“Hello there,” a voice said to Vinyl, drawing her out of her drowsy daydream.

The mare looked up, adjusting her shades, but promptly took them off for the second time that day at the sight in front of her. Funny enough, it was for the exact same reason. “Another one?” she asked to herself at the sight of a purple-haired human, dressed in simple functional clothes and a bag held at her side, in front of her.

The human raised an eyebrow, “I take it you’ve already met Fluttershy, then.”

“Yeah,” she replied, “So who are you?”

“Twilight Sparkle,” she said.

“Oh yeah, I know you. You’re our latest princess,” she recalled. She then realized what she’d just said. “Your… uh… majesty?” she lamely added as she dropped into a bow.

The not-so-alicorn princess rolled her eyes, figuring she’d never get used to that reaction. “You don’t have to do that,” she said airily, “I’m still just a pony like everyone else. Just a bit more royal.” She said it simply, not in a bragging manner, as her modesty lead. “You’re DJ-PON3, right? Vinyl?”

Vinyl rose back up. “Yeah. So what brings you out here?” she asked, actually having a pretty good idea.

“I was going to ask you the same thing.”

“Eh, it’s a long story,” she dismissed.

“Okay then. Any reason you’re waiting outside then?”

“Um… also a long story. Basically, Fluttershy said to wait outside until the human inside has calmed down.

Twilight wore a mask of concern at this. “Calmed down? What was happening?”

“It freaked out when I came in. Threatened me with a bloody fork,” she explained, “Literally.”

Forgot a mask of concern, now her actual face was of concern. “And when was this?” she interrogated.

“About an hour ago. Either it’s taking a while or she forgot I’m out here.”

The human stood still for a moment then stated, “I’m going to go in.” Vinyl merely nodded as she moved aside for her to do so.

“I guess I’ll just wait here,” she remarked in her lonesome once again.

Twilight looked around the small cottage, feeling a heavy atmosphere as the normally lively shelter for animals stood stark silent without a bustle of movement. She spotted her friend, a shot of relief flowing into her, sitting alone at a table with a sulking demeanor.

“Hey,” she greeted softly, “Everything alright?”

Fluttershy looked up, her face shifting into a welcoming look. “Oh, hello there Twilight. I didn’t notice you come in.” She ended at that awkwardly, not having anything else come to her to say.

Twilight picked up the slack in conversation, “Everything alright?” she repeated, “I heard the human had a bit of an episode earlier.”

Fluttershy nodded grimly. “She’s upstairs right now and has been since.”

“Want to explain what happened?”

“…I found out why she freaked out so bad when she saw me the other day,” she said. Twilight cocked her head out the seemingly unrelated detail but listened as her friend continued, “I decided to let Vinyl see her since she brought her here in the first place but that turned out to be a mistake. She’s afraid of us.”

“She’s…” Twilight started, “What do you mean she’s afraid of us?”

“She’s terrified of us Twilight,” she strongly emphasized, “Ponies.”

“...Oh. I see the problem now.”

“I feel so sorry for her,” Fluttershy went on, “She must be having such a hard time when everywhere you go there’s nothing but us and now I just made it worse by bringing her worst fear right to her.”

“Hey now, don’t blame yourself. You didn’t know.”

“But I should have. She tried to tell me yesterday but I didn’t realize what she was saying.” She sighed.

“There’s a massive language barrier. It’s not your fault. Now, instead of moping, why don’t you do what you do best: take care of those in need,” Twilight reassured, putting on a confident look.

Fluttershy looked into her friend’s eyes. Although they certainly weren’t on the face she was used to, she recognized the care the lavender mare held. She smiled weakly, albeit honestly, in return. “I’ve left her up alone. I figured she needed some time to cool off. I guess we can try to talk to her.”

