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// Chapter 9: Easy as Pie 
// Story: Tangled Up In Purple 
// by Crescent Pulsar 
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Many of the ponies tried to chat with Ranma, but most were disappointed and left when Applejack explained his poor grasp of Common. That didn't stop some of them from trying, and he didn't know whether to be annoyed or amused by the ones who thought speaking louder would help. Still, they were clearly a friendly bunch, so he did his best to make meaningful conversation.

By the time he felt that his stomach had settled and he was ready to move, he excused himself. He was intent on figuring out what had happened to Common for the Commonpony, since he might need it. Before doing that, however, he asked for Applejack and was directed to the orchard.

When he found her, he waited until after she finished bucking a tree to get her attention, at which point he bowed from the neck and told her in English, "Thank you, Applejack."

"Aw, shucks," she replied, waving it aside with a hoof, "think nothing of it. Your candor was thanks enough." She frowned and reached underneath her hat to scratch her head. "By the blank look on your face, though, I reckon you didn't understand the crux of what I said."

After a few seconds of thought, to determine if there was another way of getting her message across, her face brightened with an idea. She immediately acted upon it by sidling up beside him, looping a foreleg over his withers, then giving him a firm hug and regarding him with a meaningful look while saying, "You're welcome to visit any time, ya hear? So don't be a stranger."

While she went back to bucking trees, he stood in place for a moment, recovering from the unexpected hug. Not because he didn't like it, but because of what he thought it meant. Which came as a surprise, largely due to not knowing how he had earned it. Was it some weird culture thing to request food, then burp after eating it all, to become accepted?

He continued to think about it as he walked to the library, to see if it was possible to get that book from Pinkie Pie again. Mostly, he wondered how much the relationship would transfer over the next time he restarted, and how that would affect his ability to eat all of those yummy, apple-centric treats. As for the ponies, he wasn't sure how to feel about them, because of his situation and the language barrier. Although, he was definitely glad that they were friendly, since it seemed more likely that having a positive relationship with the denizens of the book could be helpful if their aid was needed to get back to the real world.

When he reached the library, he saw Pinkie Pie stepping out and closing the door behind her. When she saw him, she perked up and pronked over to him. Excitedly, she asked, "Did ya like them apples?" She zipped to the left side of him, then the right, and finally underneath his chin each time she pressed, "Didja, didja, didja?" She got in front of his face and jabbed her own closer to his every time she pressed again. "Huh!? Huh!? Huh!?"

With his head pulled back as far as it would go, and a smiling pony in his face, who just finished saying stuff he didn't understand, he was at a loss of what to do. The only sure thing he could think of was the reason for why he was back at the library, so he found himself awkwardly and slowly asking about the book in English despite having only read the words before. "Where Com-mon for the Com-mon-po-ny?"

Seemingly unbothered by asking an unrelated question in response to her own, she giggled and took a step back. "That's not how you say 'common', silly!"

She reached behind his ear, at which point he saw four lines of white text appear in his vision, with a line separating the top one from the three below. When she pulled her foreleg back, with Common for the Commonpony in hoof, red text appeared on the bottom line, on the right of the words that matched the ones on the book.

"Here ya go!" She said, all smiles, while offering him the book.

When he shifted his gaze to the book, the text in his vision dipped into his periphery and faded away. Fortunately, it had been there long enough for him to remember the words on the two lines that he didn't recognize, so he took the book with his magic and went to the dictionary section. Upon finding "library", the only word above the line, and discovering that he didn't know enough words in the definition to figure out its meaning, he turned the open side of the book toward Pinkie Pie and pointed at it.

She simply pointed toward the building behind her.

Said building, as far as he could tell, was a library. If that was the case, and the red text appearing next to Common for the Commonpony, when Pinkie Pie somehow took possession of it, in addition to everything else, meant what he thought it meant, then he had two other books... somewhere, and one of them bore the name of the character whose body he had been forced to assume. 

Thinking that he might have found the key to his escape, should it be necessary to accomplish it himself, he lowered the book before pointing behind his ear and doing his best to say "Twilight Sparkle" like Spike had said it.

"That sorta sounds like you, alright!" Pinkie Pie enthusiastically replied, before pointing toward herself. "And I'm Pinkie Pie!"

Knowing that he had failed to convey his request, he frowned and stroked his chin in thought, wondering how she had gotten the book. On the surface it looked like she had used a basic stash technique that martial artists used to carry concealed items, but he doubted that was the actual mechanic at work, on account of the text that appeared in his vision when she got the book. Which was probably a good thing, since he couldn't use ki while he was a pony.

He reasoned that it had to be some function of the book. Was it something that only fictional entities like Pinkie Pie could use, or could he access it as well, given that he could see where she had gotten the book from? He had a hunch that the so-called library was his, however, since he suspected that the chime and text from before, when he had first held Common for the Commonpony, had happened because the book had been added to the library, where a copy of the book that had entrapped him also resided.

Could it be as easy to get a book as Pinkie Pie had made it look, though? Did he just need to desire access to the library and want the book in his possession? He figured that it couldn't hurt to try, so he stared into the middle distance, which made Pinkie Pie cock her head in curiosity, and wanted to see the library while doing the best that he could to visualize what he had seen of it at the same time.

To his delight, it worked. At least, until said delight broke his concentration. A little annoyed, he tried again, got the text to reappear, and began to reach behind his ear while intent on acquiring a certain book from the library.

His concentration was broken again, however, when Pinkie Pie let out a little squeal, rapidly clapped her forehooves several times, and excitedly said under her breath, "You're doing it!"

He shot her a glare, and she ducked her head and smiled sheepishly.

