1 Prologue

It was Thursday evening. I'd gotten home from work and was relaxing on the couch, just watching whatever looked interesting on Netflix. It'd been a long day at work and I was just glad to get home. I hadn't had supper, and honestly didn't even feel like I had the wherewithal to get into a game. Hence the Netflix. While we weren't really in crunch at the game studio, it was sort of a mini-crunch, so I'd just put in twelve solid hours of staring at computer screens and trying to fix whatever bug was still remaining in the inverse kinematics. Right now, our main character's feet seemed to be floating off the stairway just about every other step. Sometimes it'd look right, sometimes it would be totally off. I knew there was something in the kinematics code that was doing it, but I'd searched all day, tried a few workarounds to try to isolate the issue, and still found nothing.

Like I said, the day had been long, but I'd also felt 'off'. I'd been pushing hard to find this glitch in our movement code. Maybe I was just too tired, but a few times that day I'd felt like there was someone around me. Someone I couldn't see. It was really strange, like a voice just at the edge of my hearing, or a fleeting impression of something out of the corner of my eye. It'd happened a few times that day. I'd looked around, and hadn't seen anyone, and when I concentrated, I couldn't hear anything. Maybe I was just imagining things, something in my brain throwing up roadblocks to my work. That's all I needed: my subconscious deciding that I wasn't going to get my job done. It might be time for a vacation, not that it would get approved since we were in a mini-crunch.

I was actually pretty worried about getting this bug fixed. I knew I'd have to have something by close of business tomorrow. If the character movement code hadn't been cleaned up, our animation guys were going to have to hand-animate the character movement for the demo, and that made the higher-ups unhappy. Partially because it was always better to have working code, but mainly because they'd have to throw the whole animation team at it for some really long days to get everything done.

I lived in a two-bedroom apartment, by myself. The second room was kind of a den, where I kept a couple computers that I tinkered with, as well as all the work gear for my biggest hobby: games. Not video games, but board games, card games, and pen and paper RPGs. My daytime job was programming for a game company, but in my spare time (what little of it there was since I took my programming job out of college) was spent trying to make games. I'd put out a couple rulesets on Boardgame Geek, and even gotten some positive feedback, along with a lot of negative. It was, after all, still the internet. But I kept at it.

I pretty much spent all my spare time on it. I tended to spend my weekends working on art for my games. The rules bit came surprisingly easy. It was having decent art that really took time. I'd seen a lot of stuff that people had just ginned up some graphics for on some map-maker program, or grabbed public domain art for cards. It looked cheap, and even though I wasn't the world's greatest artist, I had a little talent, and I knew that pretty much any game that actually succeeded had good art, art that would give players a feel for the fiction of the game.

Unfortunately, I didn't really have anyone to play my games with. I'd often asked myself how the guys and girls at work made time for a social life away from the office. I mean, most of them had stories about things they'd done on the weekends, and even weeknights (I really didn't know how that worked, as I was generally so beat by the time I got home that I couldn't even get any work done on my games, not to mention going out with friends.) I tended to get home, have dinner, maybe watch some Netflix or read a book, and go to bed.

Well, that's not entirely accurate. The real reason, though I would never admit it to most, was that I was a social failure. I didn't like crowds. I could handle one or two people that I knew, but I was uncomfortable aroudn people I didn't know. I was a miserable failure at bars. I was usually the guy sitting in the corner, sipping his beer, and cursing himself for not being able to talk to anyone. I definitely couldn't go to clubs. Dancing was seriously out of the question, not to mention the number of people on a given dance floor.

I'd tried going to clubs for games, and I had a decent time there, but I never really made any friends. I'd even gone to Dragon-Con one year. When I went, I knew I was going to have a great time, all those people that loved the same things I loved. I even took along a preliminary version of a card game I'd been working on. At the end, I felt like I'd wasted my time. I couldn't force myself out onto the floors with the crowds, and I couldn't talk to anyone. I heard other people in my hotel having a great time, and all I'd been able to do was sit in my room and curse myself for not being able to join them.

In short, I generally felt like a failure of a person. Maybe it was social anxiety disorder, but I'd never been to a shrink, and still didn't want to go. Maybe someday I'd get desperate enough. Right now, I felt like I was treading water in my life. Long days programming, hoping to help make a video game that I'd really feel proud of, followed by long weekends working on games that, in my heart of hearts, I knew no one would ever play. I didn't feel like I was living. I felt like I was just existing, and I didn't know how to go from one to the other.

By nine-thirty, the fact that I'd skipped lunch and not had any dinner completely caught up with me. I suddenly realized I was starving. I got myself up off the couch and headed for the little kitchen in my apartment. Opening the fridge door, I was dismayed to find that unless I wanted to make a meal out of condiments, I had nothing to eat. I opened the freezer and found it even more bare than the fridge. A few bags of frozen veggies that I'd had for far too long, and nothing else. I sighed, checking the cabinets. Beans of many kinds, a couple of cans of corn. Basically, the nominaly healty food I tended to buy in the hopes that if it was around, I'd actually eat better. That never really happened, though. I just wound up with a bunch of cans of beans sitting in the cabinet.

Okay then, Taco Bell it was. I stopped by the mirror on my way out the door, just to make sure I didn't look too horrifying. I mean, it was just Taco Bell, and I'd go through the drive-through, like usual, but I still didn't like to look scruffy. I didn't, or at least I didn't look too bad. Light brown hair, brown eyes, pale skin that tended to go from white straight on to red without stopping for any sort of brown in between. I was a little dumpy, getting more so after a few years in the programming business. Peter Vicars in a nutshell: not too horrifying.

I sighed and headed for the car. Down two flights of concrete stairs in my apartment complex, one of those built so that all the doors opened out onto little balconies shared by two or three apartments, and all the stairs being outside. That design only really worked in places like southern California, where it never snowed, because I could hardly imagine being back in a Kentucky winter in a place like this. Everyone who lived above the first floor would kill themselves trying to get up the stairs the first time there was an ice-storm. I hit the remote unlock when I got to the bottom of the stairs and saw the lights on my car blink twice as I walked over to it. My little Honda was serviceable, and nothing more. I'd bought it while I was an undergrad and I didn't really feel any need to upgrade it. I kept it serviced and took it to the carwash once in a while. It went where I needed it to go, and that was okay with me.

I'd pulled out into traffic and was headed out to the nearest Taco Bell, overriding the small voice in my head telling me to get something decent instead of fast food. The streetlights looked pretty, and the lines of palm trees to either side always made me thing of the shows I'd seen about Hollywood when I was little. I thought it would be awesome to live there. Well, I wasn't in Hollywood, just in Irvine, but I thought about how disappointed the younger version of me would be with how humdrum this place could be when it was just where you lived and not some exotic locale, like it had seemed back in rural Kentucky.

It was another half mile or so to the Taco Bell, and I was just cruising down the road. Suddenly, those voices I'd almost heard all day were back, except this time, they were clearly audible. Fairly loud, actually, and seeming to come from right beside me.

"For the last time, Pinkie, he can't hear us or see us. Just watch, okay?" I heard a voice say.

I turned my head, and there was nothing. I didn't have the radio on, and the windows on the car were up. I rolled down the windows and tried to listen for something outside the car.

"I dunno, Twilight," said another voice, "It looked like he heard something there."

That wasn't coming from outside. I craned my head around to look in the back seat. Still nothing.

"It must've been something outside, Pinkie. He couldn't have heard us. The spell's not supposed to work that way."

I looked around again, finally starting to panic. Where were these people? "Who's there?" I yelled, half-spinning in the seat to see behind me. They had to be in my car. How could they have gotten in here? More importantly what did they want?

All of this occurred to me in the space of a second. My heart was suddenly thrumming in my chest, and even though I couldn't see anything in the car, I felt like they had to be right there? In the trunk maybe? I spun back around and looked at the road. I'd drifted out of my lane, and I overcorrected again and the fishtail got worse, before I knew what was happening, I was sliding sideways down the street at fifty, looking squarely into the oncoming lights of an eighteen-wheeler that was about to T-bone me.

It's like that moment in time is frozen in my memory. It had only been four or five seconds since I started to lose control of the car, but time seemed to have slowed down for me. Looking back, it's almost comical, execpt for the fact that I was seconds from death. I still had my hands locked white-knuckled on the steering wheel at ten and two. My head, though, was turned and looking straight out the driver's side window at the oncoming semi, it's headlights right at my eye level. I could see the palm trees lit by the streetlights in the background, and the street almost empty except for my car and the semi. My last thought was, "At least no one else will get hurt."

Just as I closed my eyes, bracing for the impact and knowing it was going to do no good, I heard two voices scream, "NO!", and then my world went... lavender?

2 Welcome to Equestria

The first thing I realized was that I was still alive. The last thing I remembered was that semi headed straight for me, and knowing I was going to die. I'd been in a little Honda, sliding sideways down the street at close to fifty miles an hour, and was about to hit an oncoming semi driver's side on. There really wasn't much of a survival chance there.

Strangely enough, I didn't jolt awake, I just gradually drifted back up. I was laying on my side in a bed. I could feel my arms and legs, and the sheet laying on top of me. I tried to move, and discovered that I couldn't. I tried to look around but I couldn't see much. About ten feet away there was a wall, with a bookcase built into it. The wall looked like some kind of wood paneling, and they'd somehow made it look like the bookcase was carved into the wood. The books were all cloth-bound hardcovers, big dark books like you'd find in a law library. I couldn't make out the words on the spines from here, they all seemed to have long titles, and even on the big books the font had to be very small to fit. I swivled the eye that wasn't obscured by pillow a bit more and saw that whoever had done the bookcase had obviously done the whole place, as the ceiling had been made to look like it was all cut from the same piece of wood as the wall and bookcase.

Taking a deep breath, I noticed something. I could see my nostrils flare at the bottom of my vision. I frowned. That wasn't right. I tried to look down, and it seemed like I could see a bit of yellow, but I couldn't make it focus.

I tried to say, "Hello," but it came out as a dry croak.

"He's awake!" I heard someone say, it was one of those voices I'd heard before.

"Don't you mean... mmph," the second familiar voice started to say, but it sounded like it got cut off.

"Not just now, Pinkie. Let's give him a couple minutes first."

"Hello," the first voice started again, "Peter, can you hear me?"

"Yes," I managed to get out, my voice still sounding all wrong, cracked and dry like I hadn't swallowed in far too long.

"Okay, good. My name is Twilight Sparkle. The first thing you need to know is that you're okay. You're under a... you're under some sedation, that's why you can't move your limbs. I need to make sure you're not going to hurt yourself before we let you up."

"Alright," I croaked again. I tried swallowing a few times and felt my throat start to feel a little more normal. "Have you got a mask on me?" I started to say, but this time it didn't come out as a croak, it came out almost clear, but it wasn't my voice. It really wasn't my voice. It sounded like a woman's voice!

I looked down at my nose again. I could see my nostrils flaring, I could control it. It wasn't just some breathing mask with diaphragms opening when I breathed. That yellow thing was somehow my nose. I started to hyperventilate, breaths coming faster and faster. If I could've seen myself from outside, I would've probably seen my eyes roll wildly, as I've seen some others panic since then.

"Pressure!" a new voice shouted.

"What?" said Twilight.

"Put some pressure on her, around her barrel. It'll help calm her down!"

Immediately, I saw a soft lavender glow out of the corner of my eye, and felt a light pressure surround somehow ring my chest and back, even though I was laying down. Immediately, I felt my breaths begin to slow, and the panic that had been rising was now receding.

"What'd you just do?" I asked when I could speak again.

"Oh, um..." the new voice answered, still out of my vision, "pressure around your..." and there was another pause, and I could almost imagine a look being exchanged or some gesture made before the voice began again. "Pressure around your... middle like that helps you to calm down. That's all. It's comforting as long as it's not too tight."

"Huh," I said, "weird." Something wasn't right, my voice was wrong, my nose was wrong. I couldn't move and couldn't see anything else, but there was something they weren't showing me, weren't telling me. However, the new voice was right, with that ring of pressure on, I was somehow a lot more calm than I should've been.

"Peter," said the voice that had called itself Twilight Sparkle, "there's been an accident, and I've got to show you what happened. You're probably not going to be very happy, but there's nothing I can do right now. I've sent word to someone who I hope can help, but it'll probably be a while before they can get here. I'm going to let you move your head a little. I have to show you something and I want you to be able to look around a little.

With that, I could suddenly move. I felt some control return to my neck. I still couldn't move my arms and legs, though. I tried to lift my head, but it felt really weird, like everything was out of proportion. As I lifted my head higher and tried to look down at myself, I realized my neck seemed to be moving all wrong. It was, I still can't describe it, it was just wrong. I laid my head back down and said, "I think there's something wrong with my neck."

"Does it hurt?" asked Twilight, and I could almost hear the frown in her voice.

"No, but it's not moving right. What happened to me?"

"You're fine, and your neck's fine, Peter, no worries there. But I'm going to walk around the bed now. Please try not to freak out, okay?"

"Why would I freak out?"

I could hear footsteps, a few of them, moving around the bed. Then, something walked into my field of view. It took me a moment to even process it. It was a little purple horse, with big, expressive eyes, and a dark purple mane, with a light purple stripe in it. It had a horn growing out of its forehead, and a pair of wings on its back.

"I'm Twilight Sparkle," it said, "and I'm sorry, but you're not on Earth anymore."

"What are you?" I asked, still feeling far too calm. Some part of my mind knew I should be gibbering at this point, but something was keeping me from panicking.

"I'm a pony, and you're in a place called Equestria. Ponyville, actually, but that's the town. Equestria is the country. We call our world 'Earth', too, but it's not the one you're from. I pulled you out of your car, because you were about to be in a pretty bad accident. But the spell I was casting wasn't made to let me do that, so there was a bit of a... translation error. You got turned into a pony. That's why your neck feels weird. It's a little different now. In fact, everything on you is a little different now. Well, some things are a lot different.

"I want you to know I'm really sorry. Somehow you heard Pinkie and I talking through the observation spell. That shouldn't have been possible, but you did, and when you turned around to look, you lost control of your car. The accident was my fault, and I didn't even think about it, I just tried to pull you away on instinct. I'm a little stronger than I used to be with that sort of thing, and I don't know what happened, but you're here, and healthy, just in a different body."

"Spell? You're talking like you're some sort of D&D character. Magic's not real," I said.

"Magic works here, in this world, even though it doesn't work in yours. Here, watch," she said. The light lavender glow that her horn had been emitting almost without me noticing it suddenly intensified, and four of the books from the shelf in the background began to glow the same color. The pulled themselves off the shelf, floated over between Twilight and me, spun in a little circle, then floated back and reshelved themselves.

I watched this with wide eyes. "I must be hallucinating. Something really bad happened in that accident and I'm hallucinating all this."

"Peter, please believe me when I say that this isn't a hallucination. If it was, you probably wouldn't be able to formulate that thought. Like when you're dreaming, you just accept the dream as real, no matter how weird it is, right? Hallucinations generally work the same way."

"This can't be happening," I said, "I'm way too calm. If this was real, I should be having a breakdown about now. That's like what you're saying right? I'm way too calm and that's because this is just a dream. It's in my head."

"You're calm because of that pressure that Twilight is keeping around your barrel," the new voice said, "It's very calming for most ungulates. As long as that's there, you should stay pretty calm."

"Peter, I'm going to get you out of bed, then let you have control of your legs again. I'd feel a lot better if you were up, just to make sure everything's working, okay?"

I felt myself being lifted and supported, even though I hadn't felt anything slide under me. The sheet lifted off, and I was turned and gently dropped to the floor in front of Twilight. I could feel the weight on my arms and legs. She'd put me down on all fours. I couldn't feel my hands, and as I looked down, I saw I didn't have hands. Two bright yellow legs, ending in bright yellow hooves, were touching the ground under me. My breaths started to come a little faster, as I felt the panic rise again. I looked a little farther back and saw another set.

Breathe, Peter, I thought to myself. It's just a dream, just breathe and don't pass out. I looked up at Twilight, who was looking at me with worry in her big, expressive eyes. I looked back down at my arms, or legs, or whatever. I tried picking one arm up and the yellow leg came up. I carefully set it back down. I tried the other one, and the same thing happened. My elbows, or knees, I guess, felt really weird, like they were bending the wrong way, and I couldn't feel a thing through those hooves, like my hands were somehow numb.

I looked around again, this time trying to look over at the owners of the voices I'd heard earlier. Turning like this, my neck felt very weird. It was way too long and I could feel way too much bending going on. Just breathe, I thought again.

On the other side of the bed were two more of the pony things. One was yellow, kind of like me, but not as bright, and the other one was vibrant pink. The yellow one had wings, like Twilight, but no horn, and the pink one had no horn or wings. Both of them, though, had bright blue eyes. Just like Twilight, their eyes seemed too large, but were very expressive. I could tell that the yellow one was worried, and that the pink one was excited.

"Hiya," the pink one waved, "I'm Pinkie Pie, and this is Fluttershy! We're super-excited that you're okay. I'm really sorry that Twi and I made you crash your car, but she saved you and everything's all okay. I'm sure Princess Celestia will be able to fix everything once she gets here!"

"Yes," said the yellow one, in a much more subdued voice, "I'm glad you're alright. I'm sure the princess will be able to fix everything."

"This can't be real," I said.

"Sorry, totally real!" said Pinkie Pie. "But that's okay, because you're here, and not hurt, and that's way more important than what you look like, right?"

"I... yeah, I'm alive. At least I think I am."

Suddenly the pink pony was right in front of me. I never even saw her move. She touched my nose and said, "Boop!"

I sneezed.

"Yeah, totally alive. Betcha didn't know that ghosts can't sneeze."

"Pinkie!" Twilight said, "You just made that up. One, there's no such thing as ghosts, and two, how would you know if they could sneeze or not?"

"Well, yeah, but it was an educated guess. I mean, ghosts don't really need to breathe anymore, and if they don't breathe, then why would they need to sneeze, and if they don't need to sneeze, then they probably can't, right?"

"Pinkie, just... I don't even know," said Twilight.

"Uh oh," said Pinkie, as first one ear twitched, then her knees shook, then the other ear twitched, then both ears together, then her tail suddenly popped straight out like some sort of party favor.

"What's that one mean, Pinkie?" Twilight asked, suddenly concerned.

"You'll see in just a second," said Pinkie.

As I looked between the two of them, I saw a bright flash, and suddenly, standing in the room with us was a pony at least twice the size of any of the others. It was white, with wings and a horn like Twilight, but her mane was pastel hued and seemed to be blowing in a wind that I couldn't feel.

"Twilight," the newcomer said, "I'm glad I found you. Something happened a few minutes ago..." The newcomer looked around and then noticed me. She frowned. "Who is this mare?"

Then something clicked. Fluttershy had said 'her', even though Twilight had said 'him'. Then there was my voice, and now this huge pony had called me a mare. I dropped my head down and looked back between my legs, both sets of them. I could see straight to my tail. There was something rather important missing, though.

I looked up again, my breathing suddenly speeding up again. "What?" I managed before I couldn't speak anymore. I felt like I couldn't get a full breath, my lungs pushing against the pressure that Twilight was still holding around my chest. I suddenly felt sick, and my eyes started to water. My vision tunneled down to a small circle centered on Twilight, who said, "I'm sorry, Peter." Then suddenly, my world went black again.

I woke up again in the same bed as before. This time, though, instead of just the walls and bookshelves, I saw Twilight, as well as well as the large white pony that had showed up out of nowhere before. They were laying down, the large pony taking up as much space as the bed I was on. Twilight seemed to be asleep, her head leaned against the larger pony's side, half buried in that pastel mane, still flowing in a wind that didn't seem to be there. Frankly she looked adorable. The larger pony, though, was wide awake and watching me closely, concern evident in her expression.

"Hello, little one," she said. "I am Princess Celestia of Equestria. I'm sorry for what happened earlier. Twilight explained as much as she could of what happened, and I know it must've been quite a shock. I have a few answers for you now, and both some good and bad news."

Twilight, hearing Celestia speak, began to wake up. "Princess, whazzat?" she mumbled as she lifted her head and looked around. Realizing where she was, her eyes widened and she quickly scooted away from the big pony, with a blush that I could somehow see even through her fur. "Erm, sorry Princess. I guess I nodded off, there."

"It's no problem, Twilight," Celestia said, with a chuckle in her voice. "I was telling Peter here that we found out a little more about what happened to him."

At that, I saw the little purple pony's gaze drop to the ground and her ears droop. "Oh, that. I'm so sorry, Peter."

"What's wrong?" I asked.

"Before we start, how do you feel?" Celestia asked.

"Actually, I feel okay. I don't know why I'm not totally freaked out now. I mean, it was all I could do to keep it together before. Now, I guess, it seems less strange. I don't know why."

"That's just sleep. Sleep provides your unconscious with time to deal with crises. You've actually been asleep for about two days. That was my doing, I thought it would be better to let you sleep for a while and let your subconscious start to work things out before trying you with more news."

"This is still very weird, though."

"Of course it is. I'd be worried if you didn't think so. I'm glad you're not so close to panic now, though."

"Now, what was Twilight's apology about?" I asked, although I already had my suspicions.

"Well, first, the good news," Celestia began. "You're healthy and well. Despite the rather dramatic circumstances, you came to no harm. As to why you're a pony now, when Twilight saw that you were in danger, her first instinct was to get you to safety. The only problem was that she was merely looking at you through a dimensional lens, seeing into your own version of reality through her magic. That would usually mean that she couldn't affect your realm or you, at all. However, you may have noticed that both I and Twilight have horns and wings. That means something rather special here. We're called alicorns, and we have quite a lot more magic than any normal unicorn would. Also, Twilight was only recently... let's say promoted to this level of magic. She panicked as she saw you in danger and her power allowed her to reach through to your world and remove you from danger. As she cast no spell, though, the magic was somewhat wild. It pulled your mind out of your body and brought your consciousness here to Equestria. However, you had no body here, so the magic made you one out of what was handy. It used Twilight as the blueprint. I think you'll find you're very much like sisters."

"Wait, does that mean I have a horn?" I asked, reaching up, hardly noticing that I could move freely and that a normal horse's leg shouldn't be able to easily reach their head. I felt on my forehead, but there wasn't a horn there.

"No, I can only guess that because you had no magic before, the body created for you was that of an earth pony. No horn."

"Also, I'm yellow and she's purple, if I'm her twin, shouldn't I be purple?"

"I never said you're her twin, you're more like sisters. The magic used her as a template, but it didn't slavishly copy her. In fact, I doubt it could. To make a new alicorn would require more magic than either I or Twilight have.

"Now, though, you heard me say that Twilight's magic moved your consciousness?"

"Yes," I said. "Does that mean, my body..." I felt sick.

"I'm afraid so," said Celestia, her eyes downcast. "Your body perished in that accident. Unfortunately, there's no way to send you back."

"Wait," I said, "can't Twilight just make me a new body there? I mean she made this one, right?"

"I'm sorry, Peter," Twilight interrupted. "Doing that took a massive amount of magic. But I could do it because it was here, in Equestria, where there's lots of magic. There's not enough magic in your world to allow me or anyone else to do something like that."

"But you pulled me out of my world. How could you do one and not the other."

"I cast the spell that let me reach out for you here. Think of throwing a lasso. You throw the rope out, but when you catch something with it and pull it in, all the effort is expended right where you are."

"Couldn't you just send me back, then? Like all of me and not just my mind?"

"No physical matter can cross between the dimensions, just energy, like the pressure creating the sound waves we hear and the photons that made up the scene we saw."

"Well, can you at least turn me back into me? At least if I'm stuck here, I'd like to be me again."

"Again, little one," Celestia said, "I'm sorry. When Twilight's magic created your new body, it created it in Twilight's image. You're now a pony, and though we could change you for a little while, it wouldn't be permanent."

"Then is this permanent? I mean, will I just turn back to me in a while?"

"No, that is your body now. When Twilight's magic pulled you here to Equestria, it made a new body for you. In fact, it did more than that, it made a new spirit for you. I'm honestly not sure how that happened. In all the magic I know, and I've been studying it quite a lot longer than Twilight, I've never seen anything that can create a spirit. Now, your mind has fused with your new spirit, and they can't be separated again."

"But Twilight did it once," I said, quietly.

"I don't know how I did it, Peter," said Twilight. "Like Princess Celestia said, the spell went a bit wild, and I can't understand what it did, much less replicate it. If I cast wildly again, there's no telling what could happen. You could die. I... we can't take that chance."

"So I'm stuck here, as a female pony?"

"Yes, I'm afraid so," said Celestia, nodding gently. "However, I promise you that Twilight and I will do everything within our power to help you start a new life here. Twilight and I will keep working on this, and as Twilight's understanding grows, maybe she will be able to send you back to your world."

"How long do you think that might take?" I asked.

"I've honestly no idea. Maybe a hundred years, maybe never. I've been studying magic for a very long time and I've never seen anything like."

"I'll be dead in a hundred years anyway," I said in a small voice.

"Hardly," Celestia snorted, "barring the unforseen, anyway. How long do humans usually live?"

"Seventy or eighty years," I said. "Some make it up into their nineties or even past that, but I've never heard of anyone making it to a hundred and ten."

"Oh my," said Twilight, "I measured your day/night cycle when I started looking at your world, and your years are the same as ours. Ponies live much longer than that. I mean, Granny Smith was around when this town was founded, and that was hundreds of years ago. She's a little over three hundred, I think. You're all pony now, so in a hundred year's time, you won't even be middle-aged."

"You're kidding?"

"Nope, totally honest. You've got quite a bit more life to look forward to, even if it is here in Equestria."

"Wow."

"One last thing, little one," said Celestia. "You're an earth pony. Earth ponies don't express their magic directly, like unicorns, or through flight, like pegasi. Earth pony magic gives them exceptional strength and a connection to the soil and plants. You'll need to be very careful at first, as you're far stronger than you ever were as a human on Earth. You could cause unintended damage very easily. I expect there will be some pain in your future as you come to grips with what's happened. I'm so very sorry that we were the cause of that pain, but you'll have to face it at some point. If you lash out, you could well do something you'll come to regret. Please keep that in mind."

"I... um. I'll try?"

"I can't ask for more than that," said Celestia, getting up. "Now, I have to leave. I've been away from Canterlot for too long. However, Twilight will be here, and if you need anything, let Twilight know. We'll both do whatever we can to help you."

