Chapter 4: A Change of Pace
When Ranma woke up the next morning, he wasn't surprised that he'd had no trouble sleeping despite the circumstances. He'd long since learned the importance of getting an adequate amount of rest from his training journey, because his father rarely shied away from taking advantage of his exhaustion — especially when food was involved. Also, the training that allowed him to avoid danger while remaining asleep went a long way to ensure that he didn't wake easily.
No, what surprised him was his dreams.
Although far from a guarantee, he would have expected to have nightmares last night, if he had dreamed at all. Instead, his dreams had been strangely... pleasant. In one, he more or less relived the luxuries that he had enjoyed while staying at the Chardin's mansion, despite wearing an iron corset and starving at the time. In another, he was sprawled out on a cloud, lazily watching other clouds drift by, before eventually seizing one and molding it into a shape that distantly resembled a pony.
But the dream that his mind dwelled on most upon waking, in part because it had been the last, was the one where he found himself riding on Celestia's back while she flew over Nerima. There had been a sense of security and warmth there, and an idle acknowledgement that his forelegs were smaller than they should have been, but what he focused on in the present was the part where he saw his other self on the street below. Akane, Ukyo, Shampoo and Kodachi each had one of their limbs, obviously fighting over them, while a crowd of familiar faces surrounded them and created a din of demands, threats and taunts.
The message about his other self was obvious, largely because the thought had already crossed his mind that they had to deal with a mess that wouldn't fully apply to him anymore. Not that it had helped him to feel any better about his situation: he'd been willing to deal with said mess for the sake of the things that he liked about his life, after all. However, now that a lot of the things that he liked were no longer assured...
Thinking about it again wasn't going to get him anywhere, so he got out of bed and prepared himself to face a day that would likely have a significant impact on his immediate future, if not the rest of his life. Thankfully, although there wasn't a proper furo, he was able to have a relaxing soak in a large hot tub after taking a cold shower.
Shortly after calling for room service and taking a seat at the table, he heard someone knock on the door before an unfamiliar voice announced, "I'm Celestia's niece, Cadence. May I come in?"
He hesitated for a few seconds before inviting her in. The door opened, and the first thing to cross the threshold was a service cart, with a cloche-covered platter on the top shelf and things like tableware and beverages on the shelf below it. Immediately behind it was the owner of the voice, a female pony, seemingly around his own age, who had a pale pink coat, purple eyes, and a three-colored mane put up in a ponytail. Like the princess, she also had wings and a horn, although her wings transitioned to purple instead of fully matching her coat color.
By the time she had wheeled the cart over to the table, he couldn't help voicing his thoughts. "Ponies come in pink, too?"
Cadence giggled at his incredulous expression and genially replied, "Why, is no one pink where you come from?"
Ranma rubbed the back of his head and looked away as he said, "Er, not really..."
Cadence proceeded to move the platter onto the table, directly in front of him, and set some silverware in their proper places. They were shortly followed by small pitchers of syrup and honey, a glass of orange juice, and a stick of butter on a dish. He saw her magic aura appear on the cloche's handle, but she didn't lift it.
"You said anything would be fine for breakfast," she began, before raising the cloche, "so I hope you like pancakes."
As soon as the steam from the tall stack of pancakes washed over Ranma's face, and the scent it carried wafted up his nose, his mouth salivated. He almost forgot his manners and reached for the knife and fork, but he reined in his eagerness and brought his forehooves together before saying, "Itadakimasu!"
He typically took his time to eat when he wasn't starving, in a hurry, or being scrutinized in certain situations, but he started out even slower than usual because he didn't want to embarrass himself in front of the princess' niece until he became more proficient at using his hooves. Said niece, who had chosen to sit within reaching distance of him on the left side of the table, seemed content to quietly drink her own glass of orange juice while he ate.
After he finished his meal, he leaned back and released a contented sigh. "That was really good. S'been a while since I've had pancakes."
"I'm glad you enjoyed it," Cadence said with a smile. "I wasn't sure what you liked, since you're from another universe, so I opted for something simple that wasn't a traditional food for ponies."
Ranma looked at her with confusion. "You made it?"
"Yes?" Cadence casually replied.
