> Language
>  by SilverInk500
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

> Act 1: Discoveries - Ch. 1
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Language
Act One: Discoveries
Chapter One
Silver Ink

It was dark. My entire world was black, and the darkness filled everything. It filled my eyes, my mind, my soul even so that I could see nothing and feel nothing. I don't think it was always like this, but I couldn't recall anything but this darkness. Though, now that I think about it, I'm almost certain that there was something before this terrible emptiness.

I might have been dreaming, or maybe I was only half awake. I don't know how long I laid there, encased in the darkness. Slowly, my sense of touch was coming back. I suddenly became very cold, like I had been lying in snow for years. My entire body ached. The ground below me felt wet, cold, and hard. I became aware of the fact that my eyes had been shut. After discovering the fact, I had the urge to open my eyes instantly, but soon became frightening of the thought of what I might see. I felt as if I had been awakened from a deep sleep. I could have been asleep for years.

As I pondered these things, it dawned on me that while I could not remember anything, I seemed to know of many things. I knew about my limbs and what they looked like and that they were the ones aching even though I could not see anything but black and couldn't recall feeling a pain like this before. I knew that I was lying on a rock, but I couldn't remember lying on a rock before. Smelling the air, I knew that it had recently rained, but I do not recall rain at all. It seemed like my mind knew everything, but I myself did not. My memories were gone, but I remembered what memories were. It was a strange discovery and a scary feeling.

Dismissing the thoughts, I came back to the predicament with my vision. I decided that I must at one point open my eyes and that nothing terrible could come from looking around that wouldn't have been worse if I kept my eyes shut.

Slowly, I opened my eyes. It was still very dark, but I could see some shapes and colors now. I looked around the dark area until my eyes fell on a portion of bright light coming from behind me. I sat up and turned around and found myself facing the exit of the cave that I was currently in. Beyond the exit were many brightly colored trees and vines. It was quite bright outside, so I had to squint when I looked at it.

I sat there looking at the forest, as it appeared to be, for a bit longer before decided that the best course of action would be to exit this damp cave and explore the outside a bit. I reasoned that I should not go very far because I may need the cave as a temporary home.

I attempted to stand up, but as soon as I did, I fell to my knees. My legs were burning and felt incredibly weak. I tried to think of why, but with a lacking memory, the only reason I could think of for the weakness would be that I hadn't used them in a while.

“Could I have been asleep for that long?” I asked myself. I gasped after I finished the statement. The sound of my own voice and the echoes around the cave surprised me. I knew how to speak and what the words I was saying meant, however I had no clue how I knew these things.

Once again ignoring my confusion, I attempted to stand again. Through sheer willpower, I stood. My knees were shaking and I felt very wobbly, but I tried my best to keep my balance. It took me a bit, but I finally got used to walking and hiked to the exit.

As soon as the sunshine hit my skin, I felt much better. I had almost forgotten how cold I was. It was reasonably hot outside, but it wasn't took terrible. I smiled.

Looking down at myself, I made another discovery. I was clothed in a warm fuzzy material that covered my arms and torso and another durable looking material was covering my legs supported by a ring of fabric. I knew what all three of these things were: a coat, pants, and belt. I took off my coat and noticed that I had on a breezy T-shirt with a tight undershirt below it. I neatly folded up the coat and set it in the cave near the mouth.

As I turned to leave, I noticed something in the corner of my eye. It appeared to be a bright green backpack. I quickly ran back into the cave and grabbed it. It wasn't too small and not too big. It seemed the perfect size for carrying around in the wilderness. It felt like something was in it, so I opened it. Inside were a few things. There was an extra pair of clothes (a t-shirt and pants), some food, a pen and journal, and most importantly a large knife.

Grinning, I grabbed the knife and looked at it. I recognized, but I didn't know where from. It had been sharpened and even polished, and it looked beautiful to me. I knew I would need to put it somewhere I could easily access. I noticed a hook and sack on my belt that looked like a perfect place to put my knife. I slid the blade into the sheath and secured it. I didn't know how I knew how to handle the knife, but I felt like I knew exactly what to do.

