A Simple Soul

"Okay, here we go."

I said to myself as I stood in front of the entrance to the dining hall, seeing the princess sitting on her pillow as she was using her magic to rearrange the plates of food around to try and make them look. Once she finished discussing with the servers and chefs over the food not being perfect for her guest, who I assume to be me obviously. I watched for a moment as she squints her eyes, trying to figure out how she could arrange the dishes of food. I bit my tongue, trying to hold back my laughter as I found it quite entertaining to see the princess frustrated herself when it comes to organizing the food on the table to make them look presentable. It was extremely cute when she would puff up her cheeks when something didn't look good on the table and would have to rearrange each dish again. Finally after seeing her struggle for another five minutes, I would walk up next to her without being noticed and while she had a dish levitating besides her, she would talk to herself trying to figure out which dish should go where.

"Hmmm, should the peach cobbler be next to the hay browns or scrambled eggs?"

She said to herself, her eyes squinted as she had both dishes levitating around her while staring at the scrambled that was behind what appeared to be bacon that looked like it was fried in hay, and in front of what appears to be toast. I looked at her for a moment, she has yet to realize I am next to her until I grabbed the plate of hay browns off from the air. Causing the princess to joint up scared as she looked over seeing me with the plate in hand as I explained.

"In my opinion, the hay browns should be next to the bacon. And the peach cobbler…"

I said after placing the hay browns next to the hay cover bacon, before grabbing the peach cobbler, continuing with.

"...and the peach cobbler should be next to the orange juice pitcher, though that's just me."

I said chuckling as I placed the cobbler next to the orange juice, chuckling as I look over towards the princess. Seeing her with a shocked look on her face, still surprised on how I came out of nowhere even though I was standing next to her for the last ten to fifteen minutes. Walking over to the other side of the table I would place myself down feeling the pillow against my tookus, feeling the comfortable fabric against my rear. After getting comfortable I hear the princess asking me.

"How long have you been staring at me?"

"Oh...maybe five ...ten...fifteen minutes?"

I said chuckling as I would look at her from across the table, my hands underneath it as I crossed my hands over each other, since it was only one foot off the floor I was able to keep one leg extended out so I don't end up getting a cramp. Princess Celestia looking at me as she her head down, a bit embarrassed that I have been staring at her struggle with making the dishes look perfectly presentable. I looked at her as I noticed this, seeing her cheeks lightly blush in embarrassment, though slowly I saw a small smile form on her muzzle as she turned the attention towards me.

"I bet you enjoyed staring at a beautiful mare like myself, huh?"

"What?"

I said, my eyes widen as now I was the one slowly blushing after the princess turned the silent situation into making me blush bright as a tomato. My cheeks turn bright red as I scratched the back of my head, Celestia giggling as she used her magic to levitate a plate, that had everything that was on the table while also making the dish look presentable. Levitating the plate over towards where I was, as she placed in front of me, seeing the steam from the food shooting up my nose I took a big whiff smiling.

"Wow.."

I said to myself as I felt notice a yellow aura on the collar of my shirt, being pulled forward as a napkin would be tucked into my shirt. Okay, now I understood what Celestia was doing and I'm honestly not even mad about it. I looked up at her, seeing her horn glow the same aura as the napkin was glowing. The princess would give me an innocent, motherly smile as the aura from her horn went away, the smile on her face reminded me so much of my mom back when I was younger. Grabbing the fork and knife, I gently but cut into the hay browns as I took a bite out of it. For some reason the crunch of the hay mixed with the taste of potato made it tastes surprisingly good. As I ate, I recalled the time my mother would wake us up early in the morning for breakfast, sometimes both her and my dad would sneak into my room, while I was still asleep they would both jump onto my bed as if they were my siblings and they tried to wake me up to tell me it was Christmas morning. So just getting to eat food that isn't canned or even from local fast food joint, is honestly a privilege and a blessing. While eating, grabbing a piece of toast and spread some jam that was in a really good looking containers the princess noticed me staying really quiet as she would start up a conversation.

"Tell me sweetie ...how are you feeling?"

When she asked me, I looked up at her and stopped chewing the piece of toast that was in my mouth. Hearing her ask me that question made it seem like she was acting like a mother figure towards me. I haven't felt this kind of kindness from anyone in a long time as I would swallow what I had in my mouth, not wanting to be rude by talking with my mouth full.

"Can I be honest with you?"

"Honesty is always the best policy, you can tell me anything."

