//------------------------------// // Chapter 8: Differences between worlds // Story: Caught and Punished // by ThePinkedWonder //------------------------------// If I overlook Discord’s earlier antics, this was one of the better days I’ve had in Equestria. Not that the days have been bad or anything. I wouldn’t even count my first day in Equestria “bad”: weird and frightening, yeah, but not...bad. It was obviously one of the best days Starlight’s had in a long time. After Spike had left, as I sat on my couch, one of the reasons Twilight so badly wanted me to be the one to befriend Starlight first was becoming more clear. Twilight would have spent more time with me if not for her princess duties. Spike frequently helped her out, so he didn't hang out with me as much as he would have liked either. Rainbow, Applejack, and the others did visit me, just not as often as Twilight and Spike, but they had their own things to do and were still getting used to me anyhow. I’ve suffered...poor results with befriending other ponies, which Twilight of course knew about. All that meant I was alone more often than I would have liked. So it was great having Starlight as a friend now too. I even felt a bit down, knowing she’ll probably want to leave soon. Luckily, she chose to stick around, though she didn't say what was on her mind. A week later, I was lying on my couch in my living room. Even though it was early in the afternoon, Starlight was taking a nap, so the CD player wasn't on. Applejack had finished making a new table, a wooden one, and it was in the middle of the room, between the couch and my father's chair. A book that I was reading was on the table too. Nothing more to say other than that things have been great, though I still didn't make a friend with another pony yet. Another thing was that I'll need to get back to looking for work soon: Twilight offered to keep giving me bits for a while, but I didn't want to keep mooching off her. The bits she had already given me would last for a while, so there was no immediate pressure to find work. Spike seemed to still be trying to work up the courage to talk to Starlight, with complete words, since he didn't try to officially befriend her yet. I was broken out of my thoughts by Starlight, who walked into the living room from the hallway, yawning as she did. “Are you well-rested now?” I asked. Starlight answered, “Yep.” “Good.” Starlight frowned, and it was a puzzled one. “But, there’s something I’ve been thinking about.” “What is it?” Starlight walked to the couch, hopped on beside me, lay down, and looked up at my face. “You said you have had trouble making friends in Equestria, right?” “Yeah, that’s right.” “But you're so nice. How could you have trouble making friends?” I rubbed my head, remembering my first attempts to make friends in Ponyville. “Well, that’s more on how dumb I was after I started becoming comfortable in Equestria.” “Huh?” “For one thing, I think ponies are cute, so I’ve called a few mares cute. They took it the wrong way,” I answered, then gasped and covered my mouth. It was only after I said it out loud when I realized that Starlight might take it the wrong way too. But Starlight just slightly tilted her head, seemingly ignoring how I covered my mouth. She had a frown, but it was one showing confusion. “You think ponies are...cute?” “Y-Yeah, and that sounds stranger than it really is. Anyhow, by the time our friends told me to stop, the damage was done.” I sighed. Not that I have struggled with it, but it didn’t help my confidence to have trouble with something like making a friend. After a brief silence, I continued, “Now, a lot of ponies seem to think that I feel like I’m ‘better’ than them or something.” Starlight reset her head. “Did you try to explain that you didn’t?” Looking into Starlight's big, persian eyes, it was impossible for me to start feeling down. They instead made me chuckle. “Oh, believe me, Starlight, I tried. But more often than not, I put my foot in my mouth during my attempts and made things worse. And then having you on a leash too...I don’t think that helped my image.” Starlight laid her head right beside me. It faced the same direction I was facing, so she wasn't looking directly at me. “If that’s the case, why did Twilight make you take that risk?” “In Twilight’s defense, ponies tend to not give me those looks when she’s nearby. She knows about it, but doesn't know how bad it really is. But besides that she really wanted to help you, Twilight also thought it would benefit me if the two of us became friends anyhow and even gave me some bits to sweeten the deal, so it wasn't like she just felt you were more important." I rested a hand on my chin to