The big alicorn stepped towards me, and I started to cringe. She was amazingly imposing, if not from power, then from sheer size. However, she gently laid a wing across me as I lay in the bed, and somehow I felt all the care and concern and joy and sadness that she felt for me. The feelings didn't lash my brain the way my panic and fear had the day before, they were subdued, but immesurably deep. I may live to be three hundred now, but I doubt I'll ever have an experience like that again.

Lifting her wing from me, she stepped back, and I saw her horn begin to glow. With a bright flash, she was gone. I looked to Twilight, my eyes wide.

Twilight just nodded, "I think it has to do with being one of the oldest beings in existence. I can't even imagine the level she experiences life on."

I could only nod in return.

Author's Notes:

Okay, so now Pete's in Equestria. My cruddy deus-ex-machina to get him there is now thankfully over, and we can move on to him actually dealing with a new life. If you're expecting clop, don't. I won't rule out a future love interest, but if there's anything cloppy, it'll go in a side story, as I'd like this one to remain family friendly (with a bit of teen rating for his gender issues).

3 So What Next?

After Celestia's departure, I laid in bed for a while. Twilight had moved over to the bed and just sat with me, not saying anything. I tried to process everything I'd felt from Celestia, but that proved impossible. I couldn't put into words the depths of the feelings I'd shared with her, just for that brief moment. The more I thought about it, the better I felt about my current predicament. Sure, I'd been ripped out of my life on Earth, but I was pretty sure that no one on Earth cared for me like the Princess did.

On the other hand, being in a new town, new country, new world, even, filled me with anxiety. What if I didn't fit in? I really hadn't fit in on Earth, but at least I was used to that. I had my little hobby, and that at least kept me busy. It gave me something to do with my spare time, and even a hope that I'd find some success doing it. I'd have loved for nothing more than to be able to leave my programming job and work full time on board games and pen and paper RPGs. The pay would probably be way less than what I'd made as a programmer, but I would've been happier doing it.

I looked at my hooves. Big blunt things. No fingers. I'd never be able to draw now. I looked over at all the books on the bookshelf. Those things had to get written somehow. Did they have typewriters? I looked around the room. Nothing here looked more advanced than industrial-revolution era. Then something caught my eye. There were a few pictures on the shelf. Color pictures. The looked like they'd been taken with a camera.

"Twilight," I asked, "those pictures. Were they taken with a camera?"

"Strange question," Twilight replied. "I was sure you'd ask about your new body."

"Sorry, do you want me to ask about that?"

"Well, we'll have to get there eventually, but yes, those were taken with a camera. We don't have a lot of the technology that you have in your world, but there are magical equivalents for most things."

"Ah, so is there something like the internet?"

"Sorry, I've heard the word, but I'm not really sure what that is. I know it had something to do with those screens I saw all over the place on Earth."

"Hmm, the internet is a little hard to explain. It's a communication network, but it's not just letters or voice or even video. Anyone could post to the internet, and anyone could access it, as well. It had it's downsides, but you'd be surprised how much you come to rely on it for just about everything." I sighed, "I guess I'll have to get used to it."

"I saw a lot of people watching videos on those screens while I was looking at your world. It looked amazing. I'm sorry you won't have that here."

"Video was just one bit of it, Twilight. Imagine that you could post your thoughts for anyone around the world to see. Not just your thoughts, but your art if you were an artist, or your music if you were a musician. I know this will sound pathetic, but I never really had close friends. I followed groups with interests like mine, and would even post some contributions of my own. I don't do well in crowds, but I was kind of at a remove from everyone on the internet, so I could feel like I was a normal person when I talked to people there, and when I put my games up, I could hope that I'd done something that would give other people a little enjoyment."

"I'm sorry Peter, I didn't realize."

"It's okay. How could you know I was a social failure?" I said, staring at the bed between my new forelegs and feeling my voice almost crack as I admitted my failure as a person. So much had changed about me, but I probably hadn't left my central defect behind. Maybe it was two days' worth of sleep. Maybe my subconscious had had the time to start to deal with what had happened, but somehow being a pony, even a female pony didn't really bother me right then. All I could think about was how I'd been a poor excuse for a person and now I'd probably be a poor excuse for a pony. I could feel my eyes start to brim.

"Peter," Twilight said, poking at my side with a hoof, "when I watched you, I didn't see a failure of a person. You interacted with people all day at work."

"Work's different. I can't really explain it. But I hardly ever did anything with them outside work."

"Hiya Twilight! You rang?" said a familiar voice.

I looked around and saw the pink pony walking around to Twilight and me from the foot of the bed.

"Actually, Pinkie, I didn't," said Twilight.

"Sure you did, you just didn't know it," the pink pony replied with a grin.

"Were you here the whole time?" I asked.

"Nope, just got here. I totally didn't listen in on everything the Princess told you about how you can't go back home."

"What? That doesn't make any sense," I said.

Twilight sighed, "Don't try to understand it, Peter, it's just Pinkie."

"That's me!" laughed the pink pony. "Now, since you're here for good. You're a new resident of Ponyville. Also, I just met you, and there's only one thing to do about that!"

"Huh?" I said, frowning.

"A party!" she yelled, throwing her hooves up as confetti suddenly streamed from nowhere."

"Where did that come from?" I asked.

"Like I said, it's just Pinkie Pie. And she better clean up the confetti this time," said Twilight, with a pointed look at the pink pony, still holding her front legs up over her head with a big smile on her face.

"Uh, thanks Pinkie," I said. "But I'd rather not have a party."

"Why not?" Pinkie asked, her expression quizzical. "Everypony loves a party."

"I just... Crowds tend to make me... They make me uncomfortable. I don't like parties."

"Oh, no crowds. Hmm, I can work with that," said Pinkie, suddenly stroking her chin with a hoof. "Here's what's gonna happen. The party's on hold until you get settled in a little. However, as the local, and only, Pinkie Pie, I hereby reserve the right to throw a small party for you. No crowds. Promise."

"Okay," I said, still dreading what might come of this.

"Oh yeah, before I go," Pinkie said, walking over to Twilight. She leaned over, whispering in the purple pony's ear for a good while. Twilight's eyes widened a little as she looked at me, then she nodded.

Finally, Pinkie headed for the door. Just before she got there, she turned around, "Oh, and Peter, I totally want to try out some of your games, you should work on making some of them again here in Equestria."

How did she hear that? I asked myself. Then it hit me, "Wait, really?"

"Sure, silly pony. I love games. In fact, everybody loves games. I bet a lot of ponies around here would really like to try some new ones." With that the pink pony spun and disappeared out the door.

"What'd she say to you, Twilight?" I asked.

"She was just reminding me of something," Twilight answered, grinning at me a little, before turning her gaze down to the floor, where she noticed the large pile of confetti still littering the ground. "Pinkie! What did I say about the confetti?"

"Sorry, Twi," came the pink pony's voice, drifting through the door from downstairs, "I'll get it later."

"That pretty much means, 'No, she won't get it later'," grumbled Twilight, before turning back to me. "Okay then, Peter. I think it's about time to get you out of that bed."

"Okay," I said, looking at my new hooves. I guessed it shouldn't be too hard to at least stand up. I carefully started sliding over to the edge of the bed. I can only imagine how silly I looked, a neon yellow pony with a bright red mane, hanging a back leg over the edge of the bed trying to find the ground. When my back leg found purchase, I wasn't sure whether I should try the other back leg or the front leg on the same side. I decided on the other back leg, I didn't think horses walked sideways too well. As I turned, my other back leg found the ground, and I was now two legs on the ground, with my chest still resting on the bed. I tried to back up and drop one front leg to the ground, but as I was craning my head around and trying to watch my back hooves, I managed to bend it too far back, and instead of setting down on my hoof, I stepped down onto the joint above it.

I bobbled for a second, and heard Twilight exclaim, "Careful!" before losing my balance and tumbling all the way over. The strange thing, though, was that it didn't hurt at all. I mean, I didn't fall over very much, but I'd at least imagine that something would sting, falling down as a pony. I saw a purple glow and felt Twilight's magic pick me up, turning me over and letting my legs hang down. "Are you okay?" she asked.

"Yeah," I said, "didn't hurt at all, actually."

"Lucky earth pony," she grinned. "I'm going to set you down now. Just get your hooves under you and stand for a second. Okay?"

"Sure." With that, Twilight slowly lowered me to my hooves. I made sure to get all four rightside down. Then the glow faded and I was standing on all fours, like I'd done before. I looked at Twilight, and tried to take a step. One forehoof picked up and set down. Then the other. Now I was stretched, forehooves too far out front, back hooves too far out back. I probably should've moved one of the back ones before the other front one. This was seriously weird.

I picked up one of my back hooves, bracing myself so that I wouldn't slide with just one attached to the ground, and moved it forward. Solid contact. Then the other one. After a minute, I was now one step away from where I'd started. I hung my head.

"Hey Peter," Twilight said, "Why don't you come take a look at this?" She'd moved over to the bookshelf, where she had a box. She held it up, and suddenly, I really had to see what was in the box. I looked at my hooves, still planted on the ground, and then back at that box. I was sure that whatever was in that box was amazing. I could almost imagine a golden glow coming from it, like the briefcase in Pulp Fiction.

Suddenly, I was in motion. I was halfway across the room before I realized it. I didn't even care how I was doing it, I just needed to get to that box. Just as I could finally see over the lip of the box, I caught a flash of purple from Twilight's horn. I looked into the box to see... a pinecone. Just a pinecone. I looked at it more closely. It still had some dirt on it.

"Twilight," I said, "why is there a pinecone in the box, and why did you want to show it to me?"

"Sorry, Peter. It was a spell called 'Want It, Need It'. You were thinking about walking way too hard. I just needed to distract you a bit."

"Distract me?"

"You walked over here by yourself, without even thinking about it, right?"

I looked around, "Yeah, I did. How did I do that?"

"Foals are born knowing how to walk. You're a pony, so you know how to walk. You just had to let your instincts get on with it without thinking too hard about it. You were trying to think your way through one hoof at a time. You don't have to do that, really, you just need to walk." Twilight said this last with a grin. "And I should know, I'm the queen of overthinking things. Well, maybe princess of overthinking things," she giggled.

"Huh?"

"Nothing, just a little joke. Now, let's get you moving around. I'd like to introduce you to a few ponies, but I'd bet you'd like to do that without falling down in the process."

"Um, yeah. You're right."

The next two hours were if not grueling, then at least embarrassing. Twilight was right, as long as I wasn't thinking about it, I could walk just fine. As soon as I started to think about what hoof was going to go where, though, I was on the floor. Still, this earth pony body was good for something. No matter how many times I fell down, it didn't hurt. The worst that happened was that I made my eyes water when I pitched straight forward onto my snout one time. That one didn't even hurt, really, it just stung a bit. If I was human, I was sure I'd have broken my nose.

Finally, I was walking sort of passably. Well, I was walking perfectly fine when I was distracted by something. On the other hand, when I was thinking about it, I looked like I was about to topple over at any second. Which, to be fair, I was.

"Okay," Twilight said, "big challenge time. Let's try to get you downstairs."

"Stairs?" I said. "I'm not sure I'm ready for that."

"I understand, but you have to get down there sometime. Besides, that's where the bathroom is, and I'm sure you're going to need it at some point."

Bathroom, oh yeah. The whole 'learning to walk' thing had distracted me marvelously, but I was going to have to deal with this whole pony thing, and the female thing pretty soon, because as soon as Twilight had said that, I'd realized that I definitely had to go.

"Uh, yeah, Twilight. I think I'll need that sooner, rather than later. Sorry."

"Oh," she said, "Umm, do you think you can try the stairs or do you need it like right now?"

"I think I can try the stairs," I said, already heading for the door. I got there and looked at the doorknob. How in the world were hooves supposed to work that? I looked back at Twilight, "Um, little help here?"

"Sure," she said, from where she was watching me. The handle then lit with a lavender glow that matched her horn, and the door opened. I could see the stairs curving down the side of a wall. No railing. Great. I looked back and couldn't see Twilight anywhere. "Wait for me, I've got to grab something," I heard Twilight call from around the corner. I looked down, I could do this. One hoof down, check. Next hoof down check. Back hooves, shuffle up. Next step. It was going okay until I needed my back hoof to get down the first step. I hit the edge of the step, slipped, and wound up taking the rest of the stairs rolling tail over teakettle all the way.

"Twi, are you okay? I heard a..." I heard a voice rapidly coming closer and then pause. "Oh, you must be Peter. Are you okay? That looked nasty."

"Yeah," I said, trying to twist and get myself right side up again. "Sorry, but I've got somewhere I have to be." As I finally got my hooves under me and looked up again, I stopped in my tracks. Standing before me was a little purple dinosaur, with a green ridge on his head.

"Hi, I'm Spike," he said, extending a clawed hand.

"Um, nice to meet you," I said, raising a hoof without thinking about it.

"So where do you have to be?" he asked, shaking my hoof in his hand.

"Erm, bathroom." I said, looking away.

"Oh," he snickerd. "It's right over there, see that bookshelf with all the red covered books on it? That doorway, to your left."

"Thanks," I said, setting my hoof back down and starting across the library at a pretty good pace. I did have something else on my mind, after all. Behind the red shelf was a little hallway, and to the left I found the bathroom. Fortunately, the door was open. I nosed it closed and looked around. It was like a Japanese toilet, just a porcelain trench in the floor with the flush mechanism at one end. Okay, this couldn't be so hard, right?

That part wasn't bad, actually. The handle on the flush could easily be operated with a hoof. The hard part was getting out again. The door had another doorknob on it. Definitely not hoof-friendly. I tried nudging the knob with one hoof. I really didn't want to put my mouth on the bathroom doorknob, so I tried the other hoof. That didn't work either. Like the first one, it just slid off. I sighed, hanging my head. This whole world was filled with ponies. I wasn't sure about that door upstairs, but there had to be a way for regular ponies to use the bathroom door, right?.

For the first time, I held up one of my hoofs and took a good look at it. I found my leg was a lot more flexible than I expected, and I was able to turn my hoof over and look at the underside. It wasn't all solid hoof, like I'd expected. The hard part kind of surrounded a softer fleshy-looking part in the middle, towards the back. Maybe I could get a little grip with that.

I held up my hoof to the doorknob again, this time trying to slot the edge into the depression in my hoof. I could suddenly feel the cold metal against the fleshy part of my hoof. It was weird after not feeling anything from my 'hands' for a while. Carefully, I tried to spin the knob. I had my hoof on the side and was trying to drag it down and spin the knob by friction. It started to turn, and then I felt it slip. I reset my hoof. Just a little harder this time. The knob turned just a bit more before slipping.

"Peter, are you okay in there?" I heard Twilight call from the other side of the door. "I know it's embarassing, but I can if you need help..."

"Fine. I'm fine!" I called back. "Just give me a second." Third try. Hoof up, pressed on the side of the knob, I could feel the metal of the knob. This time I just couldn't let it slip. I pressed into the doorknob with my hoof so it wouldn't slip off, one more turn, and the knob slipped again.

Okay, last time, I thought. Hoof up, I pressed it harder into the side of the doorknob, only to feel the whole knob give way, breaking off and falling to the floor. I looked at it blankly. Damn it, damn it, damn it, I couldn't believe I'd just done that.

"Peter," I heard Twilight calling, again, "what was that?"

I sighed heavily. "Twilight, I just broke your door. Could you let me out, please?"

The little dinosaur was giggling as Twilight and I walked back into the main room. I'd been a bit distracted before. How many bookshelves did this place have? "This place looks like a library," I said.

"That's because it is," said Twilight.

"Uh, why is there a bedroom upstairs, then?" I asked.

"That's my bedroom. I live here."

"You live in the library?" I asked, before something occurred to me. "Princess Celestia said that I'd been asleep for two days. I didn't mean to put you out of your bed."

"Don't worry about it," said Twilight. "The Princess knew when you should be waking up, but we had a few friends help watch you, just to make sure nothing happened. I roomed with Pinkie Pie for a couple days, Spike here has his own room downstairs, so he stayed here, and Princess Celestia stayed at Fluttershy's. No harm done."

No harm done, I thought. "Sorry about the bathroom door, again."

Twilight laughed, which got Spike giggling again, "This is like the fifth time you've apologized for it. Don't worry. We'll have someone fix it tomorrow. Just remember that you're a lot stronger than you used to be."

"Yeah, I'll have to get used to that," I said. I still couldn't believe how easily that doorknob had broken off. "Still, how do ponies deal with those doorknobs? These things," I said, holding up a forehoof, "aren't really good for knobs."

"That leads us to our next lesson," Twilight said with a smile. "You can mostly walk. We'll work on the stairs later. Now for what I was getting when you decided to try the stairs on your own. Good thing you're earth pony resiliant, by the way."

Twilight motioned for me to stop, and walked across the room to a table, where she grabbed a ball. Just a little smaller than a plum. It looked rubbery, and bright blue.

"Okay, now," she said, holding the ball up in a forehoof, "sit down and then hold out one hoof."

It took me a few seconds to get my rear end settled. That was a lot more complicated than it had been as a human. Another thing to get used to, I thought. Once I was sitting, kind of like a dog, I held out one forhoof.

"Good. Now think fast!" she said, as a purple glow covered the ball and it launched right at me.

I didn't have time to think, I just reached for the ball before it could hit my head and caught it. It took a split second to realize that I had the ball attached to my hoof somehow. As soon as I thought about it, the ball dropped onto the floor.

"What was that?" I asked.

"Wow, she really doesn't know anything about being a pony, huh?" said Spike, who'd been watching us from the side of the library. I winced at the 'she'.

"Spike!" said Twilight, sharply. "He doesn't know anything about being a pony. How could he. He was human until just a couple days ago. They don't have magic at all."

"Twi, why do you keep saying 'he'" Spike asked, apparently obvlivious to the stress Twilight had put on the word.

"Spike, zip it!" Twilight said.

"It's okay," I interrupted with a sigh. "I'm going to have to get used to it. Besides, it's accurate now, right?"

"What do you mean it's accurate now," Spike asked, as he realized what I meant. "Oh wow, really? That's... that's actually kinda icky. Why would you do that, Twi?"

Suddenly the lavender pony's head dropped and her ears drooped. "I really didn't mean to, Spike, but now there's no way to fix it. So that's just how it is. Could you give us some time, please? I feel like I need to talk with Peter a little before... well, I just feel like I need to talk with him, okay?"

"Sure, Twi. I'll be in my room," said Spike, before heading out of the main room.

"Peter," said Twilight, after Spike had left, "I know I said it before, but I'm so, so sorry."

"It's alright, Twilight," I said.

"No, it's not alright. You should want to do something to me, get back at me somehow for what I did. You should be angry, and you're not, and I did that, too. I took away everything you had, brought you to a new world, and I made you not mind that I did it to you. That's the worst part. I took away some base part of you and filled it up with a pony," she said through tears that were starting to creep down her muzzle.

"What do you mean? Have you played with my mind?" I asked, shocked at what she'd just said. I thought I'd been taking this well just because I'd 'slept on it', but now... Had my mind been altered somehow?

"No, not like that!" Twilight said, with a sniffle. "But yes, there's a reason you've basically accepted the 'new you' far too quickly. I realized it when the Princess explained what had happened. Your spirit, your aura, however you want to call it, looks just like an earth pony mare. That's what you are now. I didn't make you a human in a pony mare's body. I made you a pony mare with human memories."

"I don't understand the difference," I said.

"The Princess told you that a transformation spell wouldn't be permanent, right?" Twilight said.

I nodded.

"That's because your spirit is now a pony mare. When we do a transformation spell, the transformee always feels strange, because their spirit hasn't changed. That's because their spirit doesn't match up with their body anymore. It's there, saying, 'This isn't right'. Except for you, your body matches your spirit, so at some level, something's telling you this is just what you're supposed to be, that everything's okay. Except it's not okay, because I did this to you, and now I can't fix it."

I sat for a minute, watching Twilight cry on the floor. Part of me wanted to be angry, but I couldn't. I still felt like me, but she was right, some part of my had been telling me this whole time that I should be going nuts. I wasn't human anymore. I wasn't even male anymore. I was a neon yellow pony with bright red hair. I had hooves, not hands and feet. I had a tail. I was apparently very strong and very hard to hurt, which was good, but still far different than the old human me. But all of that wasn't bothering me much at all. And now I knew why.

I walked over to Twilight, and put my forleg over her shoulders. She looked up at me for a second, eyes brimming, and looked away again. "Twilight," I said, "do you know what a good Samaritan law is?"

"No," she replied, quietly.

"A good Samaritan is someone who tries to do the right thing, to help, not because they have to, or are obligated to, but because they feel they should. A good Samaritan law is a law made to protect someone who genuinely tries to help, because sometimes in trying to help, we do harm. For example, say someone saw a person get into a car crash, just like I was in, and the person in the crash was very hurt. The person who saw the crash tries to help, and they may even end up saving that other person's life, but they wind up losing their leg. Now maybe a trained doctor or nurse could have saved the person and not caused them to lose a leg, but a good Samaritan law gives the person who tried to help legal protection, so the person in the crash can't come back later and say, 'You saved my life but you cost me my leg, so I'm going to sue'."

"Would someone really be that selfish?" Twilight asked.

"Yeah, it's happened," I said. "I think, that whatever else happened, you tried to help. You did what you could, and things didn't turn out perfectly. I think you'd be covered by a good Samaritan law."

"Peter, it's one thing to be legally protected, but I still hurt you. And when you say you forgive me, all I can think is that it's because of what I did to you."

I stopped to think again. Why was I so alright with this? Would I have been okay with what happened if I didn't have this pony spirit, or aura, or... I'd really have to ask Twilight to explain this thing to me. But whatever this thing was, it was the bit that was saying, 'You're right just like this'. More to the point, did it matter?

"Twilight," I said, "I used to hang out with some Zen Buddhists, sit zazen with them. Eventually I quit, but I always wished I hadn't. Anyway, they're some pretty together people. One of the big things is that who you are, your consciousness, what makes you, is always changing. Every second of every day, new experiences are changing that. If you asked me a question now, as opposed to ten minutes ago, would I give the same answer? No one knows, because that ten minutes of experience might change the answer I give, even if it's not directly related to the question. Now what I know is that I forgive you, the me who's here right now. The thing is that this is the only me that exists. The other one is in the past, not here anymore. So whatever he might have said, this is what I say right now. I've already forgiven you. You need to accept that.

"One last question: if it had worked out any differently, if your magic hadn't made this body, this 'spirit' or what have you, would I be alive now?"

"Well, I don't know," Twilight answered.

"It sounded like there was a 'but' that you missed there."

"Well, probably. I've still got no idea how this could've happened. It shouldn't have happened, according to what I know. So... I dont' think so, if it hadn't happened this way, then you probably would be..."

"Okay, then. Even if there were some consequences, I still count that as a good thing. I'll deal with the new me. And honestly, the old me wasn't that much to write home about," I said with a grin.

"Thanks, Peter," Twilight said, tears still in her eyes. "I still don't know how you can accept everything. I don't think I could." She looked around, and lifted the ball back over to the table with her magic. "I don't think I want to do any more lessons right now. Do you like to stargaze?"

"Huh? Just look at the stars, you mean?"

"Yeah, I think now would be a great time to just look at the stars for a while."

"Why not?"

I turns out that going up stairs is easier than going down them. Twilight had a balcony attached to her bedroom that had a telescope and a couple benches. We didn't say much for the rest of the evening. Both of us were probably afraid to spoil the moment. It was a nice night: clear and brisk, with hardly a cloud in the sky. In short, a nice night to watch the stars turn across the sky.

Author's Notes:

Well that wound up sort of deep at the end, huh? Such is life.

4 What's in a Name?

Did you ever have a moment of clarity? A time when everything seemed to make sense for a little bit. I've had a few in my life, usually at what I thought was the worst time I'd ever had. I had another one last night. I'm sure the guys who used to sit zazen with me would be proud. The only thing is, a nice little moment of clarity doesn't fix everything. Your problems still exist, you're just less freaked out by the situation so you can deal with things a little better.

In other words, despite how much sense everything seemed to make last night, not all of that stuck around to the next morning. I woke up in Twilight's bed again. This time, at least, I knew it was Twilight's bed. I looked around the room and saw that it was at least mid morning, judging by the sun streaming in the windows. I didn't see Twilight anywhere around, though.

I clambered out of the bed, fell flat on my side as I tried to negotiate the transition from bed to floor. However, I'd at least gotten plenty of practice at picking myself up again. I mostly had the hang of walking now, in fact, after a night's sleep, I seemed to be better at that than I'd been yesterday. With no one around, I took a few minutes to look around the room. You could hardly call it snooping, because I still didn't know how to actually manipulate things with my hooves, so I couldn't open any drawers or cabinets. I got to see the room just as Twilight presented it to friends, without any misunderstandings about why someone might have opened the box tucked under the bed and marked 'Private! This means you, Spike!'. Everybody needs to have a few secrets.

I headed for the door and found a small note attached to the doorknob. 'No touchy! -TS', with a little smiley face drawn beside the initials. Odd how two little lines and a curve meant eyes and a smiling mouth in this world just like mine. Fortunately, the door had been left cracked, so I was able to nudge a hoof inside and pull it open. Stepping through to the small landing, I was again looking down that curved staircase. This time I tried to lean on the wall to help me stay upright. I made it three steps down with my back hooves before falling the rest of the way. I was oddly proud of that. Of course, knowing that I wasn't going to get hurt bouncing my way down the stairs was pretty reassuring.

The racket I made coming down the stairs must've woken the lavender pony sleeping on a bench in the main room. She looked over at the yellow and red bundle of fur with hooves sticking out at odd angles. Her eyes narrowed and she greeted me with, "You thought about it again, didn't you?"

"Yeah, I thought about it again," I replied. "You know you look funny upside down like that."

She couldn't help herself and let loose with a giggle, "I'd hope that you'd realize you're the one upside down. Earth pony or not, maybe you hit your head to hard on one of those steps," she said, walking around to look up the stairs. "Maybe I should install a ramp."

Finally getting myself up, I said, "Maybe I should just learn how to walk."

"Give it a little while. You'll get better with practice." She turned back to me. "Speaking of which, I think it's lesson time again."

"Okay, but I've got to make a pit stop first," I replied, heading for the dreaded bathroom again.

"What's a pit stop?" Twilight asked, before realizing where I was headed. "Don't push the door all the way closed! There's no doorknob now."