“Speaking of talking,” Twilight mentioned, “I’ve devised a few theories on how we can directly communicate with her. Using this human form, I can start comparing our languages with her being more… compliant”

“Thanks, but I think Discord already took care of that problem. He came by earlier and was talking with her using a telepathy spell. It won’t work on me but you two could talk fine. You could be a translator”

Twilight looked thoughtful as she magicked a few papers sprawled with notes out of her bag. She regarded them for a moment before returning them just as easily. “That works,” she said, regarding the chaotic spirit’s solution. “In fact, this could work out well. I could devise a translation spell if we have a conversation like that long enough. It probably would be rough considering the incompleteness but the results should be coherent enough to understand.”

“That sounds good,” Fluttershy said. She got up and the two made their way to and up the staircase, the purple-haired woman in front, until reaching the closed door. She pushed it open, revealing the human lazily propped up on the bed and staring at the ceiling. A familiar picture was placed next to her.

She looked up, her face betraying no emotion except interest at another human. She grasped the photograph, looking from it to Twilight a few times. She frowned.

“Her name’s Rhyan if I haven’t mentioned that,” Fluttershy piped in.

Twilight nodded. She then put on a familiar face by the former-pegasus’ standards. It was the same look of concentration the pony-Twilight got whenever she was starting a spell, except this time there was no glow present to indicate the flow of magic. Twilight raised a hand and snapped in a Discord-esque way, drawing a curious gaze from Fluttershy. “I’ve always wanted to do that,” the spell caster admitted, though leaving out the part where she had practiced it all morning.

She turned to the human on the bed. “Can you understand me?” she asked.

The two watched, the pink-haired one especially intent, as Rhyan looked up into the purple-eyes gaze of the speaker. She looked intrigued, though not necessarily surprised. She drew in a breath before responding, “Loud and clear.”

Twilight smiled. “It worked,” she said to her friend, who smiled in turn. Going back to Rhyan, she continued, “Hello. I’m Twilight Sparkle. I take it you’re Rhyan?”

“That’s me. I’m guessing you cast the same spell as Discord?” she asked.

Twilight nodded.

“Okay… well, nice to meet you. You wouldn’t believe how annoying not being able to talk to others is.” Her words were monotone, never picking up nor going up.

“Nice to meet you as well,” came the succinct reply, “Fluttershy here has been wanting to speak to you. Well, in a way that’s more than just vague gestures.”

Then the bomb dropped.

“Did you say Fluttershy?” Rhyan asked, her dull drawl tuned into a dissonant inquiry.

“Mmhm,” she replied, “Though you probably know her by a different name because of the language.”

“That’s Fluttershy?” Rhyan said, pointing at the pink-haired woman, who was looking a bit lost at only having one side of the conversation.

“That’s her name,” she affirmed.

Rhyan opened her mouth then closed it, her face showing confused thoughtfulness as she picked up the photo and showed it to them. “That her?” she asked.

“What’s she saying?” Fluttershy asked.

“She asked if that’s you in the picture,” Twilight responded only to Fluttershy.

“She doesn’t know?” she replied, “I thought she already knew.”

“Want me to tell her?” the translator asked.

“…yes please.”

She turned to Rhyan who was looking a bit impatient at being put on hold. “Yes, that’s her,” Twilight answered, talking to both of them once again.

Rhyan looked at them, speechless, the gears turning in her head. “But she’s clearly a human,” she said, her voice rising.

“I cast a transformation spell,” she said simply.

The woman on the bed just stared at Fluttershy, not bothering to question the fact of a transformation spell, but instead was putting everything together. Discord, she recalled, comparing his words. And just like that, clarity shone down as she finally put the rest together. Loray, the one that took her in just on a whim, was not the kind human she thought she was. She was a horse, no, the horse. She was the one who sat there having a ball out of Rhyan’s pain!

Boom.

“You’re the horse I woke up to.” she accused towards Fluttershy, her tone none-too-friendly. It wasn’t a question.

“Pony,” Twilight corrected, wary of the sound of the words.

“Same thing,” she dismissed, drawing a frown from the spellcaster.

