Unfortunate Facts about being Human
Sunset Shimmer clenched her fists and grit her teeth. She only now realized how long she had been putting this off, out of everything else she had been experiencing since her arrival in this world, this was probably the one thing she hadn't been looking forward to.
“Is something the matter?” Celestia asked, noticing Sunset had been standing in front of an open door for several minutes now.
Sunset jumped in her skin, quickly turning around and speaking up defensively, “No no, nothing's wrong!” She laughed, quickly stepping into the room, and turning her back to Celestia, “Just... Need my privacy obviously!” She tried to brush it off with more laughter before slamming the door shut. She pressed her back against the door, her anxiety bubbling in her mind. Her body gurgled it's protests at her for taking so long, and she groaned as she realized there was no more putting this off.
She stomped her feet, and pointed at the vile contraption before her. “I will get past this! If I'm going to live in this world I'm going to have to get through this, and I have never met a challenge I couldn't defeat! It'll be awkward, it's something I never thought I'd have to do in a body not my own, and chances are it'll be really embarrassing! But today you've met your defeat, for my name is Sunset Shimmer and I will conquer you!”
The toilet merely sat there quietly, as it was an inanimate object incapable of doing anything to Sunset shimmer.
The bathroom door slammed back open, Sunset tossing aside the towel that dried her hands before storming through the house. Her hair was frazzled and her pupils were dilated. She was on a mission and nothing could stop her.
She stormed out into the living room, where she found Celestia standing in front of the dining room table looking through Paperwork. Celestia turned to look at Sunset, confused at first but then with a look of concern.
“Sunset? What's wrong, you look like you've seen a ghost.” Celestia asked, putting her papers down. Before she could move, Sunset had walked up to her, just a foot or two away from her. Though strangely her eyes weren't looking her in the face, they were aimed lower on her body. “Sunset?”
Without a word, Sunset reached her hands out, grabbed the edge of Celestia's pants, and pulled them down her legs.
“GAH!” Celestia cried, her body reflexively bending to cover her exposed lower body while trying to step back and away from her attacker, “WHAT HAS GOTTEN INTO YO-”
“WHERE'S YOUR CUTIE MARK!?” Sunset cried.
“C-Cutie mark?” Celestia asked perplexed, grabbing her pants and quickly pulling them back up.
“WHY DON'T HUMANS HAVE CUTIE MARKS!?” Sunset gripped her head in her hands, crying out, “WHAT IS WRONG WITH THIS WORLD!? It wasn't enough to take my horn but my SPECIAL TALENT TOO!? GAH!”
Without another word, Sunset stormed off back towards her room, leaving a stunned Celestia uncertain of what to make of what had just happened.
She decided that as long as Sunset didn't do it again, she was just going to forget this little incident had ever happened.
Sunset shifted the food on her plate around with her fork. The utensil was still incredibly awkward to use with this hand thing. Her plate was some mixture of rice and vegetables, fried and flavored from the stove top. She scooped another bite into her mouth as she watched Celestia and Luna take bites off of their own plates.
Unlike her plate though, their plates had pieces of cooked chicken as part of their meal. The idea alone still left Sunset's stomach churning, but at the same time she couldn't help that her nose was telling her it smelled delicious.
“Can you tell me something?” Sunset asked after finishing her mouthful. Celestia let out a sound of acknowledgment, but took another bite from her plate, “If humans are omnivores and can survive just fine on vegetables, why do you choose to eat meat?” Celestia chewed a bit, swallowed, then contemplated her answer.
“I'm sure the answer will vary from person to person,” Luna spoke up first, putting her fork down to look seriously at Sunset, “But there are various health benefits to eating meats. They're one of the bodies best sources of protein and iron, as well as being high in many other vitamins. Our bodies evolved in such a way that they are highly efficient at digesting the flesh, especially in comparison to many vegetables.” Luna stabbed a piece of chicken on her fork and raised it up.
“Beyond those health reasons, our palette has evolved to find meat delectable. As such it's possible to create a wide variety of dishes and meals that otherwise wouldn't be possible without the addition of their flavors.” Luna put the piece of chicken into her mouth, chewing quietly as she placed her fork back into her meal, “And on a personal level, if I do not have meat in at least one of my meals per day I won't feel satisfied. My body will tell me to keep eating more until it has gotten the nutrients it would otherwise be missing from the meat.”
