is Magic® - © 2024 Hasbro Inc.®
Fimfiction is in no way affiliated with or endorsed by Hasbro Inc.®
This story is perfect, you suggest and solve all of Slyrim's basic gameplay and so on, I myself play Skyrim, and how do I say it?
You got this entire thing perfect, my God, you wrote this-I cannot express on how much I love this. I will wait for more chapters patiently, and congrats on second feature.
Keep going my good friend, not long until hundred followers, seeing that I'm already a 51
.
Continue writing you smart and imaginative person
And where did it get it's filthy claws on that kind of magic?! It's power was... raw.
The "it's" should be 'its'. 'It's' is a short form of 'it is'. And 'its' is possessive.
Thus the trial of Dragonborn begin, he must control the nature of Dovah lest he will be consume by it and will be nothing more than an average but extremely powerful Dovah.
I am quite interest how the Mane 6 will view him when they meet him again.
So, split personality disorder, basically?
Not able to harness his powers yet?
Possible quest to achieve a yet to be determined goal in the future?
Cool.
I LOVE IT
Damn it! Now I want more. Well done.
It would be funny if he just stood up and walked away mumbling to himself. No mead man.
Ylven: "Are you telling me your people don´t know MEAD?!
Pease, allow me to educate you with a musical number:"
I don´t know, i wouldn´t call him defeated, i mean (A DRAGON, get all your spoons, forks and Plates, we killed him with those.....nahhh)
I really like the story, but i hope that when he started to get good, that this doesn´t meant already the ending of the story. I just asume that he get to be something like a defender for Ponyville or all the Ponys.
When I first read this, I thought about Fairy Tail! There was a person who became a dragon in the show! Just had to point that out! Great story, The Digital Guy. Really great story.
Dein Lahspaan Spaan and Undin Nizaag Vuld were the Shouts you were looking for?
4666766 then she introduces him to vodka
[youtube=e7kJRGPgvRQ]
An excellent chapter, sir.
Now Ylven fully realises that he has a problem. Actually, two. Suppressing an inner dragon and the lack of mead in Equestria.
4667041 hooray for Finnish bands and their metal music!
So, two problems.
Not being overtaken by Dragon Senses, and lack of Mead.
We all know which is more serious.
mead
Epic. just epic.
MOAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRR
I love everything about this fanfic so far. Keep it up.
What kind of hell is this tortuous burning pit of death and destruction that makes men lose their sanity, has equines as the dominant species, and has no F!@#$%^ ALCOHOL?!?
Looks like we have a multi personality disorder going on dragonborn.
Sorry, but any interest I had in this has disappeared. My apologies.
4667128
it's got to be the mead am i right
4667430 Wrong! It's the skooma.
4667435
i miss oblivion best elder scrolls game for me
and the skooma was crazy as hell ever want to fly drink skooma
4666682
Quick correction here: Dov is a singular Dragon, Dovah is many. It's revealed to be so when you are talking to Paarthanax on the Throat of the World for the first time.
its not really multiple personality disorder, Paarthurnax tells the Dragonborn that a dragons power grows so does the urge to dominate those weaker then him and destroy those who oppose him.
The Dragonborn never had to deal with those urges, at least not to this extend, and now that he has become a true dovah those urges will be more powerful and he has absolutely no experience in dealing with that.
4666676 I make that mistake all the time. We're taught that adding 's to a word makes it possessive, so many people write 'it's' to follow that rule. It's just one of the reasons English is considered to be the hardest language in the world to learn.
Lot rup. Zu'u vis ni saraan fah zuk! I love how you don't have Super Invincible Goddess Celestia.
4665643
I never discounted that spell. All of the spells I mentioned are in books. And I never said that there were no limits; the limits are clear, willpower, magicka, and how subtle they mold the spell. You also just suggested atomic manipulation was simple. What basis do you have to say that just because Equestrian Magic has accomplished an impressive feat of biological magic, that they have the same progress in all types of transformation magic? A surgeon isn't a botanist and none of them study stones. They've created a spell to transform and, on misfire, safely hybridize organic matter. But how does that prove that it's more difficult? It's just difficult in a different way. You screw up the organic piping, you have a dead critter, or some kind of crazy abomination. You screw up the atomic manipulation, you have get poisonous/ radioactive materials maybe even an explosion. Different types of difficulty =/= one is automatically more difficult.
That's not true most of the time, these were villagers using alteration magic and guerrilla tactics to fight off a superior force. Bigger feats of magic do require a bit of prep though.