“What did she say?” the former pegasus asked, concerned at the shift.

“She wants to know if you’re the pony she woke up to.”

Fluttershy forced back a grimace. That wasn’t what she expected, to say the least. “Tell her I am… but I didn’t mean to scare her. I didn’t know about her phobia.”

Twilight was silent a moment before agreeing. “She is the same one but-”

“I can’t believe this,” she interrupted with a nasty scowl and voice to match.

“What?”

“You were that horse!” she snapped at Fluttershy, who took a step back at the outburst.

“Twilight?” Fluttershy asked, wide-eyed.

“Do you even know how bad your sick game was?” she ranted, not caring for the visible discomfort of Fluttershy. In fact, she would be lying if she said she didn’t get some morbid satisfaction out of it. For once, the horse was the one backing away, and no fear-induced reaction came from the human form in front of her to ruin it. Anger finally took center stage rather than fear.

“Hey, calm down,” Twilight responded back with her own strong tone, “She didn’t know about your aversion to ponies.”

“Really? She certainly seemed content to watch me squirm when I woke up,” she hissed back, repeating the phrase she’d used earlier.

“Twilight?” Fluttershy said, this time more urgently.

“She’s saying some harebrained nonsense about you getting sadistic enjoyment out of her fear when she woke up,” Twilight said aside to her only, still eyeing Rhyan with a serious face.

Fluttershy gasped, “I would never!”

“I know. But she doesn’t seem to realize that.”

“Tell her I promise I didn’t and wouldn’t ever. It was just a misunderstanding!”

Twilight nodded and did so, prompting Rhyan to give hmph! “Why should I even trust her word now? She outright lied to me yesterday, I now know.”

“What? When?” Twilight asked, questioning the out-of-character description of her friend.

“I asked her if the horse, her, would come back. She shook her head. Little did I realize who it actually was that I was asking!” she exclaimed dramatically, raising her hands outwards.

Twilight repeated it to Fluttershy, who gave her account in turn. “She says she thought you were asking if she would return to her pony form,” Twilight deadpanned.

“Sure she did,” Rhyan brought back as she broke eye contact, adjusting her gaze off randomly. She crossed her arms in front of her.

“Will you listen to yourself?” Twilight snapped, “You’re making these wild accusations that are just… stubborn and irrational!”

“Don’t talk to me about that,” she said, “All my life horses have been big stupid loafs that love to harass me. See this scar,” she indicated her forehead, pulling back a few strands of hair, “One trampled me when I was just a kid for no good reason.”

“I’m sorry to hear that but that’s quite frankly not my problem. You’re just using a tragic event to justify your diluted beliefs that we’re some embodiment of evil.”

“We?” Rhyan said, before adding, “Figures you’re one of them.”

“Yes, but that’s not important. You need to open your close-minded view and see the simple facts in front of you. Fluttershy was the one taking care of you this whole time. You should be grateful.”

“Grateful?” she repeated, “I’m plenty grateful. To Loray, that is. The human. Not the liar horse standing there.”

“Fluttershy?” Twilight said to her friend, who had been watching with concerned anxiousness at the exchange, “Has she ever thanked you for helping her?”

“Um… I’m sure she has at some point…” she said awkwardly.

“She took you in and you haven’t even thanked her!” Twilight exclaimed in disbelief at Rhyan.

“Well… It’s not easy with a language barrier,” she defended.

“So what? You could find a way. Maybe do something for her like help her out with the animals, hm?”

“Tch… whatever,” she stubbornly refused, “You know what? I don’t need to hear this from… talking livestock!” As Twilight made a sound of indignant offense, Rhyan got up. “I’m done.”

“What do you mean you’re done?”

“I’m leaving,” she said as she put her few belongings into her pockets.

“Leave?” Twilight exclaimed, drawing a shocked expression from Fluttershy, “You can’t just leave!”

“Watch me,” she said, giving a dirty glare before shoving her way past the two false-humans and stomped down the stairs. The two pursued after a mutual look but were met with the sound of the front door slamming closed as they reached the bottom.

