“Sorry it took so long,” Twilight apologized, “If someone hadn’t decided sleeping on an unmoored cloud was a good idea, I would have been back much quicker.”

“Twilight, you were only gone for a minute, at most,” I pointed out.

“I know, an absolute eternity, I’m so sorry,” It was then I spotted the amused twinkle in her eyes. So, this Twilight had a mischievous streak, did she? I could work with this.

“And how do you propose to make it up to Fluttershy and me? After all, mortals like us don’t have all the time in the world,” I teased back. Rainbow started snickering and Pinkie was full on guffawing.

“I suppose I could dump you in the Everfree for a few months, see if that fixes your smart mouth. I’m sure everyone would appreciate that,” I threw up my hands in surrender.

“I yield, you win!” I would’ve been waving a white flag if I had one.

“Word of advice, new kid, don’t try and out talk Twilight. She may be bad at practical jokes, but she’ll slice and dice anyone with words,” Rainbow warned.

“She juliennes too!” Pinkie chirped.

“Well, before this goes any further, let us introduce ourselves,” Rarity suggested.

“A good idea,” Twilight agreed, “Even if I feel the need to warn you that she’s already heard of all of us. I’ll explain later.”

“Whatever, I’m Rainbow Dash! Fastest flier in Equestria!” Rainbow’s hair was done in a messy faux-hawk, perfectly suited for someone who spent all their time flying at high speeds. Her cyan ears poking out the top of her head were just barely clearing her hair. She was dressed in a sporty black tee-shirt and tight fitting biker pants. No other expression in my mind would fit Rainbow Dash more perfectly than that cocky grin she was giving me right now.

“Howdy, Ah’m Applejack,” As much as the farmer’s daughter stereotype might kill some people, that was Applejack to a T. Flannel shirt and well worn blue jeans, topped with that iconic Stetsons hat. Hey, stereotypes are stereotypes for a reason. Sometimes they actually do exist. Applejack’s golden wheat blonde hair was tied up in a ponytail not dissimilar to the way Tifa Lockhart wore her hair. A small, but welcoming smile adorned her face.

“Rarity, charmed to meet you,” Rarity’s outfit was easily the most well put together of the bunch. The only one who came close was Fluttershy. She wore a long sleeved blouse of some kind of light gray material and matching pencil skirt. I also noticed she was wearing tights. Her hair was, instead of the coiffed version of the show, was allowed to run almost completely free, reaching down to her mid back, if I guessed correctly. Somehow the lack of well maintained curls made this Rarity seem a bit more mature, at least to my eyes. Her eyes held a look of polite curiosity and the beginnings of ideas.

“This is kinda weird, cuz I’m Pinkie Pie, but a different Pinkie Pie, and you only know of that other Pinkie Pie, but I’m going to introduce myself anyway because I hope we can be friends! I’m Pinkie Pie, even if you already knew that,” As an introvert, I was only ever able to tolerate small doses of pony Pinkie. Yet I always enjoyed the small doses I did allow myself to have. The One Where Pinkie Pie Knows was one of my favorite episodes. As for this Pinkie, her hair was done in the typical Pinkie Chaos of cotton candy and her clothes consisted of a comfy tee shirt that looked like it was trying to eat her with her Cutie Mark emblazoned upon it along with purple sweat pants. It was pretty easy to see comfort was Pinkie’s primary vice as far as her wardrobe was concerned. Her face was split in the standard Pinkie Pie grin, accompanied with the cute squeak noise.

“And I’m, uh, I’m Starlight Glimmer,” Starlight was clearly at least a few years older than the other girls. However, the way she carried herself made her seem a whole lot younger. She somehow projected less confidence than Fluttershy. Although, granted, I’ve only ever interacted with Fluttershy one on one in the guise of a character she likes, so it’s quite possible my impressions are skewed. As far as her clothes, Starlight was wearing a spaghetti top with a denim jacket overtop and some kind of leg hugging pants I couldn’t identify. Her Cutie Mark was on the breast pocket of her jacket. My only guess was this was not long after Starlight’s reformation and she was still learning that you can’t just mind control your friends on a lark. Or maybe she was just different from the Starlight of the show and I was thinking about it way too much.

