Still No Signal

by Axel Azabash

10- At least I got a room

The day had been really weird. The little horses had a picnic on a grassy hill. They all brought their pets, or what I assumed were their pets. There was a total of six Technicolor equines. Purplesmart, Yellowings, Squiggletail, Rainbow, Pink and another orange one that I still needed a name for, she was wearing a cowboy hat and had apples painted on her hindquarters… I was sure I could come up with something eventually.

Squiggletail brought a cat. It was one of those long-haired cats with funny faces. The cowboy mare brought a nice dog that played around merrily. Rainbow had a tortoise-copter that I put back in the box of things that I would eventually think about but right then I was feeling like not thinking too hard. Purplesmart brought an owl. And the pink one brought a tiny toothless alligator. I was thinking about how weird it was to have an alligator as a pet when I realized that Yellowings, the animal caretaker, the pet hoarder, the one with a ton of animals hadn’t brought anything… except for me…

That weird nagging sensation again… Was I being treated as a pet!?

The ponies spent the time talking and taking care of their pets, also they tried to get Yellowings’ attention in order to check their animals, apparently, she was the expert, but she spent almost the whole day petting ME.

Also, she repeated that pony word over and over to me, and I reluctantly repeated it a couple of times for her delight. I need to figure out what I had said that was driving the yellow equine crazy about me.

When it started to get dark, we went back home to Yellowings’ cottage. After a brief farewell, all the tiny horses parted their ways and once again I was left alone with my caretaker. She was trotting happily by my side, giggling to herself and ruffling her wings like a happy bird.

Of course, she didn’t let me get the couch, not that I would after the previous night incident. We spent the night like the other ones, but she was extra cuddly. She was really adorable and all and I would be happy, but after her reaction and sudden change of behavior… or sudden intensification, I was starting to feel uneasy. I woke up in the morning with her hugging me with both wings and legs… all of them.

She cooked breakfast, and every time I tried to help, I was just pushed back and rewarded with a wave of nuzzles, cuddles and endearing horse sounds. In the end, I got grilled fish with an assortment of the things she knew I liked, and then she almost fed me like if I couldn’t even hold a spoon. I managed to push her back a little and ate the meal on my own, giving her an awkward smile. This was getting out of control…

Suddenly, her rump started to glow…

Yep, the pink butterflies on her flank were glowing and sparkling more butterflies around. She panicked for a moment, trotting in place and looking around like if she needed to pee but the bathroom was occupied. After a moment of doing that, she gasped like if she had had an idea and motioned me to pack all my things and to come with her. Well, it had to be something important if she was acting like that, so I tried to do my best and be ready as soon as I could.

It was the first time since the picnic that she actually listened, talked and gestured like she used to do. That weird thing that she does that looks like any other pony’s gestures but for some reason I actually understand the general idea behind and she understands my general intentions when I talk back to her.

We ran towards what looked like a toy tree castle made out of cheap glossy sparkling plastic from a distance, but it happened to be an actual functional castle on top of a tree, but it was made out of a weird glassy material… Including the tree.

Okay!

I’m not becoming crazy, I’m a normal person!

We came inside the tree trunk. It was hollow and looked like a salon with fancy stairs that went up all the way to the actual castle trough the tree trunk. Once we got upstairs, we ran along a corridor until we found what looked like a big room with a big round table in the middle.

Around the table were a set of chairs and on the table was what looked like a miniature map of a really big area. I thought it was a model at first, but after a second inspection I realized it was like a holographic image. A set of red apples and pink butterflies were circling around what looked like a big lively city that looked more like a theme park.

The cowboy pony was there with Purplesmart, they greeted Yellowings and the cowboy mare scrunched her face at me like if I were really out of place here. Purplesmart seemed to ask Yellowings some questions pointing at me.

They gathered around the magical map and argued a few minutes, both Yellowings and the orange one pointing at the specific location with a disapproving tone. Purplesmart tried to reassure them. After a while, they seemed to agree on something.

Then, Yellowings pointed at me and at the map, talking to Purplesmart, but she shook her head to the yellow mare. She seemed to panic again, trying to explain things to the purple one, but both her and the cowboy mare agreed that Yellowings was wrong about whatever she was talking about. After a few moments with Yellowings’ voice turning into panicked squeaks, she deflated and lowered her head.

Purplesmart took a few steps forward and pointed at her puffed up chest, then pointed at me while talking to Yellowings. The orange one nodded in agreement. Yellowings squeaked in a quiet voice, obviously not happy about the conclusion of the conversation.

The purple mare said something very loudly, and after a pause repeated that same sequence of sounds. The little lizard that had come to the cottage with Squiggletail appeared and talked to Purplesmart. She immediately replied and the lizard brought a piece of paper and a quill. Then he started to take notes about something Yellowings was telling them.

After that, the orange pony pushed Yellowings out of the room, while she continued to squeak and wave at me. Finally, she waved at me in a gesture that I recognized as a farewell, and I waved back until the orange mare dragged Yellowings out of sight.

I sighed and shook my head. That mare was acting extra weird lately. Then I realized something, something important. I was left alone.

With Purplesmart.

“Oh… okay… hello?” I turned around to greet the purple equine.

She said something in their sing song language, smiled and ruffled her wings with excitement. Her smile was so broad and intense that it started to feel creepy.

The lizard interrupted her. He pointed at the first item of the list he had written and Purplesmart giggled nervously and nodded. The mare motioned me to come with her and I followed suspiciously.

