Your Human and You: Cracking the Code

by DJ TR33

1.2

“Sorry you had to see that,” Megan said. Her voice sounded a little hoarse, but that wasn’t a huge surprise considering that she had just been screaming in a blizzard.

As she’d been expecting, the other pony’s eyes flew wide open. She turned to look at Megan, who gave her her friendliest smile, although this only seemed to make the mare freak out more.

“I’m Megan, by the way.”

“Red Cross,” the pony said, almost reflexively. She was still staring at Megan in utter shock and confusion. “Are… are you really talking?” she asked.

“Last I checked,” Megan replied with a cheeky grin. It felt good to be able to crack a joke again. “Nice to meet you, Ms. Cross.”

“But… you’re a human! And humans don’t talk!”

“And yet, I am both a human and talking. Ergo, at least one human talks,” she replied.

“No, I mean it’s impossible! Their vocal cords don’t allow them to speak!” she said, her voice rising as she did so.

“We have a saying where I’m from,” Megan told her, “‘If you eliminate the impossible, whatever remains, no matter how improbable, must be true.’” She figured it was just as valid for her as it was for the pony. Here she was, chained up in a cell with a bunch of primitive humans and a talking pony, therefore it was impossible that she was in her own time on her own Earth, but it was only highly improbably that she had been transported to another world.
Red Cross took a moment to process this. Eventually, she seemed to reach the same conclusion that Megan had, namely that freaking out needed to be saved for a better time.

“Okay, so you’re a talking human. What are you doing here?” gesturing with her hoof at the surroundings. The chain clanked as she did so, and she winced in pain. Megan could see that the area around the metal was red and raw, looking like the hair and skin had been rubbed off.

“I was hoping you could tell me that,” Megan replied. The pony-- Red Cross, she reminded herself-- was still looking at her with a mix of terror and fear.

“What do you mean?” Red Cross asked. “Where did you come from?”

“Earth,” Megan said simply.

“You mean, from the ground? Did you just spring up, or what?” Red’s terror seemed to lessen slightly as she realized that Megan didn’t seem hostile, although her confusion remained.

“No, I mean the planet Earth, although I don’t suppose I’m even in the right dimension for that to mean anything,” she said. She was ninety nine percent sure it was some kind of dimensional/multiversal travel, although she hadn’t ruled out time travel or pangalactic teleportation. It was possible, she supposed, although the odds of finding intelligent life, much less mythological creatures, was incredibly unlikely, as was them speaking a version of English, although some kind of Babel-fish equivalent might explain that.

“Wait, what are you talking about?” She was jolted back to her reality by Red Cross’s question. She looked back at the pony, and it occurred to her just how ridiculous her situation was. Here she was, holding a casual conversation with a talking pony. It was possible that all of this was just a hallucination or a dream. It felt incredibly real, but then again so do most dreams while you’re in them. Still, unless she received some kind of really damning evidence, it was probably better to assume it wasn’t a dream. She had nothing to lose if it was and everything if it wasn’t.

“You mean that you’re an- an- alien?” The last word squeaked as Red Cross said it, barely above a whisper.

“Yeah, I guess I am,” Megan said to herself, eyebrows furrowing. She had imagined first contact before, of course, but she hadn’t really considered being on the other side. She looked up and saw the pony staring at her in shock, fear once again plastered across her face. “Hey, don’t worry, I’m not here to conquer or probe or anything like that.”
Red’s seemed to calm down again. “Then what are you doing here?

“I don’t know,” Megan admitted. “But I intend to find out.”

Red Cross opened her mouth to say something else, but was stopped by the sound of claws clacking against stone. She glanced toward the mouth of the tunnel, then gestured frantically over at Megan, the chain rattling as she tried to bring her hoof up to her lips. She froze, then put her hoof back down and started to lie down on her much cleaner pile of straw, deliberately not looking at Megan.

Megan took her cue to shut up. She stood and stepped toward the wall opposite that of the quasihumans. The sound of the gryphon coming seemed to rile them up, although the Alpha was still dealing with his broken nose. She watched him as he tried to paw at it and winced as each touch made him flinch from pain. The rest of the humans were at the bars, gripping it and making a chittering sound that slowly grew louder. It was like the sound of a swarm of locusts was being played through animal mouths, and it sent a shiver down her spine. Here was another thing that she had never considered in all of her years of fantasy: humans acting like just another animal.

