XII: Letter to a Linguist
As Luna prepared to retire for the morning, there was a slight tap on her door. Wondering who would be asking for her at this hour, the princess opened it to find her assistant and Twilight Sparkle waiting outside. “Sorry to disturb you, Princess, but I was wondering if you had gotten the mailing address for that professor Cookie N Cream mentioned.” Twilight began.
Eclipse nodded and jumped in, adding, “it is a good possibility that she would be willing to part with the changeling communication spell if we explain to her what it will be used for and that it would not be restricted in its use. From what the Trottingham ponies told us, her greatest worry was that it would be copyrighted and limited to elite usage, but if we show her how it would be used here…”
Luna nodded in understanding. “Would you be willing to write to her then, either of you I mean? It is far too late for me to do so after all.”
Both of the young unicorns looked guilty at that. “Of course, princess.” Twilight answered. “I will write to her and Eclipse can send it out under the royal seal so it will travel with all possible speed.”
Luna smiled inwardly, enjoying this more outgoing version of her sister’s student. Spending time with Pinkie Pie and the others must be rubbing off on her. Good. “Very well. Is there anything else I should know before I get some sleep?” Recognizing that as a dismissal, both unicorns shook their heads and said their goodbyes. No doubt Eclipse, at least, would be going to sleep too. Depending on how much this goal burned in Twilight compared to the fog of exhaustion she was probably in, the other mare would either stay up later writing to Professor “Bugsy” Buzz Words or sleep. Luna would have bet on something in between, with the scholar falling asleep mid-letter and waking up with a face lined with ink. No matter, it would all be done in time. Luna turned to her bed and joined a waiting Tiberius to slumber away the day.
Luna’s prediction was only half correct. Twilight did fall asleep mid-letter, but fortunately for her, the ink had dried enough that it did not stain her face strange colors. The unicorn was awakened in the late afternoon by the shrieking laughter of her pale pink roommate and a bright light from a camera flash. “Ooooh I totally can not wait to show Dashie this one!” Pinkie crowed. “You are so adorkable when you fall asleep at your desk, Twilight! This one is going in a frame!”
She bounced off before Twilight Sparkle could recover enough to chase after her demanding the camera. Somehow, Pinkie managed to hide said camera (in some strange place that Twilight could have sworn had not been there before) long enough to escape. From the sound of it, she was going to visit Chai Spice, Cookie N Cream, and her new god-foals. Alone at last, Twilight began to recopy the letter she had been composing earlier that day.
To the esteemed professor Buzz Words,
Greetings. My name is Twilight Sparkle and I am a student of Princess Celestia. Recently, I had occasion to meet a changeling by the name of Cookie N Cream, from Trottingham. He mentioned that you had created a spell that allowed changelings and ponies to communicate with one another. As you may know, Princess Luna is in charge of interrogating changelings captured by the Royal Guards in the wake of the attack earlier this summer. However, she seems to have hit a stumbling block with regards to not being able to understand the language of changelings. If your spell works on other changelings as well as it works for Cookie, would you be willing to come to Canterlot and teach it to us so that we may be able to more efficiently speak with the changelings here and more quickly allow them to return to their homes? The princess is prepared to make any guarantees you wish regarding your spell work if you are willing to allow us to use it.
Sincerely, Twilight Sparkle
Twilight sent the letter out with the afternoon post. The mail carrier promised that it would be in Trottingham by the next morning at the latest. That did not surprise the purple unicorn. What did surprise her was the rapidity of the reply:
To Miss Twilight Sparkle,
I heard about what happened to Cookie and am very much willing to do whatever it takes to ensure that it happens as little as possible in the future. I will be on the next train to Canterlot to teach the spell to any who wish to know it as well as cast it on any changelings willing to have the spell work done.
Dr. Bugsy, Prof. of Linguistics
Trottingham University of the Arts
When Twilight Sparkle met up with her mentor and her sister at dinner, she brought the letter to the table with her. Pinkie Pie was not in evidence. Apparently, the thrilled new father had invited his pen pal to join him in the kitchen to make a thank you dessert for the midwife and it had expanded into a small party. (Twilight was of the opinion that it was a sign of incredible ability in Cookie to be able to keep her party pony friend to a minimal party.) As Twilight arrived, she found the two princesses in the midst of a lively debate over the merits of various kinds of cake.
“But seriously, Tia. One simply is unable to survive off of angel’s food cake alone. I do understand that there are innumerable toppings that go well with that confection, but really, sister. If that is all you have been eating for dessert since I came back, that simply will not do!”
“I know you prefer chocolate, Luna, but it is no better than angel food. There are only a few toppings that truly taste good with chocolate!”
Luna suddenly turned her attention to Twilight Sparkle. “Little Twilight, what is your favorite kind of cake? It has gotten boring without a third opinion to argue with us this meal.”
Twilight thought for a moment before answering. “I am rather fond of my mother’s lemon chiffon cake.” She murmured. “Even Pinkie Pie’s version is not quite as good, but I suppose that is because of who makes it. My mother, Twilight Velvet, always made it for special occasions and it always had little candied lemons on top of a buttercream icing.” She licked her lips. “But Princess Luna, I need to give you something.” She passed the letter over to the princess of the moon, who read it over quickly.
