//------------------------------// // 13 - Potential… // Story: Evergreen Falls // by Meep the Changeling //------------------------------// Samhain - 18th of Thanksgiving, 4 EoH Hackamore Valley Observatory - Evergreen Falls Sam rolled over in her bed, covering her head with her wing to block the light as much as possible. Unfortunately, her wing-membrane simply tinted the light orange. Feeling slightly confused at the accompanying sound of a creaking box spring. She blinked her eyes open and looked around, spying the interior of the apartment she’d moved into last week. I should decorate a little, she thought, looking at the bare walls and minimal furniture. Maybe that would help me remember I live up here now. She stretched as she got out of bed, popping her back into place with a few twitches of her shoulders and one long slow twist to the left. Once her spine was no longer mad at her for existing, Sam checked her clock and wall calendar. “Oh… Right,” she grumbled to herself, staring at the circled 18 on the calendar, ears flicking back. “SkyTech.” Three days ago, Princess Luna had made a public announcement. In the Royal Canterlot Voice, so the ponies who didn’t attend would hear anyway. Sam had gone, and been the only pony to bring ear protection (and consequently the only pony without mild tinnitus). The gist of the announcement had been that Luna was repossessing the land the town was on from the current Lord and would be the ultimate authority for non-CARE operations after the transition. However, in order to get the current Lord (whomever they were, as Luna kept them anonymous) to give her back the property, they had demanded some old ruins under the town be explored and cleared of any dangers by a civilian organization. For whatever reason, they had demanded this be SkyTech Industries. The Zebrican consumer goods company had agreed to take the job. Thus, the corporation would be setting up a temporary base of operations in town. And for whatever reason, I have to give one of their goons a tour of the observatory today, Sam said to herself grumpily. Which means I have to put on pants and look nice on a day off… This is some horseapples, I tell you! Sam opened the trunk at the foot of her bed, kicked her work clothes aside and took out her plastic wrapped navy blue suit. She only wore it for job interviews, and the plastic kept it nice and pristine between uses. It was easily the nicest bit of clothing she owned, and fortunately for her, its tailored fit still managed to look nice once she’d shrugged her way into the suit pants, shirt, and jacket. Sam checked her reflection in the window and huffed. I look like trash without my hat… Buck it, it doesn't match but I’m gonna wear it. Corpo-dick can just deal with it. Sam huffed and began searching for wherever her hat had wound up while Trixie was visiting last night. Her hat proved to have made its way on top of her curtain rail, requiring her to flutter her way to the ceiling in order to retrieve it. The moment she picked it up Sam noticed some of the stitching on the band had come undone and made a little hole. Nothing major, one easily repaired. By somepony who could sew. Which she could, in fact, not. At least, not well. Great! Sam sighed and quickly removed the pin from her hat and set both on her bed. Now I have to go see if the tailor can fix my hat. There isn’t time to do that now, I have the tour in like, thirty minutes. Lamenting the need to open her old hooflocker, Sam took a breath to steel herself, reached under her bed, and slid the chipped and battered olive green crate from under her bed. I liked it better when this was in a local storage unit, Sam grumbled as she put in her combination and opened the box’s lid. Her old ranger uniforms sat on top. One dress, one field. One clean, one stained with blood and mud. She pushed the uniforms aside gently, making her way through the layer of ribbons and certificates, then the letters from old friends and old homes (addressed to her translated name, Autumn Twilight, of course), to the bottom where a rifle-green beret lay. Sam picked up her old cap, and began to dust it off with one hoof, prompting a formerly tan now dark brown bandana to fall from the hat and plop onto the box’s contents. Same froze, staring at the bandana for several long moments. In her mind's eye, it was clean, new, and tied around a friend’s neck at a jaunty angle. In her mind’s heart, it was soaking up the blood from a neck slit by gryphon talons. Sam put her hat down on the bed and picked up the bandana for a moment. As much as she preferred not to think of the past, a moment of silence for her old friend seemed in order. Wordlessly, and without thought, Sam unfolded the bandana, smoothed it out by hoof, used a little weather magic to steam it