//------------------------------// // Stranger in a Strange Land // Story: Rearranging Perspectives // by The Dimension Traveler //------------------------------// Rearranging Perspectives Chapter 7: Stranger in a Strange Land ___________________________________________________ Sam was not having the best of days. It all started out when Twilight had followed through on her threat to soak Sam should he not report at 4:30 am sharp. Six Hours Ago *SPLASH* “AHHHH!” “I warned you, didn’t I?” Twilight asked with an infuriatingly smug tone “Well excuse me if yesterday was somewhat taxing!” Sam barked in response “Never mind that now; we’ve got science to do!” Twilight exclaimed and began dragging Sam to her lab. “Why do I suddenly feel like I’m in the clutches of an organic GLaDOS?” Sam muttered to himself, but Twilight continued heedless of her victim/test subject/student’s observations. After being linked to several monitoring devices, Twilight began her relentless experiments, tossing different Light and Dark based spells at Sam like there was no tomorrow. Each and every time, the result was…not as prescribed. By the time Twilight had gathered enough data to satisfy her, Sam was dealing with a horrible headache that not even Twilight’s best healing spell could remove. Giving up on that, Twilight went to fetch the Princesses to give the results of her testing. “What is it you wanted to show us again, Twilight?” Luna asked her sister’s pupil. A moment later, she caught sight of a bedraggled Sam nursing a cup of herbal tea. “I wanted to show you how Sam reacts differently to Light and Dark based spells than ponies do,” Twilight answered “I swear, you’ll show them the printouts and nothing more or I’ll turn you into a Twicicle!” Sam threatened and then started rubbing at his temples to try and relieve his headache. “Er…right…anyway, as you can see from these printouts, Sam’s magical core reacts violently to spells that are Light based or Dark based. I hypothesize this is because humans aren’t beings of extremes like we ponies are. As you’ve no doubt noticed, the vast majority of ponies are either kind, generous, and loving; essentially of the Light or hate filled, selfish, and cruel; beings of the Dark. Very few fall in between these two extremes. Humans, on the other hoof, are filled with both Light and Dark in roughly equal amounts. As such, when Sam is exposed to Light or Dark Magic, it tries to annihilate its counterpart. Light based spells try to eliminate the Dark and vise versa. The resulting imbalance manifests itself in various physical maladies, such as the headache Sam is currently experiencing,” Twilight explained to Celestia and Luna. “Is there any way to overcome this?” Luna asked “Possibly. It’ll take more research, but judging from early scans, it’s possible that if Sam is exposed to enough Light and Dark based Magics, he’ll start absorbing them. It’s also possible that he’ll simply build up immunity to such magics and they won’t have any effect on him. There’s also the off chance Light and Dark Magics will start ‘mutating’ around him. What that would entail, I’m not entirely sure,” Twilight answered “Very good, my student, is there anything else we should know?” Celestia inquired “There is one other thing, but perhaps Sam should explain..?” Twilight looked over at her ailing student. “Fine, I’ll tell ‘em, but only because it save me the trouble of hunting them down later. I’ve been doing some studying down in the deeper sections of the archives and I’ve found a few scrolls written by some elemental mages. I was modifying them for my own use when I discovered something about my magic. While it can be used as pure elemental energy, it can be manipulated, refined, and magnified through various mathematical formulae, geometric shapes, and fusing of elements. While Twilight and I were…testing… the Light Magic she was using interacted with my Wind magic energies while trying to eradicate my Darkness. At the time, I was standing inside a circle with various runes. The result was a rather painful botched teleport. Proof of concept, insofar as I’m concerned. I’m telling you this because a few of my ideas have the potential to backfire spectacularly, so I’d like to build my own little testing bunker so that if it does backfire, I’m the only one that gets hurt,” Sam reported “Permission granted. In the mean time, there are some decommissioned