After changing to my regular clothes, I left my room and followed the sound of three fillies talking to each other. It sounded like homework talk. Or at least school talk.

As I left my room to go meet up with Sweetie Belle and her friends, I realized that I was thirsty. I needed some water. Two or three glasses at most.

“Hi, Yang!” Sweetie and her friends called out to me as I passed them at the dining room table.

“Hello” I greeted back as I continued on. “How was your day?”

“School as usual” Apple Bloom said. “What about you? Was your day okay?” She sounded concerned.

I got a glass and filled it with water as I answered. “Yeah, it was okay. Just had to deal with last night’s supper coming back up and out.”

“Ew” Scootaloo said. “How bad was it?”

I downed the water in a matter of seconds and refilled the glass. “I’ll be smelling it for a while.”

“What do you mean, Yang?” Sweetie asked me.

I tried to think of a gentle way to phrase it, but I couldn’t come up with anything, so I went with the more direct option. “Some of it came out through my nose. It smelled kind of grassy.” I downed the water in the glass again. “It still smells grassy.” Sweetie looked to be in thought about something before pulling her friends in close. They were discussing something in a hushed tone. I wasn’t sure whether or not to be worried.

As I joined them at the table, they broke their huddle. Sweetie took on an exaggerated professional tone. “Yang, we would like to thank you for helping us with our homework.”

“You’re welcome? What did I do to help you?” I needed details.

“One of our regular weekend assignments is to help someone in town with a problem and write a report on it. I’m sure you would like to know why you threw up, yes?”

“That would be nice.”

“Tomorrow, the three of us will investigate why you got sick.”

“But we have to deal with math right now” Scootaloo complained. “I hate math. Who even uses math?”

“Rarity uses it when she’s making clothes.”

“Big Mac uses it to predict harvests” Apple Bloom added.

“But what about Rainbow Dash?” Scootaloo asked. “Where does math come in during the weather?”

“Air pressure, rainfall, cloud volume, temperature, heat index, wind chill, and more, I’m sure” I said before taking a sip of water. I then noticed the looks I was getting from the fillies, especially Scootaloo. “What?”

“How do you know all those things? You’re not a pegasus, or even in weather, so how would you know those terms?”

“Because I paid attention to weather forecasts back home?” I also paid attention in my science classes. I could begin to count how many times my work in those classes got copied, but I’d probably fall asleep while doing so, the number was so high.

“Most ponies who aren’t in weather don’t know those terms. Did you know someone who worked the weather where you’re from?”

“No. Nobody controled the weather where I’m from. The best we could do is predict a few days out.”

Scootaloo seemed obsessed with the topic. Sweetie Belle and Apple Bloom were interested in the conversation as well. “You’re sure nobody controls the weather?”

“Nobody does. It just happens. We can predict and prepare for it, but that’s all.”

“How good are those predictions?”

“They’re generally pretty good, but I remember four times in one month where snow was predicted in my town, but it went around us. One of them had a big storm coming through the area, and it somehow left my area untouched. There was just this big triangular hole in the storm as it went around us.” Radar can be fun to watch sometimes.

Scootaloo was quiet for a bit. “I think I’ll just get to work on my math homework.”

And now, I was the odd one out. I had no homework or anything to work on like they did. I finished my water, cleaned the glass with more water (and a bit of soap), dried it off, and put it away. “So, is there anything I can do to help you three?”

“Ah’ve got a puzzle that’s been bugging me” Apple Bloom said. “You’re in a burning building, and all you have is a scarf, three bits, and a book. How do you get out?”

“Nopony could figure it out in class, so it became homework for everypony” Sweetie said.

I gave the puzzle a bit of thought while the fillies looked at me. Finally, I came up with an answer. “What if you just leave through the door or a window?” I got a dumbfounded look from all three of them. “What?”

“Is it really that simple?” Scootaloo asked. “Just walking out?”

“Well, you might have to run out, but yes.”

“Why didn’t anypony think of that?”

“I don’t know, but let’s use that answer” Sweetie said. “Thanks, Yang.”

“Glad I could help” I said. “So, do you need me to just be here or something?”

“I don’t know. Probably not.”

“I guess I’ll go for a walk then. I’ll try to be back before sunset.” I could use the light exercise.

