Author's Note:
This is a series of short stories about ponies and humans learning about each other's unique cultures. There is no overall plot. There will be some humor, but most of the discussions will be treated seriously. Some chapters will discuss sensitive issues such as religion and sexuality. It is not my intention to offend anyone and I'll be trying my best to avoid it, but if I end up doing so anyways, then I apologize in advance.
Ever since she met her human counterpart, Princess Twilight Sparkle had been curious about her life. So when she received an invitation to have dinner with Twilight’s family, she was quick to accept.
“And this is our family room,” said Twilight as she led the Princess into a large and cozy room with some comfortable looking couches and chairs, a ornate fireplace and a plasma screen TV mounted on the wall. “We use rooms like this for playing and relaxing, but I’m sure you have them in your world.”
“We do if the house is big enough,” said Princess Twilight as she looked around. Her gaze fell on a portrait hanging over the mantle. On the left was a motherly woman with light grey skin and long hair alternating between purple and an even lighter grey, wearing a formal dress with three embroidered blue stars. On the right was a man with light blue skin and dark blue hair wearing a suit with a small white waning crescent moon inside a larger yellow waxing crescent moon on the chest. Standing in front of them were younger versions of human Twilight and Shining Armor. All of them were smiling happily.
“So those are your parents,” said Princess Twilight.
Twilight nodded.
“We hung that up in here just after the funeral,” she said. “It helps us feel like they're watching over us.”
“I still can’t believe that they’re dead in this world,” Princess Twilight said softly.
“I can’t believe that they’re alive in yours’,” said Twilight. She started to twiddle her thumbs. “Do you think…could Shining Armor and I visit them sometime?” she asked shyly. There was a look of desperate hope in her eyes.
Princess Twilight had actually been considering that for awhile now. She knew that if she were in the other girl's position, she would want a chance to see her parents again more than anything. Even if they weren’t actually her parents, being able to meet some version of them could provide a bit of closure. She had talked about it with Princess Celestia, and while her mentor thought it was a wonderful idea, she cautioned Twilight to think carefully about the potential consequences before making a decision.
Of course, now that her counterpart had actually requested it, Princess Twilight realized that she couldn’t possibly refuse.
“Well, I have to talk to them about it, but I’m sure it can be arranged,” she promised.
Twilight’s face beamed with happiness.
“Girls, dinner’s ready!” Shining Armor’s voice called out.
“We’ll be right there Shiny!” Twilight shouted back. She turned back to Princess Twilight. “Come on! You are going to love Cadance’s cooking.”
Princess Twilight followed her counterpart through the house into the dining room. Everyone else was already there. The table was set with two big steaming bowls of food in the center. Both Spikes were already seated, bowls of dog food set in front of them. While Puppy Spike was licking his chops eagerly, Dragon Spike, who wore a collar with a dragon shaped tag to distinguish him from his counterpart, looked uncertain. As much as he loved doggie biscuits, he wasn’t all that eager to try other canine foods. Fortunately, Cadance had promised him that he could have human food if he didn’t like it.
“I hope you girls are hungry,” said Cadance. “I’ve made my special beef and broccoli.”
“Cadance!” Twilight cried indignantly.
“What did I do?” asked Cadance, taken aback.
“She’s a pony, remember? That means she's a herbivore.”
Cadance gasped and slapped her forehead. “Oh, I am so stupid! I’m so sorry, Princess. If you'd like I can pick all of the meat out, or…”
Grabbing a fork, Princess Twilight speared a piece of beef out of the bowl and stuck it in her mouth. While everyone watched in surprise, she chewed the meat carefully, savoring its taste, and then swallowed.
“This is delicious!” she exclaimed. “The Cadance in my world can't cook like this.”
“Why, thank you,” said Cadance.
“So Equestrian ponies eat meat?” asked Twilight. “I’m so sorry, I just assumed…”
“It’s okay, you’re not wrong actually,” Princess Twilight assured her. “I only eat meat when I’m in this world, and while the average Equestrian’s diet is very similar to a human’s, it's mostly plant based, save for the inclusion of eggs and dairy. We actually use hay to make a lot of the same products you make out of meat—hay bacon, hay burgers, and hay dogs, just to name a few.”
“So hay is basically tofu in your world,” said Shining Armor.
“What’s tofu?” asked Princess Twilight.
“It’s a vegetarian food made by coagulating soy milk and then pressing the curds,” Cadance explained. “It’s then often shaped and flavored to imitate meat.”
“That sounds…kind of disgusting actually,” said Princess Twilight, grimacing.
“It really is,” Shining Armor agreed.
“Well of course it is, if you’re a barbarian who doesn’t care about his own health,” Cadance replied snidely.
“So how did you start eating meat anyways?” asked Twilight.
