Home Is Where The Herd Is

As I woke up the next morning, I found myself to face with...well, no one. Not a single person was there before me and as I sat up and looked around, it only served to make the place feel even more empty upon my realization that the room was indeed devoid of any life except my own.

It briefly reminded me of my life at home and how now I was going to have to find a way to live without my parents in my life. Most people take for granted what it means to have parents, or even, people you can rely on. They try so hard to escape from what they consider a prison, or some kind of trap, when in reality, we never stop needing our family. Hell, i'm Twenty-two. I have a job-well, had a job-, a few hobbies, and a place to call my own. I'm my own man and I have never stopped needing my parents for some things. Whether it be advice, A shoulder to cry on, or even just company or someone to lend an ear to my problems, I have always needed them, and it has always surprised me when people say things like, "I'm too old for this", or "It's embarrassing." Not that I haven't done my fair share as a kid of course.

Despite my brief relapse into sadness, upon remembering the events of last night, my mood brightened considerably, and I soon had a smile on my face once again.

Even if Twilight and the others weren't with me, they were still somewhere around the house at this point, I was sure of it. It was way too early for them to be anywhere else anyway.

I got out of bed and made my way out the door and down the corridors, searching for the kitchen. My mind automatically went to breakfast, and thus I chose to look there, hoping to find them eating so that I could perhaps join them.

That is until I realized that in the haze of last night's events, I had forgotten to pay attention, and currently had no idea where I was.

And so I wandered around for a bit, hoping and praying to come across the kitchen at some point in my travels.

As I made my way through the halls, I was treated to a reminder of just how big this place was. The ceiling was easily Three times my height, and the high walls were decorated almost everywhere with polished crystal. The designs on them were so well made that I thought I was in some kind of fantasy land. It reminded me so much of all those stories I used to read about knights killing dragons, wars fought in the name of honor, and mythical beasts walking the earth alongside humans. It was all so fanciful that I couldn't take my eyes off it the whole way down the hall.

Unfortunately, this led to me not watching were I was going, and eventually running into someone.

"Oh...ow...Sorry about that. Are you okay?" I asked after picking myself up off the ground. I reached out a hand to help them up and saw that it was Twilight.

"Oh, hey, Twilight. What are you doing here?" I asked, surprised that she was in the hall rather than the kitchen as I had thought.

"Oh, well, I was actually looking for you!" Twilight responded with a small gasp of surprise. "What a coincidence. I didn't expect to find you out of bed yet. Early riser, huh?"

"The best kind." I told her. We both laughed at that.

"Come with me. The others are downstairs. They can't wait to meet you." Twilight suddenly said, turning around and gesturing me toward her.

"The others? You mean your friends?" I asked, slightly confused.

"Yep, that's them!"

We made our way downstairs, and back into the foyer, which was big enough to be a room by itself and was treated as such as well.

The floor was circular all the way until you reached the hallways, where it was squeezed into a space just big enough to fit two people.

In the foyer was a rather lengthy couch, a coffee table, two chairs off to the side and essentially nothing else. I was disappointed that it was rather barren compared to the rest of the castle, but what really had my attention were the five girls seated on the couch in front of me.

They each took up one seat on the big thing, leaving no room for either me or Twilight to sit. It didn't seem to bother her, however, as she simply grabbed one of the far off chairs, dragged it over to the table, and sat in front of the five girls at the table.

They all had cups of tea, but something told me they hadn't touched them since they were poured.

It took me a moment to notice that the mood in the room had significantly changed. There was no exchanging of greetings, no happy expressions. Even the idle sounds in the room (Shuffling, creaking, and the like) had ceased. All that was left was pure and utter, silence.

I, who had been standing behind the five girls staring at the wall for a few minutes due to being too nervous to look at Twilight, gathered enough courage to make my way over to Twilight's side, where I stood, not even bothering to get a chair.

For a long while, no one said anything.

Then all of a sudden a single voice cut through the thick gloom that had descended upon the room.

"Oh, darling, I must insist that you stop with all this tension! You're scaring the poor boy!" My eyes shot over to the source of the voice, only to see a beautiful girl with deep purple hair and striking blue eyes. For a moment I could swear I saw her sparkling.

