What Twilight taught me that really got to me was that the sun and moon were moved by two alicorns named Celestia and Luna, and that they resided in Canterlot Castle. I let her talk, and while I was willing to accept that they existed, my dreams of Luna being pretty strong evidence, I wasn’t so willing to accept that they controlled the sun and moon. No living being should wield such phenomenal cosmic power like that. I also found the story of Luna’s banishment as Nightmare Moon ridiculous. Really, it was all fairly crazy.

Thanks to the length of Twilight’s teachings, I wound up having a late lunch. A very late lunch. I showed up at the castle around seven in the morning. It wasn’t until three in the afternoon that she finally stopped talking and teaching. What I remember from that whole thing was that their alphabet and numbers are an efficient reskin of mine, Celestia and Luna are highly revered figures around the world, Pegasi can control and schedule the weather, the seasons shift manually instead of automatically, the Everfree forest is full of dangerous creatures, and lots of their cities and towns have punny names. That last one wasn’t directly taught, but I definitely noticed it. I also had to use the bathroom once. It’s still weird how I seem to know how to do that practically by reflex, despite having no training. I’ll definitely be getting used to that.

After the quick late lunch of sandwiches, Twilight put me in the teaching position. She wanted to know everything she could about Earth. After a few minutes, it felt less like I was teaching her things and more that she was interrogating me in an intense, yet friendly manner.

It was in the middle of her asking me a lengthy question about podcasts when I finally stopped her. “Twilight? I know you’re interested in all this stuff, but it’s almost six. I really should be getting back to Rarity’s.”

“What?” Twilight seemed caught off guard. “Oh, right. Could you at least stay for dinner? I’d like to get some more info out of you.”

“What’s for dinner?”

“Stir fry. Neighpon style. I’m cooking.”

If there’s one good thing that came from supper, it was that I got my own pair of chopsticks. They’re made of a clear yellow crystal and Twilight even resized them with her magic to fit my hands perfectly. How nice of her. Why ponies have chopsticks is entirely beyond me though.

The stir fry seemed to be, depending on which piece was picked up, either too stirred or too fried. It was made of vegetables, some fruit, flower petals, tofu, and egg. I wound up picking out about half of my food because of either the ingredient, the way it came out, or both. The other half was mostly tolerable with a few good spots. The few good spots did not make up for the merely tolerable mass of it.

To her credit, Twilight tried, but I think she shouldn’t cook. I think anything more intricate than a sandwich would wind up mediocre at best. I didn’t vocalize these thoughts though. It would not have been polite.

Spike offered to show me the way back to the boutique after the dishes were cleaned up. He seemed quite eager to do so as well for some reason. I chose not to wonder why, though I inevitably did wonder why. I chose not to express this intriguing question.

“So, Yang, could you tell me more about where you came from?” Spike asked on the walk there.

“What do you want to know?” I asked back.

“Well, is everyone as tough as you are?”

“No. The fall from when I first showed up would have killed anyone from my world. It’s called ‘terminal velocity’ for a reason.”

“Then how did you survive?”

“Yang’s body is built to survive impacts like that, even if it doesn’t look that way.”

Silence followed my statement. Silence tagged along with us until the Boutique was in sight.

“There’s the Boutique!” Spike said. “Are my spines straight?”

“Why does that matter?”

“So I can impress Rarity, of course. She’s just so beautiful.” Now I was starting to have an idea of why Spike volunteered to lead me to the boutique so readily. He has a glaringly obvious crush on her.

“Riiiight, you do your thing and I’ll do mine, okay?”

Spike didn’t answer. He also told me not to walk in before him (even though I technically lived there. Still getting used to that idea), and I complied. He knocked on the door and we waited.

We did not wait long for Rarity to open the door. She looked at her eye level, then looked up to me. Before she could say anything, I pointed down and she turned her gaze to Spike. “Oh, hello Spike. How are you this fine evening?”

