• Published 22nd Mar 2015
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Distorted Fate - Silvak



What happens when a dimension traveler ends up being stuck in a place they never expected to be? In a place where they find themselves in a new body, dealing with an unknown species. Note: This is not a HiE story.

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Chapter XVI: Letters

Normally, adults know how to reprimand a child, but in Rainbow Dash's case, she did a horrible job at it. Her idea of scolding me was telling me that I should only think about attempting rock climbing at Ghastly Gorge once I learn to be half as awesome as she was. Made me wonder how her head hadn't exploded from her over-inflated ego. Moving on, Rainbow managed to prevent the rest of the Crusaders from wanting to try climbing the cliff, which surprised me since they just saw my brush with death mere moments before. Instead, she told us to head back to Sweet Apple Acres, with her tagging along so that we didn't run off.

While I was glad that I wasn’t to blame for anypony falling to their death, I came across another problem when we arrived at the farm. It was late afternoon when we came across Applejack, the mare who's suspicious of me despite my skills at fooling everypony else. As I watched her look at us with a friendly face, I thought, Seems like she forgot about our lit—never mind, she remembers, as her eyes looked us over, but once her sight landed on me her eyes instantly narrowed. Thankfully she got distracted by the presence of Rainbow, allowing me to slowly edge my way from the group.

"Howdy, there Rainbow I'm surprised that you're not off nappin' or practicin'," Applejack said.

"Well, I was going through my runs at Ghastly Gorge till I saw the purple squirt falling off the cliff side after she climbed more than half of it."

"Oh that expla—WHAT‽" Applejack yelled in shock as she turned her head towards me.

"Thank you Rainbow," I muttered, my voice thick with sarcasm.

"What in tarnation possessed you to do that?" After receiving a blank stare from me, Applejack facehoofed as she said, "I mean, why did you do that?"

"Cutie marks."

Frowning, Applejack responded, "I need more than that."

Sighing, I answered, "I gave them some ideas, they said they done it and Scootaloo said my ideas were boring, so I said 'climb a big rock.' I did not thought they would go for it."

"You still shouldn't give such dangerous ideas Aether, you almost got hurt."

"I was fine till Rainbow's flying knocked me off."

"What the hay? I saved you!" Rainbow countered as her anger began to rise.

"But you knocked me off, so that... errr... makes saving me not count," I countered as I glared at her, only to receive one in return.

"Enough of that, Rainbow. Aether, you shouldn't try rock climbin' at your age, it's too dangerous for a filly to try."

Grunting, I thought to myself It's not trying when you've done it already. Regardless of the scolding I received, it appeared to distract Applejack from the suspicion she held towards me.

"Anyways, since you're here I'll let you take care of the Crusaders, I have some overdue snooze time to catch up on," Rainbow said as she flew off before Applejack could let a word out.

"That darn mare, always flying off whenever she can," Applejack grumbled before turning her attention back to the four of us. "I better not hear any of you trying rock climbin' or anything dangerous today. Aether, you better not be givin' the fillies any more bright ideas, understood?" After I gave her a nod, Applejack returned it with a nod of her own as she headed over to one of the apple trees. I tilted my head as I wondered what she was doing, before I saw her kick the tree with her rear legs. My jaw dropped as I beheld the sight of all the apples falling off the tree to land in some wooden buckets positioned next to the tree.

"What, you never saw a pony applebuckin' before?" Apple Bloom asked, to which I gave her a shake of my head in response.

As I turned my head to regard the Crusaders, something off on the horizon caught my attention, something purple. The Crusaders noticed that I was staring at something, and turned their heads in time to see a certain purple mare with a frazzled mane walking toward us. Though she was muttering to herself, my ears could still pick up what she was saying.

"Tell me to take a break he says. Get out and get some fresh air or he'll write to Princess Celestia again he says. Can't he understand that I was working on the latest great discovery of ponykind! This is something that can't just be simply pushed aside for some fresh air, I need to figure out that cry—oh, hi there Aether."

Blinking, I was about to say hi back when I noticed that the Crusaders had mysteriously disappeared. As I turned my head around in confusion as I tried to see where they’d gone, Applejack had trotted over after seeing the state Twilight was in. Weird. What caused those three to run off so suddenly?

"Hey there Twilight. I haven't seen you since the party, though you looked like you didn't slept since then. Are you alright there sugarcube?" Applejack asked, her voice thick with concern that only confused me more as I looked at the duo.

"Hi, Applejack. I'm fine, just fine. I was just experimenting with those crystals we found. They are just so amazing! They defy all logic with their reactions to magic. Not one single spell truly worked on them. They instead had a completely different reaction! The results I gathered could give us so many new insights into magic and the crystals could provide new possibilities with magic!"

As Twilight continued on with her rant, I was lost in my thoughts after I figured out what she could be talking about. She's messing with those Maralus shards? This can't end well, with the strange abilities the unicorns and this... wait, I never figured out what she was.

