A Kindred Spirit

Having had my personal space totally violated the whole time Rarity had been getting me ready for the dinner, I was a little disgruntled. Considering it wasn't some random annoying guy, but rather a pretty and friendly, however fussy, mare, I was okay with it.

Okay. Before I go any further. Don't judge me on calling mares pretty; you aren't a pony, you can't judge. The new definition of attractiveness had totally displaced the old human one I had possessed; it came with the body change. It was strange and unnerving; I wasn't quite ready to go thinking ponies were pretty, but I didn't have a choice. Instincts were native to the stallion form I had taken on; and damn, were they strong. Take previous primal instincts. Multiply those times four. There you go; pony instincts. I had to dive into a restroom (which were unnervingly similar to human counterparts) constantly. I subconsciously checked out every mare I saw.

Anyway, so yeah. Rarity had been working on me for the past thirty minutes, combing my coat first with a bit of magic and a brush, and fussed ever so much over trying to control my unruly mane and tail. The rebellious spiky curls could only be put down with the power of heavy, thick product, which I immediately objected to. Rarity pouted--which was very hard to fight--but at least I wouldn't feel as if my twin plumes of hair had been dipped in syrup and blow-dried. I was all for looking sharp in a semi-formal gathering, but not at the expense of my comfort. Speaking of discomfort, she'd also straightened the feathers in my wings... thankfully with magic. You want sensitive? Try wings on for size. I was happy with the end result, as it did leave my wings feeling a lot better, due to the undoing of all the tension of the overlapping feathers.

Walking down the halls, the pair of us ended up at the hall that was to serve as our dining hall. As the guards opened the doors at the sight of us, I again felt that the princess was here. Somehow, she had a physical presence, probably through magic, that you could feel in the air. I nodded in appreciation at Celestia's servants and walked through the door. Same as last time, the first thing my eye caught in the room was the solar princess at the head of the table. Again, the majesty of the princess struck me, and I was tempted to kneel in a symbol of respect. I knew this would only result in a teasing reproach from the princess, so I dismissed it and gave a shallow bow instead. When I looked up, she held a warm smile on her face. I knew she was trying to dial back on the aura she seemed to radiate; the smile did not make me want to do everything in my power to please her, as it had done when we first met. After this brief acknowledgement, I also became aware of Rainbow Dash, being absent today and having the rainbow mane she did. Sprawled in her chair with all the formality as if it were a recliner, she gave a little wave of recognition. Each of the rest of the ponies gave greetings of "Hi!", "Howdy,", "Hey,", and "...Hi...". I returned all of these with a simple smile and a nod.

"Hello, you two," sounded the motherly voice of the solar princess. "How are you?" She giggled a little at her apparently unintentional rhyme. I noticed the casual manner of speaking she had adopted; her voice shifted in pitch more often, she spoke with animation,  the position in which she was seated was attempting to diminish her height. She was trying to help dispel the often overbearing aura of power she generated so as to not preside over everypony, but rather level herself with us. I was greatly appreciative of this; I'm not sure I could remain anywhere near the state of relaxed, casual conversation with her otherwise.

"Just fine," I answered.

"Splendid," Rarity exclaimed."Just great!"

I couldn't help but be amused by the enthusiasm of this mare.

"Come and join us! Take a seat; the food should be done soon."

"Thank'ya," I responded, taking a seat.

"Thank you, Princess," sang the purple-maned mare.

Celestia pointed her gaze at me and asked, "How was today?"

I responded truthfully, instead of the usual "Good".

"Alright. It's not exactly easy going from two legs to four. Skeleton's totally different, don't have hands to work things with. Other than that, I've been just fine."

She smiled again. "Good to hear. I'm sure you'll get the hang of it in time." Glancing around, she asked, "Does anypony have anything they want to say?" I figured that the princess asked this to make sure nopony had anything they needed to ask or state before a period where they wouldn't be able to speak. Everypony shook their head "no".

"Alright." Again, redirecting her attention to me, she continued. "So, tell us all about your day."

Although a little bit uncomfortable at this, I did as she requested. I told the day's story, which took about fifteen minutes, I gradually started to lose the sense that I was with important company, getting involved in my recount, which loosened me up a bit. After finishing, it felt more as if I were with a group of friends than with a princess and the six most powerful citizens in Equestria. This may have been due to some sort of soft and gentle application of calming magic from Celestia, but I'm not entirely sure. Surprisingly, no one looked bored after the act; they all seemed genuinely interested.

"Thanks for sharing," she said sincerely. She spotted a line of ponies carrying lidded silver platters, leading her to break off and announce, "Oh, look! The food is here!"

As eight waiters and waitresses came forth, they gave us each our plates and a nonspecific drink in a metal goblet. I smiled and nodded in a gesture of appreciation for my particular waiter's actions; he caught the nonverbal communication and I saw the faintest vestiges of a smile appear on his face.

I then proceeded to look down at the dish I'd been presented. Spaghetti? They really do have most of the same foods here. Italian, anyway... I wondered why the pasta and marinara hadn't simply been served in large bowls in the center of the table, but then realized that that was probably what was referred to as "family style."

