//------------------------------//
// 5. Butcher 
// Story: Normal is Relative. 
// by Bananaroni 
//------------------------------//

Your dream was, as it always is, terrible. The nightmares that  
haunted you for as long as you remember have not stopped, even with  
you in a comfy bed and away from the shelter. The dreams are always  
the same. You, alone, stranded in a black abyss. You look around to  
see nothing but the absence of color. Black. A laugh is then heard. A  
deep, hardy laugh. Evil, perhaps. You look for the source of the  
sound, only to see more black. When you return your head forward, and  
arrow pointing down appeared. You look down, seeing a newly formed,  
small, white square in the darkness. You close your eyes and jump. You  
fall. And fall. And fall. And fall. You feel like you're going to fall  
forever.
But your eyes shoot open and you body jolts awake, putting you in  
an upright position. You feel cold and are drenched in sweat. You feel  
anger towards yourself. Every time! No matter how many times you have  
that same exact dream, you always do this! It just feels so real, you  
can't explain it.
You look around the room, seeing no change in it from last night.  
Well, that's what you thought at first until you looked to your side  
to see a chair that wasn't in here last night somehow made its way in  
here with a sleeping pony in it. That pony is non-other then Rarity.  
You're confused. Why is she in here? What's wrong with her room? You  
move to wake her, but stop. You don't want to get her angry, so you  
quietly lay back down in the bed.
Only for a giant creaking of wood to be heard.
You jump in fright from the sudden sound, falling off the bed and  
plopping to the floor, creating a loud bang. You hastily get up,  
looking to see if Rarity was woken from this.
And she was. Her eyes flutter awake and she let's out a yawn. She  
looks around to see you, kneeling on the floor, head just over the  
bed, staring at her with nervous eyes. You expect her to be mad.
But she's not.
Instead, she starts to laugh. You let out a sigh of relief. She's  
not mad. Good.
After a mini laughing fit, she calms down. You are now sitting in  
the bed with perfect posture and your hands tight at your knees. "My  
my, your sure know how to wake a lady up, don't you?" Rarity playfully  
asks. You just smile. "Well, I suppose you're wondering why I'm in  
your room." you nod your head. "During the night, when I walked by on  
my way for a glass of water, I peaked in on you to make sure you're  
alright. I say you tossing and turning in bed, and sweating heavily. I  
couldn't leave you like that! You were clearly having a nightmare! So  
I tried to wake you up, but apparently you're a heavy sleeper. So I  
brought a chair in here to see if you'd wake up. I guess I fell asleep  
in the process," she explains.
Well, that's a good reason.
"Thank you for your concern, Rarity, but I have that same dream  
every night. There is no need for you to watch me," you tell her in  
the most polite voice you can muster.
She smiles. "Well, either way, I couldn't even if I wanted to. Not  
without seeming like a creep, that is. Today, you're going to  
Twilight! You're permanent home!" she announces.
Your smile widens. If this new pony is half as nice as Rarity,  
you'd be happy.
"But we aren't going know. We need to get ready and Pinkie needs  
to get the party set up." she explains.
Who's Pinkie?
"Ok," you reply simply.
"Alright. Now, before we start getting ready, I think we should  
eat breakfast. Now, please, refresh me on what you eat? I forgot,"  
Rarity said, blushing a bit towards the end.
Understanding not all ponies have the time to stock up on human  
research, you answer. "We eat most of what ponies eat, except flowers  
and hay. Well, I suppose we eat flowers, as well. Cauliflower is a  
flower, right? I think so. We mostly eat meat, though. Fish, chicken,  
beef. But at the shelter, we mostly ate fish." you answer, then  
quickly grab you're mouth shut. 'You're rambling! Shut up! No pony  
likes a talkative human!' you yell at yourself in your head.
Rarity didn't seem to notice your helpless babble, or just didn't  
care. But, her smile did deflate at the sound of you eating meat.
Ponies, as any grade-school graduate will know, are herbivorous.  
Just in case you don't know what that is, it means they eat plants,  
not meat. But, what is strange with the ponies you encounter (And  
being a human grown to be a 'maid', you gain the education of a grade  
school-er,) is that they are able to digest eggs, which are most  
defiantly not plants. They use eggs in most of their cooking;  
pastries, pasta, cake. Heck, they even drink milk. This has baffled  
pony scientists for ages, and they just don't know why they, ponies,  
not being able to digest meat, are able to digest eggs and milk.
But hey, no-pony's complaining.
Now, back to Rarity. You notice her smile leaving her face once  
you mention meat. Most ponies, being herbivorous, despise the idea of  
eating other creatures. But, most have come to realize it's a part of  
nature, and some have even become butchers, mostly for people to have  
a way to get meat for their 'widdle hue-mans'. Rarity here must  
still dislike the fact some creatures, even ones that live with  
ponies, eat meat.
"Though I can't say I agree with your meat eating ways," Knew it,  
"I guess that's just the way it is."
You quickly speak up. "Rarity, vegetables will be fine." You know  
meat is expensive, and you don't want her wasting money.
"No no no! It's what you eat! I must!" She replies.
