"And if you please could, don't go causing a ruckus. I would rather not have to treat you again so soon after you were let out."

"I'm never going to live that down am I?"

"I'm afraid not dear."

It had been two days from when Art Craft had made her grand introduction to the Canterlot Elite, and by proxy of gossip, the whole of Equestria. There weren't any more incidents in that time, but a good deal of noteworthy events did unfold, the first of all being the small argument Art Craft had with Medi the morning after.

"I thought I said not to go running about like a mad mare!"

"No, you said not to make the guards feel bad about not catching me, I got chased by an insane posse of ponies the second time."

The fight ended when Art Craft was able to get Medi to listen to her. While still displeased Medi could understand her predicament and let it drop with a warning. The next thing was the newspaper Medi had brought with her along side breakfast.

"It would seem that you have made it to the front page dear."

Holding out the paper with her magic telekinesis Art Craft read the header.

"Mad Mare Madness: Is Princess Luna's new special somepony a hazard?!"

Below it was a black and white picture of her at the night court as she was being lead out by the bat-pone guard. The article went on to talk about her escapades the other day. She didn't really get upset though until the suggestions of a romantic relationship between herself and Luna, which was rumored to be the reason she hadn't been thrown in a dungeon cell.

"How did this even get published today?! This all happened just yesterday!"

"I'm sorry to say that when news with as much gossip potential as this gets in the wrong hooves that it can get out pretty fast."

After taking a couple minutes to let Art Craft shimmer down, which consisted of her pacing around and muttering curses to herself, Medi brought up a question she had been holding.

"So are you really going to change your name?"

"Oh, well yes. I was hoping to get it changed to Art Craft. I wouldn't mind you calling me Craft by the way."

Medi giggled at the toothy grin that Craft gave her.

"While Art Craft sounds like a lovely name, I must say I thought Ryan sounded perfectly fine as well dear. You can call yourself anything you'd like, within reason, but I'd like to know why it is you so suddenly want to change it."

"I wanted to have a more pony name."

"More pony name?"

"Yup. Going around introducing myself as Ryan Kumen would lead to a lot of questions and I just don't feel like answering them all the time. And I just really like the name. Nothing wrong with my old name at all, it's what I grew up with after all, but I just think I need a new one for a new life."

"I suppose that's more sound reasoning for getting your name changed than others I've heard, but please take your time thinking it through, promise?"

"I promise, but I've had time to think about it already and I'm pretty sure about it. Just need word from Stitch or Sell Heart."

Medi just nodded, sated with that reply, and so the two chatted while they ate. Medi gave her to be routine check up, said her goodbyes, and left. Craft spent her time after stretching, reading, or sleeping. After some time of just looking out at the mountain scape when she got the smallest of an itch at the back of her mind, like something was there trying to work its way up to the front of her brain but just couldn't. She tried forcing it for a bit until she got a visitor.

*Knock Knock* "Mobile book and mail deliver service! I have some mail for a one......Ryan Kumen?"

("I guess my name was already made official. That means a lot more paper work to get it changed. Woooo.")

The itch gone now Craft went over and opened the door to be greeted by a silver coated earth stallion with light blue hair. He had a cart filled with books next to him, wore a blue deliveries pony hat embolized with a quill over a envelope, and had a satchel slung over his shoulder. He rose his head from a clipboard he was holding put on a smile, hiding the confusion he had at Craft's name.

"Hello, would you happen to be miss Kumen?"

("Hopefully not for long.")

"Yes that's me. You said I have mail?"

"Yes ma'am!"

He quickly put away his clipboard inside his satchel in and pulled back out two envelopes. Not sure how to grab stuff with her hooves yet Craft as gently as she was capable grasped them with her lips and nodded her thanks. The silver stallion nodded happily at a job done and went for his clipboard to check to see who were waiting for mail. This was just enough time for Craft to remember a recommendation from Medi. Depositing the mail on the side table first she trotted over to the delivery pony before he could get back on his way.

"Uh, Excuse me but could I ask if you have a certain book."

The silver stallion looked back from his cart with a smile.

"Of course, what are you looking for?"

She looked down the hall to make sure no other ponies were there to hear before she spoke.

"...do you have...."My First Heat: Whats Happening to Me?"?"