"I'm rather acutely aware of that," I said, with a grimace and a glance over my shoulder.

Business done, I was back in the main room of the library. Twilight had that little blue rubber ball from before. "Okay," she said, holding the ball up again. This time I realized that she wasn't using magic to hold it, her horn wasn't glowing, and neither was the ball. "From yesterday, you know that you can grasp objects with your hooves. Again, it's something that most ponies do instinctually, so the less you think about what you're doing and the more you think about just doing it, the better you'll be. Now, see if you can catch the ball."

This time, instead of rocketing it at my head, which I guess she did to get pure reaction instead of thought, her magic tossed it in a gentle lob. I watched it come in, then reached out and grabbed it. It felt like I was flexing some muscle in my hoof, but as soon as I tried to figure out what one, the ball slid off my hoof. Hmm, I thought, that works, but where is that muscle? Then I stopped. This was my problem. I could pick stuff up just fine as a human, but I never thought of which muscle in which finger I was using. So I thought of what I was familiar with: not a hoof, a hand. The ball was sitting on the ground beside me. I set my hoof on it, closed my eyes, and just tried to grab it. I thought about closing my hand around it. To my surprise, I actually felt the texture of the ball, like I had fingers again. I gave it a squeeze and felt it respond. Then I picked up my hoof and the ball came with it. I opened my eyes and looked down at the ball in my hoof. I tossed it up once, caught it, and threw it back to Twilight, underhanded, because I wasn't sure how to do an overhand throw without being upright.

Twilight was staring at me with an absolutely amazed look on her face. She almost waited too long and only caught the ball with her magic at the last second. I grinned.

"How did you do that?" she asked. "Do you have any idea how long Rainbow had to practice to do something like that?"

I shrugged, "I just imagined picking it up, then I did. Toss it back."

She tossed it back, this time a little harder. I caught the ball again. It was amazing, as soon as I had something in my grasp, I almost felt like I had fingers again. I tried rotating the ball in my fingers, and saw it move. The motion was jerky, and I felt my ghost fingers moving and shifting, just as if I'd been doing it with my real hand. I tossed the ball back to Twilight again.

I looked at my hoof. Not a visible sign of the fingers I'd felt before. I couldn't even feel my fingers now. It was like they only existed when I held something. But I also realized something. If I had fingers, I could draw again. I could write! I could make games again. I could still have my nerdy little hobby. I looked around and saw some blank paper with a quill and inkwell beside it. "Do you mind?" I said, gesturing toward them. "I'd like to try something."

Twilight started to shake her head, then said, "Go ahead."

I walked over to the inkwell and paper. I lifted one hoof up, and grabbed the quill. Again, I could feel it in my hand. I wiped the excess ink off on the side of the inkwell, shifted my 'fingers' into position and lowered my hoof to the paper. Holding my hoof just off the paper would be unsteady, so I settled for letting just the edge of my hoof rest on the paper, sideways, so that I could hold the quill upright in my 'hand'. I'd never used a quill before, but I had used fountain pens for drawing on occasion. I quickly found out that quills are a lot softer. I left a big blot of ink on the page, but at least I didn't split the quill.

I tried again, and in reasonably short order, managed to write out, "I am the very model of a modern major-general." Then I drew a smiley face, like Twilight had done earlier. I set the quill back in the ink and turned to see Twilight practically hovering over my side. I jumped, and almost fell yet again.

"Little warning, huh?" I said.

"That's impossible," she replied, staring at me.

"What is?"

"What you just did. Nopony can manipulate things like."

"Well, it has to be possible, I just did it."

"But pegasi and earth ponies always use their mouths to write."

"Use my mouth? That doesn't sound appetizing."

"Well, no, but still. It's how they do it. If they could do something like that, they wouldn't have to do so much with their mouths."

"It just feels like my hands. I can even feel the things I'm holding, just like I did with my hands."

"Hands! That's it. You remember having hands!"

"Huh?"

"Just, grab that quill again, okay? Don't write anything with it, just put it down like you're about to start writing and hold it still."

"Okay," I said, shrugging. I grabbed the quill again, wiped off the excess and set my hoof on edge on the paper again. I held the tip of the quill just off the paper and waited. I looked at Twilight and saw her horn start to glow. Then it looked like a lavender mist started trailing off her horn and drifting down toward my hoof.

"It won't hurt. Trust me," she said.

The lavender mist surrounded my hoof and the quill, then quickly began to clear. Left in its place, like a movie effect where dust was blown on the invisible man, I could clearly see five shimmering lavender disembodied fingers holding the pen. I frowned. The fingers, I noticed, were distressingly feminine. I guess this spirit change thing really did go all the way to my subconscious. Still, I could see fingers, clear as day, fingernails, ridges, and all. I could flex them and see the pen move.

I looked back at Twilight, "Not what you were expecting."

She had a huge grin on her face. "This is amazing, you really are just using your hands."

"Yeah, it looks that way. What happens when a pony does this?"

"Put the quill back down and I'll show you," she said, nodding toward the inkwell.

I set the quill back in the inkwell and moved out of her way. I watched as she grabbed the quill, but unlike when I picked it up, the quill seemed glued to the bottom of her hoof. When I held it, it was in my fingers, which meant that it was actually slightly away from my hoof. I saw Twilight's horn start to glow again. The mist descended, and this time, when it cleared, I was looking at a a blob of purple shimmer holding the quill to her hoof. It kind of looked like she'd stepped in wet clay and then shoved the quill through it.

"That's what ponies'... what do you call that thing, anyway?"

"In magic terms, it's called a maniple field. Most non-magicians don't really make any differentiation between it and their hooves."

"Okay, so that's what a normal pony's maniple field looks like. Can you make something like a hand with it?"

Twilight frowned, and the thing on her hoof rippled, but ultimately snapped back into a shapeless blob holding a quill. She sighed and set the quill back in the inkwell. "Well," she said, "at least I know it's possible now. Maybe you can teach me?"

"I dunno, I'll try to, but it may be the exact opposite problem of my walking, if I think about it, I get it wrong. This, as long as I think of a hand, something I do instinctually, it just works."

"That had occurred to me, too. Oh well, I'll still work on it."

"And I'll try to think of something, maybe an exercise, to try to help."

"That'd be great. Umm, I kind of thought that would take the rest of the morning. How would you like to take a walk around town?"

"Uh, okay, but Twilight, what I said earlier about crowds, it wasn't just me being depressed. I really do have some issues with crowds."

"Really? Ponyville's not that big, there shouldn't be too many ponies around. If you get uncomfortable, just tell me, okay?"

"Alright, I'll try."

"Great!" she said with a smile. "We can pick a few things up while we're out. You should see the market." She turned and I saw a set of saddlebags float out from a hook behind the door and settle themselves on her back. The straps cinched themselves under her stomach.

"I know you can do magic and all, but that's still kind of weird," I said.

I got a wink and a grin. "You'll get used to it."

"Hmm. Here let me get the door," I said, walking over and holding my hoof up to the doorknob. I grabbed it and thought of twisting it in my fingers. The knob spun and I was able to pull the door open.

"And you say magic is weird. Ponies generally have to just grab it and turn their whole hoof." With that, we walked outside.

The town was bright, I had to give it that. In fact, this whole world seemed a little brighter than Earth, somehow. Like everything was in Technicolor. I was amazed as Twilight led us away from the library. All of what I'd thought to be clever woodwork seemed to simply be reality. The whole place was carved out of the inside of a giant tree. Well, giant in the circumference, not actually all that tall. I'd been to Washington and seen the redwoods. This tree was probably a little bigger around at its base, but not nearly so tall.

"How is that tree still alive?" I asked. "There's an entire library carved out of the inside, and it still has green leaves on it."

"It was hollowed with magic," Twilight shrugged. "I'd never really thought about it. It's not exactly common, but tree buildings aren't unheard of. There are a few really huge ones in Canterlot's mage quarter. You should see one of those sometime."

We turned around again and started walking, with me following Twilight's lead. The houses looked like a something out of a Bavarian village. There were a lot of thatched roofs, others with tile. Not much that looked like shingles I was familiar with. The houses themselves tended to be white, with brown trim. But the trim was very elaborate, some were even painted with heart and flower designs. The windows were paned glass, which looked very old-fashione to my American sensibilities, but what amazed me most was how clean everything looked. If you've been to any American city, a lot of houses look grungy, at best. Here, though, everything looked like it was freshly cleaned. It was amazing, really.

At first, near the library, there were very few ponies, but as we headed for the market, there were more and more. I realized quite a few of them were looking at me. "Uh, Twilight, why am I getting all the stares?"

"Not sure," she replied, looking around. "Probably just because you're new."

As we kept walking I kept seeing ponies turn, and almost do double-takes. I noticed I'd started breathing harder, my nostrils beginning to flare. Everyone was staring at me. "Twilight, this is starting to make me uncomfortable. Is there something wrong with me? People keep looking at me, then looking again, like they just noticed something off."

Twilight stopped and turned. "No, you're a perfectly normal looking... cutie mark!"

"Cutie mark? What's that?"

"The marks on our flanks. You don't have one. Follow me, we're going to see another friend about something for you to wear."

I looked around again. I'd been focused on all the colors of fur and manes. I'd just overlooked the fact that every single one of these ponies had some sort of design painted onto their flanks. The all looked different, too. I wondered if it was a family thing, like a clan tartan. "So is it like a tattoo or something?" I asked, following as Twilight led us down a much less crowded side street towards our new destination.

"What's a tattoo?" Twilight responded.

"Oh yeah, wouldn't work with fur, I guess. How do you get those things on, then? Paint?"

"No, they're not paint. They're magic. Every pony gets one when they discover their special talent. I've never heard of anyone that didn't have one before they left school. They were looking at you because they've never seen a grown pony with no cutie mark before. I'm sorry I didn't think about it. I just didn't think anything of it, since I know why you don't have one yet."

"Yet? You think I will get one?"

"Of course. You're as pony as ponies get. Once you find your special talent, you'll get a cutie mark, I'm sure of it."

"Can't we just make something up for the time being?"

"We will, I'd just like to get you something so that you can go out without drawing too much attention, at first."

"Okay, then."

As we kept walking, fortunately we didn't encounter many more ponies. Twilight had picked her side-streets well. Finally, we came to a more open area, where there was a large round building. It looked like nothing so much as a carousel, or maybe a circus tent. No, it had to be a carousel, because I noticed models of ponies on poles right up around the top.

"This is the Carousel Boutique, Rarity's clothing shop. We can get you something here that will cover your flanks." Twilight pushed to door open, causing a bell to ring. I looked around the inside of the shop. It was filled with pony mannequins, all sporting dresses and suits of various colors and cuts. I'd never even thought about ponies wearing clothes, none of the ones I'd seen had any, aside from Princess Celestia, which I'd kind of written off to her being a princess. But these were... well, I wouldn't claim I had any knowledge at all in terms of fashion, but to me, they looked every bit as nice and flamboyant as things you could see on the red carpet at the Oscars.

"Welcome to the Carousel Boutique, where everything is chic, unique, and magnifique!" I heard a voice calling from the back of the store, just before I saw her walk out. She was pure white, with a purple mane, sparkling blue eyes, and a trio of blue diamonds on her flank. "Oh Twilight! How nice to see you. And who is this you've brought with you?" I saw her eyes take me in, in a kind of professional way, like she was sizing me up for one of her outfits. Then I saw the double-take, although this pony at least had the decency not to stare.

"Rarity, this is Peter," Twilight said, nodding to me.

"Peter. What an unusual name," said Rarity, and I could see her eyes flicking back towards my flank every so often, like she was expecting there to be something different suddenly.

"Peter isn't actually from around here, Rarity. He's... she's not from Equestria at all."

"Hi," I said, "Nice to meet you." I wasn't sure if I should offer to shake hooves, so I watched Rarity. She made no move to shake, so I just stood there.

"Not from Equestria. That would explain it, I guess," said Rarity. "Where are you from then, my dear?"

Something must have shown in my face when she said 'my dear', because I could see just a hint of a frown cross her brow. "Kentucky, originally," I said. I doubted that would mean anything, but it was the truth.

Rarity blinked, "I'm sorry, but I can't say I've heard of it."

"I doubt you would have," I replied.

"Actually," said Twilight, "Peter's not really a pony. Well, she is now, but not up until a few days ago. There... there was an accident and she's here for the foreseeable future."

"I see. And I don't supposed that your little slip of the tongue, Peter's reaction to being called 'my dear', and the way she's practically trying to cower behind herself would mean that up until a few days ago, she wasn't really a she?"

My eyes widened. So did Twilight's. I hadn't even realized I was standing strangely. This dressmaker had an amazing eye for others' behavior.

"You're right," I said. "I was a human. Twilight saved my life, but that sort of wound up with me here, like this, with no way to go back. I've been getting a few stares and Twilight was hoping that you had something I could kind of cover up with. Especially sort of... back here," I said, tossing my head back and to the side to indicate my hindquarters.

"Of course, Peter," she said, smoothly sliding into using my name, instead of 'dear'. "Although, you can't wear a cape all the time. Ponies are bound to think that strange before too long."

"I know," said Twilight, "I was just hoping to show Peter around today. I'd rather not tell everyone that there's an alien living here in Ponyville, even if Peter's not technically an alien any more. We'll need to think up something to say. Maybe just that she was raised far outside Equestria. I mean, that wouldn't actually stop anypony from getting a cutie mark, but most ponies won't know that, right?"

"True enough. I think that's accurate enough. And I suppose this Kentucky you're from won't show up on any map of this world, correct?" said Rarity.

"Probably not," I replied.

"Stick with that, then. Although what did you mean when you said that Peter's not technically an alien? She's not from around here, as it were."

"Just that... This isn't a transformation spell, Rarity. This," said Twilight, gesturing to me, "is Peter now. It happened in the accident, and it's not going to go away."

"Oh my, Peter's not under some spell to be able to mix with ponies without causing an uproar?" said Rarity.

"No, no spell," confirmed Twilight.

"Oh, you poor thing. Well, let's see what we can do for you as a temporary cover. It would be sad to have to stay cooped up all the time. In the meantime, I'll be sure to mention your new friend around town, Twilight. That should stop a few stares."

"That'd be great, Rarity. I'd appreciate it, and I'm sure Peter will, as well."

"One other thing, though," said Rarity. "I know this may be inappropriate, but you might consider taking a more... pony-ish name."

I thought about it for a few seconds. Peter was who I'd always been, but that wasn't really me anymore, was it? Oh well, in for a penny, in for a pound and all that. "That's probably a good idea, for more reasons than one. I need to make a fresh start here, and I'm hardly Peter Vicars anymore. Besides, the name Peter just reminds me of who I'm not anymore. It's a little depressing, actually."

"This is a big step, Peter," said Twilight. "Are you sure you want to change your name?"

"Yeah, Twilight," I replied. "This is one of those things that just feels right. You know?"

"Okay, then. Pinkie would never forgive us if we didn't involve her in this. Why don't we get the girls together this evening? We can help Peter here come up with a new name."

"Are you okay with that, Peter?" asked Twilight. "Rarity means our little group. You've met Pinkie and Fluttershy before, but Applejack and Rainbow Dash would be coming, as well."

"I..." I paused, apprehensive about meeting two new people, even though I knew it was stupid. They were already friends with Twilight, and she was nice, right? "Sure, let's figure out a name tonight."

"Wonderful!" said Rarity, "I'll see you and the girls this evening. I'll throw something together for Peter, and bring it over then."

"Don't you need to measure me or something?" I asked.

"Peter, dear, I could make a cloak to fit you with my eyes closed. If it were for a dress, certainly, but I've a fairly experienced eye and frankly, a cloak's tolerances are not that tight," said Rarity with a smile.

"That's impressive," I said.

"You shouldn't expect any less from... Rarity," said the white pony, striking a bit of a pose, then winking at me.

Twilight chuckled, then said, "Oh, before we go, do you have any spare sketching pencils, maybe a sketch pad? Peter likes to draw, but I only have quills and writing paper."

"I have spare sketch pads, but I'm afraid all my charcoals are for unicorns. They don't have a coating, definitely not for mouth use."

"Um, I don't need to use my mouth," I said.

Rarity frowned at me, not understanding. Then Twilight said, "It's true. Peter, would you show her? You've got to see this Rarity, it's pretty amazing."

I nodded, "Can I see one of your charcoals and some paper?"

"Certainly," Rarity said. She looked around and located her sketch pad, which she levitated over to a free work bench, flipping it to a clean page along the way. A charcoal stick quickly followed suit.

I walked over to the work bench and thought, What could I draw? I wasn't very good at quick sketches, I generally had to struggle with any kind of sketch, usually drawing and redrawing quite a bit until I could get it right. Then a thought occurred to me. I stole a quick glance over my shoulder at Rarity. That was totally doable.

I reached over and picked up the charcoal, feeling my fingers spring into existence again. I heard Rarity, behind me, start to make a remark, only to be shushed by Twilight. In just about a minute, I held up the pad of paper, which now had three faceted diamonds, spaced just like the ones on Rarity's flank. Hey, straight lines and spacing, for someone who draws maps, no problem at all.

"How did you do that? You're right Twilight, that was amazing," said Rarity. "Are you sure Peter's all pony? I've never seen anypony hold something away from their hoof like that."

"Oh yeah, Peter's a regular pony, just with a different way of thinking about some things."

"Hmm, so could I learn to do that?" asked Rarity.

"I don't know," said Twilight, "I asked the same thing when I first saw it, but it's pretty hard for us."

"If Twilight doesn't mind, we could show you the trick later," I said. "Twilight couldn't quite replicate it. It all comes down to how you think of your hoof."

"Fair enough. Please keep the charcoal, and I'll get you a fresh sketch pad," said Rarity, trotting off to go looking for another pad. After she'd found one, Twilight and I headed back to the library.

"Thanks for thinking of the drawing materials, Twilight. I appreciate it," I said.

"You're welcome. I'm just sorry I forgot about the cutie mark thing. We should be able to go to the market tomorrow, after Rarity makes you something. Rain check?"

"Sure," I said. "Rain check."

Author's Notes:

And that's why Octavia can play a cello. :)

5 A Learning Experience

When we got back to the library, Twilight called to Spike and told him that she’d need him to watch the library for a while. She explained that she had to go see her other friends to invite them over to my ‘naming party’. That left me alone with some time to kill. I did have my newly acquired sketch pad and charcoal, though.

I set to work, trying to recreate the board from one of the simplest games I’d made back on Earth. It owed a bit to Settlers of Catan, but you could play it without too many board pieces. I was halfway done with recreating the map before I realized something. I was in a completely different world. Settlers of Catan probably didn’t exist here, nor did Ticket to Ride, Magic the Gathering, or any of the really famous games from Earth. I could recreate all of them, and probably even call them my own.

I shook my head, disgusted with the thought. Damned if I’m going to start out as a thief here, I thought. If I tried to take Pinkie’s advice and make some games for ponies to play, I’d bloody well make my own games, even if I knew they weren’t as good as my favorites from back home. That thought made me feel a bit better. My games, and ponies could enjoy or dislike them at their own whims, but whatever the outcome, it’d be mine, and not just me ripping off someone else’s creation.

After an hour of solid drawing, Spike finally got curious. “Hey Peter,” he said, walking over, “what’re you doing?”

“Making a game,” I replied.

“Really? What kind of game?” Spike asked, suddenly interested.

“Do you guys have board games here in Equestria?” I asked.

“Sure,” he said. “Twilight loves them, but they’re kinda boring.”

“Well, tell me about them.”

Spike proceeded to describe the kinds of board games that they had in Equestria. Trivia games, a couple things very similar to chess and checkers, and a few others in the general style of American board games. The only real deviation were a couple he’d seen Twilight play that were strictly for unicorns. He didn’t really understand the intricacies of games that had to be played with magic, and I didn’t think I’d be able to, either. He didn’t say anything about what we’d called Eurogames back on Earth, though. Nothing like Settlers of Catan, and nothing like the little game that I was recreating.

“Hmm,” I said, “this is a different kind of game. It’s still a board game, of course, but it plays a little differently.”

“Maybe I could give it a try after you get it done?” said Spike, standing on his toes to see the sketch of the game board coming together on the paper.

“That’s the idea,” I said with a grin. “So anyway,” I continued, “how’d you wind up helping Twilight here in the library?”

“Oh, Twilight raised me from an egg, and so wherever she’s gone, I’ve gone. I’m officially her assistant, but she’s really more like my big sister. You can’t tell her I said that, though.”

“My lips are sealed,” I said. “So it sounds like you’ve known her a long time. She seems nice.”

“Yeah, Twilight’s the best. She was so amazing with magic that she actually created a new spell. That’s when she became a princess.”

I stopped. “She’s a princess? I thought the princess was Princess Celestia.”

“Oh, there are four. Twilight’s the newest princess. But Princess Celestia and Princess Luna are special. They’ve been around forever.”

“So she made a spell and became a princess?” I asked.

“Yeah, I don’t entirely understand it, either, but apparently creating new magic is such a big thing that the land itself, or the world, or something, recognizes you for it. Twilight tried to explain it to me once, but I didn’t really get it. I’m not entirely sure that she really knows how it works herself,” he said with a snort.

I set down the charcoal and turned to look at Spike. “So the past three nights, I’ve been kicking a princess out of her own bed?”

“Yeah, pretty much,” said Spike with a smile.

I groaned. “That’s not good.”

“Don’t worry about it! Twilight was really worried about you. She didn’t mind at all. Besides, she’s gotten a lot better.”

“What do you mean?”

“Well, when we first moved here, Twilight was pretty much only focused on her lessons. But she met some nice ponies and they’ve helped her through most of that.”

“Most of it?”

“Well, I did have to talk her out of taking a checklist with her when she was showing you how to walk as a pony yesterday. But she actually listened to me and didn’t bring it with her. That’s a pretty big change from how she used to be.”

“A checklist?” I asked.

Spike proceeded to tell me the story of how she’d forgotten to send a progress report to Princess Celestia once and had wound up terrorizing the town while trying to come up with something to write about. And how in the end she’d learned that she’d been making mountains out of molehills. I had to admit, I’ve done plenty of that in my time, but I’d like to think I was getting better. Still, it did make me realize that Twilight was as human as the next pony, or as pony as the next pony. How should that go, anyway? I thought.

“Thanks for telling me about that, Spike. I didn’t know she was a princess, and I was worried I’d done something really stupid. Am I supposed to bow or something when she comes in?”

“Nah, Twilight doesn’t like that kind of thing. She doesn’t even really like to be called ‘Princess’.”

“Oh, okay. Umm, wait a second,” I said, suddenly making a connection. “So Twilight’s a princess and Princess Celestia’s a princess. Both of them have wings and a horn. When we went walking today, I saw quite a few ponies, but some had wings, some had a horn, and some had neither, like me. Is the wings and horn thing what makes a princess?”

“Yeah, in Equestria only princesses have wings and a horn. They’re called alicorns.”

“So if that’s the case, how in the world could she just have become a princess? Wouldn’t the wings and horn thing give it away?”

“She used to be a regular unicorn. I mean she was really powerful for a unicorn, but definitely just a unicorn.”

“So if she changed from a unicorn into and alicorn, why did they say that they can’t change me back into the old me?”

“Umm,” Spike paused. “I don’t know. You’d have to ask Twilight. But I promise, Twilight wouldn’t lie to you. There’s probably a good reason.”

“Okay,” I said, trying to keep my voice neutral. Maybe even if I couldn’t get back home, I could at least be me again, just here instead of there.

About an hour later, Twilight came back. “Whew,” she said as she came through the door, “why do Applejack and Fluttershy have to live so far away?” She shut the door behind her and continued into the library. “Hey, Peter, I hope you didn’t get too bored waiting for me.”

“Not exactly,” I said from the bench where I’d been sitting.

Before I could continue, Spike stepped back from the bookshelf where he’d been reshelving some books. “Hey Twilight,” he said. “Now that you’re back, I’m going to grab something to eat. Do you want anything?” He looked at me. “Or you, Peter?”

“No, I’m good,” I said.

“Me, too,” said Twilight. “Enjoy your meal. And for being such a great assistant today, you may want to check in the back of the third drawer to the right of the stove. There might be something there for you.”

Spike’s eyes got big, “What is it?”

“You’ll just have to see,” said Twilight with a smirk.

I almost lost sight of Spike as he suddenly zoomed out of the room, legs a blur as he churned for the kitchen.

“I wouldn’t have thought he could move that fast,” I said imagining a roadrunner-esque puff of cloud behind him.

“He’s pretty quick when he has motivation,” said Twilight, her amusement evident in her voice.

We both heard a loud, “Oooh!” followed by, “Thanks Twilight!” from the kitchen.

“You’re welcome!” she called back, then noticed the sketchpad I’d been working on before I’d gotten distracted. “You’ve been busy,” she said, eyeing the drawing on the pad. “This looks like a game board.”

“Yeah, it’s a board game I made a while ago. It doesn’t use many game pieces, so I thought I could put it together again without too much trouble. That’s just a sketch of the board. To do it right, I’d need some solid backing and some ink.”

“That shouldn’t be too hard to get,” said Twilight. “I already have ink and quills, and I’m sure Rarity would know where to get that sort of backing. She does a lot of sketches for her designs. Sometimes she frames the really good ones.”

“Um, I kind of got distracted while I was working on that. I was talking to Spike, and... he said that you didn’t used to be... like this,” I said, gesturing to her wings and horn and hoping I wasn’t offending her.

“Oh no,” she said, and I was glad her voice didn’t sound offended. “This didn’t happen all that long ago. I used to be a unicorn. Then I got... call it promoted.”

“No offense,” I said, deciding to dive right into the question, “but if you can be changed like that, then why can’t you change me back to human, or male?”

“Oh Peter,” she said, and her voice was suddenly concerned. “If I could, I would, but what did this to me, it wasn’t any other pony. It just happened.”

“But what did it? I mean, something changed you. If it can happen once, it can happen again, right?”

“Theoretically, of course, but even Princess Celestia doesn’t really know how alicorns are made. It’s like the laws of physics in this reality, something that just is. We don’t really understand it, probably because it’s so rare.” She paused. “I have been thinking about it, though. When I reached out for you in the human world, Princess Celestia called it ‘wild magic’, but whatever you call it, it’s like the spell wasn’t mine anymore. It started as a simple telekinesis spell. I just wanted to pull you out of danger. But even with an alicorn like me casting it, even an alicorn like Princess Celestia, it shouldn’t have been possible. It started off as my telekinesis spell to pull you out of danger, but suddenly, it wasn’t in my control anymore. I have no idea how that happened, but it did... all this, which I didn’t intend at all,” she said, gesturing to me, “and saved you.”

