In the cottage above the small town, lived a yellow pegasus, named Fluttershy. Fluttershy had cream fur, light pink mane, and tails, three butterflies on each side of her rump, and tear eyes. She had just put all her animal friends asleep and was happy that her animals were sound asleep and having sweet dreams. She was about to turn in for the night, when she heard a thud on her door.
“I wonder who that can be at this time of night,” she said to herself as she opened the door, “Hello?” she asked, no one was there.
She looked around, thinking it might have been a bat hitting her door. She shrugged and was about to shut the door, until she looked down to see Sam curled up on her doorstep.
“What is this at my door? Oh the poor thing must be cold.” Then she picked up Sam and took him inside. Fluttershy flew over to her couch and lay Sam down gently on it. She then felt his skin, and it felt cold.
“Poor little creature,” she remarked as she made a hot water bottle and put it on his head, “how did you get here? I’ve never seen a creature like you before.”
Fluttershy continued to watch him for as long as she could, she shortly realised the time. “Oh my, it’s getting rather late,” she said. She was about to trot to her room, but then thought about Sam. “If he wakes up and I’m not there to greet him, he might get confused and scared,” she thought, “I’ll take him with me to bed, my fur and body warmth might help him in warming up.”
She picked him up and wrapped him in her wings, as she walked to her room. She carefully placed him on her bed, took his glasses off and placed them on the side table, then climbed in on the other side. She pulled the covers up and wrapped him in a hug. She kissed his forehead and whispered, “Goodnight little one.”
Sam, who had heard Fluttershy say goodnight, thought it was his mother, and replied, “Goodnight mum.” Fluttershy was shocked by this but then just smiled as she snuggled him closer.
Sam found himself in a dark landscape that seemed to go on forever. He felt a little uneasy, then he saw his mother, just standing there. He ran to her.
“Mum!” She said as he cried into her chest, “I thought I’d lost you.” Sam waited for her to wrap her arms around him and hug him.
But Diana didn’t move. She didn’t say anything. Sam looked up to her face, as was horrified that her left half of her face was black with a red eye, and her ‘corrupted’ side of her mouth was also red and dripping blood from it.
Sam backed up slowly, but Diana grabbed him and held him still, as her left arm turned black and corrupted as her nails turned neo red and sharpened into claws. “What’s wrong Honey?” she said, her voice was a mixture of her own and a twisted and deepened version of her voice.
Tears streamed down Sam’s face, he was too scared. Then a three-clawed hand shot out her stomach and grabbed his face.
The night morning, Sam awoke screaming and painting. He looked around, due to not wearing his glasses, he couldn’t see very well, but he thought he was back in his bedroom as he got his breath under control, he breathed a sigh of relief, thinking that it was all a dream. He managed to see his classes, he put them on, but then his smile faded as he now saw that the room wasn’t his.
Fluttershy had woken up before him and was downstairs making breakfast from her animal friends. Once she was done, she smiled, “I wonder if that little one is awake yet?” she said to herself, when she heard a scream come from her room, she started to make her way up the stairs to check on Sam.
Sam heard someone coming upstairs and began to panic, in reflex, he dove up the covers and didn’t dare make a sound. Fluttershy saw that Sam was under the covers, she slowly removed them, and Sam, didn’t know what to do, just froze. Fluttershy looked at Sam and saw that he froze, she felt worried that she might have scared him, or worse. She nuzzled him gently, her fur on her muzzle felt really soft on Sam’s cheek and he relaxed and giggled a bit as it tickled him.
Fluttershy started to smile upon seeing Sam happy. “Are you ok, little one?” She asked.
Sam was a little taken aback, not excepting her to speak, “Y-Yes miss,” Sam spoke up politely.
“What nice manners,” Fluttershy responded, “But there’s no need to be formal little one. My name is Fluttershy.”
“M-my name is Sam,” He replied.
“Aww, what a cute name,” Fluttershy said, making Sam blush, “Are you hungry Sam?”
“I am a little,” Sam replied, rubbing his stomach.
“Come on then,” Fluttershy said as she allowed Sam to get on her back. Sam climbed on and she took him downstairs. Sam was surprised by all the animals. Fluttershy took Sam into the kitchen and placed him on a stool, while she went to fix him something to eat. She prepared a bowl of porridge for Sam and added some fruit to make it taste sweeter.
