I was slowly becoming aware of a dull headache as I woke up, the likes of which I wasn’t unfamiliar with. I was also becoming aware of the fact I was laying down on and covered by something soft, and I was comfortably warm, all of which helped take my mind off the dull headache. I also noticed that my whole body felt strange. It still felt human, and a quick joint test confirmed that everything bent quite normally, with the only impediment being the slight stiffness that came with waking up.

I set to work opening my eyes next, a task made slightly difficult with sleep still in them. I brought a hand up and rubbed my eyes to clean them out. Once they were cleared, opening my eyes was a lot easier, and the sight that greeted my eyes was a deep violet, opaque glass-like roof. Part of it was lit up brighter than the rest, and I followed the glow to a glass balcony door. Outside, I saw the sun over some rolling hills, either rising or setting. I couldn’t tell which it was.

I suddenly heard knocking at the door and a female voice ask, “Excuse me, but may I come in?” In the following silence before I answered, I was able to make out a few voices talking amongst themselves, and they sounded female too.

I kept my silence brief before answering. “Yes, come in.” I was stunned at the sound of the voice that came out of my mouth. It wasn’t mine, but it sounded kind of familiar. I couldn’t immediately place it though.

The door opened into the room, and I was stunned once again. The being that walked in was a purple pegasus with a horn on its head. And then I was stunned yet again when it spoke. “Are you alright? You took a nasty fall.” The voice that came out of it was female, and she sounded concerned. “Then again, I suppose crashing through the castle and getting hit on the head by a metal case is a bit worse than nasty. But you survived, so that’s good, right? Perhaps you could tell us how you got here and where you’re from? There’s so much we could learn from each other and oh sweet Celestia, I’m rambling again. Sorry. How about you tell me your name?”

“Uh, what?”

“Your name. The term others use to refer to you or call for your attention.”

“What’s yours?”

“My name is Twilight Sparkle.”

“I’m. . . Uh, my name is. . .” I wracked my brain for my name, but it kept coming up blank. “I think I forgot my name.”

“Amnesia? That’s not good. We need to figure out a proper name for you. Do you know of anything else you may have forgotten?”

“Um. . . My wi-fi password. But that was long before I came here, so that shouldn’t count. Besides, how would I know what I’ve forgotten?”

Twilight thought it over for a bit. “You said you forgot a password, so you know you forgot that. Was it an important password?”

“Yes and no. But that doesn’t matter.” I sat up and noticed that there was some extra weight to my chest. Intrigued, I looked down, part of me knowing what I would see, another part really hoping that it was something else not attached to me.

The moment I saw the two round masses on my chest (and the thankful confirmation that I had clothes on. They looked familiar too), my breaths became shallow. I knew those weren’t supposed to be there. I cautiously poked one of them and confirmed that they were indeed real. I heard the horned pegasus saying something, but I wasn’t paying attention. I lay back down and brought the blanket up to my neck as I told myself that that did not happen.

I barely registered the sound of the horned pegasus’s hooves leaving the room, and I barely heard the door close and another set of hooves approaching the bed a minute later. After the hooves stopped, I heard a soft fwoosh and felt something land by my legs. Whatever it was walked up along my side, and in a few seconds, a soft yellow equine face framed by a very nice pink mane showed up in my vision. I turned to look into her soft blue eyes and felt a sense of calmness come over me. Despite that, I still kept the blanket over me. Then, she spoke.

“Is something wrong? Does anything hurt?” Her voice was one so sweet and kind, angels would be envious. So sweet and kind was her voice, and her concern for me so apparent, I couldn’t help but answer.

“Nothing hurts.” I wanted to stop there, but I found myself continuing. “It’s just that I’m female now, and I used to be male. And I have some suspicions about who I look like. On top of that, I can’t even remember my name.” Some of my guts had been spilled, but I still had some more left to spill. “I’m worried about my friends back home, and I’m worried about what will happen to me here. And here I am, telling all my problems to a yellow pony-”

“Pegasus” she corrected.

“-A yellow pegasus who may as well be the greatest interrogator and therapist in the world.” I stopped to take a few breaths. “Am I just scared?”

“Yes, you are scared. And I know just how to help. All you have to do is sit up.”

I sat back up and let the blankets fall. After a second, I felt myself get embraced in a hug. It felt weird, considering my new physiology, but the niceness of the hug overpowered the weirdness, and I hugged back. This pegasus was very huggable, and I felt myself relaxing very quickly.

Eventually, the hug was broken, much to my dismay. “Can you walk?” she asked me.

“I think so. Could you move so I can get out?”

“Oh, sorry” the yellow pegasus said before floating up and backwards off the bed and onto the floor. “Please don’t worry about asking me for help.”

I nodded in acknowledgement before extracting myself from the blankets. I saw my legs, and their shape and clothing pointed in the same direction as my other strong suspicions. “Do you know if there’s a mirror in here?” I got out of the bed and stood up. I felt a bit taller than before, and I certainly stood over the pegasus.

