Before the notification went away, Ranma noticed that the last part of it matched the words on the book's cover. Beyond that, he wasn't sure why it was being mentioned.
Feeling too tired and sore to move, he decided to open the book and confirm that it was really the book that he had been looking for. After perusing its pages for a bit, he saw enough evidence to be certain that it was.
With that concern put to rest, he set the book aside before allowing his head to fall back and bounce until coming to a natural stop. Once it did, he stared up at the sky, where he saw a single cloud slowly drifting along. He began to wonder how long he had been in the book, and how much longer he should wait before taking matters into his own hands.
In all honesty, he was considering starting later than he had initially planned, if no one got him out of the book, mostly thanks to his experience with Pinkie Pie. Not because of her affection, which — much to his relief — he expected would go away with the next reset, but what she had somehow made him do, both unconsciously and without his horn.
Usually he needed a fair amount of motivation to learn a new martial arts technique, which he didn't have here, but his access to magic had revealed a juxtaposition with ki that intrigued him. Even if he couldn't use magic as a human, which he knew some could in some form or another, there was a chance that he could learn something useful from magic that would translate to ki. After all, if Prince Herb could use ki to sort-of fly during his Ryu Sei Hisho technique, there might be a way to fly properly, or float instead of fall.
He wasn't sure if he wanted Pinkie Pie's help with that again, though; especially if it required another session in the bouncy house. He didn't know if what they had done was strenuous for the average pony, or if his current body was very out of shape, but he could barely move his limbs. He felt tired enough to take a nap, too, which sounded like a better idea than laying in the bouncy house for who knows how long, waiting to recover.
With that last thought, he closed his eyes...
When Ranma found himself staring into the darkness, no longer feeling sore or tired, he sorted out what he was going to do this time. First, he was going to make sure that Common for the Commonpony was in the library. After that, he wanted to check a couple of things that he was curious about, like the appearance of the face he was borrowing, and whether or not anything would happen if he doused himself with hot water. He also wanted to check out the food, to see if there was a decent variety, because he certainly wasn't going to contemplate staying in the book any longer than necessary if the only thing he had to look forward to was a knock-out cupcake — delicious or not.
While he was regarding the now-visible reptile, it occurred to him that he might as well try to get the name that came with his new face. Perhaps it wouldn't hurt to get the reptile's name as well, since he might end up sticking around for a while and the creature was the first intelligent being that he encountered every time things reset.
So, after he got its attention by tapping its shoulder, he pointed to himself and said, "Name?"
"Huh?" Came the response.
Seeing that it was clearly confused, he pointed to himself again and repeated, "Name?"
The reptile hesitated, not knowing what to think about the request, but eventually gave a proper answer. "...Twilight Sparkle?"
He mouthed the name before pointing at the reptile and asking, "Name?"
"Spike," the now-named reptile tersely replied, now looking put off by the questions. "Is this some kind of prank? I know you're unhappy about the princess' reply, but—hey, where are you going!?"
He ignored Spike as he levitated across the rooftops, intent on going back to the hiding spot that he had used last time because it had worked. Well, if he didn't count Pinkie Pie, at any rate. Speaking of whom, once he was in the spacious alley, he backed up against the house to deny her that direction, so he could see her coming from the other three.
However, once he was sure enough time had passed for her to make an appearance, he decided to abandon that tactic. He turned his head to face one direction, to give her an opportunity to appear in his blind spot, but she wasn't there when he turned to face the opposite direction. Initially confused, it took him a moment to realize that there was one direction that he hadn't accounted for, and that she probably had the capability to be there.
When he looked up, he wasn't surprised to find her hanging upside down from the eave, or that she stayed in the same spot within his vision when he lowered his gaze, until she got her legs beneath her and settled her hooves on the ground.
Curious as to what she would do with the house blocking her usual escape route, he decided to set her off by saying a random word in Japanese. "Wasabi."
She gasped and leaped into the air, as expected, then... she was suddenly nuzzling his cheek!? The intimate contact made him blush and freeze up, allowing her to finish her nuzzling before skipping away while humming a merry tune.
A few seconds later, he reached up and touched his cheek, confused by this development. He had been convinced that everything reset when he went back to the start, but now... Was it because she liked him? Had she been an anomaly the whole time? The uncertainty bothered him, making him wonder if anything else could become unpredictable while he was trapped inside of the book.
That reminded him of the next part of his plan, so he hurried over to the library. When he got there, he went directly to the side of the room where the books began alphabetically, found where the books starting with the letter "C" were, and soon discovered a book-sized vacancy where he was sure Common for the Commonpony should be. While he couldn't remember seeing the book there specifically, he was pretty sure that there hadn't been such a large and obvious gap before.
Thinking that the book might have been left where he'd last seen it, since things weren't as consistent as he'd first assumed, he left the library and searched for the park. When he spotted it, he quickly noticed that there was no bouncy house in sight, whose size and color would have been very hard to miss. So, when he couldn't find the book laying on the ground anywhere, he was disappointed and a bit confused, but not surprised.
