Okay Diane, you can do this. I simply stated to myself as I took a deep breath and then slowly exhaled to steel myself. I would have to be calm to tackle the intense challenge before me if I wished to survive. After all, I could get no help from anypony else right now, it simply wasn't an option. I had already relied on Pinkie and the others far too much, and if I did this, it would improve my own confidence as well, even if my own brain currently screamed at me how much of a bad idea this was.

Despite the humans instincts protesting, I knew that I had to overcome them. This was something anypony could do, and in fact something most ponies did daily. Steeling myself I began, with one shaky hoof stretching forward, I finally managed to plant it on the first step of the stairs. Usually stairs were not this scary, in fact, I had easily walked up them. But right now? Now I was going down.

Have you ever tried doing that? Going down the stairs on all fours, going down head first? Yeah, that was what I was doing. It was how everypony did it after all. But... it didn't make it any less scary.

Rainbow Dash had of course found it hilarious once she found out. The others had found it somewhat amusing as well, but asked me how come I found it scary. It took me some time to explain that I seemed to have retained a fair amount of instincts, together with memories and personality. Mind you, it does seem not all of me actually made it through to Equestria.

I am missing a few memories here and there, I have noticed that some of my memories don't really correspond to my current personality and I do have a few odd instincts to sort out, me still seeing myself as male being one of them.

To be honest I really have nothing against being female... Okay, that's not entirely true, I do actually have one big fear. I am scared out of my skin for... you know, that time of the month. Even worse, I have no idea how that works as a pony. I have yet to ask any of the girls, since it wouldn't make for a pleasant conversation, or at least I believe it would be very awkward. But I am hoping Pinkie will cover that in the future.

Now, back to what was actually going on.

I was already tilted forward from having placed one of my hooves forward, my subconscious asking me if I was attempting suicide and then trying to tell me all the reasons I have to live. I myself, tried calming it down by providing every argument I could to why this actually wasn't life threatening, and how much I could benefit from managing this. The voice of 'reason' didn't stop, but it did calm down somewhat.

Now, with one hoof already on the first step, I began moving my second hoof. Mind you, even after a week, I still occasionally had to think twice before moving to make sure I was in fact moving the right leg. It was made a little easier from all the previous times, remembering what Pinkie had said to encourage me, every step of the way. This time however, Pinkie wasn't here. So I made my way down at an extremely slow pace, just to be sure.

About half way down though, I believed I had gotten the hang of it somewhat and increased my speed of descent a little. It all went over well enough, nothing with me falling down the stairs. Something that had actually happened the first time I decided to take the stairs down. I hadn't really thought it through the whole way, and as soon as my head was dipping towards ground I had panicked and managed to fall all the way down. Fortunately not sustaining any serious damage thanks to my Earth Pony body, but I did end up being sore in a lot of places.

Satisfied with my 'accomplishment' of descending a set of regular stairs, I turned towards the kitchen. Having lived together with Pinkie at the top of Sugar Cube Corner for some time now, I decided I could do something nice for the hospitality I had been shown by the Cakes and Pinkie. So, I had decided to show how much I appreciated it all by waking up early and make breakfast for all of them.

Having been a decent cook back on Earth, and able to observe Pinkie for about a week, I was able to perform fairly well in a kitchen meant for ponies, far better than I could go down the stairs.

While I usually tended to make whatever I wanted for breakfast, I had to take into account the fact that Pinkie's, the Cakes' and my diet varied by a fair margin. Pinkie liked sweet things and would most likely love something like pancakes or waffles for breakfast. The Cakes would most likely prefer some form of more 'adult' breakfast. Thing is, I had no idea what. I usually just ate anything I could get my hands on, or as it had been the last week, my hooves. I had never really paid much attention to what adults liked to have for breakfast, and I myself had never really 'grown up'.

I would of course presume they would enjoy a cup of coffee, and something to nibble on of some sort. This was of course out of the question since the Cakes disliked the idea of letting Pinkie Pie near any coffee. When asked, Pinkie had said that she was fine when drinking coffee, but why risk it?