“Enjoy, Little One,” she said as she placed the bowl in front of Sam. Now Sam wasn’t a big fan of porridge, but he hated to say no to something that took time to make.
Sam picked up a spoon and took a bite of the porridge. His eyes shot open, “AHHH! This is the best porridge I’ve ever eaten,” Sam squealed. It took another bite, it seemed to taste sweeter than the last bite. Fluttershy was glad he liked it. Soon Sam finished his breakfast, letting off a little burp which seemed to warm Fluttershy’s heart even more.
“Thank you Fluttershy,” Sam said as he licked his lips.
“You're very welcome Sam,” she replied with a smile, before having a question on her mind, “Sam, if I may ask, can you tell me where you came from?”
The moment she asked the question, Sam went quiet, his smile fell, he was happy anymore, he was sad. Fluttershy grew concerned, “Sam? What’s wrong?”
“I have no more home?” Sam said softly, as tears started to leak from his eyes.
Fluttershy was a little confused by that, “what do you mean, ‘you have no more home’?” she asked.
“I-I came from another world, and everyone in that world were turned into common animals, including my mother,” Sam whimpered as he started to cry. Fluttershy’s mother instincts kicked in, as she rushed to Sam’s side and gave him a hug.
“Oh you poor, poor little dear,” Fluttershy comforted him, she rubbed his side and kissed his forehead. Sam embraced the hug, and returned him, rubbing his face into her soft fur. “I’m so sorry for your loss.”
Sam calmed down enough to thank Fluttershy for comforting him. Fluttershy rubbed his remaining tears away. “Sam, I have a friend coming over shortly that I would like to help you.”
“W-Who?” Sam asked in a groggy voice from his crying.
“Her name is Twilight Sparkle,” Fluttershy said, as if it was planned, a knock came from the door, “and that should be her.”
“Wow, talk about timing,” Sam said. Fluttershy went to answer the door. When she opened it, she was greeted by Twilight Sparkle. She was a lavender unicorn, with pink eyes, purple tail and mane with pink streaks running through and a six-pointed star with five smaller stars surrounding it on her rump.
“Good morning Fluttershy,” she greeted her yellow friend.
“Good Morning Twilight,” Fluttershy returned, “here to pick up Owlowiscious’ food?”
“Yes,” Twilight replied.
“Ok, come on in,” Fluttershy said, “I have someone I want you to meet.”
“Oh? Who’s that?” Twilight asked.
Fluttershy brought Twilight in and showed her Sam, who stood in the middle of the room. “Twilight, I like you to meet, Sam,” Fluttershy said as Sam gave a little wave.
“Oh my,” Twilight said shocked at Sam, “Fluttershy, do you know what that is?”
“No?” Fluttershy replies slowly before Twilight quickly answers, “this is a human, I thought they all went extinct after Nightmare Moon was defeated and was trapped in the moon.”
“I do have a name you know,” Sam spoke bluntly.
“Sorry, I was geeking out again,” Twilight said before calming down, “I’m Twilight Sparkle, nice to meet you Sam.” She stretched her hoof for a shake. Sam reached out his arm and grabbed her hoof and shook it.
“Sam, if you don’t mind me asking, I was told that all humans in Equestria went extinct, so where did you come from?” Twilight asked.
Sam’s face dropped again, his colour seemed to drain from his face. “Twilight,” Fluttershy said, “Sam came from another world, and that all the human’s were turned to animals, including his mother.”
“Sweet Celestia,” Twilight remarked, shocked, feeling sorry for asking the question. Twilight walked up to Sam and embraced him, “I’m sorry for asking you.”
“It’s-it’s ok, you didn’t know,” Sam responded.
“Say, how would you like to meet my other friends?” Twilight asked.
“Are they nice like you and Fluttershy?” Sam asked back.
“Yes, very nice and friendly,” Twilight giggled at his question. Using her magic, she levitated Sam onto her back, as well as the bird food for her pet. “Goodbye Fluttershy,” Twilight called as she waved to her friend.
“Bye Twilight,” Fluttershy waved back, “bye Sam.”
“Bye-Bye Fluttershy,” Sam replied as he waved bye to Fluttershy.
