The Castle I found myself in might as well have been a labyrinth that stretched on for hundreds of miles, with all of the intersecting hallways that all looked the same. Fortunately, the princess and I only had to climb down two flights of stairs in order to reach the dining room. When the princess opened the door, using magic I guess since her horn started to glow a beautiful golden color that matched the aura surrounding the door knobs of both doors, I could see that it had a few pairs of windows showing a nice view of some well-maintained garden and the walls no doubt surrounding the castle grounds.

During my little walk, the princess had told me a few more things about where I was, namely that I was in a city called Canterlot, the Capital of Equestria no less, and gave me a little history lesson about how some things called the Elements of Harmony had saved the country from evil several times while boasting of a millennium long peace. Needless to say, I was impressed at that bit, considering humans fought wars all the time for whatever reason and we were the only species on our planet. Apparently here on Equis though, there were all sorts of sentient beings on this planet that lived in their own respective parts of the world and while not all of them enjoyed such a long peace as much as Equestria did apparently, they all enjoyed the term for lengthy durations of time before occasionally getting into a fight with some other country, but it rarely escalated to a full on war.

Anyway, we finally made it to the dining room and I sat myself down in a random seat, which was uncomfortable since it was made to for ponies rather than humans, and Princess Celestia sat down in a chair relatively close to me. It looked like she was waiting for someone else to attend as well, no surprise since this table was pretty long and I could expect several family members to come for dinner.

“So Princess,” I caught her attention as she turned to look at me. “I’m guessing we’re waiting for someone and that you want to ask me some questions right?”

Celestia nodded, smiling at me. “Indeed Shiro. My sister and I wish to know more about you and where you came from.”

I nodded. “Sure that’s fine. I can tell you right now though that I barely understand what’s going on myself and I’m just trying to roll with it instead of freaking out.”

Celestia chuckled again as I smiled. I could tell there was more to it than what it appeared to be on the surface. She was testing me, to see if I was some threat or liability. Hell, the first thing I’d do if I ran my own country and some alien popped up out of nowhere would be to interrogate it first and make sure I knew everything about it before letting it have any freedom. These ponies were certainly nicer than humans at least. I don’t really fancy the idea of being examined and dissected for the benefit of pony kind.

As I was mulling over my thoughts, I heard a new voice enter the dining room.“Sister, we were wondering if thou hath finished our last batch of cookies and if this is true, thou shall…”

I turned toward the new speaker and saw another pony with a horn and wings like Celestia, but she was more of a dark blue color with a mane that looked like the night sky and a mark of the moon on her flanks where as Celestia’s was a mark of the sun.

The new pony turned to me before addressing her sister again. “Tia, is this the creature that the Royal Guard apprehended earlier?”

Celestia nodded and smiled at her sister then at me. “Indeed Luna. He is called Shiro and while I do not know his species yet, I have asked him if he could tell us more about himself. I was just waiting for you to arrive so we could enjoy dinner together while he talks.”

Luna nodded in understanding, digesting what her older sister had told her before she backpedaled a bit.

“That would be most wonderful sister, but thou has still not told us if thou were the one that pilfered our cookies?” Luna narrowed her eyes at her sister, who turned away while whistling awkwardly.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about Luna…” Celestia said as she continued to look awkward and guilty.

“Seriously?” I deadpanned. “You’re not being very convincing Celestia.”

Celestia chuckled. “Well, all right, it was me. I’ll make it up to you later though little sister. Come join us.”

Luna let out a sigh. “Very well sister.”

She trotted over to a seat that was next to Celestia, but was opposite from where I was sitting.

Celestia turned to me again. “The chefs are preparing a variety of dishes for tonight’s dinner, but it will take a little while longer before they bring it all out. In the meantime, maybe you can answer a few of our questions after you’ve told us about yourself and how you came to be in Equestria."

I nodded and took a deep breath. “All right. Well you both know my name, so that gets that part out of the way.”

'Not like I’m going to tell you my real name anyway. Too boring and if they try reading my mind, I’ll know about it and keep them out with the barriers I set up in my mind while I was in the dungeon. I had enough time in there to at least look up how to protect myself somewhat both physically an mentally.'