Ranma shook his head. "I just thought a servant would make it, or something." Wanting to change the subject to something more important, he asked, "So you know I'm from another universe?"
"Mm-hm," Cadence confirmed. "Auntie also told me that you aren't a pony where you come from, and that your name is Saotome Ranma."
Cocking his head, Ranma queried, "She didn't tell you that she wants to adopt me?"
Cadence perked up upon hearing that and grew excited. "Oh, she does?"
"Yeah..." Ranma confirmed, with a notable lack of enthusiasm. "But I still want to be a guy again and try to work things out with my parents and... other people."
That knocked the wind out of Cadence's sails, and her brow furrowed in confusion. "You're not female or an orphan?"
After taking a moment to decide that it wouldn't hurt to share information about himself and his situation with another pony, Ranma replied, "I have — had — a curse that changed me into a girl with cold water, and back to a guy with hot, but I got split in two while going through the portal. And, yeah, I have a family."
"I see," came Cadence's pensive response. She paused briefly before saying, "Well, if auntie wants to adopt you, I'm guessing it's not going to be easy to put you back together again, or change your sex." After he gave her a nod in reply, she leaned forward a bit, regarding him intently, and added, "And being female is off the table?"
Ranma looked away and evasively said, "It's... complicated."
Cadence's expression softened. "Alright; I won't pry. But, if things don't work out, I just want you to know — as somepony adopted by Princess Celestia — that you'll be in good hooves if you choose to stay here."
Ranma simply nodded his head to acknowledge the sentiment, since he didn't prefer that outcome. After a brief pause, to think of something else to fill the silence with, that wasn't about himself, he took the low-hanging fruit presented to him and asked, "Why are you her niece and not her daughter?"
Cadence considered him for a few seconds before folding her forelegs on the table and deliberately saying, "I have a good feeling about you. And I love the idea of having a sibling. So..." She smiled disarmingly. "If you promise not to share, I'll tell you."
Wondering why such a thing would be a secret, Ranma's interest was piqued. "Okay. I promise."
After taking a sip of her orange juice, Cadence said, "Well, apparently I'm distantly related to a princess who lived a thousand years ago. However, there is no known bloodline to connect me to her here; and, to add to the mystery, I was a very young foal when auntie found me at a... special place that was known only to her. Her leading theory is that I'm from another universe, and that my family might retrieve me one day. So, because she didn't want to replace my parents, she adopted me as her niece instead."
Ranma blinked his eyes. "Does your aunt make a habit of wanting to adopt people from other universes?"
Cadence smiled with amusement before leaning forward and asking, "Did she want to adopt you because you're from another universe?"
"Nah," Ranma replied, who scratched behind an ear self-consciously as he tried to recall the exact details. "It was because of some psychic feeling thing, my magic hair, and someone called Sparkle or something."
Perking up upon hearing that last part, Cadence intently asked, "Twilight Sparkle factored into aunties' motive?" After getting confirmation, she turned contemplative. Eventually, she smiled before querying, "Well, now that you've had breakfast, would you like to take a tour of the castle?"
Not having expected the topic to change like that, Ranma belatedly replied, "Uh... Sure."
With the assurance that it would be fine to leave the dirty dishes for the maid, he followed Cadence out of the room. As soon as the door was shut behind them and they began to walk down the hall of the guest wing, she looked over at him and casually said, "If you don't mind me asking: do you have any hobbies?"
Looking up thoughtfully, Ranma considered his answer until he frowned and said, "I dunno. Does napping and relaxing count?"
Cadence cocked her head. "Maybe? Was it necessary?"
"Sometimes," Ranma responded with a shrug. "I just learned to appreciate it during my training journey."
Curious, Cadence couldn't help seeking more information. "Training journey?"
"My old man's a martial artist," Ranma distractedly supplied, looking up at the stained-glass windows that occupied one side of the hallway that they had just turned into. "And he didn't want me... distracted."
"Is there a great need for martial artists where you come from?" Cadence inquired, sounding concerned.
After switching his gaze to her, and seeing the expression on her face, Ranma tentatively replied, "Uh... not really? I mean, at least where I live. I was taught martial arts because..." He paused, to ponder what the answer was, and grimaced. "Well, let's just say that it was probably more for the sake of passing it on to the next generation than anything else."