“Thank you Lulu, that was a very good answer.” Celestia nodded with a smile at her sister.
Sunset scrunched her face at those answers. She didn't feel like she was thoroughly convinced that eating meat would ever be a good option, even if she was a species that did well when consuming it. Though she did try to think about it from the other end of the spectrum. If a creature that needed meat came to Equestria and was forced to eat nothing but vegetables, would they be able to do it? Their mind would constantly be telling them otherwise wouldn't it? Or would they just adapt to it?
Adapt... Sunset had already been doing everything else that it meant to be human, maybe she could just try eating a bit of meat here or there. It's not like she hadn't enjoyed how the sausage tasted, just the mental image of eating another previously living animal had caused her stomach to react violently. But sitting here eating her food and smelling that cooked chicken, which smelled delicious, was giving her mixed feelings in her stomach, and her stomach wasn't nearly as rebellious as it had been with that first meal.
“Hey, Celestia.” Sunset said, steeling her nerves. Celestia looked up from her plate curiously, “Hand me a single piece of chicken will you?”
“Are you certain? I still remember what happened the last time I gave you meat.” Celestia explained, stabbing a small piece of chicken on her plate with her fork. “You do know we won't judge you for going vegetarian, right?”
“Just give me the piece of meat already.” Sunset growled, holding her hand out. Celestia shrugged and held the fork out to the teen girl, Sunset grabbing the piece of chicken and pulling it close to her face for inspection.
She squeezed it between her fingers first, feeling the cooked flesh squish between her fingers before regaining it's shape. It wasn't quite hard and solid, but it wasn't gooey or gelatinous either. Smelling it, the delicious scent that had been permeating the air went directly to her brain, making her mouth water at the idea of having it in her mouth. Somehow, the deliciousness of the morsel was over-powering the part of her brain that told her this was wrong.
Taking a deep breathe to calm herself, she popped the piece of chicken into her mouth.
Chewing it was a similar experience to the sausage she'd had, a bit of flavor spreading through her mouth before being swallowed. Her stomach didn't churn nor did she feel repulsed by the act. For a moment her brain tried to put a face to what she had just eaten, but she blocked that out of her head with a light shake.
It had tasted good, and she was certain it had to do with her new human anatomy. If she was still a horse, she was certain she'd never desire to eat meat. But as long as she was human, she could clearly tell it was something she was going to be desiring. She had at least conquered the challenge she had set forth to herself to try the human food, and she found she liked it.
“Well?” Celestia asked curiously, also drawing the eyes of Luna towards the red and yellow haired girl.
“I liked it.” Sunset said nodding, “I don't know if I'm ready to have entire meals of it just yet, but I'd be okay with you putting a bit of meat in my next meal as I get used to it.”
“Very well, that can be arranged. As long as you are comfortable.” Celestia nodded with a smile. Sunset went back to digging at her vegetarian plate as Luna leaned in to Celestia and whispered to her quietly.
“Tia... Why do I get the feeling that Sunset doesn't really consider herself... Human?” This emitted a light chuckle from Celestia.
“It's probably best if you don't know that answer.” Celestia teased her sister, “But you can rest assured that she's harmless.”
“If you say so.” Luna shook her head, before the three of them returned to eating their meal in peace.
“Who designed this organization system!?” Sunset growled, looking between the two sets of clothes in her hand. “There's nothing consistent about them! How am I supposed to find clothes like this!?”
“What's the problem?” Celestia asked, walking over to Sunset while carrying a few dresses in her arms.
“I get why you want me to buy more clothes, I really do, humans are apparently obsessed with wearing them to the point I came here in some.” Sunset complained, looking at her own outfit before looking back to Celestia, “But why do you have such an asinine organization system for them? Look at these two shirts here!” She held up the two for Celestia to clearly see, “They're the same size right? I'm not crazy here. Yet one is clearly labeled a size 4, and the other is a size 6! What sense does that make!? Why isn't there some sort of universal standard for these things!?”
“Uh, well...” Celestia paused for a moment trying to think of the answer, “I'm not really sure why it's that way. I believe it has something to do with the fact that all these clothes are made by very different companies, and they don't agree on what sizes mean between each other. So you end up just having to try on clothes in a general size-range until you find clothes that fit.”
