> Getting a Cutie Mark in Just 7 Days
>  by THEMagicMissile
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

> 1 - A Dream Come True
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

“Well, I suppose it’s that time of night.” I yawn and stretch my arms out over my head before shutting the lid on my laptop. When the light of the screen goes out, I’m left alone in the complete darkness of the late-night hours. It’s become a nightly ritual for me to watch a few episodes of My Little Pony before bed. They say that a nighttime routine helps you fall asleep. Well, I’ve been doing this for years and never noticed a difference, but hey, I’ll take whatever help I can get. Particularly if that help involves ponies. Tonight, I made it through the last of the current episodes once again, which would be the Season 6 finale. Tomorrow night I’ll watch Legend of Everfree then start back at Season 1.

I set my laptop on my nightstand and try to get cozy in my bed, hugging my Rarity and Twilight plushies close to my chest. I lie in silence and slowly drift off to sleep.

Sweet, peaceful silence.

“I wonder what they’ll do with Starlight next season.” Well that didn’t last long. I have this nasty habit of thinking about practically anything for hours on end when I should be sleeping. I’ve tried everything I can think of to help me fall asleep faster, but anything that works only lasts for a week or so until I adjust to it. Then I’m right back where I started. That’s how I started my habit of sleeping surrounded by adorable plushies. It’s definitely just to help me fall asleep better, not for any other reason. I promise I’m an adult. I can drink alcohol and everything! Not that I ever actually drink alcohol; I don’t really like the taste. Maybe my perfect drink is out there somewhere, but I haven’t found it yet. Until then it’s all sparkling water for me.

See, like that. This what I deal with on a nightly basis. It’s not even limited to normal types of thinking. I’ll have conversations with myself, or pretend I’m talking to someone else. Sometimes I even start thinking as if I’m narrating to some audience; like my thoughts and actions are being constantly watched. Ugh, I’m doing it right now, aren’t I? I’m such a mess.

I decide to try focusing my thoughts on Starlight. I’ve really come to like her character since her introduction. She was my favorite villain and I find that I like her even more as a struggling pupil of friendship. She’s nowhere close to stealing the coveted title of Best Pony from the ever-majestic Rarity, but she’s new and exciting so I find myself drawn to Starlight regardless. Rarity, then Twilight, then Starlight, such is the sacred order of my world.

It feels like I’m lying in darkness forever; just thinking about Starlight and occasionally nuzzling my little plush toys. It’s the usual routine and I’m unfortunately used to it at this point. At least my mind and body are accustomed to being fully functional with hardly any sleep. Hooray for adaptation!

Eventually – I’d guess about an hour later – I realize that I feel kind of uncomfortable. Tossing and turning is nothing new to me, but this is different. My whole body feels sore and achy, like I just finished running a marathon as opposed to spending a whole day sitting on the couch playing video games. The soreness starts in my muscles and somehow manages to move deep into my bones, spreading all over my body as it gets increasingly intense. I try to adjust myself in my covers, but I the pain is so intense that I can’t move. It’s so much that even opening my eyes is beyond me. And so, I lie in blackness, as my entire body feels like it’s being pulled apart while simultaneously compressed into itself. But hey, at least my mind stopped wandering all over the place! Yeah, I tend to respond to negative situations with bad humor.

My mind feels like it’s about to hit its limit when I’m surrounded by an incredibly bright, turquoise light; bright enough that its uncomfortable to look at even through my closed eyelids. Fortunately, I don’t have to for long, as I feel myself slipping out of consciousness as the pain becomes too much to bear.





My mind is the first thing to start working. None of my other senses activate, which thankfully means I’m free from that horrible pain. Unfortunately, that also means I have no idea what happened or if I’m still alive.

I have this really irrational fear of developing amnesia anytime I take a slight injury to the head. While I wouldn’t categorize what I just went through as a concussion, it certainly warrants some quick questions to make sure my brain wasn’t fried or anything. Let’s see my name is… wait… shoot. Maybe that wasn’t as irrational a fear as I thought. No matter how hard I think, I can’t seem to remember my name. Okay, no problem. Let’s just breathe and see if there’s anything else I don’t remember.

Come to think of it, I can’t even feel myself breathing. Maybe I really am dead. Focus! One thing at a time, I need to start by going over some memories.

Let’s see. I remember pretty much all of college, at least I think I do. I went to a local college because I had some friends that decided to go there; plus, it had a good music program. I started off trying to double major in music and business, but decided after two years that I really didn’t like the business classes and focused entirely on music. I graduated a year ago, with a music composition degree, only to realize after graduation that I wasn’t actually that passionate about music either. I had just convinced myself that I wanted the same thing that my friends did. Friends that have now moved away and pretty much cut off contact. Okay, maybe cut off contact isn’t the right term, I just haven’t really put in the effort to text them.

Alright, that got depressing. Happy thoughts, happy thoughts. I still seem to remember ponies, that’s good! Let’s see, I remember high school and middle school and even most of elementary school. I remember my family and my home town. It really seems like the only thing that’s gone is my name. Is that something that happens? I guess I could be forgetting more and not realizing it. Why does this have to be so confusing?

So, is this what death is? An eternity of endless, rambling thoughts? I realize I wasn’t exactly a paragon of morality but I didn’t think I deserved this much torture.

As my head swims around for a while, I gradually feel something against the side of my body. It’s… cold? Yes, this is definitely cold. Judging from how my weight seems to be oriented, I would guess that I’m lying on my side. But wait, this isn’t my bed, and I don’t feel my sheets either. Wait, where are Rarity and Twilight! No, no, focus. I can worry about the safety of my plushies later. I’m definitely not in my room, that’s more pressing at the moment. Not to mention I can’t remember my name.

“…bad… This is… going to freak…”

Hey wait, that wasn’t me. Someone else is nearby. Oh, and my hearing’s coming back! So, I guess I can cross “being dead” off the list.

“Alright, breathe. Breathe! You can figure this out. Ohhh, Twilight is not going to be happy.”

Wait, did she just say “Twilight”? I’m sure it’s just a coincidence. It can’t be THAT Twilight, right? Hold on though, that voice does sound familiar.

Alright I need to get my vision working, now! I focus all of my strength into moving. It’s slow, but I eventually feel that my efforts are working. But something about it feels off, like my body isn’t quite moving the way it’s supposed to. I’m still too disoriented to figure out more than that though.

“Oh… you’re moving! Well, at least you aren’t dead. Can you speak?” Oh boy, confirmation from the disembodied voice! I suppose that means I am, in fact, moving. Oh wait, she asked me if I can speak. I guess I haven’t tried that yet; let’s see what I’ve got!

“Uhhh…”

Beautiful! Good to know I’m still just as articulate as always. I notice something strange in my vision. After a bit of thinking, I realize that it’s light breaking through my eyelid. Wait, that means I can see now! I try opening my eyes, but am rewarded with an incredibly blurry image. It looks blue; very, very blue. Or maybe purple, it’s somewhere in between the two. Whatever color it is, it’s filling my vision and it seems flat. I guess I’m looking at the floor. I can’t make out the texture yet, but based on how cold and hard it is I’d say its stone.

“Oh, of course, you must be disoriented. You did just get pulled into another dimension.” She laughs uncomfortably at that. “Let me see, I think a little Expergis should do the trick!”

I barely have time to register how familiar that voice is when my head feels like it’s being massaged. Not by hands though, it’s kind of like water. I can feel whatever this is flowing inside of me and easing all of the tension out of my mind. All of the cloudiness that was surrounding my senses goes away and I can finally start to accurately assess the situation.

I am, in fact, lying on my side on a cold, stone floor. Something is definitely wrong with my body; it feels like my bones have been rearranged, especially in my arms and legs. When the gentle feeling around my head stops, my eyes blink open and let me look at my surroundings.

Yup, this is definitely Twilight’s Castle. The library to be precise. Those massive purple crystal pillars in the walls are pretty easy to identify. Besides those, bookshelves cover almost all the remaining wall space, leaving just enough space for some windows beneath the rounded ceiling. About all I can see out the windows is a dark and cloudy sky, so apparently, it’s nighttime. Huh, the ceiling has Twilight’s cutie mark on it. I suppose they’ve never shown the roof of the library in the show; that’s pretty cool!

“Umm… does that feel any better?”

Ah yes, my good friend the voice. Let’s take a look and see who I pleasure of addre– yup, that’s a pony. And not just any pony either; that’s most definitely Starlight Glimmer, subject of my thoughts until I was so rudely interrupted by that mind splitting pain. I just sort of stare at her for a while. How could I not? The detail is insane!

She’s standing pretty close, maybe 2 feet away, which means I can see the individual hairs that make up her fur coat. It looks very well kept; there aren’t any signs of dirt or anything else out of place. Her mane is equally fascinating. It’s so shiny and thick, like the models in shampoo commercials. I wonder if her mane and fur are naturally like that or if she needs to work to keep them this immaculate?

Moving on, her eyes are probably the most entrancing thing about her. They’re huge! The proportions are just what you’d see in the show, but it’s all enlarged to be life-sized. I feel like they show so much emotion. Like right now she’s– pretty nervous actually; like she’s struggling to get over a freak out. I see, I think I have a solid picture of what happened now.

“You… can talk now, right?” She tilts her head a bit as she asks and I nearly die of cuteness overload. Alright, breathe. She already looks stressed; we don’t need two people freaking out. I should probably answer her this time.

“Sorry, I… guess I’m a bit distracted. Thank you, I do feel quite a bit better after… whatever that was you just did.”

“Oh, it wasn’t anything big. Just a little spell for dealing with headaches and drowsiness.” She turns away awkwardly; I think she’s avoiding eye contact for some reason. I suppose I should get up and help assure her that I’m not hurt.

I attempt to stand up, but something hard on my hand slides across the ground, causing me to smack my chin on the floor. Right, my body. That was messed up. I decide its finally time to take a look at myself. I look over my shoulder and am greeted by a whole lot of pink fur, along with a body that definitely isn’t human. I had my suspicions, but this confirms it: I am now a pony.

I’m a pony, this is fantastic! Alright, let’s look and see what I’m working with here. I’d say it’s a solid guess that I’m a mare, if my pink coat is any indication; I can’t recall many pink stallions. I guess there was that cotton candy Pony, wasn’t he pink? Now that I think about it, my voice earlier was pretty feminine too. So yes, I am a mare.