“Just fine” Spike said, clearly swooning. “Is there anything, anything at all you need help with?”

“Not right now, Spike. Oh, I will need your help gathering gems next week. How does Tuesday sound?”

“I have to stay at the castle in case something happens. How about Wednesday?”

“That sounds good. If you’re here at noon, we can have lunch before we head out.”

“I’ll be here. You can count on that.” Spike stood up straight, puffed out his chest, gave a salute sharp enough to cleanly cut diamonds, then turned and left.

I watched Spike walk away until he was out of sight, then turned back to Rarity. “So, what was that about?” I asked before walking inside.

“Spike’s had a crush on me since he and Twilight first arrived in Ponyville” Rarity explained as she closed the door. “He likes to help me as much as he can, and I’ll admit that his help is useful. However, and I’d rather he not know of this, I don’t share his affections. I also have trouble turning down his offers to help me, since he’s so earnest, honest, and happy about it.”

“I see. And what’s this about gathering gems?” I was curious.

“There’s a rock field where gems grow outside Ponyville. I can detect gems very easily, and Spike can dig them out just as easily. He also gets to keep some of the gems.”

“Huh.” I’d have to see this in action at some point. “Say are there any leftovers? The stir fry Twilight made was terrible.”

“I’ve got some sandwiches in the fridge. Help yourself.”

“Thanks.” I went over to the fridge, crouched so I could actually look inside with some degree of ease, and saw what one would expect in a fridge, though there were also containers of flowers. No stem, just the flower itself. The sandwiches were easy to find. They were on a plate covered with clear plastic wrap, and closer inspection showed that, compared to what I was used to, they were fairly miniscule. Each one had a variety of vegetables on them, along with some cheese.

I took Rarity’s advice and helped myself to the sandwiches, thankfully undisturbed. It took three of them for me to feel full, which was a full half of the sandwiches. Being the good houseguest I was, I covered them back up and put them in the fridge.

Rarity caught me on my way out of the dining room. “So, how was your visit with Twilight?”

“Kind of underwhelming” I said. “Turns out our numbers and letters are almost entirely the same except for how they look. That and my cheat sheet should help me learn how to read pretty quickly.”

“That’s great. Also, I’m thinking of making you your own robe, since you seem to like the feel of the one I got from the spa, but the colors just aren’t you.”

“I agree. What do you have in mind?”

“I was thinking you’d tell me what you want.”

“Well, I was thinking black and yellow, but now that I’m saying it out loud, it doesn’t sound as good.”

“How about dark brown and yellow? I’m not exactly fond of using brown as a main color myself, but I think it would work for you. I can follow the patterns of the spa robe, adjust them to your size, and that would be that.”

“That sounds great. Oh, could you make the skirt longer than the one that came with the spa robe?” Where was this line of thought coming from? “That one is too short for my liking.”

“How long do you want it then?”

I thought for a bit before answering. “Knee length sounds good to me.”

“I can do that.”

“Alright. I think I’ll head to my room.” I put action to my words and went upstairs. Once I was there and closed the door, I went over to the desk and sat at it. I thought about things before putting my face on the desk with a fair amount of prejudice.

Something was going on in my head. First were the dedicated sleep clothes. I’ve never been much of a fan of that idea, and here I was asking for some. Then there’s the whole matter of the skirt with the robe. Since I was male before, skirts were never something I even considered wearing, and yet there I was discussing one for me with Rarity.

I was also missing home. I had friends there, and family. I already missed them, especially since I had no idea if I could go back home. I could feel my eyes watering already. And there was another thing: even though I was a very timid guy back home, I never really cried. This is the second time in two days I’ve cried, though this time was quiet.

Something’s going on in my head, I don’t like it, and I have no idea what to do about it. It’s scary.

Author's Notes:

Since I do not like crediting the backspace key, I will instead credit this chapter to my own work and imagination, along with a cool picture.