His professionalism proofed strong as all that escaped the silver pony was an arched eyebrow as to why a full grown mare would be asking for a book like that, but with a shrug he leaned over to one of his cart side and pulled out a small red book. In every way it looked unassuming, only it's title betraying what laid inside it's pages. He held it out to her with a smile, not letting any of his skepticism leak out. Taking great pains to avoid eye contact Craft took the book with her mouth, mumbled "Thank you" the best she could and retreated back into her room, closing the door as fast as she could without actually slamming it in his face. With just a shake of his head the delivery pony left to finish his rounds.

("God damn all the world to hell for all eternity for ever making this situation even possible.")

She spat out the book onto the bed before slamming herself face first into the mattress and letting out a muffled "UGGGGGGGGGGGGGHHH". She remained there letting the emotion drain from her before doing anything. When she got to feeling better she lifted her head up, coming to face the book of her anguish. It filled her with dread and she was not eager to start. Remembering the envelopes on the side table she got back up quickly, thankful for even the smallest of a distraction. Getting the envelopes and sitting a chair in the corner of the room, she paused when she got comfortable and ready to read.

"How do I open these with hooves?"

While puzzling over this she examined the envelopes. One was small and light blue, sealed with a dark blue wax showing Luna's cutie mark. Written on it was interesting combination of her old and new names, "Ryan Art Craft Kumen". The other was a bigger white envelope, this one holding six cutie marks but hand drawn instead of in wax. This one just had her old name. Recognizing the cutie marks on the white one she decided to try and start with the one from Luna. It took a bit of work but eventually she figured out a way to open it. She held the envelope clamped between her hooves and ripped the top of the envelope off with her mouth. Inside was a piece of paper colored a darker hue of blue than it's container. After a bit of finagling she figured out a way to get it out and find a comfortable way to hold it while she read it spread out on her forelegs.

Dear Ryan,

I must say that you put up quite a show last night. I'm sorry to have put you through such an ordeal but I did think that you needed a bit of embarrassment after yesterdays "events". It also helped to assuage some of the fears that were starting to arise from the general public and medical staff of the supposedly mentally unbalanced mare. It was really a lucky coincidence you were there at night court. Had I not been privy to you location I would have had to have jumped through a great deal more hoops to have sorted the whole mess out. Thankfully that was all avoided when I found you dozing away while I was looking for some extra cushions. Forgive me but I could not help but peek at your dreams when I had the chance and I think you will be happy to know that they have, for you at least, returned to normal. Now that is all taken care of I would like to inquire of your interest in changing your name. To be safe I will continue to call you as I met you, but I would like to get to know of what it is you desire to call yourself the next time we can meet as I have only heard of it in passing. It will be a while before then though for I still have much work to catch up on and my schedule will be full for at least the next week and so I must ask you to be patient.

Until then your friend,

Princess Luna

She was disappointed that she wouldn't be seeing her first friend here for seven days but was glad she wasn't mad at her. Putting the letter aside she thought on what to read next. The letter from her assailants yesterday, or the book most likely filled with descriptive imagery.

("The lesser of two evils...")

She opened the other envelope and began reading the plain white letter.

Dear Ryan,

Hello Ryan. As you probably know it's us, the mares from yesterday that chased you. We all feel absolutely terrible about how out of control we got and ultimately getting you in trouble and would like nothing more than to apologize. We all considered it and we thought that the best way to handle this would be to meet you individually, one at a time. Provided you would be willing to give us all a second chance. We understand if you want nothing to do with us but we really want to be able to prove to you that we're not just a bunch of crazed ponies that just happened into your room. As of right now we should be on our way back to our homes in Ponyville so if you want to see us you'll have to come down there. If you want to send a letter back I have inclosed a mailing address for you to write to.

With the sincerest of apologies,

The Mane Six

P.S.

HI! This is Pinkie talking! Or writing I mean. I just wanted to say how super duper wuper with a strawberry on top sorry I am so I snuck in a coupon for a free slice of cake over at Sugar Cube Corner. That's where I work! These coupons are for really super special occasions and that's why I gave you one, to show you just how sorry I am. I really hope you come by and use it soon so we can talk!