To get some inspiration for what I could make them I decided to see what was available to me in the fridge. Opening the fridge, I disregarded all of the canned whipped cream and looked to the other shelves that held products like milk, cheese, onions, tomatoes, potatoes and everything else you could really ask anypony to have in their fridge... It was a rather big fridge.

While I took what ever I needed to make pancakes, from the fridge and cupboards inspiration struck me. While it might not be some kind of 'adult' breakfast french toast sounded like something that would work. My reasoning was of course that there were many different ways to eat french toast. You could eat it bare, with sugar, ice cream and all sorts. Strawberries was a personal favorite.

So today's breakfast, french toast and pancakes. With all the ingredients ready, I began. Had I thought about this a week ago, I would never have believed I could move like I did right now. Many of my human reflexes remained, but the differences in much of the cooking wares worked as constant reminders to be careful, and take my time. As a brony I had always wondered how holding things with your hooves actually worked, and now, as a pony, I didn't even question it. As long as I knew that I could hold something, I could. As soon as I asked how, I couldn't. I learned quickly not to question it and let the natural mechanics of my new body do it for me.

"That smells great! What are you making?" Pinkie suddenly exclaimed from right next to me while looking at the toast I was currently making. Startling me in the process.

"Arg, Pinkie! Please don't do that when I'm handling something that could end up hurting somepony." I asked her with a pleading look before returning to the stove. "I'm making something called french toast, I thought it would be a nice surprise if I made breakfast." I explained, smiling as I looked back to see her happy grin.

Only to regret it as I found myself being pulled away from the stove and restrained by a pink straight jacket named Pinkie Pie. "That's soooo nice of you! I wish I had thought of that!" Pinkie said as I felt like a teddy bear, being hugged like that.

"Pinkie... as much as I enjoy your hugs, it's rather hard keeping french toast from burning unless I'm there to keep an eye on it." I pointed out to her, getting a bit worried since I had my back to the stove now and couldn't see how it was doing.

Pinkie Pie giggled at my complaint and released me after giving one final squeeze. Letting me go, she spun me around and lightly shoved me towards the stove.

I sighed inwardly but smiled at her antics, I wasn't much better after all, that is, unless I purposely tried not to be like that.

"Oh, I know! Maybe I can help you?" Pinkie Pie suggested as I used a spatula to flip some of the toast over. I couldn't see any harm in it, I knew she could handle cooking and baking, and she was willing to help. All I'd have to do was to teach her and we'd be done with it all in no-time. Less of a possibility of the Cakes waking up before I was done.

"Of course you can help me Pinkie. Just let me show you how to make some french toast." I said as I smiled. Not hearing an immediate response, I turned towards her to see what she was up to, seeing her with a big goofy grin on her face, shaking with excitement.

I smiled again and shook my head as I kept making breakfast. Pinkie learned quickly, and conversations died down as we both focused on making enough french toast for us all.

While cooking, Pinkie began humming a song. It took me a while to recognize it, but when I did, I had to make an effort not to laugh about the events connected to that song.

Unfortunately, her humming was interrupted every now and then, and after the fifth time I decided it was enough. "Pinkie, it's alright to taste the food you're making, but if you keep eating anymore of the french toast from the pan itself, you won't be hungry enough when we all sit down to eat breakfast together. And that wouldn't be very good now, would it?" I asked her, giving her a little disappointed look.

The french toast about to make it's way down onto her tongue froze in mid air together with Pinkie. Looking at me she smiled sheepishly before moving the plate of already done french toast under the one frozen mid air and let it fall on top of the others.

"Sorry Diane, they're just so good, I couldn't help myself." She explained herself, blushing a little while putting the plate back on the counter.

I shook my head at that but smiled none the less, who could say no to her? Well, I certainly couldn't. "Alright, now let's make up for the ones you already ate. I know the're a few more eggs in the fridge." I said. Pinkie Pie took it as an order as she saluted and bounced over to the fridge.