Twilight closed the door as she, with Sam on her back, walked down to the little town.
“Who are we going to meet first, Twilight,” Sam asked.
“Well one of them is coming up right now,” Twilight said. Sam looked up to see a bright pink pony, with light blue eyes, brighter pink puffy mane, and tail, with three balloons on her rump.
“Heya Twi,” the pony greeted happily.
“Hello Pinkie Pie,” Twilight replied, Pinkie then noticed Sam’s leg on Twilight's back.
“Hey Twilight? What’s that on your back?” she asked.
“Pinkie, I'd like you to meet Sam,” Twilight said. Sam waved to Pinkie, excepting a wave back. But Pinkie didn’t wave. Her eyes shrank, she did a massive gasp as she jumped in the air and ran away.
“Was it something I said?” Sam asked, thinking he did something wrong.
“No, don’t worry,” Twilight assured him, “That was Pinkie being Pinkie.”
Twilight continued to walk into town, Sam looked around, ponies looked at him, Sam felt uneasy. Twilight looked around too, ponies seemed to look away when she looked at them. Twilight then felt the wing suddenly push from behind her, she looked up and saw one of her friends. “HEY RAINBOW!” she called out. Rainbow heard her and looked down.
“HEY TWILIGHT!” she called back as she flew down. But she came down too fast and couldn’t stop herself. Twilight threw Sam off her back just as Rainbow crashed into Twilight.
Sam landed in a barrel of apples, so he had a sort of soft landing. But his feet were sticking out. “Help!” he called out. He then felt something slowly pull him out, it was a magic aura, but it felt different to Twilight’s. He was placed back on the ground, in front of a white unicorn with a gorgeous purple styled mane and tail, blue eyes and three diamonds on her rump. Standing next to her was an orange pony with freckles, green eyes, blonde mane, and tail, three apples on her rump, and a Stetson hat. Standing next to her, was a little olive pony, with a red mane, and tail, and a big pink bow.
“You ok little fella?” the orange pony asked, “that was a nasty throw Twilight did.
“Don’t blame me,” Twilight said as she and Rainbow walked to them, “Rainbow was the one that crashed into me.”
“I said I was sorry,” Rainbow replied, “anyway, I was distracted by this little thing here.”
“Rainbow Dash, don’t insult the poor darling,” the white unicorn said, “Sorry darling about Rainbow, she can be a bit hard-headed sometimes.”
“Hey!” Rainbow yelled, “anyway, Rainbow Dash’s the name.”
“I’m Applejack,” the orange pony said.
“I’m Apple Bloom,” the little pony spoke up.
“And I’m Rarity,” the white unicorn responded, “what’s your name darling?”
“I’m Sam,” Sam replied.
“Where did you come from, little guy?” Rainbow asked. Once again, Sam’s face dropped as tears slowly leaked out his eyes.
“Rainbow! Look what you have done!” Rarity shouted as she wrapped Sam in a hug, “you’ve upset the poor darling.”
“Girls, Sam is from a different universe, where all the humans in his world were turned into animals, including his mother,” Twilight told them. They all gasped and Apple Bloom went to hug Sam, she was roughly the same height as him.
“Twilight? Is it ok if I take Sam to meet my friends?” Apple Bloom asked.
Twilight thought about it, then replied, “that’s fine with me.”
Apple Bloom was happy, “Come on Sam,” she said, Sam, who had stopped crying, followed her.
Once they were out of earshot and sight, Applejack asked, “was that a good idea Twilight?”
“Yeah, it gives us time to get ready for his surprise party, Pinkie's planning.”
Sam followed Apple Bloom around the town, and to a tree house on a farm that Apple Bloom explained that was her home, called Sweet Apple Acres.
“Welcome to the Cutie Mark Crusaders Clubhouse Sam!” Apple Bloom declared.
“Not bad,” Sam remarked looking around, “so what do you do here?”
“Me and my friends look for ways to get our Cutie Marks,” she explained.
“What’s a Cutie Mark?” Sam asked.
“It’s these marks that we get on our flanks,” Apple Bloom told him.
“Like what Twilight and Fluttershy have?” Sam asked again.
“Yeah,” Apple Bloom answered, “we could help you find one!”