Twilight walked over to me, where my ears had started to droop and my head had started to hang as I realized the gist of her message was ‘not going to happen’. She laid a wing over my back. “I’m so, so sorry, Peter. I just don’t know how it happened, and there’s no way I know of to make it happen again.”

“It’s alright,” I said. “You’ve apologized before, and I meant it when I said you’ve got nothing to apologize for. It’s just... I kind of got my hopes up, you know?”

“I know,” she said, squeezing the wing over my back a little tighter, kind of like a hug.

We stood like that for a while, before something else popped into my head, “Hey Twilight. I just realized that when Spike asked me if I was hungry, I really wasn’t hungry.”

“Uh huh,” she said, stepping away to turn and look at me again.

“Well, I don’t think I’ve eaten or drank anything since I got here. That’s been like three days now. Is something wrong?”

“Uh, no,” she said, looking a little embarrassed. “Actually when you were asleep for two days, I cast a couple of spells on you. I learned them from the doctors at the hospital here in Ponyville. They use them on ponies who are bedridden or can’t eat properly.”

“Like in a coma or something?” I asked.

“Yeah, like that. One kind of takes care of business, if you know what I mean,” she said, with a glance toward the bathroom.

I felt myself blush, “Um, yeah. I hadn’t thought of it before, but I’m glad there wasn’t... manual cleanup involved.”

“Me, too,” said Twilight with a rueful smirk. “You were in my bed, after all.” My blush got even deeper. “But the other spell kind of takes care of needing to eat and drink. It’s not really good for you long-term, but not a problem for a few days. It should be wearing off today or tomorrow. When it does, you’ll probably be pretty ravenous. The first one just wore off earlier.”

“Oh, okay. What do ponies eat? I just realized I haven’t seen you eat anything.”

“Well, you’ve only been awake for a day, and I’ve pretty much eaten when you’re asleep. My favorite is a daisy and daffodil sandwich, though.”

“Daisy and daffodil? Aren’t those flowers?” I asked.

“Yeah, they’re flowers, and they taste great with some nice whole-wheat bread, and maybe a little mustard.”

“That doesn’t actually sound too good,” I said.

“Try it, I bet you’ll like it. Maybe not the mustard, though. I’m the only pony I know that puts mustard on a daisy and daffodil sandwich.”

“So just flowers and bread, basically? Grains and salads?” I said, hoping I hadn’t just been transported into a world of vegans.

“That would be the basis of a pony’s diet, but there’s all kinds of cheese and ice cream and chocolates to spice things up from time to time.”

Good, not vegans, which led me to, “But no meat, then?”

Twilight’s eyes widened, “Of course not!”

“No, no, of course not,” I agreed quickly.

Twilight looked at me for a second, “Did you eat meat on Earth?”

“Well, yeah...” I said, unconsciously running my hoof through my mane.

“Eww, that’s just... It’s just another culture in another reality, Twilight, and it’s okay,” she said, reassuring herself. “But, where did you get the meat?” she asked in a much quieter voice.

“Hey!” I said, far more brightly than I felt, “I thought of an exercise to try to develop your maniple field. Do you have some chalk?”

“Oh, really? Sure I have chalk, come upstairs with me,” said Twilight, turning and trotting off to the stairs, completely forgetting our previous topic. Twilight wasn’t stupid, though, just easily distracted. I was sure we were going to have that conversation sooner or later. Just not right now.

“I’m coming,” I said, following her to the stairs.

Going up stairs was somehow easier than coming down them. Going up, no problem: hoof on stair, hoof on stair, and the back hooves kind of felt their way along. Going down, I felt off balance. My rump was higher than everything else, and all my weight was coming down on my forehooves. Somehow that just felt wrong. I wondered if it would be the same coming down a steep hill. It should be easier, since there weren’t steps to stumble on, but the feeling of being oriented wrong was probably the same. I realized it was about the same as when I’d had to lay on the edge of a roof, feet higher than my head, to work on a gutter back on Earth. Something about having your head down like that really didn’t feel right, and in this body, I was apparently going to get that whenever I tried to go down stairs. Oh well, all the other ponies seemed to manage it. I was sure I’d pick it up somewhere, and at least in this body, it didn’t hurt when I fell.

I took my time getting up the stairs. By the time I made it to Twilight’s room, she already had a small slate out and some pieces of chalk. “I’ve got the chalk and slate,” she said, almost giddy with the prospect of learning something new. “What’re we going to do with them?”

“Okay,” I said, walking over to the board and taking one of the pieces of chalk. “First we’re going to make a patch of chalk dust, like this.” And I scrubbed the chalk sideways on the slate, creating a layer of chalk dust a few inches across. “Then,” I said, putting down the chalk, “you try to do this.” I held my hoof out over the board and thought of pressing on the board with just one finger. I felt my finger suddenly snap into being again and I could feel the slate under my fingertip. I dragged it slowly down the chalkboard, never touching the board with my hoof proper. Afterwards, there was a smudge in the chalk about a finger wide where I’d dragged my ‘finger’ down.

“Ohh, okay,” said Twilight. “So you’re actually pressing on the board, not just grabbing it. Oh right, like you grab that quill, you’re not just pulling in on it, you’re pressing out at the same time.” She looked at her hoof and then the board. “Okay, I think I can do this.”

Twilight grabbed the chalk with her magic and rubbed another spot onto the slate. Then she held her hoof out over it, not quite touching. I could see her move her hoof in ever so slightly from time to time, probably trying to press on the slate. She kept this up for nearly a minute before she dropped her hoof. “I can’t do it. Ponies always grab things with their maniple fields, we don’t tend to push on them.”

“Hmm,” I said, “I can actually feel through my fingers when they’re there. Maybe if you thought about trying to feel the board?”

“I’ll give it a try,” said Twilight. She reached up again, and put her hoof near the board. I kept quiet as she concentrated. It seemed like quite a while before she finally put her hoof back down. “I just don’t know how to think about feeling through appendages I’ve never had.”

“Maybe we’re overthinking this,” I said. “You said that this works more like just doing what you’re thinking about instead of trying to figure it out like what muscle do you move, right?”

“Yeah,” said Twilight.

“Okay, then,” I said, sitting back onto my haunches, picking both front legs up, wobbling a little before I got my balance, then picking up the slate in both hooves. “Hold your hoof out.”

“Okay,” said Twilight, holding one hoof out toward the slate.

I pressed the slate against her hoof. “Now, push the slate away.”

Twilight shrugged, then pushed on the board with her whole leg. I wasn’t too stable like this and she send me right over backwards. I did manage to hold onto the slate, though.

“Peter,” said Twilight, “I’m sorry!”

“It’s okay,” I responded. “Take this for a second, though?”

“Sure,” she said, and suddenly the slate was enveloped in a purple glow and lifted out of my hooves.

I got back to my feet, sat down, back onto the haunches, and gestured for her to return the slate. When I had it in my hooves again, I said, “Sorry about that. Let’s try this again.” Twilight held out her hoof again and I pressed the slate onto it. “Okay now, to clarify, push the slate away, but don’t move your hoof.”

Twilight’s eyes widened a little as she realized what I was after, and she nodded. I could see muscles in her shoulder twitch from time to time. Just as my legs were getting tired from holding the slate out in front of me, I felt a little bump.

Twilight’s eyes widened. “I did it!” she squealed. “I actually felt the slate there for just a second.”

“Great!” I said. “Now that we know you can do it, you’ll have to work on it. The next step will be this.” I held the slate in one hoof and drew two ‘fingers’ down through the blot of chalk that Twilight still hadn’t touched. When I finished there were two trails through the chalk dust on the slate.

Twilight frowned. “You’re going to lord this over me, aren’t you?” she asked.

I rolled my eyes, “You can cast magical spells that let you look into other dimensions, and you’re worried about this?”

“It is kind of silly, huh?” she said, with a sheepish smile.

“Meh, you keep your cosmic unicorn powers. I’ve got fingers!” I said with a big grin.

“That’s not very nice,” said Twilight, still smiling.

“Heh,” I snorted and started to walk out of the room. I was in such a good mood that I didn’t even mind winding up in a pile at the bottom of the stairs again.

6 The Name

I left Twilight upstairs, practicing to use her maniple fields like fingers. I'd decided to do some more work on the game board, and was still working with the charcoal and sketch pad when there was a knock on the door. I looked around. Spike had disappeared, probably back to his room, and Twilight hadn't come down. I put down my charcoal and pad and headed over to get it.

As I opened the door, I said a quick, "Hello," and then, recognizing the mare on the other side said, "Rarity, must be about time for your get-together, huh?" The white unicorn smiled as she stepped past me and inside. She had on a pair of baby-blue saddlebags that were encrusted with more jewels than I'd ever seen in one place before, jewelry shops included. "Are those real?" I asked, nodding to her saddlebags.

"Are what real?" she asked, looking back.

"All those gems," I said.

"Of course, sapphires, diamonds, a few amethysts. No emeralds or rubies, though, they didn't really go with the color scheme."

"Back on Earth, you could probably buy a small town with the gems on that set of saddlebags," I said.

"Really? I mean this little collection is, of course, lovely, but it's hardly something to write home about."

"On Earth, gems like that are very rare and very hard to mine. The scarcity drives up the price, among other things," I said, not wanting to touch the whole subject of 'blood diamonds'.

"Oh, well here in Equestria, they're not nearly so scarce, and they're not too difficult to find. I do have a special talent in that area, though, which allows me to outfit my creations with perhaps a bit more sparkle than most other designers would be able to," said Rarity, with a flip of her mane at the mention of 'other' designers.

"Huh, maybe I could help you find some sometime. I'd kind of like to see that," I said.

"I'd certainly appreciate the help," she said, "and of course, I'd compensate you for your time."

"No, I don't think that's necessary. I just think it would be wild to see you dig up a gem worth more than I used to make in a year," I said with a grin.

"Well," said Rarity, "we can speak about that later. Now, though, I'd like you to try this on." With that, her horn lit, and a package wrapped in the blue glow of her magic lifted out of her saddlebags. She set it down on the table I'd been using to sketch.

The package was white, just like Rarity's coat, with just the stylized name 'Rarity' written in one corner on the top of the thin box. It was wrapped with a light blue ribbon the same color as the diamonds in her cutie mark. I walked over, sat back on my haunches like I'd been practicing, and reached up with both hooves to untie the package.

"Most ponies just use their mouths," Rarity commented.

I looked over my shoulder at her and shrugged. "I'm just kind of used to doing it this way," I said. I wasn't sure I'd ever get used to how most ponies used their mouths on things. I wasn't some sort of germ-o-phobe, but I was loathe to start picking up everything with my mouth.

The ribbon undone, I lifted the top of the box. Inside was a piece of white cloth. I picked it up and unfolded it. It was the cloak Rarity had said she'd make for me. It was mostly pure white, with a border of bright red, perfectly matched to the color of my mane. extending a couple inches in from the border was an embroidered design of blocky spirals, also in the bright red of my mane. I honestly reminded me a bit of the white mage cloak from the original Final Fantasy. I looked close at the embroidery, the stitching was immaculate. The cloth itself was sturdy, yet very soft and smooth, almost like some sort of super-thick silk. Honestly, it was far better quality than any piece of clothing I'd ever owned.

"Rarity," I said, "this is amazing."

"Thank you, of course, but you haven't even tried it on yet," she said, taking the cloak from my hooves with the blue glow of her magic.

"Oh, right," I said, standing up on all fours again.

Rarity draped the cloak over my back, and I felt the cords slide around my neck and cinch themselves up. She left the hood draped back over my shoulders. "Excellent, now turn around for me, please," she said.

I walked in a small circle so she could see it from every angle. The length was just right so as not to interfere with my back hooves as I walked, and I could feel the cloak hug me all through the back, the cut somehow making it stay in place as opposed to sliding off one to one side and just hanging from my neck.

"Excellent," said Rarity. "No adjustments necessary. Not, of course, that I thought I'd have to make any," she added with a smile. "Do you know if there's a mirror around?"

Now that I thought about it, I didn't remember seeing one "I don't know," I said. "Maybe there's one up in Twilight's room. She's still up there, practicing her hoofwork."

"Hoofwork?" asked Rarity.

"She's trying to replicate the trick I do with holding things in my hooves," I said.

"Ah, of course. You do realize that if we don't go get her, she'd never come down to the party, yes?" said Rarity.

"Really? She seemed like she was looking forward to it."

"And she is, I'm sure, but Twilight can get a bit... wrapped up in her studies."

With that, Rarity turned and trotted up the stairs. I waited, not wanting to go up again. She quickly emerged with Twilight in tow, apologizing for having lost track of the time. "It's perfectly fine, dear, but it is about time for the girls to start showing up. Also, I brought the cloak I made for Peter, and he needs a mirror to see how it looks."

"Oh, of course!" said Twilight as she trotted down the stairs. As she caught sight of me, she said, "Oh Peter! That looks wonderful! Thanks so much, Rarity." She stepped off the stairs and slowly circled me, looking at the cloak.

"Twilight," interrupted Rarity. "The mirror?"

"Oh, right," said Twilight. She stopped and her horn glowed briefly. A full-length mirror suddenly appeared in the library with us.

I stepped in front of the mirror, and the first thing that caught my attention was my eyes. Well, the color of my eyes, to be specific. They were red, as bright a red as my mane. This wasn't the pink of an albino eye, but bright cherry red. I'd never seen anything like it. I leaned in, getting a closer look. It was kind of sinister, really. I mean, did you ever see a movie where the good guy had red eyes? Zombies, villains, evil sorcerers, sure, but this look was pretty much reserved for that end of the good-bad spectrum on Earth.

"What do you think?" asked Rarity.

"Weird," I replied without thinking.

"What?" Rarity asked. "If something's wrong with the design, I can change it."

The cloak, right. I looked over to Rarity and immediately caught the disappointment in her eyes. "Um, sorry, I hadn't actually seen the color of my eyes before. On Earth, this would be pretty freaky." I quickly looked back at the mirror. The cloak did look amazing. Now that I was actually wearing it, I noticed the way the fabric caught the light. It didn't shimmer or sparkle or anything, but it was like it emphasized the small shadows caused by the folds as it hung. Just holding it in my hooves and looking at it hadn't done it justice at all. "The cloak is really amazing, Rarity."

"Thanks," Rarity said, all smiles again. "I knew it would be. But how could you not have seen your eyes? Don't you have a mirror in here, Twilight?"

The purple alicorn blushed. "There was an... incident a few weeks ago," she said. "It involved Spike, a tin of mints, and... well, there aren't any more mirrors in here. And there won't be any again for a while."

I looked over at Rarity, the white unicorn had one eyebrow raised. I was about to ask for some more details when she caught my eye and shook her head slightly. I decided not to ask.

"They don't have that eye color in your world, Peter?" Rarity asked, breaking the silence.

"No, some people and animals are albino and have pink eyes, but I don't know of anything outside of a movie that has eyes like these."

"A movie?" asked Rarity.

"Think a bigger, fancier version of a film," said Twilight.

"You guys have films?" I asked.

"Yes, although they're nothing compared to what I saw in your world. Those were just amazing."

"Huh," I said. How long had Twilight been peeking at Earth before she found me, anyway? "You all haven't freaked out, so I assume red eyes aren't that unusual here?"

"Well," said Rarity, "red eyes aren't exactly a common color, but they're certainly not unheard of, either."

"Strange," was all I could say.

"Anyway," said Twilight, changing the topic, "I should have started setting up for the girls. Could you give me a hoof, Rarity?"

"Of course, dear," she said.

"Can I help?" I asked.

"No, we've got this," said Twilight with a grin.

Twilight walked into the kitchen, and brought back a large tablecloth, floating behind her in her magic. Rarity grabbed it while Twilight concentrated again, and the bust on the central table in the library disappeared, reappearing on the top of one of the shelves off to the side. Under the direction of Rarity's magic, the red and while checkered tablecloth spread itself over the table without so much as a wrinkle.

They both headed for the kitche, and I heard the a few clinks, like plates or glassware. When they came back out, Twilight had seven glasses following in her wake, while Rarity was followed by some small plates. The plates and glasses then whisked themselves into positions around the big table.

"Last thing," said Twilight, and closed her eyes to concentrate. I heard the door to her room open, and seven cushions floated down the stairs and arranged themselves around the table.

"My, someone's been practicing," said Rarity, with a smile.

Twilight smiled back. I looked at both in confusion. The whole affair had looked like something out of The Sorcerer's Apprentice.

Rarity saw my look and explained. "It's very hard to use your magic like that on objects you can't see. Twilight was always very good, but it's still impressive."

"Oh," I said, "Congrats?"

Twilight smiled at me, "Everybody needs a hobby."

It wasn't long before the rest started to show up. First was Applejack, always punctual, according to Rarity. This was the first time I'd met Applejack. She was an earth pony, like me. She was wearing what, for all intents and purposes, looked like a Stetson hat, and her mane and tail were closer to what I'd call blonde than any of the wilder colors I'd seen in my short visits outside. They were also tied with a bit of ribbon at the end. She also had on a fairly full set of saddlebags.

"Applejack," said Twilight, "this is Peter. H... she's not from around here. I'll tell the whole story after everyone's here."

"Hi," I said with a weak smile.

"Hey there, Peter. Nice to meetcha," said Applejack. Her voice held a very pronounced Southern accent. Something you might hear in the rural South of America.

"You sound like you're not from around here, either," I said.

"Nope, Ponyville born and bred. Well, a little outside of Ponyville, if you want to be specific. What'd make ya think I'm not from around these parts?" Applejack asked.

"Well," I stammered, a little embarrassed. "Your accent sounds a little... exotic."

"Hah!" she guffawed. "Hear that Rarity? She thinks mah accent makes me sound all exotic-like. Y'all better be careful or you'll make Rarity here all jealous. She likes tah think of herself as the exotic pony 'round here."

"Applejack's family shares her speech patterns, Peter," said Rarity, from behind us. "It is odd that just one family here in Ponyville would hold on to such a... unique mode of speech, but I've never found any explanation for it."

"'Taint no explanation needed. It's just how we talk, is all," said Applejack, now trotting past me and into the library.

Twilight closed the door and followed after Applejack. Who'd stopped next to the table and had her neck craned back around to rustle through her saddlebags. She quickly produced a couple of large bottles, tied with a string around the necks. She set these on the table. "Ah brought over a little cider. Thought we might do with some refreshments for our little meetin' here. There's two more bottles in the other bag."

"Thanks, Applejack, I'll put the other two in the kitchen," said Twilight, opening the other saddlebag with her magic and trotting off with the other two bottles in tow.

"Aren't you going to pour us a drink, Applejack?" asked Rarity.

"I better wait for Rainbow Dash," said Applejack. "She still gets awful testy when she misses out on cider."

"Fair enough," said Rarity.

Just then there was a knock on the door. "Speak of the devil," said Applejack, and went to get the door.

As she opened it, I saw a pale blue pegasus with a rainbow-colored mane and tail standing there. "Heya, Rainbow. We were just talkin' about ya," said Applejack.

"Letting the new girl know how awesome I am, right?" said Rainbow, catching sight of me and grinning.

"Something to that effect, dear," said Rarity, as Rainbow walked in.

"Oh yeah," said Rainbow, "Pinkie's here, too. I saw her coming as I flew in."

"She didn't have that party cannon of hers with her did, she?" asked Twilight, trotting back in from the kitchen. "I swear I'm not letting her in here with that thing again."

"Well," said Rainbow, eyes suddenly on the ground. "She may have been pushing the party cannon, but come on, Twi. That thing's pretty awesome, right? I mean, can you decorate an entire room for a party in half a second with your magic?"

"No," Twilight conceded, "but I'm still not letting it in here. It's been months since the last time she set that thing off in here, and patrons are still finding pieces of sparkle and confetti in the books!"

"What was that about confetti?" I heard Pinkie's voice call from outside the door.

Suddenly a violet glow snapped into place over the open door. Just in time, as the nose of a brightly painted cannon with an absurdly oversized bore suddenly bumped against it. "Hey Twilight? Can't I come in?" asked Pinkie from behind the monstrosity.

"You can come in, Pinkie," said Twilight. "But the cannon stays outside. I told you after the last time you weren't allowed to use it in the library."

"Aww, I said I was sorry," said Pinkie, with a pout.

"No party cannons in the library. Besides, didn't you promise Peter that you wouldn't have a party until she was ready for it?" said Twilight.

"Oh," said Pinkie. "I did, didn't I? Well, no party cannon, but for the record, none of you are allowed to call this a party. This is officially a meeting, maybe a gathering of friends, but not a party." She shoved the oversized cannon off to the side, and stepped in as Twilight dropped her force field.

"Okay, Pinkie, it's not a party. What's the big deal?" said Rainbow.

"Because I'm going to throw Peter his first party, so this can't be a party." said Pinkie.

"His?" asked Rainbow, and I could tell from Applejack's expression that she'd caught that, as well.

"Oops," said Pinkie. "You didn't tell them yet?"

"Umm," said a quiet voice from the doorway. I could recognize it as Fluttershy. "Did you know you left your door open?"

"Hi, Fluttershy," said Twilight. "Come on in. I was just about to bring everypony up to speed on Peter's... well just Peter, I guess."

The butter-yellow pegasus stepped into the library and shut the door behind her. "Hello again, Peter," she said.

"Hi," I replied, surprised she'd noticed me where I'd slid off to the side, away from the main group.

"Hey, how'd you get over there?" asked Rainbow, noticing me off to the side of the room. "Aren't you supposed to be the reason we're all here tonight?"

I swallowed. "Um, yeah," I said, stepping back towards the table. Twilight was really nice, and so was Rarity. Pinkie was strange, but still nice. Fluttershy I'd only seen once, so I didn't have much of a feel for her yet. It seemed like each of these ponies had a personality that was like a physical force. All of them together was seriously intimidating.

"Well," said Applejack, "Everypony's here now, so how 'bout that cider?"

"Great idea!" exclaimed Rainbow Dash, grabbing a cup off the table and holding it up.

Twilight's magic untied the string around the necks of the two bottles on the table and lifted one up after popping the cork. She poured some cider for all of us, and we sat down on the cushions around the table. I sat by Twilight and Pinkie Pie grabbed the cushion on my other side. The rest of 'the girls' ranged around the table.

"Is this stuff alcoholic?" I asked, looking at the glass of cider in front of me.

"Nah, this is jus' cider. If you want the harder stuff, we have a little stash back home."

"Ah, okay then," I said, and grabbed the glass. The cider was good. Way better than anything I'd had from a store on Earth. "This is great!" I said, looking appreciatively at Applejack.

"'Course it is. It's from the Apple family," she replied with a smile.

"Okay, then," Twilight said, drawing everyone's attention. "Let me tell you about our guest, Peter." Twilight then launched into a recounting of how she'd been looking into different dimensions, leading to my arrival here in Equestria, as well as why I was a pony now, and how I couldn't go back again, or even be changed back to a human here in Equestria. I was surprised to learn that she'd actually been observing Earth for weeks, before finally picking me seemingly at random, and following me for a few days. She guessed that something had gone wrong with the spell casting on the last day, allowing me to be aware of her presence, and finally hear her and Pinkie. All the mares seemed a bit stunned to hear the story. All except for Pinkie, who'd been there at the time. I got looks of surprise and sympathy as the story went on.

After Twilight concluded, Applejack was the first to break the silence. "So Twi, you can make yourself heard over on Earth with this spell. Could Peter get in touch with his family, tell them he's okay, even if he can't be there no more?"

"Omigosh!" exclaimed Twilight, "I didn't even think of your family, Peter. I... I can do that, I think. Do you want to tell them you're okay?"

"I don't really have any family," I replied. "If I did, I probably would've asked."

"Sorry to hear that, Peter," said Applejack.

"It's okay, Applejack," I said. "My parents waited until pretty late in life to have me. Dad was in his mid fifties when I was born, and mom was closing on fifty herself. I'm almost thirty, or I was, I guess. I don't know how old this new me is supposed to be. But my parents had good lives, they just got old." I didn't really want to delve into the specifics, but it was true, my parents had had good long lives, they just waited so long to have me that I wasn't around for most of them.

"Old?" said Applejack, "Eighty's still in the prime of life."

"Maybe here, but on Earth, most people die before they make eighty. There are a few that hit a hundred, but not many. That's just how it is." That silenced the group for a bit.

Finally Rarity spoke up, "Now girls, we were here tonight to think of some ways to help Peter out now that she's in Equestria. I think Peter could use a name that's a bit more Equestrian. I don't mean, of course, that you really have to change your name, but something a bit more familiar to introduce you as would help you to fit in here in Ponyville."

"Well," said Rainbow Dash, "the name might help, but how do you explain the full-grown mare with no cutie mark?"

"We were going to say that Peter grew up outside of Equestria and that's why she doesn't have a cutie mark," said Twilight.

"Not living in Equestria means you don't get a cutie mark? I didn't know that," said Rainbow.

"Well, I don't think it should matter," said Twilight, "but I think most ponies will take it at face value. Besides, it's literally the truth. Peter didn't grow up in Equestria, because of that she doesn't have a cutie mark. There's no need to mention that she wasn't a pony when she grew up outside Equestria."

"You know, it's kind of funny," said Applejack. "The name thing is kind 'o like a red herring. The thing that really should tip ponies off that something's not normal about Peter here is not havin' a cutie mark, and you're fixin' to pass that off all easy-like. Why can't that same explanation do fer the name?"

"I can answer that," I said. "I'd like to take a different name because I'm not Peter anymore. Peter was a human, from Earth, and now I'm here. A pony, a mare, even, in Equestria. I'm starting over, so I'd like a new name."

"That sort of makes sense," said Rainbow. "Honestly, I have no idea what I'd do in your hooves. But if you want a new name, we'll make sure you pick an awesome one."

"We'll make sure you pick an appropriate one," corrected Rarity. "Not all of us are as concerned with the concept of cool as Rainbow Dash."

"Hey!" said Rainbow.

"Ahh, no offense intended, Rainbow," said Applejack, "but if it were up to you, with Peter's colors, you'd call her Flame Fury or something, right? How's about something a little less... over the top."

