This isn't about meat as peas, beans, legumes and nuts can serve as meat substitutes.

Something humans need is a steady supply of vitamin C. It helps our bodies to more effectively absorb nutrients and a deficiency will lead to scurvy. We don't need to consume vitamin C every day to ward off scurvy, just a few times a week.

Like many mammals, maybe the ponies naturally produce vitamin C in their livers and only consume citrus for the flavor.

It could be interesting for a story, maybe a one-shot, where a human has been living with the ponies and he/she/shclim starts getting sick. When they take them to the hospital, the tests reveals the human has a severe vitamin C deficiency. The only way to reverse scurvy is to start consuming vitamin C.

There is the well known sources like citrus fruits, but peppers a very good as well, I think a few common species have more by weight then an orange

If the foods the ponies eat and offer to the human are similar to the human world versions of those foods, vitamin C has many sources.

https://www.mayoclinic.org/drugs-supplements-vitamin-c/art-20363932
https://ods.od.nih.gov/factsheets/VitaminC-HealthProfessional/

I suppose it's possible your story's human is ignorant and doesn't eat the vitamin C sources anyway?

Applejack: Dude just eat an apple

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High sugar intake also raises the need for vitamin c intake as they bind to the receptors if I recall correctly.

Buying basic ingredients and cooking from home would be necessary. This is because in a few AU's, pony goods are full of sugar to fuel their base metabolism and magic.

Organ meats, preferably from AJ's animals, as well as eggs would be good for nutrients while keeping the sugar levels down.

Beyond that, there's not much more to say. Hope this helps.

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I didn't know peppers were high in vitamin C. I knew potatoes were, which is why before the infamous blight, the Irish were taller, heavier and stronger than the English.

For some reason the ponies could find it offensive to eat meat in front of them.

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Where did u find that comic?

The world is a fantasy world full of monsters. Just eat those and the non-sapiant animals.

Unless it's an "alien world that looks similar actually secretly lacks thing" setting, I think vitamin c intake would be very easy for a place like Equestria. Plants make them for survival, so where there's plants, there's vitamin c. It's basically everywhere, and as long as you eat a bit of fresh produce, there won't be a problem. In developed economies, scurvy is rare and basically only happens in very specific cases where people have difficulty eating normally, like to drug addicts. So for a country where plant based meals seem to be the norm, it would be actually harder to avoid vitamin c altogether to the point where it actually becomes a problem.

And then Twilight has to convert a bunch of apples to oranges and AJ gets mad.

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I found it on Deviant Art by BBBHuey as part of a gallery known as The Seventh Element, which shows what it could have been like if Megan was to be with them. Unfortunately, the comic strip itself was never completed, so we'll never know how it was supposed to. If I had to guess, it would probably be with Megan being that one and will most likely get something such as the Rainbow of Light for that. Also, that light brown pony next to her is TJ, who is actually from the ranch that she lives and can only talk after Twilight cast a spell on him that allows for that. One other thing, Megan originally had her cowgirl outfit in the beginning of this said comic strip, but only wound up with the romper suit you see her later on with after Rarity redressed her.

Not really all that interesting, vitamin C isn’t that hard to put in pill form. And oranges do exist in equestria, AJ has an auntie orange if I remember right. And citrus isn’t the only source, a lot of vegetables do too. Dietary needs like that are easily solved with a pill. The carnivore in a world of herbivores thing is more involved because of the psychological aspect. Ponies would have a natural fear of predators.

Maybe the ponies really do like to eat, but they aren't very open about it.

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Humans should be bigger than the ponies.

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Adorable AI picture, but RD looks a little retarded.

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You are aware that the light brown pony sitting next to Megan is TJ who happens to be a regular pony, though in that comic strip he was made the same height as most of the Equestrian ponies, plus he can even talk in this one.

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Perhaps you could make a story out of it...
In 1753 Scottish naval surgeon James Lind showed that scurvy could be cured and prevented by ingestion of the juice of oranges and lemons. Soon citrus fruits became so common aboard ship that British sailors were referred to as “limeys.”

https://www.britannica.com/science/scurvy
So an 18th century sailor...

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Ok, whos the adorable Rainbow filly there between Dash and the human?

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That could be Rainbow's daughter that she gave birth to after being married to Soarin.

It is possible to OD on Vitamin A. Easiest way is eating too much liver. Not recommended to be eaten more than once a week. You can also OD on Vitamins E, D, & K.

It is harder to OD on Vitamin C & B Vitamins. The body doesn't store excess amounts -you piss out the excess, but it can be done.

Dietary needs of a human are similar to that of a pig. What they feed pigs is likely close to what a pig needs.

Mostly likely fatal food is probably mushrooms. The mere fact that some other species can eat them does NOT mean humans can.

I’d like to see an HiE where anon suffers a cobalamin deficiency. Vitamin B12 is stored in the liver and can last several years but then *bam,* megaloblastic anemia and neurological degeneration.

Vegan diets pose risk for deficiency in B12, vitamin D, calcium, iron, zinc, and my favorite, carnitine. Can’t metabolize fats without carnitine!

You can get most of these via dairy, eggs, and whole grain, but I imagine that would spike your cholesterol.

Celestia probably gives the local human 4 squirrels a year to munch on in the privacy of his home.

Source: just trust me bro