“I don’t think human’s have cutie marks,” Sam said before walking over to a board with drawings of ponies on it, “who are they?”
“Those are me and my friends,” Apple Bloom answered, “the white one is Sweetie Belle and the orange one is Scootaloo.” Before Apple Bloom could say anything else to reply, she heard voices. “Hey, my friends are here!” she said happily.
“What is up with the time,” Sam said to no one in particular.
Apple Bloom opened the door to greet her friends. Sam saw a white filly unicorn with a pink and purple mane and tail, and green eyes, and an orange filly pegasus with a purple mane and tail and purple eyes. Like Apple Bloom, neither of them had cutie marks.
“Hey Apple Bloom,” Sweetie Belle greeted, giving her friend a hug.
“We got lunch,” Scootaloo said, holding three pizza boxes, then she noticed Sam standing nervously, “Oh, we have company.”
“Sweetie Belle, Scootaloo, this my new friend, Sam,” Apple Bloom introduced Sam. Sam was too nervous to do anything, so he just waved and gave a small smile.
“Oh my Celestia! He’s so cute!” Sweetie Belle squealed as she ran up and gave Sam a hug. Sam felt his muscle get squeezed and struggled to breathe and he then heard his Colour Timer flashing.
“Sweetie you don’t want to strangle our new friend to death,” Scootaloo jokes, “he’s already turning blue in the face.
“Oops,” Sweetie Belle said as she let go of Sam, “sorry.” Sam gasped for air as his Colour Timer stopped flashing.
“Hey bud, don’t worry about Sweetie Belle,” Scootaloo walked up to him and patted his back, “she had a strong grip when it comes to hugs, but she’s really nice. Are you good?”
“Yep,” Sam panted, getting his breath back, “I’m good.” Then his nose caught the smell of the pizzas. “Is that pizza?”
“Yeah,” Sweetie Belle replied, “we had two plain cheese pizzas and one pineapple and ham.”
Sam perked up when he heard ham and pineapple, “did you say pineapple and ham?”
“Yeah,” Scootaloo said, “that’s mine but you can share with me if you would like.” Sam nodded.
While the four had lunch, the girls told Sam about themselves. How they met and what adventures and trouble they would get themselves into. Sam laughed how they made Apple Bloom’s older brother and their teacher fall in love with each other. Sam then told them about him and his life back on earth and how he ended up in Equestria. And how he lost his mother. Apple Bloom, Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo felt sorry for Sam and gave him a softer hug.
After that, the girls decided to show Sam around the town. Apple Bloom showed him her home Sweet Apple Acres, Sweetie Belle showed him her home the Carousel Boutique and Scootaloo showed him their school house. Sam was really impressed. The four were just walking through town, when Sam had the feeling of being watched and followed. He turned around and saw too many earth pony fillies following them.
One was pink with a violet mane and tail with white streaks, blue eyes, and a tiara as her cutie mark, as well as one on her head. The second was grey, was a lighter grey mane and tail, violet eyes, pearl opal glasses and necklace, and a spoon for a cutie mark. Sam turned back around as asked Apple Bloom.
“Apple Bloom, who are those two following us?” he asked.
Apple Bloom turned around as saw the two fillies and sighed. “What do you two want now?” Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo turned around and saw them too and sighed as well.
“We want nothing to do with you blank flanks,” the pink one said, “we’re more interested in your new pet.”
‘Ouch that hurt,’ Sam thought.
“He is not a pet, he’s a human and our friend,” Sweetie Belle stood up for Sam.
“Really, he looks like a hairless ape,” the grey one responded.
“Who are these two?” Sam asked quietly to Sweetie Belle who was standing close to him to get him safe.
“Those are the school bullies, Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon,” Sweetie Belle told him.
“Oh, so the snubby rich kids who think they're better than everyone, but probably have a hard time at home so they make themselves seem tough by bullying others,” Sam said.
“How do you know that?” Apple Bloom asked.
“Hey, I was bullied before, so I know how it feels,” Sam replied, “how did these two get their cutie marks, Diamond being ‘daddy’s little princess’ and Silver collecting a lot of spoons.”
Silver Spoon and Diamond Tiara growled, “Watch what you said ape,” Diamond snarled at him.
