Home Is Where The Herd Is

The next morning I woke up feeling more comfortable than I'd felt in a very long time. I was laying in bed, wrapped up in covers that felt like heaven and surrounded by a feeling of...freshness.

No I'm not a vegetable, shut up.

I just felt...new. As if all my struggles were over, and I was free to just...be. My mind was clear, My body was rested, and the chill in the air gave me more energy than I knew what to do with.

But just before I could drag myself out of bed to start my morning routine, I heard a voice call out to me.

"Hey there, champ."

It was a new voice that I was positive i'd never heard before. I looked around the room, only to find a girl I'd never seen, sitting on the edge of the bed I was in. I sat up and stretched, more an unconscious reaction to my sudden elevation than anything. Then, I turned my gaze toward the strange new woman in the room.

"Wh-who are-"

"Starlight Glimmer. Twilight Sparkle's former student and current guidance counselor for the school of friendship. She told me about you. I'm...sorry for your loss."

"Yeah. You and everyone else." I said, slight irritation on my face.

"What do you mean?" She asked, genuine concern on her face.

"Sorry, it's not you. It's just that...well, I'm grateful you girls are taking care of me, but I'm okay. I know I went through something horrible, and I know it's gonna take a while for things to get back to normal, but constantly reminding me how much I suffered doesn't do much in the way of helping. I know I can't just not think about it, but it doesn't have to define me or dominate my life."

"Oh, I...see..." Starlight seemed deep in thought at that. Is it a bad time to mention she made cute faces? Even her worried face made her look absolutely adorable! "Then...I won't bring it up. Not until you're ready. After all, doctor-patient security, right?"

Now it was my turn to ask what she meant. "Wait? What do you mean by that?"

"Oh! That's right, you don't know!" She stood up and put her hands on her hips, grinning wildly as she looked down at me. Did I forget to mention she was rather tall?

"From now on, I'm your personal counselor!"

In that moment, I heard everything in the world stop just for a moment, as if those words were the pass code to some secret hidden mechanism that controlled the world.

"Um...what?"

"Well...not exactly personal. I still have to do my job. Just think of it as moral support. I'll be there for you if you ever need anything or wanna talk. Stuff like that. I'll even be there to help you if you need help getting around in this world. It's my job to make sure your adjustment to life here goes smoothly. If it makes you feel any better, you can even think of me as your big sister."

"Sister, huh?" was all I said. That was a lot to take in. First it was the girls' -Especially Rainbow's- emotional breakdowns, and now I get a personal guide to look after me while I'm living here. Just how much did those girls care for me?

I was about to finally get up when I heard a knock coming from the door. When I went to the door and opened it, I was surprised to see...

"Rainbow Dash? What are you doing here?"

Rainbow out her hands on her hips and gave an obviously faked, "Hmph! For your information, I live here." She opened one eye, most likely to check my reaction, but couldn't stop herself from smiling long enough for it to work.

"I came to tell you breakfast was ready."

"Well now...That was awfully nice of you." I said, smiling at her.

A bright red blush spread across her face faster than butter on toast and she started stumbling over her words.

"U-um...well, I uh...A-anyway, it's time for breakfast! Come down soon, okay?" And with that she shot downstairs faster than most Olympic sprinters.

Starlight and I shared a look. We didn't even need to say anything to know exactly what the other was thinking.

"So obvious."

With that, Starlight and I headed downstairs to the banquet hall. Luckily I still remembered where it was located so I didn't have to do that much searching.

When we got to the hall, I nearly had a heart attack. The table was filled with foods from one end to the other, making it look almost like an actual feast was going on and not just someone's plain old breakfast. What I didn't notice until I sat down, however, was that despite all the amazing decor and the abundance of food, almost all of it was vegetables. Salads, sandwiches, bowls of fruit, etc. In fact, the only one to get any kind of meat was me, when Fluttershy came by and sat my plate down in front of me.

"Here ya go." She had said then, in a voice similar to a mouse squeaking.

I simply stared at the abundance of greens across the table without paying much attention to the grand and wonderful set up that was my own plate.

When I realized this, I looked down and saw that my plate was indeed the only one with any kind of meat on it. It wasn't anything particularly special. Just a nice thick, juicy, practically glistening piece of chicken with an aroma that nearly brought me to tears. Yeah. Nothing too special at all.

Before I could get dragged any further into the masterpiece that was this single piece of chicken, I heard someone calling me.

"Mike? Is everything alright darling? Is it...not to your liking?" It was Rarity. I looked up and saw that she was indeed worried about how I liked the meal. She had a look on her face that said all I needed to know about the situation.

She had made the food, and would be completely crushed if I told her I didn't like the food (Which was as far from the truth as I could hope for it to be.)

"Oh no! It's not that. It's just...why are you all not eating any meat?"

Rarity visibly relaxed. "Oh my... For a moment I thought... oh well, nevermind."

"It's because we're vegetarian. You don't have that where you're from?" Twilight asked, giving me a curious look..

"No, we do. It's just...all of you? Not one of you eats meat?"

"Nope! Not a one!" Pinkie said, smiling and almost looking proud to not eat the stuff.

"Well. we don't. In fact the majority of our people don't eat meat. It's just not to our preference. but that's not to say that other cultures don't, and even some of our people have at least tried it before."

"I see. I felt kind of guilty being the only one eating any. But if that's the case then I guess i'll chow down."

I begin to eat, tasting the chicken first. Remember when I almost burst into tears? Well, i'm crying now. "This...is the most...amazing chicken...i've had in my life."

"Why, Mike! I know I wanted to know if you liked it but, for you to say such a thing is..." Rartiy blushed this time. What's up with these girls getting easily embarrassed? Are they easily flustered by nature or something?

"Oh no, I'm serious. This is quite literally the greatest thing i've ever tasted. I almost feel bad eating it!" I swallowed my food, then chuckled at my small joke.

"Well, I see someone's enjoying themselves."

The sudden voice caught me off guard, and I turned my head to see who was speaking. Only to nearly drop the chicken when I laid eyes on two people who had to be the most beautiful women I had ever seen. If I thought Pinkie had big ones, just looking at those made her balloons look like marbles.

But the most striking part about them wasn't their breasts. It was their faces.

Deep, kind magenta eyes, full ruby red lips, skin that just radiated warmth and softness and a smile that could make any man bend over backwards just to get her stuff she still doesn't want.

And that was just one of them.

The other had eyes as blue as the sky and as deep as the ocean, lips that spoke volumes without even parting, and skin that seemed to glow in the light of the room.

But what really hit me, was their voices. I knew I was in for something I hadn't been expecting when I heard the first one say,

"How do you do? Mike, is it? My name is Celestia, princess of Equestria. I welcome you to our humble nation. Please make yourself at home."