But wait, now that I think about it, I don’t remember what gender I was as a human. How can’t I remember that! Actually, I can’t remember anything about my physical appearance at all. Weight, hair color, ethnicity, it’s all gone! I suppose this body feels unfamiliar, so maybe I was male? But, I mean, it is a pony body; that’s already going to be awfully unfamiliar. That’s so strange, I didn’t realize memory loss could work like that. I suppose I’ve never heard of a case where someone lost their memory and totally transformed at the same time, so what do I know?

Oh right, I was describing myself. My coat is a pale pink; going from memory, I’d place it somewhere between Cadance and Pinkie Pie. It doesn’t look like I have a cutie mark. That’s a shame, I was always curious what mine would be. I can see my tail and a bit of my mane; they seem to be made of a few different shades of a rosy red. They’re also very wavy, and just as healthy looking as Starlight’s mane. I’m almost entirely captivated by their shine when I’m pulled back to reality by some awkward rambling.

“Umm, about that. I may have summoned you here with a spell that apparently had the side effect of turning you into a pony. Sorry about that.”

“Oh umm, no worries!” I try getting up again, this time keeping my new hooves in mind. And what do you know, I actually make it to my feet! All four of them! It’s not as strange as I thought it might be. The four-leg thing is surprisingly comfortable; I suppose this body was built for it after all. The hooves aren’t totally numb like I thought they’d be either. There’s a little bit of skin in the center that gives me some feeling of connection with the ground.

Once I’m convinced my legs aren’t going to fall out from under me, I flash Starlight my best smile. I was never that confident in my smile before, but I figure I’m an adorable pony now; I should take advantage of it! I’m one of those bronies that always dreamed of being a pony in Equestria, so there’s no reason for her to feel upset about bringing me here. I don’t exactly want to explain how I’ve been watching her since she met Twilight and have been obsessed with her kind for years, but I also don’t want her thinking that I’m mad at her.

“Trust me, it’s no problem. I’m… quick to adapt!” I say, trying to sound as calming as possible. She does seem to ease up a little bit at my words. “But I am pretty curious about that happened. You said you… summoned me?”

She jumps a little bit and her eyes widen. “Oh, sorry about that. I was testing some new magic and didn’t really expect… well you to show up. I suppose I did sort of ramble that last explanation out. I’m still a little in shock about all of this.” I just smile again, not wanting to interrupt her. “There’s this… magic mirror here that connects this world to another one. I was studying how it worked when I got an idea for a new type of magic. I was a little overwhelmed with how much work I’ve had to do lately, and thought that maybe I could summon something that would help. I figured why stop at just basic summoning when I make a huge magical breakthrough in the process!

“You see, summoning magic has been around for thousands of moons, but its only ever been used to summon things from this world. After studying that mirror, I realized I might be able to copy and modify the spell that created that portal and use it to enhance a summoning spell and allow it to access another dimension.”

Huh, she must be talking about the mirror from Equestria Girls. Does that mean that those movies took place in the real world? Well, I guess I need a new perception of “real world” after today’s events. But still, how did that get covered up? I can wave away the purple-skinned people as Hasbro trying to be marketable to children, but you’d think demons terrorizing a high school would make the news. Well played government. Oh, wait, Starlight’s still talking!

“The spell shouldn’t have worked though, I realized my mistake as I was casting it. You can only summon a living being if that being is thinking of you as you cast the spell. The spell should’ve failed, since nopony would be thinking about me in another world, and yet I summoned you. That shouldn’t be possible, there’s no way you could know about me, right?”

Well there goes the option of pretending I don’t know her. I suppose I could try and lie my way out of this, but that’ll probably come back to bite me. Probably easiest just to explain this now so I don’t have to worry about slipups later. So let’s see, how to explain this in a way that doesn’t make me sound like a stalker, while also avoiding crushing her sense of reality.

“Umm, well you see we have this… this screen thing. It’s kind of like a crystal ball. It shows moving images that were, theoretically, created by other people from my world. One of the things it shows is, well, your world. It shows a lot of the adventures that go on here, mostly the ones revolving around Twilight and her friends.” She looks a little shocked when I mention Twilight. I’m really treading on thin ice here.

“We don’t really understand how it works; we always thought that the images were just stories that other people made up. We didn’t think that they showed real places.”

That’s the best I’ve got! I watch her eyes and try to read her reaction, but she just sits in silence absorbing the information. “I think I should probably go get Twilight.” Yeah, she still looks pretty confused. I suppose that’s fair, I’d be pretty freaked out to learn that some otherworldly being had been watching me. “Can you just… wait here for a bit? I’ll be right back.”

Starlight walks out of the library, still trying to process everything I said. She closes the door behind her (with magic!) and then I’m alone with my new pony body. I look around and try to find a mirror or something so I can properly observe my new, adorable form. I suppose I haven’t really seen if I’m adorable or not yet, but I’m a pony now, I must be! Right? Shoot, I may have just jinxed myself. Let’s just focus on finding a mirror. And it just so happens that a full body one is propped up against a wall! That’s convenient! Except it’s on the wall farthest from me. Less convenient. I suppose now is as good a time as any to figure out this whole walking thing.

I actually grew up owning horses, although I was far too indoors-y to go out and do anything with them. But I have seen a lot of them; between that and my years of brony knowledge I should be able to remember a basic walk cycle. Let’s see, I’m pretty sure I start with a front hoof; let’s go with front left. I lift my leg up and place it down in front of me. Nothing blows up; one down! Next is… back right? I repeat the process very carefully and achieve another success. This is working, I can do this. Now front right! I lift my leg and suddenly my entire body collapses, leaving me with my face to the floor yet again.

Now that I think about it, that doesn’t hurt quite as much as I think it should. I give my face and arm –err– front leg an experimental poke and realize that they do seem a little squishier than they should. It doesn’t feel like fat; it’s more like the muscle itself is soft. It actually kind of has the same sort of density as stuffing. Wait, ponies aren’t animated stuffed animals, right? This is definitely going to require some research later.

Right now, I need to try and remember what caused me to fall in the first place. I’m pretty sure that was the correct hoof; I think I just forgot to take my weight off of it first. Maybe I need to sway a bit more as I move, to help shift my weight around. Let’s try this again!

I actually manage to make a full cycle this time! It doesn’t take too long before I get into the pattern and it starts feeling more natural. My swaying back and forth causes my tail to swing behind me as I walk; it’s kind of hypnotic. Every so often it brushes up against my back legs and reminds me of how silky it feels.

I wonder if I can move it? I pause my walking and look over my –still adorable– pink backside to observe my tail. It’s kind of weird seeing your body extending behind you like this; I give my butt a little wiggle to confirm that it’s attached and end up giggling to myself. I am definitely cute, it would take a pretty crazy face to ruin this body.

Wow, I’m really asking for it now, I seriously hope there’s nothing wrong with my face.

I return my focus to my tail and try to feel where it connects to my body. I recall a meditation exercise that I used to do where you close your eyes and focus the energy within your body into a specific part of yourself. Yes, I do know some basics of meditation. It’s about the only way I can make my head shut up. I focus as best as I can and imagine where I think my tail connects to my body. I believe I can sense it right at the end of my spine, or rather, where my spine would’ve ended as a human. Now I think it just continues into my tail.

I imagine my tail flicking upwards and try to emulate that with my muscles. Before I know it, I’m feeling air rush past my tail as it springs into the air and falls back into place. I did it; it actually worked! Next I flick my tail left and right, just to make sure I have all of the basic movements down. It feels so cool; I can feel every bit of it against the wind, even though I only have direct control of a small part of it. Part of me is really tempted to try reaching back to pet it, but I resist the urge and return my focus to the mirror. I’m pretty much there, but the mirror isn’t facing towards me so I need to walk around it before I can see myself. When I do, I’m relieved to see that my face is perfectly normal.

I kind of expected myself to lose it when I saw my face, but I think more than anything I’m entranced. Staring back at me in the mirror is an adorable pink and red pony with an equally adorable face. I tilt my head, blink my eyes, brush a hoof through my mane. Seeing that pony move with me is surreal. Up until now I was caught up in all the excitement, but watching this really makes me feel how real this is. I am actually a pony; hooves, tail and everything. It really is amazing.

Oh… right, I should probably pay attention to the details. I seem to have the average body and head shape that you see in the show; I might be just a tad thinner, but it’s hard to tell if that’s accurate having only seen one other real pony. My eyes are huge, but not quite as large as Starlight’s; I think it’s because my eyelids naturally sit a tad lower than hers. They make me look somewhat tired, which I suppose makes sense with my personality. It’d be hard to pick up just based on my thoughts, but the whole “hyperactive” thing doesn’t really make it out of my head. I’m normally pretty lethargic; I don’t speak very often and I act even less. I suppose that’s just because I burn so much of my energy with my relentless stream of thoughts that I don’t have any left to actually act.

Even with my droopy eyelids, my eyes still seem surreally large and emotive. I have so much more control over them than I’m used to; it’ll be hard to hide emotions with eyes this big. The color is incredibly beautiful too. They’re a deep blue, like sapphires; it really stands out in contrast to my largely pink and red color scheme.

I sit there in front of the mirror for a while, entranced by my own eyes. I feel like Flutterbat using the stare on herself. Eventually though I pull my eyes away and move around to the rest of my face. I can’t quite decide if my muzzle is small or large. It certainly seems big, especially looking down at it from the bottom of my vision, but it isn’t that large compared to the rest of my head.

My mane is gorgeous; it has the same quality that Starlight’s did that makes it look almost unrealistically full. I can just imagine it blowing dramatically in the wind in some fancy romance movie. Its parted to my right and freely falls over both of my shoulders. Its straight until it nears the end, where it starts to wave back and forth. Some parts almost look like they’re about to curl into full circles but they never quite make it, at least as far as my initial observation gets. It’s just… so beautiful. I wonder how I rank by pony standards? I’m probably going to think that every pony is beautiful and adorable, but I’m curious what pony standards of beauty are like.

Oh! Pushing through my mane from my forehead is a little spiral horn, the same shade of pink as my fur. So, I’m a unicorn! I even get to be my favorite of the pony tribes, could this day get any better? Okay, I suppose losing all knowledge of my old appearance isn’t exactly “best day ever” material. Still though, if we’re ranking days on a point system, forgetting my appearance is like negative fifty points, and traveling to Equestria and becoming a Unicorn is easily a thousand, so I’m still netting positive.