“Or what, I’ve been called worse by a parrot,” Sam retorted, “what makes you think you can scare me?”
“This,” before anyone could say anything, Diamond jumped and punched Sam in the face. This caused Sam to fall to the ground, luckily his glasses didn’t crack or break, but his nose was bleeding. “Could a parrot punch you in the face?” Diamond said with an evil grin on her face.
Sweetie Belle, Apple Bloom, and Scootaloo went to his aid. “What was that for?!” shouted Apple Bloom.
“What, he asked for it,” Diamond said as she came closer and got in Sam’s face, “now you listen here, if you get in my way again, I do something much worse.”
Sam gulped as Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon walked away chuckling to themselves, though Silver Spoon seemed quieter than usual. When the two were far enough, they helped Sam up and helped him clean up. Soon his nose stopped bleeding.
“Are you ok Sam?” Apple Bloom said, worried.
“Yeah, I’m ok now,” he said, rubbing his face.
“Are you sure?” Sweetie Belle asked, “she hit you pretty hard.”
“Yeah, I’ve been through worse pain,” Sam told them.
“What do you mean?” Scootaloo asked.
Sam knew that he would have to tell them. “Like I said, I was bullied, but when my old bullies hurt me, the damage was more… permanent,” Sam then lifted his t-shirt and the girls gasped in horror. Under Sam’s shirt, his body was marked with scars, on his torso, back and shoulders. “Each mark is every time they bullied me and lost the fight.” A tear sneaked out from his eyes.
The girls felt even more sorry for him and hugged him again. Scootaloo then noticed the sun was going down, “looks like we need to get back home, it’s getting late.”
“Do you have a place to stay Sam?” Sweetie Belle asked.
“I think Twilight's going to look after me,” Sam replied, “do you know where she lives?”
“I’ll show you,” Sweetie said, “I need to walk to Twilight’s to get home.”
“Ok,” Apple Bloom said before she and Scootaloo gave Sam one more hug. “Bye Sam.”
“See ya Bud,” Scootaloo said as the two walked their ways home. Sam and Sweetie walked their way to Twilight’s house.
Soon Sam and Sweetie Belle came to a big tree that was hollowed out into a library, all the lights were off inside so Sam couldn’t see inside. “Thanks for taking me to Twilight’s Sweetie Belle,” Sam responded.
“That’s ok,” Sweetie replied, “I’m just glad you're ok, from that punch from Diamond.”
“Well I guess I will see you tomorrow,” Sam said as he stood on the doorstep.
“Not guess, you will see me tomorrow,” Sweetie said, “we need to make you a member of the Cutie Mark Crusaders.” Before leaving, she gave Sam a nuzzle on the cheek, and waved goodbye.
Sam turned around and let himself in. After today he was a little more confident and went inside, but it was so dark, he couldn’t see a thing.
“Twilight, are you here?” he called out, no response came back, “where’s that light switch?” Just as he said that, the lights came on and Sam was greeted by a lot of ponies looking at him with happy faces.
“Surprise!” they all shouted, this scared Sam so much he actually screamed in fright, then he started to laugh.
“Wow, holy cow, who planned this?” Sam asked, chuckling still.
“I DID!” cried a familiar voice, Sam looked forward as saw Pinkie hopping up to him with the rest of her friends. “Hi, we didn’t meet properly, I’m Pinkie Pie,” she said, "Element of Laughter and Ponyville's best and only Party Planner."
“Hi, I’m Sam,” he said but then Pinkie grabbed him and gave him a massive hug, surprisingly she wasn’t crushing him like Sweetie Belle did. Probably because she was softer and fluffier.
“Pinkie,” Twilight said with a defeated smile, “you trying to suffocate him in your mane.”
Pinkie let go of Sam and apologised for that. “Hope you enjoy your party,” she said.
“What’s the party for,” Sam asked, “my birthday isn’t until September.”
“It’s your ‘welcome to Ponyville party’,” Pinkie exclaimed, before hopping for some food.
“It’s a Pinkie thing,” Twilight assured Sam.
“Couple of months ago she celebrated my half birthday,” Rainbow said.
“And before that she wanted to celebrate Gummy’s after birthday party,” Rarity said, “but we had plans for her birthday party.”
