Waking up as part of a pony pile with Fluttershy and Rarity was quite nice. Fluttershy sleeping was like someone took a piece of the finest area of heaven and turned it into a pegasus. Actually, that was Fluttershy in general, but especially so while she was asleep.

And Rarity was nice too.

I was glad I went to the restroom before going to sleep because that would have been a tough night otherwise. I also had no idea what time it was since there was no clock and the one way window on the door was showing only distant mountains from my spot. I would have gotten up to look outside, and there was nothing physically able to stop me from doing that, but the ponies clinging to me like I was a big warm pillow made it very difficult.

Then, there was some strong knocking on the door. “Up and at ‘em, ladies” Applejack said. “We’re getting breakfast on time today.”

“One moment, Applejack” I said. Now was the time for me to exert some willpower. I had to break the hold I was in, and so I began gently shaking Rarity and Fluttershy. While I was waking them up, I idly wondered how this sleeping arrangement might have been viewed if I was still male. Probably very differently.

Rarity yawned. “Is it morning already?”

“Sun’s up, sunshine. Stop sleeping.”

“Oh, alright.”

I turned to Fluttershy. “Wakey wakey, Fluttershy.”

Fluttershy finally stirred and yawned, which she somehow made adorable. Seriously, is there nothing she can’t do without being cute? “Good morning, Yang.”

“It’s food time. You two go on ahead. I’ll catch up after I change.”

Finally, they got off of me, to both my relief and dismay. Since they didn’t have any sleepwear on, which surprised me with Rarity, they were able to get up and go towards the dining car immediately. When the door closed, I changed into a set of casual clothes. The used clothes went into a laundry sack, the robe got neatly folded back up, and both went back into my suitcase. Before I left the room, I reached into my backpack and snagged a premade breakfast sandwich.

I hadn’t been gone from home for long and already I was understanding the difficulty of travelling Equestria as an omnivore. I won’t claim to know the finer points of dietary nutrition, but there is a reason humans are omnivorous, and it’s not to thrive on plants alone.

I joined the mares in the dining car with my sandwich just as they were ordering. “And for you?” the waiter asked as I took my seat.

“Is it possible you could just heat up my sandwich?”

“I’ll take care of that for you, Yang” Twilight said.

“Oh, thanks.”

“Want anything from here?”

I took a look at a menu. “A cup of plain oatmeal.” This was going to be a weird breakfast.

“Very well” the waiter said before going off.

“So, do you want your sandwich reheated now?” Twilight asked.

“No, I’ll wait until we all have our food” I answered. “It wouldn’t be polite. So, what’s the plan after breakfast?”

“I’d like to try another round of War Time Strategy and see how humans stack up against minotaurs.”

“Can I join?” Pinkie and Rainbow asked at the same time.

“Rainbow, you’re with me” I said. “We’ll keep it to two teams so it doesn’t take so long.

“Oh, random question: how did you figure out the sleeping arrangements?”

“Rarity and Fluttershy stuck together naturally, Rainbow and Pinkie are the only ones able to sleep through each other’s snoring, and then that left Applejack and me. It’s worked quite well for a few years now.”

“And what about when we’re wherever we’re going?”

“We’re staying at a small hotel to save a bit since they charge less. Each room only has one large bed in it, so we’ll be sleeping in the same groups there.”

“That sounds like a plan.”

A few minutes later, our food arrived. Just before we started, Twilight hit my sandwich with her magic, making it steaming hot. I started on it while the heat was strong and would certainly burn just about anyone else. Hooray for an immunity I’ve exploited for a while, and will continue to exploit.

After having some fruit and my oatmeal for dessert, we talked a bit longer, paid (I covered the tip), and left. Twilight, Rainbow, Pinkie, and I went to the booth we sat at when we got on this train and set up War Time Strategy. After giving out the necessary materials, Twilight changed the colors of the pieces for our forces to match our teams. It was blue and gold humans against lavender and pink minotaurs in an accelerated game.

The minotaurs lost. “How about you go with something else and we try the humans against that?”

“Let’s go with griffons, Yang” Rainbow suggested.

“Sure.”

“That was a really close one” I commented. Once again, the humans won, but this time, it was way closer. Still, it was a good game. Rarity, Fluttershy, and Applejack had joined us to watch partway through.

