I woke up the next day on my side on the floor, a pillow under my head and the bed’s covers over me. I saw the desk and remembered my breakdown last night. I must have cried myself to sleep and fell over.

I also had to use the bathroom, so I got up, left my room, saw that the bathroom was unoccupied, went in, and took care of business. I still found it strange that I knew how to do that properly, but I was too tired from waking up to care at the moment.

I also realized that I needed a shower. It’s been days since I had one. I also realized I’d have to face my body in its entirety. I was not looking forward to that, but I also wasn’t looking forward to staying dirty all the time, especially in such a nice place.

I went downstairs after using the bathroom, as it was clear I would not be getting back to sleep, especially with the smell of warm cheese and eggs in the air. I followed the aroma downstairs, and on a lonesome plate was a cheese omelette. Rarity and Sweetie Belle were not there, so I figured it was for me. I wasn’t willing to take the chance that it wasn’t for me though, so I walked around a bit. I found Rarity at work in the shop area of the first floor.

“Good morning, Yang” Rarity said. “Sleep well?”

“I guess so” I answered. “Did you give me the pillow and blanket last night?”

“That was actually Sweetie’s doing. She saw you crying and stayed close to you. When you fell over, she gave you the pillow and blanket. After checking that you were alright, of course. You must have really worn yourself out though. She found you around 9 last night, she got me around 9:30, and it’s already past 10.

“Anywho, the omelette on the table is yours. I put a low power warming enchantment on it for you a few hours ago, so it should still be good.”

I thanked Rarity before going to the omelette. The main thought on my mind was how I was asleep for nearly 12 hours. That thought was soon replaced by wondering what I was going to do today. I couldn’t just live off Rarity’s generosity either, even if I had already helped her in her work already.

As I finished my omelette, which was surprisingly filling for its rather petite size, I decided to wander around town. There had to be things I could do out there. Besides, if I was going to be here for the foreseeable future, I’d have to learn the layout of the town at some point, and now was a good time.

I then remembered that I had realized that I needed a shower. I also realized and remembered that I didn’t have any extra clothes. Well, I did have Yang’s original outfit, but I didn’t want to wear that.

As if reading my mind, Rarity walked up to me, a box floating in her magic. “I made some more clothes for you, Yang. Just some duplicates of what I already gave you a few days ago. That should work well for you, yes?”

“Yes. Thanks. How does laundry work here?”

“Mondays and Fridays, and I keep the washboard in the back porch.” Washboards. I knew what they were, but the last time I’d seen one was a black and white video where it was part of a musical instrument. “And I assure you Yang, it’s a very nice washboard.”

I wanted to hit my head on the table, but my quota for that was full for the week. I might have also wound up breaking something, and I did not want to do that. “Someone’s going to have to teach me how to use that, I guess.”

Rarity gave a small gasp. “Did you forget how to use a washboard?”

“How can I forget something I never learned?”

So I spent an hour being taught by Rarity how to use a washboard and clothesline. Fun.

I took my shower and discovered some obvious things. First was that my body felt different. I will not go into details, but I will say that there are both obvious things that feel different and more subtle things that feel different. One thing I will say is that my limbs are smooth. There’s not even a single hair on them, or anywhere aside from my head.

Speaking of hair, that’s the second or third obvious difference I discovered. I started with the amount of shampoo I was used to, and quickly discovered it was not enough. I don’t know if I used the right techniques, but I got every part of my hair washed. The shampoo bottle was quite a bit lighter when I was finished. It smelled of lavender.

Drying off was yet another new experience. Once again, I will refrain from the details, but suffice to say it was strange. At least the towels were soft and very absorbent. I’ve never felt such nice towels before. I don’t know if it’s because they’re just very nice towels or if all towels are this soft here. Either way, it was a bit small for me, as just about everything seemed to be. Also, my hair holds a lot of water now.

After Rarity dried my hair with a spell and brushed it (at her insistence. It actually felt rather nice), I decided to look around town today. Rarity reluctantly allowed it, and so I went outside. She also gave me ten bits for lunch. After taking a breath of the clean air, I walked in the direction of Twilight’s castle.

One thing I quickly learned was that Ponyville had no real organization in its layout. There were no street signs saying which street was which, not that I’d have been able to read them anyways.

The walk was uneventful. I did get lost a few times, but the ponies were kind and helpful. I couldn’t think of anywhere back on Earth where people were this kind to each other, let alone to what would be considered an alien.

The whole town just felt nice overall. I had a good time walking around. In fact, I had such a good time walking around, I didn’t even notice Rainbow quietly floating right behind me until she spoke up. “Hi Yang.”