“Wha- But that could take hours!” Sunset cried, turning to look at all the racks of clothes that extended across the store, “Why would I want to spend my entire day trying on clothes just to find the right outfit in the right size!? If I find what I like I should be able to just buy it and go!”
“That's sort of the reason why they don't, actually.” Celestia shook her head, “they want you to buy as much from them as possible, and one of the ways they do that is by having you try on so much of their merchandise and enticing you to buy it.”
“That...” Sunset felt her eye twitch, “That's just... I keep finding reasons to hate this world more and more.”
“It's not all bad Sunset, you must keep that in mind.” Celestia explained, putting her hand on the teen's shoulder and smiling kindly, “We'll find you some clothes that fit sooner than you think, and I'm sure you'll look wonderful.”
“I'm having my doubts right now.” Sunset grumbled, putting the shirts back onto the rack she'd gotten them from, “Especially since this is the tip of the iceburg isn't it? You still want me to go bra shopping too don't you.”
“Well, you can't go around wearing the same one for weeks on end.” Celestia explained, shrugging her shoulders.
“I still don't even get the point of it!” Sunset said, reaching into her shirt and pulling at the strap around her shoulder, “Like WHY do these stupid things on my chest need support? Would the world somehow just end if I wasn't wearing one?!”
“Perhaps if your chest was... smaller, you could get away with just a thick t-shirt and your jacket.” Celestia explained, trying to word herself carefully, “However bras do more than just give support. They help with your bodies circulation, they keep your skin and breasts from sagging while you're young, they help your posture and muscles, and various bras even allow for better movement during sporting activities.”
“Are you sure?” Sunset asked, rolling her eyes before looking down at her bust and pushing it out for emphasis, “From my perspective it looks like they serve no other purpose than to emphasize how these things look for other humans.”
Celestia let out an awkward cough as she turned away, “Even if that may be how it looks to you, everything I said is still true. And with the size of your chest, everything I said is especially true for your health. Larger breasts need more support than smaller ones, and yours are decidedly larger than a normal girl your age.”
“Ugh, why couldn't I have gotten a small chest when I came here? This world won't give me any breaks.” Sunset groaned, rubbing her face in frustration.
“Be that as it may, let's go back to finding you more clothes to wear. We need at least a sizable selection for you to wear.” Celestia explained, handing the dresses she had been holding over to Sunset.
“Yeah, yeah, I got it.” Sunset groaned, having realized since she's been sleeping at Celestia's house that she was going to have to accept some amounts of generosity if she was going to properly survive here, “I'll just consider it an early birthday present.”
“Birthday? This is the first you've mentioned it.” Celestia raised an eyebrow curiously.
“Oh, did I forget to mention? There's been way too much going on the last two weeks.” Sunset shrugged, “It's at the end of the month. I'll officially be turning 14, I just said I was 13 because I was close enough anyway.”
“I wish you had said something sooner, it's easier to plan my schedule a few weeks ahead of time, especially since I've been having to do a lot more make-up work lately.” Celestia put a hand to her chin in thought. “I'll work it out though. For now I'll go look for some more clothes for you to wear.” Celestia turned and walked off to look at another section of the clothes.
Sunset looked down at her arms, eyeing up the dresses Celestia had given her, grabbing the top one and lifting it up to look at it. She stuck her tongue out at the gaudy dress.
“Why on earth would she think I'd want to wear so much frilly pink?”
The TV blared as an explosion roared from the screen, the heroes having just made it out of the exploding building in time. Sunset sat on the couch in a tank top and panties, a bowl of popcorn placed between her crossed legs as she munched away. While Celestia and Luna were off working at school, she was left at home to do as she wanted. She had already explored the house and not found much of interest.
Celestia and Luna's rooms had been especially boring, with nothing really in them that she wouldn't expect to see from any room back in Equestria, minus two small TVs they had mounted on desks for some reason. She had read some of the books on the bookshelf in her room, but if she had to be honest human literature just didn't seem as appealing as Equestrian literature. Not to mention most of the books seemed to either be autobiographies of unimportant people or general education reading she already knew.
She reminded herself to tell Celestia that a guest room should have actual worth-while reading material at some point.