With a huff, he tried again and unceremoniously had The Epic of Twilight Sparkle held up before him a few seconds later. On the outside, it looked exactly like the book that he had been sucked into. He hesitated before he opened the book, once he reassured himself that it hadn't done anything until he had gotten too close to it. He certainly hoped that it wouldn't do anything, because he didn't even want to contemplate the possibility of being inside of a book that was itself inside of a book.

He exercised caution and turned the first pages slowly, and didn't notice anything noteworthy until reaching the first chapter, where he paused. Instead of a whole page being devoted to a fancy border, and an arrow with text inside of it, he encountered paragraphs beneath a number and title. When he checked several of the pages that came after it, he just saw a continuation of the chapter, not the page that had sucked him into the book. After flipping to the back section of the book, he didn't even see any illustrations.

So... it appeared to be an ordinary version of the book that he was inside of. He didn't know if being able to read it would be more conducive toward escaping the book, but it was something to bear in mind if he had to consider the possibility. Otherwise, he didn't know if it was of any use at that moment.

Pinkie Pie suddenly popped up beside him and remarked, "Wow! You read even faster than Twilight!"

He spared her a glance, idly wondering what she had said because he had recognized the name, but he quickly returned his attention to his investigation because he still had one more book in the library to inspect. This one was titled User Manual, which he couldn't read, but he hoped that a look inside would give some insight into what the book was about.

After giving Pinkie Pie the responsibility of holding The Epic of Twilight Sparkle for him, he pulled out the remaining book and wasted no time in opening it. Within a minute he was pretty sure that he was looking at some kind of manual, based on the illustrations, arrows and numbered steps that he saw, but it wasn't until he saw an illustration of a table of contents that his interest was truly piqued and made him think that the book might actually be useful. His persistence paid off a few pages later, when he saw an illustration of the library, as he saw it in his vision, with both User Manual and The Epic of Twilight Sparkle listed in the same positions.

He was excited by this discovery. Not only had he found something that would probably help him escape the book, once he could read it, but its existence, and his access to it, gave him more insight into his situation. At least, as far as he could tell, a scheming teacher appeared even more unlikely now, as did the chance of someone from the outside getting him out of the book. As improbable as it seemed, whether by intention or accident, the book came from an unknown place, as well as creatures he'd never heard of before. It was made with the purpose of literally immersing its reader in the character and story, not to entrap someone until they learned — as they called it — Common.

That didn't mean that he wouldn't need to learn the language if he wanted a fair chance to leave the book, though. As annoying as that prospect was, he was just glad that he now had some idea of the problem and the solution, which did a lot to ease his mind. Of course, there was no telling how long it would have taken him to get to this point if not for the serendipitous aid that came from Pinkie Pie, to whom he felt really lucky to have around.

In fact, as he regarded the pony in question out of the corner of his eye, who was casually spinning The Epic of Twilight Sparkle on her nose with an easy smile, he couldn't help feeling indebted to her. Sure, she was just a fictional character, but looking at her now, and remembering his experiences with her so far, he could truly say that she was good company.

She was largely positive and energetic, who knew interesting techniques even if many of them probably wouldn't be feasible outside of the book. And if that cupcake was any indication of her cooking skills, if the whole knock-the-consumer-unconscious part was optional, then hopefully he'd get to eat more of her food. Plus, if a new problem presented itself, that prevented him from leaving the book, then maybe she would be able to help him out with that as well.

Overall, maintaining a good relationship with her seemed like a good idea, so the only question that remained was: how could he thank her? He supposed that he could just say it, but would it be an honest effort if he did something that she would forget? At least, as far as he could tell, their feelings toward him carried over after each restart, but not their memory. So, basically, whatever he did, it should probably leave an impression.

Thinking about what he could do to leave an impression on her reminded him of the two times she'd nuzzled him, and the thought of returning the favor elicited a playful grin. Normally he wouldn't do more than a hug if he was being insincere; heck, he had trouble holding hands when he wasn't. However, he didn't think that it would change much — if anything — after the next restart, he was currently Twilight Sparkle and reckoned that no one of importance would know what happened in the book unless he told them, and — ultimately — he just wanted to be on the other side of such a gesture for once.

Sparing a quick glance to see that she was still preoccupied, he steeled his resolve, quickly stepped closer, then pressed his cheek against hers for a long second before stepping back out of her personal space.

Initially, she became stock still after the contact, and the spinning book tumbled off of her nose and hit the ground. Then she began to tremble, which soon developed to a degree that resembled someone inside of an invisible container that was being vigorously shaken. After a few seconds of that, she suddenly began to ricochet off of various objects around the area, even against the air itself at times, and eventually rocketed upward and out of sight, wailing like a bottle rocket as she did so.

With a foreleg shading his eyes, he squinted them as he tried to see where she had gone, wondering if her reaction was a good or bad one.

A few seconds later it seemed like the entire world began to move faster, and he saw a distortion effect, like he'd seen when a VHS tape was being fast-forwarded, no matter where he looked. He barely had enough time to become concerned about that when it ceased, with the sun beginning to dip beneath the horizon as evening transitioned into night.

His ears perked up when he heard an unusual sound behind him. He turned around to look at what it was and saw a pink, pony-sized tornado approaching him. With his guard up, he carefully watched as it revolved around him once before zigzagging toward the library door, which it threw open, revealing its pitch black interior. From there it made it halfway back to him before it halted and stopped spinning, where — unsurprisingly — the pink blur resolved itself into Pinkie Pie.

While standing on her hind legs, she threw up her forelegs enthusiastically and loudly cheered, "It's... party time!"

Before he could blink, she was behind him and pushing him into the library.