Utaan

by Imploding Colon

Mother of Nightmares and Entrances

"H'jymmsslym yln wlysshm h'shym h'mynnym!" Princess Luna's voice continued to boom.

The Herald sat in shuddering silence, their aching heads craned to the starlight. The sarosians remained dead-still and dormant around them. Armored bodies bowed across the deck of the Stardust and the vessels beyond. The glowing spotlight from the heavens intensified—along with the ardent words echoing from the pendant's enchantment.

"W'hym yln w'lysshmlm h'jym y'nlyssyhym! H'rymlymsym yln w'yslyhym w'ynhymmr!"

Rainbow and her friends watched as countless sets of slitted eyes pulsed beneath their whalebone helmets, responding to each tonal shift in Princess Luna's voice.

Nicole clung to Bard, her lips pursed. The farm mare's eyes shimmered just as magically. Swallowing a lump down her throat, she looked across the way to where Echo's battered body lay, surrounded by deeply bowing pirates.

"W'rynym!" the regal voice in the air growled. Rainbow squinted from a brightening silver aura between her pendant and the sky. "M'lyssym yln y'lssymhym H'Luun! Wys yln h'ryhmssym l'wynsym 'Rainbow Dash', h'jynmwym!"

"Uhhhhh..." Pinkie Pie turned around. "I think that last thing she said translates to 'Rainbow Dash.'"

"Shhhh!" Twilight floated before Rainbow. "Rainbow, quick! Ask Luna if she can talk the pirates into releasing your friends!"

Rainbow squinted at her. "What? You mean you don't understand what she's saying, egghead?"

Twilight pouted, pointing at her lavender crown. "Do I look like I've got adorable, leafy ears?"

"Twilight, dear..." Rarity gulped, eyeing the body modifications and piercings of the sea-hardened warriors around them. "Exactly what about this is 'adorable?'"

"Shhhh!" Applejack floated upwards. "I think Luna's getting to the good part!"

"What?" Rainbow blinked at her. "You can read past the bat-tongue?"

"Does it matter! Just hush!"

Rainbow and her friends clammed up as Luna finished another string of words: "H'lynna wynl l'wynssyl yln H'Luun w'mymlym Rainbow Dash w'lynsym yln 'Austraeoh.' Yln Austraeoh h'jymwym wynl w'yssym yln H'Luun y'mssym lysl m'wynhrm. H'jymym! Yln Austraeoh l'syymym wynl h'jymmsys H'Luun l'synnylm lysl yln m'whynny." A breath, and then: "So commandeth the Maiden of the Moon, oh wayward foals of lost tides. Obey us... and we shalt restore thy flesh with the everlasting night spirit... which is now one with the day. Harmonic, pure, peaceful."

Rainbow Dash heard a strange whimpering sound. She looked around, realizing that several of the sarosians were sobbing. Many pirates had stripped of their masks and armor, if only to grasp their muzzles in open, unabashed weeping. A pronounced, ear-splitting wail of agony and ecstasy rolled through the deck, fighting back against the thunder of the heavens. The pale leader of the group murmured indecipherable words, bowing her head as her pronounced ears drooped to the rusted deck.

Nicole sniffed, overcome by something she couldn't pronounce. As the tears flowed from her eyes, Bard eached over and hugged her tight.

Wildcard looked up, straightening his goggles with a trembling talon. His metal limb lay limp—still smoking from his aggressive fight earlier.

Ariel, Flynn, Kepler, and Logan sat with their flanks facing. With each second that dripped by, they gradually relaxed, breathing more evenly as the pacified pirates around them continued to lie prostrate before the glowing spotlight.

The silver light in question flickered, dimming slightly. Nevertheless, Princess Luna's voice was as strong and fervent as always when she spoke next: "Rainbow Dash, my child, are you alright?"

Rainbow didn't realize her breath was short until she found herself gasping in reply. "Y-yes, Your Majesty!" She gulped, shivering slightly. "They... they've stopped attacking us."

"As they should." The pendant pulsed with a shuddering breath. "A thousand pardons, Rainbow Dash. I did not... properly anticipate the degree to which I needed to meditate before making this enchantment feasible. The distance between us is quite extreme. If I had truly known the time it would have taken—"

"Look. Just chill and save the apologies for later, Your Majesty," Rainbow said, standing up. "What matters right now is that we've got your badflank voice doing badflank stuff at the precise badflank time."

"Rainbow..." Fluttershy grimaced. "Remna is still sinking beneath us..."

Rainbow was already taking the breath to speak: "Right now, Axan needs help the most."

Luna replied, sensing the concern in Rainbow's voice. "What has transpired?"

"She was tossed overboard, and she can't swim!" Rainbow's voice cracked. "Right now, she's dropping like a stone! Drowning!"