“Alright. Oh, are you still going to participate in our sleepover tonight?”

“Of course.” I wouldn’t forget something like that. At least I haven’t forgotten it. Besides, it was happening here, so I wouldn’t really be able to get away from it.

“Have a good walk, Yang” Apple Bloom said as I left. I hadn’t bothered changing to my athletic wear since I was just walking.

“I’ll try.” I just hoped I didn’t get summoned again by someone. That would put a serious dent in tonight’s plans.

During my meanderings around Ponyville, I was able to smell supper stuff being cooked. While I could pick up on some good smells, it was all masked by the grassy smell. “How long am I going to be smelling that?” I was able to hide it pretty well, but the scent was making me a little nauseous. Nothing I couldn’t handle, though.

I got back to the boutique just as the sun finished setting. It was a good walk, though something was bugging me at the back of my mind as I caught the occasional savory scent. I had no idea what it was about though, but it was probably something food related.

“I’m back, everybody!” I announced.

“Hello, Yang” Rarity said as she rushed out to greet me fairly quickly. “I would have made something for you, but the girls wanted daisy and honey sandwiches. I’m sorry.”

Sandwiches, huh? “Alright. Say, do you have peanut butter and margarine?”

“Why yes, I do have those.”

“Excellent. I have an idea that will be either good, bad, or in need of refinement.” I made my way to the kitchen and started gathering some ingredients. Bread, peanut butter, honey and margarine, to be exact. It was time to try some potentially delicious science.

The first thing I did was spread a thin layer of margarine on one side of a bread slice. I would have started spreading some on the second, but I realized that would have messed things up a bit, so I put the peanut butter and honey on it instead. Once that was done, I put the other slice on top with the margarine facing up.

I found a small skillet, just big enough for a single slice of bread, and put it on the stove, setting the heat under it to medium. While I waited for it to warm up, Rarity came up to me. “So, what, exactly, are you making?”

“A grilled peanut butter and honey sandwich” I answered. “I’ve never actually made such a thing before, so I’m hoping for the best.”

“Alright. Just don’t leave it unattended. I’d hate for you to burn your sandwich.”

Burn it? I’d never. . . Wait a minute. What if my burn immunity also applied to food I ate? More science. Delicious, delicious science.

I put my hand on the skillet to check the temperature. It felt like it was up to the temperature I needed, so I picked up my sandwich, put a thin layer of margarine on the side that needed it, then set it on the skillet. It made a nice sizzle when it hit.

“Yang, if I may say something?” Rarity asked.

“Go ahead” I answered. “Why is she hanging around me like this?”

“Every time I see you touch something hot that would normally burn someone that isn’t a dragon, it puts me a bit on edge. I mean, you don’t even have anything I can see protecting your hands. I know you’re okay, but my instincts tell me otherwise.”

Ah. “You know, it took me a bit to get used to having that immunity, but now that I’ve got it, I’ve figured out how I can use it around here to make things easier. It helps in the kitchen, I can be outside all day and not get burned or sweaty, and I don’t have to worry about how hot some water might be.”

I took a moment to lift up the sandwich to see how the bottom looked. It looked brown enough for my liking, so I picked up the sandwich and flipped it over. While I got another slice of bread and put a thin layer of margarine on one side, Rarity continued. “I can see how that would be useful. And if I may ask, what’s the third slice for?”

“Science.” Delicious, delicious science. Maybe.

After a little bit, I checked the sandwich again. The bottom side looked brown enough for my liking, so I picked the sandwich up out of the skillet, put it on a plate, and put in the third slice.

“Yang, do you mind if I try a little bit of your sandwich?”

“Yes Rarity, I do mind. Please don’t. That’s my breakfast, lunch, and supper.” I wouldn’t say it out loud, but Rarity was being a bit of a pain right now.

“Oh, alright. Oh, I’ve made progress on your shoes.”

She had my attention. “Go on.”

“I’ve figured out the materials I’ll need for them and the design I’ll use. Of course, they will be fitted to your feet properly, since I do know those dimensions.”

“And the enchantment?”

“Still a work in progress. Say, isn’t your piece of, ah, toast done?”

I looked back at my toast and smelled it a bit. It looked a little underdone for what I was planning. “Not enough. Can you tell me more about the shoes?”