"Was gonna be Fire Fury," I heard Rainbow mumble under her breath. The others heard it as well, and I could see Applejack and Rarity holding in laughs.

"I think something with fire would be appropriate, considering Peter's colors," said Twilight.

"I dunno," I said. "I'm okay with not being Peter, but I don't feel like a Flame Fury."

"Well, like Rarity said, maybe something a little less... well, just a little less, but maybe Flame Dancer or Candle Spark?"

"Well," I said, "what are some common names? I mean, I've only really met all of you, and I can't really tell a pattern to names here."

"Well," said Pinkie, "I know Ribbon Wishes, Aloe, Lotus, Royal Riff, Cheerilee, Berry Punch, Snips, Snails, Peachy Sweet, Mosely Orange, Sapphire Shores, Fancy Pants, Minuette, Roseluck, Amethyst Star, Lyra Heartstrings, Magnet Bolt, Bon-Bon, Forsythia, Filthy Rich..."

Pinkie paused to take a breath and was interrupted by Rarity. "I think that's enough, dear. Let's throw out a few names and let Peter decide, hmm? I'll go first, how about Sunrise Topaz?"

Before I could respond, Applejack said, "Or Candle Coat?"

Then it was on. The next hour was name after name. Rainbow's suggestions tended to sound like an action figure. Rarity's tended to involve a jewel or gem of some sort. Pinkie's were just... odd. And Twilight and Applejack seemed to be suggesting things much closer to what I'd guess the normal was. Finally, though, one of Rainbow's suggestions gave me an idea.

"Wait a second. I just thought of something. My mother's family were the McLeods. Would something like that work?" I asked.

"Mac Cloud?" said Applejack. "Cloud works alright, but the only Mac I know is Big Mac, and that's just short for Macintosh."

"Oooh!" said Pinkie, "Rain! Rain Cloud!"

"That doesn't make sense," said Rarity. "Usually only pegasi have names like Rain Cloud."

"Yer colorin' don't really match up to Rain Cloud, either," said Applejack.

"I kinda like it," I said, "but it should to be Rain McCloud, not just Rain Cloud." As much as I felt like I needed a new name, I suddenly really liked the idea of a reminder of who I used to be.

"Hmm," said Rainbow, "Rain McCloud. That's kind of cool, actually."

"But it doesn't go with your coloring at all," complained Rarity.

"It doesn't have to," said Fluttershy. "I mean, we know lots of ponies whose names don't match their coloring."

"Well, yes," said Rarity. "But it seems like someone named Rain McCloud shouldn't be so... vividly colored."

"It is a little unusual," said Twilight. "Ponies' names do tend to match up to their looks, but Rain definitely works, and McCloud is close enough to a regular pony name."

"All right, then," said Rarity. "I suppose the most important thing is that you like it, Peter. Or should I say Rain, now?"

I grinned, "Yeah, I do like it. I think Rain will work alright." What can I say? For some reason that one just appealed to me.

"Alright, then," said Twilight. "Rain McCloud it is."

Author's Notes:

Fun fact: sapphires and rubies are actually the same type of crystal, just with different impurities that determine the color.

7 A Morning Walk

It was early morning, and still dark out. Tonight was the first night I’d insisted that Twilight take her own bed again. I’d slept downstairs, on the same cushioned library bench that Twilight had been sacking out on for days. Spike had been nice enough to bring out a blanket and extra pillow. It was actually pretty comfortable. It had been hard getting to sleep. I could almost feel thoughts racing around my head as I lay there. I’d woken up far too early, as well. I didn’t see a clock down here, but I knew it had be be something like four in the morning.

So here I was, Rain McCloud, nee Peter Vicars. Formerly a human male, now a pony mare. I’d gotten a first really good look at myself at Rarity’s request before the naming session. I still mostly tried to avoid looking at myself. It was one thing to deal with a new body, and get used to walking differently, interacting with the world differently, but staring in a mirror, seeing a creature that couldn’t exist in my old world was still deeply uncomfortable. I mean, ponies obviously existed, but the proportions were all different. This pony body had two forward-facing eyes, not small side-mounted eyes like a horse from Earth. This color wasn’t natural in anything with fur, as far as I knew, although there were birds that had similar colors in their plumage, so I guess it wasn’t completely out of the realm of possibility.

Finally, there was the last change that I knew I’d been avoiding. I was now female. The only upside of the situation was that there was a lot more to deal with being a whole new species, so I’d been able to put the whole female thing mostly out of my mind. I knew that couldn’t, shouldn’t, last forever. On the upside, my subconscious was telling me that this body, this gender was normal. That let me think a little more rationally about what had happened, without completely going to pieces.

As someone with anxiety issues around crowds, I knew from experience that it was the subconscious that really controlled fear. For example, when I tried to go to a bar in my old life, I knew, intellectually, that there should be nothing to be worried about. People went to bars all the time and enjoyed themselves. But when I showed up, I was immediately uncomfortable. I acted strangely, had sometimes said and done things I regretted, for no reason that I could rationalize later. That uncomfortable feeling was just that, a feeling, coming up from under my conscious control.

I guess it was a good thing that whatever subconscious thing that told me ‘this is who you’re supposed to be’ now said that I should be a pony, and a mare. When I looked in the mirror, my conscious mind told me that something was very wrong, and it was uncomfortable to think about, but I didn’t have that deep-seated anxiety that I always associated with crowds. That down to the bone feeling of something being wrong just didn’t exist.

There was something special about the world early at four in the morning. At least in the human world, no one was around. The day hadn’t started yet. The night-owls had all gone to bed, and just a very few people would even be awake. Hardly anyone would be out.

I thought it would be nice to take a walk, maybe clear my head. I left Twilight a note, in case she or Spike was up before I came back. I took the new cloak that Rarity had given me from its hook behind the door. Tugging it on took a little effort. It must be nice for unicorns, I thought, remembering Twilight just setting a pair of saddlebags on her back with her magic, everything going to the right place automatically. I didn’t have that luxury, but at least I had ‘hands’. In the end, I had to tug one end over with my mouth and pick it up on the other side. These pony legs had an amazing amount of flexibility compared to a regular Earth horse, but I couldn’t reach across my back with one. The cinch was just a cinch, no need to tie anything, and I easily pulled it tight with one ‘hand’. Once that was in place, I was ready to go.

My cloak, white with red trim to match my mane and tail, and a pattern of red squares embroidered on the edge, reminiscent of zebra designs, Rarity had said. I rather liked it. With that, I headed out into the town.

The early morning was nice in Ponyville. The street was deserted and the street lamps were still lit, throwing pools of light down the dark street. I walked up to one of the lamps. It looked like and old design, something you might see in London by gaslight. I couldn’t see a bulb, just a pure white light emanating from inside the glass enclosure. I’d have to ask Twilight about that. I was betting that it was magic of some sort, but I was curious nonetheless.

I continued my walk down the street, conscious of slipping from one pool of light into the next, vanishing in between. I followed the path that Twilight had taken my at first in our trip yesterday, toward the market area. We hadn’t made it all the way there, but I knew the right direction. After all, the town wasn’t that big.

I continued down the deserted street. There wasn’t anyone about, just like I’d hoped. I could see the faintest beginnings of the dawn on one edge of the horizon. I guess that made it east, but who could tell, here. The road opened up to... not exactly a square, but definitely a bigger area where I could see stands, where some pony or other must sell their wares during the day. They were all packed up now, their display boards bare. I wondered if these were individuals’ property or if they had to rent them from the town.

I walked through the market. It didn’t seem eerie, so much as peaceful, asleep, almost. It wasn’t really a market right now, just the sleeping form of one, waiting for the day and the arrival of ponies to wake it up, make it into itself again. Distracted as I’d been by the stalls, I almost walked past the one building on the street with a light on. Stopping, I could see a solitary light on in the back, throwing a dim glow into the front windows.

The front door opened, breaking the silence and startling me. I reared back, moving on instinct before I got control of myself. I managed to land back on my front hooves without falling over. Then I heard, “Hi, Peter. I was wondering who was out. It's usually just me this early.” It was Pinkie Pie, her voice quieter than usual, almost like she was respecting the stillness of the morning, unwilling to break it with her usual over-the-top delivery.

“It’s Rain now, Pinkie,” I said. “What’re you doing up anyway?”

“So you’re really okay with changing your name? I wasn’t sure you’d want to go through with it.”

“Something wrong with Rain? You helped pick it out.”

“No, nothing’s wrong with the name. I think it’s pretty spiffy. I just wasn’t sure you were ready to make a change that big.”

“Well, I’m trying to think about it like this: Peter is who I used to be. Rain is who I will be. Right now I’m not really either one. I’m definitely not Peter the human anymore, but it’ll probably be a long time before I’m really Rain the pony. I might as well start working towards the new, because I’ll never be Peter the human again.”

“Aww don’t look so down!” said Pinkie, seeing my demeanor shift with my last statement. “You’re never going to be old-Peter, but you’re never going to be not-Peter, either.”

“Huh?”

“Well, you were always Peter before, right?”

“I used to be, yeah.”

“And now you’re not, huh?”

I looked at myself, “Obviously not.”

“What did Peter have for breakfast that last day on Earth?”

“Cereal. Why?”

“Would anyone except Peter know that?”

I paused, “No... no they wouldn’t.”

“See?”

I blinked. “You’re a lot more clever than you look. You know that?” I said with a grin.

She smiled, and it was an impressive smile. Then she narrowed her eyes. “Or maybe I’m just disguising my super-smart appearance so that everyone will think that!”

Back to our regularly scheduled Pinkie Pie. I shook my head. “Anyway, what are you doing up at this hour?”

“Well, I work at Sugar Cube Corner, here. I have to be up super-duper early to start all the day’s baking. Dough takes a while to rise, and baking takes a while, too. When hunngy ponies come in for breakfast crullers, everything has to be already ready.”

“Makes sense. I’ll let you get back to it, then.”

“Okay, have a nice walk.”

“And... thanks. You gave me something to think about.”

The only response I got was a little grin before the pink pony disappeared back inside the shop.

Author's Notes:

It's short, I know. But I liked this bit better as a separate thing.

8 A House?

Would you believe I have a house now? I’d never owned one back on Earth. I’d just been a renter, and now I have a whole place to myself. It’s kind of amazing. I know the whole house thing should seem insignificant beside the new universe, new species, and new gender. Somehow, though, I could hardly get over having my own house. I guess I’m weird like that.

In the week or so after the naming party, I’d done a lot more work on my games. I had my map for my board game all the way done, and on a nice heavy card-stock, so it could really work as a game board, and I’d re-created the rules for a card game I’d had as an on and off project for quite a while back on Earth.

I’d been to the market a couple of times, which was a lot more pleasant with my new cloak. I hadn’t actually bought anything yet, just looked around a lot. I was always worried about standing out somehow. Somehow, in the back of my mind, I just knew people were going to detect something off about me or ask questions or… something. I wasn’t sure, but then again, that’s how anxiety works: generalized non-specific dread.

By the week’s end, I was bored. Twilight had been out a lot. I knew it probably had something to do with me, but I wasn’t sure what. I was bored with working on my games. Being bored with my games kind of surprised me, actually. Back on Earth, I spent hours and hours every weekend working on this stuff. Here in Equestria, I had the opportunity to work on my games all the time, and now I was bored with it.

That I was bored with my favorite hobby was actually kind of hard to admit to myself. It’s like if you’ve ever done something you were sure was going to be great, and then even after you realized it kinda sucked, you tried to convince yourself that it was still great. In my case, it took just about that whole week before I could finally admit to myself that full-time game making wasn’t for me.

I was all ready to ask Twilight if there was anything I could help with or just occupy myself with. It was around lunchtime when I’d decided to ask for something else to do, as amusing myself didn’t seem to be working. However, when Twilight came back that afternoon, she had a big ‘I know something you don’t know’ smile. She was so excited that her eyes practically flashed as she fidgeted just inside the door.

“Hey Rain!” she called. “I’ve got something to show you!”

“Uh, okay,” I said, looking around after seeing she wasn’t carrying anything. “Where is it?”

“You’ll have to follow me!” she said brightly. Then she turned and opened the door again.

“Okay,” I shrugged, following her.

She led me outside the library, and then started off down the street at a quick trot. I could tell she was excited because she was almost prancing instead of walking.

“Where’re we headed, Twilight?” I asked.

“Not too far,” she said, letting me catch up a little. “This is what I’ve been away working on for the past few days.” With that she pranced on ahead of me again.

We definitely weren’t headed for the market, or for the Carousel Boutique, because I knew the way to those places, and Twilight was taking me through a completely new set of streets. We finally rounded a corner onto a street that seemed to be right at the outskirts of town. The houses here all had little yards, unlike the ones right in the middle of Ponyville. It was sort of like Equestria’s version of suburbs, with all the annoying parts of suburbs on Earth removed. The houses were all unique. They shared the same sort of style, but none seemed to share the same floorplan. There were little one-story ranch styles. Some were two-story homes, more like the European style that was in evidence closer to the center of town. But they were all unique, each one had the little accents that I’d noticed on houses in town. Things like stylized flowers and vines, a few with sunbursts and other sorts of nature-inspired art. This was all done in paint, usually around the top of the first story. On two-story houses that had an A-frame roof, the space above the windows on the second story tended to be decorated with painted designs, but no two seemed exactly alike.

I could see fields stretching away behind the houses on one side of the street. We were definitely right on the edge of town. As Twilight led on, I caught sight of the rest of her friends standing in front of one of the houses. I figured that was our destination.

As we drew closer, maybe half a block away, Pinkie Pie suddenly jumped up from behind the group of ponies waiting for us and shouted, “Surprise!”

Twilight chuckled as I saw the others in the group look back at Pinkie with sharp glances. I could barely hear Pinkie as she held her front hooves up, “Sorry, I couldn’t wait any longer.”

“What’s the surprise?” I asked Twilight, still trotting after her.

Twilight just grinned back at me and held her silence until we stopped in front of one of the houses. “This is the surprise,” she said, gesturing towards the house. “I know you didn’t want to live in the library forever, so we found you a place of your own.”

“Oh wow,” I said, looking at the little house. “So this is like an apartment?”

“Oh no, sugar,” said Applejack. “Th’ whole place is yours.”

“Huh?” I said. “How do you mean that?”

“She means just what she said,” explained Twilight. “You are now the owner of this house.”

“How’s that possible?” I asked. “I mean, I don’t know what houses here in Equestria go for, but this had to be really expensive. I can’t ask all of you for something like this.”

“Well, Rain,” said Rarity. “As much as we’d love to be able to do something like this for you, it would be a bit… beyond our means. Princess Celestia is the one you should thank. Although we did have a bit to do with the decor. I do hope you like it.”

“Princess Celestia just gave me a house?” I asked, dumbfounded.

“There are some perks to being a head of state,” answered Rarity with a smile.

“There’s a letter from her inside,” said Rainbow Dash. “We already kind of read it, since she sent it as part of a letter to Twilight, but you should read it.”

“Wow,” I said, unable to think of anything else to say.

“C’mon,” said Applejack. “How’s about you take a look at yer new place?”

They led me inside, and it was amazing. It wasn’t just bare walls and a floor. It was fully furnished. It looked a bit rustic, with the heavy wooden beams running along the roof of the first floor, supporting the second story, but they’d avoided the ‘too quaint and rustic’ sort of look that you’d find in a lot of country homes back on Earth.

“It looks like you’ve all been busy,” I said. “I’ve only been here a week and a bit. How did you ever get all this done?”

“Well,” said Rainbow Dash with a grin, “we had a bit of help from the Royal Treasury.”

“Do you like it, Rain?” asked Rarity. “We all helped pick out the decor, but if you don’t like it, feel free to tell us. This is, after all, your house.”

“No, it’s… it’s just amazing,” I said. “I should probably be thanking all of you a lot more, but I don’t even know what to say. I mean, on Earth, I couldn’t afford a house. I just rented a place. Now you’re telling me that this whole house is mine. I… I just don’t know what to say.”

“We understand,” said Fluttershy. “It is kind of amazing. We just felt so bad that you got taken from your home with nothing, but we didn’t know what we could do. After Princess Celestia sent her letter to Twilight, we all wanted to help make this place as nice as it could be for you.”

“That’s absolutely amazing. You all are absolutely amazing,” I said.

“Here,” said Twilight, her magic unrolling a scroll onto an end table. “This is Princess Celestia’s letter.”

I walked over and started to read.

Peter,

Twilight has informed me that I should rightly be calling you Rain now. A very nice name, and one that I hope you’ll wear proudly here in Equestria. No one can ever make up what was taken from you when you were brought here from your home. All I can do is to help you make the best of your new situation. All ponies should have a place to call home, so I hereby grant you full title to the property in which you now stand. I have also included a modest budget for furnishings, of which I’m sure Rarity has tested the limits.

In addition, from discussions with Twilight, I’m informed that the profession you had taken on Earth has no analog here in Equestria. You will have to find a new calling here. To assist with that, I’m giving you a Royal order: explore your new world. I want you to find something here that gives you joy. To that end, a stipend has been approved so that you won’t have to worry about expenses until such time as you’ve found what you truly want to do.

Most ponies here have already found their true calling, as evidenced by the cutie marks that they bear. This magic is peculiar to Equestria, but because of it, ponies here are able to find their true calling. I’m sure you will be no different. Please, explore Equestria. Meet its inhabitants. It may seem like a distant prospect now, but rest assured that you will find your calling. You just have to go look for it.

Princess Celestia

“Holy wow,” I breathed. “So she just gave me this whole house, had it furnished, and covered my expenses until I find something I like to do?”

“That pretty much sums it up,” said Applejack.

“This place is unbelievable,” I said, shaking my head.

“Well,” said Twilight, “the Princess always tries to help those in need, but you’re a bit of a special case. I think she went a little out of her way.”

“A little?” I asked.

“Well, she is the Princess, she can pretty much do as she pleases,” said Twilight.

I spent the rest of the afternoon with the others, alternatively exploring and being shown my new home. It was a small two-story house, with the first floor being taken up by the kitchen and a fairly large living room. There were no walls on the first floor, just one large room. The kitchen was delineated by a tiled floor, and occupied the whole right rear corner of the first floor. There was a fireplace on the left-hand side, with a comfy couch and a couple of chairs arranged around it. The floor in the living room area was wood, and I know quite a few people back on Earth who would’ve killed to have a wooden floor like this. The planks were big, and looked a bit rough. Wood with some character, but it had been sanded and sealed with a matte finish, so that it wasn’t slippery at all. It occurred to me that a really polished hardwood floor would probably be a bad idea in Equestria. Hooves would probably mark up a really shiny polish in no time, plus it’d be easy to lose one’s footing.

The front right corner by the kitchen had been made into a dining area with a big oak table surrounded by low-sitting dished stools, also made out of oak. Well, at least it looked like oak. It definitely looked like solid wood, and I could only guess how much something like that would cost back home. Fortunately, I’ve always like the look of real wood furniture, so this was all fine by me.

The upstairs had a master bedroom, a smaller guest room, and a spare room. Pinkie enthusiastically informed me that she’d been responsible for that one. On entering, I could certainly see that. The whole room was bright. It was still a wood floor, but the walls had been painted a pale yellow. Rarity later told me that she’d had to talk Pinkie down from a neon yellow. I was glad about that. What really shone, though, was the collection of art and craft supplies that Pinkie had somehow assembled. She’d said she wanted me to have a place to make games, and the spare room was certainly that. It had multiple work surfaces, and a supply closet stocked with pencils, charcoals, paints, and all kinds of paper stock, all ready for game making. There was even a small basket full of dice in the center of one of the tables. They were all six-sided dice, but for most of my games, that would work out fine.

The master bedroom had been Rarity’s purview. The walls were a pale blue that somehow managed to contrast nicely with the yellow of the game room. The bed was a large four-poster, and the mattress was thick and comfy, covered with a down comforter in a floral pattern. There was a dresser made of a dark wood that matched the bedframe. Everything obviously matched and, to my formerly male eye, definitely had a female’s touch. Even with that, though, she’d managed not to make the room overtly girly, which probably would have made me uncomfortable. I made a note to thank her for that later.

In my week in Equestria, I’d made sure to practice going down stairs. I really didn’t want to fall down my own stairs after my tour of the upstairs. It took me a while, but I did manage to make it down stairs without falling. Rainbow, though, was unimpressed, and promptly informed me that I was in need of some training on how to use this new body. Before I could protest, I was set up to meet with her the next day for some ‘hoofwork’.

As the afternoon became evening, and after many thankyous and smiles, the girls drifted off to their various homes. Finally it was just me and Twilight.

“Are you sure you’re okay here by yourself?” asked Twilight.

“I’ll be fine,” I said. “After all, I am a bit older than I look.”

“Yeah, I know,” said Twilight. “There’re times when I want to treat you like a foal, because you’re so new. Sometimes I forget that you’re older than I am. If you need any help, though, don’t be afraid to ask. I had to learn that lesson the hard way.”

“You all have done so much already, but thanks, Twilight. I really do appreciate all of this. Please tell Princess Celestia, too,” I said.

“I will,” said Twilight. “Anyway, I’ll get going and leave you to your new house. If you get bored, check the bookshelf in the guest room. I left a couple of books for you.”

“Really? I didn’t even notice. Sorry about that,” I said.

“Don’t worry about it,” Twilight smiled. “That’s why I put them there. Have a nice night.” With that, she turned and left.

Then it was just me, alone in my own home for the first time ever. I’m sure I would’ve looked like an idiot to anyone watching, but I wandered the whole house again, looking at everything. It’s a really weird feeling, knowing that a house is yours after a lifetime of living with your parents and renting. A few times, I just stopped and touched the wall, trying to let it sink in that this was mine now. I didn’t actually wind up getting to Twilight’s books that night. I just kept making laps of the place, sitting in a chair here, looking in a drawer there, until I could feel my eyelids starting to get heavy. I remember thinking that I’d have to tell Rarity how comfortable the bed was, but before I knew it I was asleep.

The next day I got up and made myself some breakfast. I’d noticed the night before that the girls had helpfully stocked the pantries and the fridge. I managed to make a bowl of oatmeal. I don’t know whether it was the oats in Equestria or just my new equine tastes, but oatmeal on Earth had never tasted this good. I decided that I could probably be pretty happy with oatmeal for breakfast on a daily basis.

I hadn’t had much of a chance to see the little backyard the night before, and I took the opportunity. I was on the side of the street that bordered the edge of town. I saw a few cultivated fields out there, but mostly, it was just grassland and low, rolling hills. I could see some forest off in the distance. I wondered if that was the Everfree Forest that Twilight had mentioned before. I hoped not, because even though it was quite a way off, I wasn’t sure how comfortable I’d be with nothing between a place like that and my backdoor but some grass.

The back yard was fenced in, an unpainted flank-high picket fence. It looked almost out of place considering the European style that the houses seemed to evidence. There was a gate in the back, leading out to the area past town. There was a small raised bed for a garden, but nothing was planted there yet. I wondered if that was a hint. I remembered someone mentioning that earth ponies were supposed to be good with plants. I’d never gardened on Earth, but who knew? Maybe I’d try it out, especially if there was a better than normal chance that things would actually grow. The few attempts I’d made at house plants in my old apartment hadn’t fared well.

It wasn’t a huge back yard, and there was a small shed. It wasn’t locked, so I opened the door and stepped in. there were a few basic tools, like a hammer and saw, and a small chest with some nails and other carpentry supplies. The main thing in there was something I’d actually been curious about, though. Sitting in the middle of the shed was a push-mower. The old-style whirling blades type, but instead of just a handle, it had a harness that a pony could step into so that they could push it along. So that’s how all the grass around Ponyville stayed looking neat and mowed. I imagined that it would take some practice to make a decent corner with the thing, as you’d have to swing yourself around behind the mower to make a turn. If you tried to turn where you were standing, you’d just swing the front end of the mower in a semicircle, provided you were strong enough to slide it sideways on its wheels, probably digging a furrow in the lawn in the process.

I stepped out and closed the door. The last thing in the yard was, I’m sure, one of Rarity’s touches. A table with a rather frilly umbrella to shade it from the sun. I could imagine having dinner out here, just watching the sunset over the hills. I sat down at the table. The shade was nice, even though the sun wasn’t overbearing. I kind of lost track of time, sitting there, looking out at all that space and kind of wanting to go see it.

I was shocked out of my little reverie when I heard a female voice call, “Hey there! Are you the new owner?”

“Huh?” I said, looking around. I finally saw a steel blue pony with a light purple mane standing on the other side of my fence. She had magenta eyes and her cutie mark was two horseshoes intertwined.

“The house,” she continued, “Is it yours?”

“Yeah,” I said. “I guess so.”

“That’s a strange answer. Most ponies would know if a house was theirs or not,” said the new pony with a grin.

“It’s a long story, but yeah, it’s mine. I’m Rain, Rain McCloud,” I said as I got up and trotted over to the fence.

“Nice to meet you, Rain, I’m Shoeshine,” said the new pony, extending her front hoof over the fence.

I reached up and bumped hooves with her in the pony equivalent of a handshake. “Nice to meet you too,” I said. “I take it you’re my new neighbor?”

“Sure am,” she said, and gestured back at the house behind her. It was sort of like mine in construction, but like all the houses here, it was unique. It looked like she had a larger room at the back of the house on the first floor, taking up some of the backyard space. I could see a pretty stout chimney stack sprouting from the rear corner of it, in addition to the one in the main part of the house. There was also a huge set of wooden doors on the far end, like someone had mounted barn doors on a house.

Seeing where I was looking, Shoeshine said, “That’s my workshop. I’m your local smith.”

I blinked, “As in metalsmith?”

“Yeah, I do horseshoes and tools, mostly, but I also do repairs. That’s what the big doors are for. Sometimes I need to bring a cart inside to work on it. Well, I do the metal parts, my friend Electric Sky actually does the fittings, she’s a unicorn. She lives a couple houses down. You’ll have to meet her, too. She’s nice,” finished Shoeshine, with a grin.

“Sure, I’d love to meet my neighbors. I’ve never lived someplace where everyone knew each other. Everyone tended to keep to themselves where I used to live.”

“Where was that?” asked Shoeshine.

“Uh, Kentucky. You’ve probably never heard of it. It’s not in Equestria,” I said, remembering my explanation.

“Outside Equestria? Wow, I’ve never met somepony from outside Equestria before.” She paused. “Well, I’ve met Zecora, but I’ve never met a pony from anywhere outside Equestria.”