Hoping you day is filled with lots of smiles,

Pinkie Pie

The last part was written in pink and looked to have been hurriedly done. True to her word there was a little pink coupon proudly proclaiming "One free slice of cake of any flavor". It was branded at the bottom with the logo for this Sugar Cube Corner. Craft's stomach growled at the thought of cake. All she has had since waking up yesterday was the breakfast Medi had brought with her. That had consisted of an assortment of fruits which Craft noticed tasted a fair bit sweeter then she remember fruits being. She needed to ask Medi where they came from next chance she got.

("Forget the fruits, what should I do about the mad six?")

Pondering their words and Pinkie's gift, Craft couldn't help but feel the sense of genuine regret they had for what they had done.

"...Alright, I'll see them again. If it's just one at a time then I should be able to handle them. And their the only other ones that know about who I was so it would probably be a good idea to stay on their good side."

Having said that something crept at the back of her mind again, but stronger than before. It was a nagging feeling of something being out of place but she couldn't see what it was. Pushing it out for later after not being able to figure it out she looked at the address at the bottom of the letter and committed it to memory. She got up and put her mail in the table drawer. Turning around she once again was faced with the book she had been putting off. With nothing else to do she picked it up, got in bed, and opened it up to page one.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

When Medi had came by at two PM she had found a rather flustered Art Craft in bed rubbing her legs together. She looked like she was really trying not to relieve herself in THAT particulate way. Seeing the little red book on her lap gave Medi an idea of what had gotten her so worked up. Delicately setting down the tray of food she had brought for a late lunch, she decided to make her presence known to the blushing mare.

"I see you took my recommendation."

Craft snapped her head to the unicorn just now having noticed her.

"Medi! Why in the name of all that is holy did you not suggest a different book or at least warn me that this one was so..so...so SEXUAL?!?!"

Medi giggled and shook her head, sitting in a chair next to the bed.

"It IS a book about how mares go through heat dear."

"Yeah, but I thought it was going to be all matter of fact and stuff, not be a romance novel poorly disguised as a educational book! It really did good describing all the details of what was happening to the example mare they used, especially when she found a stallion to plow her!!"

This would set the mood for the rest of Medi's visit, debating over just how effective the book really was at teaching about heat. It ended on a good note, both of them coming to an understanding that it did ultimately teach what it was trying to. Before she left Craft had asked Medi if she could get her some stuff to write some letters next time she came by. With an affirmation that Medi would she left Craft to fill the rest of her time for the day. Deciding she might as well try and glean some useful information from the erotic tale and hunkered down for the rest of the day, trying her best to not feel like she was a pervert, though the uncontrollable heat across her face and slowly working it's way down was hard to ignore.

She woke up the next day with the book opened to it's last page on her belly, once again thankful for her dreamless nights. She knew that if she had been dreaming that it would have been VERY detailed depictions of happenings in the book. She got up and did some stretching before knocking on the door, to which a nurse opened it a few minutes later. While being escorted back from the bathroom she ran into Medi on the way for Craft's morning examination. She had breakfast and the writing stuff Craft had asked for with her. Medi excused the nurse and they walked back to the room to talk and eat, mostly Craft asking questions about the world and Medi answering.

"I've been meaning to ask you, how can I write without magic? I need to get a letter written out and I have no Idea how I'm gonna write it."

She punctuated this with a shrug, lifting up her hooves to show off her confusion.

"That is a problem, but an easily fixable one. You said that Princess Celestia told you about all the pony races?"

"Yeah, why?"

"So you know that only unicorns have any direct control over magic, with pegasus second, being able to control the weather, and lastly earth ponies, who have magic but no way to control it. Now despite this there is a basic magic that all ponies share and use. I'm frankly surprised that you haven't noticed other ponies using it."

"Guess not, what is it?"

Medi took one of her hooves, put it down on a fork, and bringing it up the fork was stuck to it, much to Craft's surprise.

"Everypony can do it, it's nothing more than your natural supply of magic altering your electromagnetic field and that of the object you are touching to attract it to your hoof. It's not very strong though, the average highest lifting weight being twenty-five pounds. Like any other part of your body it can be trained but it's not as easy to do as with a muscle, it involves a lot of magical training and it is extremely difficult to do for non-unicorns, and even then unicorns have trouble being able to use it as most magic they have performed in their lives as been through their horns. But just using it is simple, you just have to give it a small thought when you want to use it. Go ahead and give it a try."