“Anyway, my species are called humans or homo sapiens for the scientific term. We’re the only sapient species on a planet called Earth and I have no idea where that is relative to here because all I remember before going to bed last night was being in my own room after eating dinner and doing recreational activities before falling asleep. Next thing I know, I wake up in the middle of that square in your city, completely altered in appearance and can suddenly do magic, while all of those snobby ponies were staring at me like I was some freak or monster.”

Shiro finished his short little tale, answering the how and why of both princesses’ questions about what himself and what he was doing here on their world. Unbeknownst to the Enchanter, both princesses had set up subtle lie detector spells that glow a faint green color in their mind’s eye as Shiro recounted his brief tale, letting them know that he wasn’t lying. Satisfied with his story, they decided to begin asking him questions to determine his intentions and whether or not he was going to be a threat to their ponies after discussing it between themselves through a telepathic link they shared; Part of the perks of being goddesses.

“I see. Well then Shiro, I would like to ask you what your intentions are now that you are here.” Celestia spoke a soft tone in her voice conveying her motherly demeanor.

Shiro pondered the question for a moment before giving a shrug. “Well princesses, I really don’t know what I’m going to do here…” Shiro trailed off. “I mean, I already told you both that this isn’t what I originally looked like and all of THIS,” Shiro spread his arms out wide to get his point across. “is all a little much to take in. Ideally, I wanna try and find a way to get back to my home. I don’t suppose either of you would know of some spell or something that can let me do that?” Shiro asked with a tinge of hope coloring his voice.

Sadly, both sisters turned to stare at one another before they both shook their heads at him. “Then in that case, I’m just gonna stick around in this world for a while, learn what I can from it and learn more about myself.” Shiro finished with a sense of satisfaction. At least he had some plan in mind for the coming days and possible rest of his life that staying on an alien world entailed.

“Well, that sounds like a great start Shiro.” Celestia said with a smile on her face. He had been truthful so far, but she needed to be absolutely certain that he wouldn’t be a threat to her subjects. Unfortunately, Luna decided to be blunt and ask the question she was just thinking of in her mind.

“Sir Shiro. We ask if thou would be a threat to our subjects and if so, thou shall pay for any ill intent.” Luna narrowed her eyes at the enchanter, who looked surprised at the sudden question. Celestia would have facehoofed if she could at her little sister, but Luna was often more suited to the direct approach anyway. Both sisters waited for Shiro’s response as he thought of the question.

“Well, honestly, I could be a threat if any your subjects wrong me in anyway or wish harm on me.” Shiro trailed off as he noticed both sisters looked agitated and were glaring at him, like they were daring him to do such a thing.

He sighed. “But seriously, I wouldn’t be the one to start anything with a person or a pony in this case. I’m not a bad guy, but I’m not just going to stand around and take any abuse you or subjects might dish out.” Shiro smirked at the two sisters. “After all, that guard who stunned me, sent me to the dungeons and out right insulted me qualifies as going too far in my book and I punished him in the best way I thought possible. If you recall Celestia, I didn’t use violence against him, even though I could have, it’s not always the best solution.” Shiro trailed off while Celestia nodded in understanding.

That particular case was disgraceful in her eyes and Shiro really dealt with such hostility in the best way possible in her opinion. Luna looked a little confused at what the human had said and asked him to clarify with her the incident in the dungeons. After Shiro had finished going over his treatment by the guard, Luna was visibly shaking and grinding her teeth in anger.

“Sister, we do hope that thou will punish that guard mercilessly. Such a disgrace for a pony to be so corrupt and out of touch with harmony to treat another sapient being in such a way and has committed more than this one crime no less. “Luna huffed while Celestia nodded, a scowl on her face.

“Rest assured Luna. I will not let the pony go unpunished for causing so much trouble.” Satisfied, Luna calmed down and stared at the enchanter again, this time with a more curious look gracing he features.

Before anyone else could speak further, a pair of doors opened as maids and butlers came trotting out, pushing carts filled with food, but covered in lids as they began to set the table.

“Well, it looks like dinner is done.” Celestia said as she turned to Shiro. “Please help yourself to anything you like.”