I barely manage to turn to my side to observe myself further when I notice the door swing open (its magic again!) and Starlight returns, followed by the star of the show herself, Twilight Sparkle. She’s a little bit taller than Starlight, which makes sense, what with the whole alicorn thing. I think Twilight’s face is a little rounder too. I want to say Twilight’s face looks younger than Starlight’s, but I don’t know enough about the fine details of pony anatomy to say for sure if that’s what it is. She’s walking directly towards me, so I can’t really see the details on her wings.

“So, you’re Starlight’s… guest. She said she summoned you from another world?” Oh wow, she sounds just like she does in the show! This is so surreal. I am officially back to overloading on excitement.

“Umm… yeah. I mean, I think so. I don’t really understand it much.”

“Right. So, you’ve heard of Starlight in your world then? She told me about your… magic screen.” Ouch, straight to the point; she sounds very suspicious. It just dawned on me that I’m standing in front two of the most powerful unicorns in this world, easily capable of blasting me into dust, and they currently think I’m some sort of alien voyeur. This may not be the best situation. “How does it work exactly?”

Alright, here we go. Time to convince them I’m a decent human being! Er… pony being. “Well, I always thought that it was kind of like a novel, expect with moving pictures and sound. In theory, somebody creates these images and then mass produces them. Most people have these screens that we can watch these images on.”

“And these images are of Starlight? Or is it all of us?”

“Well, there’s a lot of images. The images that are of you are a really small amount of the grand total; a lot of people have probably never heard of your images.” I really want to avoid mentioning the whole, obsessive fandom thing for as long as I can here. “But the images that do involve ponies mostly revolve around… well, you.” I say, nodding to Twilight. “You and your friends to be specific. They started with you moving to Ponyville and defeating Nightmare Moon. They didn’t show Starlight until you met her.”

Twilight definitely seems shocked at that. It takes a bit for her to gather her thoughts into her next question. I notice that Starlight doesn’t really seem to be speaking; she’s looking at the ground. I think she’s listening but doesn’t seem up for talking. I wonder if Twilight was mad at her? It seems like Twilight was usually pretty gentle whenever Starlight did something wrong, so it can’t be too bad.

“How much do they show? You said it started with me coming to Ponyville, but that was over two years ago. Have you seen all of that?” Oh no, she looks scared now. Poor thing probably thinks she has an entire planet watching her when she sleeps!

“No, the images aren’t nearly that long. They tend to focus on the more exciting moments, usually leading up to someone learning a lesson in friendship. If it doesn’t relate to anything like that, then it doesn’t show up. I think if you stuck all of the images together they would only make up maybe… 2 days total?” She relaxes her shoulder a little bit, but I can still see a suspicious look in her eye.

“I see. That’s certainly interesting, and quite concerning. I’ll have to mention it to Princess Celestia and see what she thinks.” She looks me in the eyes and smiles a bit. It looks a little forced, but she’s putting on the effort to at least appear comfortable, it’s a good sign! “It doesn’t sound like you were intentionally watching us, so I think I can trust you.” I suppose given the circumstances, this is about the most I could expect.

“Well, now that that’s out of the way, you’d probably like to know more about your situation. Am I correct in guessing that you weren’t a pony before?”

“Yes, that’s right, I was a human.”

Twilight turns her head to the side, the gears visibly turning in her head. “Human… I think that’s what the creatures from Canterlot High are called.” She turns back to me. “If you don’t mind, I’d like to try and determine where you came from. I’ve been to a world with Humans before; I believe I can identify whether you come from that same world or not with a simple spell.”

What do you know; asking permission before casting a spell on someone. Hopefully Starlight is taking notes. “Of course, cast any spells you need! I’m at your service!” I give a little salute, or rather I attempt to until I’m reminded that I’m standing on four legs and stumble a bit. Twilight gives a bit of a smile, while Starlight audibly giggles.

“Just try to relax, you won’t feel a thing,” Twilight says with a smile. She walks forward and I see her horn light up with that familiar pink glow; even the sound effect is the same! Not much else happens though. Her horn glows and then she uses it to inspect all around me. I actually notice that I can feel a little bit of her… energy, I guess… coming off of her horn. The air around it seems warm and energizing, it actually tickles a little bit.

Once Twilight makes a complete circle around me, she ends her spell. “Interesting, you don’t seem to be from the place I was thinking of. You have a similar feeling to you, but it’s definitely different.” She stands next to me and turns towards Starlight. “You said you used the mirror for your spell, didn’t you Starlight?”

“Oh! Well, I didn’t use it directly. I just figured out how it connected to the other world and imitated the technique. It could’ve led anywhere.”

Twilight sighs and shakes her head. “You really need to make sure to study your spells more before you cast them. If you aren’t careful you could really hurt somepony.”

Starlight sighs too, but in a much more annoyed sort of way. She even rolls her eyes a little bit. “I know, I know. No more spontaneous magic experiments without careful research first.”

Twilight walks towards Starlight a bit so we’re standing in a circle and then turns back to me. “I’m really sorry you got roped into this… umm, oh! I never asked for your name!”

“Oh, well no harm done. I actually, uh… don’t remember it!”

It’s surprisingly Starlight who speaks up this time. “Wait, really? That’s not right; summoning spells are usually very safe. Even when you take into account the added dimensional travel, any extra danger would’ve been to your body, not your mind. That doesn’t make any sense.”

Twilight brings her hoof to her chin. “Well, you based the spell on the mirror’s portal. The mirror transforms anypony who enters it to match the dominant species of the destination world. If we assume your spell had the same effect, it explains why she transformed into a pony. But, you’re right. I can’t think of why that would have any effect on her mind. Spike and I have been through the mirror plenty of times and never noticed any mental changes.” They both go silent for a while as they focus their efforts on thinking. Eventually, Twilight breaks the silence.

“I’m sorry, I really don’t know why that would’ve happened. It’s possible you’re just experiencing some shock from the summoning. In the meantime, do you have something in mind that we could call you?”

“How about Clear Heart?” Wow, that was surprisingly fast. It just sort of jumped into my head and out my mouth. Clear Heart… it sounds cute! And the “heart” kind of matches my color scheme, so it definitely fits. Yeah, I like it! Clear Heart.

“Well, nice to meet you Clear Heart! I suppose you already know, but I’m Twilight Sparkle, and this is my student, Starlight Glimmer.” There’s something about being officially introduced to Twilight Sparkle that just makes your insides melt.

“You can call me Clear, it’s easier that way.” I throw in a smile for good measure. Hey, I just got introduced to Twilight, I just got my own pony name, I’m feeling pretty good right now. Smiles everywhere!

“Well Clear, from what I could tell, it feels like the spell Starlight cast is only temporary. Some of her magic is still inside of you, keeping you rooted to our world. Once that fades away you should go back to your old world and body; I would guess you have about a week.”

Twilight continues to talk, but I lose focus; my mood totally drops. This isn’t permanent? I only get to be a Pony for a week? I… I don’t want to give this up though. I didn’t have anything in my world, I was just so lost. This is my chance to start fresh. And as a pony! I always hate doing this, but I interrupt Twilight, “Umm, this may sound strange, but is it possible to make the spell permanent?”

“Permanent? But that would mean you’d be stuck here forever; you wouldn’t be able to go back home!” Twilight seems pretty taken aback by that suggestion. I suppose it makes sense; Equestria is almost perfect. I’m sure nothing could ever keep Twilight from her home.

“I just… well, my home is… lonely.” Should I do it? I always hate talking about this kind of stuff; either they don’t take it seriously, which hurts me, or they do and it only makes them sad. Neither is a good option. But still, I want to make a fresh start, maybe I should start by being open?

“I… didn’t really have much direction back home. I spent most of my life living for my friends and doing what made them happy. But we all ended up going our separate ways once we finished school, and now it’s been so long since I’ve even heard from them. I’ve just felt lost ever since I got off on my own. I don’t really want to go back there back to that loneliness.”

“That doesn’t just mean you should give up on it. You have to keep trying, and eventually things will work out.” Twilight almost sounds a little angry. But I know I’m right on this, there’s nothing for me back home. Nothing goes well for me there, I’ll just end up all alone.

“That’s what I’ve been doing. I’ve spent a long time trying to make things work and it just… doesn’t. I don’t want to go back there.” I think I may have shouted that. I don’t really care; how could she not want me to stay?

Twilight sighs. “That doesn’t mean you can give up hope. I may not know much about your world, but I know about friendship. If your bond with your friends is as strong as you say then they’ll be able to help you, even if they’re far away. If you leave your world those bonds will be broken forever.”

Why is she being so stubborn about this? Fine, I suppose arguing with her isn’t going to get anywhere. Sometimes bonds just fade away with time, but Twilight wouldn’t understand that. I guess I’ll have to find a way to stay here on my own.

“Anyway, Starlight and I are leaving Ponyville very early tomorrow morning for a few days, so I’ll need to find someplace else for you to stay. The spell Starlight cast could still be unstable, you’ll need to stay with somepony who can monitor that. It’s getting very late so I need to get leaving now if I want to find somewhere for you, we don’t have time to discuss this now.”

“You and Starlight are leaving? There isn’t some threat on Equestria is there?” If the spell is as dangerous as Twilight said, it seems strange that she wouldn’t leave Starlight here. Is it something that requires her specifically?

“I’m not supposed to say too much, but we’ve been contacted by a foreign kingdom. They were… impressed with the defeat of Queen Chrysalis and requested a meeting with the four Princesses. They also asked for Starlight by name, since she played such a key part in reforming the changelings. As much as I don’t want to leave you here, I certainly can’t bring any uninvited guests along.”

Huh, I suppose that actually makes a lot of sense. “We’ll be back in about 3 days. I’ll consult with Princess Celestia about everything you’ve told me and see what she thinks. While we’re gone, would you mind writing out everything you remember from the images of our world? It could prove very helpful.”

“Of course, that shouldn’t be a problem.”

“Good. I’ll go see if I can find a place for you to stay. It’s starting to get late, so it might be tricky, but I’ll do what I can.” Twilight starts walking towards the door, turning to Starlight as she walks past. “Can you stay here with Clear while I’m out?”

Starlight looks a little surprised at that. Actually, I wasn’t really paying attention to Starlight during that whole argument; was she still thinking about that? “Oh, right! Of course, no problem!”

“Thanks. Help her with whatever she needs to adjust to her new body. I’ll be back as soon as I can.” And with that, Twilight has left the library. Wow, I just got in an argument with Twilight. I can’t believe she thinks I should go back there; my world is terrible. How could she ask me to give up on this paradise? Well, I guess I can believe it. It isn’t her fault she hasn’t been through what I have. Ugh, I feel terrible after that. I wonder if we can talk it out. I really hate this feeling.