Inspecting my meal for a moment, something about the pasta looked simply delicious; I assure you it wasn't just my new automatically ravenous hunger manifesting. I noticed the sauce contained no meat, but I did not care. I was eager to start eating. However, I had no means of holding any instrument to pick up my fork. I looked up to see what all the other ponies were doing. Obviously, Celestia, Twilight, and Rarity were using magic, twirling the fork just as a human would do. Looking at the other four ponies revealed that somehow they were holding them in hoof against the laws of physics and simply forking the pasta without any shame. In some strange and seemingly omniscient way, the princess noticed my predicament, and mimed a point to herself, an arc out over her horn, a point to me, and a drawing of a foreleg towards her head. I translated that she offered to engage in some sort of magic communication; I nodded. A faint smile and a fainter shimmer of magic appeared.

"What seems to be the problem?" asked the voice of the princess in my head. A little startled at this development, I wondered how exactly to respond.

"Imagine yourself saying a sentence. Direct it at me." answered Celestia, apparently adding on how to communicate through this telepathic link as an afterthought.

"I can't use a fork without hands," I mentally spoke, hoping I'd done it correctly.

"Ah. I just remembered; with all your latent magic sealed away, you can't really grip it like our friends are. The way their grip works it through latent magic; it's an automatic occurrence. I'm sorry, I should have known that noodles are not exactly easy to eat when you can't grip a fork." She thought-spoke this, and she "sounded" a bit irritated with herself for this and remorseful towards me.

"Well, umm, how exactly...?" I half-asked.

"There is one way..." she began, a bit sheepishly, "It's sort of like a co-op on the mental link we have here. Act like you're picking up the fork, send me a little memo, and I'll push it into your hoof. When you want to set it down, send another sort of tell, and I'll release. As you could imagine, it's... really bizarre, though."

I had been in eye contact with her for most of this time, and I saw a suppressed blush appear on her white face. I assumed it was all she could do to keep from giggling. I gave a nod this time, instead of a mental reply; didn't want to get used to them, as I could not initiate and wasn't quite sure I would if I could. I gave a go-ahead, and the fine piece of silverware zipped a short distance to my hoof. I could feel the thick magic-influenced air on the fur of my leg as I smote the spaghetti with my four pronged spear of eating.

As soon as the wondrous meal hit my tongue, I knew that the pasta must have been of the glorious fresh variety, the likes of which I had never truly experienced. The delicious pasta combined with the masterful marinara made for a pleasing assault on the senses; I ate as fast as I could without looking uncouth. I became aware that I was parched after a few bites of the rich sustenance; I sent a sort of vague thought that meant to drop the fork, and it fell quietly onto my napkin. I sent a one word thought to the princess; Drink. A sort of connotative "gotcha" came back, and the drink magnetized itself to my hoof, much like the fork. After taking a dreg, I almost spat it out, for it was wine; it wasn't terrible tasting, but the strong flavor was unexpected and I wasn't of drinking age. I swallowed, the warm feeling of alcohol materialized on the back of my throat.

"Is this body that of an adult?" I asked. It sort of caught the princess off guard, but it didn't cause anything, so all was well.

"Yes. Why?" was the response.

Okay. That's to be noted.

"I wasn't full grown as a human--well, I was mostly grown--and alcohol has a detrimental effect on that."

"So I've learned," she replied.

One spaghetti plate and a glass and a half of wine later, the solar princess and I finished our tandem. We had both finished our dinners, after Rainbow Dash and Applejack, but before Twilight, Rarity, and Fluttershy.

We all got up and thanked Celestia for providing us with such a great dinner, whereupon the princess actually followed us out to walk with us; we were all to watch the evening end again. I fell in step beside the princess, which was when we looked at each other and could not suppress our laughter any longer. It grew from a soft giggle on the Princess' side and a quiet chuckle on mine to musical peals and hearty roars, respectively. Every pony except Twilight seemed freaked at our behavior; I knew that the prodigious student understood what had taken place at dinner. I bade her explain while we recovered.

"His latent magic is all bottled up, so he can't pick up anything like all of you can," she started.

Surprisingly, the one who asked a question soon to be answered was not Rainbow Dash, but Fluttershy.

"Then how did he eat his dinner? I mean, it didn't look like anything weird was going on..." She trailed off, a little mad at herself for interrupting.

Twilight did not seem bothered. "Celestia made a mental link with him, and she used her magic to stick things to his hands on signal."

All the ponies laughed softly. It really did go off quite flawlessly.

At this time we had already traveled the short walk to the plinth where the two princesses started and ended the days and nights. Luna was there waiting for us. The same procedure that I had seen the sisters perform last time was executed again, and lost none of its grandeur. Again, with the coming of night the solar princess' aura faded while the lunar's grew. The sight of the moon reminded me of my tiredness; I had done a lot of walking today. As the sisters left the plinth, a few greetings were exchanged with Luna and biddings of a good night with Celestia, who was departing for her chambers. Luna walked over.

"Hey," she said casually in her silky smooth voice. "Tired?" she inquired.

"Yes, quite," I responded. Something about Luna seemed a bit more approachable and relatable than her sister.

"Well, I guess I'll see you tomorrow morning. You've got my bed for the night."

"Thank you, Luna," I said. Her bed was divine, even though I hate taking up the top spot; made me feel like a mooch.

"Off to night court. Well, not really. No one ever comes to night court." There was humor in her voice, but also a tinge of sadness. I decided to not ask about this tonight.

"Can I have a good night?" I asked, cracking a smirk.

"No!" she boomed in a mock act of denial. She dropped it and giggled a bit before wishing me a good rest.

"See you tomorrow," I said, departing.

I should talk to her more. She reminds me of myself... a lot.