Shiro nodded as the last trays of food were being arranged across the table. Shiro looked down at his own plate and saw the necessary utensils arranged in the fancy way where you get so many spoons and forks you don’t know which to use for proper etiquette. ‘Well screw good manners! I’m starving! I wonder what they prepared anyway.’ Shiro looked expectantly as the servants lifted the lids covering the trays to reveal… a whole assortment of fruits, vegetables, bread, a few soups and such. It wasn’t bad in his opinion, but Shiro noticed a distinct lack of meat present for dinner, which made sense since they were ponies. Unfortunately, because they were ponies, there was also a variety of flowers and grass arranged with most of the food present, setting Shiro’s face into a scowl. Both princesses noticed their guest’s reluctance to eat anything, but before they could ask him what was wrong, Shiro suddenly raised his right arm, a single finger extended as it looked like he was simply poking the air in front of him. It was quite unusual to say the least, but both princesses decided to watch and see what their guest was doing.

‘I can’t believe almost everything on this table has some plant mixed in with it.’ Shiro grumbled to himself. ‘When I was looking through the menu screen, I only gave a cursory glance at the stuff I had in my inventory, since I was too focused on looking at the skills I had. Maybe I have some food stored away that I can eat instead of this. It would be awkward picking through my food all throughout dinner.’

As Shiro scanned the items in his inventory, he marveled at how much he was apparently carrying within the seemingly bottomless depths of his new magic bag. He was looking through a screen that displayed an assortment of items from potions, quills, magical items and surprisingly enough, technology from his own world like an iphone, a tablet, a tv screen, several gaming systems, and other items that were there for his own convenience. He decided that he would look through most of the items in his inventory, especially the advanced technology he carried later and see if any of it would actually work here, but he shifted his priorities to finding any food in his possession. There was a lot of stuff to sift through, but luckily Shiro noticed what looked like a search bar on the top right section of the screen.

Wondering why he didn’t use that in the first place, he tapped the bar with his finger as a keyboard image popped up in a bubble within the screen. Shiro quickly typed the word food and clicked the search button. The screen changed for a moment before revealing a list of items he could clearly eat and began to decide what to get. He noticed as he clicked on the items displayed on the screen that they required a certain amount of ingredients to cook and the types of food he could make were things that he had seen or tried from his previous eating experiences.

He had a desire to try a dish he had read about in a manga one time, so he typed in the name into the search bar. He wanted to try a Shalyapin Steak don that he read about in a manga called Shokugeki no Souma. When he clicked the search button, he found the display for the dish and noted that he had the ingredients to make it. Eagerly, he pressed the cook button and suddenly a puff of smoke appeared in front of him, revealing the dish he wanted, startling and exciting him at the same time at the thought that it actually worked.

Keeping in mind that only a few minutes had passed since Shiro had gone silent and began searching through his menu screen, both princesses were still watching him curiously and both had a look of shock on their faces when a puff of smoke appeared and cleared away to reveal a bowl of food that neither had seen before.

Shiro stared at the bowl in front of him and smiled. “Awesome! It actually worked!” he said excitedly.

Both princesses stared from the bowl to Shiro several times before Luna decided to break the silence.

“Um Shiro…How did thou just do that?”

Shiro looked over at the night princess and smiled. “Well, I was trying to search for something to eat using my menu screen and while I was looking through the inventory section, I noticed that there were a number of foods I’ve heard about or eaten back in my world. So, I tried preparing one that I’ve always wanted to try and it worked!” Shiro concluded with a grin.

Both Celestia and Luna stared at one another. What was this menu screen he was referring to? Could it have something to do with the unusual magic that they had just witnessed?

“And what exactly is this menu screen Shiro?” Celestia asked.

Shiro furrowed his brow in thought before answering. After a while he said “Well, I think it’s just how my magic perceives itself in my mind and I’m seeing an image of things about myself, like what I have in my possession, skills and other information. I don’t fully understand it of course, but I’m just glad I can even do amazing things like this!” Shiro opened up his palms and pointed at the bowl, presenting proof of his greatness.

Celestia and Luna stared at each other once again. While he was still not lying to them, they both felt that it was a lot more complicated than what Shiro just described to them. He did say he didn’t have such abilities before coming here, so they would just have to leave it be. Luna stared at the bowl of food that had appeared, noting that it did look rather good. However, she noticed the brown, cooked thing on top of the bowl and she could suddenly smell a familiar scent and realized with a hint of disgust and horror that it was cooked flesh!

“Shiro! Why thus thou have meat on thine meal!?” yelled out the Lunar princess.