“Hey!” she said, her eyes widening a bit. “You’re a blank flank!”

“Um, yeah,” I started, but she cut me off.

“Oh, I’m so sorry, I didn’t mean it like that. That was so rude of me. I just meant… I’ve never seen a grown pony without a cutie mark.”

“It’s okay, I’m getting used to it. They say it’s because I’m not from Equestria, but that now that I’m here I may get one,” I said.

“That’d be great!” she said. “Well, I mean, it’s great that you can get a cutie mark. Not that not having a cutie mark is bad or anything. Yeesh, I just keep sticking my hoof in my mouth here. I’m not usually this bad,” said Shoeshine with a grimace.

“It’s okay,” I said. “It’s pretty unusual. I mean, every pony I’ve seen here in Equestria has one, except for the youngsters.”

“Yeah, still. I imagine you’re tired of hearing about it. So anyway, you just moved in, right? I saw some ponies working on this place. Looks like they got it all fixed up for you.”

“Yeah,” I said, “that was Twilight and some of her friends. I stayed with Twilight for a little while after I got here.”

“Twilight Sparkle? As in the newest princess Twilight Sparkle? You know her?”

“Um, yeah. I stayed with her for a little while just after I got here. She and her friends were nice enough to fix the place up for me. Kind of like a ‘Welcome to town’ present.”

“Her friends? Those were the Element Bearers? I just saw there were some ponies around, I didn’t pay much attention. Maybe you could introduce me sometime,“ she said with a hopeful look.

“Sure, I guess. They’re all really nice, actually.”

“That’d be awesome. I’ll have to tell Sky about it. She’ll freak.”

It seemed my friends here were more important than I realized, and not just Twilight for being a princess. I’d have to ask them about that. Then I realized I had to meet Rainbow Dash soon for ‘hoofwork’, whatever that turned out to be.

“Um, sorry,” I started, “but I’ve got to meet somepony pretty soon. Maybe I’ll see you afterwards?”

“Oh, sure. I work from home here. If I don’t answer the front door, I might be in my shop in the back. Feel free to come around and say hi.”

“Thanks, I will,” I said as I turned to leave.

I trotted out the back gate and into the fields. Rainbow Dash had pointed out one of the hills for us to meet at. I headed for it at a comfortable trot. It seemed like I could keep up a steady pace for quite a while in this body. Probably the earth pony thing. I knew I couldn’t keep up a jog at this speed for any length of time as a human.

It took less time than I thought to get to the hill. I trotted up the side and once I reached the crest, I saw that there was a pond on the other side. There were some woods that were obscured from view by the hills, and they came right up to one side of the pond. There was a little cliff on that side, maybe twenty feet up above the water. The other side of the pond met the downslope of the hill and made a nice little area to sit and just look around. It wasn’t quite a beach, but I could see spending the day here swimming. I kind of wondered how that would work with this body. Something like a dog-paddle would be about it, I guessed.

I saw the Rainbow’s shadow before I saw her. I was dipping a hoof into the water at the edge of the pond when I saw a pegasus-shaped shadow out of the corner of my eye. I looked around and saw Rainbow lazily flapping down towards me.

“Hey, Rainbow!” I called out.

“Hey Rain,” she replied, coming in for a landing.

“So what’s this ‘hoofwork’ you wanted me to do?” I asked.

“You need to get some practice on those hooves,” she said. “I saw you trying to go down your stairs. You didn’t fall, but you’re thinking about it way too much. Once you get comfortable on your hooves, you shouldn’t have to think about getting around, you just do it. The best way to get comfortable on your hooves is to use them. So we’re going to work on two things. First, running. I bet you haven’t tried that yet, have you?”

I shook my head no.

“Figured. Besides, when would you have had the chance? The other thing is, we’re going to do some slower work in the woods there. The footing’s a little more uneven, so you have to adjust for it. It’s not too bad, and you’re an earth pony, so even if you take a tumble, you probably won’t hurt yourself, but it gets you in tune with your hooves. You shouldn’t have to think about how a hoof is going to land when you get around, it should just happen.”

“That makes sense,” I said. “Sounds kinda tiring, though.”

“No pain, no gain, Rain,” said Rainbow with a smile.

“Cute,” I pursed my lips at her.

Her smile grew even wider. “Okay now. Just follow me. We’re going to work on a run first, but I want to do that over more level ground. Just call out if you can’t keep up. Okay?”

“Sure,” I said.

Rainbow trotted off away from the pond and back up the hillside. I followed, and had no problem keeping up at first. Then she sped up. First to a canter, and then into a full-out run. It was kind of weird, I was pretty much fixated on Rainbow in front of me, and I could feel my stride changing up. It was kind of like as a pony I had some definite gears. As a human, it was one foot in front of the other, and faster or slower just meant speeding that up. Somehow as I followed Rainbow faster and faster, my whole stride changed without me having to think about it. The walk was sort of opposite cornered legs moving together, then for a trot they locked in a little tighter, as I moved up into a run, my front legs locked together and I was bounding across the grass after Rainbow. I knew it was a mistake, but I tried to figure out exactly what I was doing, and then I went head over teakettle with a squawk. Rainbow doubled back as I was picking myself up.

“You thought about it, huh?” she asked.

“Yeah,” I replied.

“Twilight told me you’d probably do that. You were doing pretty good up to that point, though. Ready to try again?”

“Sure,” I said.

“Okay, here we go,” and she was off again.

This time I did much better. I just thought about Rainbow, and kept my eye on that distinctive mane and tail. Eventually I hit a rhythm and settled in. It actually felt good. I was totally focussed on Rainbow, and had no idea how far we’d gone when she finally slowed up. I realized I was breathing hard, and kind of lathered. I looked around, and we were close to the outskirts of Ponyville, but not an area I recognized.

“Where are we?” I panted.

“Other side of Ponyville,” said Rainbow, a little out of breath. Not as much as me, but it made me feel good that she was at least a little winded. “We made pretty good time, too. I didn’t think you’d be able to keep up that pace. You should totally go out for the Running of the Leaves this fall. You’d probably outrun most of the field if you just ran the pace we did just now. I think we should wait a while before starting on the woods, though. I want you to get comfortable with running and not having to think about where your hooves are going to fall. Once you’re a little better with that, we’ll step it up a notch.”

“Okay,” I said.

“You should practice on your own, but let’s set up to meet a couple times a week. We can work on it. I seriously think you should enter that race, too.”

“I’ll think about it,” I said.

“Cool, let’s go get something to drink. I’m a little thirsty,” Rainbow Dash said, trotting off toward town.

“Sounds good,” I said, following along behind her.

Rainbow thankfully avoided the main market area. She took us to a little cafe where we got some apple juice. We sat outside and sipped our drinks. The apple juice was more like what we would’ve called cider on Earth. It was cloudy, and still had a lot of apple flavor.

“So that pond we met at. Is it okay to go out there to run?” I asked.

“Oh sure, that’s Applejack’s land, actually. She won’t mind,” replied Rainbow.

“Really? I thought Sweet Apple Acres was out the other way from town,” I said.

“It is, but the Apple family owns a lot of land out in the country. That pond is good for swimming, and the woods are safe to walk in, too. The Everfree is way out towards Fluttershy’s place, so nothing to worry about if you want to poke around. I like to nap out there from time to time,” Rainbow said with a grin.

“Cool,” I said. “Thanks for today. I should probably get going. As much as I sweated today, I’m going to start to stink pretty soon. I’d like to get cleaned up.”

“Eh? You’re right. I should do the same. I think I’ll take a dip in that pond to cool off, though.” Rainbow left her empty drink on the table, stepped out into the street and took off into the sky, trailing a rainbow streak behind her. I stared for a moment, still not used to that. I’d seen it a few times, but it was still pretty amazing.

Rainbow had told me how to get back to my house from the cafe, and fortunately, Ponyville wasn’t all that big. I probably could’ve figured it out in a few tries. Still, it was nice to get back home. I sluiced off in the shower, the warm water felt wonderful after the run. After I’d dried off, I decided to go say hello to my new neighbor. I stepped out the back door, and saw some smoke trailing out of the chimney on Shoeshine’s shop.

Heading out through my rear gate, I decided that she was probably working, otherwise why would there be smoke coming out of the shop, so I went straight for the big barn doors on the back of Shoeshine’s place. I found one of them already propped open, so I stuck my head in.

“Hello,” I called. “Anyone home?”

“Home?” said a voice to my left. As I looked I saw a pale yellow pony with a lavender mane looking back at me with blue eyes. “This isn’t home. I work here.”

“Uh, hi?” I said, suddenly unsure.

“Oh, heya Rain,” I heard Shoeshine say, as she stepped around a partition on the side of the room. I could see a glow coming from behind it, so I guessed that’s where her forge had to be.

“Rain,” said Shoeshine, “this is Electric Sky. She helps me around here. Does the fine detail stuff that I can’t get done. She’s also kind of a tinker, general fix-it pony. So if something goes wrong in that new house, you know who to call.”

“Oh, nice to meet you. Shoeshine mentioned you earlier,” I said.

“So you’re the new neighbor. Nice to meet you,” said Sky.

I stepped inside and said, “Uh, if you two are busy with work, I can come back. I just thought I’d drop. I don’t want to bother you while you’re working.”

“Yeah, we’re a little busy now,” said Sky. “We got a rush order for repairing this carriage.” She gestured towards a large, fairly elaborate cart sitting in the middle of the shop. One of its wheels was off and that side was propped up on what looked like a saw-horse.

“I’ve just got to get this collar back into one piece and we should be ready to put it back together. Maybe we could have dinner tonight? My treat, since I invited you over here and then had to be a bad hostess,” said Shoeshine.

“Yeah, dinner would be good, but don’t worry about treating me. I’d kind of like to have somebody over to my new house. Why don’t you two come by later? I have plenty of food, we can whip something together there,” I said.

“Oh,” said Sky. “That sounds great.”

“Good,” I said. “I’ll see you two tonight. I’ll get out of your hair now.”

“‘Bye, Rain,” called Shoeshine as I left.

I headed back home. I realized I didn’t have any cleaning up to do, since the place was basically immaculate. I did head upstairs and make my bed, which I hadn’t done that morning. Then I noticed Twilight’s books on the shelf by the wall. There was one on the history of games in Equestria. To my surprise, it covered all sorts of games, from sports to board games, and I settled in for an afternoon of learning about how ponies here played games before I had my first house guests.

Author's Notes:

I aten't dead.

9 First Guests

I was completely absorbed in my book about games in Equestria, and had been for a while, when a knock on the front door brought me up with a start. I looked around and noticed that the sun coming in through the windows was throwing a much longer shadow. I must’ve been reading for a few hours. I got up quickly, as the knocking sounded again.

“Coming!” I yelled, trotting towards the door.

As I opened the door, I saw Electric Sky about to knock again, and Shoeshine behind her, waiting patiently on the little path from the street to my door. “Hey, you two.” I said, pulling the door open wider and gesturing for them to come in. “Welcome to my house.”

They stepped through the door, both looking around. I closed the door behind them and then led the way to the couch and chairs around the fireplace. I took one of the chairs, curling up in the rounded low-backed affair, turned so that I could see my guests as they settled on the couch.

“Wow, Rain,” started Shoeshine. “Your house is really nice. I can’t believe you just moved in here. When I moved into my house, I was living out of boxes for months.”

“Yeah,” added Sky, “and she got really annoyed with me when I arranged them into little mazes.” Sky turned an impish grin at Shoeshine.

“Okay,” said Shoeshine, giving Sky a flat stare, “it’s kind of funny when you tell it now, but it really wasn’t when I needed to find my toothbrush the first morning there and you’d moved every box in the place.”

Sky’s only response was batting her eyes with an innocent smile.

“Twilight and her friends were really helpful in picking stuff out. I didn’t really bring much with me when I moved to Ponyville, so no boxes to worry about.”

“That must be nice,” said Sky. “Sometimes I look around my place and at all the things I’ve picked up over the years and think I should just get rid of most of it. I’ve got no plans of moving soon, but I’d hate to have to pack up everything and haul it anywhere. Feels like I don’t really need most of the stuff I have, to be honest.”

“I need each and every thing in my house, thankyou,” said Shoeshine.

“Shine’s a total packrat, if you couldn’t tell,” said Sky, grinning.

“Am not,” said Shoeshine.

“What about that set of pipes and valves you’ve had sitting on your kitchen table for the past month and a half?” asked Sky.

“I’m going to get that all assembled… when I get a chance,” said Shoeshine. She looked at me before saying, “I’ve been pretty busy lately.”

“Uh-huh,” continued Sky. “I happen to know your last kitchen table project sat there for six months before you finally cleared it out, and where is it now?”

Shoeshine’s eyes dropped to the floor. “Not sure,” she mumbled.

“Hah!” laughed Sky. “I saw it in a box in the bottom of your closet the last time I borrowed a set of socks. It was still in pieces, I might add.”

“Wait, you borrowed my socks?” said Shoeshine, her eyes suddenly narrowed at Sky.

“Yeah, a couple weeks ago, remember when we had the flower tasting night? My hooves were cold. You even told me how nice my socks looked.”

“Well I didn’t know they were my socks!” sputtered Shoeshine.

“I never realized you didn’t even realize they were yours. That’s hilarious, Shine.” Sky dissolved into gales of laughter, with Shoeshine glaring at her. “I washed them and put them back. Don’t worry.”

“That’s. Not. The. Point,” said Shoeshine, through gritted teeth, which only made Sky break up laughing again.

When her hooting died down, Sky looked at me and said, “Hey Rain, I think I should be able to call dibs on those socks, if Shine doesn’t even recognize them.”

I didn’t know much about women, well mares, despite being one now, but even I recognized a question with no safe answer. “Boy that sure is some weather-y weather we’re having, huh?”

Sky’s eyes got really big for a second before she snorted another laugh. I even got a grin out of Shoeshine.

“Good answer, Rain. Good answer,” said Sky.

“So,” said Shoeshine, changing the topic, “what brings you to Ponyville, Rain?”

“Um,” I started, realizing I had no answer for that. “I just needed a change of scenery, I guess.”

“Big move, all the way from… where was it, again?” asked Sky.

“Kentucky,” I supplied.

“Yeah, I don’t think I could pick up and move to a whole new place just for a change,” said Shoeshine.

“Well,” I said, “I guess I needed it. Besides, this seems like a really nice place. Everybody I’ve met here has been very nice.”

“Yeah, for the most part, ponies around here are really nice. I hear they’re not so nice to each other in the big cities, but I really like Ponyville. There’s nothing like living someplace kind of quiet and actually knowing your neighbors,” said Shoeshine.

“Yeah, Ponyville is a really nice town. I mean, I grew up here so I don’t have a lot to compare it to, but I’ve always liked it, at least,” said Sky.

“Oh yeah,” said Shoeshine, “I never asked what you did.”

“I, um,” I paused. “I make games.”

“Games?” asked Sky. “What kind of games?”

“Oh, board games, mostly. Some card games, too,” I replied.

“Neat!” exclaimed Sky. “Can we play one?”

“I don’t have any ready yet,” I said. “I, uh, didn’t bring any with me from Kentucky, so I’ve been sort of re-making some of the ones I’d done before, but they’re not ready to play yet.” I stopped, trying to think. “We could try this one game they used to have in Kentucky. You draw something and everypony else tries to guess what it is.”

“I’m not very good at drawing,” said Shoeshine.

“You don’t have to be,” I said. “It’s a party game, its just for fun, not to prove your artistic abilities. Here, wait just a second.” I got up and headed upstairs, grabbing a decent-sized pad of paper and one of my sketching charcoals. I headed back downstairs at a trot, paper and charcoal clasped between my teeth. I didn’t even realize until I was already back on the first floor that I’d just gone down the stairs pretty fast without so much as a stumble. Neat.

“Okay,” I said, laying the pad and charcoal down on the low coffee-table in front of Shoeshine and Electric Sky. “So here’s how you play. Look around this room and pick something. Then you have to draw pictures to make us guess what it is you’ve picked out. The twist is, you can’t draw what it is you picked out. Oh, and no talking while you’re the one drawing, but you can nod or shake your head to tell us if we’re on the right track.” I was thinking of Pictionary, but we didn’t have category cards or enough people to play teams, so I was making up some new-ish rules on the fly.

I continued, “Like if I picked out a salt-shaker, I can’t just draw a salt-shaker, right? I’ve got to try drawing something like a salt lick, or maybe the sea, because it’s salty, but that’s not really obvious, I guess. Anyway, for the second part, maybe I could draw a milkshake, and you two would have to try to put that together into ‘salt shaker’.” I paused. “Does that make sense?”

“Yeah, I get it,” said Electric Sky. “Let me give this a shot.”

“Oh wait,” I said, suddenly realizing what I was missing. I headed for the kitchen and and grabbed the egg timer I’d see sitting beside the stove. “There’s a time limit,” I said as I brought the egg timer back over to the coffee table. “So turn the egg timer over right before you start to draw.”

“Sounds good,” said Sky, then she let out a long breath as she looked around the room. “Aha!” she finally exclaimed.

The egg timer was suddenly enveloped in a yellow glow as Sky lifted it up and turned it over with her magic. Then the glow appeared around the charcoal as she picked it up and started to draw. At first Shoeshine and I just watched, then I thought I saw what was taking shape.

“Looks like a counter-top,” I said. “Counter… maybe a clock?”

Sky shook her head.

“A scale?” guessed Shoeshine.

Sky shook her head again and kept drawing. I saw a stove-top appear beside the counter, then a refrigerator beside that. Electric Sky could actually draw really well.

Finally, I got it. “A kitchen,” I said.

Sky’s eyes lit up and she pointed her hoof at me, nodding happily. She moved on to another drawing. This time it started with a wavy line. A few more swipes of the charcoal brought what looked like a little cruise ship onto the water, but it was tilted up at a weird angle.

“A boat?” guessed Shoeshine.

Sky shook her head. Then she added a little arrow pointing down right above the boat.

“It’s low?” I asked.

Sky shook her head again, and added another arrow beginning where the first one ended, then another right after that, drawing one at a time until she had a little column of arrows pointing down.

“It’s going down?” asked Shoeshine.

Sky flicked her head from side to side. Not a shake, not a nod.

Must be close, I thought. Then said, “It’s sinking?”

Sky nodded enthusiastically.

“The kitchen sink!” Shoeshine suddenly cried.

“That’s it!” exclaimed Sky, jumping in place.

“Okay,” said Shoeshine. “I think I get it now. Let me have a turn.”

Shoeshine flipped the egg timer over and then picked the charcoal up in her mouth to start drawing. She wound up running out of time on her turn. She’d picked a rug, but I don’t think she’d really thought that one through. It took us forever just to get that she was trying to draw a floor, and then she was trying to draw a blanket and get us to guess associate floor and blanket into a rug, but we didn’t pick up on it in time. Still, Sky and I were laughing at each other’s guesses, and Shoeshine was laughing at the both of us.

Now it was my turn. I’d picked out the clock, and as I flipped the timer and picked up the charcoal to draw, Shoeshine stopped me.

“Whoa,” she said. “How’re you doing that?”

“Doing what?” I asked, looking up at her from the paper.

“Holding the charcoal like that?” said Shoeshine.

“Oh hey, look at that,” said Sky, beside her. “I didn’t even notice at first, but I’ve never seen a pony write like that before.”

“Uh, it’s just how I do it,” I said, suddenly feeling kind of sheepish.

Shoeshine hopped down from the couch. “Can I see that?” she asked.

“Sure,” I replied, laying the charcoal down.

Shoeshine reached for the charcoal with a front hoof, and ‘grasped’ it, but it stuck flat against her hoof. She frowned, clearly trying to hold it slightly away from her hoof, like I’d been doing before with my ‘fingers’. She stayed that way for a few more seconds, looking at her hoof, before the charcoal suddenly popped loose from her hoof and fell to the table. “I tried to push it away from my hoof, but I just lost it entirely,” she said.

“It’s more like pushing from…” I paused for a second and thought about how I imagined myself gripping the pencil: thumb, first finger, middle finger, “three ways at once.” I picked up the charcoal again in my ‘fingers’ and drew a circle on the page before putting it down again.

“Hmm,” she said, picking up the charcoal again, but it still looked like it was glued flat to her hoof. She shook it a few times, and narrowed her eyes before finally sighing and putting it down again. “Must take a fair amount of practice.”

“According to Twilight, it’s really hard for a pony to do unless they’ve grown up thinking about handling things that way.” I smiled, “You should’ve seen Twilight. She couldn’t get it, either. I think both of you could do it with some practice.”

“You give it a try, Sky,” said Shoeshine, looking at Electric Sky.

“Hah, I’ll pass. You’re already way better at hoofwork than I am because I just do everything with my horn. If you can’t do it, I’m sure I can’t,” she said.

“Fair enough,” said Shoeshine. She hopped back up on the couch before saying, “Sorry I interrupted your turn. Let’s go ahead and play some more.”

I smiled and picked the charcoal back up.

We wound up playing for a good long while, and it was full dark outside before Electric Sky finally brought the game to an end. “Sorry, you two,” she said before she got up for her next turn, “but we were coming over here for some dinner, and right now I’m kind of starving.”

“Oh yeah,” I said, realizing that I was pretty hungry as well. I hopped off my chair and headed for the refrigerator. I popped it open and said, “What would you like? I have, hmmm. I have some field greens, some carrots. Looks like there’s some daisies here. I have some bread, too. We could do sandwiches.”

“Actually,” said Shoeshine, “a field green salad sounds pretty good.”

“Yeah, field greens would be great,” added Sky.

So I grabbed the big bunch of field greens and looked for a few more things to throw in. There were a few radishes and some grape tomatoes in there, as well, so I grabbed them as well. I grabbed bowls from the cabinet, and pretty quickly we had three bowls of field green salad.

“Do you two like any dressing on your salad?” I asked.

“Oh, none for me,” said Shoeshine. “Good field greens are perfect as is.”

“Uh, I’d take some hot sauce, if you have some,” said Sky.

“Hmm, not sure. Want to help me look? Twilight and her friends stocked things, so I’m not sure where it’d be.”

“Sure,” said Sky, trotting over to the kitchen with me and starting to poke into cabinets.

We found some hot sauce, and because I hadn’t tried any Equestrian hot sauce yet, I gave it a little taste. It was nice, not nearly as spicy or vinegary as Tabasco, but with quite a lot more flavor, something more along the lines of Crystal hot sauce from back on Earth. Of course, considering how my tastes had changed, to the point where a field green salad really did taste good all by itself, which I would never have imagined as a human, I wasn’t really sure how spicy the hot sauce was in comparison to what I’d had back on Earth. For all I knew, this stuff might blow Tabasco out of the water, or it might be pretty mild. I’d probably never know for sure, but it was something to think about.

I decided to douse my salad with a bit of the hot sauce. It actually complimented the slightly peppery greens quite well. Although to my new tastes the greens didn’t definitively need anything on them.

“Oh goodness, another one,” sighed Shoeshine.

“Another one what?” I asked as Sky started to grin.

“Hot sauce addict,” said Shoeshine. “Sky here dumps hot sauce on everything. She’d even put it on dessert if I let her.”

“‘S good,” said Sky, taking a mouthful of salad and winking at me.

Shoeshine stuck her tongue out at Sky, and then we all got down to eating. They always say hunger is the best sauce, and that you can tell how good a meal is by how much conversation goes on. In other words, the better the food, the less the conversation. We were all hungry, and I don’t think any of us made a sound until our bowls were picked clean.

“That was great,” said Shoeshine, patting her stomach with a grin.

“Yeah,” added Sky. “And I don’t just mean the food. It was great meeting you and playing… what was that game called, anyway?”

“Well, it was basically Pictionary, but usually you do teams for that and you have some cards that have different words or phrases on them to try to draw out, but I didn’t have any cards, so I sort of made up some rules. So… you could call it kind-of-Pictionary,” I said, grinning.

“Huh, well it was fun. We should do this again sometime soon,” said Sky.

“Yeah,” said Shoeshine. “I enjoyed myself.”

It made me glad to hear that. I’d had a good time, myself.

I showed the two of them to the door, and we said our goodbyes. I really did want to have them over again sometime soon. In years of living in apartments, I’d hardly known my neighbors, but here, in just a couple of days in a new home, I’d already met some people (ponies, but in my head I was starting to think of ponies as just… people) that I hoped would become friends.

I went to bed that night thinking of some games that might be good for parties, because I suddenly found myself wanting to be around other ponies a lot more. How weird.

Author's Notes:

Not much here, just a pleasant little evening, but I needed to get this out of the way before we start rolling towards the end, which I do have mapped out now. :)

10 Out for a Trot

The next day I was up early. I was still in an unfamiliar bed and an unfamiliar house, and I hadn’t slept all that well. It’s amazing how different all the little sounds are from one place to the next. I hadn’t really noticed it at Twilight’s, but then again, there were other things on my mind at the time. Now, in this new house, I was a little more at home with my pony body, and all the little differences in sounds stood out.

For instance, the library was a big tree, really. Laying in bed on a still night, you could hear the branches sway with the wind. Also, it didn’t creak. The whole thing was somehow built into the tree, so there were no joints to creak and squeak due to the temperature changing overnight or the house settling. I’d lived with little creaks and squeaks my whole life, having lived in regular houses back on Earth, but just a few weeks without that, and now, in my new house, all those little sounds seemed really out of place.

I’d tossed and I’d turned, and I might have put together two or three solid hours of sleep overnight. When the I could start to see the sky lighten outside my window, I just decided to stay up. I’d grabbed a bowl of oats, which were surprisingly tasty all by themselves. My new sense of taste was still taking some getting used to. I mean, human me had never liked oatmeal. The oats I had here were little crunchy bursts of flavor. They were wonderful. They didn’t even resemble the rolled oats I’d had on Earth. These were little grains and it took some work to chew them up.

I walked out to the back yard and the little table, still munching my oats, and sat down to watch the sun come up. It was really peaceful, and even though I was still in Ponyville, even if right on the edge, from my backyard, I had a great view out over the gentle hills surrounding the town. After I finished my oats and sat there in the morning sun for a while, I decided to just go see it. No particular idea of where to go, just out and going for a walk. I didn’t have anything to do today, anyway. If nothing else, I’d wear myself out so I could sleep better come bedtime. Kind of odd to be thinking that just after the sun rose, but whatever.