“It’s kind of a funny story actually,” said Princess Twilight. “When I first came to this world, I didn’t know a single thing about humans, let alone what they ate. I had never even seen meat before, so for awhile I thought that the stuff I was eating was just some sort of plant or root that only grew in this world. Then, just before the Fall Formal, Applejack treated us all to some fried chicken wings. I figured out the truth pretty quickly after that.”
“How did you react?” asked Twilight.
“Well, once the initial shock wore off, I was perfectly fine. I even helped myself to an extra chicken wing just because they were that good.”
Twilight blinked in surprise. “Really? Your culture doesn’t have any sort of taboo against eating meat?”
“Not so much nowadays, but in older times, Equestria did have a strong stigma against it,” said Princess Twilight. “Unfortunately, a couple of our neighbors—such as the griffons and the Diamond Dogs—are meat eaters, and there is even a sort of “sub-species” of pony called thestrals living right in Equestria who are omnivores. In the old days, a lot of conflicts were started over the matter thanks to bigoted ponies, but nowadays we’re taught to be tolerant of meat-eaters, which is probably what helped me deal with it myself. The fact that none of the animals in this world are sapient doesn’t hurt either.”
“Animals are sapient in your world?” Twilight inquired.
“Only a very small percentage of them,” said Princess Twilight. “About one-tenth of any given species, I think.”
“Can they talk like Spike can?”
“I am not an animal!” Dragon Spike growled.
“Settle down Spike, she didn’t mean anything by it,” Princess Twilight said gently. “As I told you before, Spike is actually a dragon, and while their civilization is so primitive by our standards that a lot of ponies mistake them for animals, they are in fact a wholly sapient race. Sapient animals have all the higher brain functions we do, but not the ability to speak our language. While eating regular animals is perfectly acceptable, eating a sapient animal makes you a monster, even in a carnivore’s society.”
“It all sounds really complicated,” said Shining Armor.
“It kind of is,” admitted Princess Twilight.
“How are sapient animals produced in your world?” Twilight asked eagerly. “Is it genetic? Does at least one parent have to be sapient? Do two sapient parents increase the odds? Or is it an effect of their environment?”
“I’m sure the Princess can tell us all about it while we eat, which we should probably start doing before the food gets cold,” said Cadance.
Everyone sat down and passed the dishes around, loading up their plates with savory beef and broccoli while scooping rice into smaller side dishes.
“So Princess, do you like meat?” asked Shining Armor.
Princess Twilight’s fork froze halfway to her mouth.
“It’s okay,” she said hesitantly.
Spike snorted. “Ask her what she ate the first time she was here.”
Princess Twilight chuckled nervously. “Now Spike, I’m sure they’re not interested in…”
“What did you eat, Princess?” Shining Armor asked.
Princess Twilight sighed, and then took a deep breath.
“Some bacon, some sausages, some breakfast ham, a cheeseburger, a double cheeseburger, a bacon cheeseburger, two hot dogs, a chicken patty, a four-meat pizza, a turkey sandwich, some spaghetti and meatballs, a roast beef sandwich with gravy, some bratwurst, three beef tacos, three beef burritos, a T-bone steak, some roast duck, some sweet-and-sour chicken, some Mongolian beef, some barbecue ribs, some chicken tenders, and some bologna, although I’m not entirely sure that last one was actually meat.
Three jaws dropped with audible clunks, while Dragon Spike just giggled. Puppy Spike, meanwhile, was staring at Princess Twilight with something akin to awe.
“All those poor farm animals,” Shining Armor muttered.
“Have you checked your cholesterol lately?” asked Cadande.
“I thought you only stayed two days in this world,” said Twilight.
“I know, but it was all just so GOOD!” cried Princess Twilight, throwing her hands up in the air. Grabbing her fork, she shoved more meat into her mouth, moaning in delight.
Oh yeah, I forgot that Sci-Twi (or Sparky) and Shining's parents here dead in this universe.
This was hilarious! Great job. Ten out of ten, would read again. Also, a small editing correction:
I'm pretty sure dogs lick their chops??? I don't actually know I'm probably wrong??? My wifi is doing that evil thing where the loading bar goes like an inch and stays there so I can't Google it. But yeah! Grade A story.
I never expect you to expand to those two stories! But questions first, since you said religions, and you also mentions Mongolians.. Does that mean that in this series, these multicolored humanoid mirrors IRL humans history? I always like to taken them as a humanoid species whose history mirrors Equestria instead of ours.. Makes it all more fun to worldbuild from scratch then trying to fit them into our world (ex. Canterlot is in Toronto all along!)
I mean, Timber Spruce compare himself to Picasso in LoE.. But I can still makes some workaround that (Picasso, Einstein, and any other 'weirdly' named people are well known fantasy-genre fictional characters in EqGverse, like our Gandalf)
In the end, i really wish to can enjoy this series so Ill tune in for now! Thanks for writing this author, I always love worldbuilding fic!