My thoughts are interrupted when Starlight speaks up. “Hey… Twilight isn’t always like that. She’s really nervous about this meeting, and my mistake didn’t make things any better. She’ll come around.”

I look Starlight in the eye and give a weak smile. “I hope so, I’d like to try and be friends with her. Especially if I’m only going to be here for a short time.”

“Well… about that. I think I might know how you can stay longer.”

My eyes light up. “Wait, really? But what about what Twilight said?”

“I can kind of understand where you’re coming from. You want a fresh start; if Twilight hadn’t offered that to me then who knows where I’d be right now. I’ll try to change her mind during our trip; you should also probably talk to her again once we’re back. Although, really, I’m not sure if it’s even going to be possible to make the spell permanent, so it may not matter. It’ll be tricky.”

“What do you mean?” Hey, I suppose it’d be too much to expect this to be easy. I’m willing to work for it though; I’ll probably end up going on some epic adventure across Equestria to find a magic relic or something! I could think of worse things.

“Well right now the only thing keeping you in the world is my magic; the magic I used to cast the spell that brought you here. What you need is another source of magic to enter you, something permanent and that comes from the world, not from another pony.”

Something permanent that comes from the world? I don’t think we’re talking about some relic. Wait, it couldn’t be.

“Like a cutie mark?”

Starlight’s eyes light up. “Yes, exactly! Cutie marks fill ponies with a very special kind of magic. We don’t really understand it that well, even Starswirl the Bearded struggled to comprehend their magic. It’s different from the magic that unicorns, pegasi, or earth ponies use, but I think it would be more than powerful enough to ground you in this world.”

“But aren’t cutie marks kind of hard to get? From what I’ve seen you can’t make them appear, they just sort of… happen.” I mean, it took the CMC four years to get their marks. Although Twilight said she moved to Ponyville 2 years ago, I guess it was more like a year and a half? Point being: I have a week.

“That’s right, that’s why I wanted to tell you now; you’ll need all the time you can get. It’s the only option I can think of though. Any other magic ultimately originates from ponies and isn’t permanent. Not to mentioning that putting another powerful enchantment on you while you still have some of my magic in you could be… volatile.”

“Well, it’s not like I have to find it while I’m here now, right? Say my week runs out and I go back to my world; couldn’t you summon me again and I can keep trying?”

“Well I definitely won’t want to cast a spell that powerful for some time; that took more out of me than I thought it would. The bigger problem though is that… Well, I don’t really know how that spell I cast worked; it was a lucky accident. I could potentially figure it out with a few years of study; but even then, to pull from your world again and not one of the countless others out there would be almost impossible. I just don’t think there’s anything I can do.”

Starlight’s eyes dip and her ears flick down. Great, she’s getting upset again. These pony faces sure are easy to read. She probably still blames herself for this. “Hey, even if I don’t end up able to stay here, it’ll still be one heck of a vacation. I mean, I never dreamed that I’d actually be able to come to Equestria. So even if it’s only for a short time it’s a good thing! I owe you a lot!”

Ah ha! I got her to blush! Now she’s looking a bit happier; hopefully that’ll put a stop to any other fears she has on that topic. There’s no way I could be mad at her for this, she brought me to Equestria! I owe this pony a life debt!

“Oh, well it really wasn’t much. I mean, I didn’t even know what I was doing. Oh, right! Twilight told me to help you adjust to your body! You… seem to have walking down alright.”

“Yeah, it’s kind of surprising; I would’ve thought it would take longer. Moving around seems to be pretty easy though.”

“Hmm, maybe the magic that transformed you is helping to translate your muscle memory to what would be appropriate for a pony. Well, is there anything I can help with?”

Hmm, if I got walking down as fast as I did, I’m sure running or walking backwards can’t be that hard. I can probably figure out most basic pony things on my own. Oh, but I’m not just a pony! “Actually, do you think you could teach me to use this?” I gesture to my horn. It’s easy to forget about it up there where you can’t see it.

“Oh, you mean magic? Of course, that’s my specialty! What do you need to know? Teleportation? Transfiguration? Shield Spells?”

“Actually, I was thinking just basic telekinesis. That seems to be a pretty universal spell; convenient too.”

“Telekinesis? Well that’ll be easy! I suppose we don’t have very much time, but I can at least show you the basics so you can practice. Have you figured out how to channel magic yet?”

Channel magic, I guess that’s just lighting up your horn, right? “I haven’t had much of a chance to practice anything. I was a little distracted by well, being a pony.”

“Alright well, first you’ll need to close your eyes. If you focus, you should be able to feel a sort of energy inside you; it’ll be centered in your chest.” She points a hoof at the point between her front legs where her chest starts curving backwards. “That’s your pool of magic, you’ll need to become very familiar with it to cast spells.”

I close my eyes and focus like she says. It takes a bit, but I do feel a strong warmth in my chest. It’s a lot like that warmth that spreads through you when you meditate, but more focused and almost tangible.

“Once you find it, try and draw a little bit of it to your horn. It’s a common beginner’s mistake to take more magic than necessary; that’s why a newborn foal’s magic can be so unpredictable. Levitating objects doesn’t take much magic at all, and using more than is necessary will exhaust you, so just take a pinch.” I imagine the smallest bit of that warmth as I can and I pull it to my horn. Once it gets there, the little of bit of energy amplifies to fill the space of my horn; I can actually hear that little sound effect again! I’m doing it, I’m using magic!

“Great, you’re getting this really fast! Now hold that energy there, let me find something to practice on.” She looks around the room before levitating a quill off a desk and onto the floor in front of us. “Now then, with the magic in your horn, focus on that quill. Imagine that warmth in your horn wrapping around the quill and then moving it off the floor.”

Did she have to use a quill? Now all I can think of is “It’s Levioosa, not Leviosaa.” But back to focusing. I can still feel the magic in my horn; I haven’t lost it yet. I focus hard on the quill and try to imagine my magic surrounding and lifting it. I don’t expect much, but I actually see a rose-colored light surround the quill! That’s it, my magic!

Before I can make it any further, I’m interrupted by the door opening to reveal one Twilight Sparkle. The magic aura fades away as I lose my focus. Darn, I think I had it too!

“Oh, Twilight! You’re back! Take a look at this; Ms. Clear here is already on levitation!” Starlight has a little bit of smugness in her voice there. Aww, is she proud of me?

“Oh! Were you doing magic?” Twilight looks intrigued. “Do you mind showing me what you’ve got so far?”

I repeat all the steps and get my magic around the quill. I can almost feel the quill through the energy, as if that light were just another hoof; I suppose in a way it kind of is. Once I get that feeling down I imagine the magic lifting like I would hold up a hand, and it actually rises into the air! I’m doing it! This is actual magic, just like from the show! Unfortunately, the excitement of my success interrupts my focus and causes the quill to drop back to the floor, but I did it!

“That’s… quite impressive!” Twilight says, her eyes wide with surprise. “I wonder if that’s part of the spell you cast on her?”

“It’s possible. She did mention that she picked up walking very quickly too. I suppose it could also mean that her special talent has something to do with magic.” Starlight briefly looks towards me with the faintest of smiles. Wow, a magic cutie mark would be awesome! I suppose I can’t discount Twilight’s theory though, that does make a lot of sense too. But still, if I can get half as good at magic as Starlight or Twilight…

“Did you manage to get somewhere for Clear to stay?” Ah yes, Twilight’s original goal.

“I did. You’ll be staying with my friend Rarity while we’re gone. She keeps a guest room ready for her little sister. Plus, she’s a Unicorn, so she’ll be able to keep an eye on Starlight’s spell and make sure everything stays normal.”

No… way… out of all the things that could possibly happen… this is the… best… possible thing. Yes, that was intentional, and no, I’m not sorry. Not only will I get to meet the best of ponies, but I’ll be rooming with her for three days! Maybe I can make up for the blunder with Twilight by befriending Rarity.

Starlight lifts her eyebrow a little. “Do you think Rarity will be able to watch over the spell?”

“I told her what to watch for; I wouldn’t underestimate her. Rarity’s eye for detail will be perfect for this, and if anything goes wrong she can have Spike send a letter and we’ll be back in an instant.”

“True. That sounds good then.”

Twilight turns back to me. “I’ve explained everything to Rarity already. Try not to go off on your own without her or another unicorn. I don’t think you’ll run into any problems, but that spell was very powerful; anything could happen. Every so often she’ll need to check your aura, that’s what I did earlier, and make sure nothing is out of the ordinary.” Oh no, you mean I have to stay around Rarity the entire time! How ever will I survive!

“That actually reminds me,” Starlight interjects, “if you’re going to keep practicing your magic, you need to be certain that you only draw from your own pool of magic. Once you get a little better, you’ll feel my magic inside of you. It’s very important that you don’t try to use it. Like Twilight said, that spell could be dangerous, we don’t want to risk setting off a chain reaction. Try and become familiar with where your magic is positioned and what it feels like so you don’t end up using my magic by mistake.”

“I understand. I’ll make sure to stay with Rarity and be careful with my magic. And I’ll get started on that report on the images from my world as soon as I can, Twilight!”

“Good, we’ll talk more about it once we’re back.” Hopefully we can sort things out by then. I’ll write the best report she’s ever seen, then she’ll definitely like me!

“Since it’s so late, do you mind if we teleport to Rarity’s. She was just about to go to bed when I visited, I don’t want to keep her waiting.”

“Oh, not at all!” The sooner I meet Rarity, the better!

“Great, then let’s go!” Without much warning, Twilight’s horn lights up. I notice Starlight waving farewell, so I return the gesture, somewhat awkwardly since I’m still trying to figure out my new hooves. I’ll see her again before the spell wears off, so this isn’t a final goodbye. And I’m determined to get that cutie mark so we won’t need to have a final goodbye at all.

Before I know it, I’m surrounded by a blinding light as Twilight and I leave the castle.
> 2 - Walking in Ponyville
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

When the light fades, I find myself standing outside in the cold night air. Wait, that was it? I expected teleportation to feel more… well, to feel like something; I didn’t feel anything at all! You basically blink and are suddenly somewhere else. I wonder if it’s always like that or if you need to practice to make it a smooth trip.