Celestia stared from her sister to the bowl of food and recognized the smell of cooked meat coming from the brown object on top. Both sisters stared at the enchanter, who just stared at them back before slowly putting a hand to rest on his forehead, giving out a sigh and shaking his head.

“Oh right! I forgot! You ponies can’t or don’t eat meat right?” Shiro asked the two princesses who stared at each other before Celestia spoke up.

“Well, biologically speaking, ponies are able to eat meat, but we don’t feel right killing another living creature to acquire their meat and eat it. It is more of a cultural restriction on our diet, but some ponies like pegasi eat fish and other seafood without any problems.”

Shiro nodded before replying. “Well humans need meat to stay healthy,” Both sisters’ eyes widened while the servants still in the room were muttering worriedly, and the guards were glaring at the human. Shiro raised his hands in a placating gesture. “We humans also eat fruits and vegetables too, but we can’t eat flowers, grass, hay, and other plants like that.” Shiro swept his arm at the array of food on the table. “Most of the food here has one of the three things I mentioned and I can’t eat them as a result. So basically, humans are omnivores.”

The ponies around the room slowly relaxed, while the princesses didn’t look as concerned anymore. Ponies were omnivores as well, but cultural reasons meant that not many have tried meat and said they liked it. The supply was also another restriction on their diet, but another question popped up in Luna’s mind.

“Then what kind of meat is that Shiro?” She pointed a hoof at the bowl and Shiro simply answered “It’s cow meat.”

Again a wave panic spread around the room and everything was back to square one.

“How could you eat another sapient species!” Celestia exclaimed in shock. At this point, Luna was charging her horn and several guards were edging closer to Shiro with their spears ready.

Shiro waved his hands frantically. “Woah, Woah, Woah! Cows in my world aren’t sapient! Only humans are! Are you saying that cows here are sapient?”

The tension in the room eased a bit, but the ponies were still in guard except for Celestia. “Yes, cows here are a sapient species. Donkeys, Zebras, dragons, griffins, breezies, minotaurs, changelings, and other many others are all sapient.”

Shiro gaped at what the princess had just said. ‘Holy shit! So many things can talk here! Well, good thing I know now than finding out later. Still, it’s not like I’d eat something that talks back to me anyway.’ Shiro explained as such to the princesses and reminded them that humans were the only sapient species on Earth and they needed to hunt and eat other animals to survive. All of the ponies finally began to calm down and Shiro began to relax.

“I apologize for our behavior Shiro.” Luna began to say. “I shouldn’t have reacted as such since griffins, dragons and minotaurs do consume meat, but we just assumed thou had killed another sapient being for food and we reacted rashly.” Luna sighed in regret, but Shiro waved his hand at her.

“It’s all right. Don’t mind, don’t mind at all.” Shiro began to laugh. “At least I know now rather than not knowing at all. Anyway, any food I conjure up is from my world so I hope there won’t be any more misunderstandings.”

With that, the princesses nodded and smiled and began to start digging in to their food. Shiro took the spoon and fork near his table (it didn’t matter which one to him) and slowly cut the steak on his don bowl. It was so tender, the juices pouring freely out and mixing with the rice underneath. Shiro took a nice piece into his fork and scooped up a fair amount of rice and onions into his spoon, biting into the meat in his fork before eating up the food in his food. The taste exploded in Shiro’s mouth as a wave a pleasure assaulted his taste buds. He didn’t even need to chew the meat! It was so tender, a mass of deliciousness that felt like a liquid pouring down his throat as he swallowed. Shiro gave out a sigh of contentment before heartily devouring his meal.

Shiro’s reaction to the food he made certainly attracted the attention of the princesses and were wondering for themselves how delicious the human’s cooking was. While Equestrian chefs could cook up a dish involving meat, the demand and supply for such things was low unless they catered to another species’ clientele and while most ponies saw the princesses as divine beings of perfection, they were simply normal ponies with unique personalities. One of these personalities that both sisters’ shared was an appreciation for culinary delights. They loved sampling delicious foods and while they lately ate some of the finest vegetarian meals in all of Equestria, they both weren’t strangers to the flavor of meat and the potential deliciousness it possessed. While eating meat that came from a cow, a sentient species in Equestria, they were curious how a non-sapient cow would taste like. This didn’t mean that they would start killing and eating the cows for their meat. Goodness! That would go against everything Equestria stood for. However, if it was as delicious as Shiro made it out to be, they would definitely have to ask him to start preparing their meals for them if he constantly made delicious meals in an instant.

