As preoccupied as Twilight could be, she would always hold two things in precedence over all others: order and punctuality.

My hair was a bit ruffled since I had made my way to the library in a light sprint. As nice as the time in the shower with Celsius had been, it had caused me to now be in the unfortunate position of being late. I didn’t even get the chance to dry my hair. And I was not just a few minutes late. No, Melody Williams was not simply late; she was much too late. An hour and a couple minutes late.

Slightly out of breath, I knocked on the door and braced my hands on my knees to catch a breath. The door opened a moment later, and in the corners of my eyes, I saw the little feet of Spike as he stood in the entranceway. “Finally, there you are!” Spike shouted and in the next moment pulled me inside. For such a little guy, he was surprisingly strong. He could really trim his claws a bit, I noticed, as he grabbed my wrist a bit stronger than needed to be. “Twilight is going crazy already!”

“What?” The dragon didn’t bother replying to my question. He dragged me further into the library and eventually up the stairs to Twilight’s quarters. Before he could even open the door, I could already hear the voices of two mares. One I recognized immediately; the other sounded unfamiliar. Twilight had a visitor.

Spike hastily opened the door and continued dragging me into the room. There didn’t seem more to the quarters up here, and if I didn’t know that we had just left the ground floor, I would still think we were there. Twilight’s living room – at least this was what I presumed to be her living room – was a smaller copy of the main room of the building. Books at every wall, a small carpet in the middle on which the round table with the bust, which used to be downstairs, stood. One of the few differences was the large window that brightened the room, behind which stood a telescope. The other difference was another smaller staircase that led to a higher level where there seemed to be a bed, in front of which stood Twilight and her guest.

My eyes fell on my boss at first. Her mane was unkempt, as was her coat. Judging from the dried streaks on her furry face, it was obvious she had been crying.

“Twilight, darling, I’m sure that–” the other mare started to say but stopped as our eyes met. Her coat was white like fresh snow, her purple mane lavishly rolled up into large curls and hung elegantly down her neck. Diamonds graced her flanks and her facial expressions were underlined by very carefully applied makeup. Even though I was not a big fan of makeup personally, I had to admit that, as an artist, this mare knew how to make the most out of what she had. Only her obviously fake eyelashes disturbed the image. I mean, I was worried they could be used as shovels in case of snow.

“Melody!” Twilight called as she noticed me as well, and faster than I could react, the mare jumped at me. Her hooves wrapped around my waist as she tackled me to the ground. Confusedly, I looked down at Twilight, who was caressing my stomach with her cheek as if I would grant her a wish if she did it gently enough.

“What’s going on here?” I voiced my bemusement and braced myself on my arms.

Spike stepped next to me and coughed. “Well, Twilight thought you quit since you didn’t come to work today. Somehow, and I really mean somehow, she thought that this meant you would no longer want to be her friend.” I was feeling a bit bad already for being late, but how could I have known that it would spiral to such extremes so quickly? I know that ponies were a bit crazy and would drop everything to help a friend, but this was new even to me. On the other hand, I had never heard of two ponies breaking their friendship. And now that I thought about, it wasn’t even mentioned in my books. The thought that maybe they didn’t even know they could end a friendship came to me for a moment.

“And I was trying to tell her for quite a while about how silly she is and that you were simply late,” Twilight’s guest spoke up. The mare walked up behind Twilight and levitated my boss in a bright blue shimmer off of me. Afterwards, she reached out a hoof and helped me back on my legs. “My name is Rarity, Rarity Belle. A pleasure to meet you, Miss Williams. Twilight has told me quite a few things about you and I have to say, now that I’ve seen you, I have to agree. Simply divine. Those curves, that pose, so imposing, yet elegant, feminine, and delicate. I can understand why some ponies would look twice at you. It will be a pleasure working with you.” I knew a fake accent if I heard one, but I also understood that her words were meant seriously and that everything was meant as friendly as it sounded.

“Thanks, Miss Rarity. I’m a bit surprised Twilight told you about me already. I take it you are a fellow scientist colleague?” I rather suspected her to be a geologist, judging by her cutie mark. What a geologist would be good for was a mystery to me.

The mare giggled. “Oh no, no no. No colleague, a friend. And please, call me Rarity. No, I am a designer and our dear Twilight here,” she pointed at the mare who stood to the side and whispered something to her dragon as she brought her mane back into something more presentable, “has asked me to make something for you.”

“Exactly.” Twilight spoke up again as she joined us again. “I’m so sorry, Melody. I just don’t know what came over me. I mean, everypony is late sometimes. Five minutes, maybe even ten.” She shuddered visibly. “Maybe an hour. Or more,” she added after her eye twitched. “No reason to panic. She hasn’t forgotten you and surely is still your friend.” Something in me wanted to take that poor pony into my arms and calm her. She didn’t seem to handle rejections very well, even something that barely resembled it. I didn’t want to know what would happen if someone really turned her down. “All that counts is that you are here and haven’t forgotten me.”