testing facilities that should prove useful for some of your more tame experiments,” Celestia replied “Thank ya kindly. Now if you all don’t mind, I’m going to go find some more peppermint for my headache,” Sam said Eventually, Sam found the peppermint and his headache abated. Unfortunately, for him, by that time, breakfast was already over. Sam decided it might be a good idea to go to bed instead of risking his headache flaring back up, but his plans were waylaid by the Element of Generosity herself. “Sam, thank goodness I found you!” Rarity exclaimed “No rest for the wicked,” Sam grumbled under his breath. Louder, he said, “What can I do for you?” “I was hoping you’d help me in a demonstration of various Earth based battle tactics, particularly some of the more defensive styles,” Rarity explained “And it has to be me because I have so many elements available to me?” Sam asked “I knew you’d understand!” Rarity remarked and that’s how Sam ended up as a test dummy/attacker for Rarity’s demonstrations. It should be noted that Earth based combat is the most physical and when combined with Rarity’s tendencies to incorporate her Crystal sub-element into the mix, Sam was exceptionally sore by the end of the exercise. Now Thus, we find a tire, bruised, somewhat smelly Sam trudging down the halls of Canterlot Castel, hoping to find respite in a hot bath and a soft bed. The-Powers-That-Be, however, had other ideas. As Sam trudged towards his resting place, he heard Fluttershy and the Doctor shouting something, at least as much as Fluttershy ever shouts. Cursing his good-guy nature, Sam redirected himself towards the disturbance. What he found did not please him. Fluttershy was desperately trying to reign in some trouble-makers with the Doctor valiantly trying to help, but the stallions responsible for the commotion had no intention of listening to the soft-spoken Fluttershy or the stern Doctor. “General Fluttershy, Colonel Doctor, what seems to be the problem?” Sam asked as he approached. “Nothing’s wrong Sam, these ponies are just being a little rambunctious,” Fluttershy answered “These stallions are being disruptive, crude, and disrespectful towards superior officers,” The Doctor reported “Perhaps the two of you should take five, get some tea or something. I think I’ll have a little chat with these…ponies,” Sam said, and as soon as the two were out of earshot, Sam leveled a glare at the offending party. “Tell me something, do any of you know why you are in this particular regiment? I, for one, thought we made it clear during the board of review,” Sam let his words hang in the air for a few moments. No pony answered. “No one? Then let me spell it out for you: each and every one of you are worthless. You can’t run, you can’t fight, and you can’t plan. The only reason we haven’t sent you home is because we need medics,” Sam said harshly “Then I guess that makes General Fluttershy the most worthless of us all,” Somepony quipped and a split second later, Sam had his hand around the offending pony’s throat like a vice. “Excuse me, but could you repeat yourself? I’m afraid I misheard you,” Sam’s voice was dripping with malice. “I didn’t say anything,” The pony wheezed and Sam released his grip. “General Fluttershy is one of the best medics I’ve ever had the pleasure of coming across. The Doctor has proven himself similarly acquainted with the medical arts. I swear, if I catch wind of any of you giving either of them any grief, your next meal will be spiced with belladonna,” Sam threatened “You can’t do that!” Shouted somepony “Oh I can’t, can’t I? In my office, I have dozens of letters of condolence ready to go. I’d rather use one on your worthless hide than ten or twenty for the brave soldiers your incompetence has killed!” Sam snarled, “Your life is mine. You want to see how serious I am? I dare you to cause trouble for Fluttershy or the Doctor. I’ll laugh as you wither away from the poison! So if you want to serve as an example for your fellows, be my guest. DISMISSED!” They didn’t need to be told twice and the whole regiment scattered. Sam was left with his headache threatening to come back and his mood even more sour. “That was a little harsh, wasn’t it?” Sam turned around to see Luna standing there. “Normally, I’d agree with you, but sometimes you’ve just gotta put the fear of God into them. That and I might have taken out some of my own frustrations on