It was clear from Red Cross’s reaction that even if other sapient humans existed, they were far less common than these quasihumans, at least to the point where they weren’t common knowledge among either the gryphons or the ponies and their “princesses”. It was a scary thought, and only grew scarier when she considered all the things that livestock were used for back home. Pets, manual labor, experiments, and perhaps worst of all, food…

“Ve hear noises, little pony,” the gryphon called out, his room taking on an eerie quality as it echoed down the length of the tunnel. “Ze other gryphons, zhey say it eez nothing to vorry about, but I vorry still, ja?” His accent was far thicker than that of the other one, and Megan glanced a risk in Red Cross’s direction, trying to judge the danger. The pony was almost trembling with fear, and Megan gulped. Even the appearance of an impossible creature didn’t create this much fear for the pony.

She had a terrible thought then, and mentally kicked herself for not considering it sooner. She had told the pony because it seemed like the best option, gathering an ally against their mutual oppressors. She had failed to take into account the possibility that Red Cross might tell the gryphons anyway, out of pure fear, or in exchange for greater favor or preferential treatment. She had quite possibly staked her life on an alien creature she had met five minutes earlier, and that terrified Megan more than anything else could. She turned away from the tunnel mouth and crouched down next to the wall, hoping he wouldn’t notice her. Out of the corner or her eye, she saw him enter the room, the smallest of the four she had seen before, a gryphon with a grey plumage and black body. A flask of some kind was hanging from a talon by a leather strap, and based on his unsteady walk she would guess he was fairly inebriated. Or, as her friends still in college would say, “totally slammed”.

“Zhey tell me, vhat eez to be fear of? Zhey say Ironbeak eez scared of ze humans and ze leettle pony.” His accent was far stronger than that of the other gryphon, and she had no doubt that whatever he was on wasn’t helping. “Zhey don’t know ze truth, though,” he said, leaning in closer toward Red Cross. A claw reached out and almost gently caressed her muzzle, making her flinch back in fear. “Zhey don’t know vhat some hope can do to a prisoner. So I am here to destroy that hope, ja?” He struck her with his claw, a vicious backhand that snapped her head around and left three long lines across her cheek.

“You are not hoping, are you, leetle pony?” He whispered, although in the silence the sound carried easily to her ears. Megan realized that the quasihumans had all been silenced. A quick glance revealed that they had drawn back from the bars and were pressed against the wall opposite, staring in utmost horror at the gryphon. Red Cross seemed to be having a similar reaction, quaking and looking down, to the side, anywhere but at the gryphon.

“You are not screaming and yelling, ja? Not hoping for princess to come save you?” She didn’t look up, and he struck her again, this time slashing her shoulder open with his claws. Four more red lines opened up and began oozing blood. None of the cuts looked very deep, but they did seem extremely painful. “Answer me, leetle pony.” The tone of his voice didn’t change at all, staying a soft, sibilant whisper. “Do you still have hope?”

“...No,” she said, her voice tight with fear and emotion.

“Do you still think anyone at all cares about you? Zat zhey are going to come and save you?”

“No.” A tear fell from one eye. He noticed, and the corners of his beak turned up in a vicous smile.

“Good to hear. Now, vhat ve are going to do is I am going to stand over zhere, and you are going to lie down over here, and if I hear something at all from zhat side of zhey room, you are going to wish zhat you vere dead. Good? Good.”

He stepped away from her and crouched down, eyes fixed on her body. Red Cross shivered and lay down as well, tears now streaming from her eyes. Her whole body shook as she cried, but she didn’t let out a single sound.
Megan watched all of this with baited breath. When it was over, she lay down as well, brushing the filthy hay off the stone as silently as possible before lying down. She felt tears running from her own eyes as well. Tears of fear, of sympathy for the pony that was a sister in chains, and of pity for herself and Red Cross and the other humans. She took her cue from the pony and didn’t allow the gryphon to see or hear her crying.

The only sound that broke the silence was the fear-whimpers of the quasihumans and a quiet, cruel purring that was coming from the gryphon as he watched the crying pony with a twisted grin plastered on his beak.
Before long, her exhaustion caught up to her. She hadn’t rested as long as she would have liked, and she got the feeling that the effects of her hypothermia had yet to run their entire course. After a few moments of struggling to keep her eyes open, she nodded off.

Author's Note:

Hey, next chapter. Let me know if you guys like this. I'm trying something a bit different here, so let me know what works and what doesn't. Thanks!

Comments

[monkey king]

I like what you are doing please keep it up.

[Xenomorpher]

Yeah! A update! This chapter seems good enough for me, I see no problems.