That feat was thought impossible, most of preparation was learning, and a ritual a bit of work was required, but the feat was much more massive than anything a single mage in FiM can claim under their belt. It wouldn't take that long for the same mage to perform the same spell. The same way it likely took years of study and practice for Shining Armor to become proficient. We also only ever saw Shining cast the spell when powered up by Cadence (Re saw him reinforce and maintenance). It was his spell, but powered by what little he had left and her magic. The only other time we saw him involved with a shield spell was Cadence's (giving her energy). We have no idea how difficult it was for him to actually perform the spell. For all we know, it could have require an entire night of focus to conjure a barrier that large under his own power.
That is not always the case. Some creatures of Oblivion need to be bound or they will kill the summoner. Some even need to be beaten into submission. Their motives for accepting the summon does not invalidate the fact that they can be called on for help.
I don't have physical copies of the books, so you can have that point. But I'd like to see some quotes to prove it. Also, I already assumed that telekinesis was limited in TES and mentioned they had several other spells in the same field that FiM just doesn't canonly have.
That's true, but it's not been seen or mentioned, so it can't be used as a point in an argument; whereas, every spell effect that I've mentioned has either been in game (used by player, NPC, mentioned in a book, or the principle of the school explained). Nothing says Equestrian magic can't do that, but nothing even suggests that they can do it.
You haven't proved that, all you've shown was that Equestrian magic is different. You haven't shown that spells analogous to TES examples I gave exist and are easier to perform. All that you've done is said that they have different magic and that the magics they do have that are similar work differently and shown that one spell is possibly lagging behind. While trying to pretend as if the spells in TES are somehow less effective or less complicated. You claim that Equestrian mages can do anything TES mages can do, but better... where's the proof?
The last point is the only reason why a mage from the Elder Scrolls verse wouldn't immediately need be able to hold their own.
4667553
English is not even close to being the hardest language to learn on the world.
4667449 Ah, correction: Dovah translates to dragons AND a dragon (because the dragons don't always have plural words like many real life languages, like sword, swords), but Dov translates to dragonkind (the dragons as a specie). Dreh Ni Loan Dii Tuz Se Onikaan! (JK, here a page for you fellow skyrim-dragon lovers/fans: Dragon Language )
Here are some examples from this site
dein lahspaan spaan (first new shout... though it sounds akward)
feid nizaag vuld (the second shout)
just want to yet again bring it to your attention if you missed my first comment.
4667632 The plus side is, if you can learn to write it, you can draw.
4667632
It's the second hardest language to learn, if you're not raised with it.
Awesome chapter, dude. I find it funny that he basically rendered himself redundant. "I was told to live a righteous life, and will do so!" -arrives at mountain- "My mountain! RaaaaaHhh!" -attacks again, after pretty much just saying he won't -
4667553
Hard? Goodness, I hope you never try to learn French. That language is made of exceptions.
I'll be following this story. Your writing skills still need some honing, but I like where the story is heading.
4667940
I'm sorry, harder than, for example, chinese? arabic? japanese? korean? finish? russian? I really don't think so.
4667966
Oh god, I remember French classes when I was 12-16. Never learned more than a few phrases I still remember. And numbers in French are nothing short of insanity.
4666766 "Allow me to play you the song of my people..."
That is probably the best Skyrim based song I've ever heard. I actually got chills. It was just *sniff* So... beautiful.
Nord + No Mead + Dominatrix tendencies + Immortal dragon form =
media.giphy.com/media/qhURwEDavrGQE/giphy.gif
4667632 4667966 It takes longer for the average person non-English speaker to learn English than any other language. This is why it's considered the hardest to speak. Yes, some people might find another language more difficult than English. For example, a German speaker would find English easier than many other languages because of similar rules of grammar. This article can explain that better. Difficulty, therefore, can only be determined by averages, and more people have the most difficulty with English than any other. Thus, English is the hardest to learn. Why is it hard? Read this to learn why.
4668189
Welp, I have never had any problems learning English, and never had to pay any attention to it in school, yet always aced it. Of course, I find myself making some mistakes here and there, but overall, they don't cripple my ability to read or talk in English.
Of course, I understand that is just personal experience. I just don't see how it would be harder to speak in English that Chinese, when there are over 20k pictograms on that language. Something similar applies to Japanese and Korean, IIRC, and most Asiatic languages.
However, I'm sure we can all agree that, in actual fact, the hardest language to learn is Equestrian. (I may or may not have entertained the possibility of engaging in basic conversation whit an species unable to speak in any human language)
this story..... i like it
This is rather unique. Enjoying it greatly. He is very fortunate that in Equestria reluctant villains have a rather broad history of redemption.