think about what I said. It truly seemed unlikely that Twilight didn't care on some level, but I couldn't help wondering about that possibility for a moment. "At least, I don't think Twilight did. Although she seems too nice to think that way.” Before I knew it, I reached for Starlight’s mane and rubbed it. After a second, I realized it and pulled my hand back and to the back of my neck. “It’s okay,” Starlight unexpectedly said. “Huh? What is?” Starlight looked at me with a smile. “You can rub my mane if you want.” “You’re okay with it? I don’t want you to feel like you’re my pet.” Starlight nodded her head. “I’m okay with it, and It feels good to have my mane rubbed. Just, try not to mess it up?” “Deal.” I started rubbing Starlight’s mane again. She rested her head beside me again and let out a content sigh. “Does that feel good?” I asked. “Yeah. Really good.” “Let me know when you want me to stop, or I’ll keep going until my hand gets tired.” “I will. Oh, is there anypony besides me and our friends that don’t think you’re some weirdo?” Starlight put a hoof over her mouth, looking a bit like me when I did it. “Uh, no offense on that ‘weirdo’ thing.” “Ha ha, none taken, and I deserved that for calling ponies cute without thinking about how they might feel about it. But there are some ponies that have warmed up to me at least a bit. There's one pony in particular, Lyra, that did, and then some.” Starlight giggled. “At least some of us know you’re a good guy. But who's 'Lyra'?” “I believe Twilight said her full name is 'Lyra Heartstrings' and she's an aquamarine unicorn. Not only was Lyra...fond of me right away, she wanted to learn about me, followed me around, and even spied on me a few times. Twilight eventually saw it and gave her a scolding, so Lyra's backed off, but she’ll still wave hard at me when she sees me in town.” “She followed you around? That’s just...weird. What kind of pony would follow other ponies like that?” Both that question and how I glanced at the book on the table made me remember what the others said Twilight once did, making me chuckle. “Apparently, Twilight is ‘that’ kind of pony. In fact, she still hasn't told me about what happened when she was following Pinkie around, so be sure to remind me to make her tell us what happened. I have a feeling we will have some good laughs from the story.” “Hee hee, I guess even good ponies have...questionable moments. I just hope to stop having them.” I stopped rubbing Starlight’s mane to make sure I wasn’t messing it up. If mares felt the same way about their manes as women in my world do about their hair, I would be in for it if I ruined Starlight’s mane! It looked to be unaffected by my rubbing, so I resumed rubbing it. “Well, my dad told me that no one’s perfect, so don’t be afraid to make a few. Just try not to make too many.” “Okay, I’ll do my best.” I wanted to ask Starlight some more about her past, but because it was painful, I wanted to make sure it was something she could talk about without getting upset. Luckily, a safe question came to mind. “But now I want to ask something.” Starlight raised her head and looked up at me again, making me stop rubbing her mane. “What is it?” “Twilight told me that you’re almost as strong as she is. I still don’t know much about Equestria, but she said that alicorns are among the strongest ponies in Equestria because of their magic. How did you get strong enough to give her a run for her money?” Starlight set a hoof on her cheek and rolled her eyes up. “Uh...I trained hard in magic to learn how to take Cutie Marks, but if that alone got me so strong, I don’t know. I think my special talent is in magic, and unicorns with stronger than average magic often have magic as their special talent. Isn’t it like that in your world?” I rubbed the bridge of my nose. “Is ‘what’ like that?” “Cutie Marks. Don’t ponies in your world have Cutie Marks? And for that matter, do you have one?” “Well, first, humans don’t have Cutie Marks. And two, nothing like Cutie Marks exist in my world.” Starlight gasped. “They don’t? Then how do ponies know what their special talent is?” “Well, I might never know, because ponies there don’t talk. At least, not with words I can understand.” Starlight gasped louder and her eyes grew big. “What?! Ponies don’t talk in your world?!” I shook my head. I told the others that ponies don’t talk in my world; Twilight reacted to it much like Starlight just did, and I almost thought Twilight was about to faint from the news. “Nope. They seem to be able to communicate with other ponies, but to humans, what come out of their mouths is just...sounds. Kinda like how pigs oink and they can ‘talk’ to each other, but you or I can’t understand