They all laughed, “You go and have some fun Sugarcube,” Applejack told him. Sam then went off.
Sam really enjoyed his party, he met a lot of ponies, like Lyra and Bon-Bon, Lyra was really happy to see Sam and Bon-Bon explained that Lyra had an obsession with hands and humans. Then he met a wall-eyed pony named Derpy, and the pony who was applying the music for the party, Vinyl Scratch, or her DJ name DJ Pon3. Sam was taking a little snack break when he felt a hoof tap his shoulder. He turned around too looked at the pony who had tapped his shoulder. She was dark grey, with a black mane and tail, she had a pink bowtie and a cutie mark of a pink musical note.
“Hello, dear,” she introduced herself while clearing her throat, “I’m Octavia Melody.”
“I’m Sam, nice to meet you,” he said, holding out his hand.
“It’s very nice to meet you too,” Octavia replied.
“If I may ask,” Sam said, “what do you do here in Ponyville?”
“I run a music shop here in Ponyville with my housemate, Vinyl Scratch,” Octavia stated, “she is the pony over there creating the music.”
“Yeah I met her earlier,” Sam responded.
“I’m just curious,” Octavia said, “but do you play any instruments?”
“Well, I don’t mean to brag but,” he chuckled to himself, “I can play Keyboard, Saxophone, Key-tar, Drums, but my favourites are electric and normal guitar.”
“Oh wow,” Octavia was a little surprised that a 10-year-old could be that talented.
“But I didn’t bring any of them with me,” Sam said, looking at the floor.
“Aww, don’t be sad dear,” Octavia said, “tell you what, when you come by my music shop, I’ll give you your own guitar, keyboard, etc. in the house.”
“Really?” Sam asked, receiving a nod from Octavia, “oh thank you, Miss. Octavia.” Hugging her leg.
“You're very welcome,” she replied, “And please, there is no need to be formal, just Octavia is fine.”
“Ok, Octavia,” Sam said, as Octavia broke the hug.
“Well, enjoy your party,” she said, “and I’ll see you whenever you come over.” As she starts walking off.
“Ok, bye,” Sam waved.
“Goodbye dear,” Octavia replied.
Sam heard his stomach growl, “Ok, ok settle down,” he said as ate a chocolate cupcake.
Later Sam was drinking some Lemonade when he heard a cloak chime, it was 10 o’clock. Ponies said goodbye to Sam and started to leave. The Elements bid farewell to Sam and gave him hugs and kisses on the cheeks. Soon the only ones left were Sam and Twilight.
“Fluttershy has asked me if I would like to take you and drop off your stuff,” Twilight told him, “and I agreed, so come on, time for bed, I bet you’re really tired.”
Sam nodded and yawned as he hugged her leg. “Thank you for taking me in,” Sam muttered loud enough for Twilight to hear. Twilight smiled and patted his head.
“I got Spike to clean this up in the morning,” Twilight said, “we have a busy day tomorrow.”
“Who’s Spike?” Sam asked.
“He’s my baby dragon assistant,” Twilight replied, “he’s probably asleep now.”
As Twilight and Sam went upstairs to the bedroom, Sam had a question in mind, “Twilight? When Pinkie greeted me, she said she was the 'Element of Laughter', what does that mean?”
“She along with the rest of us, are know as the Elements of Harmony and we represent each element,” Twilight answered, “Fluttershy is the element of Kindness, Rainbow is loyalty, Rarity is Generosity, Applejack is Honesty, Pinkie is Laughter, and I’m Magic.”
“Oh ok,” Sam responded, “So are you like the leader?”
“I guess I am,” Twilight replied, “but there are still six elements left, Justice, Empathy, Forgiveness, Dependability, Leadership, and Encouragement.”
They soon came into the bedroom, there was a giant window near the bed and a little basket with a sleeping baby dragon in it. Sam went to the bathroom and got ready for bed. When he came back Twilight was in her bed all ready. Sam came closer and Twilight opened the covers to allow him to sleep with her. Sam climbed in and smiled at Twilight.
“Goodnight Sam,” Twilight said as she kissed his forehead.
“Goodnight Twilight,” Sam replied and he snuggled closer.
Sam felt that he would get a goodnight sleep, with someone as kind and caring as Twilight sleeping with him.