Anyway, I collect my thoughts and realize that I am standing just a few feet away from the one and only, Carousel Boutique. I wish I could see it more clearly; it’s so dark out that I can just make out its shape. But still, I’d recognize that building anywhere! It starts to sink in that I really am in Equestria. Up until now I had only been in Twilight’s library. It was certainly familiar, but it wasn’t as unique as this. I mean, I guess blue crystal libraries are pretty unique, but the crystal kind of fades into the background once you’re actually surrounded by it. I suppose I was also distracted by all the talking ponies, myself included. But Carousel Boutique is a place that truly exists only in Equestria; a place that shouldn’t exist, and yet here I am.

My thoughts are interrupted as Twilight takes a few steps forward and then turns her head back to me. “Are you coming?”

Right, I’m still with Twilight. We’re here with a purpose. And that purpose is to meet Rarity!

No, none of that, brain! Why should we sit here and think about Rarity when we can walk up to that door and meet Rarity? I only need to follow Twilight. I catch up to her and we walk to the front door. Twilight knocks and I can hear a voice, the voice, ring out from inside. “Just a moment, dear. I’ll be right there.”

This is it. Any minute now I’ll be meeting my favorite character. Except she isn’t a character, she’s a real person! Err, pony. I wonder if this is how some people feel meeting celebrities. I’ve met voice actors and show staff before and never been– Oh gosh, the door is opening!

“So sorry about that, Twilight. You weren’t gone quite as long as I had expected; I’m afraid you caught me unprepared!” And there she is. Standing in the light of the doorway is the most beautiful pony I’ve ever seen; and I would know, I’ve seen a whole three. Her face is pretty similar to Twilight’s; more so than Starlight’s anyway. I think the end of her muzzle is slightly less rounded, and just like in the show her eyes are a little narrower. They’re accented by light blue eye shadow and a light layer of mascara though, which makes them look larger than they actually are. And wow, if I thought Starlight’s mane was well cared for, then Rarity’s can only be defined as a masterpiece. She has the same curls as she does in the show: a single, large one on each side of her face, with one sitting closer to her shoulder and the other at eye level. It looks so surreal seeing that style in real life. I wonder how long it takes her to do that every day. Maybe she uses magic.

“Sorry, I wanted to hurry so I teleported both ways. I didn’t mean to rush you.”

“Oh please, darling; it’s no bother.” Rarity turns and looks right at me. We’re actually making eye contact; there’s no way this can be real! “And you must be Ms. Clear Heart? Twilight told me about your… umm, situation. You came from another world, is that correct?”

Shoot, I need to say something. Alright, it’s only a yes or no question, so I just need to pick one or the other. “Umm… yeah.”

“Thank you so much for this, Rarity. I know how busy you’ve been with your work lately; I wouldn’t ask unless it was an emergency.” Phew… Twilight saved me there. Alright, I seriously need to breathe. She’s just another pony, I need to treat her like I would treat anyone. Anypony. I seriously need to work on the pony-isms if I’m going to be staying here. Focus! Just breathe. In… out…

“I understand Twilight, these things can… happen. I just finished a new line today, so you’ve caught me with a rare bit of free time. I don’t mind at all.” Rarity gives a smile and opens the door further. “Well, off you go then. You have an early morning tomorrow, no? I have everything under control, so go get some rest, darling.”

“Alright. Thanks again, Rarity.” Twilight walks a few steps away, then turns back to face us. “I’ll back in three days, Clear, then you can stay in the castle. I’m sorry to put you through all of this trouble.”

She really does look exhausted; Rarity must have seen that too. I flash her a smile and say, “No worries, it’ll be nice getting to see more of the town. Have a safe trip!”

“Thanks.” With that, Twilight teleports away and I’m left alone with Rarity. Keep breathing.

“Well, shall we? It’s frightfully cold tonight.” She looks at me expectantly as she holds the door open.

“Oh, of course.” Here we go, the first steps! To boldly go where no human has gone before. Oh right, I should hurry or else I’ll look really awkward. I smile as politely as I can and step inside.

It’s a little dark; most of the lighting is coming from a hallway in the back of the main, store section, but I can still make out enough details for my breath to stop. It’s all here, just like the show; the little stage surrounded by mirrors to the right, the curtains on the left that hide the dress racks and mirrors, the stairs leading up to the second floor, the scene is perfect. There’s actually a short passage immediately to the right leading to a door behind the stage area that I never saw in the show; I’m not sure where that goes. I imagine that most of the dresses have probably been stored away for the night; it looks a little emptier than you’d expect a clothes store to look.

Rarity starts walking across the room, towards the light in the back, and I manage to get my head working fast enough to follow. She looks at me as we walk and asks, “Would you care for a cup of hot chocolate, darling? I imagine you’ve had an awfully exhausting evening.”

“Oh, that sounds lovely actually, thank you!” Oh my goodness, I’m actually going to drink hot chocolate with Rarity? I suppose I should get used to this; if we’re going to be living with each other, I imagine we’ll have quite a few meals together over the next few days. But still, this is so exciting! Wait no, I need to keep myself in control. No more fan explosions, if I’m going to be friends with Rarity I’ll need to act normally around her. Just keep focused.

Rarity leads me to the staircase in the back, but instead of climbing it we turn to the right into an unfamiliar hallway across from it. A few pictures decorate the walls, mostly of Sweetie Belle and the Mane Six. Ahead is a fork where one path continues straight into what looks like the laundry room, and the other turns left. Rarity leads me down that turn and I find myself in that little living area from Sisterhooves Social: there’s a backdoor at the end of the hall, another staircase to the right, and the kitchen to the left. I’m led into the kitchen and spot the familiar table and stools from so many episodes.

“I’ll only be a moment. Please, sit down. Make yourself comfortable.” Rarity walks off to the counter and begins preparing the drinks. Oh hey, she isn’t just making instant either; I could only barely tolerate that stuff! Right, sitting, I haven’t done that as a pony yet. Shouldn’t be too complicated though, it doesn’t seem that different. I turn around and lower myself onto the stool successfully; well, except for sitting on my tail. I flick that out of the way and I’m all good! I don’t think I can balance without my front hooves resting somewhere; either in-between my rear legs on the stool, or on the table seem to be the best choices. Since I’m not sure about pony etiquette regarding elbows on the table, I opt for resting my hooves on the stool. Wait, are they still called elbows? I never did know much about horse anatomy. Eh, I doubt it’ll come up in conversation that often.

“So, Twilight tells me you’re familiar with all of us? Something about a mirror that shows our adventures?” Oof, starting with that whole thing? She said it innocently enough, but she could just be acting polite and hiding her suspicion; that does seem a very “Rarity” sort of behavior. Still, it felt genuine enough.

I give a bit of an awkward laugh. “You sure don’t pull any punches, huh?”

“Best to get that awkward bit of conversation out of the way early.” Well, she isn’t wrong. I give her the full explanation like I did for Twilight. Since she’s facing away from me, towards the counter, I can’t gauge her reactions as I talk. I really hope she isn’t too creeped out by it though.

As I finish my explanation, Rarity is carrying over two very decorative mugs of hot chocolate. They have whipped cream and shaved bits of chocolate on top and everything, just like you’d get at a fancy café. She truly spared no expense.

“Well, that’s quite the tale. I’ve certainly never heard anything of the sort. I admit, it is a tad unnerving; but Twilight assured me you mean well, so I won’t let it get to me. You don’t seem to have any ill intent.” Phew, seems like I’m in the clear. Although this could still just be Rarity being polite and civil. I guess I just need to do my best to not think about it.

That’s right, I was looking at the beautiful drink that Rarity made! Come to think of it, wasn’t Rarity about to go to bed before Twilight arrived? I wonder why she went through the trouble of making hot chocolate. “Thank you for the drink, it looks delicious! But, weren’t you going to go to sleep before Twilight interrupted you? I don’t mean to keep you up.”

“Oh, it’s nothing, dear. Tomorrow is Sunday; I always close the shop on Sundays so I can focus on designing new pieces. I can enjoy the luxury of an extra hour or so tonight. Think nothing of it.” Ooh, so I get to spend Rarity’s free day with her? This will be great! Oh, but I’m sure she has plans, I’d probably just be in her way.

Rarity’s horn lights up and her mug floats to her mouth as she takes a sip of her chocolate. Oh… I hope I have enough control over my magic for this; I really don’t want to spill such a lovely drink. I think myself through the exercises and very, very carefully lift the drink to my lips. It turns out you can’t feel temperature from magic; pretty convenient actually.

Drinking is fortunately very similar to what I’m used to; my lips and tongue feel a bit larger, but I manage to get some hot chocolate in without too much trouble. Of course, I end up getting far more than I should and nearly burn my tongue! I almost lose my focus and drop the cup, but manage to keep it surrounded in my magic long enough to set it down.

Rarity giggles a bit at my misfortune. “It is fairly hot.”

“Yeah, I’m still a little shaky with my magic. It’s a new thing.”

“Well, you seem to be picking it up quickly enough; my sister would be quite envious to see how much you’ve learned in so short a time.” She sips from her drink again, using her hooves to lift it this time. “You could always use your hooves if you’re having trouble.”

Oh yeah, ponies do that too huh; I suppose two-thirds of the population has to do this without magic. “Oh, right. I’m still kind of getting used to this body.”

“Quite alright, darling. Take your time, I can excuse any… mishaps until you adjust to things.” Now that I look at the cup a little closer, the little handle is quite a bit larger than the ones on regular mugs. I slip one hoof through the ring and find that it fits easily. I use my other hoof to balance the cup from the other side and try again. It’s certainly much steadier this way, though my large lips still cause me to get more chocolate than I had intended in my mouth. It’s a little cooler now though, so it doesn’t hurt as much as it did before.

This time I can actually appreciate the flavor of the chocolate; it’s been a while since I have had such a good drink! I wish I could explain the taste better, but I’ve never been much of a culinary expert; my diet as a human consisted mostly of chicken nuggets and Cheetos, so I don’t exactly have a very refined sense of flavor. I guess I would say it’s very rich; not at all watery. I almost wonder if my new taste buds are more sensitive, it just seems like there’s so much flavor.

“Well, it seems you know quite a bit about me, but I know very little about you. Tell me about yourself; what did you do before you came here?” Ugh, why is that always the first question.

“Oh, well I just worked for a fast food place, not much to talk about. I do write music occasionally though; I studied composition for a while, but finished my schooling last year. I haven’t really had any luck finding work in that field though.” That’s a bit of a lie, I haven’t written any music since I graduated. But that’s my programmed response to that question; its more interesting than saying that I sit around playing video games and watching television all day.

“Oh, a musician, how lovely! Were you a singer or an instrumentalist?”