I took out the pen and journal and began to flip through the pages of the book. It looked like someone had been writing a lot in it. There were pages after pages of words. Almost two-thirds of the book had been filled. I quickly made another discovery: I couldn't read. I'm almost positive that I did know how to read at one point in time, but I had completely forgotten about the letters and words and what they meant. I knew that I would easily regain my memories by reading this book.

“If I want to get my memories back, then I'll need to find someone who can read this to me.” I decided. That was my goal now. I was certain that if I looked for long enough, I would find a town or some sort of civilization. However, I had no clue how long it would take me to do that, so I had to be extra careful. I had to have a back-up plan for everything. I might be here without help from other for a while. Survival would be my top priority.

After setting aside the extra clothes next to my coat, I put on the backpack and headed back outside. My legs still hurt, but they didn't feel nearly as unstable as when I first stood up. I stopped at the mouth of the cave. The cave's entrance was quite large, infact the entire cave was quite spacious. However, in the middle of the cave was a large river. The river flowed out of the cave and directly into a waterfall. I wasn't too high up, but I did still feel scared.

I easily climbed down to the bottom of the cave. I began to look around and found myself looking at the waterfall. It was incredibly beautiful. Water was gushing down the cliff and spraying mist into the air. When the sun shone upon it, it created several rainbows and turned the mist silver. It was an amazing sight. I began to wonder if the water was drink able. I couldn't remember anything about waterfall water being drinkable and since I was unsure I decided just to avoid drinking it until I was certain it wouldn't kill me.

Turning away from the waterfall, I began to hike through the forest. I knew that I was bound to find a town eventually. From what I saw at the top of the waterfall, the quickest way to the edge of the forest was this way. I saw some sort of castle off in the distance, so I knew there had to be something there. It did look very far away, so I didn't think I would be able to travel there any time soon, but there was bound to be someone around with a city that close.

I looked up at the sky. The sun seemed to be almost in the middle of the sky meaning it was somewhere around noon. I doubted I woke at 8:00 and the sun's position confirmed my suspicion. 

After walking for a while, I began to wonder why I was in that cave in the first place. Why are my memories gone? Where did that backpack come from? Why was I wearing a coat? The last question was especially strange. It appeared to be summer, and while the cave was cold, I couldn't think of a reason why I would have been wearing a coat. If I had been on a camping trip and hit my head or something, I wouldn't have brought a coat. All other explanations I could think of didn't make since with the coat.

I couldn't help feel as if someone had given me the coat and backpack because they knew I was going to be stuck here for a long time.

“A long time...” I sighed. My legs were aching even more from walking. I hadn't seen many signs of civilization. I saw a few rabbits and squirrels and lots of wildlife. I was about to head back to the cave when I noticed a large dirt path. I had seen little pathways here and then made by animals, but this one was diffidently man-made. I stepped onto the path from the side and looked down it both ways. On one end, it seemed to go up a large hill and disappear into the horizon, the other end turned and disappeared into the trees. I didn't know which way would lead me to the edge of the forest. I thought about going to the hill and looking around, but the trees on the sides of the path would block my view. The end that turned seemed mysterious and dangerous. Either way could be beneficial or dangerous.

I walked to the middle of the pathway, facing the hill. I sighed and took a step towards the hill when I noticed that the ground was shaking. I stood still for a bit, then noticed that it was beginning to shake more and more. I began to hear the sound of lots hoofsteps, like a stampede and it was coming from behind me. I turned around and saw six figures dart around the curve of the road. Each were brightly colored and looked absolutely terrified.

They appeared to be horses or ponies, but looked very strange. One was a shade of lavender and had a horn an her head like a unicorn. There was another one, a white one with curled purple hair, who shared this quality. Two of them, a pastel yellow one with light pink hair and a cyan one with rainbow hair, had wings, and the rainbow-haired one was using them to fly above the others. I then noticed that the purple one also had a pair of wings. The remaining two, a orange one with a yellow ponytail and a hat and a pink one, had neither a horn or wings. They were running extremely fast towards, although they did not appear to notice me. They were all looking behind them.

Then a seventh creature appeared behind them, however it was quite different from the other six. It had the head of a lion and the tail or a scorpion with the wings of a bat. I recognized the creature as a....