“I think humans are a bit overpowered” Twilight said. “I’ll have to go back and see how I can balance them a bit better.”

The conductor came by and said “We’ll be arriving in Los Pegasus in thirty minutes.”

“Thanks for the heads up.”

The conductor continued on his way down the train, telling everyone about the time.

“I guess we should get our things and meet back here?” I asked.

“Of course.”

“Ah already got your stuff, Twi” Applejack said.

“And we got your belongings, Yang” Rarity said as she floated the backpack to me.

All eyes turned to Pinkie. “What?” She asked.

“Did you already get our things?” Rainbow asked, voicing all our thoughts.

“No, I haven’t. I’ve been here the whole time. How could I have gotten them while playing War Time Strategy?”

How exactly does one go about telling Pinkie she’s breaking your thought processes by making sense and not breaking your thought processes?

“I’ll go get them.” Rainbow left my side to go to her and Pinkie’s cabin.

“So, uh. . .” I had no idea what to say.

“You okay?” Applejack asked.

“I think I need a reboot.”

“Reboot?”

“Let me try something” Fluttershy said. A moment later, I felt a delicate feather against my armpit, making me laugh and try to block her, but she just moved to the other side in response. I couldn’t block both sides at once, so she kept at it.

Finally, after about a minute, I managed to ask her to stop, and she did. I slumped and started catching my breath. I can do crunches for a long time without much effort, but just that bit of laughter exhausted me.

Rainbow came in with her and Pinkie’s things shortly after the tickle attack ended. “Okay, I know I missed something here. Who wants to fill me in?”

“Yang was defeated by Fluttershy” Pinkie said.

Everyone was quiet for a moment as the fact sunk in. “I guess that’s what happened then. Anyways, once we’re off, we’ll get the rest of Rarity’s stuff and head to the hotel, then we can take some time to get cleaned up and then go around the city, right?”

“Today will be our best day to do that” Twilight said.

“So, who gets to be Yang’s guide?”

I did not like that line. “If I may say something.” Nobody objected, so I continued. “I think I’ll wander around on my own. I don’t want to drag anyone else’s good time down. I’ve got plenty of bits as well, so I’m not too worried about expenses.”

“But you don’t know anything about Los Pegasus” Rarity objected.

“Then I promise to stay within, well, I’ll figure out a distance when we get to the hotel.”

“So, this is the place?” I asked as I looked at the hotel. We’d walked here, which let the mares point things out to me along the way.

“What were you expecting?” Twilight asked.

“When you said ‘cheap’, I wasn’t imagining something that looked like it was carved out of a huge block of white marble.” It was only one floor, but still.

“Oh, it wasn’t carved out. It was made by many powerful unicorns when they extracted it from the ground, ready for the furniture to go in.”

“That’s not any better! How is this a cheap place?” Something like this would probably cost multiple hundreds to stay in each night per person back on Earth.

“This was the first one they did, as an experiment. As they made more hotels and apartment buildings that way, they got better and better, and then the building was bought, traded hooves through the decades, and now this is the cheapest hotel in Los Pegasus.”

I wanted to say something. I really did, but the sheer absurdity of it all kept any words from forming. I gave up and followed them inside, which did nothing to help my confusion. The furnishings and decorations looked rather fancy.

I guess that not having carpet made cleaning cheaper, along with not having cable bills or television sets everywhere.

We got our three rooms and picked out who was in which. Of course, Fluttershy and I followed Rarity and her flock of luggage. Unfortunately, we had the first room in the hallway, and she had to take her time to organize them in the room one by one by floating them in from the hallway.

I guess I was going to find out just what a pony who regularly wears nothing at all needed with enough suitcases for three human families while we were here.

Finally, Rarity got the last suitcase in, made her way inside, followed by myself and Fluttershy. When I got in, I wanted to bang my head into the wall. The floor, walls, and ceiling were white marble, as I’d expected, but the furniture in here was way nicer than what I had at home. “How much does this cost?”

“We got a special discount here since there’s seven of us using three rooms. It comes down to 25 bits per night for everyone, which means 175 bits per night for all of us.”

“Excuse me while I do one of the dances of my people.” I set my suitcase and backpack in a corner, took my shoes off, and flopped onto the bed. Something this amazing should not be so cheap.