Cadence seemed to consider his words and body language before softly asking, "Do you like being a martial artist?"
Ranma turned his attention to the fore and said nothing, unable to trust what he might say. For whatever reason, he found it easy to talk with Cadence despite being a near-total stranger, and somehow she had advanced her inquiry to a very sensitive topic for him within minutes, one that — thankfully — hadn't been broached by anyone else. The problem was: while he could lie to them, he didn't think that Cadence had done anything to deserve it.
When it became clear that he wasn't going to answer her question, she opted to remain silent as they reached the turn ahead of them, where a door awaited on the window side. He watched her offer the two guards stationed there a smile before she opened the door and led him out of the building. After she paused to close the door, her eyes did a quick sweep of their surroundings before she sidled up beside him and gave him a brief but tender hug with one foreleg.
"If you ever wish to talk about it," she warmly told him, "or anything at all, my door will be open."
Stunned and confused, Ranma stood stock-still and stared ahead as she disengaged from the hug and walked away, feeling certain that he had missed something. After putting some distance between them, she turned aside and beckoned for him to follow, saying, "Come on; let me show you the garden."
Ranma hesitated for a second before he moved to follow, after convincing himself that he should give her the benefit of the doubt as far as her motives were concerned. She kept them on the stone walkway until they made it out of the castle's shadow, which was when she began to walk across the sun-dried grass. He could see a plethora of flower beds ahead of them, as well as statues and a fountain, which seemed to be a fraction of the garden if the other distinct areas — that he could see — were a part of it.
Along the way there, he decided to break the silence and sate some of his curiosity, since answering questions was part of the reason for Cadence's presence. Whatever he learned might prove useful later, if he chose to stick around for a while. "Say, um... How come ponies have pictures dyed onto their thighs?"
"Those are our cutie marks," Cadence replied, who looked over her shoulder to make eye contact with him as she continued to walk, "and they appear on their own when we realize something about ourselves that we'll cherish for the rest of our lives."
Ranma's brow furrowed with confusion. "What do you mean?"
Cadence elaborated, "A cutie mark can represent a skill, task, role, lifestyle or a goal. When a pony gains one, they're guaranteed to have a talent for their calling and find it fulfilling."
A little perturbed that he didn't have a cutie mark, because of what it might mean, he opted to ask a follow-up question instead of dwell on it. "Why's it called a cutie mark?"
"It wasn't always called that," Cadence replied with a knowing smile. "For a long time it was simply called a 'quarter mark', but it was changed to 'cutie mark' during a period where 'quarter' was deemed too crude by the social elite. The change was primarily inspired by two things: how it was already common to call somepony cute if they got their quarter mark at a very young age, which was short for acute; and by a poet who romanticized quarter marks, named Cutie Pie."
Ranma considered that for a few seconds before frowning. "Wait, does that mean I'm dumb by pony standards?"
Cadence blinked her eyes incredulously before she understood what he was referring to, at which point she giggled and said, "Of course not. Even back then most thought it was superstitious for a pony's intelligence to be linked to when they got their cutie mark." Wanting to reassure him, she added, "Your situation is very unique, so I wouldn't worry about not having one."
"I wasn't worried," Ranma thought, trying to convince himself.
They walked among the flower beds in silence, mainly because Ranma couldn't think of any questions worth asking. It wasn't until they were moving around the fountain, on another stone walkway, that a question occurred to him, inspired by the water that had often determined his sex at inconvenient times. However, because of the subject matter, he was very reluctant to ask it.
Cadence seemed content to say nothing as they followed the path away from the panoply of flowers, which took them through a long pergola that was covered in flowering vines, mainly of the white and pink variety. Bordering the pergola, opposite of the castle, was a picturesque pond that hosted several species of waterfowl on the water, and loitering around the bank were other animals as well. Ranma tried to distract himself with the sights, sounds and smells of it all, but the question weighed heavy on his mind.
When they reached the end of the pergola, the stone walkway transitioned into a dirt path, which went through a fancy, wrought iron arch that was flanked by two large, square flower pots and continued into a grove of trees. Upon entering said grove, a couple of squirrels ran up a tree and a rabbit dashed into the safety of one of the few bushes in the grove. There was birdsong coming from somewhere unseen in the grove, but the birds that could see them watched their passage in silence.
