//------------------------------// // GASP!!! and first meetings // Story: Screw Destiny // by CrossRedstone //------------------------------// It took some time, but eventually Sam got used (more or less) to the idea of being a pony. Since Don had already figured out how to walk, he could help Samantha figuring it out, though both of their walks were still slow paced. As it turned out, Don had woken up on a grass field after some strange light had blinded him, coming from a pond. Of course he initially freaked out and was in that kind of state for at least an hour. After he managed to calm himself, he tried to think as logically as his adrenaline filled brain allowed him to do. At first he was focused on figuring out how to walk, finding a path during that time. He followed the path and thought the entire time he had been walking, until he came to the conclusion finding civilization would be a good start of getting a grasp of the situation. Then he found Sam. "And that around wraps it up." He spoke while walking alongside his friend. Slowly walking, one might add. "I found you there and thought something was up, but I guess for some reason it took you longer to recover." "Maybe because I'm a unicorn?" Sam suggested with a gleeful smile. "Oh I can't wait to use magic!!" She jumped into the air, clapping her front-hooves two times before landing. Don wondered how she managed to pull that off, when she was still new to her body. "Do you even know how to use magic?" Sam tripped. "Buster." she whined. She clearly had been to excited to finish this train of thought. It was never describe (aside from fanfactions, which did not count) as to how a unicorn and alicorns for that matter used magic. "As if our lack of cutie marks isn't suspicious enough. A unicorn that can't use magic? You're lucky, you're an earth pony." Sam's friend gave her a deadpan look. "Lucky? I'm pretty sure a pair of wings or a horn would be a nice addition. I'm just an ordinary pony." She shook her head. "Nah, you don't get it. Earth ponies have increased strength, thanks to their magic. It wouldn't surprise me if you're stronger, than you would be in your human form." she explained. "...Ah. I guess that makes it up." Don nodded satisfied. "I'm not into heights anyway. And as for you lacking magic ability, leave the lying part to me." Sam had to agree, Don was a good liar, an excellent bluffer and kept his cool in a lot of situations. It wasn't easy to get him mad. Well, at least she knew now one method that didn't end up with almost certain death. Still she had doubts. "Is that really the right thing to do? You know, these ponies here really appreciate harmony, honesty being a part of it." Don shook his head and his expression became serious. "Sam, you know the future to a certain extend. If we really are in this cartoon, than we can't let anyone know until your knowledge is used up." "Used up?" Sam asked, titling her head. "When we reach the end of the last episode you've seen, it'll be okay to tell as many people as you want as to what you know. But until then, someone just might abuse your knowledge and maybe even you. I don't care if this is a kid's show, we should be careful." "Oh...ooooooooooooohhhhhhhhhh. Yeah, now that I think about it, I guess it'd be better to shut up. I'm sure they'll understand...if we meet the mane six that is." she nodded to herself. "Main six? Are you referring to the main characters?" "Yeah, but it's spelled M-A-N-E." "Uh-huh." he nodded. The two started walking up a hill, which slowed them a little bit more down. "So, anything else important I should know?" "Of the top of my head..." the girl turned mare thought for a few seconds "Princess Celestia and her Sister Luna are the co-rulers here. Celestia raises the sun, while Luna does it with the moon. Don't ask, it's just cartoon logic." "I was not going to..." he replied dryly. "Anything else?" "You could watch the way you speak, but I'm probably going to slip up a ton of times. They use words like everypony, instead of everybody and similar stuff and their cussing is of course censored." "I'm not going to start giving beep sounds of my mouth, am I?" A part of Don actually feared exactly that. It certainly wouldn't surprise him. "Don't worry." his friend chuckled. "They just use different words again, like horseapples." Don could only shake his head after hearing this. "I'll stop asking now and just roll with things for now." As the two arrived on top of the hill, there was quite the eyesight in front of them. Equestria presented itself to its finest, as Celestia's midday sun shined down on the world. It really did look like out of a children's book, yet seeing it with your own two eyes was something completely different. Green hills, a warm breeze brushing over their fur, a few clouds in the sky, some of them being pushed away by pegasi. And where there're pegasi, there's of course a- "A town! That's ponyville!" Sam shouted excited like a little filly on her birthday. She recognized some of the key buildings that made Ponyville so unique, like the town hall or the Golden Oaks library. However, the two could barely made out any pony in detail. "I trust you on this one. Ponyville was that place everything takes place, right?" Don asked. "Yeppers!" The mare confirmed. "Come on, let's go!" Sam ran ahead or at least wanted