"YAY!" A young, energetic voice woke Glittermind up from the R.E.M. sleep.
"Sweetie Belle! Quiet, you might wake her up." Another voice tried and hushed her first companion.
"Scream loud enough there, Sweetie Belle." A third voice cut in.
"Well, we didn't earn are scream-waking Cutie-marks." The first voice pouted.
Inside her small, five-roomed, two-story tree home; Glittermind groaned in her equine bed. Three young voices drifted into her open window.
"Uuhhhhhh, why does this keep happening to me?" The teal unicorn rolled over in her bed and sighed. "This is the tenth day I woke up to somepony's voice."
"Go ahead and knock!" The second voice urged. "We gotta see her before we go to school."
"You knock! I don't wanna make her mad. Rarity told us she's scary when she's mad!" the first voice whined.
"Fine, I'll knock." The third pony sighed in annoyance. A second's pause was silent, before a polite knock sounded on her round, purple door.
Although Glittermind lived in a tree, the barrow under the tree – being the first floor - strongly reminded her of hobbit homes; built into the ground in an eco-friendly way. It was absolutely thrilling to see such architecture like that in other dimensions. Being Eco-Friendly was the best idea ever.
So, rolling out of her pony-customized bed and trotting down the wide stairs, Glittermind went to the round portal door. The door handle was set in the middle; and was oval shaped enough to be used by pony mouths. Opening it up proved to be a choice that would be rewarded by inquisitiveness of her early-morning guests.
"HHHIIIII!" Three voices said as the owners jumped into the cozy, under the tree entrance. Applebloom, Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle all danced around the groggy-minded Glittermind.
"Huh?" The unicorn looked at the trio of bouncing fillies.
"I'm Applebloom." The russet-orange and sunset-red maned filly smiled as she popped up in Glittermind's face.
"I'm Scootaloo!" the purple-maned pegasus grinned as she introduced herself.
"I'm Sweetie Belle." The white young unicorn giggled. She had a split-colored mane; pastel purple and pink, which matched her tail.
"We're the CUTIE-MARK CRUSADERS!"
"Uhhh, ok." Glittermind walked into the one-pony sized kitchen. "What are you doing here?"
"See, I told you she wouldn't be awake yet, Applejack says she's not a morning pony." Applebloom stated.
"Applebloom was it?" Glittermind levitated her box of custom-ordered grain cheerios.
"Yup!"
"The sun's not even up yet."
"Of course it is! See!" Scootaloo flung open the back door to let in the just-rising sunrays. The scarlet orb sat fat on the horizon. "Princess Celestia raised the sun ten seconds ago."
"Ugghhhhh, you kids are too peppy at the moment." Glittermind looked blearily out the open door.
"Kids? We aren't goats, we're the CUTIE MARK CRUSADERS!" The three of them spoke in-sync.
"Fillies, right…" Glittermind turned her hazy focus to her cereal bowl. It was day 13 since Discord pulled it into the plane of Equestria. Dealing with the food differences was extremely difficult; there was no meat or poultry to be found or cooked in all of Ponyville. Having adjusted from being a human who consumed her fair share of meat, seafood and poultry, to a pony who ate everything but those three food categories played crazy with her mind. Glittermind had to find her protein in other food pyramid categories.
"It's true, she DOESN'T have a Cutie-mark." Scootaloo turned away from Glittermind's blank flank and nodded.
"Hm?" the slowly waking unicorn poured her cereal and righted the box. "Oh yea, I don't have a cutie-mark yet, I forgot."
"Forgot!" Applebloom upped her voice. "HOW can y'all forget not having a CUTIE-mark."
"Uhh, why are you three here again?" Glittermind exited the kitchen and finally got to the act of closing her back door.
"We are here to see if our sisters were right; which they were because you don't have a cutie-mark." Sweetie Belle announced.
"Oh, that." The unicorn turned to look at her blank flank. "I guess I forgot all about that."
"Come on Applebloom, Glittermind is being dumb today, we should come back later."
THAT statement irked the now-awake Unicorn mind. Glittermind turned around to the three fillies.