4668249 Is English your native language? If not, what is?
4668189
Actually, I am not a native English speaker. I'm French, and believe me, English is easy to learn for various reason:
- Third 'gender' (it...) - compare French, where everything (even objects) have genders.
- Invariable adjectives (Spanish...)
- Few exceptions to nouns plurals (compare French)
- Verbs are very easy to use (the same for every person, except for the present tense which only add a -s) (compare French).
- A single person for 'you', no formal second person (compare Spanish, French...).
- No declinations (compare German).
- Straightforward lexicon. "Straightforward" is a good example: it's made of "straight" and "forward". The spelling is unambiguous. Second example: "-ness", as in "seriousness", etc. I might add made-up words or nicknames (say, Dragonbane) which cannot be used in such a liberal way in other tongues (in French, it makes you sound retarded).
- WYSIWYG language. Very few silent letters.
- Some base verbs can be used for many things. For example, 'be'. It may sounds obvious, but take Spanish: it has two 'be' ('ser' and 'estar') which are used for different things.
As for the grammar issues that sparked this debate, they are nonexistent for foreigners. This is not an euphemism: most have never even imagined one could mistake "they're" and "their" because they are homophones. Do not forget a second language is almost invariably taught with an extensive use of a written support.
To answer more precisely the points evoked in your "Ten Reasons Why English Is A Hard Language" article, I would note that many languages have words with similar spelling but radically different phonetics, and that regardless of what language you learn, you will have to learn the lexicon eventually. This also goes for synonyms and poetic language... You don't read pseudo-Victorian English everyday!
I would concur with the point on the stress. Coming from a mostly stressless language, it can be hard to master.
As for your "more people have the most difficulty with English than any other," this is a complete statistical fallacy. Most people who actually learn (or are taught) a second language only learn English, which make it the hardest by default.
Those who learn more than one often claim it gets easier with time, so the first one is always the hardest. Most start with English, do the math...
tl;dr: No, English is not the hardest language to learn, far from it. It is, of course, difficult to master, but this is a trait common to every language. It takes dedication, practice, and a lot of time. Difficulty is relative.
4668310
It isn't, I'm from Spain.
4666766 he should seriously do that
4668319 4668335 The first article I attached to me second-to-last post explains that. Spanish and French both share several similar speech and grammar rules, so someone who speaks one natively would have little difficulty in learning the others. A native speaker of languages like Arabic or Japanese, which share no common rules, typically have more difficulty learning English than any other western language. It even takes longer for them to learn English than for western language speakers to learn Japanese, which is considered to be the most difficult eastern language.
Remember, I'm talking about averages, not universal truths. Any native speaker of a Latin derived language would find any other Latin derived language easy, including English. That being said, all Latin derived languages are considered to be difficult.
4668319
All of this is completely true. Specially the part about making up names or words. A very good example would be, of course, MLP itself. In the spanish dub (which I don't like anyways, but its just an example), the names of the ponies and certain made up things retain their English name, like "cutie mark".
Also just thinking about the translation of any pony name makes me want to facepalm. And most of the translations can't be contained in 3 words or less.
quickmeme.com/img/a0/a0321878b2ce48a56f2cc0e1af014567e84508c017c3e616931ffc95b81af9cc.jpg
NOOOOOOOOOOOOO! we need the mead!
nord +mead=
nord-mead=
4668413
The difficulty of learning a language from a different region of the world entirely has little to do with English itself. Western languages are quite similar in terms of concepts (grammatical structure, etc.) and and world apart from, say, Japanese.
Still, here the difficulty arises from overcoming those foreign western concepts. Whether this person is learning German, English, Spanish or even Latin makes no difference whatsoever at that point.
In fact, they would even have the same problem should they try to learn, say, Russian. Or Hebrew.
Thus, the inherent difficulty of a language should be considered relative to similar languages... and as I wrote earlier English is perhaps the easiest Western language to learn of all. There is a reason it got accepted as an unofficial international language so easily.
So basically in the first chapter, this super powerful inteligent mage dragon was defeated by Twilight and her friends in a scene that took less than 500 words, and in here he attacked Equestira Capital where army of guards and Shining Armor was on stand by, he defeated Celestia in a duel and nearly killed her if it was not for Luna, and he did it not more than minutes after his lost fight against Twilight and her friends.
Sigh...
Do all authors really need to make royal sisters look so poorly in their stories, really? The worse of all is that in this chapter, Celestia's flank was kicked by a villian who just in last chapter had his ass kicked by Twilight and her friends (after battle of skills and raw power with no elements were used to beat the big bad in seconds).