He stood there for a while with his head down, wondering where the book had gone and how much of a problem it would be if he ended up needing to learn the language, when a familiar voice and accompanying sound of wing beats made his drooping ears perk up.
"Hey! Is looking at the ground a hobby or something?"
Looking up, he saw Rainbow Dash hovering nearby, looking playful. Thanks to how large and expressive the eyes of the ponies were, he also noticed that there was some concern as well. Which he thought was odd, but he dismissed it since he hardly knew her, and thus if that was how she normally behaved or if it was because she remembered him. Curious as to which one it was, he decided to put his limited English — or Common, as it was called here — to use.
"Hi, Rainbow Dash," he greeted with a friendly wave. "How are you?"
Rainbow Dash cocked her head, confused. "Have we met before? I came over to say 'hi' because I thought you looked familiar, and you know my name, but..."
With her reaction providing him enough of an answer, because he didn't see recognition, he raised a hoof for a bump and smiled. "Goodbye."
Apparently he had misread the situation, because she frowned and jabbed a hoof at him. "That, right there! It's like you didn't understand me, and your accent is weird — I mean, not in a bad way, but it really stands out. It's all really familiar and it's bugging me that I can't remember you."
Seeing that he had somehow upset her a bit, he could only wonder if the offer for a hoof bump had been some kind of faux pas. Thinking that turning around and walking away might exacerbate things, he opted to stay and try to sort things out. After some consideration, and coming up with few options, he decided to stand on his hind legs and perform a simple kata, to see if it reminded her of their first encounter, or — at the very least — took her mind off of what made her upset.
Her face was quick to light up, and she waggled a hoof at him. "Hey, yeah! We must have gone to the same dojo when we were fillies!"
Glad that she seemed to remember him, he stopped his kata and returned his forehooves to the ground. However, when she landed beside him and started her own kata, and clearly began to encourage him to join her, he had to suppress a groan because he figured that he must have been wrong again. At least, had she been reminded of their activities, he would have expected her to build at least one part of the obstacle course, and/or get him flying with levitation.
Despite the string of communication failures, though, he couldn't help being curious about the martial arts that the ponies used. So, even though he could already tell that the kata she was performing was very similar to one that he knew, or maybe because it was so similar, he joined in to see where things would go.
When she finished the kata, she shot him a cheeky grin before performing a wing-aided flash kick. Liking where this was going, he used levitation to copy the move, since his body was in no condition to do it otherwise, then cocked an eyebrow, silently challenging, "Is that all you can do?"
Rainbow Dash responded with a smirk. "Oh, yeah? Well, watch this!"
What followed began as an exhibition of personal skill, where they took turns performing a technique that they knew and daring the other to do it to their satisfaction. Then they raised the stakes before exhausting their repertoire, inventing new moves, or sequences of moves, but if they failed to make it a reality the other would eventually join in and help them figure out what the issue was. It was during one of those collaborative efforts when their eyes met, and without saying anything began to work as a team to defeat invisible foes.
It didn't take long for it to become a sort of martial dance, as they maneuvered themselves around each other in all manner of ways, from a simple leap frog into a kick, or a slide through the legs, to throwing each other into a pirouette that delivered a tornado of punches. They acted as if directed by one mind, and Ranma was so in the zone that he failed to notice how similar this situation was to what had happened with Pinkie Pie. In fact, both thought they were imagining a rockin' song playing during their awesome performance, but — in reality — a boombox had been parachuted in via party cannon.
Eventually, they were too tired to continue, and the boombox "coincidentally" chose that time to go quiet. Reluctantly, tiredly, they sat down with their backs pressed together for support. They remained that way for a while, in companionable silence, as they cooled down, regained their breath, and reflected on what they had done.
While Ranma didn't regret his time with Rainbow Dash, it left him questioning his relationships with real people. The connection that he had just experienced, with a fictional character no less, had felt more real and substantial than anyone else he knew... Including his mother. It raised thoughts that were unpleasant to think about, so he didn't, and tried to allay his worries with the thought that nothing native to the book could be authentic.
He was taken out of his thoughts when Rainbow Dash sheepishly asked, "Hey, uh... What's your name?"
Feeling like he should start divorcing himself from the fictional characters, he offered the name that he had learned of earlier. "Twilight Sparkle."
Rainbow Dash tried really hard to commit the name to memory before slowly getting up, to allow him time to adjust and not fall backward. She walked around him, but kept her back to him, and face turned away, when she stopped and apprehensively said, "Well... You're probably just here for the celebration..." She began to fidget with one of her forehooves. "But, um, if you feel like it..." She paused before saying the rest in a rush. "My-house-is-on-the-western-edge-of-town-if-you-feel-like-visiting-before-you-leave. Bye!"
And with that final, verbal exhalation, she took flight with enough force to knock him over.
He watched her rainbow contrail disappear into the distance as he got up, feeling conflicted.