"Look here, I don't care to be called dumb, or stupid or whatever. I don't get why you are STILL here to look at my pony flank. Ok, sure it may be bare, but I don't care. All I care about is trying to find my way around this crazy world. I miss being with my human body and YOUR sister STILL has my half-diamond."
The trio CMC lined up in a row, being bashed with Glittermind's verbal bashing. Their pony faces grew with surprise as the unicorn blathered on about something they had no clue about.
"I WOULD like it back, by the way." The agitated unicorn spoke further. Normally she wasn't in this bad of mood, but her dreams – and being rudely pulled out of – left her emotionally negative, frustrated and angry. "I was sleeping just fine until you three woke me up…and for WHAT!...to stare at some blank flank that I don't care about. I was having a nice dream where my hero was trying to save me from the bad guys."
"Hay!" a new, older voice entered the room. Applejack had followed her sister to Glittermind's place, keeping an eye on her sister. Upon hearing Glittermind's shouting voice, the earth pony decided to step in to defuse the situation. "Don't y'all be yellin' at mah sister. Y'all just back off right now, before y'all say something y'all would regret."
"Oh, right." Glittermind sniped back. "Y'all defending your younger sister; who, might I mention, has the habit of not giving ponies their privacy."
"Well, look here, Glittermind, I know y'all are new at being a pony and all, but…" Applejack stood in front of the trio of fillies. They looked disheartened and shamed.
"But NOTHING! I am SO frustrated right now and just need…need to…UGH!" the unicorn snorted through her equine nostrils and stomped a hoof. "Just leave…go and leave me to chill out."
"We're really sorry, Glitter-…" Sweetie Belle began to apologize. The CMC had no clue how to interact with the new unicorn. They now felt bad for triggering the bad reaction in the teal equine unicorn.
"Yea, yea, yea, I hear you, just…go to school or whatever, I have a headache."
"That's not nice at all, Glittermind." Applejack pushed further. "These girls shouldn't be the ones apologizin'…"
"…" Glittermind stared at Applejack; then sighed, placing a hoof over her face. "I'm sorry, can you please go now; I have a headache now and wanna chill out."
"C'mon Applejack, can you walk us to school?" Applebloom, still feeling ashamed, turned to go.
"If you CMCs wanna try again after your school, go for it. I'll be awake then; I might even be nice and peppy." Glittermind turned around and attempted to smooth ruffled feelings. "I'm better in the afternoons."
"YAY!" Scootaloo cheered and hugged Applebloom and Sweetie Belle. "You see, she is random like Rainbow Dash said. She may be mean, but she doesn't mean it!"
"Huh?" Applejack and Glittermind looked at the undeterred little pegasus and her logic. The pegasus was doing a little foot dance.
"Heh, you are funny. I'm hungry, see you laters." Glittermind chuckled as she ushered the four out the front and waving once, before closing the door.
"Hay, if you wanna hang out later, I'll show you some cool tricks!" From Glittermind's open window, Scootaloo had poked her head in and spoke. "That way you can join our Cutie-Mark Crusaders club!"
"Nice, see you later." Glittermind waved at the departing quartet of ponies. Turning around and swaying slightly, the unicorn barely managed to make it to the pony couch before collapsing and falling asleep again. Something was wrong with her and she felt like doing nothing but sleeping.
The nondescript ponimeleon watched from the bushes ten yards away from the tree-house as the four ponies walked away from the purple door. Colored to camouflage himself within the bush, the green and brown-twig-wearing hybrid pony sighed expectantly and placed a dirt-colored hoof over his face. If any Ponyville civilian knew what he was going to do to the new unicorn, they would be horrified and morally disgusted. He would be chased out of the village within a heartbeat. But he had to do it…it had a moral obligation to enact his act; otherwise the unique unicorn would most likely die.
Looking at the hot-pack on the ground beside him, Chamony sighed once again and stooped down to pick up the package. Being careful to not spill the contents of the package, Chamony used his chameleon powers to change into a white and blue colt. Trotting up to that designated purple door, he lifted his chameleon, three-digit hoof-hand and grasped the door-handle to push open the door.