“I know just what materials I’ll need to make them. Going with how plain your normal attire is, I’ve decided to make your shoes plain as well. They will be all black, but there will be some design work done with different materials.”

“Alright, alright. I like that.”

“All I have to do next is figure out how to. . . uh, Yang? Your toast is starting to smoke.”

I looked back at the toast. “Looks like it’s done.” I picked up the toast and looked at the bottom of it. It was very badly burnt. Exactly what I was going for. I put it with the grilled sandwich and took them to the table.

“I think I’ll just leave you to your supper, Yang. Enjoy.” Rarity went out to the workshop area of the floor with a bit of haste.

After cleaning up my cooking stuff, I decided to start with my sandwich. It was still warm. I took a bite of it, and it was pretty good. Warm peanut butter and honey between two pieces of toast is certainly a good thing.

I took some time to enjoy my sandwich. Aside from the taste and texture being nice, it was also the first real food I’d eaten all day. Aside from the bowl of ice cream Ita summoned for me. The feeling of fullness made me feel good.

After the sandwich was finished off, it was time to look at the other thing on my plate: the burnt toast. This was to see if my inability to get burned would somehow make burnt food taste at least alright.

Since it was only burnt toast, I didn’t brace myself for anything. In order to get a good sample, I took a large bite of it.

The burnt toast tasted like burnt toast I’d had before: bad. I swallowed it with a bit of effort, then took another bite. “I’m not immune to burnt food. It still tastes bad.” I threw away the bad toast, cleaned the plate, set it to dry, then went upstairs.

The door to Sweetie’s room was open, but I didn’t hear anything from there. That made me a little suspicious. Three fillies in one room shouldn’t be that quiet. Unless they’re all reading, but that doesn’t seem like something they’d all do.

I walked inside and found the room to be devoid of fillies. “Where are they?”

“PONY PILE!” That was all the warning I had before I was jumped on from behind. I let out a girlish yelp of surprise when they landed on my back, causing me to fall forward. Fortunately, I caught myself before I would have landed on my chest.

“Hi, Yang” Sweetie said from my back. “How was your walk?”

“It was one” I answered. “What are you three doing?”

“Putting you at the bottom of a pony pile, of course.”

That was obvious. “Are there any rules to pony piles?”

Apple Bloom answered. “All you need is at least one friend and you make a pile.”

Scootaloo continued. “You don’t have to be a pony to join in a pony pile either. Just being a friend is good enough.”

“Friends, huh?” I wondered how something like a pony pile would be taken back home. If it were cats, it would probably be all over the internet. You know, there probably already are pictures of that on the internet. But people? A bunch of girls could probably get away with it, but not any guys. Double standards and all that. Here in Equestria, all you needed was to be a friend, and nobody seemed to care otherwise. At least that’s what it seemed like to me.

Why couldn’t friendship like this reign supreme back home? These ponies were making a very good case for not going back, even if they didn’t have a lot of the technology I was used to.

“Yeah” Sweetie said.

For a while, we just stayed there. “So, what do you do during one of your sleepovers?”

“Well, since I’m the host, I’m the last one to choose what we do. Since this is your first sleepover with us, how about you go first, Yang?”

Oh, wow. No pressure on me at all. “Do you have any games?”

“Dessert Utopia, Apologies, Comboats, One Card, Tattle Quest-”

“Wait, what was that last one?”

“Tattle Quest.”

“What’s that one?”

Scootaloo answered. “You have to escape from bullies so that you can tell the teacher about it. We used to play it a lot.”

Not what I thought it might have been. “Hmm. Dessert Utopia sounds more fun.”

“Dessert Utopia it is!” Sweetie called out. She went to her bookshelf, which I now noticed had a shelf full of board games on it, along with numerous books. The rest of us untangled ourselves and sat down on the floor, Scootaloo on my left and Apple Bloom on my right.

It didn’t take long for Sweetie to return with the game and set it up, thanks to her being able to levitate stuff. The board looked fairly large, and there were a lot of pieces in all kinds of colors. Sweetie, Scootaloo, and Apple Bloom each took the piece that matched their fur color. I decided to go with purple since it matched my eyes and Apple Bloom took the one that matched my hair.