smooth, then neatly folded it and replaced it at the bottom of her locker. “Miss you, Tangerine,” Sam said quietly before she re-buried the bandana in the locker’s contents and closed the lid. Sam clipped her ranger pin back to her beret and put it on, tucking her mane up into the cap to be all professional and lacking in visual distinction, personality, or anything that mattered. As corporate types always demanded of everyone they interacted with professionally. Sam couldn’t help thinking about the rest of her old kit while putting the beret on. That was why it languished in a locker despite being her favorite style of hat. Irbrand Special Forces had some of the best equipment in the world. Manipulator gauntlets linked to exoskeletons allowed them to use heavy weapons without tripods, run all day without tiring, and clear record breaking distances in a single jump. Enchanted anklets that made them faster. The endurance amulets which let them stay up for days on end. Sam blinked, frowning sharply. “Wait a damn minute…” She turned her mind's eye back to the old days, carefully ignoring the parts she preferred to never revisit. That’s why I felt like a failure for getting tired! I just went right for pep pills because I was all “I can’t even be awake for two days, something must be medically wrong! I’ll see a doctor later” then I just never did! Sam turned and punched the wall angrily. Those bucking amulets! It was never me being awake that long. That was war kit! Buck! How much of what I remember doing when I was young was even me? This is some crap the therapist should have asked about. I sure as hell didn’t think of it! I was using that thing every single day for three years during the war, retired when it ended, and just went right out into civvy life without anything that made me…  A weapon! That’s kind of an ego death there, guys. Might want to have someone warn a girl about it. Sam spent a few moments regaining her breath. She’d almost succeeded when the intercom crackled to life, playing the mid-hi-lo chimes for the doorbell. Oh. Early. Cool. Sam thought bitterly, then left her room and walked to the dorm’s front door. The early morning sun shone through the glass doors, silhouetting a mare who visibly bounced with excess energy and had the single most distinct outline Sam had ever seen. Her eyes narrowed, her jaw slowly dropped. Is that… Holy buck! She didn’t die when the camp was— Sam raced to the door and practically ripped it open. A pink and more pink earth pony mare gasped and hugged the crap out of Sam before the thestral could get her own hug out of its holster. Damn. Out-drawn again. “Autumn! Long time no see!” She proclaimed, managing to make herself excite-bounce on her hind legs despite holding another mare’s entire body weight. Ah. Smell still bothers her. Sam lamented. Can’t blame her much though. We both went through some shit. “Nice to see you, Pinkie. I go by Samhein now though,” Sam corrected. “Where did you go after the…well… You know. They wouldn’t tell me. I thought you’d died.” Pinkie let go of Sam, allowing Sam to see Pinkie was, as most ponies, entirely undressed. “What are you doing here?” Sam asked, frowning slightly. “I can’t catch up for long. I have to give some SkyTech dude a tour.” “That’s me! I’m Mr. Trigger’s secretary of secretary stuff,” Pinkie proclaimed with a wide simile. Sam tilted her head, frowning in mild confusion. “Really?” “Yepperooni!” “Shouldn’t you be in whatever uniform your corp issued then?” Sam added, making Pinkie laugh. “Oh, Sky doesn't do uniforms. Just an ID on a lanyard. I keep mine in my hair!” She said with a little shrug. “As for old days' stuff, I switched jobs after escaping Camp Pinnacle. Became a medic, that way I could help ponies get better. Seemed a little more useful to all my friends than a cook after that, you know? Oh um… Sorry I didn’t get you out too.” Sam nodded in understanding and agreement. “Fair enough… Bit of a shame though. The Zebrican military lost one hell of a cook! You made every R&R I got to take, actually relaxing. Still miss your brownies.” Pinkie smiled. “Weeelll, sometimes a cookie doesn't make it all better. By the way, you can totally get out of that monkey suit. I know you hate it.” Sam nodded and wordlessly started to undo her tie with a hoof and unbutton her jacket with her wings. “Soooo, wanna do this whole thing real quick so I have time to make you some brownies?” Pinkie asked with a hopeful smile. “You seem like you could use a pick-me-up.” Sam paused her stripping to nod. “Yea… Got reminded of a friend this morning.” Pinkie nodded, quietly indicating her understanding. “Probably worse for you,” Sam muttered as she shrugged out of her jacket. “What with befriending everypony you meet.” Pinkie snickered. “Well… Yes and no.” “So, still