She responded as she used her magic to serve me a cup of orange juice in a nice looking glass as she levitated it towards me. Starring the glass floating towards me as I grabbed it, taking a sip of the juice I could taste it was freshly made and there was no pulp to be found in the glass. As I drank some of the juice I sighed as I placed the glass down next to my plate, explaining towards the motherly alicorn.

"...I don't know ...I honestly don't know how to feel at the moment."

"Well, explain what's the first feeling or emotion you're experiencing right now."

She asked while pouring some juice for herself, pouring the contents in more wine glass looking glass as she took a sip before placing the pitcher of juice down with her magic. Putting my fork and knife down, I looked down for a moment as I gently rubbed my hands together, feeling the sweat slowly build up in between my palms as I looked up at the princess. Seeing she was staring at me with genuine curiosity as she waited for a response, giving me a moment to register what was going through my head as I explained.

"See that's the problem ...I don't know how to explain how I'm feeling or what kind of emotions I'm going through at the moment. Because it is a mix of many different emotions all bundling up in my head. All being packaged in and getting ready to burst into some more of emotional break down."

While I was explaining, using my hands as a form of expression on how I'm feeling. Princess Celestia would sat there hearing everything I had to say as she would nod at me as a form of understanding on how I was feeling as I continued.

"If I'm feeling one type of emotion...is the feeling of being unwanted, because I just feel like I'm being such a waste of time for both you and your whole legal team."

"And who told you that?"

She asked feeling offended on how I would downgrade myself in being a waste of time. I looked at her trying to fight back tears as I would look behind her seeing my dark counterpart once again as it would place a finger over its mouth. Telling me to stay quiet as I slowly start to pant rapidly, the princess looking at me with a confused look on her face, noticing me staring at something behind her as she turned her head. Only to see nothing as she looked back at me, with genuine concern on her face as she woke ask.

"What's wrong sweetheart."

"I….I don't know…"

I said in a shuttering voice, tears slowly falling down my eyes and my cheeks as I kept staring at my counterpart mouthing words over and over again, mouthing 'She can't help you, no pony will ever want to help you, you freak'. Princess Celestia stood up off her pillow as she trotted over towards me as she would pass through my counterpart faded into thin air. The princess sat next to me as she wrapped her wing around me pulling me close to her chest, feeling her chest fur against my skin. Softly sobbing into her motherly embrace as she would try and comfort me.

"Shhh it's okay, please tell me what's going on, why are you feeling this way, who is telling you these awful things?"

"I don't know….it keeps telling me that no one will ever care about me."

"Who is it?"

She asked, wondering who I was talking about after revealing who or what this creature was that has been harassing me for a while now as I looked up at her, tears coming down my eyes.

"I don't know, I don't know who it is, I don't know what it wants from me and it keeps feeding off my fear and my emotions."

I said as she would once again pulled me into her wing. Now just completely breaking down in her wings, my arms gently wrapping around her as I nuzzled against her fur. I honestly had no idea what was wrong with me, it's like it will be haunting for all eternity and there was nothing I could do to stop it. It was like that piece of him you can never get rid of and it'll be stuck on your shoe forever, but with all types of him they can be scraped off with enough force. Princess Celestia was very understanding of what was going on, so by using her magic she rearranged the table so that our plate were next to one another that way she could sit right next to me as I gently whipped my tears off my eyes. Hearing the Princess speak as she leaned her head down gently nuzzling her muzzle against my cheek.

"No matter what others say, you will always matter to me."

She said with that loving and motherly tone she was known for as she scooted herself closer to be using her magic once again to levitate a fork. Stabbing every piece of food on my plate as she would give me a good amount of food in one bite as she would move the fork towards me.

"Now open the tunnel, because here comes the train."

She said, giggling as she was trying to make me smile by playfully treating me like a baby. I played along as I would open my mouth wide as humanly possible, which is to say very wide since I was enjoying the meal her caterers made for us. Slowly I saw the fork of food moving slowly toward my mouth as the princess would made the sound of a train moving down the track, moving fork full of food as she would push it into my mouth. Wrapping my lips around every piece of food as I pulled everything off the fork. Gently clapping my hands like a little kid, chewing on each piece of food in my mouth only to give the face of total regret as I covered my mouth while I spoke not wanting to show any disrespect for the princess.

"Peach cobbler, mixed with breakfast foods don't work."

I said with my mouth full, again my hand covering over my mouth as I held back my laughter chewing what was left before swallowing everything. Taking a breather as chuckled a bit, the princess giggling along with me as we were having a mother and son moment in one way. As we ate we would both have a full blown conversation, some about me while others would be about how she managed to make me a citizen here and how even though I was a completely different species I should still be treated with the same respect. As we talked she would pull out a portfolio as she would show it to me by moving towards the front of my face. I looked at it as I would put my fork down, grabbing it in my hands before asking her.