“Manticore.” I muttered. As soon as I said that, the one of the six ponies, who were now almost to me, turned its head and saw me. I heard a shriek and saw her try to stop. Her scream, or at least it sounded like a her, got the attention of the others who then saw me and did as the first, each skidding to a stop. I jumped out of the way of the uncontrollable ponies and the slid past me coming to a stop behind where I stood. The monster was hot on their tails and was directly in front of me now and it held up its paw to smash me. I heard it roar and was almost paralyzed by fear. I thought to myself, “I am so dead.”

Then, seconds before its paw would have killed me, my instincts took over. I grabbed my knife and yanked it out of the sheath. As the paw came down on me, I swiped it with my knife with such speed and precision that one of its toes came right off. My eyes widened as I saw myself perform such a deed. I looked down at the knife, amazing at it seemingly superpower-like ability. The blood that coated the blade was a strange shade of brown, nothing like the red that I expected it to be.

The wounded Manticore roared in pain and grasped its wounded paw. While it was distracted, I ran up to it and pounced on it, cutting it several times in the stomach. The same brown liquid that coated my knife poured out of the wounds and the Manticore fell to the ground. It looked like it was still alive and in a great deal of pain. I walked over to its head looking at its fur and thinking of how it would make a great carpet. Maybe, I could sell it to someone. Was Manticore fur valuable? I thought. I couldn't remember. I looked at its eyes. It seemed to be wincing in the pain. It let out a weak roar. I felt bad for the creature. I actually wasn't planning to hurt it....I don't know what happened.

I sighed, nothing I could do know except for ending its misery.

I placed my knife above the creature's heart and raised the weapon. I was about to swing down the knife into his heart when a voice stopped me.

“WAIT!” It was a shrill cry, almost a plea. Surprised, I stopped and looked around for the person who screamed. My eyes feel back onto the ponies, who were know looking at me in terror. One of them, the yellow one, had tears in her eyes. “Stop, please.” she whimpered.

I thought I was going mad at first. “Did that pony just talk?!?!” I thought. I lowered my hand with the knife and turned to face the butter-colored Pegasus. I was pretty sure that horses didn't talk, but I couldn't be sure so I tried to act unsurprised.

“Its in pain, it would be worse to leave it like this.” I responded. All six of the ponies seemed surprised. The blue one in the air looked tense, like she was ready to strike at me at any second. I tightened by grip on my knife in case she decided to make a move. The yellow one looked like she was about to faint. The purple one looked as tense as the blue one with a uneasy expression on her face. The orange one opened her mouth and produced a series of strange noises that resembled neighs, but had a pattern that could only be described as a language. I had no clue what she was saying though. The orange one also appeared to be talking to the yellow one, but she kept her eyes on me. The yellow one who spoke to me responded, but I couldn't understand her. She seemed to have switched to the other ponies' language.

“How do you know my language?” I asked her firmly. She turned back to me with frightened turquoise eyes. She began to speak, but seemed too scared. I began to get very annoyed with her and desperate for an explanation. “Answer me!” I yelled and brought back out my knife in a fighting position.

This was a bad move on my part. The hostility in my voice was apparent to the five other ponies. The purple one's horn began to glow along with the white one's. The pink one, who had previously been bouncing up and down stopped and stood still. I looked over at the rainbow-haired one and saw that she was trying to dash over and strike me, but was being held my the tail by the orange one. I was easily out numbered here and the six ponies seemed to already be on edge after the Manticore thing.

The purple one began to talk to me in a harsh tone, like some sort of warning. She looked me straight in the eyes and I couldn't help but think how ridiculous everything was. Here I was with a knife facing six colorful ponies, two with glowing horns and three with wings, and acting like this was normal. Part of me was screaming at me about how bizarre the entire thing was, and another part of me was pointing out how this could be normal since I had no way of know either way.