“I’m really sorry, Twilight. Celsius and I were out for a long while last night and went to bed really late. Then we fell asleep in the shower and… I know it’s no excuse. I’m really sorry and it won’t happen again.”

“That means a lot to me, thanks.” Twilight sniffled but then grinned at me again. “And I finally have the first results!” she proudly declared.

“Twilight, please don’t tell me you freaked out like that because you thought you couldn’t get to give your presentation?” At Spike’s words, the unicorn turned red and preferred to look out of the window. The dragon groaned. “I’m downstairs if somepony needs me.” I heard the white mare giggle.

Twilight cleared her throat. “Anyhow, yes, I have made a psychological profile about our talks from the previous days, and I have the preliminary results.”

“Okay, I’m listening,” I said, excited. And I really was. The power and enthusiasm in Twilight’s voice was a bit contagious. Plus I was also curious.

“You are a pony!” she proudly announced, eyes closed, muzzle slightly raised, and with a grin on her lips.

“Excuse me, darling, for bursting your bubble, but Miss Williams here—”

“Just Melody is fine, Rarity,” I cut her short.

“But Melody is clearly not a pony.”

“No, no. You are getting me wrong. She thinks she is a pony.”

“Well, I’m pretty sure that I’m aware that I’m a human being.” I looked over to Rarity in befuddlement, who just shook her head. Nice to know that I wasn’t alone.

“Then let me ask you a question.” Twilight grinned even wider than before. “Why are you trying to be a pony, then?”

I blinked and thought for a moment. My mouth opened but closed immediately again. A few seconds later, it was clear that I was unable to cope with the question. “What?”

“Melody, as you said, you are a human being, not a pony. But after all that I have heard from you, you are desperately trying to adjust to our social norms, quirks and traditions. But that can’t work since you are a human, as you said yourself. You are not a pony but a human with your own habits and behaviour. You are thinking differently, you act differently, and you are different. So why do you try to be a pony?”

Everyone knew the feeling when you stood in front of your mother, father, grandmother, or maybe grandfather. Suddenly you were small again, nothing but a child in the eyes of the other, small and helpless and in need of the protection and approval from your opponent. I felt like that right now. Twilight had put a mirror in front of me and hadn’t burst her bubble, but mine. “I wanted… I want to… fit in,” I stammered. “Being accepted. I mean, I’m the alien, right? I’m the crazy thing that everyone should run away from… I’m…”

“A friendly being that was raised in a different culture. That is nothing that should be held against you. You are different. But so are Zecora and Gilda. It’s nothing to be ashamed of. It’s no reason why you should change who you are.” In my mind, I saw myself standing in front of my mirror. I was on all fours in a badly sewn pony costume, trying to move through the herd and wondering why everypony was avoiding me. I barely heard Twilight as she continued.

“When I heard you talk about your first time here and how everypony was avoiding you… Have you considered that it was maybe not because you were wearing clothes, but in the state they were in? I told Zecora once that a dark cloak that covered everything wasn’t the best choice to go shopping. And then your therapy. I read your file, and I don’t want to say anything bad about Doctor Mental, but… he treated you like a pony. Like a pony that simply needed to be reintegrated into society, not like a human, and I think that damaged you more than it…” Twilight couldn’t get any further, or I just stopped listening.

My little fantasy world, as dull as it may have been, was gone. I was no longer the strong, independent young woman living at the edge of town, but a scared little girl who was living in a world in which she had to fight every day to understand it. Alone amongst strangers, some of whom were more so than others. I felt alone and barely felt my nails digging into my arms and the warm tears running down my cheek.

Two pairs of hooves wrapped around my body. A warm coat pressed against my shoulder, and I felt a muzzle to my left and right softly snuggling against my head. Two voices tried to calm me, but I couldn’t make out who was talking. “Shhh… everything will be fine. I’m here to help you, Melody. Promise. And I will take care of you.” I wasn’t strong and independent. I clung to every bit of known normalcy and physical contact that I could get. I was so broken and hadn’t even noticed it myself. Not noticed how unhappy I had actually been, how lonely and lost. How much I had shut myself away. How much I had tried to be a pony and forgot to be a human.

Sometimes, a bubble has to burst.

I know I took my sweet time to update. But I also said, a few times actually, that this is a side project. So this story is always the last on my priority list. To compensate this, I decided to write smaller chapters, but more. I think this will work better in the end. (And sorry to you guys out there who thought Derpy would show up because of chapters titel. You know what, I'm actually not. No Derpy for you )

Thanks to Gron for translating this chapter.
Thanks to JBL for co-authoring, proofreading and editing.