“Instrumentalist; I play trombone. I really can’t sing at all, I have a terrible voice.” I laugh a little awkwardly at that. Huh, I just realized that I don’t actually remember what my voice sounded like, I just remember that I didn’t like how I sounded singing. This selective memory loss is bizarre.

Rarity covers her mouth with a hoof and gives a bit of a giggle. “Darling, singing is simple. Ponies sing all the time, even if it isn’t their special talent; you just need to relax and let the music out. Why, only one of the ponies in my acapella group has a music cutie mark, but we don’t let that stop us.” Right, I had actually forgotten about all the songs. I wonder if ponies actually break out into random musical numbers, or she’s only referring to singing with the Pony Tones. That would be weird; I hope I don’t get caught up in any songs. Then again, maybe my voice is better now; some people do just have naturally good singing voices. That’d be fun!

“But regardless, you’ll have to perform for me some time. I do believe my friend Pinkie Pie owns a trombone… among other things. Musicians are so rare in Ponyville. I can only think of three that live here and perform professionally, but most of their performances are out of town. I do love classical music.”

I wonder if I can still play trombone as a pony? I could probably adjust to using my hoof for the slide, I just wouldn’t have the more precise technique I’m used to. I’m more concerned about my new giant lips; I’m not sure if that would work or not. I suppose ponies do it, so it must be possible; it can’t be that different. “Yeah, that would be fun. I don’t know how I’d feel about a big show or anything, but I could play for you, Twilight, and the rest of your friends once they get back.”

I notice Rarity take another drink of her hot chocolate and remember that I had been forgetting. It’s probably cooled down enough to drink it normally now. I use my hoof and take a longer drink; I think this is easier than using magic for now.

“That’s a lovely idea, I’m sure we’d all enjoy that!” I suppose I’ll be giving a concert soon, great. I still play my trombone every now and then, but only about once every other week. I really don’t want to spend all my time here practicing, I need to get out there and see the ponies! I suppose I did offer though; it'd be rude of me to refuse now. “Along those lines, do have any plans for your time here? Twilight had mentioned that you only have a week; do you have anything in mind?”

Well, the truthful answer is finding my cutie mark so I can stay here forever. Should I tell her that though? I don’t want to get Starlight in trouble with Twilight by spreading around what she told me. Still, I don’t want to lie to Rarity either. She might also be able to help me; I’m searching for my destiny here, I’ll take all the help I can get. And I guess Starlight never told me not to tell ponies; in fact she was going to bring it up to Twilight herself. I think it’ll be alright.

“Well actually, Starlight had an idea that might help me stay longer.”

“Oh?” Was that a look of fear for a bit there? Maybe it was more like concern. I definitely saw an eye twitch though. I suppose Starlight doesn’t exactly have a perfect track record when it comes to good ideas.

“Well, she thinks that if I can find my cutie mark before the spell she cast wears off, then I’ll be able to stay… well, permanently.”

“Permanently? You mean you don’t want to return home?” Alright, this is where I lost Twilight. The dice are thrown though, all I can do now is hope she’s okay with that.

“Well, things were… rough there. I didn’t really have any friends, and it isn’t very easy for musicians to make a living. Plus, well I’m not really sure I wanted to spend my life writing music anyway. I don’t know, things there were just so confusing. I’ve always admired how peaceful Equestria seems. Everyone here always looks so happy, it’s been my dream to live here.”

Rarity definitely gives me her full attention, but she is really hard to read. I can tell she’s thinking about it but I don’t know how she feels about the whole thing. After a bit of silence, she speaks. “Well, I suppose that is your decision to make. I will say though, as much as I love Equestria, life here isn’t without its share of problems. I’d recommend you look at things with an open mind will you’re here; don’t decide on abandoning your home until you’re certain Equestria is where you wish to stay.”

“I suppose that’s fair.” I guess I can’t really argue with what she’s saying. I don’t know for certain that the Equestria from the TV show is the exact same as this Equestria. And even if it is, it might not have shown the whole truth. I can’t imagine a show for children seriously going into things like poverty, war, or homelessness. “Still, finding a cutie mark isn’t going to be easy. I’m probably going to want to get started on that as soon as possible.”

“Well, you certainly are not wrong about that. It’s a shame my sister and her friends aren’t in town. Their special talent is helping others find their destinies; I imagine they would be able to help you. But Applejack’s taken them all on some camping trip; they won’t be back for a few days.” Great, well there goes Plan A; of course this can’t be as easy as asking the CMC to help. “I’ll give it some thought; I had planned on running some errands tomorrow, perhaps we can make a stop or two for you as well.”

“Oh, thank you! I’d really appreciate that!” This is actually going pretty well! Maybe I can do this after all.

“Think nothing of it, darling.” She gives me a smile, then looks down at her empty cup. “Well, seeing as our drinks are finished, perhaps it’s time we retire for the night.”

As much as I’d love to stay up all night talking to Rarity, or even just looking at her and absorbing the fact that she’s real, I imagine she isn’t as nocturnal as I am. “That sounds good, thanks again for the hot chocolate.”

“Of course, Clear.” She levitates both our cups with her magic and quickly washes them before returning to the entryway and looking to me, “Come along, dear. I’ll show you to your room.”

I follow behind her again as we go up the stairs across from the kitchen. They curve slightly with the building as they go up and lead to a long, straight hallway with several doors and another staircase at the opposite end. She gestures towards a door immediately across the stairs and declares it as the restroom. She guides me a little further down to three more doors; one on my right and two on my left.

“This door here,” she says while nodding to the door on the right, “is my bedroom, and the first door on the left is my inspiration room. During the day I’m most likely in one of those two rooms or on the store floor downstairs.” She leads me to the final door and opens it. “And this is where you’ll be staying. It is my sister’s room, so it may be a bit juvenile, but it has all the necessities you’ll need. I believe I’ve prepared everything for you, but don’t hesitate to let me know if there’s anything I’ve forgotten.”

“Thank you, Rarity, you really didn’t need to do all this.”

“Nonsense, it’s my pleasure. Oh, that’s right; Twilight had requested that I check your magical aura before going to bed tonight. This should just take a moment.”

Rarity’s horn lights up and she carefully circles around me, much like Twilight did before. “Well, I can certainly sense two different auras coming from you. One seems familiar, I believe that would be Starlight’s magic. It doesn’t seem to be active though, which is what we want. As long as it stays inactive you shouldn’t experience any problems; at least that’s what I’ve been told.”

She walks in front of me and ends her magic, giving me a smile. “You have a very warm aura, Clear; it’s quite relaxing.”

“Umm, thanks?” I’m not entirely certain what that means, but I guess it’s a compliment. I suppose if a unicorn’s magic has a unique color, then it makes sense that it would have a unique feel as well. That’s kind of interesting. “Is it difficult to sense magic like that?”

“Oh, not at all. Most ponies can feel a magical aura instinctively, even non-unicorns. It's very subtle though; most ponies don't realize that that's what they're feeling. Sensing it on on command just takes a touch of focus and an eye for detail. In your case, Twilight’s told me what to look for, so it’s not much different from observing something physical. Anyway, we’ll need to do this again at least twice a day; probably morning and evening. For now though, I’d quite like to retire for the night.”

“Right, thanks again for everything.”

“Of course, have a good night, darling.”

“You too, and thanks again!” Alright, maybe I’m laying the thanks on a little thick, but hey I’m excited. I enter the room and use my magic to close the door behind me; that really is starting to get easy. Anyway, I recognize the room from For Whom the Sweetie Belle Toils. Like most of the rooms in Rarity’s boutique (I assume), its circular with a raised ceiling. The walls are covered in an ornate indigo wallpaper and segmented into several arch-shaped sections divided by pillars with the checkered, diamond pattern that you see all around the boutique. The floor has a design matching the pillars but is yellow and orange. There’s also a white flower shaped rug in the center of the room.

The furnishing is pretty minimal, but Rarity was right about the necessities being present. Across the room and to my left is a simple bed with swirly green sheets. I’m not really certain if its child, err… foal-sized or not, since I haven’t seen an actual bed here yet, but it does look a little small. To the right, also on the opposite end of the room, is a vanity table. It has a stool placed in front of it, but it looks like I could see into the mirror and easily use the table while standing. Immediately to my left is a writing desk with some drawers above and below. And lastly, a tall wardrobe is to my right. Everything is very clean and neat; I wonder if its normally like that or if Rarity prepared it for me.

Now that all the excitement of the day is dying down, and I’m away from other ponies, I realize I’m feeling pretty tired, so I move straight for the bed. Now that I think about it, it was already well into the night when I got sent here, and I never did fall asleep. I guess I was unconscious for a while, but I imagine with all that pain it wasn’t very restful. I also got the impression from Starlight that I wasn’t out for very long, so there must be some time-zone difference, for lack of a better term, between the two worlds. That would explain why I’m so exhausted I suppose; maybe I can use this to my advantage and combine my fresh start with a normal sleep schedule!

Now that I’m standing next to the bed, it doesn’t look that small; if I stand at the end my tail is about 4/5ths of the way down the bed’s length. I pull back the covers with my magic and then pull myself in. I make a little bit of a mess fumbling around with my front hooves as I try to pull my rear half up and under the covers, but I manage.

The bed is actually really comfortable. It might be a little on the small side, but none of my legs hang off the edge so it isn’t a problem. More to the point though: it’s incredibly soft. I’m not sure what the mattress is made of, but it has just the right density, and the quilt over the top is made of some wonderfully soft and silky fabric. I suppose some of the softness could be from the fact that I’m now a squishy pony covered in fur, but I’m pretty certain this quilt is high quality. Come to think of it, I wouldn’t be surprised if Rarity made this blanket; she gave a blanket to Flurry Heart, so why not her own sister?

Actually wait, let’s go back to the topic of my fur. I’m alone now so I can feel my own fur without looking weird. I reach one of my front hooves over to the opposite shoulder and try to pet myself, but the bit of skin underneath my hooves is really sensitive and I just end up tickling myself. Oh… I never cleaned my hooves or anything before I did that; hopefully they weren’t too dirty. I was only ever outside for that little bit before I walked into the boutique, so as long as Twilight and Rarity keep their floors clean I should be okay. I would imagine that ponies clean their floors more than humans do, since they walk on the same legs that they eat with.

Anyway, my next attempt is to just rub my head against my shoulder (the other one, just to be safe) and that's more successful. The feeling of fur on fur is very interesting; it certainly still feels soft, but in a very different way to how soft things normally feel. I suppose without any exposed skin I won’t be able to get a good judgement on how soft I am.