Through another door we went, and into what looked like a corridor with guest rooms. They led me to one of those doors, and upon opening it, it was, as expected, a room. On the way there, another purple unicorn appeared and looked at me for a moment, waved, I waved back and then they turned back and continued minding their business, they seemed pretty busy, like Purplesmart used to do, reading a couple of floating books at the same time. Was she a sibling of Purplesmart? They certainly looked similar. With how big the castle was, there should be a lot of those equines living here in spite of the lonely feeling the empty corridors gave.

The room was like a five stars hotel suite room. Everything was made out of that shinny material, the bed was big enough for me, there was a window with a wonderful sight of the whole town down there and proper furniture, including a lot of shelves with books.

Purplesmart smiled creepily again and said something to me, only to be interrupted by the lizard pointing at another item on the list and gesturing to the room again. The mare deflated slightly, snorted and nodded to the lizard, who rolled his eyes.

The mare started to explain something to me, speaking with a fast pace in her language, then, the lizard interrupted her again and said a few words. Purplesmart groaned in frustration.

Only then, without saying a word, she approached the bed and put her forelegs on the pale purple bedlinen, like if testing its softness and motioned me to do the same. I mimicked her actions. “So, that’s the bed… I get it.”

She turned around to the drawers in a crystal nightstand and pulled a few of them. I did the same. “Ok, I can put my stuff in there.”

Then she showed me the bathroom, with all the supplies, towels and stuff. After that, she turned on and off the taps of the different applications and flushed the toilet. “Okay, I get it. That is the cold water and that is the hot one.”

After the intense morning I felt like I needed a good shower, and I was going to enjoy this new place. I first thought about sorting all my clothes and trinkets, but looking at the curious purple mare, I decided against that. I kept my belongings with me and entered the bathroom. Purplesmart was giving me that creepy smile again, only to deflate when she realized that I was going to take a shower. Her groan of frustration was muffled by the closed door.

Savoring my little moments of solitude and privacy out of the continuous care and curious stares of those equines, I checked my phone.

Still no signal…

Author's Note:

The previous one was a short one, and kind of a retelling of the previous part, so, I guess I owe you all another one, so here it is, now with some real progress included!

Comments

[Spacecorefg]

What an interesting turn of events, Can't wait for them to realize what word they have been saying.

[FanOfSun]

Twilight: *Approaches menacingly*

[Axel Azabash]

11386316
Awkwardness is guaranteed.

11386886
Human: "Oh? you are approaching me?"

11387205
For just THIS particular story, EqG does not exist, and the show being known in the human world isn't a thing either. Those two elements are good and interesting for other ways to do HiE, but I want to emphasize the mystery and alien feeling of the human-pony encounter and interactions. It's just a design choice for this one.

[FanOfSun]

11387728
Twilight: "I can't learn more about you without gettinng closer..."

[Alyarin9000]

Well, I just caught up with this fic in one sitting. Very fun

Come on, Twi! Crack this mystery! As much as he's nervous of her, she really is his best bet for outright proving his sapience. The human would do well to embrace her enthusiasm

[HumanSVD]

I hope he starts learning the language. It's annoying that they cannot see he's clearly not an animal....

[Stainless Steel Fox]

11387728 Should probably have an AU tag, but it makes sense for the story you want to tell.

I just wonder why the human isn't more proactive. Point and speak slowly, especially if he can idenitify Equestrian words for objects. Poin t at something, say the pony word followed by the English word, and someone is going to get it eventually.

[Axel Azabash]

11387959
She is his best bet, indeed, as long as she doesn't have one of her... episodes.

11388684
It will be a slow process, but I remember that in the next chapter he learns a few more words. Also, some characters are starting to treat him better. Some of them will not even assume he is an animal when they meet him for the first time. It probably comes from Fluttershy telling her friends she had found a new creature in the forest, and the fact she used her special talent to communicate.

11389200
About the tags... I prefeer to just leave it as a MLP:FIM and leaving the equestria girls tag away. As for the human world not knowing about MLP... I think it's more a part of the story and not enough for a whole AU thing, as the universe is basically the same, excepot for a couple of details to fill in the gaps.

For communication, he has just realized how pony words might work in this setting, and why him talking was not being registered as 'talking' for the ponies at all. The part when him starts to figure out how to communicate with the ponies is comming, now that he is not concerned about his immediate survival nor is he freaking out because nothing makes sense.

[Alyarin9000]

11389803
TBH, as much as she's prone to go mad scientist mode, she's not gonna overtly harm someone - at worst, he'll get strapped down for a few hours and then released - but what would she even want to analyze on his body?. The way I see it, the worst thing an 'episode' would do is scare HIM off (or perhaps damage his phone, but i'd hope she'd be careful with tech she doesn't understand). I guess he has no real way to know that, though. She's definitely treating him more like a sapient than fluttershy though, which hopefully he's appreciating!

Maybe i'm just biased in Twi's favor.

[Hilord17]

11387728
You should clarify that in your long description, then. It would have helped me avoid a headache a few chapters back.

But I'm still annoyed at this guy's inteligence. I know this is a laid back story that's made up of misunderstandings, but as a human being, he should be trying any kind of method to communicate. If he does it in later chapters, then good. If not, then this story will be just a back and forth of 'ponies do things that I don't know' and 'the creature that somehow is smart, uses clothes and has manners but is most certainly surely definitely a pet, is doing things and the ponies don't understand either'.

[Diamondized]

Also, she repeated that pony word over and over to me, and I reluctantly repeated it a couple of times for her delight. I need to figure out what I had said that was driving the yellow equine crazy about me.

And this is what it looks like to succeed on the perception check while failing the intelligence check. Man's gonna die from embarrassement when he finds out...

[NAH223445566]

11387728
Ahh, como un alumno al sonar de la campana.

[KarasAdamas]

11537170
That is a pretty good analogy.

[Canned Pone]

11386316
The author hasnt said if its a she/he?

[Canned Pone]