In the meantime though, she found herself watching a lot of TV while passing her time. Her initial impressions of it being a box that played prerecorded movies hadn't been all that far off, but it was so much more than that. They played actual human movies on certain channels, but there were so many different types of entertainment. She had been keeping track of the genres and ranking them in her head, but so far she had found movies, cartoons, day-time dramas, sitcoms, soap operas, reality shows, news stations, documentaries, scientific explanation shows, and animal shows. She was sure there were still more, but once she'd explored that many she had decided to just start watching at least some of them.
She had to admit, there was something exciting about Human movies that Equestrian movies couldn't match. The last movie she had seen was some black and white piece that had really terrible props, awful acting, and looking so fake she would've believed a stage play more than what it looked like. She hadn't been to the theaters since then and had heard things had gotten better, but she had much better things to do with her time back then.
Not so much now though. She had years to do whatever, and this wasn't a bad way to spend a day so far. Besides, she was learning a lot about humans from the shows she was watching. She had a feeling that a lot of the stunts performed in the movies were faked, as there was no way humans could be so close to so many of those explosions and get out so unscathed. But she found them fascinating for now, and she could always discern fact from fiction later.
What disappointed her the most about a lot of what she saw was that most of the shows based in the 'real world' had no magic in them. She thought she'd at least have heard the word a couple hundred times by now if it was commonplace at all here, but the only time she'd heard the word was in a 'fantasy' genre film she had watched, and that had left her uncertain about how to feel.
Magic was 'fictional' in this world. They used 'science' instead, for everything. In Equestria Sunset didn't think of them as mutually exclusive concepts, in fact a lot of how they figured magic out in Equestria involved science. The fact there seemed to be no magic here what-so-ever left her feeling frustrated.
The mirror had been clear. If she was going to become stronger than Princess Celestia this was where she needed to be. But how does one gain more magical power than the ruler of Equestria in a land where there was no magic at all? The question frustrated Sunset more than any other fact about this world.
At some point she was going to have to do something about it. She was going to have to get her hands on some of the electronics she saw a lot in these movies and take them apart, figure out how they work. If she could start there, getting hands-on with how things worked in this world, she thought she might be able to start getting somewhere.
“-And next on the Movie Central Channel, follow the journey of a band of adventurers on a magical adventure as they quest to destroy the one ring.” A lady spoke in a soothing voice through the TV.
Sunset grabbed another handful of popcorn and chowed down on it. Thinking about that could wait till later though. Right now she had TV to distract her from her emotional problems. No wonder humans had invented it.
Sun filtered in through the window, hitting Sunset in the face. She scrunched and opened her eyes slowly. Sitting up on the bed she let out a yawn, having slept fairly well that night. Rubbing her eyes she looked out the window, looking at the backyard of Celestia's home.
It had been a month since she had arrived in this world now, and most of that time had been spent getting adjusted to what it meant to be human. Celestia had been very patient with her, unlike a certain Princess she knew, and had been very helpful through her trying time now. Luna had slowly eased up on her hostility towards her, seeming to trust her more now than she had when they first met.
What little she had learned about the human world so far, mostly the things from the TV she'd been watching, she had been very fortunate to be found by Principal Celestia when she arrived. Having a base of operations to think and to study like this was exactly what she needed in this strange new world, and she had made it exceptionally easy to get used to all this.
However, she knew she couldn't stay at Celestia's house forever. Despite the month long stay, the room still didn't feel anymore like a home, and she was starting to feel more like a leech than a guest the longer she stayed. This wasn't an arrangement that could last forever. At some point she was going to have to find a place of her own, and if Luna still felt some hostility towards her, she'd likely be willing to help her get her own place.
These were the first thoughts she had on the morning of her first birthday in this world. It was hard for her to feel like celebrating while she was stuck so far away from home, with the only two people in her life right now being an imitation of her former mentor and the weirdo that the imitation called sister. Sunset knew that they were going to do something special for her birthday, so while she wasn't really feeling in the mood to celebrate, she'd at least accept it for the day. She could tell them about her plans to move out tomorrow when the time was right.
Sunset pulled the covers off of her and slipped her feet off the edge of the bed. Immediately, something felt wrong. It felt so wrong that she was surprised she hadn't felt it until right that moment. Her hand that had pressed down on the bed to support herself with had gotten wet somehow. She lifted it up, inspecting what exactly she had put her hand into.