Ugh, I’m getting distracted; I’m supposed to be going to sleep. I’m tired, right? This should be easy. I suppose I’m still a little frustrated about Twilight. I can’t believe she thinks she can tell me to go back; she can’t just assume that she knows what’s right for everyone.

No, I can’t focus on that right now; that’ll just lead to hours of frustrated thinking that won’t accomplish anything. I’m definitely tired, so I just need to relax. I’m living the dream right now, I just need to enjoy this. Let’s just relax; take some deep breaths. In… out… in…





“…cuse me. Darling, do you plan to sleep all morning?”

Mmm… who’s that talking? Why would I wake up if it isn’t even past noon? That’s just ridiculous. I roll over in my bed and pull the sheets closer to my face except… they don’t move. That’s not right. I try grabbing the covers again but nothing happens. It almost feels like I don’t have fingers. Oh, that’s right, I’m a pony now; ponies don’t have fingers. Last night feels like such a blur, but I guess if I still have hooves then I’m still a pony. Wait, if I’m still a pony then that means I’m still at Rarity’s. I guess that explains why I’m so tired. Usually I wake up to my phone alarm; I probably overslept by a few hours. But wait, if I’m at Rarity’s then that would mean that voice… Shoot!

I push the covers off as best as I can and sit up, yawning and struggling to open my eyes. “Sorry, sorry. I’m… not used to waking up without an alarm clock.” I try to wipe my eyes with my hands, but instead smack my face with a hoof. Welp, I’m awake now.

Rarity lets out a giggle at my expense. “So sorry, darling. I’d normally be content leaving you to your sleep, but I have some errands that need to be taken care of, and well, Twilight would prefer you not to be left alone.”

“Right, right. I’m sorry, I’ll get up right away.”

“Take your time, I’ll be waiting downstairs once you’re ready.” Rarity closes the door leaving me alone again. I look down at myself and see my pink, fur-covered chest. Yup, definitely still a pony.

I roll myself out of bed with little difficulty and make my way to the vanity table. I’m greeted by the, still adorable, pony face that I now possess. I make a few faces just to confirm that it’s me and, surprise, it is indeed. My mane isn’t as messed up as I would've expected. considering how long it is. I look back at my tail and confirm that it’s also in decent shape. I suppose that means brushing them will be easy; I was afraid I’d be spending hours getting all the tangles out.

Looking at the table I see two different brushes. Well actually three, but one of them is a tooth brush. I suppose Rarity put that here so I wouldn’t mix it up with hers; that was pretty thoughtful of her. One of them looks like what I’m used to seeing in a hairbrush, with spaced apart bristles made of some sort of hair. The other one is wider and there isn’t any space between the bristles, just a big wall of thick hair; I would guess that that one is meant for my fur. Both brushes have loops on the back that you could probably slip a hoof through, but I opt for using magic instead; seems easier.

I hardly need to think about the levitation anymore, it didn’t take long at all for that to become second nature. Either I’m meant to be really good at magic, or Twilight was right about Starlight’s spell causing me to adapt more quickly to my new body. As far as the brushing goes, I was right about my mane and tail not being too tangled; the whole brushing feels very relaxing. I wonder if ponies’ manes resist getting tangled. It’d sure be nice if that transferred to the brush-able toys.

I don’t really know much about styling hair so I just let it fall naturally to one side, and I have absolutely no idea how to do anything fancy with my tail so I leave that with its natural style. I give my fur an examination and catch a few rustled spots, so I brush my back and sides as well. This feeling puts brushing my mane to shame; the thick bristles kind of scratch my side as I brush and feel amazing. I remember the horses at home always liked getting brushed, now I understand why! It’s a little more awkward as I move down to my legs, but it still feels nice. I think it’s just the concept of running a brush along what was once my arm that feel weird.

Once I’m all finished and looking as good as my limited knowledge of pony hair care can accomplish, I head into the bathroom to brush my teeth. That at least feels the same as it always has; nothing interesting there. Once I’m all set and ready to go I head down the stairs into the kitchen to see Rarity sitting at the table looking over what appears to be the day’s mail.

“Good morning, Rarity.” No response. It looks like she’s reading something; I suppose I’ll just sit and wait until she’s finished. Wait, what if I just interrupted her and now she’s upset? Well that’s just great, the day just started and I’m already in the negative. I really need to try and do better at this whole socializing thing. I guess it has been a while since I’ve legitimately talked with someone for anything other than work; I’m just out of practice I suppose.

Geez, I’m in a really downcast mood today. Usually I’m able to keep my negativity in check; I wonder why I’m feeling so lonely? It really doesn’t make sense. I’m sitting across from Rarity, the best pony, and we’re about to spend the day together. Come on brain, we don’t need to be lonely today, let’s just be happy and enjoy this!

“So sorry about that dear, just some business things.” I’m snapped out of my head by Rarity, who has now stacked the mail up on the table and is standing beside me. “Shall we be on our way?”

I get up as well and smile. “Yeah, I’m actually pretty excited to get out and see the town!” I’ll just try and be as pleasant as I can, hopefully that will help ease things over.

“Yes, I suppose you teleported here with Twilight, didn’t you? So you’ve only seen the inside of her castle and my boutique. Well, we’ll just have to remedy that, won’t we?”

Rarity starts walking towards the store front and I follow. Seeing this room in the light of day, it really feels like I’ve jumped right into the show. Well, I suppose I have. I think I might be getting over the initial excitement though, I still feel pretty calm despite standing in the boutique while its full of light and color.

I’m led to two large boxes; they’re about as tall as I am, but narrower. “Our first trip will be to take these to the post office. They contain the newest designs for my Manehattan and Canterlot boutiques. They’re a bit heavy, but I do believe we should each be able to take one.” As she says this, her horn lights up and she lifts one of the two boxes. She doesn’t seem to be struggling so I suppose it shouldn’t be that difficult.

I focus my magic around the box and lift and… nothing. Huh, that’s weird, it didn’t seem to move at all. Let’s try focusing more. I focus as hard as I can, scrunching my eyes closed and really putting all my effort in, but I only barely manage to lift the box off the ground for a few seconds. I give up, gasping for air. “I’m not so sure I can do that.”

Rarity quickly sets the box down and runs over to me; her face very apologetic. “Oh Clear, I’m so sorry. I shouldn’t have assumed you’d be able to lift such a heavy box. It’s just after seeing how quickly you were picking up magic I figured you must… well, never mind that. Why don’t you help me with this one? Canterlot is so close after all; I can wait to deliver that shipment another day.”

I give Rarity a nod and catch my breath, then walk with Rarity to either side of the other box. I focus on lifting it as she does the same, and this time the box lifts into the air pretty easily. I can feel that she’s taking a lot of the weight, but at least I’m helping! It feels a lot like lifting something heavy with two people normally does, only with invisible hands that have a much easier time gripping the box.

Actually, I think I can feel Rarity’s magic around mine. It’s kind of a weird sensation; I can tell its disconnected from my body, but it’s the same sort of feeling you’d get if you touched something with your hand. Describing how her magic feels is a little bit tricky, I can’t think of anything in the Human world to compare it to, but it’s very… delicate. Kind of like porcelain, if that porcelain were flowing like silk. Yeah, it’s definitely hard to describe, but I think that’s the closest I’ll get. 

It’s strange that I can feel that magic at all; I don’t normally get much tactile feeling from my telekinesis. From what I’ve learned through my little experimentation so far, I can feel weight, but not temperature or texture. I guess it’s kind of like feeling something through a thick glove. But with Rarity’s magic, the sensation is very clear. I suppose that’s just a reaction of magic interacting with magic. That’s the best I can come up with.

Oh right, there’s a person waiting on me, I can’t go getting lost in my head. “I guess I’ll follow you; I have no idea where I’m going.” I give a bit of an awkward laugh.

“No problem at all, darling.” She smiles and opens the door. I wonder if I could use my telekinesis on two things at once like that, I’ll have to remember to try that out later. Anyway, I follow behind Rarity through the front door.

Alright, so I’m definitely not over the whole boundless excitement phase yet. Once I get out the door and see Ponyville in the light of day, my head explodes at all the visual input. It’s all just like the show, but every bit of it is real; the buildings, the roads, the grass, all of it real. It’s like looking at the best 3d rendering imaginable. I can see the individual specs of dirt, each blade of grass, the lines in the wood of the buildings. Yet somehow, with all that realistic detail, it still manages to look strangely cartoonish. I suppose the bright, pastel colors would be responsible for that; they’re spot on with what you’d see in the show. I actually have to blink a bit to adjust my eyes to how colorful everything is.

But enough about the buildings; what really draws my attention are the ponies. There are so many of them! Well, maybe only two dozen or so; I’m not talking Manehattan levels of crowded or anything. Still, the most ponies I’ve seen at once is two, so this is shattering that record. Again, what really stands out about them is the color. There are so many different shades and hues all in motion at once that its dizzying. I also notice that, unlike in the show, there’s a lot of diversity in body shapes. There are tall and short ponies, thin and heavy ponies, some have larger heads than others, and then some seem to be a little furrier; there are too many differences to count. It just all feels so… real.

This is real, I’m actually in Ponyville. And I’m a pony, just like everyone else here. You couldn’t tell me apart from any other ponies. I’ve thought about it before, but I think the gravity of it is finally setting in. This isn’t just a dream anymore, this is happening. I can feel my fur prickle up thinking about it; I guess that’s the pony equivalent to getting goosebumps. I feel happy though, it’s a very warm feeling. I don’t feel out of place, it feels like I belong.

Fortunately, as my mind goes off all over the place, my legs know to keep walking and follow Rarity. We end up walking side by side with the box floating between us; back enough that we can see each other’s faces. I’m still looking around at all my surroundings though. It really doesn’t compare to anywhere in the US. I did travel to Austria once though, that’s a closer comparison; it has the same old, rustic feel to it. It’s amazing what a lack of concrete streets and traffic do for the atmosphere of a town.

I’m not really certain how long it took us to get to the post office. It felt like a pretty long time, but I was definitely distracted. My legs aren’t tired at all, which makes me think it wasn’t far, but my pony legs could also just be stronger than my human ones. The post office is small; there’s just a winding queue leading up to the main desk and a few benches against the wall. I take a seat at one of the benches and look at the window at the passing ponies as Rarity conducts her business.

I’ve been trying to pick out other ponies I recognize, but so far I’ve only seen Berry Punch and Bon Bon, with a suspicious lack of Lyra. Wait a minute, I’m at the post office, so wouldn’t that mean. I excitedly look to the desk to check which pony is working, but no Derpy Hooves. Darn. 