Craft didn't respond at first, staring at nothing and was starting to worry Medi when she finally looked at her.

"So I didn't have to just pick everything up with my mouth? For the love of Pete Medi! If I hadn't asked it would have taken at least another week for me to figure this out! And you using your magic to eat didn't exactly help drop clues. I've been munching away at my food like a dog this entire time!"

Craft had a look that spoke of no true hostility but did make clear her frustration. In short a pout that Medi found adorable on the mare.

"I'm sorry dear, I just assumed that was how you preferred to eat. Many ponies do and I by no means was going to stop you if that's how you liked to go about it. Though now I must ask, if you wanted to use utensils then why didn't you ask me about this when I brought you your first meal? Since I had no way knowing how you ate I just went ahead and brought all the standard eating cutlery and yet you did not even mention them and went on with your food."

Craft wanted to slap herself as yet another blush rose up in her cheeks.

("I seriously need to work on that as soon as possible, next thing I know I'm gonna start having nose bleeds...")

"After all the running around and stuff I was really hungry and.....I just wasn't thinking about it at the time. There was food, I knew I couldn't use my hooves, and so I went with what I thought at the time was the next best thing."

She was contemplating just how hard her hoof would be against her face as her blush got redder while Medi just shook her head in bemusement.

"Either way you know now, so like I said go ahead and try picking up something."

Nodding Craft went ahead and went for a spoon, as it was the only thing Medi hadn't used yet. Placing her hoof on top of it she thought about the spoon sticking to her hoof. She felt a slight tickling feeling at the base of her hoof, which she guessed was the right time to lift it up. Looking at the bottom of her hoof she was happy to see the spoon stuck on as if it was glued there. Figuring that it would likely be as easy to drop it she put her hoof back down, thought about letting it go, and was happier then before to see it devoid of the silverware after she brought back up.

"See? And before you know it you'll be using it without even really thinking about it."

"Yeah, thanks Medi, that's really going to come in handy in the long run."

"Of course, that's what I'm here for."

Craft thought she could figure out how to write on her own now and so just let Medi do the routine check up after they ate, letting her be on her way. She used her time afterwards practicing writing, being very careful to try and not get ink everywhere or rip the paper. About an hour later she was able to write at a level that still spoke of the practice she needed but was legible. She wrote out a message to the mares who she was trying to remember the individual names of. It took seventeen minutes on its own to write. She read over it a few times to check for errors of any kind.

To The Mane Six,

I'm one for being truthful and so I have to say that I was and still am a little hesitant to meet with you again, but I can clearly see that you all are sorry for yesterday. I'm not sure when I will have the chance to come by and meet you will be but I assure you that as soon as I can I will send word and we can make plans for me to come visit. For now know that I forgive you all and that some good did come from it all in the end. Like the chance to think of a new name for myself. That's all I really have to say for now, be sure to write back soon and we can keep in touch.

From your local alien,

Art Craft

P.S.

Tell Pinkie thanks for the coupon and that I'll be sure come over to Sugar Cube Corner as soon as I'm in town for that cake slice.

Satisfied with it she folded the letter and sealed it away within the envelope, writing the address and the groups name on it before putting away until she could get it to a mail pony. The rest of the evening passed with little event. The most that happened was that that the newspaper that Medi had with her that afternoon had the headline of "Celestia locks away Luna's luny new Love?". This new rumor stemmed from the fact that nopony had seen Art Craft the last two days and they weren't sure what to make of it. This aside the day was peaceful, not much of anything worth noting until Craft went to try and sleep that night. She laid in bed and was comfortable, eyes closed, but could not fall asleep. The same nagging feeling in the back of her head kept pestering her but for the life of her could not think of what it was her subconscious was trying to tell her conscious. She turned, twisted, pulled her blanket over her, threw it off, and got into every position she could conceive in the struggle for rest. Her head was buried under the pillow, blanket on the floor, when she gave up.

"Just buck it..."

