The alarm clock on Carrot Cake’s nightstand was set to four in the morning. Today, like most days, he was already awake when it began to buzz, and he switched it off with a light tap of his hoof.
“Munsilasii…” Cup Cake mumbled beside him. It sounded like either tired or shower. “Amaashli,” she continued, and rolled onto her side, pulling the covers back up over her shoulder.
Tired, then. Probably. He considered stealing the covers back and snuggling up behind her, to hide from the chilly air for just a bit more sleep. Nopony would mind if the bakery opened five minutes later than normal.
But years of habit finally won out, and he sat up. Outside his window the sky was a deep gray tinged with blue, and only the faintest hint of the dawn lurked on the horizon. He stared at it for a moment, letting the last bits of sleep drain from his body, then leaned over his wife and gave her ear a little kiss before absconding to use the shower.
* * *
Bakers were the first to rise in Ponyville. They had to be. When Carrot emerged from the shower the house was already filled with the warm scent of fresh bread. He toweled his mane and headed downstairs.
The first trays were in the oven, and Cup sipping coffee at the table. She smiled and indicated the counter, where the pot was still bubbling. “Anum?”
“Thank you.” He poured himself a cup, added a bit of milk and sugar, and sat. “Shower’s yours, if you want.” He mimed turning the faucet and holding his head under the spray.
She nodded and set her mug on the table. “Shiikgi adi, shami ushash shirman. Gar!” She gave him a kiss and headed upstairs.
* * *
Pinkie Pie joined them shortly before opening. She bounced over to the counter and opened up the displays, pulling out the empty trays to ready them for the treats. “Zel Cake trealop!” She paused and bit at her lip, and then slowly spoke again. “Good...morning… Mister Cake!”
“Trealop,” he said, and walked over to give her a fatherly hug. Learning even a few words of another pony’s language was a sign of immense commitment, and every time she greeted him it was like a warm candle had lit within his heart. Pinkie, on the other hoof, was close to being able to greet the entire town, and knew the word for party in hundreds of languages. How she could remember all those strange sounds, much less who they belonged to, baffled him.
Cup Cake made her way down the stairs and joined them, her mane still damp from the shower. “Pinkie! Trealop.”
“Zal Cake trealop! Weepeggle?” Pinkie bounced over to her for a hug. Tones, at least, hadn’t changed, and the up-inflected ending was clearly a question.
“Nii gi e gik.” Cup ruffled Pinkie’s mane, and they walked into the kitchen, speaking to each other in quiet voices that said nothing, but somehow still meant everything.
* * *
Twilight Sparkle was one of their first customers that day, as she was most days. The Princess of Friendship was also an early riser, preferring to start her research as soon as the sun rose.
Of all the ponies in Ponyville, Carrot suspected the curse had hurt Twilight more than anyone else. She adored books, and for the second time in less than a year she had lost her beloved library. Her treasures were not shattered or burned this time – they still sat on the crystal shelves in her castle, slowly gathering dust.
Once, a few weeks after the curse, he visited the library on a whim and found a children’s book his mother had read to him as a foal. The pictures were all the same, and he could follow along with the story, but the letters were meaningless scratches of ink. Odd, indecipherable shapes, straight lines and curves wrapped together to form strange glyphs. He could no longer read his own childhood tongue.
Twilight was in the library as well that day. It was the only time Carrot had ever seen her cry.
She was not crying today. Instead, as usual, she wore one of her experiments: a wire necklace with a flickering jewel in the center. It was encased in an array of thin metal fins, which Carrot took to mean it generated a fair amount of heat.
Her horn glowed, and the gem lit up with an inner fire. “Hello Mister Cake! I would like four—” the gem sparked and went out with a puff of smoke. “—kiraric par rede.”
“Seven words! That’s getting better,” he said. “Four of what?” He mimed pointing at the treats in the glass display between them.
Twilight’s ears drooped, and she motioned toward the eclairs. He gave her five, in hopes of seeing her smile.
It worked. She glanced around, as if to make sure they were alone, then leaned over the counter to give him a peck on the cheek. Then, cheeks aflame, she darted out the door.
* * *
Pound Cake was the last of the family to rise. He fluttered downstairs and settled into a chair, mane still a mess, feathers all afluff.
“You’re late,” Carrot said. “Pumpkin already left for school.”
“School’s stupid,” Pound said. “All we do is math and art. Why couldn’t Discord have screwed up everypony’s numbers, too?”
“Princess Twilight says that’s impossible. Math is universal,” Carrot said. He enjoyed speaking with his children – like most foals, they quickly learned their parents’ languages, and often served as translators in the family. Most of the town’s foals also spoke a pidgin tongue that sounded suspiciously like Cheerilee’s language.
The schools had made a few half-hearted stabs at teaching a new national language, based on Princess Celestia’s, but hopes of a magical solution seemed to have sabotaged those plans. Who wanted to spend years learning a new language, when next month Discord might return and set everything right? So, instead the schools taught math. Lots and lots of math.