I looked over the board, and a sense of familiarity came over me. A path made of a rainbow of tiles, a stack of cards in the middle, and all manner of desserts made into a landscape. Dessert Utopia looked just like Candyland.

“Yang, you can go first” Sweetie said. “Just draw a card and move to the next tile of that color on the path.”

“Alright.” I drew a card and got a double yellow, so I moved my piece two yellow spaces.

I didn’t win the game, but we still had fun. All four of us made various dessert and color puns, but for some reason, mine were the only ones that resulted in facepalms. Facehooves? Something like that.

“What should we do next, Apple Bloom?” Sweetie asked as she cleaned up the game.

“Truth or dare?” Apple Bloom suggested.

A whole movie’s worth of ways that game could go so very wrong played through my mind in a matter of seconds. None of them were suitable for these fillies, or any young being.

Sweetie Belle opened a drawer and pulled out an empty glass apple juice bottle with “Truth or Dare” written on the label. She also got what looked like a tray of some kind. Seeing as the floor was heavy, yet soft carpet, that was probably a good idea.

“Have you ever played this, Yang?” Scootaloo asked.

“I know how it works” I answered as Sweetie set it up. “How long will this game last?”

“Twenty spins” Apple Bloom said. “Each of us gets five spins. I’ll go first.” With a hoof, she spun the bottle. For nearly a minute, it spun. It finally ended up on Sweetie Belle. “Truth or dare, Sweetie?”

“Uh, truth” she said.

“Is it true that you want to put makeup on Yang?”

“What? Where did that come from?”

“Seems like something you’d want to do. What’s the truth?”

Sweetie looked at me. “Well, now that you’ve put the idea in my head, I kind of do want to do that.”

“So, is it my turn?” I asked.

“Yep. Go ahead and spin it.”

I reached down and gave the bottle a spin. It didn’t spin nearly as long as Apple Bloom’s spin did, and it wound up pointing at me. “I guess I should just spin it again?”

“If your spin lands on you, it doesn’t count” Scootaloo said. “Spin again.”

I spun the bottle again. It landed on Sweetie.

“Truth or dare, Sweetie?” I asked.

“Dare.”

“Okay, a dare. Keep it clean, Yang.” I thought for a moment. “I dare you to, um. . . This is hard.”

“We’ve got time, Yang.”

I looked around the room as I thought of an idea. “I dare you to stand on your forehooves for at least fifteen seconds.” It wasn’t mean or embarrassing, but sounded challenging. Hopefully.

“Alright.” Sweetie stood up on all fours before balancing on her forehooves. And she did it with ease. Eventually, she sat back down. “Was that long enough?”

“Yeah, it was.” She just did that like it was nothing. I felt a bit defeated.

“My turn” Scootaloo said as she spun the bottle. Once again, it landed on Sweetie Belle.

“Oh come on!” Sweetie almost shouted.

“Truth or dare?” Scootaloo had a bit of a mischievous look on her face.

“I’ll take another dare” Sweetie said.

“I dare you to cut Yang’s hair.”

I suddenly felt something warm along my back.

“Uh, Scootaloo, I don’t think that’s a good idea.”

“Are you scared that she’ll hate you?”

“No. Her hair looks like it’s on fire.”

I pulled a lock of hair around from behind me. It did look like it was on fire. My shirt wasn’t burning, and nothing else seemed to be on fire either. Interesting.

“I double dare you.” And that made the fire intensify. Sweetie turned Scootaloo’s head to look at me with her magic. “Oh. I’ll take back that dare.” My hair extinguished itself and I breathed a sigh of relief. “Instead, I dare you to put some of that massacre stuff on Yang.”

“Mascara, Scootaloo. I’ll be right back.” Sweetie left the room.

“And what did we learn?” I asked Scootaloo.

“Not to cut your hair?” Scootaloo answered.

“Yes. That would make me really mad and violent. It seems to be something I got when I was turned into, well, me. I don’t like it, but as long as my hair doesn’t get damaged, all’s well. You can ask Rarity about it.”

Sweetie chose to enter at that moment, mascara and mirror in her magic. “Ready, Yang?”

“Go ahead.” I took a breath and let Sweetie run the brush over my eyelashes. This was certainly a new experience for me. New though it was, it was also over pretty quickly. Sweetie gave me the mirror and I looked at myself. “I actually kind of like it. Good job, Sweetie.”