to, but ended up tripping and rolling down the entire hill. Don snorted and allowed one of his rare smiles to appear on his face, before following his friend down. She stopped rolling on a grass field on the side, completely dazed. "Nice rolling." Don commented, walking ahead. Sam slowly got up, before shaking her head clearly and catching up to her friend. It was still a short way until they would be inside, so Don decided to distract his overexcited friend, who was grinning like an idiot and shaking uncontrollably. "Hey, what do you think? Who made your ponytail?" he asked. "Huh? Watcha talking about now?" Sam didn't quite catch on the first time. "I don't mean the actual tail, I mean your hair." he tapped on his own head to emphasize what he meant. "Oh, that. You make it sound kinda creepy, but...uhh...magic, I guess? I mean there can't be anyone out there who actually did my hair or rather mane. Damn it, I just realized I need to learn how to style my mane with hooves." "Just leave it hanging." Don suggested with a shrug. "Um, hello? It's already hanging in front of my eyes." she pointed at it. "Then let it cut." "First, it would look ridiculous. Second, we don't have any money." "Oh yeah! Shit, we need to get a job as soon as possible." Don realized. "Don't worry, I have a few ideas already. But first we gotta get a good look around turn and search for a certain pony." She grinned to herself. "A certain pony?" "You'll see." she winked. "I'll spoiler that much: free food." "Uh huh..." XIII Ponyville itself was really colorful. Almost every house had a unique style about. It seemed like most of the shop owners lived inside their shops, but there were still some normal houses every now and then. The ponies in this place were also completely different as to what the two former humans were used to. Even Sam was taken aback by some random ponies greeting her out of the blue. Nevertheless, she waved back with her leg. She gave Don a hit on his leg every time he gave the ponies a weird look, until he started nodding back politely. "Sheesh, it's harder to navigate here, than I thought." The mare of the duo mused aloud. "I think I'll ask someone." "Guess we have no choice. ... They're staring at us." The stallion growled, subtly nudging his head towards a direction, where a group of mares were whispering around and pointing at them. Sam looked in the direction, but only with her eyes. "It's our lack of cutie marks. We'll be the talk of the town in no time." "GAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAASP!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Both ponies turned around, to see a pink pony with a curly mane and blue eyes staring in shock at them, while being in mid-air. Don withstood the urge to slowly take a few steps back and then head for the hills. He already lost his cool once this day, twice would be bad for his mantra. The mare next to him had been expecting something like this, but was still mouths agape. The pink pony turned around while still being in mid-air and only left a dusk cloud in her shape. ... ... "Don't ask. Let's just go." Sam told him. ... "'Kayyyyyyyyyy?" XIII "That's Carousel Boutique. Rarity, the element of generosity lives there. Oh yeah, elements of harmony are pretty important, but I guess it doesn't matter if you know now. I'll explain later." "I already can guess what they mean." "Magical super-weapon based on friendship?" "...Didn't expect that." Sam had a good laugh out of this before she entered the shop. A small bell on the ceiling announced the entering of the two cutie mark-less ponies. A lot of pony manikins were standing around in the basement, some of them wearing some fancy outfits others being just blank white. Sam started shivering again and this time Don was the one who hit the other. "Ow..." The mare grinned sheepishly, while rubbing her shoulder. "Control yourself." he hissed. "Shut up. I bet you'd act the same, if we were in one of your favorite shows." A deadpan stare was his answer. "Okay, but you would be excited, I know it." She replied determined. "Welcome to Carousel Boutique." a voice caught their attention. Looking to the front, they found the marshmallow colored spirit of generosity approaching them, coming from the staircase. There was something about her smile Don had never ever seen on a human, but he couldn't put his finger eh hoof on it. Not at time as early as that. "Can I help you two somehow?" she asked. "Well, sorry to bother you, but I'm afraid the only shopping we'll get done today is window shopping." Samantha looked apologetically to the pony. "Oh that's quite alright, darling. " Rarity waved off. "That doesn't mean you can't buy something on another." "Except we die from falling off a cliff." "Urrgh..." Sam groaned, facehoofing, before giving her friend a good smack on the head. "Sorry about Don here. He has a very... let's say unique sense of humor and at times he has no shame whatsoever." her excitement of meeting Rarity had completely dropped thanks to that . Said mare blinked a little at the antics of her visitors. "While we're at the names, mine is Samantha or Sam for short. Nice to meet you." she smiled. "Don and yeah, the jokes are a bad habit I picked up." he shook his head a little, but his expression hadn't changed one bit the entire time. "You two can call me