“Math is boring!” Pound thumped the table with a hoof. The crockery shook along the walls in sympathy.
“Be that as it may, you’ll be glad in a few years when the princess fixes things,” Carrot said. “Now, shoo! Go catch your sister.”
* * *
It was late when Carrot settled into bed. Cup was already beneath the covers, drowsing, and he snuggled up behind her.
“Love you,” she mumbled.
It had been seven months since Discord’s Curse, as Carrot called it. He assumed everypony else called it the same thing in their language. Only the word "Discord" was the same.
It was impossible to learn enough to speak with everypony. One had to choose carefully. To decide what mattered. And, he reflected, that wasn’t so hard.
“Ane khimshuk,” he whispered.
Love you.
Amazing stuff, as usual!
Jung n jbaqreshy fgbel. Gunaxf sbe oevatvat vg gb hf. +1
--Trbet
Very enjoyable.
Still makes me tear up as much as it did when I first read it.
Assuming my memory's sound, I also love the additions on this version (Twilight's library, Cheerilee and Celestia). The former is probably the bit that lands the biggest emotional punch for me (which isn't a surprise, since I remember the rest well). The latter fleshes out the scenario nicely. This was going to be one of my all-time favorite pieces on Fimfiction even without those touches, I'm pretty sure. Having them just makes it better.
Thanks for a wonderful story.
Wowie zowie...
How the hell does one even compete with such a piece?
Ye a god among writers, this here presents a strong case for it.
~Skeeter The Lurker
And then the counter-curse is akin to Google Translate, and it just pisses everypony off even more.
6630820
If you look at the scores, we didn't. "Babel" won its round about as decisively as anything has ever won a WriteOff. I pulled 3rd Place in that WriteOff, and I'm frankly prouder of that 3rd than I'd have been getting 1st in a lot of rounds, based on how stiff the competition was.
6630844
...Shows you how much I pay attention at times...
~Skeeter The Lurker
This was glorious!
It was short but spoke volumes.
I would love to see more written about this.
Bradel made me read it (with a gun to my head and everything) during the Writeoff. It was brilliant then and it is brilliant now. My hat is off to you.
6630768
Nu! Lbh fcrnx ebg13vna! Zneirybhf! N ybiryl ynathntr, vfa'g vg? Irel zrybqvp. Nyzbfg zhfvpny.
Aneniab, wn tbibevz wrmvxbz xbwv wr wbf xbzcyvxbinavwv mn enmhzrinawr. Hvfgvah, Inivyba anz wr fivzn qbnxnb.
.i ki'e do
.i xu do se bangu la lojban .i je'epei
.i ki'e sai do
It's simply staggering how much story and pure world building you put into a scant thousand words. Bravo sir! Just like your Cities story, love this one in its simplicity. Keep up the great work!!
Jesus, I had this exact idea, like, two years ago. I even had writing not work and the villain's name be the one word that was universal. Except instead of every individual being different it was just different races, and it was a random baddie named Babel rather than Discord. I'd also planned it longer, starting out with the initial aftermath, then progressing months, then years, then centuries into the future, exploring the longterm implications to a world based on harmony when communication between races is no longer possible, I wish I'd actually written it because now you've gotten it first and this was quite good.
Bravo! I was expecting worse, actually, having recently read "Speech Sounds" by Octavia Butler. If this story intrigues you at all, you own it to yourself to go read the Hugo Award winning story.
This story hurt me in all the right places and deserved to win.
I think I need to check the security on my notes... though the Shattering was not in the current era... Sorry, I talk to myself at times.
Strange thing is to me Discord failed, he may have broken their language but he didn't succeeded in throwing Equestria in chaos.
You have sais more with these words than many lengthier tomes ever have.....Bravo!! Great work!
I now delve into my boarding school days in order to comment on this.
Hoc valde opulentam et uberem. It astutum et prudentem eloquii. Stat supra parium.
One of the neat discord stories is that he took a town and made half the population deaf and the other half mute. so they invented sign language
Reminds me of an older science fiction story I once read, in which a biological weapon scrambled the language centers of the brain. The survivors were either deaf-mute, but could read and write, or were capable of speech and hearing, but utterly incapable of understanding any visual language elements beyond the most basic hand signals.
Stories that deal with the intricacies of and dependency on such a basic, but essential thing as language are so rare, and it's a real treat to see it done right.
reminds me of the tower of babel from the bible
6631163 you could still do it it be longer and just as good
It's always a pleasure when you show up in my feed.
That last bit was inspired, man.
6631736
Was that story written by Damon Knight, perchance?
That biblical story always makes me to think, "Wow, God is a jerk." If I recall, a reason isn't even properly giving as to why besides maybe that mankind in complete unity could rival his godly feats which made the blowhard angry.