“Thanks. So, it’s my turn now.” Sweetie spun the bottle and it landed on me. “Truth or dare, Yang?”

“Truth.”

“What was your government like where you came from?” This question got groans out of the other equines in the room. I also think I heard Scootaloo and Apple Bloom call Sweetie a dictionary book worm under their breath.

“Short version: lousy. Long version: corruption was in every level, spending was through the roof, nothing good was getting done, most of the people elected there were more worried about their jobs and money than what they actually did, and last I checked, it seemed that nearly everyone from both wings, more one than the other, was against a political outsider who won the presidential election by speaking the truth. Fake news was also a thing that was happening. So yeah, it’s a mess.”

I think I may have gone a bit far with that description. All three fillies looked a bit terrified. Sweetie was the first to speak up. “Apple Bloom, was she lying about any of that? Please say she was.”

“Ah don’t think she was” Apple Bloom said.

“Oh, come on you two, it wasn’t that scary” Scootaloo said.

“You were the first of us to hide behind Sweetie Belle.”

“And here I thought the nobles in our government were bad enough” Sweetie said.

It seems I have killed the mood. Great. Let’s see if I could revive it. “Hugs and a pony pile?” Sweetie took the bottle and its tray off the floor and I was soon hugging all three of the fillies. Already, the mood was lifting. “Let us promise not to speak about the government where I’m from unless it’s necessary.”

“Agreed” all three said.

For a while, all three of us just stayed there. It was when I noticed Scootaloo starting to nod off that I decided to do something. “Hey, Sweetie?”

“Yeah, Yang?” she sounded tired too.

“What kind of sleeping arrangements do you usually have during these sleepovers?”

“We usually just share my bed.”

I looked at the bed in the room. There was no way I was going to fit in it. “Not tonight.” Still with the fillies in my embrace, I stood up and left Sweetie’s room to go to mine. “With me here, we’ll need more bed space.”

“Oh. I didn’t think of that.”

I set the three down on my bed. “I’ll be right back.” I grabbed my sleepwear and went to the bathroom to change. I took another look in the mirror at my eyelashes. As nice as they looked, I didn’t want to sleep with the mascara on, so I ran some water and rinsed it off. Once there was no trace of it left on my face, I changed to my sleepwear and brushed my teeth. I also took a look at the clock in here. “It’s not even 9:30 yet? Wow.”

Once I was done, I went back to my room. Sweetie Belle was the only one trying to stay awake, since her friends had fallen asleep. I turned off the room light and used the light from the risen full moon to find my way to the bed and get in. Once I was comfortable, I pulled the three fillies towards me. “Good night, you three.”

“G’night, Yang” three tired voices got out.

I still had a bit of energy, and I used it to contemplate a bit. How would this look if the fillies sleeping around me were human instead? And if I were still male? Many double standards would kick in for sure.

I let those trains of thought run for a bit before deciding to tell my brain to shut up and sleep, which was actually pretty easy with the three fillies that were snuggling up to me.

Downstairs, at 10 pm, Rarity began to get concerned. It was a little early for the fillies to be quiet. “I’d better check on them” she thought.

After taking a few seconds to finish and clean up a stitch, she went upstairs. Sweetie’s room was open and a light was on, so she poked her head in. Inside, she saw the bottle and tray on her sister’s bed, along with a mascara brush. She did not see any fillies or a human either. She did turn off the light before she left the room.

“This had better not be a prank.” Rarity opened the door to her room and poked around. Nobody was found. Going back to the hall, she noticed that the only closed doors were the ones to the winter closet and Yang’s room.

“I hope they’re in here.” Rarity quietly opened the door to Yang’s room, and by the moonlight, she saw all those she was looking for, asleep on the bed. With a relieved smile, she felt her tension flowing away. In fact, she was starting to feel a bit tired herself.

Rarity went downstairs and looked at her project for a few seconds before deciding it could wait through the night. After turning off the lights and locking the doors, she went back upstairs, took care of herself in the bathroom, put on her fluffy robe, and quietly joined the sleeping pony pile.

And then Opal walked through the ajar door joined them too.

Author's Notes:

HEARTWARMING MOMENTS!*

*Sponsored by Torgue