chalk

[alicornucopia]

In Paraasilan, Esmaar, a pair of roommates are about to break a rule that, compared to the one about running in the corridors or even the one about unlicensed teleportation, is there for a good reason.

In unison, they complete their shared spell.

~~~

with Adarin (Aestrix)

with Ekador (kappa)

with Brilliance (kappa)

with the admin (kappa)

with Teah (kappa)

with Katran (lambda)

with Hall (kappa)

with Joy (kappa)

with Kalinda (Christy Hotwater)

Comments

[alicornucopia]

"Huh," says the blonde. "I guess you look a little like a dragon, enough that the spell is calling it close enough. I'm Korulen and that's Saasnil."

[joyfulnoise]

"What do you mean, a little like a dragon?"

[alicornucopia]

"We have dragons here but they aren't - two-toned and - well, here," says Korulen, motioning Saasnil out of her way and shapeshifting. "I'm not a real dragon, but I can do this, this is what jade dragons look like."

[joyfulnoise]

"Oh, awesome!" says Joy. "What kind of not-a-real-dragon are you that lets you do that?"

[alicornucopia]

"My mom's a dragon and my dad's an elf. I take after him, basically, and my little sister is a real dragon instead."

[joyfulnoise]

"Oh. So it's like - huh. I don't think we have anything like that in Equestria," he says. "Different kinds of ponies can have kids with each other, but they don't end up with cool shapeshifting powers, they're just regular ponies of whatever kind."

[alicornucopia]

"Ponies?" says Saasnil blankly.

[joyfulnoise]

"...Ponies," says Joy. "Like - people. Regular people who aren't dragons. They have hooves and manes and tails and they walk around on four feet instead of two like me, and have flat teeth instead of sharp like mine, and there's three kinds. Earth ponies are strong and good at doing physical stuff and growing plants, and unicorns have horns that let them do magic, and pegasi have wings that let them fly and do weather stuff."

[alicornucopia]

"I don't think we have those," says Saasnil blankly. "Humans and elves and stuff are regular common kinds of people here. And there's other kinds too, just not as many."

[joyfulnoise]

"And you're a human and you're sort of an elf," he says, indicating Saasnil and Korulen respectively. "Okay... do all the kinds of people around here look mostly like you? I guess you said there's dragons. Is it just dragons and humanish-elfish-people, or are there more different kinds?"

[alicornucopia]

"There are more different kinds. There's merfolk and there's sprites... vampires can turn into bats but the rest of the time they look sort of humanish... there's fairies and pixies that are kind of like sprites... there's leonines, they walk on two legs but they look like lions... there's wolves, but I don't know if they count because they come with riders who look humanish... there's skyfolk and they're bird people," says Saasnil.

[joyfulnoise]

"We have griffins in Equestria, and those're sort of lion-bird-people, but I don't think we have separate lion-people and bird-people... well, there's birds and lions, but those can't talk except to people who have the right talent to understand them."

[alicornucopia]

"You can talk to animals?" asks Korulen. "Just regular non-people ones?"

[joyfulnoise]

"Well, I can't, but I know somebody who can. I can sort of pretty much tell what some critter is trying to get across if it's simple enough and I'm paying attention, but I don't hear them like they're talking language or anything. Cordy does, and she can talk back to them and be understood too."

[alicornucopia]

"Huh, I don't think anybody can do that here," says Korulen.

[joyfulnoise]

"Oh. That must be inconvenient. But maybe you don't do stuff that you'd need to talk to animals for, like taking bunny censuses or waking up the creatures for spring...? I guess you could wake up the creatures without being able to talk to them, but it sure is easier Cordy's way."

[alicornucopia]

"...Why would the creatures need people to help them wake up?" says Korulen.

"What would anybody do with a bunny census?" wonders Saasnil.

[joyfulnoise]

"Well... if nobody wakes them up, they might oversleep and miss the start of spring," he says. "I guess they must figure it out somehow in the places where there aren't any ponies to help, but I don't know, I've only ever lived in Equestria. And bunny censuses are important for tracking the bunny population, obviously, so you can tell if there's a change that doesn't look right and might mean something weird is happening to the bunnies. Cordial could probably explain it better, she's the one who takes them."

[alicornucopia]

"These are like... farmed bunnies?" wonders Saasnil.

[joyfulnoise]

"No...? What would you farm a bunny for?"

[alicornucopia]

"Dinner," says Korulen.

[joyfulnoise]

"...Ew," says Joy. "Ponies don't eat, like, creatures."

[alicornucopia]

"We're not ponies," says Saasnil.

"...Neither are you," Korulen feels compelled to point out.

[joyfulnoise]

"Some dragons eat creatures, but I'm civilized, I eat plants and eggs and milk and stuff. And gemstones. Gemstones are tasty."

[alicornucopia]

"Okay, well, we eat plants and eggs and milk too but not gemstones, although I guess if you don't care where they're from it'd be easy to - I mean, if you were going to stay, but we do have to send you home in a few degrees," says Korulen.