them. And if you want icing on the cake, unicorns, pegasi, and alicorns only exist in our fiction, and even then, our term for ‘alicorn' is ‘winged unicorn' or ‘pegacorn'. If 'alicorn' is used too, I've never heard it, but there might be some in my world that use it." Starlight lowered her head beside me, where it was when I was rubbing her mane. “Your world is even more different than I thought.” I resumed rubbing Starlight’s mane again, but this time it was partly because she said she enjoyed it. “It is. That’s a big reason why I freaked out when I first found myself in Equestria. Seeing Twilight and her friends in itself was frightening, but when they tried to talk to me, I panicked and even ran from them! I almost freaked out again when Twilight and Rarity used magic, but I’m a lot more comfortable now.” “I’m happy to hear it. If there’s anything I can do to help, ask me anytime. It’s the least I can do.” “Okay, then if I think of something, I’ll ask.” I rubbed my chin with the hand I wasn’t rubbing Starlight’s mane with. A thought came to mind. It was something I was debating doing. “Actually, I just thought of what you can do. You remember that ‘Lyra’ mare I told you about?” “Yeah?” “Tomorrow, I’m going to try to make friends with her since she’s...already interested in me. Do you want to come along to back me up if I need it?” Starlight smiled and nodded her head. “Sure! Maybe she’ll want to be my friend too.” “Good, so we can go make a new friend together. Oh, that reminds me: maybe later on, you and Spike can hang out for a while,” I suggested. "He’s a good guy, and I'm sure he’ll be happy to be your friend.” And more. “I would love to have another friend, so I’ll hang out with Spike the next time I see him...if he can stop staring." "Heh, I have a feeling he won’t do it the next time you see him. And you said you like flying kites the other day, but what else do you like doing?” “Uh…oh!” Starlight grinned and if I didn't know better, her smiles were getting cuter. “I like playing a game called ‘Dragon Pit’.” I rubbed my chin and tried to think if I heard that name before. Nothing came to mind. “Hmm...never heard of that, but we should play that someday. I like playing board games.” “Okay, and I’m looking forward to it!” Starlight and I continued to chat for a while longer, then listened to some music. Another two hours later, with a song still playing and Starlight still lying beside me on the couch, my stomach growled. “Think my stomach needs some fuel. Are you getting hungry too?” Despite the music, I heard another growl. This one came from Starlight’s stomach and she stared at it. “Is that a ‘yes’?” I teasingly asked with a smirk. With a little embarrassed smile, she answered, “Yeah. I could use a snack.” “I can fix us up something. Do you have any preferences?” Starlight laid a hoof on her cheek. “Uh...could I have a hayburger?” I wasn’t expecting her to say something like that. I was still getting used to ponies in Equestria eating like...ponies, because they’re so much like humans. “Uh, I have bread, but not any hay to eat. Mainly because I...don’t eat hay.” “You don’t?” Starlight asked with a confused frown. It seemed there was much for her to learn about humans. “No, well, I could, but it would make me very sick. We have bread, so I could go out and get some hay for you.” “Would you mind if I came with you?” I stood up from the couch. “Of course not. But we’ll need to find one of our friends. I don’t know a good place to get hay.” Starlight smiled and hopped off the couch, but before we got anywhere, there was a knock on the door. I cut off the CD player, went to the door, and Rainbow Dash was there. She was frowning and her ears were drooped. I asked, “Rainbow? Is something wrong?” Rainbow rubbed the back of her neck as she replied, “Hey, Sam. Hey, Starlight.” Starlight walked beside me and asked, “Hi, Rainbow. What’s wrong?” "Well...I was thinking about what you said before, Starlight, and...I…” Rainbow looked down. I already had a feeling of what was going on. She sometimes acted like this around Starlight since they became friends, but never said why. Starlight took a step closer to Rainbow. “Uh, is--” Rainbow snapped her head back up and blurted out, “I’m sorry!” Both Starlight and I simultaneously asked, “Uh...what?” Rainbow set her hooves back to the floor and did something Starlight did a lot last week: she took a deep breath. “I’m sorry for being so mean to you when you were trying to apologize, and how I acted even before. I wouldn’t have acted like that if I knew what you went through.” Starlight’s ears drooped, matching Rainbow’s. “It’s okay, Rainbow. I mean, after what I did, I--” Rainbow growled and