“I’m Spike! Nice to see you finally awake!” Spike was almost exactly the same as his show counterpart. He was a little more lanky and taller and closer in body structure to a teenage human than a small child, but he was also still naked. Were all dragons naked or was Spike just a nudist? Was it a culture thing? I mean, I couldn’t see his dick waving about, so I guess it was fine, but it was still kinda jarring to see all these people dressed up and then BAM naked dragon. I feel like that could be the punch line of a bad joke. Oh well, best dragon bro is still best dragon bro.

“You can call me Ranma. As you may have been able to tell, I’m not from around here. A cosmic entity decided to pluck me from everything I’ve ever known, loved, and hated and drop me here. To throw me even more off balance, he turned me into the fictional character I was cosplaying as,” I introduced myself.

“Nerd,” Rainbow snickered.

“Oh, I’m sorry, is that the pot calling the kettle black? Written any good Daring Do fanfiction lately?” It was a shot in the dark, but the way Rainbow blushed and her wings flared out told me I had hit pay dirt.

“How do you know about that?! I mean…I have no idea what you’re talking about,” Rainbow lied with an adorably scrunched face. Applejack decided to take pity on the prismatic mare. She planted a hand on her friend’s shoulder.

“Dash, sugarcube, everyone knows about yer fanfiction. Maybe try a username that ain’t some variation on ‘rainbowdashisawesome’. It ain’t hard to guess it’s either you or Scootaloo,” Applejack said patronizingly.

“I’m ruined,” Rainbow moaned, “Wait, if you’re from another world, how the heck do you know who Daring Do is?”

“Very astute, Rainbow,” Twilight complimented, “Ranma’s world seems to have had an interesting overlap in fiction with ours. I might as well get this out of the way now, but we also played a role in the fiction of Ranma’s world.”

“What do you mean, Twilight?” Rarity asked.

“We were apparently stars of a television cartoon,” Twilight confessed.

“Whelp, that’s mah call to get back to the farm and not think about somethin’ so horrifyin’” Applejack shuttered and moved to leave. She didn't quite make it out the door.

“Horrifying? What are you talking about? A whole different dimension knows how awesome I am!” Rainbow crowed.

“You should be doubly proud, Rainbow, you were the gateway drug,” I remarked.

“What do you mean ‘gateway drug’?!” Rainbow squawked in outrage.

“I mean you’re the one who served to bridge the gap between a lot of guys and the slightly more feminine bent of the cartoon. Without you acting as a middle ground, a lot of people would have missed out on something they would ultimately love. It isn’t just you either; your cartoon was a phenomenon. I’ve heard more than one story about how before the cartoon, people’s lives were just empty and gray. They were going through the motions and some were ready to give up. Then the six of you plus Spike came into their lives and suddenly it was like the whole world was reborn! A fanbase sprang up around the show and it was all about love and tolerance. Artists, song writers, authors, reviewers, parody makers, casual fans, and hardcore, people from all walks of life flocked to the show. It isn’t too much to say the show saved lives. It certainly saved mine,” The room was quiet. I hadn’t intended to make a big speech or anything. I just said what I felt.

Suddenly, by some group instinct, I found myself in a group hug. Even Spike was a part of it. I melted. My primary love language was physical touch. Something I was actively discouraged from practicing as a man. Even if it was just because I was female at the moment, I savored the physical affection I was receiving. They were strangers to me, yet with little cause they were willing to comfort me. Ultimately the group hug ended, as all things must.

“So, Ranma, you’re probably going to be here for awhile. It'll take me at the very least a year to figure out how to send you home. Do you have any plans?” Twilight asked. I decided to keep the fact I'd rather stay in Equestria under my hat. No sense needlessly upsetting them at this juncture, or so I thought. I knew full well I was experiencing "grass is always greener" syndrome, but other than my cats, I couldn't think of anything I would legitimately miss.

“Poke around, looking for work, and ideally get my own place to live,” I responded.

“Ranma, you only have the clothes on your back. Where are you going to stay until you find paying work?” Twilight questioned and I knew full well I was going to get read the riot act should I answer with my intentions of camping out in Whitetail Wood.