“Look I don't want to hurt you...” I began in a nicer tone, holding up my hands and knife in a gesture of surrender, but apparently the purple one didn't like me talking because a beam of purple energy shot out from her horn and hit my hand holding the knife. It felt like someone had poured acid on my hand. I let out a small scream and dropped the knife. The purple one shouted something that sounded like she was repeating something she said earlier. I saw the yellow one trying to stop her from shooting. The pain in my hand was blinding. My vision was glinting red now, my anger shining through. I shook my hand, trying to shake away the pain and picked up the knife.

I was about to charge when I took a look around. The sky was red and the sun was setting. I had to leave now if I wanted to make it to my cave. Fighting the six of them would be suicide. I had to wait and recover. I also needed to figure out a few things before I went around fighting people, or ponies for that matter.

I put the knife back in the sheath, surprising them. Then, I jumped out of the path and into the forest. I began to run towards the cave hoping that they wouldn't follow. I became aware of my surroundings and bits of my memories came back to me and I stopped. I realized in an instant that trees didn't look like what I was looking at. I realized that Manticores were a Greek myth....they aren't real. I realized that ponies don't talk; they don't even look like that. I realized that the purple beam was magic, and magic isn't real. I realized that this....was not my world, my...earth. Now only one thing was certain:

I was the enemy.
> Act 1: Discoveries - Ch. 2
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Language
Act One: Discoveries
Chapter Two
Silver Ink


Twilight's POV

I thought the day couldn't possibly get worse. Reports of chaos coming from the Everfree forest were flowing in from everywhere. When I first heard that the animals of the Everfree were attacking the ponies of Ponyville and that the bizarre weather patterns that seemed to constantly stay in the Everfree were causing chaos by coming to Ponyville, I immediately thought of the one person who could cause this: Discord.

“DISCORD!” Rainbow Dash yelled when we finally found he lounging on the top of somepony's house. I had gathered up my friends to help me face Discord. There was no doubt in my mind that he had caused the unpredictable and craziness of the Everfree forest to travel to this small town.

Hearing his name called, Discord casually looked down at us and grinned.

“Ah, Princess Twilight and her friends, for what do I have to honor of seeing you?” he asked innocently.

“Don't play games with us Discord!” Rainbow angrily shouted, flying up to the roof to face him.

“That's right. We know that you're responsible for the chaos from the Everfree!” I firmly stated. Discord looked at us with an amused smile.

“I don't know what you're talking about!” he gasped dramatically. “What kind of terrible fate has been cast upon Ponyville? Where has all this chaos come from?”

I was being to get annoyed with Discord.

“You of course!” Dash glared at Discord, but he just laughed.

“As much as I would love to take the credit for this disaster, I'm afraid that this time, you have the wrong draconequus!” he shrugged at us then returned to his original position.

“Are you trying to say that another draconequus did this?” Rarity asked holding our her hoof in confusion.

“Not necessarily, but perhaps it was!” Discord answered her.

“There are other draconequus?” I asked as I began to fly up to the roof of the building. Discord merely shrugged.

“Maybe there is, maybe there isn't. The fact remains that I'm not your culprit. Case dismissed!” Discord pulled a gravel out of mid air and slammed it down on the roof of the building making a loud squeak.

This alerted the house's owner of our presence and she poked her head out the window of her house to look at the roof. She looked like she about to yell at us to get off her house, but then she noticed me and quickly shut her mouth. Confused, she simply shut the windows and went back in her house (not in that order).

“I think that Discord didn't do it.” Fluttershy whispered in my air, seemingly suddenly right behind me. She startled me a bit, since she is so quiet. I was about to protest when I noticed that this sort of thing wasn't really Discord's style.

I wouldn't expect him to bring the chaos out of the Everfree forest and into Ponyville. Why would he, wouldn't he know he would be punished? Besides, nothing really terrible had happened. Sure there was some unexpected showers and some crazy racoons chasing ponies around town. This all was minor stuff that Discord could have easily done without using the Everfree. It was simple stuff; he like crazy stuff. And I doubted that Discord was smart enough to have come up with an elaborate plan involving the Everfree to take over Equestria, and even if he was, he probably wouldn't with Fluttershy around. Then again, now that we don't have the elements, Equestria would be an easy target...

“Alright Discord, you're off the hook for now. Until we have real evidence to prove you guilty, it would be wrong of us to condemn you.” I addressed Discord like Celestia would to a subject, or at least I was doing my best to.