Rarity. It is a pleasure to meet you two. Tell me, are you new in Ponyville?" The two nodded. "We have a long way behind us and thought we should settle down." "Not to mention we're completely broke." Sam resisted the urge to cringe after Don's casual statement. "Do you happen to know where we can get a job? Something that doesn't require some special ability?" he asked. He didn't actually mean anything cutie mark related, yet Rarity now knew why she thought something was different about those ponies. She almost gasped after seeing that none of the two had their cutie mark, but that wouldn't have been lady like at all. "Oh my..." Rarity still couldn't find the right words without insulting the two accidentally. "Don't worry about that. We can live without one." Sam waved off. "Without one?! My goodness, you two are quite unique, brushing the lack of a cutie mark off like this. Say, why don't you two stay overnight?" "What?!" Sam exclaimed. Don raised an eyebrow. "We're just two strangers, who have no money whatsoever. For all you know, we could abuse your generosity and begone before you even know it." Rarity blinked two times. "Oh well, my offer still stands. You two don't look like bad ponies to me." "...That's gonna take some getting used to." Don muttered. "Sorry about that. It's just where we come from others are normally not that nice and open." The red coated mare explained. "My word, but don't worry. In Ponyville everypony is really nice. I would love to show you around, but I have a business to look after. If you're looking for work though, my friend Applejack can always use a helping hoof. She lives at her family farm Sweet Apple Acres, which is on the other side of the town. Just go over the bridge and straight ahead from there." "Thanks a lot Rarity. I'll make sure next time I'm here I can actually afford a dress." Sam said with a sincere smile. "Can't say I'll ever come for clothes, unless it's necessary. Thanks for the tip though. See ya around." Don gave his goodbye in a monotone voice. Rarity titled her head at the stallion, but shrugged him off. Ponyville had a lot of unique characters and he would just be another one added to the bunch. The mare on the other hoof looked really friendly and could easily come by as a Ponyville citizen. Both had quite unique names and no cutie marks, which was unnatural at their age. "Oh well, Twilight probably will know if something is wrong with them or if it is just bad luck on their side. I should get ready for Pinkie's party." XIII Sam had to admit that whispers were getting annoying, along with the stares she was getting. Don dealt with it better, since he had experience with shutting himself off from the world and blocking everything out. Still, it was not enough to drop the red mare's mood. The two finally managed to walk in a normal pace and without having to stop and think which leg to use next. "INCOMING!!" A voice shouted. Both looked up and found a blue blur in the air, which left a rainbow trail of some sorts. On top of things, the thing was heading down towards the earth. The grey-blue stallion carefully did the math inside his head and sidestepped. Three seconds later the first pegasus the two personally met, crashed into the spot the stallion stood a moment ago. "Are you alright?!" Samantha asked worried, turning towards the mare who was literally seeing stars. She shook her head and turned towards Sam. "I'm alright, thanks for asking though." The pegasus shrugged the fall off and flew a few inches into the air. "Hey, are you two new here?" "Yep, just arrived. My name's Samantha, but I prefer Sam. Never understood why my parents gave me that lame name." "Because you're the slowest runner that ever existed?" Don asked. "S-shut up! I got better grades in PE than you." "That's cause I never bothered about my grades and never gave 100%. Don's the name." "You got totally strange name's." Rainbow commented. "We're from overseas." Don shrugged. The blue mare nodded. "Anyways, I'm Rainbow Dash, fastest flyer of Equestria!" she made a pose. Before the stallion could deadpan at the name, there was a thud sound, followed by whimpering sounds from Sam's side. "Uh...is your friend okay?" Rainbow asked, while Don facehooved. "Fan-girl-overload." he muttered. "She's my fan?!" Rainbow exclaimed in excitement. The grey-blue pony sighed and decided to take drastic measurements: he gave Sam a good smack over the head, who got up with a yelp. "What happened?!" "You had another overload." "Ooops." she blushed and grinned sheepishly. "Guess my secret is out, huh? Umm, can I have your autograph?" "Hehe, no problem. Ya got something to write?" Sam hung her head. "No, forgot I don't have anything right now." "Meh, I can give you my autograph later. I have cloud duty anyway at the moment. Catch ya later!" And with that, Rainbow zoomed off. "Fast is she I give her that. And she didn't comment on our flanks." Don nodded. "That's 'cause she probably overlooked it, too excited from finding out that I'm her fan. Normally she can be a little rude about those things. Urrgh, she's never going to let me live that down." XIII One could smell Sweet Apple Acres five minutes before actually getting to it. Don had a feeling his next nightmare would be about a lot of apples and ponies and Sam. "Man, wish I could levitate one of those things