"What's this?"

"Your documents, or rather your legal documents as an Equestrian citizen."

She said smiling at me as she took a sip of her juice, my eyes widen as I looked back down at my portfolio. Grazing my hand down it as I stared at it for a moment, it was like opening a college admission and I was about to be told if I got accepted or if I got rejected and I would have to try again next time. Taking a breath I slowly opened the portfolio checking out what kind of information they had on me, and sure enough they had a picture of me that they must have gotten from my wallet when they were cleaning out my pants when they were washing my clothes. Come to think of it, whatever happened to my wallet? As I stared at the pages I saw all kinds of information they had on me, everything looked normal up to one thing and this one caught me off guard as I looked up at the princess asking.

"Cock size, excuse me?"

I asked her with a smile as I pointed towards where it said 'penis size' and right next to it was the measurements, now I'm not one to brag because it's disgusting to be bragging about your dick size even if they ask you. But that number was a bit exaggerated if I have to tell myself, I looked at Princess Celestia as I tried to hold back a blush while looking up at her. She tried to look innocent in this as she would take another sip of her juice, looking over at me as she said.

"Well ...some of us are curious and truth me told ...most of us were impressed."

She said smiling with a slight blush on her cheeks as I stared up at her for another moment before closing the portfolio before giving it back to her as I looked away.

"Alright, I've seen enough."

I said as I gently chuckled, finding it kind of embarrassing how they invaded my personal circle. But at the same time I kind of found it pretty hilarious as the princess would giggle along with me, grabbing my portfolio with her magic before pulling out a huge orange envelope showing it towards me. Taking a sip of my orange juice as I looked at the envelope, grabbing it as I wondered what this was as I placed my glass of juice down on the table before jokingly saying.

"Okay, is this my eviction notice? I have yet to move into a house and I am already getting evicted."

I said as the princess could hold back from the joke as she spat out her orange juice. Breaking down in laughter as she couldn't hold back from the joke I just said, jolting up as I saw what had happened as I laughed along with her, asking.

"Wait? What happened? That wasn't even that funny."

I said as we both laughed off the joke for a moment, sitting back up on the pillow as she looked over at me. Her wing around me as she panted hard after all that laughter she lost her breath as she tried to focus.

"No ...no, these are some ponies I would like for you to meet and...well let's just say check up on."

"Oh? The princess is trying to hook me up with a lucky mare or stallion?"

I teased as I would gently bump into her, she would gently giggle as she would shake her head.

"No, no, although I will say it was quite nice of you to organize a date for one of my guards with the mare of his dreams."

"Hey, I used to do all of the Cupid work back at my high school."

I said giving her a smile as I shrugged my shoulders, I then opened the envelope the first thing that caught my eye was a small packet which a title that was in big bold letters. Reading Preparations for the Summer Sun Celebration, tilting my head as I wondered what this event was as I looked up at the princess.

"Your job is to check up on some of the preparations for my annual event, where I am being commemorated for the summer solstice. In this packet are the names of each pony I have assigned for a specific preparation and it's your job to make sure everything is ready for the festival."

"Ugh! I already have responsibilities."

I said groaning in a joking manner as I looked down at the packet, the princess playfully shoved me. Chuckling I looked down at the packet filling page after page as I saw each and every pony I will eventually meet as I nodded before hearing the princess speak.

"Now here's the catch, actually there's two. First, I will be sending you later today so you can get a hold feeling around town and maybe get to know the residents. And the second, I will ask that you try to make friends. Judging by the way you present yourself when I first saw you I assume that you may or may not have a lot of friends back home?"

She said looking at me as she had a very saddened look to her face. I looked back up at her as I had the expression of damn did this woman read my mind? I would let go of the page I was holding up as I took a moment to think about what she just said before jokingly saying.

"The truth tea ...is both real and cold."

I said playfully shivering as I leaned into her fluffy chest nuzzling against her. It was true, back home I had zero to no friends and that's saying something from how I have been expressing myself towards everypony. The princess could feel my pain as she gently places her head above my own as she would gently nuzzle against my head. Well at least now I already made one friend, and maybe a potential mom? Nah. Well maybe, who knows but all I know is I was faced with one of the biggest responsibilities I have ever been given as I looked down at the packet one more time before putting it back into the orange envelope so I wouldn't lose it as I gently hugged it. My head feeling the soft fur of the princess's chest before hearing what she had to say.

"Now, let's get you ready for your departure."