I took my empty bowl back into the house, gave it a quick scrub and left it to dry beside the sink. Then it was out the back and off into the hills. I started out walking, which I even I could do fairly well by this point. I saw Ponyville start to recede behind me, and once I was out of easy sight for anyone watching out their back window, I decided to try going a little faster.

My pace picked up, and I kept my eyes glued to the horizon, just sort of staring ahead, keeping an eye on the ground in front of me for anything that might trip me up. It was kind of like trying not to think of the elephant in the room, because I knew if I started analyzing what my legs were actually doing, they’d quit doing it. Of course, with this earth pony body, the only thing it really hurt was my pride. I just kept at it, though, with a few spills from suddenly failing to not notice that elephant. Still, as the sun rose higher in the sky, I realized I was keeping longer and longer stretches with no accidents.

It felt good, in a way that’s hard to describe, just moving. I was well out of town, and it seemed like I was the only being anywhere around. The only other living thing in evidence, except for plants, was a hawk I could see lazily circling a few miles off in the distance, near some steeper hills. I guessed there might be an updraft there that he was taking advantage of. The sun was pretty high now, and I realized I’d been at this for hours, and I still felt okay. I felt really good, actually. This wasn’t the thundering pace I’d kept with Rainbow Dash the day before, but it did seem to eat up the miles.

The landscape around me was gorgeous, especially for someone like me, who’d grown up in a fairly rural area, only to move to the city. I’d always loved to get back out of the city to go on a short hike, but I never seemed to find the time to do it. Now here I was, with green rolling hills, swaying grass, and blue skies with puffy clouds as far as I could see. I hadn’t felt this good in years. Water wasn’t even a problem, I found a few streams at the bottoms of those hills, cutting through the landscape, and making their presence known from afar with dense little lines of trees and bushes where there was more water. All the streams around here seemed to be free of any pollution, and when I got down to the water, it smelled incredibly fresh. Something of the pony instincts I had seemed to kick in and tell me that it was okay, because I never even worried about whether it was safe to drink after a good sniff. Also, being built on all fours with a long neck is great for this. No kneeling beside a stream and getting your knees and feet soaked, just stand at the edge and stretch down.

Later, after more trotting, I began to notice that the shadows I’d seen earlier had all but disappeared. I looked up and saw the sun almost right overhead. I’d been at this for a while. I probably wasn’t that far afield, really, and I’d been assured that this was a very safe area, as long as I stayed away from the Everfree Forest. After just a few things that Twilight and her friends had told me about that place, I had no plans to go near it. They’d said it was a huge treeline and that you couldn’t see the other side of it. All the smaller groves around here were safe. Still, I didn’t exactly know my way home from here, and I only had a general direction to go, so I was beginning to wish I’d paid closer attention to the landmarks on my way here. I thought about going back to that pond that Rainbow had shown me, but I only knew where that was in relation to my house, and my sense of it was vague, at that. I had no idea how to get there from where I was now. Besides, it was getting close to noon now, and I was getting hungry.

So, with the sun almost straight overhead, I headed back for what I thought was Ponyville. I could hold that trot now, pretty much without thinking about it. As I trotted back towards civilization, I realized I hadn’t even thought about sunscreen. I mean, it was obviously pretty useless now, coat of fur and all. Still, just another reminder that I definitely wasn’t human anymore. Add to that the fact that I’d barely broken a sweat, despite keeping up a trot for basically half a day, and this was pretty much my first time out. Even at my slow little trotting speed, I realized I’d probably covered at least a marathon and a half’s worth of distance.

With that, I actually stopped. I put one hoof after another down, feeling for soreness or achiness, anything that I’d expect to feel as a human after going that far, that fast. There was none of it. When I realized what I’d just done, I almost giggled. This was probably perfectly normal for an earth pony, but to me it felt like I’d become some kind of superhero. I took off once again at my steady little trot with a huge smile plastered on my face.

Maybe half an hour later, I topped a rise to see orderly rows of apple trees stretching out in front of me. Though it was pushing towards fall here, the apple trees were still heavy with fruit. I could see them hanging off the trees, looking all kinds of delicious. My mouth started to water at the thought. I realized this must be Sweet Apple Acres. I was glad I’d run into it, because from my limited knowledge of the geography around Ponyville, me being here meant that I’d gone a lot farther than I’d realized, and probably would have missed Ponyville entirely on my way back. If I was going to do this more often, I was going to have to invest in a map of the area.

I looked down at the apple orchards, trying to figure out which way the farmhouse might be. If these were somebody’s apples, I didn’t want to just start picking them. Apples for lunch sounded heavenly, but I was totally going to pay for them. At first, I didn’t see any sign of a path or road or building to tell me which way to go. I headed down towards the orchard, and was almost at it before I noticed a little rutted path. At any angle, I could hardly see it, I’d only noticed it as I happened to walk right across it, so that I could see the faint line of the rut in the grass leading away from me.

Once I found it, the path was easy enough to follow, leading me deeper into the orchards, and finally into a some regular non-apple-tree woods. I kept on the track though, and here under the heavier trees it was much clearer, without the tall grass all around. Finally, I heard a noise and looked up, realizing that while I’d been intent on following my little path, I’d not even noticed the treehouse that was almost right above me now. I saw a shadow cross the window on the side I could see, and I heard faint voices coming from inside.

“Hello!” I called out.

Suddenly the voices ceased and I heard a door open. Then I saw three little pony heads poke out over the edge of the decking on the front of the treehouse. The way they popped out almost all at once made me struggle to stifle a laugh. It looked like something out of a comedy routine. One was a pale yellow with a big red bow tied into her mane, the next was more orange, with rose-colored hair, and the last was creamy white unicorn with a light purple and pink striped mane.

“Hi there,” I said. “I think I may be a little lost. Could you tell me where I am?”

The little pony with the red bow answered me, “You’re at Sweet Apple Acres, ma’am.”

I wrinkled my nose at the word “ma’am”. That still didn’t sit quite right, even though it was true. “I kind of guessed that much, but it’s a little bigger than I’d realized. Any chance you could point me towards the house?”

“Oh sure, ya see that trail yer on? Just follow that for a ways and you’ll see a bigger path take off to your left. Follow that one and it’ll take ya right to the farmhouse.”

“Thanks,” I said. “Um, I’m Rain. Can I ask your names?”

“Oh right,” said the one with the bow. “I’m Apple Bloom, and this here’s Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo,” she said as the gestured to the pale unicorn and her orange friend.

“What’re you doing way out here?” asked Sweetie Belle.

“Oh,” I replied, “I was just out to see the area and went a little farther than I’d intended to. I was heading back toward town, but I ran into Sweet Apple Acres here and thought I’d say hello to Applejack.”

“You know mah sister?” asked Apple Bloom.

“Sure,” I said. “Your sister helped set up my new house. She’s been really nice to me since I’ve moved here.”

“I heard her talking about you,” said Apple Bloom. “Lessee, yer name’s… something weather-y.”

I laughed, “It’s Rain. Rain McCloud.”

“That’s it!” she said with a smile. “I was on the right track, at least.”

“Yeah, you were,” I said with a smile.

Suddenly Scootaloo’s eyes widened and she turned and whispered at Apple Bloom, who suddenly stared hard at me before her eyes got really big, as well. As I frowned up at them, wondering what was going on, Apple Bloom turned to Sweetie Belle and whispered again.

Sweetie let out a gasp before exclaiming, “Hey! You’re a blank flank!”

I cringed, having forgotten about my lack of a cutie mark for a while. Now I wondered what I was in for. The three little heads suddenly disappeared from the edge of the treehouse and I heard them charge down the ramp. As I saw them head towards me, I could see that Apple Bloom was an earth pony, like me, and Scootaloo was a pegasus.

“Sorry, ma’am,” called Scootaloo. “She didn’t mean it like that. I mean, we’re all blank flanks, too.”

“Yeah, sorry,” said Sweetie Belle as they pulled to a sudden stop in front of me. “I didn’t mean it bad. I was just excited to see someone else without a cutie mark. I didn’t know you could get as old as you are without having one.”

“Well, I’m not exactly old,” I said.

“Yeah, but yer a grown-up,” said Apple Bloom. “Is there something wrong with ya that you didn’t get a cutie mark.” Her eyes suddenly got wide. “What if this means that we may never get our cutie marks,” she said, her voice turning into a wail.

“No, no it’s nothing like that,” I said, trying to sound soothing. “I just grew up outside of Equestria. That’s why I don’t have one.”

“Outside Equestria, huh?” said Scootaloo. “So you don’t get a cutie mark if you grow up outside of Equestria? Well I’m glad I’m growing up right here, then.”

“I’ve been told I’ll probably get one now that I’m living here, but it’ll take time,” I said.

“We’ve heard that before,” said Sweetie Belle. “You just need to be patient, girls,” she said, obviously trying to imitate some authority figure. I couldn’t tell who.

“Hey,” said Apple Bloom suddenly, “you wanna join our club? It’s for findin’ cutie marks. We’re called the Cutie Mark Crusaders!”

“Umm, maybe you could make me an honorary member?” I said.

They paused, as a group and appeared to consider this. Then Scootaloo suddenly yelled, “Honorary Cutie Mark Crusader Rain! Yeah!”

And then all three were cheering me. Were all kids in Equestria this hyper?

After they’d calmed down a little bit, I said, “Thankyou girls, but umm, which way was the farm house again? I haven’t had lunch yet and I was hoping to get some apples from Applejack.”

“Oh well, if yer hungry, why didn’t ya just pick some? Apples like us’d never mind if a hungry pony just needed to fill their belly. It wouldn’t be right,” said Apple Bloom.

“Well, they weren’t my apples, so I wanted to pay for them,” I said.

“Let’s head for the farm house. You watch. Applejack ain’t gonna take any money for a few apples ta make a lunch,” said Apple Bloom, taking off down the path I’d been following, with Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo close behind.

I followed on their heels and pretty soon, I saw a big farmhouse and barn draw into view. I didn’t see anyone out and about, though. I didn’t have to worry about that for very long, though.

Apple Bloom let out a yell, “Aaaapple Jaaaack! Hey Apple Jack! Where are ya?”

Then I heard Apple Jack’s voice calling from the other side of the barn, “Over here Apple Bloom!”

The three fillies changed direction with me in tow, and we headed for the back side of the barn. There was Applejack pulling a cart absolutely piled with apples. It was kind of amazing, really. Applejack’s cartload stood easily twice as tall as she did, and she was trundling along with it like it was nothing.

“Hey Apple Bloom, Sweetie Belle, Scootaloo. Oh, and hi Rain,” she said as she noticed me. “What’re you doin’ out this way?”

“Rain here said she was out explorin’ and got hungry, so she came over for some apples,” said Apple Bloom. Well, that wasn’t quite it, but close, I thought.

“Yeah, and we made her an honorary Cutie Mark Crusader, too!” said Sweetie Belle.

“Honorary Crusader, huh? Well now ain’t that special?” said Applejack, talking to the fillies. “But you said Rain was after some apples fer lunch, huh? Well, she certainly came to the right place, now didn’t she?”

“Darn tootin’ sis,” said Apple Bloom with a smile.

“Why don’t you three run along and I’ll set Rain here up with some lunch?” said Applejack.

“Okay,” said Scootaloo. Then she turned to me and said, “We’ll tell you the meeting schedule later, okay?”

“Meetings?” I asked.

“Bye!” all three called at once, and then they were off in a cloud of dust.

I turned to Applejack, “What’d I just get myself into?”

Applejack laughed, shrugging out of the harness on her cart. “Don’t worry now. I’ll explain to Apple Bloom that a grown pony probably doesn’t want to attend meetings with the Cutie Mark Crusaders.”

“Uh, thanks,” I said. “I don’t want to disappoint them or anything.”

“I doubt you had a lot of choice about becomin’ an honorary member,” said Applejack, now kicking a rock under one of the wheels to keep the cart from rolling off.

“Well…” I started, “that was actually my suggestion after they offered to make me a full member.”

Applejack laughed again, “Lesser of two evils, I suppose. Still, I’ll make sure they know that an honorary member doesn’t have to come to all the meetin’s.”

“Thanks,” I said.

“Now, then,” said Applejack, grabbing an apple from her cart and gesturing to it. “How about some lunch? Fresh as the day it was bucked, which was today, incidentally. ‘Bout twenty minutes ago.”

“Sounds good,” I said. “Do I owe you anything?”

“Nah, it wouldn’t be the Apple family way to let a hungry pony pay for a lunch on our own farm,” said Applejack.

“Well, thanks,” I said, taking the apple from Applejack. “I didn’t really intend to be gone so long, so I didn’t bring any food or bits along with me. I could pay you back later, though.”

“I meant what I said. An apple or two for a hungry pony don’t cost nothin’ around here,” said Applejack.

I nodded, my mouth now full of apple. And it was such a good apple. Whether it was new tastebuds or that Sweet Apple Acres apples were just that much better than anything on Earth, I didn’t know, but that was about the best apple I’d ever had. I had the whole thing wolfed down, core and all in no time.

“You were hungry, huh? Feel like another?” asked Applejack.

“Give me a minute to let that one settle,” I said. “I’d just gotten really hungry since I was out all day.”

“All day huh? Apple Bloom said you were explorin’. Want to get to know the lay of the land a bit, then?” asked Applejack.

“Something like that,” I replied. “I didn’t really have anything to do today, and I felt like seeing the area. I’ve been amazed that I’ve been holding a steady trot since I left home just after sunrise and I don’t feel any the worse for wear. Is that normal?”

“That’s a little below average, for an earth pony. We’ve got a lot of stamina, we do. Just keep it up and you’ll be able to hold a canter for as long as you were trotting this morning. Now your average unicorn, even if she’s in shape, wouldn’t be able to hold a canter for more than an hour, tops. An earth pony can hold that pace for most of a day if she’s not packin’ a big load along with her. An’ then get up and do it again the next day,” said Applejack with a smile.

“Wow, I didn’t realize. Back when I was on earth, only people who’d trained a lot could do something like that,” I said.

Applejack shook her head. “I know you weren’t a pony not that long ago, but I kinda keep forgettin’ that when I’m talking to ya.”

“It’s pretty bizarre for me, too,” I said.

“I reckon it is. Now, have another apple,” said Applejack as she picked another shiny red apple off of her cart. “I’ve gotta get back to work, but you’re welcome to stop back by for supper some evenin’. We’d be glad to have ya.”

“I’ll take you up on that,” I said, “but some other evening. I think when I get back to my house, I’m going to be pretty bushed.”

“Fair enough, but you’re an earth pony now. I doubt you’ll be all that bushed if you’re just out trotting around all day,” Applejack said with a grin.

I nodded, my mouth full of apple again. She was probably right. I expected to be tired already, but I really wasn’t. I finished the apple quickly, and got Applejack to point the way back to town. This time I got to follow a road instead of just heading out cross country.

It was such a nice day, I just walked back into town, getting there in the early afternoon. I decided to head down to the market before I went home. Something sweet from Sugar Cube Corner sounded like a great idea. This place was starting to feel more welcoming, as I passed ponies on the street and got some friendly smiles and waves. I meandered my way to the market, finally stopping in front of Sugar Cube Corner. Then I realized, I didn’t have any bits. Actually, when I thought about it, I didn’t even know if I had any actual bits at the house. I mean, I had that allowance from Princess Celestia, but I had no idea how to collect it.

Well, I was already at Sugar Cube Corner, I could step in and ask Pinkie. She might know how I was supposed to go about getting some bits to spend. I stepped inside and saw Pinkie Pie behind the counter, waiting on a couple of other ponies that I didn’t know. I stepped off to the side and waved to catch her attention. The smile already plastered on her face got a little bigger as she saw me and waved back. I grinned back at her and waited for her to finish waiting on the pair already at the counter.

Once she was done, Pinkie bounced out from behind the counter and stopped in front of me. “Hey Rain,” she said. “What’s sprinkling?”

“Huh?” I asked, lost.

“Well, some ponies you ask ‘What’s cooking’, but your name is Rain, so I said ‘What’s sprinkling’. Hmm, I might have to work on that one. Don’t you worry, though. I’ll figure something out,” she finished with a big smile.

“Oh, I bet you will,” I grinned back. “Anyway, I was out wandering around today and thought I’d like to get something sweet to take home for tonight.”

“Now that is always a good idea. It’d be better if you got something sweet for right now and something sweet for tonight, though,” said Pinkie.

“Ah, you know. I just had a few apples over at Applejack’s and I’m not hungry now. Anyway, I realized I’ve got no bits,” I said.

“You have lots of bits,” said Pinkie. “Princess Celestia’s letter said so.”

“Well, yeah,” I said, “but that’s more like the promise of bits. I don’t actually have any to hand you right now to pay for a muffin.”

“Oooh,” Pinkie said, drawing out the word. “I see what you mean. Hmm, I’ve got no idea You should probably ask Twilight about that. She’d know. But sweets for tonight are important, so how about I give you a box of muffins and you can pay me back once Twilight tells you how to get your hooves on a few bits.”

“Are you sure?” I asked. “I hate to leave without paying.”

“Oh, don’t worry,” said Pinkie, already behind the counter in a blur of motion and packing a box of muffins. “Besides,” she added, “I couldn’t let somepony in need of sweets walk out of here without any.”

“Now you sound like Applejack,” I said.

“Oh, really? Is my accent coming back? I worry about that sometimes,” she said.

“Huh? No, I mean Applejack wouldn’t let me pay for those apples for my lunch either. I’m starting to feel like some sort of mooch,” I said.

“You’re no mooch. Besides, you’re going to pay me back for these after you talk to Twilight, right?” asked Pinkie as she was sealing the box with a piece of string wrapped around it and tied off in a bow.

“Definitely,” I replied.

“There, totally not a mooch, then,” said Pinkie. “What is a mooch, anyway?”

“Earth saying,” I said. “It’s somebody, err, somepony who’s always asking for something for free.”

“Ahh, you’re not a mooch. Don’t worry about it,” said Pinkie Pie.

“Okay,” I said as Pinkie pushed the box of muffins across the counter at me and I grasped the tied string in my mouth. “Fhanks.”

“You shouldn’t talk with your mouth full,” she said as I turned to leave.

I headed home with my cargo, and found that carrying a box of muffins by a string in your mouth is a really efficient way to get hungry. See, your nose is right there, and the aroma of fresh-baked muffins is really strong, so by the time I got home, I had to snitch one for myself right then. After I’d finished my muffin (blueberry, with those wonderful little sweet crunchy crumbles on top, by the way) I headed right back out the door for Twilight’s.

It was getting easier and easier to find my way around Ponyville, and before long I was walking up to Twilight’s tree. I knocked on the door and heard her call, “Coming!” from the other side.

As she opened the door, I said, “Hi, Twilight.”

“Oh, hi Rain,” she said, smiling at me. “How’s the house?”

“Great,” I replied. “I can’t thank you all enough. It’s really amazing.”

“I’m so glad you like it,” she paused. “Oh, silly me. Come on in,” said Twilight, gesuring me inside with a hoof.

I stepped into the library as Twilight asked, “So what brings you here?”

“I stopped by Sugar Cube Corner today, and then I realized I don’t actually have any bits. Pinkie said I should ask you about how I’m supposed to collect that allowance from the Princess,” I said.

Twilight tapped her head with her hoof, “I can’t believe I forgot something like that. I’m sorry.”

“It’s okay,” I said. “I know you were all pretty busy.”

“True,” said Twilight with a small grin. “But still, I shouldn’t have forgotten. You actually have an account at the Ponyville bank that will get funded periodically from the royal treasury. All you have to do is go in and ask to make a withdrawal. I should go with you the first time, since they’ve never met you and they already know me. But after this first time, you can just go by yourself.”

“That sounds good,” I said. “Um, I hate to impose, but when would you have some time to go?”

“Oh, I can go right now. I think we have just enough time before the bank closes,” said Twilight. She turned her head and called, “Spike! Can you watch the library for a little while? I’ve got to run an errand.”

The little dragon trotted out from the kitchen saying, “No problem, Twilight.”

Twilight nodded and her horn flared as she floated her saddlebags onto her back from their place behind the door. “Ready?” she asked me.

“After you,” I said, opening the door and holding it for her.

I followed Twilight through town and in the general direction of the market, but before we go there, she turned off onto another road. Just around the corner was the bank. We walked in, and fortunately there weren’t any other ponies waiting, so we were able to head straight for a teller.

Twilight explained who I was and that a new account had been set up for me. The teller nodded and then needed to go back and check the ledgers (no computers, so everything was on paper ledgers). Once he came back, he told us he’d verified the account and it’s balance. I don’t really know how much a bit is worth, or how much your average pony makes in a month, but apparently my account was fairly large, because the bank manager actually stopped by to introduce herself and tell me not to hesitate to ask for her if I needed any help.

In the end, I left with a pouch with a hundred bits in it. Twilight had said that should get me anything I needed in the way of food for the rest of the week. I realized I should’ve brought my saddlebags, as now I was wandering through town with a jangling bag of bits hanging from my mouth. It seemed in poor taste, somehow.

As we got back to Twilight’s, I transferred the bag of bits to my hoof and asked, “Hey Twilight. I realized on the way back over here that no one has made any remarks about me not having a cutie mark, even though I’ve been up and down the streets of Ponyville a few times today.”

“Well, you can thank Rarity for that,” said Twilight. “I heard that she’d put out the word that she’d be very cross with anyone… how’d she put it… uncouth enough to make mention of such a thing to you.”

“Really?” I asked. “I’ll have to do something nice for her.”

“Want a suggestion?” asked Twilight.

“Sure,” I replied.

“You’ve got plenty of bits, make a special request for an outfit or something. I don’t think there’s anything she loves more than making something special for a client,” said Twilight.

“Hmm,” I said slowly. “I don’t know anything I need, though.”

“Don’t worry,” said Twilight, with a smile. “You’ll think of something.”

We said our goodbyes, and I headed back to my house as the sun was setting. It’d been a remarkably full day. Satisfying. I had another three muffins to look forward to, as well. Actually, now that I thought about it, I decided to see if Shoeshine and Electric Sky were around and might want to have a muffin with me. Definitely a good day, and it wasn’t even over yet.

11 Idyll

The next morning I was up and about early again, but this time I had slept better. The night before, I’d managed to catch Shoeshine and Electric Sky before they knocked off work in the workshop behind Shoeshine’s house. They wanted a chance to clean up after working near Shoeshine’s forge all day, but this time Shoeshine insisted that I come over to her house. So I occupied myself with reading some more about the history of games in Equestria before it was time to head over to Shoeshine’s with my muffin payload.

Shoeshine’s house was much neater than I’d expected after hearing Electric Sky’s comments about unfinished projects on the kitchen table. I’d been ready for a pretty cluttered house, not necessarily dirty, but just bits of repair project and tools here and there. There was none of that, but I noticed that the kitchen table was clear. I felt a little bad about that, because back on Earth, I’d certainly been guilty of leaving a bit of this and that on the kitchen table instead of cleaning it. I mostly ate on the couch while watching television, so I never really needed the kitchen table for its intended purpose. Still, Shoeshine never made a comment about it, and neither did Sky, so I let it be, as well.

We’d had a great time, just sitting and talking into the evening. We’d had some tea with our muffins because Sky said that coffee would keep her up all night. It turned out that she lived just a few houses down. Pretty convenient for work. Of course, it’s not like a pony working anywhere in Ponyville would have that much of a commute, walking from one side of town to the other might take twenty whole minutes at a pretty leisurely pace. The pair of coworkers were obviously longtime friends, as well, as they tended to bicker like an old married couple, which I’d found hilarious.

Anyway, it was now morning, and I was scheduled to meet Rainbow later at that hill with the pond and the little woods a bit later. Electric Sky’s mention of coffee the night before had gotten me thinking that I wouldn’t mind some. I went nosing through my cabinets, but I didn’t see anything. I knew that at some point I’d have to go through everything in here just to see what Twilight and her friends had stocked me up with, but right now I just wanted coffee.

Then I had an idea. Closing my eyes, I stuck my nose in the first cabinet and sniffed. Nothing. Still nothing at the next cabinet, but on the third, my new and improved nose caught a little hint of coffee. I opened my eyes and poked my head in deeper. Going through a cabinet this way was actually way easier than as a human. My long neck made it pretty easy to get right in there. Reaching anything at the back might still be a challenge, but I could find something much faster. My nose led me to a lidded tin, and as I snaked a hoof in and pulled it out, I could see it was labeled with a coffee bean. Bingo.

I opened it up and was dismayed to see that it was whole bean. Hmm, there had to be a grinder somewhere around here, then. Suddenly I realized that I’d seen it without even noticing it. I looked over and sure enough, there was a grinder sitting beside the large jars holding flour and sugar a few feet over from the stove. When I’d seen it with it’s big hopper and crank handle, I’d put it down as a meat grinder. My aunt in Kentucky had always had one sitting out on the counter like that, since she and my uncle raised their own meat and tended to make sausage and hamburger and the like from their own meat. It just hadn’t clicked that ponies don’t eat meat, so there was no way that was a meat grinder. A little closer inspection showed that there was no grill on the front, just a chute for the ground whatever to pour out. So I filled the hopper, grabbed a mug to catch the grounds and dumped in enough beans for a pot. The little hand-crank turned out a decent medium grind, and I was on my way to coffee with my breakfast.

Now to find something to brew it in. There were a lot of cooking accoutrements both on hooks and tucked neatly into cabinet space, but it wasn’t too long before I located an old-fashioned percolator-style coffee maker. This couldn’t be too hard, I thought. I put the grounds in the top, water in the bottom, and set the whole thing over high heat on the stove. It didn’t take too long before I saw and heard the coffee start to perk, and then it was just a matter of watching the color. It turns out, though, that watching the color of coffee in the perk can be a little misleading if you’re not used to it. What I thought looked like a nice dark intensity turned out to be a really strong cup of coffee. Oh well, I was sure I’d get it with a little practice, and besides, I was used to the coffee at work back on Earth. It didn’t even come close to being worse than that, too strong or not.

My little coffee-making escapade had taken some time, so the sun was already up by the time I headed out to the backyard with my oats and coffee. This took a couple of trips, and as I was clomping awkwardly on three hooves with the fourth holding the coffee pot, I heard Shoeshine’s voice from the other side of the fence. “Why didn’t you just set it on your back?”

“It’s hot,” I replied, looking over towards my neighbor. She was out with her own mug, sitting in a chair behind her little shop.