She stood up and walked over to me, a warm smile on her face. She leaned up to look me in the eye and I pulled back a little, if only out of shyness.

After a while she said, "Why, you're quite a handsome man, aren't you?" Her eyelashes fluttered seductively, and I found myself blushing and backing further away, even as a smile found its way onto my face.

"U-um...Thanks?" I said, stuttering and sweating now.

"Oh, you're quite welcome darling. I do so love your hair. Ah, but where are my manners?" She held out a hand for me to shake. I took it with...slightly less trepidation as before. It's only so many times in life you meet a woman this beautiful. "My name is Rarity. I hope to get to know you quite well in the coming days."

"I-i'm Mike. Mike VIlmont. It's nice to meet you." I managed to say through a sudden catch in my throat

"Likewise." She says.

She winked at me and turned around, walking away, her hips swaying side to side as she walked.

Rarity's introduction must've opened the floodgates, because with the tension sufficiently broken, everyone began speaking without restraint.

The next one to greet me was a rainbow haired girl. She simply oozed tomboy, and the next words out of her mouth confirmed it.

"Hm...he doesn't look too tough to me." she asked as she got up, presumably to get a better look at me.

As she stood there in front of me, examining me from head to toe as if she were a doctor looking at a patient, I found myself taking a step back. I was never good with her type. It's not that I disliked tomboys, it's just...they can be a little hard to deal with.

She seemed satisfied as she finally stepped back, giving me room to breathe. "Mm...I cold take 'im."

And here it comes. The challenge to a fight. Now do you see what I mean?

"Anyway, what's up new guy? My name's Rainbow Dash, but you can just call me Dash. All my friends do."

Okay, so maybe she wasn't as bad as she sounded. She tried for a handshake. One which I happily returned.

"Nice to meet you." I said in my most friendly voice. I even offered her a smile to go with it. She smiled back and returned to her seat, her mood seemingly brightened.

Next up was a girl I almost believed could never exist. Her entire demeanor screamed fragile. She even tensed up when I focused on her, and I didn't even so much as blink. She hid herself behind her hair, sporting what had to be the cutest blush possible and said, in a -thankfully audible- voice,

"Hi. I-I'm...F-Fluttershy."

And that sealed it. Her voice was adorable. She sounded as if a frightened rabbit had somehow learned English and was too shy to try and speak it.

She was the embodiment of innocence, and I couldn't help wanting to protect her. However, before my big brother instincts kicked in, I was interrupted by a sudden scream.

"AAAAHHHH! Areyounew?Didyoujustgethere?OH!Wehavetothrowapartyrightawa-!" The sudden onslaught of questions, accompanied by a rush of pink, the feeling of falling to the ground and the biggest pair of knockers I'd seen so far, all seemed to stop, and I was finally able to stand and collect myself properly.

"Huh? What just happened?"

"Don't think too hard about it, Sugarcube. Trust me, it'll just make yer head hurt."

I was brought out of my trance like state by a distinctly southern accent. I looked around for the owner of the voice.

"Over here, Sugarcube." I followed the voice, looking to my left. Another girl, this one wearing a stetson and holding what looked to be a lasso in her hands. A lasso that was tied securely around the waist of a certain pink haired girl. "Howdy. My name's Applejack. This here's Pinkie Pie."

"Sorry about knocking you over. I just get so excited when I see new people that I just can't contain myself! Ehehehe!"

I chuckled nervously and smiled. For some reason, whatever it was, I just couldn't stay mad at her. Maybe it was just her bubbly personality, but all my discomfort about the situation just melted away in that instant.

"It's fine. Don't worry about it."

"Really? Oh goodie! We just have to throw you a party To welcome you to town! Come on, Twilight, can we, can we, pleeeaaase?"

"I'm afraid a party is going to have to wait, Pinkie. We have something very important to talk about."

"Aww. phooey."

"Important? What do you-" Suddenly the events of last night came back to me once again. They were gone in all the commotion, but now with it on my mind, it came back in full force. "Oh..."

"That's right. Mike, please tell the girls what you told me last night."