“Wha-? But Twilight-” Rainbow began, but I interrupted her.

“The only way this applies to Discord is because it is chaotic. We can't just attack him because of a little panic.” I spoke. Rainbow looked like she wanted to say more, but didn't want to argue with me. “Now come on, Girls. We got to find out what's going on with the Everfree.”

“Right! Let's go!” Pinkie Pie energetically exclaimed.

“I guess since nothing too terrible has happened-” I began, restating my thoughts. But as soon as I looked away from Discord and back to my friends, I noticed something in the background.

It was a large Manticore and it was charging towards us.

~~~~~~~~~~

At first, I wasn't too concerned with the large beast, think that Fluttershy could easily calm it down. Fluttershy must have thought this too, because she began to gently fly over to it, though it was still quite far away. I expected the creature to stop upon seeing its friend, but its expression didn't change at all.

I glided off the building and back to my friends and Dash zipped down beside me.

“What's with that Manticore?” AJ asked in her southern accent.

“I don't know, but I think Fluttershy's got it.” I responded trying to sound calm, but I was beginning to freak out.

What on earth was a MANTICORE doing in Ponyville? Manticores are very dangerous and carnivorous animals that could hurt many ponies if it didn't stay in the Everfree forest. No pony ever really figured out why flesh-eating animals and crazy weather stayed in the Everfree, it was just part of the way the world worked. No pony questioned why things fall when we let go of them, no pony questioned why animals like Manticores and cockatrices stayed in the Everfree. I thought it must have had something to do with the lights and noises coming from the little town. Maybe the weather had some sort of magical boundaries put there by ancient pegasi and just forgotten.

As far as I knew, nothing like this had ever occurred before. The animals in the Everfree were quiet frightening, and I was always grateful that they stayed far away from Ponyville or any other towns in Equestria. I wonder...how did they get there in the first place.....

“WATCH OUT!” I heard somepony scream. I blinked, previously lost in thought. I looked up and away from the ground and was face to face with the Manticore. Time seemed to freeze as I starred into it's cruel, evil eyes. Then, I felt a jerk and was thrown out of the way of the beast.

“RUN!” I heard Rainbow yell to me and I obeyed. Jumping the my feet, I took off, galloping beside my friends. I quickly glanced behind me and my fears were confirmed. Not three feet behind us was a raging Manticore.

“Flutterhsy, what's going on?” I called to my friend. Fluttershy was right in front on my. She almost looked like she was crying.

“I don't know! It won't listen to me!” Fluttershy cried back.

“This is bad.” I muttered to myself. Fluttershy could always calm down animals. If she couldn't stop the Manticore, then no pony could. Something...or maybe somepony had to be the cause of the Manticore's behavior. Could it really be Discord?

“Less talking, more running!” I heard a voice yell from in front of Fluttershy. Looking past the mare, I saw Discord, frantically running from the beast with the rest of us. He looked back at me and past me to the Manticore and his eyes widened. “Sorry, Friends, but you're on your own.” With that and a flash of light, he was gone.

“Thanks.” I mumbled ungratefully under me breath. I hadn't been paying much attention to where we were going, but I quickly recognized that we were near the Everfree Forest. “Everypony! Head to the Everfree!”

“What? Are you crazy?” Rainbow Dash yelled from above me.

“We have to get this thing way from Ponyville!” I answered. I speed up, moving to the front of our group. “Follow me!” I called, turning towards the forest. I could hear their hoofsteps behind me follow. We had to take the Manticore back to where it belonged.

~~~~~~~~~~

“This way!” I called to my friends. We had been running for a bit now. At first we had just been trying to get the Manticore back into the Everfree, but now we where just running for our lives. I was out of breath and felt like dropping from exhaustion. Ponies are made to run for long periods of time, but since I don't get much exercise, I was a more than a little out of shape.

I lead my friends around a curve in the road and I looked back to make sure that my friends were following me instead of heading straight ahead. The Manticore wasn't as close as it was at first, but I couldn't tell if we were truly outrunning him or if he was just enjoying the race and trying to prolong it. I was panting; I didn't think I could last much longer.