The substance covering her hand was thick. And red. And had a very distinctive smell. So distinct was it in look and smell that it took her brain a moment to even process what it was.
It was blood.
It was her blood.
The scream that echoed through the house was so sincere and terrified that anyone hearing it would've sworn someone was being murdered. Celestia and Luna were instantly startled awake, hearing the lingering scream of the girl they had been taking care of coming from her room.
Luna was the first one to slam the door open, her room having been right across the hall.
“What, what is it!?” Luna screamed, fearing for the young girl's life.
Sunset had fallen to the floor, her whole body shaking in fear as she backed away from her bed, the blood etching itself into her mind. She turned to look into the older woman's face, the fear apparent in her eyes. Sunset held her hand out still shaking, her voice barely above a whisper.
“Doctor... C-Call a Doctor...” She begged for her life, tears breaking loose and falling down her face. Luna instantly recognized what was going on and rush down to the girl's side, embracing the teen girl into a hug.
“It's okay Sunset! You're not dying, I promise. You need to calm down.” Luna cooed, in a tone that was so different from anything Sunset had heard from her in the last month.
“Not dying!?” Sunset cried, not believing a word of it, “Don't you see it!? I-I need help! Please, please help me! I don't want to die!” Sunset buried her face into Luna's body, sobbing and begging the older woman to get her some help.
“What is it!? What's wrong!?” Celestia's worried voice called out from the door way, having rushed from across the house to find Luna holding on to Sunset.
“It's alright Celestia. It seems Sunset was just surprised to have her period.” Luna explained. The explanation made Sunset freeze in place in the middle of her sobs.
“Oh, is that all.” Celestia sighed in relief, “I thought something serious had happened.”
“W-What...” Sunset's lower lip quivered as she looked Luna in the eye, “H-Humans... NORMALLY bleed large quantities of their own blood!?”
“Women do, yes. Once they've hit puberty.” Luna explained, before looking Sunset up and down again, “Though why does it surprise you now? You seemed to have hit puberty quite a while ago.”
Even though Sunset had heard that comment, it didn't really register in her mind. All the blood had rushed out of her face at the realization that this was going to happen again. Her body rejected reality and she saw the world blacking out around her, as Sunset passed out from the stress of the situation.
“...Oh dear... She passed out.” Luna blinked in surprise, letting Sunset's unconscious body rest against her.
“I certainly wasn't expecting her to react this way to getting her period...” Celestia sighed, rubbing her head in frustration, “I wasn't even actually sure if she was going to get it or not if her story was true, but I got her some supplies just in case she did. We're just going to have to wait for her to wake up to explain it to her.”
“Be that as it may, we can't let her stay in these clothes for much longer.” Luna shook her head, carefully picking the girl up into her arms. “You get some fresh clothes and I'll start the bath.”
Celestia nodded as Luna quickly carried her to the bathroom.
Sunset meanwhile was having a very pleasant dream in her mind. A dream where she was no long a strange monkey creature, but instead a happy filly prancing through the fields with her mother and mentor as they spent all the time in the world they wanted together.
A very happy dream where she didn't have to eat meat, or wear strange unorganized clothing, or be without her magic, or bleeding from her body for no reason. This world in her dream was perfect.
She wished she could be in that dream forever.
Stats
Page generated in 0.023 seconds
Total duration
964 users online
136,134 hits today, 2,314,256 yesterday
FIMFiction
My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic Fanfiction
Designed and coded by knighty & Xaquseg - © 2011-2024
Follow & Support Us
Support us
SubStar
Chat!
Discord
Follow us
Twitter
MLP: Friendship is Magic® - © 2024 Hasbro Inc.®
Fimfiction is in no way affiliated with or endorsed by Hasbro Inc.®
Can't say I've come across many fics that tackle, ahem, that particular issue. What I can say is that all the ones I have come across, I really enjoyed.
pure genius. 5/5
Ha! I knew this was coming!
Okay, the part where Sunset Shimmer tried to pull down Celestia's pants was funny, but it doesn't make sense. There are tons of sentient creatures in Equestria that don't have cutie marks, so the concept of humans not having one should not have been that surprising to her. Even without that, it still shouldn't have been that surprising to her because this is an alternate, alien dimension where everything is different.
That was hilariously awkward, and I love you for it.
Getting a period is always a bloody dissapointment.