shouted, “No, it’s not ‘okay’! I made you out to be some kind of monster, but you were never a bad pony at all! You just wanted friends and to feel like you’re worth something!” In a sadder voice, Rainbow continued, “I...I just can’t get over your story. How your parents weren’t there for you, and how that ‘Sunburst’ guy you cared so much about didn’t even try to reach you!” With how mad Rainbow was, I thought it best to stay quiet about how I was still ticked at Starlight’s parents too. Really ticked actually. Yet it was hard to feel mad at Sunburst for some reason. Or at least, not too mad. Starlight said, “I don’t know why my parents didn’t want to be there for me, but maybe Sunburst became too busy after he left. He’s probably a great wizard or something by now.” A thought popped in my head, making me snap my fingers. Starlight and Rainbow jumped from surprise and stared at me. Rainbow looked somewhat frightened, but Starlight just looked confused. After a moment, Rainbow sighed from what seemed to be relief. “You gotta start warning us when you do that, Sam. When Discord does that, it means something's about to drop on our head or something.” Flashbacks from his two “visits” came to my head. “Point taken, Rainbow. I’m not going to snap my fingers around you and the gang again." However, Starlight continued to stare at my fingers. “But even if you don’t do it again, how did you do that?” “It’s a little hard to explain, but there’s something more important that I want to ask you. About Sunburst, you said he didn’t reach out to you, but did you try to reach out to him?” Starlight pointed at herself. “Me? When I was still a filly, I wrote some letters to him, but he never responded to any.” I rubbed my chin in thought. Could she have mailed them to the wrong address, or maybe they got lost in the mail somehow? “Do you know where he might be now?” Starlight shook her head. “I don’t know for sure. A lot of skilled unicorns live in Canterlot, so he might be there, but I don’t know anypony from Canterlot to find out for sure.” Rainbow corrected, “Actually, Starlight, you do know somepony: Canterlot is where Twilight lived before she moved to Ponyville. I bet she’d be happy to find out for you later.” Starlight frowned and looked away. “Uh...I would appreciate that, but she doesn’t have to do that.” It was obvious that there was more to why Starlight said that Twilight wouldn’t need to check if Sunburst lived in Canterlot. I wanted to ask more, but quickly changed my mind. Surprisingly, to me anyway, Rainbow backed off and said, “Oh, okay. But if you change your mind, I want to go with you to see why that guy left you!” It was becoming hard to believe that a day ago, Rainbow Dash couldn’t stand Starlight. I couldn’t fight the urge to chuckle at it. “Wow.” Rainbow asked, “What?” “You have done a 180 on how you feel about Starlight. Last week, you hated her, but now you’re ready to fight for her!” Rainbow put on a prideful smile. “What can I say? She’s my friend now, and if you mess with my friends, you mess with me! Even if it...happened years ago.” Starlight smiled, and this one just oozed happiness. It was like the smile she had when in our group hug. “Wow. That means a lot to me, Rainbow. Thank you.” “No problem, and that was all I wanted to say. See you guys later.” Rainbow ran out of the door and flew away. Before long, she was out-of-sight. I looked down at Starlight. “I think I’m seeing why Rainbow’s the 'Element of Loyalty’ she said she is.” “Yeah. I don’t think I’ll have to worry about her leaving me. Or any of you.” “No. I haven’t known them that long, but I don’t think our friends will ever leave you alone for anything, and I sure won’t. But how about--” It registered in my brain that I could have asked Rainbow about where to get some hay for Starlight. That error made me facepalm. “What’s wrong?” Starlight asked. “We could have asked Rainbow where to get some hay.” Starlight facepalmed, or facehoofed in her case. “Oh, yeah. Sorry, I forgot to ask her too.” “It’s fine. We’ll just track down one of our other friends.” Starlight and I left the house to look for one of our friends. We later found Twilight and she led us to a stand that sold hay and we bought some. This time, I got her to tell me that "Pinkie Sense" story. What she went through was even funnier than I thought! But I also learned that Twilight Sparkle is FAR tougher than she looks. After that, we came back to my house, ate, talked, and so on. I could definitely get used to having a roommate, and I was glad Starlight still didn’t seem ready to leave yet. That night, after we went to bed, my thoughts were on how to talk to Lyra. And not somehow put my foot in my mouth again.