To say my reaction was not subtle would be an inaccurate statement. I happened to be under a tree when Rainbow greeted me, and when she did, I jumped in surprise, hitting my head hard on a branch around 20 feet up above me, also causing a cracking sound to ring out. A second later, gravity took over and I hit the ground with as much grace as the broken branch that followed and landed next to me a few seconds later.

“Yang, are you alright?” Rainbow asked as I slowly made my way to a sitting position against the base of the tree, my eyes shut and a hand on my head where I hit it. “I’m so sorry. Is there anything I can do to help?"

Rainbow’s only answer was my breathing. I couldn’t focus on making even an incoherent sentence through the pain, which, while rather severe, was already starting to fade.

After what felt like five minutes or so, I started opening my eyes. The first thing I saw was Rainbow sitting in front of me, looking rather down and away from me. “Rainbow?” I knew she had a two part name, but I couldn’t remember the second part. I’d get it in time.

She turned to face me, and did not hesitate to make eye contact. She had a very apologetic look on her face. “Yang, I’m sorry for startling you like that. I didn’t think you would react that way. Can you forgive me?”

“I guess I can, but did you learn nothing from when Pinkie surprised me?” I felt. . . slightly irritated.

“I did learn you don’t take surprises well, but Pinkie is, well, Pinkie. And unlike her, I actually follow the laws of physics and magic.”

“Alright, just, don’t sneak up on me like that again, alright?”

“Sure thing, Yang. So, what are you doing today?”

“Walking around town, but now I just want to go back to the boutique. Man that sounds weird to me.” I stood up, the impact site on my head already nearly pain-free.

“You gonna make it back alright?”

“Um.” I looked around, not really recognizing where I was. “If you could show me the way, that would be nice.”

“Sure thing.” I stood up and walked alongside Rainbow, who hovered so she was eye level with me. “So, is there anything you’d like to talk about?”

I thought for a moment. “I got nothing. You?”

“Not really. Oh, how’s the weather today?”

“It’s a beautiful day to be outside."

“Thank you, Yang. I’ll be sure to let my weather team know you liked the weather.”

“Weather team? Like a bunch of people who predict the weather? Why would they care what someone thinks of the weather? Weather just happens.”

“Over the Everfree, weather just happens. Here in Ponyville, I’m the weather manager. We schedule it. Does nopony do that where you’re from?”

“Nobody can control the weather back on Earth. That doesn’t mean we haven’t tried though.”

“Nopony controls your weather? Then how do you get beautiful days like today, rain for the crops, and all that good stuff?”

“It just happens. We can predict to a degree what will happen though.”

“Alright then. What do humans do when a freak snowstorm hits?” Rainbow’s voice had a bit of a challenging tone to it.

“We send out fleets of trucks to clear the roads and put salt down to help keep it that way.”

“Missed rain?”

“Shrug and move on.”

“Leaves not falling in autumn.”

“That happens on its own. Also, evergreens are a thing.”

We continued this back and forth until we got to the Boutique. I not only surprised Rainbow, but myself with all that I knew about the weather back home. I walked inside and Rarity wasn’t in sight. However, I could smell something cooking, and it didn’t smell bad.

“I’m back, Rarity” I announced. “What’s cooking? Also, Rainbow’s here."

“Grilled and lightly seasoned vegetable patties” Rarity replied. “Care to join us, Rainbow?”

“I’d love to, but Tank needs to be fed” Rainbow answered. “For being an understanding tortoise, he sure can be unforgiving when he doesn’t get his food.”

“I see. Well, give him my regards."

“Can do, Rares. I’ll see you later.” Rainbow left in a modest hurry. Shortly after that, I had a late lunch/early dinner with Rarity and Sweetie Belle. It was good. Rarity had even found the time to make me a new robe today, even though she was working on other orders as well. It was medium brown with yellow trim, and on the inside of the back was Yang’s burning heart emblem in yellow. The sleeves, while still loose, weren’t overly large like most robes. I liked that.

It was only after I had retired to my room for the night and changed to the comfy new robe that I realized I hadn’t felt any pain from the tree branch since a short time into the walk here with Rainbow. The first thing that came to mind was the aura Yang and everybody in RWBY had. It made sense that I’d have it as well, now that I think about it.

Before I went to sleep, I figured I could fight my boredom with a book, then I remembered I couldn’t read their writing yet. I got my cheat sheet and started looking it over, doing my best to commit at least one of their letters to memory. I’m not sure if I succeeded or not because it eventually got too dark for me to see on account of my eyelids getting heavy.

Author's Notes:

Imported from Gdocs on the tablet this time. I only had to deal with a swarm of bold formatting marks.

Action will come soon. Very soon. Chapter-wise, at least. Time-wise, not so sure. I do have it written out, but I'm not entirely satisfied with it right now, so I'll be going over it some more.