"Ummm... Twilight?" I said, interrupting the two mares who turned their attention towards me. "I was... thinking, I do not know what you are..."

Cocking an eyebrow in confusion, Twilight replied, "What I am? What are you... wait... do you know what an alicorn is? Or do you need to know our word for it?"

"No, I just do not have word for of idea of what you are."

"Well... that's surprising, but considering that there's only four of us, it may not be so far-fetched that you never heard of one before you met me. Anyway, I'm an alicorn, a pony that has the traits for all three pony tribes."

Looking at me with a curious look, Applejack asked, "You really haven't seen any of the princesses before Aether? Haven't your... I mean ain't no pony told ya about the princesses before?"

"Umm... what does your word 'princesses' mean?" I replied.

"Well, it's princess for one pony only, and they're the rulers of Equestria. Twilight here is a princess too, since she's an alicorn."

After Applejack finished her explanation, I felt all the blood draining out of my face as I slowly turned towards Twilight as I asked, "You ar-re a prin-ncess?" As Twilight gave me a nod, I started to hyperventilate as I thought, She's a member of the ruling class! And I’ve thrown books at her! I am so screwed!

Twilight stared in confusion at my reaction before realization dawned on her. "Whoa, relax, Aether. You're not in any trouble for throwing those books at me. I'm not mad at you, okay?"

"Wait a minute, she’s thrown some books at ya?" Applejack asked.

"Well... yeah... but that was when she couldn't communicate with us... and I was getting carried away in regards to her native tongue being a language that no other pony had encountered before..." Twilight said sheepishly. However, a moment after she gave her answer, her eyes brighten as she turned toward me, grabbing my shoulders, or to be more exact, my withers, which I learned about a few days ago, with her forehooves. "Aether, have you learned our alphabet yet?"

"Errr... yes?" I replied, dumbfounded by the sudden change in her mood. My only response from her though was her mouth stretching wide as she smiled, reminding me of Pinkie Pie.

"That means you could translate your language's alphabet into our alphabet! You could teach me your language with ease! Ponykind's knowledge in linguistics could change after I learn yo—" Twilight said before Applejack shoved a hoof into her mouth.

"Now hold on there sugarcube. What are ya yammering about now?" Applejack asked before removing her hoof.

"Aether's language is a completely unknown language, one that is unrelated to any recorded languages! There aren’t even any ancient texts that have the same alphabet as the one she provided me with, and her alphabet has seventy four letters in it!"

"Seventy four letters?" Applejack asked in confusion, before she narrowed her eyes as she turned her attention towards me. "Aether, you better not be leading Twilight on a wild goose chase. Does your language really have seventy four letters?"

Blinking in surprise at her, I was starting to think that our first meeting at the party and the rock climbing incident had left her with a bad impression of me as I said, "Yes... my words do have seventy four letters."

"In all my years, I never heard of any language with seventy four letters. Must be tough for you to learn them all."

"Actually, Applejack, it might not be so tough in regards to her language. It actually may be tougher for her to wrap her head around our alphabet since it has only twenty six letters," Twilight said before she looked at me with her creepy excited look. "So Aether, ready to write down your alphabet and match it with our letters?" she asked as a notepad and a quill appeared out of nowhere, causing my jaw to drop.

"Wha- how... where did that came from?" I ask in befuddlement as I pointed my hoof at the notepad.

"What? I just teleported them here?" Twilight asked as she tilted her head in confusion.

"But... but how?"

"With magic of course."

"...What is magic?" I asked as I tried to link that word to anything I encountered, only to come up with a blank for the moment.

"Magic? Well, the word magic applies to this," Twilight said as she pointed her horn that is covered with her purple aura.

Squinting my eyes as I looked at her horn, I thought, does magic mean telekinesis? Wait, no, you can’t just make stuff appear out of thin air like that... before I said, "I do not understand still."

"What do yo—Aether, does your language have a word for what I'm doing?" Twilight asked, her confusion growing.

"Not really, it has word for moving stuff without touching, but to do that and make things appear... no. No words for that, or anything like that." After I finished, Twilight's jaw just dropped, along with Applejack's.

"Wha—but... wait, Aether, how long were you with your parents? Didn't you see them do magic?"

Instantly I gave Twilight a frown, causing her to recoil before I answered, "Fourteen years, no 'magic'. Do not talk about my parents again."

Eyes wide in shock, Applejack tentatively asked, "Aether... what happened to yo—" before I interrupted her.

"They are gone, for good. Do not ask again. Please." I gave the two mares the best Death Glare I could muster, causing both of them to look down at the ground as they pawed the ground with their forehooves. Moments passed before Twilight raised her head to look at me with sorrow-filled eyes.

"I'm... sorry for... asking you about that... is there anything I can do to make it up?" Twilight asked, with Applejack soon offering a similar apology. While I was furious at having to remember some unpleasant memories, I was still able to recognize that I might have a unique opportunity here, as long as I worded it carefully.

"Yes... there is. I teach you my letters... but you teach me magic."

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