She got grudgingly up and picked up the blanket from the ground before walking over the singular window of the room. Pulling a chair up she sat in front of the glass and just stared out. While all she could see were mountains she knew thanks to Medi that the front of the castle faced the supposedly beautiful city of Canterlot and the medical wing specifically faced to the west. After she was cozy in her chair Craft began to dwell on what was bothering her.

("Okay...I guess the best place to start is to think about what's different now. Well, different from how it's been the last few days. The first three days I was here I was in a coma, a pony princess who apparently has power over dreams was visiting me in my coma, said princess telling me I would die unless I turned into a pony too and live in another world from there on out, not only do I turn into a pony but into a girl as well, and my on my first day I end up getting chased twice through a castle. This all happened in the span of four days.")

The silence was barely punctured by her breathing as she let that all sink in.

("Ignoring the great possibility that I went insane after that car hit us, I think what's different now is that I've had a chance to just slow down these last two days. No life or death decisions, no chases, no out of no where gender changes. I've been able to just sit and relax, take a breather, and.....think.")

Her ears folded slightly as the beginnings of understanding came to her.

("Yeah, I haven't had a single chance to take a step back and put this all into perspective. It's been one thing after another, no chance to slow down 'til now......")

She grew uncomfortable in her seat. She felt the need to do something and so stood up and began to pace.

("There's a lot of things that I haven't done that I probably should have by now, questions I should have asked already. Now that I'm safe can't they turn me back? Couldn't Luna send me back home now? If she was so interested in my dreams then why hasn't she tried coming to me again? Why have I not thought of this all before? More worrying is that nopony else has either.")

Many dastardly scenarios were pushed away in her mind as she tried to keep a clear head.

("There's more, but that most important one....Was this all planned? It just seems all too convenient that the one guy that would be more willing to believe than most would be the one to be plucked out of his own world. Too convenient that I haven't had the time to think about this before. Just....UGH! FUCK!")

The thoughts ran together in a mad swirl as her frustration came to a head. Rearing up she stomped the ground with her front hooves, making the room shake ever so slightly. The small feat of strength was lost on Craft as she breathed slowly, walking over to the chair and sitting again. She let her nerves calm down before broaching the subject again.

("....The only thing I can do is wait until tomorrow. When I'm finally out I can see about talking with Luna privately, then I can confront her directly with my questions. I have no idea what she'll say, or what I even want her to say.....")

Her mind wandered from there, vaguely thinking about what it is she wanted. She wasn't sure what she would do if it was all a coincidence, or if it was all some kind of conspiracy. It was such a new and out there situation to be in and made finding answers hard, and after fruitlessly searching about she just thought of other things having decided that she would wing it when she talked to Luna. But when her mind reached a certain subject she could not stop the tears from rolling down her cheeks. These new thoughts plagued her all night until she could escape to her dreams, but not before letting it be known to people that would probably never know, a promise.

"Mom, Andy, I'm sorry I haven't thought about you, I'm an idiot. But I still love you both. Boa, I'd let you punch me anytime you'd want as hard as you want if you would forgive me for not thinking about you. I'm so sorry to all of you, and I promise I will never forget you again."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The next morning she was woken up by Medi knocking at the door. Craft explained her sleeping in a chair as her just relaxing in the moon glow and nodding off before she knew it. They ate their breakfast and Medi began her last check up, this one being a tad more extensive than the others. After she was done she was more than happy to give Craft a clean bill of health and that all she needed to to do was come in next month for another check up, and then just to come in on yearly basis if nothing came up. Craft played up her cheer, not wanting to betray the nervousness and fear in her gut. Medi gave her some forms to fill out, standard medical stuff. One though caught her eye. It was a form asking to sign and make it official that her name was Art Craft. This brought up more feelings of unsureness but she hid it with a smile.

Back to present, Craft had been told by Medi that she had to drop some of the forms off with the receptionist and that would be it, a guard would be waiting for her at the door to take her to her new room over in the living quarters of the castle but from there she was more or less free to do as she pleased. Saying goodbye and promising to try and stay out of trouble Craft made her way to the reception area, doing her best to block out all the stares she was getting.

("No matter what Luna says or how I feel about it, I know one thing for sure. I will make the best of it no matter what.")

Author's Note

Not much to say on this one, so as always rate freely & fairly and thanks for reading!