“Pardon us Shiro,” Celestia spoke, getting Shiro’s attention away from his bowl. “could I try the food that you are eating?”

There were actually gasps around the room, from both the servants and the guards, all were staring at their ruler with disbelief. Luna was nodding her head and said “Verily, we would also like to try thine alien cuisine and judge its flavor for ourselves.” The worry and had been doubled as far as all the other ordinary ponies were concerned.

Shiro stared at the two sisters before replying. “You sure you want to try it? I thought eating meat is a big no-no here, especially for royalty to partake in such a forbidden pleasure.” Shiro smiled getting a little chuckle from both sisters.

“Despite how we act now in front of our subjects, we have been around for a long time.” Said Celestia. “It’s not like we haven’t eaten meat before and we were both quite enamored with trying out new delicacies. Isn’t that right sister?” Celestia turned to little sister who nodded in reply, a smile on her face.

“If you are willing to prepare two more bowls for us please.”

Then both sisters did something that Shiro just knew was their ultimate weapon. Both Celestia and Luna started to give him the puppy dog eyes complete with a little pout, quivering their lower lips. Shiro was helpless before the onslaught of adorable that these thrice cursed ponies were inflicting upon him. He tried to resist, but it was all futile and in the end, Shiro went through his menu screen and cooked up two more don bowls. Satisfied with themselves (those damn princesses!) they thanked Shiro as they levitated their respective bowls to their plates. They took their time savoring this new meal, noting that the smell alone was quite enticing with the scent of the plentiful onions chopped into tiny pieces, the strange white seeds that seemed to make up the under layer of the dish, and the layer of sauce covering the onions on top of the meat.

Celestia was the first to dig in to her meal as she sliced off a small piece of meat and took a spoonful of the white seeds and onions, and took a bite. The taste was unbelievable! The sauce provided a rich thickness, the meat itself was so tender, she barely had to chew for it to become mush in her mouth and the white seeds and onions stimulated her appetite, savoring the delicious first bite of this wonderful combination of meat and vegetables. Luna was not so reserved after her first bite. As soon as she had a taste, she began to eat her bowl vigorously, her hoofs a blur as she scooped up bite after bite of the delicious food into her waiting belly. Noticing her sister’s abandon of royal etiquette, she herself began digging into her meal with gusto, much to the surprise and shock of every other pony in the room. Shiro smiled at the two sisters before finishing the last few bites of his own don bowl, feeling rather satisfied after the meal, but just like how the manga described, he still felt hungry since the onions and plum flavored rice stimulated the appetite. Before too long, the two royals finished their meals gave off a sigh of relief simultaneously.

“That was really good!” they both said in unison.

Shiro chuckled. “Well, I’m glad you liked it.”

Unfortunately, both turned towards him with their accursed cuteness once again.

“Could you please give us another bowl Shiro?”they whimpered at him as he felt his eye twitch. With a sigh, he created two more steak don bowls, which were immediately grabbed by the two princesses’ magic. They eagerly began eating their second bowl while Shiro thought about things so far in his head. ‘Well, things can get much weirder than this. I’m actually enjoying all of this weirdness. Still, this is all a little too much to take in. I’m glad that the royalty seem to accept me here. Things could always be worse…’

Just as Shiro said that, he heard a voice slowly approaching the dining room.

“Auntie Celestia, Auntie Luna! I’m sorry for being late, I just had other things to-ugh why is such a disgusting beast sitting at the royal table!” a snobbish pony with a horn wearing fancy clothes and an elaborate hairstyle looking at him in disdain. Immediately, he could tell the atmosphere in the room had changed as he could practically feel the hatred all the other ponies, including Celestia and Luna, were giving the new arrival.

‘Great. I just had to go invoke Murphy’s law and wrath. Curse you Murphy! Curse you to hell!!!’

Yeah, things were certainly going to more interesting, like having a damn migraine interesting.

Author's Note

Okay. A plug in for people to try reading Shokugeki no Souma, which is gonna be an anime this spring, which is super awesome! Updates are going to be infrequent depending on how life works and if my attention span can focus enough to write the next chapter. Anyway, thanks for reading!