Anyway, it's a good premise and is well written, but dang if it's not really bare bones. I know it's a oneshot, but I think it could have benefited from an extra few hundred words to better set Discords actions. Spirit of Chaos or not, Discord has shown himself to be a being driven by motive and reason just like the rest of us, he's just particularly zany is all, so him just doing this out of the blue and then vanishing is odd to say the least.
That was a sad story.
Saw title, my mind immediately went to this:
Which I discovered thanks to this:
So thanks for reminding me of chill tunes to avoidance to :)
6631881
It was written for a minific round of the Writeoff -- 750 words or less. The version here is actually expanded by quite a bit.
I thought about adding more, but in the end I couldn't think of a good reason to. The point of the story isn't why Discord cast a curse; it's a story about how regular ponies like the Cakes are trying to cope in the aftermath.
This packed a damn powerful statement in 750 words, and it lost none of that density in expansion. A well-deserved win with a marvelous treatment of a marvelous idea. Straight to the Superlatives list.
That was fantastic.
In the spirit of the story:
Mahtava tarina! Perusidea on yksinkertainen mutta nerokas, ja CiG hyödyntää sen mahdollisuuksia todella hyvin. Usein sanotaan, että sanat ovat vain yksi, ja usein vähiten tärkeä, osa viestintää, ja se pitää täysin paikkansa tämän tarinan suhteen.
manxeňua vořuza žono canuse cařuco!
ITT: everybrony's native language.
I like the additions you made, especially the part about Cheerilee and Celestia. Makes you wonder, if something like this were to happen, how long time it'd take for a unified language to arise. After, say, a lifetime, there'd probably be local languages at the very least, on account of the kids who grew up together and learnt a common language.
So yeah, both touching and thought-provoking.
Väldigt bra jobbat, CiG.
The only thing that made this not horrifying was the fact this happened in Equestria, where communication via friendship is plausible.
Flooba-flabba-fleeba, Albert!
Well done!
I thought this was a really good story when I read it in the Write Off, and adding a few more paragraphs has done nothing to alter that opinion.
6630787
Yeah. I mean, goddamn... poor Twilight.
And all those other ponies with cutie marks for knowledge and reading. I mean... BOOM. Life ruined.
This was really nice, I remember reading it in the writeoff and really digging it. It's a good exploratory piece with some hints of a strange sadness that isn't exactly close to reality, but a "what if" scenario that should creep a good few of us out, due to how much we're invested in reading, writing, and language in general.
My one gripe is the whole Twilight thing, which even though I can understand why she did it (he's one of the few ponies she constantly talks to), it doesn't sit right with me and the story could easily survive with that omitted.
A really interesting story, it goes to show that it doesn't have to be long to be epic.
However I do see sort of an "easy out" to this situation, Twilight just goes to the EQG world and everyone use that common language.
Ksat cit kikl? Fud ram itilien, hard. Fud ytr kilk tik...
Ĉu vi vidas? Ĉi situacio estas, kial internaciaj lingvoj estis kreinta, kiel Esperanto.
Aliflanke, mi pensas, ke vi povas uzi aliajn lingvojn-- realajn lingvojn-- en via rakonto. Se vi volas, mi scias kelkajn lingvojn, kaj do mi povas helpi vin.
Who else enabled their translators?
well im not bilingual, so this was the best I could do
dnoces a ni pu ti tae d I erom edam uoy fI egaugnal siht etah I tub stib ot yrots siht devol I
This isn't really a language, but i tried
Sunset Shimmer hops through the mirror:
"fibb jib gibberish! "
Sunset: "Wait, I got this." Flips out her smartphone.
"Gib fib jamboree?"
Sunset: "And there! Can you understand me now?"
"What did you do? This is incredible!"
Sunset: "Thank Celestia for Google translate! Now can we figure out why I'm still human? I mean, I'm not complaining, with the tech and stuff, but still! This is just weird!"
"Sunset, you just saved Equestria!"
Sunset: "Yeah, I'm pretty awesome."
But really, this was a great story and a really cool idea. If this were to happen in real life I would be absolutely horrified. Not least because my personal language would probably be some form of C. Miss a semicolon and my whole world goes to crap!
For some reason I imagined Applejacks ENTIRE FAMILY (not including the oranges) speaks 'Country Apple'
This was an enjoyable read.
GOOGLE TRANSLATE FAILED ME!
-ThePortalPonies
וַיְהִ֥י כָל־הָאָ֖רֶץ שָׂפָ֣ה אֶחָ֑ת וּדְבָרִ֖ים אֲחָדִֽים׃
6632248
If it looks like it's going to last more than a decade- like if translation magitech ends up being unable to do more than 100 words a day without blowing out- I think that there will soon be Crown-granted funding for a small group of exceptionally talented foals to journey around Equestria learning the major teacher-dialects that have popped up, then eventually using that to start bringing together a common language for the next generation.