Seeing the animals flee from them, and keeping their distance, was enough to convince Ranma that he should ask the question that was weighing on his mind. After figuring out how he wanted to frame it, he falteringly said, "Say, um..." When Cadence looked over her shoulder to make eye contact with him, he pushed ahead instead of retreating. "Do ponies, y'know, treat each other differently depending on, uh... differences?"
While he mentally berated himself for his performance, Cadence came to a stop, forcing him to do the same. After she turned around to face him, she considered him with a discerning eye before evenly replying, "This is clearly bothering you, so can you give me some examples?"
Ranma turned his head aside and looked down as he rubbed one foreleg with the other. "Like... Based on your sex, is there anything that's mandatory for a pony to do, or they're restricted from doing? Or... Is it normal to shame or ostracize someone for not conforming to social customs?"
He didn't see Cadence purse her lips, but he could hear the distaste for the subject in her voice when she replied, "While there are certainly traditions among families, cities and the three pony tribes that require certain physical attributes, by and large Equestria fosters individuality and the freedom to pursue what makes you happy." Her tone lightened as she added, "Just to give you a few examples from a nearby town... There's an annual event called the 'Running of the Leaves', a tradition started by Earth ponies, that allows unicorns and pegasi to participate so long as they don't use their horns or wings. There's also an annual competition called 'Sisterhooves Social', which I got to spectate a couple of years ago, and they allowed a filly's father to participate because the spirit of the event was more important than needing a sibling."
By now Ranma was staring at her attentively, whose interest had been piqued by what he was hearing.
"As for how we treat those who don't conform to social customs," she continued, with a slight frown, "it would depend. We're allowed a lot of self-expression, so somepony would usually have to go really out of their way for a whole community to turn against them. There are various groups who only want the company of like-minded ponies, of course, and you'll see a lot of them here, but — as a whole — Equestria is a pretty diverse place."
Seeing that she had succeeded in allaying whatever had been troubling him, she turned around and continued their walk through the grove. A few seconds later Ranma caught up with her, a few steps closer to her than he had been before. He felt better about the idea of staying in Equestria for a while, but still preferred a quicker solution to his problem and not missing a lot of time away from home.
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Why does female pony Ranma not have red hair in a ponytail in the cover art?
Well, this is interesting. Lots of repressed feelings, huh? I'm looking forward to where this goes.
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Magic
Well i dont know this Anime(or whatever it is im assuming anime) but i do like transformation!
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I did it that way for a couple reasons, but the main explanation is simply this: limited POV.
Man, it's over already? Dammit. Why is it that all the really well written and/or interesting stories always suffer from premature deaths? I really wanna see where this story could go!!
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Premature death? Have you looked at the date this was posted? o.O
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I have. I also know that this is generally the spot where most other crossovers just suddenly stop being written because the author lost interest.
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Well, I would give it a few months instead of making such a hasty claim, but you're not wrong. I certainly hope this isn't the end of what looks to be an entertaining story of fluff and self-discovery.
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From the track record of this particular account.... I would just made peace with it if this story suddenly stopped.
Oddball
Healthy as a Horse
Tangled Up In Purple
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Because she has a cloud mane instead, due to a combination of high magic generation (which at extreme levels can cause mane transformation) and being part pegasus (which lowers the threshold for mane transformation).
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Yeah, that's part of why I was reluctant to publish at chapter four, because I wanted to reach the point where Ranma completely shakes off the sulking and brooding.
This was fun, thanks for writting!
This is a really good story so far! I hope you continue it with his male prospective as well in the future. I'd love to see how Twilight thinks about the princesses new son.
This was a fairly interesting story, it sets up some promising future storylines so I'd love to read more. My biggest problem is with Ranma still being called him and he, I know in her own mind she's still male and would prefer being referred to as such but I find it off putting but I prefer it when the writers use the current body's gender pronouns as the constant he and him makes me forget ranma is stuck in a female body.
Esta buena la historia
Me gustó mucho
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https://www.fanfiction.net/s/8617037/1/Amor-Fati here ya go
Me gustó mucho la historia 👍