“Er, I can’t believe her!” Twilight ranted at no one in particular, “She’s nothing but a rude, irrational, racist!” She muttered incomprehensibly to herself until catching the sad gaze of her friend. “I’m sorry…” she said, sighing, “I just, I’ve never met someone with such an attitude. She gives Applejack a run for her money in stubbornness.”

Fluttershy merely nodded weakly. “This is my fault,” she quietly spoke, “I should’ve listened to her more.”

Twilight, however, would hear none of it. “Don’t go back to that. This is not your fault in any way. There were just some miscommunications. If anything, it’s her fault for acting like that.”

Fluttershy said nothing to that, instead saying, “We have to go after her.”

“I know,” Twilight sighed, “She’s still hurt.”

“That’s not what I meant…” Fluttershy faintly whispered to herself.

The spell caster concentrated for a moment and one burst of magic later, a lavender alicorn awkwardly dressed in clothes appeared in her place. She teleported off the clothes, stretching her once again six-limbed quadruped form.

“Want me to turn you back?” she asked.

After a moment of thought, she said, “No thanks.”

The mare and human walked outside of the cottage that held the scene of anger and into the cool breeze of an afternoon outside of town. They looked around both ways, not seeing any sign of their runaway, thus having no leads to go off of. Well, except for a possible one of a still-waiting DJ looking over the edge of a small, stone bridge.

“Excuse me, Vinyl?” Twilight asked as they approached, drawing her attention.

“Finally remembered me?” she quipped sarcastically but stopped at their serious expressions, “Something wrong?”

“The human left and we need to find her,” she replied simply, “There was a… disagreement. Did you happen to see where she went off to when she left?”

“Yeah. She came out, took one look at me, then trotted off to the forest. Looked kinda angry.”

Twilight groaned. “Figures she would go to the forest. It’s the one place there isn’t ponies. It could take all night to find her if she goes in deep.” She turned back to Vinyl. “I hate to do this to you but could you help us find her?”

She shrugged dismissively. “Sure. Not like I can refuse an order from a princess anyways,” she said with a smile.

Twilight gave a flat look but continued, “A few things you should know: she’s an angry and rude racist that-”

“Twilight means she’s scared of ponies,” Fluttershy spoke in, “So be cautious with her. She’s perfectly safe but gets defensive around us.”

“Okay then,” Vinyl said amused but warily, “Just to be clear, she won’t stab me with a fork?”

“No.”

“Great. So if I find her, how do I tell her anything? We don’t speak the same language.”

Fluttershy turned to Twilight, prompting her to say, “When we spoke, I was creating a translation spell simultaneously that was picking up the words I spoke as compared to hers and what she heard. It should be strong enough to allow basic communication. I’ll cast it now.” With a glow of her horn she directed two flashes, one at each target.

“Alright,” she said, “Vinyl, would you lead us to where you saw her last?”

“Can do.”

Ryan trudged through the forest with a feeling of anger bubbling along. It wasn’t an unfamiliar experience.

“Stupid, stupid, stupid,” she muttered to herself, along with other choice words along a similar track.

Ryan was not in a good mood. The argument she’d had kept ringing through her ears, nagging at her like an aching tooth, always constant and refusing to go away. This one had a bite to go with it.

She was right. She was sure of it. Horses were bad enough but fully intelligent ones were just terrible. Argumentative and full of lies; she wasn’t surprised.

Twilight’s words cut into her as well. How dare she call accuse her of being stubbornly irrational? She had every right to be angry at Fluttershy and her kind in general. She was a logical, right-minded person, she knew. She was acting perfectly sane!

Right?

Ryan trudged onwards aimlessly, wanting to get anywhere that wasn’t there. She’d deal with wherever she ended up and what was there later. She vented a bit with each stomping pace through the greenery, her anger slowly cooling into a simmer. At the very least, she could hold a grudge.