37 - Stabilization
Sam stood on a raised platform. Twilight stood before him with thick goggles on, making wild notes with a floating quill. To the left, Luna stood stoically, and to the right, Celestia waited patiently. Sam wasn't sure how he felt being between all the rulers of Equestria like this. Oh wait... He turned around and saw the door open as Cadance trotted inside beside her husband, Shining Armor.
Sam sighed softly. "Is there something I should be doing?"
Cadance nodded to each princess in turn before smiling up at the once-human. "I was told you just need to focus on your original home. Don't worry, we're going to take care of this as quickly and smoothly as possible. Thank you for helping us."
Twilight bobbed her head. "Exactly right. You'll be a hero if this works properly." She pulled a large red lever and the room began to hum with power. "Let's say goodbye to random leaks and hello to stabilization!"
Luna nodded lightly. "It will be a pleasure to not see the dreams of other worlds intruding on my domain."
Celestia spread her wings. "Let's focus on the task at hand."
They all went quiet, leaving Sam to fidget while concentrating on the tasty deliciousness of a hamburger, lines at the DMV, television shows, and anything else that came to mind that felt especially 'human'.
Twilight pulled another lever and the room began to pulse, the humming growing deeper, making Sam's lungs seem to vibrate. He hoped that was intentional. The energy crackling in the air suddenly spiked, and Sam was knocked to the ground, slipping off the platform and crashing to the ground below. A swirling vortex yawned wide overhead. He could see fragments of Earth within. New York, Tokyo, was that Berlin?
Twilight cringed back a little. "It's not... going stable like it should..."
Sam hopped to his hooves and climbed quickly back up to the platform, focusing his mind intently on his old home, humble as it was. The swirling mess began to home in on a simple trailer parked quietly among so many others. The door opened. Who was that? He didn't recog--
His old wife stepped out beside the strange man and smiled at him. They kissed. Sam collapsed. Of course she'd move on. And he was dead. Dead and four-legged. Dead and forgotten. Dead...
"It's coming around!" shouted Twilight, though Sam didn't hear her, too busy crying about his lost life. The whirling storm condensed and became a new mirror portal, though it was framed in steel and plastic, and was square and rigid. At its base were lush greens and stones, softening its intimidating presence.
The hum died down, and all the princesses relaxed, no longer needing to donate their power. Twilight excitedly moved up to examine the door. "Everything coming and going has to go through this." She tapped the door lightly. "No more lost ponies or once-humans."
Celestia moved up to examine it as well even as she extended a wing to pat Twilight. "An excellent job. Sister, does the dream world appear more secure?"
Cadance frowned. "Aunties, Twi, can't you see somepony has paid a dear price for this?" All eyes turned to her, then followed her gaze to the crumpled form of Sam, sobbing quietly on the pedestal in the center of the room.
Twilight cringed with growing uncertainty. "Oh, uh... Sorry?"
Sam waved off Twilight's feeble words before slowly sitting up. "I saw... what I needed... to see." He looked down, tears overwhelming him again, but he didn't sob, just crying near silently.
Luna approached Celestia. "The dream world feels whole and well again. Twilight, you have done well, and Sam, your sacrifice will be known. What did you see that brought such despair to your heart?"
Cadance landed beside Sam and draped a pink wing over him. "You are not alone, Sam. I'm sorry you had to go through that, but you helped so many ponies today. Thank you. Thank you so much. You don't have to tell us what you saw if you don't want to, but you are a hero, Sam, and we will make time for you if ever you want it."
Sam looked up at Cadance, wiping off his eyes with a fetlock. "I want to... how? My choices are a doll land where I will be a king of children, or this world of horses." He pointed a hoof at the new human portal. "Or I could go there, but I'm dead there. Dead and gone. Would I appear in the ground? Would I be locked in my own coffin?" He shuddered in terror at the thought of it. "I can't... go anywhere that's really home."
Shining Armor stepped up to join his wife. "I was informed you were seeing a professional friend in Ponyville? Lyra Heartstrings? Did you want to talk with her?"
Sam clenched his teeth before sagging, punching the ground with a hoof impotently. "Yes... yes... I do want to talk to her. She can't know what I'm going through, but that stupid horse cares about me. I'll talk to her... I want to talk to Lucy too."
Shining glanced at Cadance quizzically. She shrugged back, not knowing who Lucy was at first, but then it clicked. "Wait, the crystal pony? Have you seen her recently? Is she well?"
Sam smiled a little. "Yeah... yeah she's fine... She's... a really special person."
Cadance frowned a little, spotting emotions a bit more swiftly than others. "Sam... she's too young for whatever I saw in your eyes."
Sam huffed. "Don't tell me what to do! She's older than I am."
Shining tilted his head a bit. "I... see? Perhaps we should all go to Ponyville and investigate this further."
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Poor Sam, seems he really had quite a bit he desired to go back to in the first place.
Eeeeh.... Age of consent laws are based on the fact that a child does not have enough experience or maturity to know whether or not to consent. They cannot make an informed decision.
There's also an issue with an adult 'grooming' a child, planting ideas and ideals in their heads.
None of these issues could happen in this particular instance, so I'd give a hesitant "that's a little creepy, but I won't stop it".
This is not going to go well.
Well, since Sam is do desperate to get back to Earth, and he probably is dead there, it makes sense to break down like that. His wife with another man is also another reason. But what if he didn't die? What if he just disappeared when coming to Equestria? I don't know, just saying.