I also wondered why none of the ponies around here weren’t freaking out in some form over my presence. When I first visited Canterlot, I got swarmed by ponies. Maybe it was because my travelling companions’ presence kept them away?

After a hot and relaxing soak and wash in the tub in the bathroom (showers weren’t available here), I’d managed to collect myself. Yes, I was in a solid marble bathtub that was part of a solid marble bathroom that was also part of a solid marble room that was part of the whole solid marble hotel lifted from the ground by a bunch of unicorns a long time ago in its current shape, and that 25 bits per night covered my stay here.

After I got out, dried off, and got dressed, I went back out to the room. My hair was still a bit wet though. “Where did Rarity go, Fluttershy?”

“Oh, she’s out front with everypony else” Fluttershy said. “They left only a few minutes ago, so they haven’t been waiting for long.”

“Then let’s not keep them waiting any longer.” I left the room with Fluttershy and we made our way out to the rest of our group. “So, what’s the plan?”

“We all go do whatever we want and come back here before sunset” Twilight said. “And Yang, you said you’d stay in a particular area?”

I looked around the area. Down one of the streets, I saw an area that was bustling with ponies and looked like it had an amusement part on it. “I think I’ll be down there.”

“Ooh, the pier?” Pinkie asked. “I love that area. Mind if I tag along?”

On one hand, I wanted to say No because it was Pinkie, breaker of logic and minds. On the other hand, I wanted to say yes because she was just so excited. After some deliberations, I chose my answer. “Sure, Pinkie.”

“Girls, I’ll do my best to bring her back in one piece.” I didn’t have time to even show a confused expression before Pinkie grabbed me under her foreleg like an oversized doll and ran to the pier like a human would, except it took less than five seconds. “Here we are, Yang.”

“Gewha?” was all I could manage to say after that trip. Seriously, how did she get us here so quickly?

“Yes Yang, that happened. So, what are we going to do first?” Pinkie let go of me and I got back to my feet while she went back to her hooves.

I looked up and saw an archway that said ‘Los Pegasus Pier Park’. It was simple, but still looked nice and colorful. I also noticed the pleasant breeze coming in from the ocean, the slightly salty smell somehow making me feel a bit lighter on my feet. “How about you choose first?”

“To the roller coaster!” Pinkie began hopping off towards the short line in front of the ride and I followed. I felt some trepidation as we approached, but I stayed with Pinkie anyways. I’ve never been a fan of roller coasters, and this one looked rather loopy and twisty. I was already feeling the loops and twists in my stomach, but I kept myself composed, or so I thought. “Relax, Yang. It won’t be that bad.”

“Really?”

“You’ll be fine. Trust me. Your breakfast will stay right where it is.” I hope she’s right. The cars arrived and the ponies in them got out with varying degrees of dizziness. After they were off and the seats were quickly cleaned, the line we were in started getting on. “Ooh, look, my favorite spot is open!”

I followed Pinkie to and got in the last seats with her. The lap bar came down and I began to wonder why this was so similar to Earth roller coasters. The ride operator went through a rehearsed safety spiel before pulling the lever that sent the cars forward and then a question crossed my mind. “Hey, Pinkie? Why do you like the back so much?”

“MAXIMUM WHIPLASH!”

Oh no.

Pinkie was giggling when we got off. I was confused more than anything. During the ride, I didn’t get dizzy, I didn’t feel that drop in my stomach, I was able to keep my eyes open with no real problem, and the wind felt really good in my hair.

“Wasn’t that fun, Yang?” Pinkie asked.

I looked past the confusion for a bit. “Yeah, I did have fun.”

“What do you want to do next?”

I looked around and saw more rides. “Hey, do the rides cost anything?”

“The rides are free, but the stalls with prizes cost a few bits per game.”

Huh. Wait a minute. . . “Pinkie, I think I left my bits back at the hotel.”

“Nope.” Pinkie pulled my bit pouch out of her mane. “It’s right here.”

I really needed to talk with Celestia about paper money. Or maybe Luna. “Let’s try one of the stalls.”

