//------------------------------// // Background for a non-magical unicorn. // Story: Screw Destiny // by CrossRedstone //------------------------------// "How am I holding this fork?" Don whispered to Sam. The latter shook her head. "I dunno, but I can tell you this: if you freak out about that, then you probably want to run away now, before it is too late." The stallion decided to ignore the entire statement and took the first bite from his apple pie. He immediately froze up and it almost was like he stopped breathing. "Eh...Don? You alright bro?" Sam asked. ...."Daaaaaaaaaaaaaamn...." Applejack looked over to Samantha with a questionable look, yet the other mare could only look a little lost and raise her shoulders, like telling: "Eh...I don't get it either." Don placed the fork on his plate. "I'll be honest with you Applejack. I'm not a fan of cakes or pies in general. Apple pie is actually one of my least favorite pies. But this one here...fuck it, it actually tastes good." With that started literally wolfing the thing down. "Ah take that as a compliment." Applejack said and decided to eat her own pie. Sam suppressed a giggle. She always forgot that her friend didn't like pie unless it was dry. And oh got, she barely suppressed a moan that just begged to come out of her mouth. It was that good! "So, where ya two come from." Applejack asked. Sam's mind started to race for an answer, when Don started talking again. "From overseas. Not many ponies where we came from, so this'll be a whole new experience for us." Applejack looked a little surprised. "Ah reckon ah didn't see that coming. So where did ya come from?" "Well the dude over here is from Germania" Don gave her a look that said: "Really?" "while it took my parents a few years before we settled down. I was four at that time. With a kid my parents realized they couldn't continue their lifestyle of moving around the world, but they planned on continuing traveling once I had a secure future. Yeah, in the end, I kinda end up in their footsteps." "Uh...ya mean hoofsteps, right?" "Oh yeah...poor choice of words. Anyways, there's not really much to say about our home." "Some good restaurants, half of the roads need to be repaired and don't get me started with the schools over there." The grey-blueish stallion made a disgusted face. "Kindergartens are lucky to get enough money...but the few money our town gets together is really good spend on like playgrounds and a few other open areas. All in all, could be worse." Sam shook her head. "It's not that bad. He just had a few rough times with our principal and our town has been recently awarded for having the lowest crime rate in the country. But still, our town has the same problems as any other big town and it's really your out of the mill town. The only thing that really stands out is.... ... Okay, I'm drawing a blank here. There IS nothing outstanding in our place, if I'm honest." "Ah see. Well Ponyville ain't exactly big or anythin', but it's a really nice place ta live. If ya want ah can show ya around." "That would be really nice." Sam nodded. "Alright. Follow me." XIII "Let me get this straight. You, your grandma, your big brother and your little sisters handle all of these orchards alone?! What the heck girl?! My granddad's own farm was only as big as about four of those orchards, maybe even smaller. And together they were eleven!" Don exclaimed. He suddenly regretted signing up working at the farm. "Really? Oh well, ah guess it's not mah place to pry." Samantha knew it would do no good to point out that this was way too much to handle for a four pony big family, not to mention 2 ponies couldn't even buck trees. Applejack took way too much pride in her work. Said mare lead the two newcomers out of the orchards and into town. The light atmosphere immediately infected Sam and put a smile on her face. Almost every pony in this town was also carrying a smile on her face. "Over there we got our local bookstore. We also got a library here. Mah friend Twilight lives there. It's just around the road, so ah think we might stop there first." "You're the tour guide." Don shrugged. Applejack walked ahead and sure enough, around the corner they could already see the golden tree (stupid rhyme btw). The trio walked up towards the library with two of them wondering how the tree could be golden and obviously alive. Applejack walked in front of the two and knocked at the door. "It's open! Seriously, this is a public library..." The three ponies walked inside. Sam knew there were supposed to be a lot of books in there, but holy hell, she wasn't expecting this. She at first had assumed the tree looked bigger and wider because of her new size, but this was one thing she wasn't expecting. "Applejack, you know you don't have to knock. How many times do I have to say that?" said Twilight, as she was putting a book away into a shelf with her magic. "Oh hello. I didn't know Applejack brought friends." Sam and Don walked up, trying to get their gazes away from the sheer amount of titles. "Hey, my name is Samantha and Mr. Grumpy over there is Don." Don just rolled his eyes. "What's up? Except the ceiling." Twilight chuckled politely. "Oh well, I'm Twilight Sparkle and I'm the local librarian. So.......oh....." "New record." Don cheered in a deadpan matter, shaking his head while looking upwards. "Yeah we don't have those things on our buts, get used to it folks." "Sorry about that." Sam spoke up. "It's just, getting stared on all day is kind of annoying." "I see..." Twilight cleared her throat. "Uhh....well...." "If I smack her face, do you think she'll talk normal again?" "I'm gonna smack YOUR face, if you don't stop with your jokes." the red mare replied. "I make them every day." "Yeah, but-...right. We already had the talk about good first impressions." "Uh...are we missin' somethin'?" Applejack asked. "I could now bring a nice insider joke, but I don't have a kitchen knife with me. So, where were we again?" the only stallion in the group asked. Samantha facehoofed, while Twilight and Applejack glanced at each other with a raised eyebrow. "So..." "Why don't we have any cutie marks?" Sam asked Twilight before she could even start stammering. The red mare sounded a lot more cheerful all of the sudden. "Well, we just never found out our special talent." "You know, we should