“Well,” she said at last, “it seems we are to have another guest at the castle, Tia. I shall alert the guards to send her to me when she arrives.
Sure enough, not long after they finished eating, Eclipse entered the room followed by an older unicorn pony. The newcomer was a plum-colored mare with a lighter mane and tail gone silver. Despite her age, she walked straight, with a long stride. Her eyes were a flashing silver that seemed to record everything like the negatives of a film camera. On her flank was a cutie mark of various script symbols – letters from various pony and non-pony languages. She bowed as she approached the still seated princesses and spoke in a language that Twilight Sparkle did not understand. To her surprise, Princess Luna and Princess Celestia both laughed and replied in what sounded like the same tongue. The mare smiled as she rose from her bow.
“We were not aware anyone not part of the diplomatic corps spoke Gryphican, much less the older version thereof.” Luna commented, in Equish.
“Few do, your majesties,” the mare replied in a mellow alto voice, “but I spent much of my youth traveling. I was born near the border with Gryphos and had playmates who spoke the modern tongue. Through them, I met an old priest who was willing to teach me the older way of speaking.”
Luna leaned forward. “And can you speak other tongues, professor?”
“Ja, ich weiß , wie man mehrere Sprachen sprechen.” At that sentence, Celestia gave her sister a glance; Luna ignored her sister, but gave Twilight Sparkle a conspiratorial wink and a slight nod towards the handsome dark chocolate cake on her plate. Twilight suppressed snickers, remembering how the princess had used the Pferdic name for the Black Forest Cake a few nights before.
“How many?” A curious Twilight blurted out.
The professor chuckled. “I am a fluent speaker of six languages, and can read another four or five without a translation spell. As far as translation spells go, that is applicable to around thirty languages, including Changeish, Canis, Elkan, Llamani, Camelaic, Kirinese and Tapiric.”
Twilight was flabbergasted. Some of those languages had no written alphabet of their own, or were only expressed via magic. Professor Buzz Words returned the young unicorn’s whirling mind back to the princesses and her reason for being at the palace. “Miss Sparkle wrote to me regarding a changeling translation and communication spell; this is to be used to speak with and interview resident changelings to allow them to return to their normal lives, correct?”
The princesses both nodded. “That will do very well. I had been planning on sending my works to Canterlot upon retirement any way for use in the royal archives and diplomatic corps, as well as public libraries. I see no reason why this knowledge should be restricted, at least not the speech translation spells. The ones in present use are not restricted, so I see no reason mine should be either. Public domain. I would prefer my legacy to be in common use than to have my name only go down in infamy in some dusty corner.”
The elderly mare took no notice of the expressions on the faces of her audience (no doubt a skill borne of instructing glazed-eyed freshmen on the art of fine speaking over a course of years). After a moment, Celestia managed to recover enough to say “Indeed, we shall take your requests under consideration. When you are ready to demonstrate your translation spells and deliver the written versions to the archives, I can ensure that they are distributed to libraries and Equestrian diplomats across the nation.”
The mare nodded in satisfaction. “All right then. Princess Luna, have you any volunteers among the changelings that would be willing to undergo the spell? I will be using a short term temporary version for this, but there is also a longer term and a permanent variation.”
Eclipse, who had been watching and listening near the door with an amused expression on her face, waved a scroll with her magic. “It appears that my assistant has the list, Doctor Words. You should check in with her.” Luna answered.
The professor turned to speak to the ebon unicorn and the two began to walk off together. Before they left the room, she spoke a final time. “Oh, and your majesties, Please call me Dr. Bugsy. Every one of my students does.”
Before any of the ponies in the room could respond, she waltzed out in the wake of Luna’s assistant. The princesses and Twilight Sparkle looked at each other. That was a mistake, as all three were holding in guffaws. They all burst out laughing. Eventually, Luna managed to gasp “By Faust, such ego! And yet she acts with such aplomb! Are we certain she teaches languages and linguistics and not theater?”
Twilight’s only answer was “I wonder if she has ever met Rarity.” Laughter echoed through the room again.
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cake debate, Cake Debate, CAKE DEBATE!
Eh, meh. "Such ego!" - Bugsy doesn't actually do anything we can see to demonstrate ego, or arrogance, or presence, or... much of anything. She's just there. Her scene needs better development to bring out her personality.
5377673 And thus how the SECOND Sister war begins
5377820 lol forgot about that. "I know how to speaking many languages" has a certain charm though....
attendance
________
5377820 's error fix still hasn't been implimented.
5427293
Evidence is correct for that phrasing. In this case "in evidence" is being used to mean noticeable and it is not uncommon to use the phrase "not in evidence" to say "was not there".
5506891
For inanimate objects / documentation yes. In a legal trial. Where has it ever been used in a sentence for a living being?
5377820 while your fix is correct, i't still sounds akward. "Ja, ich beherrsche mehrere Sprachen" sounds much better. At least to me and german is my nativ language as you can probably tell from my english.
Actually kirins are Japanese unicorns, qilins, sometimes k'i-lins are Chinese unicorns.