“Oh, yes. There’s a few in Twilight’s bathroom” the yellow pegasus said while pointing towards a particular door, though it looked more like part of a bookshelf. I went inside and closed the door, the darkness lasting for only a moment before the room seemed to gain its own lighting from sources I couldn’t see by some sort of sorcery.

It didn’t take long for me to find a full length mirror, though it was kind of short, so I had to crouch a bit. What I saw in the mirror was what I had suspected: Yang Xiao Long. I felt my legs give out from the surprise, and the Yang in the mirror did the same thing.

I felt that the most appropriate thing to do was curl up on the floor and try to deny everything. I tried denying the heat of summer once, after negotiations with it failed. It didn’t work at the time, and it still wasn’t working at that moment.

I don’t know how long I was there, but the yellow pegasus came in eventually, concerned for me and using those interrogation and therapy tricks to calm me down again and get me to a sitting position.

“Do you need another hug?” she asked. I didn’t hesitate on her offer and, without standing up, I pulled her into a hug. From my spot on the floor, I could still see the mirror, and the Yang in it was hugging the same pegasus I was.

“I’ve figured out a name.”

“That’s good. What’s your name?”

“Yang. Yang Xiao Long.”

“That sounds. . . unique.” Once again, the hug was broken. “Oh, the girls wanted me to tell you that you’re invited to join us for breakfast.”

At the mention of breakfast, I felt and heard my stomach growl. “I’d say I agree with you, but I think my stomach did that already. Please lead the way.”

The pegasus and I stood up and she led the way. My pace was slow because of my hunger, and so I kept a hand on the wall. Part way there, I stopped and lay on the floor for a minute, the hunger doing its thing where I couldn’t move very well. The pegasus (I made a mental note to learn her name) showed her concern, but I told her to just wait and give me a minute. While I stayed there on the floor, just breathing, she did not leave my side. I wouldn’t have minded if she went on ahead, and was about to say she could, when I suddenly remembered that she knew the way to the food, and I didn’t.

After a minute, I felt the pains dissipate to a dull sensation, and I got back up with no problem. After she made sure I was alright, the pegasus resumed leading me. It didn’t take long for the smell of baked goods to reach my nose, the smell both delightful and invigorating.

We walked into a large room that I considered a banquet hall before a dining room with how spacious it was. Off in a corner, I saw Twilight and four other ponies, with coats of white, pink, orange, and light blue, along with manes of violet, dark pink, blonde, and rainbow respectively. The rainbow one caught my attention, but didn’t hold it for long when I felt my stomach growl again.

“Ah, Fluttershy, you’re back.” the white one said, unwittingly telling me the name of the pegasus who had been so helpful. I had to wonder what kind of name it was. It was a nice name, but it didn’t sound like any kind of name I’d have come up with.

“Hi girls” Fluttershy said. “Our friend here has a name now.” She sat down on a cushion at the rather low table and I followed suit. She then turned to face me. “Would you tell them your name? Please?”

“Yang. Yang Xiao Long” I said. “Now, where’s the food? I’m starving.”

“Pinkie?” Twilight asked the pink pony. What an appropriate name for a pink pony.

“On it, Twi” Pinkie gave a sharp mock salute before dashing off with unbelievable speed, and I followed her with my gaze to what was probably the kitchen door. After the door stopped swinging back and forth, I heard her say “The food’s over here, Yang.” I turned back and saw the table covered with a plethora of breakfast goods, and Pinkie back at her spot at the table.

I looked between her and the kitchen door. “How had she? When did she?” I could feel my thought processes jamming up, and they were raspberry flavored.

A muffin with raspberries in it was suddenly stuffed into my mouth, knocking me out of my stupor. It was warm and soft, like it just came out of the oven. On top of that, it also stuck together very well, with practically no crumbs, something that I was quietly thankful for. Crumbs would have been awkward enough if I were alone at that moment.

“Oh, Yang” Twilight said. “I haven’t introduced you to my friends yet. The pegasus who helped you is Fluttershy. She takes care of all kinds of animals, and is really good at calming them down.”

“I still think she should be an interrogator or therapist” I thought.

“The white unicorn is Rarity. I think you two will get along quite well.”

“On what grounds?”

“The orange earth pony is Applejack. She’s a farmer and grows the best apples I have ever had.”

“Maybe later.”

“The light blue pegasus is Rainbow Dash, the fastest pegasus in Equestria and Ponyville’s weather manager.”

“Weather manager?”

“And finally, there’s Pinkie Pie. She simply is.”

“Huh?”

“And what about yourself, Twilight dear?” Rarity asked her. “Surely you could tell Ms. Yang a bit about yourself, no?” That was one more thing I would have to get used to: people addressing my by my new and not original on my part name.

“Oh, yes. I’m Twilight Sparkle, the princess of friendship and magic. I live in and own this castle. I’m still getting used to it a bit. And while it’s on my mind, how did you come up with your new name? It sounds like one that would take some thought to come up with.”