Turning away from the Manticore, I looked back in front of me to see a tall, pale, unknown creature standing nearly right in front of me. I screamed, and tried to stop myself from running into it. The other must has seen the creature too, because I heard their surprised reactions and the sound of hooves scraping the dirt trying to stop. Luckily, the creature leaped out of my way before we would have collided. Just past it, I came to stop and turned around. The creature was right behind us, but seemed to have directed its attention to the new creature. I saw it stop in front of the thing and look at it with curious hunger. It held up its paw and prepared to strike it.

“No!” I yelled, but I knew I was took late. Its paw swooped down onto of the creature and I quickly averted my eyes.

However, instead of hearing the large paw crush the poor, strange creature, I heard what sounded like a knife slicking through flesh. I looked back to see the creature with a sharp knife and the Manticore with a missing toe. I was shocked. The Manticore roared and grabbed its wounded paw. I cringed at the sight. The blood gushing from the missing paw was horrifying. The creature jumped up and sliced the Manticore's chest many times and the large beast fell to the ground. I could only watch as the events took place.

The creature, which now seemed to be more of a threat then the Manticore, walked over to the Manticore eyeing it like a shiny new toy. The Manticore saw the creature walk up to it and when it had approached it weakly roared at it. The creature simply replied by putting its knife on it's heart and raising the weapon to strike.

“Wait!” Fluttershy screamed. I quickly turned my head to face Fluttershy who was standing next to me. I didn't expect the creature to respond, but it stopped, turned, and looked Fluttershy in the eye. The creature looked shocked, like she didn't think the was going to be interrupted. No, it wasn't that, she looked like she didn't expect any pony to be able to interrupt her. “Please stop.” Fluttershy cried quietly. 

The creature spoke in a strange tongue. I had never heard anything like it. I was shocked that the creature could even speak. What was this creature? It seemed to be intelligent, but it didn't look like anything I had ever seen in any of my studies. It resembled an ape, but taller and less hairy. In fact, it was practically bare. It appeared to be wearing some type of clothing as well, perhaps for warmth. Its very presence was making me feel uneasy, like something bad was going to happen.

“Fluttershy, did that thing just talk?” Apple Jack asked. I glanced at Fluttershy. She looked absolutely terrified.

“Um, yes. She was-” Fluttershy began, but was cut off my the creature who began talking to her again. The voice sounded feminine, and the creature did seem to be a girl, but I couldn't be sure. This time, it sounded like she was asking a question, but her voice sounded crueler than the last time she spoke. Her tone seemed to frighten Fluttershy even more. She opened her mouth to say something, but all that came out were squeaky noises. The creature spoke again, but this time she obviously angry and she seemed to be threatening Fluttershy. I was frightened and began to cast a immobilization spell. I kept the energy at my horn so if she made any quick movements, I could quickly fire at her causing her to be petrified. It won't hurt the creature, it will only stop her.

“Now, listen, Creature.” I spoke in a careful tone and hoped that she could understand me like she understood Fluttershy. “I don't know who you are or where you came from, but I need you to calm down and drop the knife or I will fire at you.”

This seemed have no effect on the creature as she held up her knife. Scared, I instinctively cast the spell. The energy formed into a beam and flew at her landing on her paw. However, instead of freezing her, it seemed to burn her. She dropped the knife in pain and shrieked a bit. Her hand was black and slightly smoking.

“Twilight! No, stop!” Fluttershy pleaded.

“What did ya do that fer, Twi?” AJ asked.

“It wasn't supposed to do that, it was just supposed to freeze her! I swear!” I protested. I turned in horror to face the creature. There were tears of pain in her eyes. She leaned down and grabbed her knife. I gulped, starring into her eyes in fear. She looked back at me with red, hateful eyes. But then, she stopped looking at me and instead behind me. Quickly putting the knife back into the sheath, the creature took off into the dark forest in silence.

After a few moments of silence, Rainbow spoke, “What...what the heck was that?!?”

It was what we were all thinking. I was so confusing, I could barely even think straight. I came to one conclusion.

“I think....that was what is causing chaos in the Everfree.”