them,” Sam admitted “If the way you look is anything to go by, I imagine your day hasn’t been the greatest,” Luna remarked “A hot shower and a soft bed and I won’t be putting the fear of God into anyone for the rest of the day, I promise,” Sam quipped “I suppose I should let you get to that,” Luna said “I hear a ‘but’ in there,” Sam remarked “It doesn’t matter, it can wait until tomorrow,” Luna assured Sam “‘Never put off until tomorrow what you can do today’. Since I’m already in a ‘helping out’ mode, I might as well help you with whatever it is,” Sam sighed “Well, given your reports from the Crystal Empire, I was thinking about tracking down one of those ‘boss’ Sun Eaters, as you called it…” ################################################# Sam flopped into his bed. He was utterly exhausted. He and Luna had wandered all over Canterlot; eventually they did find what they were looking for in the catacombs under the city. Unsurprisingly, it strongly resembled a giant rat. The two had captured the beast and it was now being studied in a secure lab. After that, Sam had run to his room as fast as his weary legs could carry him and had finally gotten his shower. Unfortunately, he found he couldn’t fall asleep. He tossed and turned for over an hour, but despite how tired he felt, he couldn’t enter sleep’s sweet embrace. Ultimately giving it up as hopeless, Sam decided to wander the halls in the hopes the relaxing atmosphere would eventually lull him to sleep. As was becoming a staple in Sam’s life, he ended up getting a lot more than he bargained for. As Sam walked by Pinkie Pie’s room, he heard a noise. Upon pressing his ear up against the door, he heard what were unmistakably muffled sobs. Concerned for the pink mare, Sam opened the door. When Sam laid eyes on Pinkie, her mane flat and her eyes puffy and red bathed in the pale moonlight, his heart panged with a need to try and fix what was wrong. “Pinkie, what’s wrong?” He asked “Wrong? Nothing’s wrong,” Pinkie denied, trying to wipe away the freshly shed tears. “Of course, you won’t open up unless I do so first. Well, last night, it finally hit me. I’m all alone, a stranger in a strange land without any other humans,” Tears pooled unbidden to Sam’s eyes, “I know I’m being stupid, I have all of you and you’ve shown me nothing but companionship and friendship; but for some reason, I can’t help suddenly feeling so alone.” “You’re a human. With human thoughts and human needs and human desires and human dreams. We’re all ponies with pony thoughts and pony needs and pony desires and pony dreams. As much as we want to understand you, we’ll never be able to connect to you on the same level as another human would. You’re not being stupid, you’re simply longing for something that you should have and may never have again,” Pinkie remarked. Sam gapped at Pinkie in surprise and she giggled softly. “Most ponies take it for granted that I’m just Pinkie the party pony. Pinkie the airhead. I’m fine with that, because most ponies don’t realize what my Cutie Mark really means,” She motioned to the trio of balloons on her flank, “My special talent is making ponies happy, usually through parties. However, in order to know what makes a pony happy, you have to know what makes them sad. You have to know what makes them scared. When it gets down to it, my special talent is helping to heal the emotional scars we all have, but to do that, I need to know what those scars are.” “So you know every pain of every Heart you come across?” Sam asked “Yep, for example, when Twilight first came to Ponyville, I knew she was an introvert of the highest degree and more than a little anti-social; both of which were direct results of her moderate OCD. I knew that to help her, I needed to find her exceptionally loyal friends who could understand her. Originally, I was planning to use that ‘Welcome to Ponyville’ party to introduce her to AJ, Rarity, and Colgate. Then the whole Nightmare Moon fiasco happened and the rest is history,” Pinkie recounted “That’s incredible,” Sam said simply “I didn’t always understand fully what my Cutie Mark meant. Actually, it has to do with why I was crying,” Pinkie admitted “You don’t have to tell me if you don’t want to,” Sam said quickly, making to leave. “Stay, please. I’ve kept this to myself for far too long and I don’t know if I’ll ever work up the courage to tell anyone again,” Pinkie confessed “If it’ll