I wonder how much of the fandom’s collective canon for background ponies is true. Is Berry Punch actually an alcoholic? Does Lyra know about humans? If the world is real, then it isn’t that big of a stretch to believe that anything could be. I suppose. By that same logic, it’s possible that things from the show could be wrong too. I’ll have to talk with someone about that eventually and compare information; it sounded like Twilight had that goal as well.

There wasn’t a line when we arrived, so it doesn’t take Rarity very long to finish. I get up from the bench as she approaches. “Well, next on the list is fabric store in the shopping district on the other end of town. I like to try and restock whatever I use each week so I’m never caught unprepared when inspiration hits. After that, I believe it will be time to find some lunch.”

“That all sounds great, lead the way!” Rarity gives a bit of a smile and we head off. She can probably tell how excited I’ve been this whole time, I guess that would explain why she hasn’t been talking much.

Our walk to the fabric store takes us past the town hall, and I actually manage to catch a glimpse of Mayor Mare entering the building. This part of Ponyville seems a lot busier; I think I can see the main market area not too far down one of the streets that we cross. I’m starting to see more familiar ponies as well; most notably Cheerliee. A lot of the ponies greet Rarity as she walks by, she seems to be quite popular. Makes sense, given her reputation.

Now that the shock as started to die down, I also notice that I’m getting a lot strange looks. People are actually stopping their conversations to look at me. I don’t stand out that much, do I? I know I’m still not entirely used to this body, but I’m pretty sure I’m walking naturally like everypony else.

We make it to the store Rarity was looking for and I help hold things for her as she shops. I get the impression that she knew what she wanted as she went in, since she doesn’t waste any time looking around. As we leave, Rarity turns to me and asks, “So, is there anything in particular you’re hungry for, darling?”

Oh, I hadn’t thought about that yet; I haven’t actually eaten pony food. “Umm, well I’m not really sure. From what I know, ponies have a bit of a different diet than I did as a human.”

“Really? How so?”

“Well… we can’t digest a lot of the flowers and grasses that you eat, so we ate mostly fruits, vegetables, nuts, baked goods, that sort of thing.” Yeah, I’d rather not mention that we killed other animals and ate their corpses. I don’t think that would go over well.

“I see. Well, would you prefer something new, or something familiar?”

Oh, I guess that’s a pretty simple way to put it. Rarity’s good at this. “I guess let’s go with something new.” Normally I wouldn’t be so experimental with eating, but hey, I’m a pony now. This is my chance to make a new start.

“Very well, I believe I have a place in mind not far from here.”

Not far is right. I follow Rarity down a few blocks and into a small, elegant, café sort of restaurant. The tables are all booths with dividers between the chairs to give privacy. There seems to be a flower motif to the décor; the dividers are decorated with actual vines, and potted plants filled with flower arrangements hang over each table, giving the place a very cozy sort of feel. I get the impression that Fluttershy would like it here.; it definitely sings “nature”.

As I’m looking around, Rarity exchanges greetings with the waiter who leads us to an empty table. I can only see two other tables occupied, out of a total of eight. The place must not be very popular. Either that, or it’s really expensive; that seems to be the more likely answer. Wait a minute, is Rarity alright paying for two here?

“Umm… so, you know I don’t have any bits on me, right?” Hey, I remembered to say “bits”. Good job, me!

“Oh, of course, darling. Don’t worry about the money, my business has been quite fruitful lately; I’m in the mood for a bit of a luxury meal.” She opens up the menu and begins to browse, so I do the same.

It looks like this place specializes in dishes made with flowers. It’s mostly salads and sandwiches, but there are also a few desserts. The menu isn’t very large, so there aren’t many options to choose from, but I have absolutely no idea what any of this tastes like. Knowing that a salad contains hibiscus and azaleas really doesn’t tell me much.

Eventually the waiter pony returns to take our orders, so I just copy Rarity’s: a lavender and orchid sandwich with a sparkling water. Once the waiter takes our menus, Rarity turns to me. “So, you seem to be enjoying Ponyville.”

“Yeah, it’s kind of a lot to take in. I was never able to see the town as anything more than a few isolated locations, and never in this much detail. Seeing it all like this is really fascinating.”

“Well, I imagine it’s probably for the best you arrived in a quiet town like Ponyville, and not a big city like Manehattan. I can’t imagine how difficult it would be for you to adapt to a new world and a city of that size.”

“I really am glad to be in Ponyville.” I suppose a large city would be interesting. But being anywhere else would mean I wouldn’t get to meet all these show ponies! “I wouldn’t mind visiting Manehattan or Canterlot while I’m here though, I always did enjoy the city life.”

“I suppose a trip to Canterlot isn’t outside the realm of possibility; it is quite close after all. Trips to Manehattan are a bit more difficult to handle spontaneously. Do you live in a city where you come from?”

“I lived close to one, but the area I was in was still pretty… industrial. Most places are like that in my world; there aren’t very many towns like Ponyville. I did grow up out in the country though; I didn’t get into a more populated area until I moved out on my own.”

“Yes, Twilight did mention how… different the Human world she visited was. Well, as much as I love Manehattan and Canterlot, the ponies of Ponyville are certainly much more amiable. I’m sure you’ll enjoy your time here.”

Speaking of amiable ponies, I’m still getting strange looks from the other ponies in the restaurant. I lean in a little close and ask Rarity, “So, is there any reason that so many ponies are staring at me? It isn’t that obvious that I’m not from around here, is it?”

Rarity laughs a little bit at my concerns. “Oh, darling no, it’s nothing like that. It’s just odd to see a mare of your age with no cutie mark. I’ve never heard of a pony getting as old as you without finding her destiny. I’m sure it’s just curiosity, nothing to worry about.” That makes a lot of sense actually; I don’t know why I didn’t realize that. So, I guess that’s just another reason I need to find my special talent.

“I really am jealous of you ponies. Humans don’t really have special talents; if we do, they certainly aren’t printed on our sides. People go their whole lives never knowing what they’re supposed to do, and they just end up being perpetually unhappy. When you know what it is that you’re meant to do, you can just do that for the rest of your life and you’re all set to live happily. It’d be nice for things to be that simple.”

Rarity looks off to the side and doesn’t answer right away. I guess I did sort of unload on her there, I’m not really sure how I’d respond to that either.

Fortunately, I’m saved by the waiter with our food. I’m reminded how expensive this restaurant must be; we just ordered sandwiches but they put so much effort into the appearance. There are flower petals decorating the edges of the plate, and the sandwich itself looks immaculate. It’s a little larger than I was expecting, and the bread looks so thick and soft. It seems that in addition to the flowers, there’s also lettuce and some sort of cheese.

I levitate the sandwich to my face and take an experimental bite. Hmm… well it definitely isn’t bad. I would say that overall it tastes sweet, which is odd in a sandwich, but it works. There are a lot of other flavors in there too though; I’m not sure if flowers just have a complex flavor, or if they put some other spices or something in there. It tastes good, I guess it’s just a bit much. I’m sure it’s just that low class sense of taste I have. Shouldn’t be a problem to eat the whole thing though.

We don’t talk at all as we eat. Talking with food doesn’t really seem like something Rarity would do, so I don’t bother to bring up any conversation topics and instead focus on the sandwich. I notice she’s eating the flower petals from the plate as well, so I decide to give those a shot too. Now these are good; nice, simple, sweet flavor. I could totally see myself snacking on these like chips. The taste kind of reminds me of fruit, only without the juices. I wonder if they're healthy? It'd be great to actually have a healthy diet for once.

Once Rarity finishes I decide to take the initiative and start up some more conversation while we wait for the check. “So, you said your business is doing well lately?”

Her eyes flash a little at my question, like she wasn’t prepared for it. “Hmm, ah yes. Yes, ever since my Manehattan Boutique’s premiere was such a success I’ve received dozens of custom orders. I’ve managed to gain a few more high profile clients as well, which has done wonders for my brand name.”

You know, Rarity doesn’t actually talk business very often in the show. This is a great chance to really get into the details of how she does it. “So do you travel to Canterlot and Manehattan a lot for your work, or do you do most of it here?”

“Well, I like to keep Ponyville as my base of operations, so to speak, but I will take the time to travel to my other locations to premiere major new lines. Typically, at the start of each season, I personally host larger events at each boutique. I’ll occasionally travel to meet with clients as well, depending on how important the order is. I usually only reserve that for the biggest clients. I suppose if you want a more precise answer: I make trips about once or twice a moon. Of course, with my new Manehattan branch that seems to be increasing.”

“How long have you been doing this? Aren’t you still pretty young?” I’m not going to straight up ask her age, but hey; Mane 6 ages are a huge topic of debate. I need to figure this out while I’m here.

“I purchased Carousel Boutique about 5 years ago now, but I was designing clothes before long that. Fashion design has been my dream since I was a little filly, before I got my cutie mark even, so I started early.”

This is really what I’ve always admired about Rarity, she’s just so driven. It’s why I admire her so much. “Wow… that’s really cool, following your passion from such a young age. It must be nice having a strong, thriving business. You’re so successful already, and you still have so much time to keep improving.”

“I suppose that’s true.”

“I guess that’s what I really like about Equestria. Everyone is following their dreams, and they’re just so happy for it. It’s so much nicer than the world I come from, I just want to be a part of it all. It seems like my life has been nothing but struggling.” I suppose that’s it in a summary. Talking with Rarity has really helped me solidify why I want to stay here. Now I feel more determined than ever to get that cutie mark!

Rarity turns her head away from me. “Yes, I suppose Equestria’s just perfect, and everyone’s happy here. Why not stay?” Wait… what was that? That sounded like she was pretty upset. What happened, did I say something wrong? She was just talking about how successful she is, and how great things have been; how did this U-turn so fast?

The waiter returns with the check, interrupting my thoughts of panic. Rarity pulls out several bits and thanks him, but not with the polite, chipper-ness she had before. It sounded very short and forced. What happened?

As we leave the restaurant and start walking in what I believe is the direction of the boutique, I try and watch Rarity for any sign of why she might be upset. I guess I was complaining about my world a lot, maybe that’s what did it? Nobody likes listening to a bunch of whining, right? I don’t know if that would justify this big a reaction though. Sure, Rarity’s dramatic, but there has to be more. What’s going on?

We walk back inside the boutique and I’m still completely stumped. Rarity takes the bags of fabric and walks up the stairs without saying a word; I can hear a door slamming from the second floor.

Great, she’s definitely mad.