As Pinkie returned with all the necessary ingredients, we continued making french toast until we ran out again. This time, we were completely done.

"Whoo-wee, making french toast is a lot harder than you make it look Diane, how are you so good at making them just perfect?" Pinkie asked me, looking between the two plates containing the toasts I made and the ones she made, a clear difference being quite apparent.

"Mostly practice I suppose, you did a lot better than the first time I made french toast, it looked more like an omelet with a piece of bread inside than french toast. You're not bad Pinkie, a few more times and I'm sure you'll be making them far better than I've ever done." I said, not entirely sure what to think of being complimented on the food I made. It wasn't anything special after all.

Pinkie gasped and floated of the floor as she did. "How can you say that?! You've made them just perfect, look at them. They're the perfect shade between golden and brown, not to much, not to little, and on both the sides! Not only that, the perfect square pieces you made without having any crumbs falling off as you dipped them, leaving small egg scruffs to themselves. Even I wasn't able to do that." Pinkie argued, making me blush.

"Look, Diane. What you've made here is perfect, no matter what way you look at it. And it also smells wonderful, and tastes even better. You have to take some more credit for it. I've noticed how the baked goods you make always turned out better in some way. You either make the icing the perfect blend, take them out of the oven at just the right time, and always manage to not burn anything. I don't think it's just practice, I think it might even-" Pinkie continued on until I interrupted her by raising a hoof towards her.

"Pinkie, I already have a cutie mark, it's the same as yours. Besides, I'm not that talented. Just about a year ago, I almost burned my house down by leaving the stove on unattended. I've burned a lot of food, and I most likely will do it again. Now, can we get to eating breakfast, while you might have already eaten, I'm quite hungry after having made all this toast, and I'm sure the Cakes would love to come down and have breakfast themselves right about now." I said, trying to avoid talking about talents. It was kind of a sore subject for me, you know, the whole thing about everypony having their own talents, while I was stuck with somepony's else's mark.

"Alright, but we'll talk about this later." Pinkie said, narrowing her eyes at me.

"Alright, now, you think you could go wake up the Cakes while I begin taking care of the dishes down here?" I asked. It would have been a lot faster if Pinkie Pie was the one to clean up, but I'd rather not have to go down the stairs twice in one day. As much as I need to overcome my instincts and learn to walk down the stairs properly, I'd rather avoid doing it more times than I absolutely have to.

"You promise?" Pinkie Pie suddenly asked, making me stop on my way to the sink. Sighing I turned back around towards her and did the only thing I could to get her off my back.

"I Pinkie promise." I said as I did the necessary movements to complete the Pinkie Promise.

"Okie dokie lokie" Pinkie responded, immediately going back to her usual cheery self. "I'll be waking the Cakes, be down in a minute."

As Pinkie left, I began doing the dishes and making the table as well as putting a small bowl down for Gummy, while also thinking about what Pinkie had said. While it wasn't pleasant to think about, I knew I couldn't keep ignoring it forever, I would eventually have to come to terms with how trapped I felt having somepony else's talent painted on my flank. While it wasn't like it was with Applebloom's cutie pox, it still felt wrong. If only there was a way to remove a cuti-

"I'm back, and I brought caaaakes~" Pinkie Pie interrupted my train of thought and began giggling at her own joke. I put on a smile as the Cakes walked in.

"Surprise!" I exclaimed, raising my forelegs into the air while trowing a bit of confetti. Surprising both of them while Pinkie smiled together with me.

"You like it? Diane thought it would be a good Idea to make breakfast for all of us because of letting her stay here!" Pinkie Pie informed the Cakes, seeing their confusion.

Snapping out of it, Mrs Cake, looked at me and smiled. "Diane, you didn't have to do this."

I shook my head. "I know, but I wanted to. You've all been so nice to me, and I felt like I had to repay that somehow, I hope the meal will be to your satisfaction." I said humbly as Pinkie Pie released a gasp.