help you, then I’ll stay,” Sam answered “I guess it’s best to start at the beginning. Not long after I was born, both my parents died in a rockslide. They loved to go mountain climbing and they just got unlucky one day. My sisters and I went to live with our grandparents on their rock farm. My grandparents had built on a major ley line and used the various rocks and geodes to collect the magical energy and then sell them. I was never particularly good at it, but life went on for the next 6 years until shortly after my eight birthday. That’s when I saw Dash’s Sonic Rainboom and the six of us got our Cutie Marks. “A few years later and my grandmother’s birthday was coming up. I decided I wanted to throw her a surprise party. She had a heart attack and died. Nopony blamed me and told me she had been getting up there in years anyway, but somehow that made it worse. Eventually, I couldn’t stand it any longer and left to make my own way in the world, which led me to Ponyville. I tried to put it all behind me, but I can’t stop blaming myself for what happened that day. That’s why, sometimes when I’m alone at night, I cry,” Pinkie explained with renewed tears and Sam was crying too. “I want to say something, but I can’t think of anything adequate,” Sam said “Look at us, two pitiable souls crying the night away. Yet, for some reason, these tears don’t taste so bitter tonight,” Pinkie observed “I guess it’s true what they say about a burden shared is a burden made lighter,” Sam remarked “Sam, I want you to promise me something,” Pinkie said suddenly “What?” Sam asked “Never stop being you. Never stop being human. It may hurt a lot, but I get the feeling it’ll hurt a lot more the other way, if you give up who you are just for the sake of fitting in,” Pinkie begged “I promise. My humanity is the only thing I really have left. If I give that up, I’m afraid I’ll lose who I am entirely,” Sam answered and soon thereafter, Sam left for his room. He fell asleep as soon as his head hit the pillow. One Week Later Trixie Lulamoon was nervous. She had suddenly been called to see General Sam during morning exercises and she didn’t have a clue what it was about, so naturally she assumed she was in some sort of trouble. Trixie had just as much of a guilty conscience as the next pony, after all. Much too soon, she found herself standing before the General’s door. Taking one last moment to steel her nerves, she knocked on the door. “Come in,” Came the General’s voice through the door and Trixie entered. She found him sitting at his desk, reading a file. He also happened to be wearing reading glasses. “You asked for Trixie, sir?” General Sam closed the file and placed it on his desk. “Yes, I did. I’ve heard quite a lot about you, Corporal Trixie,” Under other circumstances, Trixie would have been thrilled, but given who had likely told him about her, Trixie was apprehensive. “What have you heard, sir?” Trixie asked cautiously and Generals Sam pushed his glasses up the bridge of his nose so they reflected the light. “I’ve heard this and that. The most important thing, the reason I’ve called you in here, is actually because of something I read in your file,” General Sam remarked. If Trixie hadn’t been sweating bullets before, she sure was now. “What did you read in my file?” Trixie inquired anxiously “Well, according to this,” General Sam motioned to the file on his desk, “You are accomplished in most magics. What really grabbed my attention were the remarks on your pyrokenetic and illusionary magics. One of the testers even went so far as to call you a prodigy. As such, I am offering you the chance to be a part of my squad.” “A part of your squad?” Trixie repeated. She wasn’t entirely sure what she was expecting, but that wasn’t it. “Indeed. As you may have noticed, I don’t have a regiment. This is because Celestia and Luna decided it would be wiser to place me at the head of a Special Ops team. Our missions will range from tactical strikes, to urban combat, to performing as an adjunct of General Sparkle’s regiment. In essence, we’ll get called in when precision and versatility the main force doesn’t have is required. That is, if you choose to accept,” General Sam informed Trixie “Does Trixie have to answer now?” Trixie asked “Not right now, but within the week,” General Sam replied “Thank you, Trixie will think about it,” Trixie said and left. Trixie had a lot to think about.