“I’ll keep it short, since there’s food here” I said. “I used to be male, I put on these bracelets, got sucked through some kind of portal, and showed up here like this. What I look like now is a character from a show I used to watch. I also can’t remember my old name, so I just chose her name.” I followed the end of the explanation by grabbing a slice of what smelled like banana nut bread, spreading what looked and smelled like butter on it, and taking a bite. Much to my delight, it was banana nut bread and butter as I recognized it. It also held together nicely, like the raspberry muffin did.

“Oh my” Rarity said. “That sounds positively dreadful, darling.” Her face went from one of concern to one of realization to one of slight mischief. “Say, darling?”

I didn’t like that face or her tone. “Yes?”

“You could stay in the guest bedroom at my boutique.”

“What.” An offer like that out of the blue was very unusual.

“I won’t charge you anything, since you don’t have any money.”

“Well, that’s a nice thing to do.”

“I’ll just need you to model occasionally. Your clothes are very interesting, and I can feel the ideas of what I could make for you growing in my head. Twilight, do you have any pencils and paper around here?” A small cup of sharpened pencils and a stack of paper appeared in front of Rarity with a violet flash of light. “Thanks dear” Rarity said to Twilight before her horn lit up with a blue glow, a similar one pulling out all of the pencils and a lot of the paper, which then started drawing. “Yang, could you stand up so I can see all of you?”

“Why should I?” I asked back as I ate another piece of banana nut bread with butter. It was very good.

“So I can make full sketches for you. I have lots of ideas that I’m sure you’d like.”

“And if I say no?”

“Then I’ll just have to find out what to do to make you say yes. Or I can wait.”

That gave me some food for thought, and she seemed to realize it. I thought it over as I went for some orange slices.

After a few seconds, I asked for one of the pencils and a blank piece of paper, which were floated over to me. Grabbing the items from the glow felt a bit tingly. Once I had them, I set them down and started writing down my ideas.

Eventually, I finished it. “Here’s my list of conditions for me to model for you. Are you ready to hear it, Ms. Rarity?”

Rarity looked up from her sketches. “Hm? Oh, go ahead.”

“Wait a minute!” Twilight floated over her own piece of paper and brought up an inkwell and feather quill in a violet flash. “Go ahead. I’ll record this so it can be referenced later.”

I cleared my throat for no particular reason and began. “I, Yang Xiao Long, will model for Ms. Rarity at any feasible time under the following conditions:

“One: Free room and board. Does Ms. Rarity find this condition acceptable?”

“I already offered those, so yes.” I noted her answer. The scratching of quill on paper came from in front of Twilight.

“Two: I will be able to provide input on all designs meant for me. Is this condition acceptable?”

“I suppose so.” Once again, the scratching sound.

“Three: Once every fortnight, Ms. Rairity will offer at least one free outfit of my design. Is this acceptable?”

“A small price to pay for inspiration. I just hope it doesn’t turn into the dress incident again.”

“Don’t worry, I’ll let you have a say in the designs. What was the dress incident?”

“That. . .” Twilight started as she looked at everyone else. “That is something we’d rather not discuss.”

“Then I shall remain eternally curious. Four: upon my securing a job outside the boutique, it will take priority over modeling. Acceptable?”

“That’s certainly not unreasonable.”

“What does Rarity get though?” Rainbow Dash said. “That sounds like a bunch of demands.”

“Hold it, sugarcube” Applejack said. “I don’t think she’s done yet.”

“And I’m not” I confirmed. “I was just about to get to what I give in return.

“In exchange for the above accommodations, I will model on demand, barring a job or something else coming up. I will help with errands once I learn the layout of the town. I will help as needed to the best of my ability around the boutique. I will not interrupt any work going on unless it’s a critical matter. I find these terms acceptable, but do you think these are adequate, Ms. Rarity?”

“So long as you also stop calling me Miss, we will be fine.”

“I can do that.”

“Alright” Twilight said, a second piece of parchment in her glow, the quill scratching on it with amazing speed. “I have written up an official contract based on what I’ve heard. Real ink and paper. Just sign it and it will be official.” The paper floated out between us. Rarity was quick to sign it with a quill, which she floated over to me. I didn’t bother rereading it and just put my name on the line.

“Official?” I asked.

Twilight reclaimed the contract. “As a princess, I can write official contracts. And I can waive a few of the taxes that would normally be applied for something like this.”

“Taxes?” Rarity and I asked at the same time.

“Yeah. I love reading all kinds of literature and legal documents, but even I will admit the tax codes are convoluted. And I’m the one the other princesses turn to for advice on the matters of the taxes.”

“Who decides the taxes around here?” I asked.

“The stuffy nobles in Canterlot. I’m doing everything I can to simplify it, but it’s still not easy. At least the two sensible nobles aren’t adding anything.”

I took a moment to marvel at her supposed work. “Good job. You keep at that. When can I see the boutique?” I wolfed down another slice of the delicious banana nut bread and grabbed another two slices. That stuff was good, even by itself.

Author's Notes:

And so we see the ponies themselves. Six of them, anyways. More to come.

The update schedule for this fic will be kind of erratic. I have the next six chapters written, along with some extra material, so there's a buffer at least.