"Of course they'll like it, it tastes amazing! Here, try some." Pinkie Pie said, shoving a piece of french toast into the mouth of Carrot Cake as he had opened it to say something, nearly loosing his balance as he only stood on three hooves as Pinkie Pie decided to force feed him.

Carrot Cake, apparently used to Pinkie's shenanigans took it in stride and calmly chewed the toast before swallowing before speaking.

"I have to say, that was indeed delicious, compliments to the chef, may I ask what it was?" Carrot Cake asked as his wife chuckled to herself, making me smile.

"It's called French toast, and I'm glad you like it." I said before turning my attention towards Pinkie Pie again who was like always, smiling.

"But I have to ask Pinkie, can the actual eating of food wait until we all get settled around the table, or have I made it in vain?" I asked, making Pinkie Pie shake her head.

"No, it was just a free sample, next up, is the meal!" She exclaimed, jumping towards the table and landing on a chair, a bunch of french toast flying up and landing on her plate from her landing.

I smiled at her antics, even so early in the morning, she was in a good mood and full of energy, seeing her exhausted was a rare thing. Nodding towards the Cakes, I made my way to the table myself and sat down on the spot that I usually took while eating.

"So, Diane. I can't say I ever heard of French toast before. Where did you learn the recipe from?" Cup Cake asked me, making me wince on the inside. While I had gotten used to being in Equestria, my home was a bit of a sore subject. I mean, I still missed the place, even if Ponyville was beginning to feel like a second home. Unfortunately, the Cakes didn't know about me being from another dimension, only the part about me being a mirrorpool clone.

"Oh, eh... It's actually one of the things I can't remember. I'm sorry." I quickly avoided the question with a small lie. Thankfully my minor amnesia was something the Cakes had been informed about.

"Oh, no. I'm the one who should be sorry. I can only imagine how horrible it is to forget something like that." Mrs Cake apologized back. While she was apologizing for another reason, it made me feel better if I pretended it was about her bringing up memories about my old world. I had actually learnt the recipe from my mother. I miss her a lot.

I shook my head. "It's fine, I'm sure my memories will return, besides. Most things I forgot are minor things." Like the name of my cat. I thought to myself.

"Still, I'm sorry for asking, I was just curious why you didn't do something simple, like oats." Mrs Cake informed me, making me have to struggle not to facehoof right there and then, having forgotten something simple like that. Hey, I remembered something though!

"Oh, it just slipped my mind I think... Besides, I had a feeling you might not have had French Toast before. So I thought, why not let you all taste something new?" I lied. I actually made it somewhat for myself since I hadn't had french toast in a long time, and it being my favorite kind of breakfast... You get the point, I just killed two birds with one stone... I should rephrase that and see what the equivalent phrase is in Equestria, Fluttershy might faint if I said it out loud.

Not willing to dwell on the same topic, I decided to talk about something else.

"Ah, Pinkie, I just remembered. I saw there's some kind of 'Summer Harvest Parade' next week, and was wondering if there's anything special I should do for that." I said, even though I knew that some ponies would be making vegetable floats.

"Yepperoni, I'm going to make a Cupcake float, you can help me out with it!" She suggested.

"But a Cupcake is hardly a harvest able fruit or vegetable Pinkie. Shouldn't you choose something else?" Mr Cake helpfully pointed out.

"Huh, I didn't think about that... But what kind of float should I make then?" Pinkie asked, rubbing her jaw with her hoof.

"How about a lettuce float?" I asked, grinning a bit, knowing from the episode that it would most likely be her choice anyway.

Gasping, Pinkie Pie rocketed over the table and began hugging me. "That's a great Idea, I even know where I can get lettuce leaf that are big enough!" Pinkie exclaimed before rushing off. All of us looking towards the door she left through.

"She does realize that floats aren't meant to be edible for real, right?" I asked, my eyes still glued to the door. Only letting me hear the Cakes sigh at that.

Afterwards, I felt simply great. I'll be honest, I had a real hard time not to suddenly break out into song about how happy I was that the breakfast went by as well as it could have. The reason I didn't was mostly because of how out of place it would be (being so happy about a simple breakfast that is) and also that I had no lyrics what so ever to work with, they just weren't coming to me.

