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. :)