in the Zebrican National Guard? Why’d you even join up with them? Weren't you just in Zebrica on a work visa?” Sam asked, making conversation as she awkwardly stepped out of the rest of her suit and quickly folded it up. Pinkie raised an eyebrow. “No. Retired the same time you did, probably the same reason. As for why, the country I moved to went to war. I wanted to make sure everypony got a good meal, and you didn’t need to be in the real army to be a camp cook. I just… Felt I should help out how I could, and there was a way to do that where I shouldn’t have gotten shot at. I’d have done the same for Equestria too.” Sam nodded, satisfied with the answer. “Duty is as good a reason as any,” she said. “Hey, come to think of it, you never mentioned why you left Equestria. Mind telling me?” Pinkie giggled. “It’s… stupid. How about you go first? Why’d you move to Equestria?” Sam grunted. “Uh. Dusk needed a favor involving me being here. I wanted to be somewhere I couldn’t be called back to active duty… And I owed her one for that whole ‘let me walk off being shot in the back of the head so I can escape’ thing she did for me, so. Yea.” Pinkie frowned and gave Sam a quick hug, knowing full well how badly the griffons had treated PoWs. “Sorry for bringing it up. I just…” Pinkie paused for a moment, then decided to just be totally honest with her old friend. “When I was a filly, I saw a rainbow. From that moment on I knew I was going to be important to Equestria. Until the morning after my graduation from culinary school. Something changed. I knew I wasn’t important any more. That I was free and could do anything I wanted with my life. So I thought about where I’d like to live, and an oasis with lots of sun, and zebras, and changebuggies, and ponies, and all kinds of people to meet and learn about seemed nice. So, I moved. I never planned on staying long but, well, I wound up working for SkyTech and… I don’t know. I feel happy working here! Like, totally at-peace happy.” Sam smiled. “I’m glad you do. Here’s hoping I can find that one day.” She said, finally done getting out of her monkey suit. “Let me toss this in my room and we can get this knocked out real quick. Looking forward to those brownies.” Sam led Pinkie on a quick tour of the dorms, commenting on them being largely private areas, though Pinkie did delight at the state of the art (for 20 years ago) communal kitchen, noting she could “feed an army with a kitchen like this”. Sam laughed, remarking she’d done it before on some camp stoves, and they moved on to the telescopes. Pinkie didn’t seem all that interested in any of the three scopes, only making idle comments and a few jokes. Sam almost thought her tour was some kind of corporate checkbox tick, except every once in a while she caught her looking a little too critically at an empty room, checking if a power outlet was up to code, and noting fire exits. Suspicious, but not yet worried, Sam continued on, taking Pinkie through various outbuildings, then the labs. As Sam showed Pinkie the currently not in use Astrophysics lab, located in one of the corners of the compound, Pinkie nodded, seemingly satisfied. Having been trained to understand non-verbal communication as best she could, Sam knew that some company parameters had been met by the dusty, mostly empty, mothballed old building. “So… What’s SkyTech really doing here?” Sam asked, stopping and standing entirely still to emphasize she wouldn’t budge on the issue. Pinkie bit her lip, then shrugged. “Meh, you won’t mind and I know you know how to keep a secret… Not that it will be secret for long,” she mused before pointing to the large empty space they’d just left. “Since there’s no equipment in there, cuz it’s obviously a lab for wizards who do illusions and simulate stuff, it could be made into a barracks pretty easily. We’ve been asked to clear out the ruins, which will take a long time. It’s a whole city down there, see?” Sam’s wings twitched. “What?! I thought it was just a palace.” “Palaces come with cities. Also we got seismic scans done,” Pinkie corrected, shaking her head. “Princess Luna said it was a city too. So… Celestia misremembered I guess? But, it will take a long time to clear it out, so we’ll need a place to stay long term. The Observatory's close to the quarry, so Sky wanted to see if we could have fifty or so ponies here, and then another hundred or so at the base camp and on the site. Which we totally can!” Sam rolled her lips, not entirely sure how comfortable she was with having a company move into her home. “Not that I can really object… I don’t own the place and neither dose June, we just live here but—” Pinkie rolled her eyes and shook her head. “Sammie, SkyTech isn’t like most companies. Know how everyone says ‘This is a family!’ when you go to the interview?” Sam nodded once. “Yep.” Most common lie ever. “Well, SkyTech doesn't say that,” Pinkie continued. “And then, like, you know. They totally are! Yea, we’re all there to make money and stuff, but it’s mostly about bettering everyone’s lives and solving problems. And I know how culty that sounds to you, but I promise for once it’s really just a bunch of people working hard to help. Like, you know Mr. Trigger was raised by changelings, right?” Sam raised an eyebrow. “I hadn’t actually…” She thought for a moment then sighed. “I trust you. It’s just… Nopony likes their home being disrupted, you know?” Pinkie nodded eagerly. “Right! Which is why I’m glad we can use a totally different building.” Sam closed her eyes tightly. “That’s… A good point.” “Besides, I’ll be on the support team for this job,” Pinkie continued happily as ever. “Which means we can be next door neighbors for a while! I hope that makes up for the inconveniences. Cuz I know there will be a few. Like, you do maintenance here right? I know I’ll break something at some point, so, sorry in advance.” Sam snorted. “Well, if you’ll be here, then it can’t be all bad,” she decided. “It's nice to… Well, get to see you again. I thought I’d never know anypony from the old days.” Pinkie blinked and pulled a small notebook from her mane. “Lots of us made it! Didn’t they give you addresses?” Sam shook her head, her eyes narrowing in anger. “No. They didn’t.” Pinkie’s face fell. “Oh no! Well, come on. You can copy all my contacts with blue labels while I make us some brownies, okay?” Sam stepped over to Pinkie and pulled her in for a close hug. “Thanks, Private.” “I retired as a Sergeant First Class actually,” Pinkie commented off hoof. Sam raised an eyebrow. “As a medic?” She blushed lightly. “Yes. For the kind of squad you’re not allowed to talk about.” Sam nodded, entirely understanding. “Tried to get assigned to my squad?” Pinkie smiled knowingly. “I’d rather just talk about good times, okay?” Sam nodded in agreement. “Kitchen’s this way.” The two headed to the kitchen, moving back across the compound and giving Sam some time to think. If what she says is true, then it's the best case scenario for this entire thing, Sam mused. June and I are pretty sure her dad’s the Lord Luna’s not mentioning. From what June told me of her dad, this is the kind of idiocy he’d have pulled and we’re both kinda sure he wound up being the Lord somehow. At least he didn’t demand FlimFlam Co.. Even if those idiots stayed in Vanhoofer, I’d hate them just being here. Sam looked up at Pinkie for a moment, doing her best to not stare at the straight mare’s plot. Stop it, Sam. You have a marefriend now… Who would also check her out. Because changeling. Mm… Sam mentally cleared her throat to refocus. Though it is pretty good evidence that SkyTech’s not like normal companies if she gets to dress how she likes. Maybe I’ll get lucky and it will just be like subletting to some cool exchange students. Sam hummed and tilted her head in sudden realization. Some of their workers will be Zebricans. I can probably get to have those awesome kebabs again! So that’s something. The two arrived at the dormitory’s rear entrance and Pinkie held the door open for Sam, allowing the two to enter directly into the communal dining room / kitchen combo. “Soooo, brownies!” Pinkie said with her usual chipper smile. “Do you have everything we need?” Sam shrugged and opened the baking cabinet and began to sort through the carefully labeled tupperware containers. “Flower, brown sugar, white sugar, red sugar, Changeling vitamins—” “Changeling vitamins?” Pinkie asked, raising an eyebrow. Sam sighed and took a small white tin container out of the cupboard and set it on the counter. “No idea. It’s been here since before I was. Where was I? Right! Salt… Cake flower, vanilla sugar, chocolate sugar, toffee chips, chocolate chips—” Pinkie trotted over to the container on the counter and opened it. “Oh! Neat.” Sam turned away from the cupboard. “What is it?” “What it says on the tin. Love,” Pinkie informed matter of factly. Sam gave her a blank look. “You can’t put love in a tin.” “You super can, see?” Pinkie said, tilting the open container towards the other mare. Sam peeked inside and gave Pinkie another more intense blank look. “It’s empty. Don’t pull my tail like that.” “Super isn’t and I’ll prove it. We’ll make two batches of brownies,” Pinkie said as she produced a cookbook from Celestia knows where and set it on the counter already open to the brownie page for such is the nature of the pink one. Sam shrugged. “Sure. I’m guessing you add that to one and—” Pinkie nodded. “Mhm! Just follow the recipe, it’s super easy. Mind if I sing while we bake? It’s a habit.” “Not at all,” Sam said as she bent down to get a pair of mixing bowls out