probably make some posters, so people will stop asking." Don suggested, not noticing his little slip-up. Luckily for him, the two locals thought of it as nothing more than that. "But still" Twilight spoke up again "it's pretty unusual for ponies at your age not to find your cutie marks." Don shrugged. "I get it with me. I never really cared about this kind of thing. All I wanted was to make it through the next day and you don't really need a cutie mark for it." "That ain't sound much like living to me, sugar." Applejack stated. "Besides, aren't ya curious what ya talent maght be?" "Not really. I was never a fan on butt tattoos anyway." Sam laughed up. "You'll get used to his grumpy personality. He's actually in a good mood today." Both other mares gave her a look. "In any case, I would like to know what my special talent is. It's just I'm not obsessed with it or anything. If I never find it, fine. I have other talents." "Magic not being one of them." the stallion snorted. "Oh, har, har." his friend rolled her eyes at the casual remark. "If you want, I can offer you some books on guidance to self-teaching magic." Twilight already started levitating books over and would have probably continued, if Sam wouldn't have spoken up. "Th-that's o-okay T-Twilight. Really!" she said a bit too hasty. "Oh...alright." Twilight sounded disappointed. "Hehe...sorry." "You probably could help her...otherwise." Oh no, you don't. As if he could read her mind, Don looked over to Sam and gave her his deadpan usual deadpan. They're going to find out anyway. It said. "Hey Twilight, wasn't it?" "Uh...yes?" "I've heard something interesting about you. You're supposed to be Princess Celestia's student...is that correct?" "Yes...?" she titled. "Sugar, did ya really need ta make that creepy voice?" Applejack asked. "Well then" Don ignored her "I guess you know quite a bit about magic, so to speak." "Not only a bit. Twi over here is the best unicorn in the whole lot of Equestria." Applejack praised her friend, who blushed. "H-hey, please, I'm not THAT good..." "Come on Twi, ya defeated 'n Ursa Minor on ya own!" "You know exactly that is not the entire story. I didn't defeat it on my own." "What's an Ursa Minor?" The former human boy whisper/asked. to his friend. "A giant bear, made of stars. I think they're magic immune or at least resistant." she whispered back. Don nodded and approached the two mares. "Alright, so we got a girl who knows stuff about magic and a unicorn who knows jack-shit about magic and has no idea how to even use it." That got the two mares silent, as they looked now at the grey/bluish stallion. "Come again?" Twilight asked. She was sure she misunderstood because she had been more focused on Applejack. "That girl" he pointed at Sam, who was standing behind him, looking a little nervous "has never used magic in her life as far as I know. No one ever taught her, since her parents can't use magic too. And...actually I never met your grands." "Can't either. Not to mention I'm the first unicorn in my family, unless I'm missing something from my family tree..." "Oh yeah, you got a D in that one." Don nodded. "S-shut up! I was lucky to get even a D. Stupid teacher knew how hard it was to track down my family because of my parents." !!!! Damn, I always forget that Don is not as stupid as his grade and attitude let him look like. He just brought that up to ensure no one questions any further as to why no one ever taught me magic. I wonder how he'll handle Celestia. "Y-you" Twilight's voice got Sam back to reality "you don't know how to use your magic?!!??!?" she screamed, horrified for some reason. For some reason Samantha felt a little ashamed to admit it. It was not like she could do anything about it. As a human she hadn't been capable of using magic. Still, she felt like a unicorn who didn't learn something simple, she should have learned as a foal. "Yeah, never had any surges, unless my parents never told me, and never felt...something. I dunno how magic's supposed to feel." Twilight looked like she was about to have one of her fits. "Whaaat?! Ya seriously telling us ya can't use any magic?!" Applejack asked. "Why didn't ya ask another unicorn to teach ya?!" "B-because I was fine so far without magic. It wasn't until I started studying about Equestria that I actually learned that unicorns could actually do magic." "Seriously?" Don asked. "I thought that knowledge is kinda common." "Hey, I wasn't exactly raised by the most educated parents and I still managed to be one of the top in class." "You know that I never cared about my-" Any more bickering, in which the two former humans accidentally got worked up in, was interrupted by Twilight. "W-wait, wait, wait. Let me get this straight: You lived your entire life without even the slightest glimpse of any magical power. Do I understand this correct?" The lavender mare looked pretty serious. "Umm...yes?" "And there was no one to ever teach you magic?" "Yes....?" "That's horrible! I mean...magic is what defines us unicorns! Without magic...I can't even think about how my life would be without it." Sam more or less understood Twilight. After all, she was the Element of Magic, magic incarnated as a pony. It was the very thing that gave her life a reason, that had the greatest influence on her. "Well, ya can't miss what ya never had. Am ah right sugercube?" The farm pony reasoned. Sam nodded. "It's not like I never wanted magic, it was just something unreachable for me. Besides, it gives me time to work off some calories." Applejack chuckled. "Ah say. Ah thought somethin' was different 'bout ya from the start. And ah don't mean the lack of cutie marks. Bet ya can do some good hard work on the field." "Haha, we'll see about that. It'll be my first time working on a farm. ... Hey, where's Twilight?" "Said something about a schedule. Went upstairs." Don pointed with his hoof towards the staircase. Just then Twilight appeared in a flash of light, surprising everyone in the room. She was levitating a long scroll and a feather for writing. "Applejack can you tell me when you need Samantha? I need to know, so I can make a proper plan for our magic lessons." Don should have seen it coming, but it was too late now. Sam was on the ground, mumbling, shaking violently in front of everypony. To her credit, she had been hiding the symptoms well.