After the breakfast and a few last compliments on my cooking, I got to washing the dishes, since it was my turn to do it today. Initially I had trouble with it, but after only two dropped plates the first time, I had gotten used to it and could now clean the dishes as well as anypony else in this household. Even though I wasn't a big fan of doing chores I still smiled. My mind had begun to wander and I found myself thinking of when the next Nightmare Night would be, I had an amazing costume idea that I was sure would scare, if not the children, then at least it would scare Rarity. I snickered to myself at the thought; I could already imagine the look on her face.

I couldn't wait until the next Nightmare Night.

Pinkie Pie was bouncing through town with her usual signature smile while at the same time greeting anypony she met and even waving to a few of them. Today was once again a beautiful day in Ponyville since the next rain wasn't scheduled until two days later.

Bouncing up to the library, Pinkie Pie stopped and quickly knocked at the door while barely staying in place. Soon, the door was opened by Twilight who was wearing her saddlebags and with Spike sitting on top of her.

"Oh, good day Pinkie. I was just heading out, you need anything?" Twilight asked, wondering why Pinkie Pie would be here, she didn't see any invitations and quickly discarded the idea of Pinkie Pie having come over to invite her to another party.

"Oh, you know. I'm here to take a look at a few of the books. I think I saw something that could help Diane with her fear of stairs!"

"Pinkie, we've already looked over all the material I have on climacophobia. There isn't a single book on the matter left and you know it!" Twilight accused Pinkie Pie.

"I know, but you know, I had a thought. What if we took a look in a book about bathmophobia instead? We might find something in there." Pinkie Pie suggested.

Twilight put a hoof to her chin in thought before she was interrupted by Spike.

"Twilight, we have to get going, I want to get back to my comics and you need me to help out while you buy quills. So can we hurry up? Please!" Spike begged.

Twilight growled a little at Spike before sighing. "As rude as Spike is currently behaving,-"

"Hey!"

"-he is still right. I have to get going now Pinkie, but I think you might have had a point. You're free to look in the library by yourself while I'm gone, just make sure to close the door properly before you leave," Twilight said while beginning to trot away since Spike was edging her on.

Smiling, Pinkie Pie stepped inside the library as the voice of Twilight could still be heard a small distance away, threatening Spike with not buying any gems for him if he didn't behave.

As Pinkie Pie closed the door she suddenly changed from her regular energy filled behavior and began trotting around the library on all fours while looking for a particular book.

"No, no, no, no, this isn't even sorted correctly... Argh, where could she have put that stupid book?" The now scowling form of Pinkie Pie asked herself as she looked through every book on the shelves, still not managing to find anything. Looking around the room itself for the off chance the book was laying around somewhere out of the way like under a table, the pink pony's gaze fell upon the stairs to the second floor.

Deciding it was worth a shot, she took the stairs to search Twilight's room, surely a bookworm like Twilight would keep a book or two in her room, especially one she hadn't read before. Entering the room, the pony immediately found what it was looking for. It had of course been a while since the book itself was found, and Twilight had already, no doubt, read the whole thing several times over.

It was a shame she couldn't have gotten to the book earlier, but there was no longer anything she could do about it. Picking up the book, she simply stored it in her mane so that nopony would see her carry anything when she left the library.

Coming back down, Pinkie Pie was once again smiling while she looked through the shelves, once again not finding the book she meant for Diane, she noted that all the books were exactly where she had found them. Satisfied with the result, she left the library, carefully closing the door behind her and bouncing away. Nopony the wiser that Pinkie Pie was in fact having fun elsewhere.

Author's Notes:

Alright... this took far too much time for me to complete... I blame writer's block...

So, the story continues. Let me know what you people think.

Pre-read by: Greycait and Polkiuj.

[Edit: Chapter has been re-written due to some complaints and me not being entirely happy with this chapter. This has not been looked over any pre-readers, so if you spot anything out of place or any clear errors, please inform me.]