down. Since breakfast I didn't have anything decent today." Sam whined. "Don't remind me..." Don sighed. "Haven't had anything good myself today." The two soon found themselves in front of house, with a huge barn close by. Apple orchards were literally everywhere else they looked. Sam suspected the other details shown on TV were behind the house. "Well, let's see if they got some work for us, although I don't think I'll be of any help without knowing how to even use magic. You at least have your earth pony magic inside your muscles." "Pff, guess I'll have to actually put up some effort when doing something." said earth pony shrugged and followed the unicorn towards the door. With a Little bit too much force she knocked loudly at it. Sam made a mental note to be more careful next time, since hooves were harder than fists. 20 seconds of waiting and the door was opened by another element of harmony. Samantha tensed up a little, but controlled herself. "Can ah help ya two?" Applejack asked. "Yeah, we're kinda new here and kinda broke. A gal named Rarity said you could always need help. You don't happen to be Applejack by any chance?" Don explained their situation. "That's me, alright. Ya two new here? Well then, let me welcome ya ta Ponyville. Why don't ya come in?" Applejack opened the door and let the two in. "Thanks, that's really nice of you." Sam nodded. The inside looked exactly like she had remembered it from the show. A simple carpet, Granny Smith' rocking chair, the couch, but there were tons of family photos of ponies that normally only interacted in the background. "Eh...say....yer...eh flanks..." Applejack struggled with the words. "She never figured it out and I'm too lazy to even try to figure it out." He said in his normal tone, which sounded pretty bored. "It's not bad. Sure I'd like to know my special talent, but the two of us already agreed we don't need one. I mean there're the Griphons, the Minotars and other species which never get a cutie mark." Sam explained calmly. "Wow. Ah've never looked at it that way." the orange mare said, baffled. "Ya two are somethin' else. But are ya sure nothin's wrong with ya? That doesn't sound healthy at all." Don and Sam exchanged a look. "Uh, we're fine so far and even if, it wouldn't change our opinions. I think cutie marks are nice, but not necessary for life." Applejack couldn't help but laugh and shook her head. "Whoa nelly. Ah'm maghty sorry 'bout that, but ah couldn't help but think how obsessed mah sister is with her cutie mark. Ya must be the first adult ponies in the whole maghty of Equestria who don't care about it." The stallion sighed and looked to the ground. Despite not knowing each other for long, the mare with the cowboy hat noticed it. "Hey, are you alright sugercube?" Don didn't react, until Sam nudged him. "Huh? Sorry, spaced out. By the way, the name's Don and this here's Samantha or Sam. Everyone just calls her Sam." "Nice to meet you." the red mare waved her leg. "Sam? Don? Ya got strange names. Whatever. The two of you ain't exactly yer out of the mill ponies. No offense." "None taken." Sam smiled. "Oh yeah, mah name's Applejack. Me, mah Granny Smith, mah big brother Big Macintosh and mah little sister Applebloom are very proud of Sweet Apple Acres. If you two wanna work here, ya better give it yer all." "Well, I was getting fat anyway." Don commented. "Fat? You're totally skinny. (Even as a pony)." "Ah agree sugar. Ya look like ya haven't been eating good." The stallion shrugged. "My genes. It was way worse when I was younger." "Too bad ya two missed soup, but ah think ah still have some apple pie left." "That's very kind of you." Sam smiled. "Yeah, what's up with this town? This is the second time someone is that nice to us and we don't have anything to pay you bag." "Guess where you come from, folks ain't that friendly, huh?" "We have a pretty high crime rate to say the least." "Well, ya don't need ta worry about that. Ponyville is mostly peaceful." Applejack assured. The stomachs of her guests then decided to make it clear that they needed fuel. The orange mare laughed, as the two other blushed a little. "Why don't ya take a seat, while ah'm gonna bring ya the pie ah promised ya?" "Thanks again. We'll make sure to pay you back somehow." Sam stated, but AJ waved off. "Nah, no need for that sugar." "These ponies are friendlier than a bunch of hippies." The cowboy mare heard Don comment as she walked into the kitchen. She was about to place the leftovers from the apple pie on some plates, when she heard something. "Psst! Applejack!!" The mare looked over to the open window and found Pinkie's hoof waving frantically, signalizing the earth pony to come closer. "Howdy Pinkie Pie. Have ya seen the two new ponies?" "That's why I'm here!" Pinkie whisper/shouted. Her head suddenly popped up, but Applejack had already suspected something like this. "You need to keep them here for a teenie bitty longer, until I'm all finished. Can you bring them to Sugercube Corner around 6 PM? But not a second earlier!" "Ya can count on me pardner." AJ winked. "We haven't had a 'Welcome to Ponyville party' ever since Twilight got here. Ah'm looking forward to it." "Thanks Applejack! See you later!" Pinkie Pie zoomed off back into town, while AJ shook her head amused. "That mare, ah hope she's not going to freak them out."