Closure can hurt worse than uncertainty, depending on the conclusion. Still, that pain is temporary. Severing the ties to his old life hurt Sam, but now he can finally begin the healing process he's delayed for so long. Lucy may be able to help, though I don't know if she'll reciprocate his burgeoning feelings.
On a less depressing note, I love the design of the new portal.
6095954 I liked the feeling of it myself in my inner mind. Glad it wasn't just me.
Oh Sam, of all the ponies he had to fall for.
Man, the bad luck bus never stops for him, now, does it? 
Hmm... after 36 chapters, everything working perfectly here feels pretty anti climactic. If they could've just solved it this easily, why didn't they do so in the beginning?
Also, if people were being saved from death, is this really better?
6096163 I'm confused. This story is about Lyra and her once-humans. When was the sealing of the universes been anything but a side-arc?
6096213
Yeah, it's a side arc, but it's been a side arc for nearly the whole fic, and has a huge effect on how Lyra can help her patients.
Edit: It'd be like an RPG where completing a certain side quest in the beginning was easy, yet gave you a weapon that would one hit KO any enemy, including bosses.
6096224
I disagree, since it took almost this long just to figure out what to do. So maybe it's a side quest that would be easy to do on New Game+, or with a guide, but not on the first playthru with no outside help. Plus, there's really not much of a quest reward.
No one got a power-up; just a plot line was tied off. Your analogy doesn't really fit, I'm afraid, unless there's something I missed.
6096470
The whole thing with Sam could've been avoided if they did this immediately. Heck, since they got a portal, everyone could've gone back to their own dimension immediately if they did this first, and that wouldn't allow for much of a story. Also, they can now send back any new humans that appear, and the only thing left for the story is whether the humans want to go back or not. (And that could get kind of controversial, depending on how it's handled.)
Plus, if Luna's been noticing something strange with the dreamscape, that means she likely noticed it before eberyone else and could've possibly seen the dreams of the humans. If she noticed all that, then waiting for Lyra's suggestion seems like negligence.
Oh, and you can have these sorts of things in the story without many negative effects, I just think the characters should note the anticlimatic-ness of the scene or expect something else to go wrong, especially Lyra. (Lyra's been having troubles all around, and this is one of the few things that went perfectly.) This solution may have it's drawbacks, such as people not getting saved from death, so it's not really perfect, but the feeling portrayed by the scene make it seem like it is.
6096523 It leads to one specific world, likely Sam's. It may be enough to 'straighten' traffic between 'bubbles' but it would not allow other once-humans from sub-realities of that world to get back home.
6096533
True. I guess I just didn't like how it felt like a quick solution to everything.
6096588 Most other options involve turning this away from Slice of Life and into Adventure with possibly big helpings of Sad or Dark or Tragedy.
6096610
Ah, I see what you mean.
Well, there is the option of having the portal take a long time to open, or having all the work and adventuring being done in the background...
derpicdn.net/img/view/2015/5/27/905299__safe_princess+luna_filly_woona_artist-colon-egophiliac_shrug_moonstuck_emoticon.png
ok this chapter is a real shocker and Sam I feel for you.
Harts Fire
Sorry to say but this instant success seems to be a bit of a short term fix, plot wise. Cliche where the exact solution of a problem happens on the first try then goes horribly wrong. It's got that "happy end of the story that isn't the real end of the story" feel to the chapter.
As for sam, yeah people think he's dead and some thing's in his life are unfixable but that doesn't mean he shouldn't take the opportunity to make an attempt. For all he knows things might actually turn out for the best, though there is a chance for the exact opposite as well.
Speaking of seizing an opportunity, IF/when you get to 'Factor, if he gets the question "should I stay or should I go?" (couldn't pass that up, lol), he stays. The reason being is that the place he called home included a strong spiritual bond within his circle of friends and family. That bond was tragically lost shortly after entering Equestria due to outside influences. There's a near phobic fear of rejection or some kind of consequence of returning home wi
That's the best. XD
But, hilarious ending aside, this series has been great. Very touching and also awesome! Though I don't trust that changeling guy!
6096626
Fallout 3, main quest. You can walk to where your dad's at in like two minutes from the vault (start), and you basically skipped the whole game. But the whole idea of the game is that you don't know how easy it would be to immediately resolve it. :3
6098515
That...
Honestly that kind of makes me not want to play Fallout 3 now, at least for the main quest.
6097302
I agree, but what if he really were dead ( as it's said )?
If not, would he get his wife/job/friends/life back? He likely disapeared what? a month? two?
For the wife part, she could either love him again ( and crush her new companion heart ) or hate him for his disapearance
Same for the job part, he could take the job of another
In the end would it really be worth it?
Plus, who wouldn't want to go to Equestria?
6098615
6097302 He has no idea how much time has passed at home. Once you're declared legally dead it's no small deal to fix the tattered remains of your life, and that's assuming he is alive, which he isn't certain of at all. He would have no job, no home, and would have to work to get access to whatever was in his bank account, assuming his girl didn't already put it to use. It would be a big painful mess for an uncertain future.
Wow, I guess the clone copy theory isn't correct then? Or no, maybe everyone else got cloned from the human world, but Sam got cloned, and then the original got splattered all over the truck cab. Yeah that still leaves the possibility that people appearing in ponysphere don't disappear from humansphere. Or vice versa. Boy I hope vice versa isn't happening that would be bad for the human world. Insane people claiming to be little cartoon ponies is fine, but such people appearing out of thin air?