“I have no good answer for that,” I answered truthfully.

“Well, fortunately for you, I have more space in the castle than I know what to do with. At least until Princess Celestia somehow convinces me that the Princess of Friendship needs intimidating guards following her everywhere,” It sounded like that was a common argument between the two, “Also, I would love to learn more about your world and society. An outsider’s perspective on not only Equestrian culture, but on every culture on Equuis is sure to make for at least some good research papers. That’s not even considering your unique biology! Naturally I’ll be paying you for your time.”

“Room, board, and helping advance science? Why, Princess Twilight, are you perhaps…trying to seduce me?” I really poured on the Shatner in that delivery.

“Is that a yes?” Twilight asked patiently. She didn’t rise to the bait, even if there was a round of snickering from the peanut gallery.

“I accept, but I insist you pay me the same as any other research assistant and not a bit more,” I was determined to not be a charity case.

“Oh…I, uh, understand,” Twilight looked down for a moment, but then lifted her head with a wicked gleam in her eyes, “I understand that you’re destitute with no way of getting home, nothing but the clothes on your back, no idea how to live in a completely alien society, looking like no other species on Equuis which is sure to draw unwanted attention, dealing with your new sex changing curse, and a completely unfamiliar body. You know, you’d qualify for refugee status, right? One word to Celestia and you’d be in the system with government housing and a small stipend. Doesn’t that sound wonderful, Ranma?”

“You defeated my pride…by appealing to my pride. Well played Twilight Sparkle, well played,” Nothing she said was wrong. Her points were well made and irrefutable. In this particular battle of wits, I had come unarmed.

“It’s not like I don’t have the extra bits lying around. I am a princess, after all. Work with me for a few months, build your character reputation and credit, and we could probably convince the bank to give you a loan for buying your own place. You might also consider building a new place. It’s only marginally more expensive to start with, but pays itself off in the long run, given it’s less likely you need to perform repairs, you can add things like solar panels at the outset, and you can customize it to your liking,” Twilight suggested. It might have been my imagination, but it sounded like Twilight still wasn’t the biggest fan of the castle. There were, of course, cons to building a house. Such as the time between purchase and moving in, but I could deal with that.

“That sounds great to me. When do you want to start swapping notes?” I asked.

“You still only just woke up today. Take the day and get your thoughts in order, maybe start familiarizing yourself with the layout of the castle. You’ve been through a lot and I know firsthand that notes taken while frazzled are bad notes. Also, before I forget, here,” Twilight levitated a cup of warm and cold water to me, “Might as well show the others your curse too.”

A quick demonstration of my curse from male back to female had some interesting results. Applejack was just dumbfounded, Rainbow seemed to just be passively curious, Starlight was wigging out over the implications of the magic of the curse, Spike was plain creeped out, Pinkie was babbling something so fast I couldn’t understand her, but judging from the way Fluttershy’s wings were beginning to fan out, it might’ve been something lewd, and Rarity had a face that just screamed ‘idea!’.

“Rarity, I’m gonna cut you off for a second. If you insist on making cloths for me, then I only want workout clothes for my male form and maybe something for more formal occasions. For my female form, you can go wild. I will find a way to make it up to you!” Rarity pouted at me a bit, but the gears of inspiration refused to be stopped once they were in motion.

“Oh, I’m sure we’ll work something out,” Rarity replied airily. I got the strangest feeling I was slightly out of my depth. Oh well, I’m sure it was nothing.

So, that little speech from Ranma was completely unintentional. I was thinking about the scene while in the shower and suddenly the words came tumbling out of her/his mouth.

Also, I know jack and shit about fashion. So...feel free to pretend they're wearing whatever. I am a fashion disaster and I know it.

Next chapter will probably include Ranma bumbling about the castle and maybe a start on the first session with Twilight. We'll see where my inspiration takes me.

In other news, I am trapped in an eternal hell, denied the sweet release of sleep or death. Forever forced to stew in my own twisted thoughts. THIS WAS SUPPOSED TO BE FLUFF!!!! WHY IS IT MAKING ME THINK ABOUT THESE THINGS?!?!?! Of course, none of you will know what I'm losing my shit over this time for a long time yet. I'm not OK...