“Well that’s why you use a tray,” she said.

That’d never occurred to me. “I’m not sure I could balance it,” I said.

“Of course you could balance it. I’ve never heard of a pony that couldn’t balance whatever they wanted on their back,” she said. “How did you carry a lot of stuff at once back in Kentucky?”

“Um, bags?” I said hesitantly.

“Well sure you can use a bag, but I meant stuff that you couldn’t stuff down a bag, like plates or your coffee pot there,” she said.

“Just like this,” I said, now really nervous that I’d really let something slip. It sounded like this was pretty fundamental, and now that I thought of it, I’d seen plenty of ponies carrying things on their backs. It just didn’t occur to me to try it that way this morning.

“You didn’t grow up around pony folk, did you?” Shoeshine asked.

A lifeline, and I could even tell the truth. I really didn’t like lying to anyone, but it probably wouldn’t do to have it be common knowledge that I hadn’t always been a pony. “Um, no. I didn’t grow up around ponies.”

“Orphan?” she asked simply.

“Not exactly,” I said. “It was…”

Then she cut me off. “Sorry, that’s personal and I’ve no right to ask. Just forget I said anything.”

“It’s okay,” I said. “I know I’m kind of a weird pony, in a lot of ways. You could say I took an unusual path to get here, I guess.”

“The usual path can be boring,” Shoeshine said with a smile. “I didn’t mean to be nosy. Well, let’s be honest. I did mean to be nosy, but sometimes my mouth outruns my brain.”

“I think we all have that problem from time to time,” I said, seeing her smile a bit in response.

After a short silence, I said, “So do you come out here for a morning coffee often?”

“Yeah, nearly every morning about this time,” she replied.

“You must have just missed me yesterday morning. I was out to watch the sunrise, then I headed out for the day,” I said.

“Must have,” she said. “Some company’s always nice. Electric Sky’s here some mornings, too. When she can get her lazy flank out of bed,” she added with a smile. “I swear, most mornings that mare rolls out of bed just in time to make it to work.”

“I’ve been guilty of that in the past,” I said, thinking of all the mornings I’d gotten up just in time to roll out the door for work, with a can of Coke substituting for breakfast.

“She sort of makes a habit of it. Of course, when she does oversleep, she’s just down the way, so I can go an get her easy enough. She kind of quit oversleeping once I started waking her up with an oversized party horn,” said Shoeshine with a chuckle.

“I imagine that’d give someone incentive to get up on time,” I said.

“Oh yeah, I was intending to ask,” she started. “That trick of yours with the charcoal, can you hold anything like that?”

“Yeah,” I said. “That’s just how I usually hold things.”

“Not touching your hoof?” she asked.

“No, I usually hold things a bit away from my hoof,” I said.

“So can you pick up hot things like that? Without hurting yourself, I mean?” she asked.

I thought about it. I couldn’t really recall feeling any heat from the coffee pot this morning, but I was holding it by the handle, so that might not mean much. “I don’t know. I’ve never tried.”

“Well, it seems like you’re a lot more dexterous than your average earth pony. I know you’re working on your games and all, but if you’re looking for some part-time work, I could use someone to help with some small details on repairs. Sky usually handles that, but she’s also my heavy lifter, sometimes we get a little busy with the big jobs and the small ones have to wait. It’d be nice to have someone to help with that sort of stuff. It wouldn’t be all the time, mind you,” she said.

“That sounds good. I mean, I the games are a nice hobby, but I don’t really see myself doing that as a job. Ponyville’s probably not a big enough town to support a shop just dedicated to games,” I said.

“You might be surprised. We have one shop down by the market that just sells quills and sofas, so anything’s possible. I just wanted to make the offer, at least,” said Shoeshine.

“Well, let me know the next time you need some help. I’m not an expert at fixing things, but I’ll give it a try,” I said.

“I wouldn’t worry about that. Electric Sky’s a great tinker, and I’ll have her help you out a bit at first. You’ll get the hang of it pretty quickly,” she said.

“I can help who out?” said Electric Sky as she rounded the corner of Shoeshine’s workshop.

Shoeshine and I both looked over, neither of us expecting her to just appear like that. “I was talking about Rain, here,” said Shoeshine. “I thought maybe she could help us out with some of the smaller repairs that we tend to get behind on. You might need to show her a few things at first, though.”

“Are you trying to replace me?” said Sky, her eyes going big and her bottom lip pouting out a bit.

“Of… of course not!” Shoeshine stammered.

“Gotcha,” said Sky with a mischievous grin. “Of course I’d love some help when we get behind. It sounds like a good idea. Hey Rain, if you want to start lessons, I have some little tinker-jobs that I take home. You could come over today after work and I could show you a few things.”

“Sure. You guys knock off around five, right? I’ll come find you then. You can just come get me if I miss you. I’ll be here,” I said, indicating my house.

“Alright,” said Electric Sky. “I’ll see you then.” She turned to Shoeshine with what my father would’ve called a shit-eating grin. “Now who’s ready to start work and who’s lazing around with a mug of coffee in their hoof chatting away with the neighbors?”

“I was just waiting on you, you little goose!” said Shoeshine with a grimace.

Electric Sky was already trotting into the workshop. “Ha ha ha ha ha!” she trilled as she disappeared inside.

Shoeshine blinked and shook her head, then turned to me. “I’m never going to hear the end of this if I don’t get in there. Nice talking to you, Rain,” she said as she got off of her chair, and headed into the workshop, leaving her coffee cup to sit.

I finished my oats and had another mug of coffee, before carrying everything back inside and washing it. I’d had to try that back-balancing thing, but I didn’t want to make a mess with the still half-full coffee pot if I got it wrong. Once things were cleaned up, I found the saddle bags that Rarity had given me, shrugged them on, and loaded a few bits into one side. It seemed like overkill, having a whole set of bags on for such a little load, but I didn’t want to head to the market with a jingling coin purse in my mouth, either.

I headed out, not bothering with my cloak. I felt better without it, less like I was trying to hide something, and now that ponies had all but stopped staring and making comments about my blank flank, the thought of going without it didn’t bother me so much. I made my way over to the market and found Sugar Cube Corner open for business.

I stepped inside, and there was Pinkie, behind the counter. “Hey Pinkie,” I called out, waving.

“Oh, hi Rain,” she said. “What’s pouring?”

“That might still need some work, Pinkie,” I said, smiling.

“Yeah, I didn’t think it was that great, but I didn’t have anything else ready to go,” said Pinkie with a giggle and a scrunch of her nose. “What brings you by?”

“I still owe you for yesterday’s muffins,” I said. “Twilight took me to the bank and got me all set up there, so I have real spendable bits now.”

“Oh, sounds good. It’ll be eight bits for yesterday’s muffins,” she said.

I nosed into my saddlebags and deposited eight bits on the counter. Pinkie scraped them up and dumped them into the till before asking, “So what else can I interest you in? We have donuts. They’re great for breakfast.”

“Oh, I already had some breakfast, I just wanted to pay you back for yesterday,” I said, shaking my head.

“You didn’t have to go out of your way, you silly. The next time you were here to buy something would’ve been fine,” she said.

“I’d hate to wander around thinking that I owed you something and hadn’t paid you back yet,” I said.

“You’ll drive yourself nuts like that if you try to keep track of every debt like that. Just say thanks and be ready to lend a hoof whenever you’re needed,” said Pinkie. Her expression hadn’t changed, same smile plastered on her face, but I knew she wasn’t talking about bits anymore.

“Um thanks, Pinkie,” I said, suddenly a little unsure of myself.

“No problem,” said Pinkie. “Now you have a nice day. Come back when you’re hungry for something sweet.”

“I will,” I said, nodding before I left.

I trotted down the street, back towards my house. There was a lot more going on behind Pinkie’s blue eyes than I usually gave her credit for. I sighed as I realized she was almost exactly right. I did tend to keep track of things, like ‘I owe that guy a favor’ or ‘he owes me a favor’. A little ledger in my head that I’d try to balance out. It seemed a rather mercenary as I thought about it. I could be better than that, I realized. I ought to be better than that. It seemed I’d fallen into just the right world to help me with that, though.

I’d shed my saddle bags once I got home. I still had some time before I had to meet Rainbow Dash, but I really wanted to try swimming in that pond by where she had me meet her. I used to swim pretty well as a kid, but I hardly ever went as an adult. I wondered how hard it’d be as a pony.

This time, as I left my back yard, headed for the pond, I tried to go a little faster. I felt the familiar trot double-cadence I’d gotten used to yesterday shift up into something that felt like a triple-beat with a rest. I just kept my eyes fixed on the hill that I was heading for and thought about going faster. That syncopated triple cadence evened out and a fourth beat appeared. I was dimly aware of all of this, because I was just marvelling at the feeling of the wind in my mane and the grass tickling my belly as the scenery sped past. I tried looking from side to side, and I didn’t immediately fall down. I realized I was going quite a lot faster than I’d ever been able to as a human.

My breath was coming in deep easy gulps now, definitely a little more strained than I’d been with my pace yesterday. Still, it didn’t seem like I was overdoing it, so I kept up the pace. The comfortable four-beat pace just ate up the miles, and before I knew it, I was topping the hill that hid the pond and the woods right beside it. I brought myself to a halt, amazed that I’d just done that without falling once.

If my secret to not falling was to just let my body go without thinking about it, though, that part had been easy. I’d been mesmerized by my own speed as I crossed the plain between here and Ponyville. When I’d followed Rainbow Dash a few days before, I’d really just been focused on keeping up with her. This time, though, I’d been able to enjoy it. The only thing I could liken it to on Earth was a drive through Kansas, where the interstate had been an arrow-straight deserted ribbon of road in between fields as far as the eye could see. I’d been doing ninety miles an hour, just enjoying seeing the scenery speed past before I realized I’d better back it off. This time, though, there was no car involved. This new body was more than okay.

“You’ve been practicing,” I heard Rainbow’s voice behind me as I stood looking back at Ponyville, marvelling at how small the houses had gotten in such a short time.

I looked around and saw the rainbow-maned pony hovering just over the hilltop behind me. “First time I’ve done that,” I said, and paused to breathe a little more. “But I did go out at a pretty slow pace for a good long while yesterday.”

“Well, its definitely helped,” said Rainbow, nodding her approval.

“Aren’t you a little early?” I asked, realizing I probably wasn’t going to get my swim now.

“Nah, I was already out practicing. Seems like you’re the early one,” she said.

“Actually, I wanted to try a swim in that pond,” I said, pointing.

“Do you know how to swim?” asked Rainbow, a concerned expression crossing her face.

“Well, I could swim pretty well as a human,” I said.

“But you’ve never been swimming as a pony?” asked Rainbow.

“Well… no,” I said, looking down.

“How could you try that on your own? You could really get hurt,” said Rainbow, frowning at me.

“I was going to be careful,” I said. I really had intended to be.

“Still, don’t do stuff like that without someone around. You’ve got the whole earth pony resilience thing going, but that wouldn’t stop you from drowning!” Rainbow said, rising a little higher off the ground as she got more agitated.

“Alright, Rainbow,” I said. “Calm down. I promise I won’t go in the water without you around.”

“Good,” said Rainbow, dropping back toward the ground a bit and relaxing. “Tell you what. After we practice today, we’ll go for a dip and make sure you can swim while I’m still around to help if you need it.”

“Fair enough,” I said. “So what’s on for today’s practice?”

“Well, I was going to have you work out on flat ground, but seeing you tearing over her from town, I think we can move to part two of your hoofwork training.”

“Part two?” I asked. She’d said something about that before, but now I couldn’t remember.

“Yeah, uneven terrain. The woods over there will be great for this,” she said, pointing at the woods adjoining the pond.

“Okay, let’s give it a try,” I said, following as she started drifting that way.

Rainbow landed just outside the woods and turned to me, “Okay, at first, we’re just going to walk. Take it slow.” She started into the woods and I followed behind her. The dimness being out in the bright sunshine was nice. “Alright, now you have to keep an eye on the ground. You just have to see where you want to step, your hooves should automatically hit the right spots. In here you’ll have to look out for roots and logs and divots and that sort of thing. Just take it slow here at first. We can work on speeding up once you’re getting sure of your footing.”

I nodded and walked on. I tried to concentrate on the ground, looking for spots that were safe to step. Avoid a root there, over a log there, can’t see what I’d be putting my hoof in there, better not risk it. I was very comfortable walking by now, so I tried to follow Rainbow’s advice about just scanning the ground and looking for where I wanted to step. Still, it’s hard not to think about finding a spot to put your hoof and not thinking about the act of putting your hoof there. We were just going at a walk, so I never fell, but I did put a hoof down wrong pretty often. I was a little discouraged as we got to the other side of the woods.

“Hmm,” said Rainbow, “you might not be quite ready for that. Still, you didn’t fall, right? That’s totally progress.” She smiled at me, clearly trying to jolly me up.

“I’ll have to work on it,” I said.

“Exactly!” Rainbow said. “Nobody’s perfect their first time out. That’s why we practice, to get better.”

I nodded. She was right, it was a bit foolish of me to expect that I’d suddenly be able to navigate rough terrain. I’d only been walking as a pony for a short while, after all.

“Alright,” she continued, “let’s go for that flat ground work like I said originally. Follow me.” Rainbow headed back to the hilltop, skirting around the woods and pond at a trot. I followed. When we got to the top of the hill, Rainbow pointed off into the distance. “See that hill over there? It looks a little blue because there are wildflowers growing all over the side of it.”

I looked, and could see a hill in the distance with a blueish hue. “Yeah, I see the one you mean.”

“Cool,” she said. “I want you to make for that hill as fast as you can go, like you were running when you came out here from town, okay? When you get to the top of it, you’ll see an abandoned barn off in the distance, just a little farther from that hill than we are to it. You’re going to get to that barn, and then turn around and come back here. Then we can go for a swim. Sound good?”

I looked at the hill. It was well off in the distance, and this barn was even farther from that than it was from here? “Rainbow,” I said, “that’s going to take all day.”

She cast a sly glance my way, “You’re faster than you think you are. Besides, I’ll be up above, practicing some tricks and keeping an eye on you. If it looks like you’re taking too long, I’ll come down and have you turn around, but I’m pretty confident you can keep up a good pace.”

“Fair enough,” I said, turning toward the flower-covered hill off in the distance and setting off at a trot. I heard a whoosh behind me and looked over my shoulder to see the fading image of a rainbow as Dash took off. I shook my head. Amazing.

I kept up my trot on the way down the hill, and then as the ground levelled out I tried to find that three-beat pace I’d had earlier. I just thought about speeding up and I felt my legs coordinate themselves into that three-beat pattern. Just a little faster, I thought, and then suddenly that fourth beat was back and I was off. Once again, the wind was in my hair and I could feel the sun on my back and my breath was coming deep and easy.

My eyes were on the hill, and I could see the landscape streaming past me. Time seemed to pass at high speed, because that hill was getting closer and closer. I felt my mind begin to wander over and over, but I pulled it back, keeping focussed on the hill in front of me. Everything seemed to be clicking along now, just working without me having to think too hard about it. I was pointed at my goal, well, my first goal. I still couldn’t see the barn, and just letting the world slide by.

As I hit the slope up the hill, I felt myself breathing harder. I eased back a bit into that three-beat gait, and quickly felt my breathing catch back up. It was a little more work, going uphill, but as the slope increased, I had to fall back into a trot. Just keep it moving easy. No need to wear myself out charging up the hill. As I crested the hill, I came to a stop and looked around. It took me a moment to spot the little barn Rainbow had mentioned, it was quite a bit farther out than I expected, barely more than a dot on the landscape.

With my new target in mind, I was off again. This time it was easier to transition up to my faster gaits. It really was sort of like having gears. I liked listening to the beat of my hooves. It was soothing. The miles between me and that barn just seemed to evaporate. Every time I felt my mind begin to wander, I pulled it back. Stare at the barn, watch it come closer. It wasn’t like tunnel vision. I could still see everything around me, but all that was incidental.

I pulled up at the barn and came to a stop. It was an old two-story barn. Just standing out here in the middle of nowhere. The paint had been red at some point, but it was weathered into a deep rusty hue now. It looked just like a barn out of a storybook, except for being all weathered. I walked a little closer to it. Actually, the wood all still looked alright, it just hadn’t been painted in a while. I wondered why it was standing out here all by itself, though. I walked on around it, and noticed a section of ground that looked a little off. Flatter than everything else around it. The grass was grown up here, just as it was all around, but it seemed to be a slightly lighter shade than everywhere else. Ah, there used to be a house here, I realized. The size of that patch was about right for a little farmhouse. That’s why the barn was here. Kind of surprising that someone had taken the house down and left the barn, though.

Well, enough of a break. I turned around and was rounding the barn again, when I heard Rainbow call my name from inside the barn. I walked around to the open front and saw her standing inside, looking up at the hay loft. “Rainbow?” I called.

She spun around, “Oh there you are. I saw you make it here, but then I lost sight of you. Thought you might be checking out the barn.”

“I was just looking around. Just about to get started back,” I said.

“You’ll probably want a drink before you do,” said Rainbow, and she trotted out the front door and around the other side of the barn where I saw a water pump tucked in beside the barn. It wasn’t very big, and it was almost covered in the overgrown grass. “There’s an underground stream here. This pump still works. I use it all the time as a quick spot to rest and get a drink while I’m out practicing. Here, I’ll pump and you can get a drink, then you can pump while I have some.”

“Okay,” I said, stepping in beside the spigot as Rainbow worked the pump handle. Water came pouring out, and I stuck my muzzle in and slurped up a long drink. After the first few pumps, the water cooled down and felt wonderfully refreshing.

I nodded to Rainbow that I was done and we switched places. I pumped the long handle and she got a drink, even ducking her head under the cool running water. “Thanks,” she said. “That’s a lot more difficult when you’re by yourself. You can still do it though. Anyway, now that you’ve had a drink, time to head back to the pond. You still feel like a swim?”

“After I get back there, I probably will, yeah,” I said.

“Cool,” she said. “See you there.” With that, she took off again and I was by myself in the shadow of the barn. I looked around, thinking just how idyllic this was. I hadn’t seen anything like it since I was little. So I took off back to the pond with a smile on my face.

The run back felt just as good as the run over. I was kind of amazed that this sort of pace didn’t seem to be tiring me out, except when I tried to hold it going uphill. I definitely had to slow down for the uphills. Still, the idea of all that wide-open land around Ponyville seemed less daunting now. It wasn’t just someplace surrounding where I lived. I could actually go there, and I didn’t even need roads. It was as simple as seeing something interesting off in the distance and going over to take a look. Okay, maybe it’d take a little while, but it seemed like if you could see it, you could reach it in a reasonable amount of time. Well, reasonable for someone like me who didn’t have a job to get to. I realized that it was probably just as true back on Earth, but that you always seemed to have responsibilities: a job to get to, groceries to buy, something. Trying to fit all that into a day seemed to take it all up and leave you no time to just go see things. Here in Equestria, I’d broken out of all of that, or been broken out of it, and I was currently enjoying the hell out of it.

I got back to the pond to see Rainbow laying out next to the water. She looked completely relaxed, and she’d even managed to get a pair of sunglasses from somewhere. “Hey Rain,” she called as she saw me. “Great job today. I told you that you could keep up that pace. Feel alright?”

“Yeah,” I said, “but I felt like I was getting close to my limit there. I was starting to breathe harder. I probably would’ve had to slow up if I’d been going much farther.”

“Still, you did great. You held a full gallop on and off for more than an hour. That’s pretty darned good,” she said. “And I didn’t see you fall once.”

“Nope, no falls, oddly enough,” I said, walking past here and setting my front hooves in the water. The water felt warm through my hooves, sort of distant, like I was feeling through an oven mitt. I stood there for a little while, feeling wonderfully calm.

“Hey Rainbow,” I asked. “Do you ever meditate?”

“Meditate? Me? Nah, that’s more Twilight’s speed,” said Rainbow. “Why do you ask?”

“Well, I didn’t realize it at the time, but that run was a little like meditating,” I said.

“Really?” asked Rainbow.

“Yeah, meditation doesn’t have to be just sitting with your legs all folded up and going ‘Ommm’,” I said, drawing out the ‘ommm’.

“Huh?” said Rainbow, looking confused.

I shook my head. “Human thing, don’t worry about it.” I looked out over the pond again, still and peaceful. “I just mean that meditation isn’t just about sitting still. Even sitting meditation isn’t just turning your mind off. It’s about being present. In the moment. Not letting your mind drift off to wonder what you’re going to have for supper, or all the other little concerns you have. There’s even moving meditation. There’s a thing called kinhin, where you walk, slowly and purposefully. It’s still meditation, but you’re moving as you do it. That run was a lot faster than kinhin, well, it was faster than the kinhin that I used to do, but there are some sects where you do kinhin almost at a run.” I shook my head again. “Sorry, I’m getting sidetracked. All I mean is that I’ve never really worked out like that before. There was something about just feeling the wind, seeing everything around me, and just running. Just the activity. I wasn’t anywhere except right there. It was nice.”

"Nice speech," Rainbow snorted, "but if you're all about being present, you're not really there, are you?" She walked up to the water's edge beside me.

"What do you mean?" I asked, suddenly a bit angry.

"Were you feeling each hoof hit the ground, consciously directing it where to go?" she asked.

"Well, no," I admitted. "It only seems to work if I kind of keep my mind off of it."

"Then if I understand what you mean with your 'presence' thing, you're not really there. You're ignoring what your body is doing and just letting it run on autopilot," she said.

I opened my mouth, and then shut it again. She was right, and my little epiphany about being in the moment was just me feeding myself a line of manure. I hung my head. "You're right, aren't you? Well, crap."

"Hey," she said, leaning over and bumping into my shoulder, "don't feel bad. You're just maybe not as far along as you thought you were. You'll get it."

“I’ll keep at it,” I said. “Now, how about that swim?”

“Okay, it slopes down fairly gradually here. Don’t go too far out. I’ll be here in case you need me,” said Rainbow.

I nodded and started out into the water. The warmth I’d felt as I just had my hoofs in gave way to a slight chill as I passed through the warm layer that usually sits on top of standing water. Not too bad, and really, I had been sweating pretty hard, especially at the end. The cool water felt good, especially as it started to take up more of my weight. I soon found myself in water up to my shoulders, with just my head sticking out above the surface. “I’m gonna try floating, okay Rainbow? I can still touch bottom here,” I called out.

“Okay,” Rainbow called back.

I let my legs fold up a bit and found that I could float, as long as I maneuvered my body down under me a bit so that my head stayed poking up out of the water. It actually seemed easier than as a human. Probably the long neck. “Okay, I’m floating,” I called. “Gonna paddle around a little. I’m doing fine.”

“Sure,” said Rainbow, still watching me closely.

I started a little paddle motion with my front legs, and felt my back legs kick in as well. Seemed like this was fairly instinctual for a pony, too. It was a little harder to hold my head above water, as my body wanted to slide back to a more horizontal inclination while I was paddling. It still wasn’t bad, though.

After a few minutes, I found I could do this pretty easily. I wasn’t going very fast, and probably looked pretty silly, paddling in little circles where the water wasn’t too deep. I even found I could do something similar to a breast stroke. These pony front legs had a lot more range of motion than an Earth pony’s. So I started to pull myself through the water with bigger sweeping strokes to my sides, and headed for deeper water, feeling more confident.

“Hey,” I heard Rainbow call from the shore. “You’re pretty good at that.” She sounded amazed.

“Dunno why, but this just seems easier. Might be because you use all four limbs to swim as a human, same as here. I don’t have to think about coordinating extra legs to do this,” I said between strokes. “Anyway, the water’s fine. Are you coming in?”

“Sure,” she said, before launching herself up about twenty feet with her wings, then curling up and tucking them back in. “Cannonball!” she cried as she plummeted into the water.

She splashed down well ahead of me, so I didn’t get sprayed, and I couldn’t help but laugh. I’d never thought of that. You didn’t need a diving board when you were a pegasus. Just stop flapping.

“Oh, that feels good,” Rainbow called as she bobbed to the surface, doing the pony version of the doggy paddle up ahead of me. She looked around and oriented on me, before heading my way with the doggy paddle, making better time than I had with it. “Hey, you wanna race?” she asked as she drew close.

“Sure,” I said, looking at her doggy paddle. I couldn’t paddle as fast as her, but I was way faster than that doing the breast stroke, even without much practice in this body. “Here to the shore?” We were maybe a hundred feet out now, not super far, but long enough that it shouldn’t be all that close.

“Deal,” said Rainbow with a grin. “Three, two, one… go!” she called.

I took one big stroke, and shot forwards a couple feet, when I saw Rainbow suddenly breach the water beside me like a dolphin, arcing forward, her belly not quite all the way out of the water, as she dove down with her front hooves pointed in front of her. She went all the way under, and I saw her blue form rocket ahead. She only touched the surface twice in the hundred feet to the shore. It’d taken her like twenty seconds. I don’t think human athletes could swim that fast. I felt like I’d barely moved.

I continued on to the shore, dragging myself up onto dry ground, where Rainbow was waiting with a hugely self-satisfied smirk. “How in the world did you do that?” I asked.

Rainbow just kept grinning at me and shrugged. I kept looking at her, then my eyes narrowed. “You used your wings!” I hissed. She could fly underwater. Amazing, but still annoying.

“Yuh huh,” said Rainbow, her grin now even bigger.

“I don’t have wings,” I said. She’d just totally cheated.

“You don’t?” she said innocently, making a show of looking at my back. “Hadn’t noticed.”

“Next time, no wings,” I said. Rainbow was still doing this angelic little wide-eyed face, like she had no idea that she’d just completely suckered me. I stared at her. She stared at me. It wasn’t very long before we both broke down laughing.

“The look on your face was so worth it,” Rainbow said as we got our breath back.

“I hope you realize this means that I’m going to get you back, right?” I said.

“Counting on it,” said Rainbow with a grin. “I think that’s enough for today. See you back here in two days?”

“Yeah, I’ll be here,” I said.

“See you then,” said Rainbow, as she took off with a whoosh.

I trotted up to the top of the hill, and I could see my house, small in the distance. I shook my head again. I was going to have to plan something devious for Rainbow, but it didn’t have to be right away. I’d think about it.

I made good time on the way back to town, too.

Author's Notes:

And that breaks 40,000 words. We're into short novel territory. Scary.