Not saying a word, Chamony silently walked into the unicorn's kitchen; aiming for the small refrigerator. Upon opening it up, he confirmed what was rumored; this unique unicorn had nothing in regards to meat. Ponyville had forced its vegan rules, unknowingly, upon this different unicorn. Placing the hot bag on the counter, Chamony closed the box and went about his mission.
His mission, as conscripted by the lovely and understanding Fairydust, was to smuggle a package of sausage, bacon and pig-fat links to the unicorn named Glittermind. It was a very weird mission, but after finding out the reasoning behind the intention, Chamony was convinced he would do it. He would deliver five pounds of meat to Glittermind, and save her life.
Looking at the teal and turquoise colored unicorn on the couch, Chamony felt pity for the filly. It was very difficult to be a meat/poultry/ seafood eater when the world had a vegan attitude. If he had to guess at statistics, only 1.1% of Equestran population was omnivores or carnivores; those that had equine heritage that is. That 1.1% needed the extra protein in their diet; and meat provided that protein.
He himself was an avid fan of meat-burgers – which came from cows. The whole process of cow-meat raising was highly frowned upon by this society. It was an underground, black-market system for raising, making and selling meat.
Moving his eyes away from the unicorn, Chamony quietly opened the hot-pack and allowed the cooked sausage patties to spread their smell. Hopefully the scent would pique the unicorn's interest and bring her to eat the meat before it went cold. The pack also had a constitution of rules for eating and adhering to meat. The unicorn would see this and, hopefully, act by those rules.
Moving back towards the door, Chamony looked around once to see if the coast was clear and left; shutting the door behind him. His mission was complete, he was done. Keeping up his white/blue disguise on, he ran away, using the paths to take him back home in Everfree forest.
Having fallen asleep seconds after hitting the couch, Glittermind woke up to her noise twitching. The smell of something so familiar and tasty hit into her nose. Getting up and following the smell, Glittermind saw the package of meat in her kitchen. Sausage, bacon and links sat on a small plate. Next to the plate was paper with writing on it. Glittermind didn't care; she fell upon the lovely-smelling sausage with glee. Shoving it into her mouth, her eyes closed in joy of the sensation of meat on her tongue: so tasty. Chewing it and reveling in the texture, the unicorn turned to the paper; thinking it most likely to be an explanation of the sudden appearance of cooked bacon and sausage in her kitchen.
'Dear Meat Recipient:
This is a welcome package of sausage, bacon and turkey links. Due to your choice of living within a vegan society, we understand your cravings of meat and such. Due to centuries of extensive research, we have come to understand the need of meat is apparent in some pegasi, earth pony or unicorn. Do not feel ashamed in this; you are not alone.
Protein is a must in all diets, however, due to social laws, the procurement and making of meat products is highly frowned upon and discouraged. Instead of driving yourself crazy; the P.W.N.M. (Ponies Who Need Meat) was created hundreds of years ago. With planning and dedication, we at P.W.N.M. have created an underground service for those P.W.N.M.
It is a secret, hushed service; so please do not speak freely of P.W.N.M. We hope you understand the need for secrecy about P.W.N.M. and hope to provide a health, safe way of fulfilling your meat needs.
Signed;
P.W.N.M. Co.
Glittermind was astounded. To think that such a group existed, a group who secretly provided meat to those who needed it. It was amazing. Looking at the meat package, Glittermind ate two more sausages and decided to keep the rest. The package looked to contain five pounds of meat; and to make that last a while, Glittermind had to ration herself. Feeling exceptionally happier about the quirky turn of events, she stored the rest of the meat in her refrigerator.
Now that she had a way to fill her need for meat, the unicorn felt so much better today than previous days. It didn't matter that the meat package had mysteriously appeared in her kitchen – it was probably due to some unicorn magic or clever pony's tricks to get it in her kitchen.
Today was going to be a great day. Glittermind drank her morning water and went out into the sunlit day. It started off bad, but that was all in the past. The unicorn trotted down the path, and upon seeing Pinkie Pie, the unicorn grinned to herself and made a choice.
Today, she would race the party-throwing pony. Just let loose with pony speed and run; after, of course, inviting the Pinkster to join her.
"OH PINKIE-PIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIEEE…" Glittermind hollered out. "Wanna run!"