We looked at the prizes in the stalls and then saw one that caught our eyes: a big chibi plushie of me in my combat outfit. I was curious about it, and when I turned to Pinkie, she was wearing a Sherlock Holmes hat and was blowing a bubble pipe. When did she?

“Well, my dear Yang, it seems we have a mystery on our hands and hooves.” She was speaking in a faux British accent, her posture and attitude were different, and yet this totally felt like something she would do. “I will look into this matter.” I followed Pinkie as she walked, yes, walked, up to the stall. “Excuse me, sir.”

“Yes, how can I oh sweet Celestia, it’s Yan-” he got cut off by a pink hoof to his muzzle.

“Shh. She doesn’t like publicity, even though she’s so obviously her in a crowd. We’re just curious about that plushie of her over there. Can you tell us a bit about it?”

“Oh, that? That’s the grand grand prize at this stall. It’s been here for a month and nobody’s won it yet. Would you like to try to win it?”

Pinkie looked to me as I said “I’d rather not have a big plush that looks like me.” I’d really rather not know they existed at all. “Ooh, but I do like that gold dragon.” It was an Eastern style dragon, and it looked awesome.

Some part of my brain said that decorating my room with a plush dragon was childish. Another part said that it was okay because I was female. Both of those arguments got knocked down by the third one that said it was alright to decorate my room with it because it was my house, and if I wanted to put it there, then I could do just that. While the first arguments were sitting in the corner of defeat, the third one started considering where it would look best.

“Oh, that one?” the stall stallion said. “That’s a grand prize.”

“What’s the game?”

“Darts. Five bits, six darts. Get 300 points or more and you can choose any prize you want.” It was just now that I noticed the recessed dartboard in the back.

The game was very tempting. I got five bits and set them on the counter. The stallion gave me six darts and moved to the side. I was about to throw one when Pinkie spoke up. “Hey, Yang, can I throw the first one?” I didn’t see the harm in letting her do that, so I gave her one of the darts. She held it on her hoof, aimed, and threw it. “Thanks, Yang.”

I will say that I wasn’t expecting a hoof to be very good for throwing things, but the dart in the bullseye worth 100 points was a good reminder that it was Pinkie. Also, I could have sworn she had a red dart, but it looked pink now. Still, 100 points out of 300 with the first throw was pretty good.

My first throw didn’t do very well, netting me only 20 points. It did give me a feel for the dart and how much power I needed for a good throw though. My last four darts got me a 75, 50, 75, and 20.

“Looks like that dragon has a new home” the stallion said as he got it down for me.

“Thanks” I said as I accepted the dragon from him. The whole thing was about as long as I was tall, and it looked like it had a bendable skeleton in it, but it didn’t feel like it had such a thing in it. It had to be magic.

After giving the stallion an extra bit, because I could and it was nice, a thought crossed my mind. “How am I going to deal with this dragon while I’m here?”

“Wrap it around yourself.” I swear that thought sounded like it was in Pinkie’s voice. Still, it was a good idea, and I could have some fun with it too. I put the dragon’s head facing forward on my right shoulder and wrapped the rest of the serpentine body around mine. There was only enough length for one coil, but it felt like it would be enough to stay in place.

I looked around the pier and saw that there was a whole lot more to do. And Pinkie would be with me the whole time.

I could feel the happiness that was waiting in the rest of the park and I could feel the dread of being with Pinkie for the whole day.

“Uh, Yang?” Rainbow asked. We were in front of the hotel, just waiting for Rarity to come back to our group.

“Yes, Rainbow?”

“Why does it look like you saw an army of ghosts and had the best time of your life?”

“I spent the day at the park with Pinkie. I had fun and she broke my brain. I don’t think I can look at anything the same way anymore.”

“Oh. Well, I’m sure you’ll get used to it.”

“So, we’re having supper here at the hotel, right?” Fluttershy asked.

“Yep” Twilight said. “And tonight, they’re going to have a pizza and pasta buffet, so eat up, everyone.”

Author's Notes:

Alert: If you've ever suffered from the update wait, you may be experiencing a mild case of it soon with I Burn. A new fic, called Mirror Mirror, has been created by my hand, and it's taking up some mental processing space that I Burn used to take up. It will not appear here on FimFiction though, since it takes place in the Harry Potter-verse. Why Harry Potter? I blame the methods of rationality.