Not wanting to argue, but feeling you must, you take a gulp, hope  
to Celestia you won't get in trouble, and talk back. "But Rarity, meat  
is a lot of money!"
"Don't worry about money, dear! Your presence here is more then  
enough payment!" she answers.
Not really understanding what she meant, but not being the one to  
fight a loosing battle, you don't press the subject, and just nod your  
head.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Before you two leave, Rarity fixed you up.
Your clothes were wrinkly (from sleeping in them) and in desperate  
need to be washed again. So, she made you strip down and hand her your  
clothes. She made a big deal about humans and their modesty, but  
didn't look as you changed into a robe. A very ill-fitting robe. You  
are guessing it's a size extra large for a pony. Defiantly not for a  
human.
While your clothes were in rinse, wash, and repeat (curiosity of  
Rarity's' amazing multitasking skills) she propped you up on a chair  
and started to clean you up. Or, 'Make you presentable' as she said.
She combed back your hair after wetting it down and got it in a  
very jagged, spiked look. She tweaked spikes, trying to make the un- 
symmetrical style perfect, before taking a spray can and showering your  
hair in it. The end result was spikes as hard as rocks sitting atop  
your head, ready to puncture an unsuspecting foe.
Next was your nails. Grime and dirt was trapped under your  
fingernails for year without cleaning and your hands were drier then a  
dessert. That issue was quickly fixed with a tub of lotion, but the  
fingernail problem remains. How was she going to get the dirt out?
That answer was quickly answered when she pulled out a rather  
scary object. "Now, stay calm," she says as your eyes widen each inch  
she moves it closer to your fingers,"I'm just getting the grime put.  
Just washing your hands won't cut it."
The sharp object was inserted into your fingernails as you shut  
your eyes closed, expecting pain. But instead, it was just a mild  
discomfort.
This trend repeated 9 more times before the object was put away  
and you let out a sigh of relief.
Your clothes finished and you rushed them on. Rarity looked over  
you one last time before yelling "Perfect! Just one last thing." She  
levitates a small, triangular glass bottle with a strange hose on it's  
top over to you. You get close to it, examining it, then out of no  
where, the pink liquid inside is sprayed onto you, luckily avoiding  
your eyes. You sniff the air. 'Mmm... Fruity."
"You look absolutely dashing now!" Rarity nearly squealed.
"Well, it is because of you," you reply, looking over yourself in  
the mirror. You're not egotistical, but you did look rather good.  
Plus, you had deadly weapons on your head.
Rarity blushed, "Oh, stop it." Your stomach let out a loud rumble,  
interrupting Rarity. This time, you blushed. "Now, I think it's time to  
eat, wouldn't you say?"
You nod your head in agreement. Rarity makes her way out the door  
and you follow suit, heading to wherever it is she's taking you.
"I never thought I'd have to go here," you heard her mumble under  
her breath. You don't say anything, but it makes you wonder even more  
where she's taking you.
Soon, you understand what she means.
She walks up, after a relativity long walk, to a dark colored  
building that does not go at all with the makeup of the rest of the  
town. A single door with no windows greets whoever walks by it. It's a  
very shady looking building, aside from the red 'Open' sign hanging on  
the door. Rarity hesitantly walks up to the door and pushes it open,  
revealing an eerie scene, even for meat eaters.
Large chunks of meat hung from the ceilings on giant meat hooks on  
both sides of the room, leaving just a pony-wide walkway to the glass  
counter. Inside the glass counter held whole fish and what looked like  
chicken covered in ice. A large, muscular stallion with a thousand  
mile stare manned the register. Aside from being larger then the  
average stallion, he looked fairly normal. Light brown fur (with  
splotches of red and rust brown you only hope not to be blood  
scattered on him) and a short, ginger colored mane and tail. His eyes  
barely moved when you two entered. You looked over to Rarity, who was  
carefully placing each step with the utmost of care, trying not to step  
on any of the small puddles of blood on the floor.
After all, blood really does a number on coats.
You both made your way up to the counter, the stallions eyes  
barely moving. You stood in front of him, Rarity by your side. He  
didn't say a word. 'Awkward...'
"Uh... Hello?" Rarity spoke up.
"Hi! How may I help you?" the stallion, suddenly growing a (weird  
and creepy) smile replied in a cheery voice. Taken aback from his  
sudden act, it takes a few seconds to answer.
"Y-yes. I j-just am here f-for meat for this o-one," she points to  
you, clearly scared. "W-what would y-you like?" she asks.
"Just fish, please," you quietly say.
"Fish, comin' up!" the stallion says as he grabs a fish from the  
counter with his bare hooves and slams it down on the counter. "Would  
you like this cooked?"
"U-uh... Y-yes please."
"Comin' up!" He goes into a back room, coming out minutes later  
with a perfectly cooked fillet cut up and wrapped.
"Th-thank you," says Rarity, "How m-much will it b-be?"
"Don't worry! It's on the house! Plus, that human looks like it  
could use some meat on his bones!" he looks over to you.
"Th-thank you very m-much, kind st-stallion," Rarity says, darting  
for the door.
"Anytime!" you faintly hear him yes as you and Rarity dart out the  
door.
And get as far away as possible.