Oh, this is going to be fun! Good first chapter, and really funny. Ever since that scene where we saw Twilight scarfing down hay burgers in Twilight Time, I love the idea of her being a big eater. She's a bookworm with a big appetite. That is a lot of food for just spending three days in the human world though. Yikes.
to
A good start, and I like that I'm not the only one who thinks that not all the animals are sapient. I go with the head canon that at one point they were all talking animals like in Narnia, but then they did something really bad and now have to spend time around other sapient races (sometimes as pets or farm animals) in order to maintain sapience themselves. Fluttershy actually serves as an ambassador to them, since even the sapient ones usually can't talk.
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When did I mention Mongolians? I know nothing about them. But to answer your question about the history of those multicolored humanoids, it's sort of half and half. Their world has a lot in common with our own, but there are just as many, if not more, differences between them. I was actually inspired to build this mentality by MythrilMoth, who consistently maintains that the Equestria Girls universe is not the same one we live in.
7605940 I think she may have eaten even more in The Wheel and the Butterfly.
You have no idea how long I've wanted to see something like this.
Nice. I really have high hopes for this one. You know i have seen some fics were the humane 6/7 visit the mane 6/7 but its never the other way around.
I really expected Shining Armor's response to this to be "What, no corndogs?"
s6.postimg.org/5pzpmopep/Pirate_Approved2.jpg
Relevant: http://bakki.deviantart.com/art/Gulp-377532039
I find your idea about a sapient minority of almost all species interesting, since it explains why most bunnies act like, well, bunnies, but Angel is Atilla the bun. (It certainly works better than my notion of him being a spy for an advanced race of fully sapient rabbits).
This is certainly a funny take on the "Twilight in human world" idea, especially with her certainly enjoying the local cuisine. Nice bit of history too, with how she's ok with non-sapient meat, and how most animals aren't, with a few exceptions. Best not to mention this to Fluttershy (either one) though.
If she went through that much food during just her first visit, wonder how much she sampled during her later trips (especially with Sunset friendlier by then).
FWIW, one of the big debates (at least in characterisation terms) I've seen on this subject is whether Twilight is so idealistic that the very thought of meat would horrify her or if she's so intellectually pragmatic that she'd simply say: "This is what this body needs to sustain itself" and just deal with it.
That said... remember the the hayburger bar in Twilight Time? Given food that tastes good, Twilight can be a glutton!
Probably the main reason I could never go vegetarian.
Show them how technologically capable we are plzzz
I liked it. Tracking it.
Assuming more chapters will be updating, will (either) Twilights be experiencing/discussing new experiences? And are you looking for "suggestions"?
I really wish the girls and the ponies would visit and become more familiar with each other in canon, but apparently that's not going to happen. So we need more fics like this one!
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The writers really need to open their mind more.
Think I'll track it. I haven't been able to find much material concerning the characters interacting with their human counterparts.
Interesting, nice first chapter.
There's a reason I'll never be a vegetarian in RL.
Eh, horses eat meat IRL....there are quite a few Herbivores that eat meat if its layng around and they are hungry
Hole shit... you trying to kill me?
the amount of laughter that was trying to get out from me made me cough up a real storm
seriously, that ending was way too funnycdn.meme.am/cache/instances/folder625/64130625.jpg
7613384 you never know. Have you seen Equestria Girls Legend of Everfree ending yet?
Having read through all of these chapters, I have ideas for topics of other chapters. Cultural differences and reactions on subjects like guns, pornography, and nudity.
I'm immensely jealous of Twilight, I've always wanted to do what she just described. Eat all the meats! Also, while you may have not of written this intentionally to be funny, it's still pretty funny. Though we could do with more Spike, Though all stories could really. Also just out of curiosity, why did you kill off the human parents?
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That was an idea I came up with years ago for a story I came up with after seeing the first movie; it was basically Equestria Girls, but without any magic or ponies. If there was a reason beyond giving human Twilight an interesting backstory, than I've forgotten it. After I discovered what a woobie SciTwi was, I decided that the trauma of loosing her parents was a good fit for her.
Also, I'll try to include more Spike.
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Yeah. I've seen comments by various people with horses. Never barbecue near the fence, because the horses will steal your burgers.
What I say when someone talks about animal life.
This is awesome, and it's a crime that you've only written these short chapters. I need more of this. MORE!!!
cool article :)
That's actually a bit of a misgnomner horses do eat meat such as small mice and such just enough for a complete diet as a refuse to believe a herbivore can get enough protein solely from plants in the wild do they must eat Small animals if they come across some. Am I wrong?
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You are not wrong. In fact, I watched a YouTube video some time ago that explained that most so-called "herbivores" are in fact opportunistic omnivores who will eat some meat when it is easily attainable. Even so, I simply cannot see the ponies of Equestria willingly eating meat unless it is to show respect to foreign cultures, such of the griffins'. That is just my headcanon though, what is your's?