The silver light pulsed instantly: "W'sylymm! H'jymml yln w'synym wyn s'ylppa! H'jymma!"

The pale warrior stood up straight, nodding. "Ywm, H'Luun!" With a breathy voice, the sarosian spun and gestured towards a handful of other pirates. "W'synym wyn yln s'ylppa wyssl h'symnl! H'jymma!"

In a blink, four athletic sarosians dropped their weapons, turned tail, and dove into the choppy waters. Sp-Sp-Sp-Sploosh!

"Oh goodness..." Rarity fanned herself. "I'm not the biggest fan of the dragon who murdered you, Rainbow Dash, but I do hope that they find the misguided Matriarch in—"

Sploooooosh! The sarosians emerged, dragging a waterlogged violet figure onto the Stardust's deck.

"—due time." Rarity blinked. "My oh my..."

Comments

[adlbeay]

I'm sorry Luna, but I don't understand moonspeak. But I do love when you bring out the YE OLDE ROYAL CANTERLOT VOICE. Please never stop using it.

This makes me wonder, though... the last impression that any of these bat ponies had of Luna was back when she was still Nightmare Moon - and it takes no stretch of the imagination to see that a decent part of their culture revolves around that persona. If they've been stuck in the Twilight Lands this entire time, it's possible that they don't even know about Luna coming back from her banishment. I wonder how they're going to feel about her being all goody-goody with their former number-one enemy Sun Horse all of a sudden.

I hope that little speech brought them in line well enough...

[Xarchels]

"Rainbow..." Fluttershy grimaced. "Remna is still sinking beneath us..."

Oh yeah, that happened too... Sorry, I was too busy watching Luna being badflank to care.

[Enix]

*furiously writing notes* Ywm, Ywm.

[IceKitsune]

Yay for saving Remna, and Luna giving what I assume is an awesome speech in Moon language! Hopefully the pirates are completely on Rainbows Side now and willing to help. Given how they reacted it seems to be that way.

[Lightning Bearer]

Man, the old batpony speech sure brings me back.

[VNilla]

7470664 @me with my linguistics minor

Like, I don't want to get involved in a full decipherment because I have better things to do with my time, but the thought is tempting.

7470837 Has IC/SSE used it before? is this borrowed from EoP or something?

[Leftover of Saikano]

Luckily the language hasn't changed enough with time and distance that modern batponies can still understand Luna.

[YoshiFawful64]

7471108
It's from EoP, yes. Seems to use a lot more ys than I remember, though.

[Cynderfall]

Woah! Moontounge is a sexy language.

[Revan]

QUick, somepony grab a lifeguard!

[Hazard]

And so the batponies go all moon-eyed.

It should've taken them a little longer than that to retrieve Axan. She'd been sinking for some time.

7471301 it's imbued into their very being. Nicole had never heard it before a few days ago, and she was overcome with emotion upon hearing it.

[Hap]

7471561

Moontounge

eyebrows.gif

[KMCA]

7471330 Well also remember EoP had it only used for casting. Not so much for everyday speech.

[The 24th Pegasus]

Aaaaaaaaay Axan, glad you're back after your quick bath.

[Nevlamas]

Now I'm no expert on Moonwhinny, but I'm pretty sure the gist of that monologue was "You are all my bitches now".

[Metal Aura]

7474510 I understood most of it. It translates directly to "Come to the dark side. We have cookies."

[Silly Words]

I can't help but think moonwhinny sounds a lot like a very long clearing of the throat. They should have a medic check that, maybe.

[JustAnotherTimeLord]

So . . . everything is okay now? Can I unplug my ears? I don't know if these sarosians are truly good now.

[mongoosegoose]

Twilight pouted, pointing at her lavender crown. "Do I look like I've got adorable, leafy ears?"

I think Twilight has a fetish.

[arancaytar]

Um... can we have some subtitles?

m'whynny

*tips coronet*

[Doctor Disco]

Sploooooosh! The sarosians emerged, dragging a waterlogged violet figure onto the Stardust's deck.

My...

How anticlimactic.
6:43 p.m. MST 12/7/2017

[meanderingNekomata]

Think I got the idea behind this language figured out, limited letters and many apostrophes, with liberal use of uncommon consonants and the only vowel being y. In any case, if they ever made crossword scratch-offs, they'd have to limit the number of letters they give you severely, but even if they did I have a feeling I'd still be much more likely to win big!

[Tim the Planes-pony]

"Rainbow..." Fluttershy grimaced. "Remna is still sinking beneath us..."

Yeah, kinda a mood killer here
11/09/2019
19:38 UTC

[Level Dasher]

Y'know, the Herald and co. seem to be able to move quite a bit for being tied up...

[hypervelocity]

Sploooooosh! The sarosians emerged, dragging a waterlogged violet figure onto the Stardust's deck.

So bat ponies are good swimmers. You learn something new everyday.