from under the counter. Pinkie took one bowl and began to measure flour with measuring cups Sam swore had been in the drawer and not already on the counter, singing in a foreign language as she worked. “ˈdɒmɪnəʊz ˈfɔːlɪŋ // ˈraɪət ɪn ðə striːts. // ˈbeɪbi ðɪs taɪm, // ðeəz nəʊ rɪˈtriːt. // ðeəz nəʊ səˈrɛndə // ə ˈdɛvᵊl ɪz ˈraɪzɪŋ, // ə ˈʃædəʊ frɒm ðə pɑːst—” “Hold up,” Sam said, putting a hoof on Pinkie’s shoulder. “That’s Enox’s language. How do you know it?” Pinkie’s ears perked up. “Oh! Sorry, that’s English. The Emerald Changelings speak it, and live under Phoenix. I like their music. I don’t know what any of that meant, I just memorized the song. I didn’t think anybuggie from down there moved up here. I should say hi and offer to take a letter home.” Sam blinked twice. “Uh… No? She’s an alien. Like, a space alien. From space. It’s an alien language.” Pinkie shrugged. “I don’t think so? Is she a prankster? Might just be pulling your tail!” Sam’s eyes narrowed dangerously. “That… Little… Troll!” Pinkie cracked a grin. “Sounds like I’d like her. Are you sure she’s actually an alien?” “Yes. She’s proved that a few times.” “Cool! Pass the eggs, please. Chicken ones, not alien ones.” Sam looked in the fridge, frowning. “Wait, why are there alien egg—” She facehooved. “You got me, Pinkie.” Pinkie laughed and continued her baking.  ⁜ ⁜ ⁜ Later that night, Sam sat on the mountainside, overlooking Evergreen Falls under the light of the moon. She’d felt restless since Pinkie had left. The excitable mare’s well adjusted attitude and unchanged nature had hit her in a way she’d never expected. Of course, Pinkie was much younger than her, and while they’d apparently shared a career for a while, Sam had been in it longer. She’d also been doing it while the Gryphon-Zebrican War had been in the phase most amateur historians had started to call “The Shittening”, a period of rapid escalation as two lightning offenses hit each other in the middle of the Hotep jungle. Needless to say, it was a very bad time to be a member of special forces in a nation allied with either side. It’s good that happened early in her life, Sam mused. She gave it a small part of her formative years. I gave it the last of mine… And what do I have to show for it? Unmeetable self-expectations, a box of crap that makes me sad, and a list of friends I don’t get to see anymore. As much as Sam disliked the corporate life, she was glad Pinkie had found something that called to her. She’s got everything ahead of her. Plenty of time to get her life set back up, get on a good path, and retire after a full life. I’m glad for the lucky filly. I really am… Shame that’s just not the case for me. The toxic thought swirled in Sam’s mind for a few minutes. Eager to push it away and get back to enjoying her nighttime flight, Sam reached into her backpack for one of Pinkie’s brownies which Pinkie had insisted she pack away for “Sadness Emergencies”. Now seemed like a good time for one. Sam unwrapped the brownie, took a bite, and chewed for a few moments. Something, perhaps the rush of dopamine from a genuinely delightful treat, or maybe some stray remnant of Sam’s younger more optimistic self, lept up from the depths of her consciousness and pushed the cloud of negativity out of Sam’s mind like a good friend who was mad at her brain for being sad about stupid shit. “Oh!” Sam exclaimed, smiling ear to ear instantly. These ones are better. Buck me, I guess you can put love in a tin. Come to think of it… I’m not that old for a pegasus. I’ve got another century. Maybe a little more. I did a lot with my first century, and I’m not worn out yet. Sam realized, starting to mull that line of thought over. I lifted that log the other day. This crystal in my chest is something I’ve never gotten to explore, and it’s absolutely opening a door for me. Who knows what else this can do. The book Dusk got me is for something similar to what I have, so… Buck me, maybe I could use it to cast unicorn spells! It’s all an unknown. Sam took another bite of the brownie, and nodded to herself. This wasn’t the end, and she wouldn’t get anywhere she wanted to be by looking over her shoulder at closed doors. There had to be something out there she could do. Something her young self had always dreamed of. Something— Sam’s eyes widened with realization. I could have friends that are like family to me, but ones I’ll never have to leave, for the first time ever! That’s something I can start working on tonight. June, Violet. They like me. They care. I should care back even more. Sam finished the brownie, put the plastic wrap in her bag not to litter, then paused for a moment and smiled. “Thanks, Pinkie. You always did make the best brownies,” she commented before opening her wings to finish her late-night flight on a happy note.