Twilight, Sam, Cadance, and Shining Armor all boarded the train headed towards Ponyville. Luna and Celestia remained in Canterlot, returning to their duties, or getting in a nap in the case of the ruler of the night.
Cadance tried to be supportive of the sad pony she was seated beside, offering up a warm wing and an equally warm presence, but Sam never forgot he was being offered hugs by an alien, and couldn't really enjoy these equine affections. "No offense, uh, ma'am, er, majesty? Perhaps you'd be better off with your husband there."
Cadance took the hint and spent the remainder of the trip beside Shining, and the two were content in one another's presence. Twilight smiled at Sam. "Don't worry, we'll get things straightened out for you. You're not alone, just to emphasize, and we won't force you to do anything."
Sam quirked a smile. They were being so helpful... thoughtful... Why? "What do you need me for anymore anyway?"
Twilight tilted her head. "We don't need you for anything, Sam, but you obviously need us, or somepony. You look so... alone." She wobbled a hoof as the said the last word.
Sam frowned a bit, anger flaring, just to die and escape him with a resigned sigh. "Yeah..."
Twilight suddenly smiled. "Oh, Lyra will be there too, if you'd like to talk to her? She's your friend, right?"
Sam considered over that, mulling the thought in his mind. Was Lyra really his friend? "I'll talk to her..." He wasn't sure, but a conversation wouldn't hurt him, and might dispel the mystery.
When they arrived in Ponyville, Sam disembarked and headed for the once-human house with Cadance and Shining trailing along behind him quietly. He frowned back at them. "I don't need company to get through Ponyville."
Shining smiled hesitantly. "We'd like to meet the, uh, mare you're interested in."
Sam huffed and stormed ahead, knocking on the door lightly.
Sunny opened the door and her expression turned from casual to brilliant smile immediately. "Sam! I thought you were gone forever!" She jumped out at him, knocking him to the ground in a tight embrace. "Welcome back!"
Cadance smiled gently, watching the exchange. "You certainly seem to have a friend here."
Sam wriggled out of her grip and sat up. "Sunny, I've told you not to do that. I don't like tackles as a way of greeting, god."
Sunny shrugged. "Pegasus instinct. That's my excuse and nothing's changing it. What's up, Sam?"
Sam pointed past her into the house. "Is Lucy in?"
Sunny turned for the door. "Hey, Lucy! Sam wants you!"
Sam turned dark at her choice of words before he shook himself out, trying to look composed. The small crystalline form of Lucy appeared and Sunny retreated into the house.
Cadance approached curiously. "Well look at this adorable pony."
Lucy perked an ear at Cadance and looked across from here to Shining and back. "Um, good day. A pleasure to meet you both?"
Shining Armor pointed at himself. "I'm Shining Armor, and this is my wife. You can call her Cadance. She's the princess of the Crystal Empire."
Lucy nodded slowly before it clicked. "Oh! Where they thought I was from, at first." She frowned at Cadance. "I hope you're not here to try and remove me from Ponyville. I'm not done here."
Cadance held up her hooves placatingly. "Perish the thought. Your friend came to say hello to you."
Lucy looked away from Cadance to Sam and smiled at him. "I thought you'd rush back to the portal once you were done. Wanted to say bye?"
Sam fidgeted in place. "Well... yeah... about that... I..." He reached out for her, brushing a hoof through her mane, which she tolerated. "I don't want to be alone anymore. The job isn't important. Fucking fingers aren't so important..."
Lucy shook her head. "Sam, you're twice as large as I am, to start."
Sam huffed softly. "That'll change. I'm not asking for sex, damn it. I want a girlfriend that knows what I'm talking about. I want a human... Is that wrong?"
Lucy gave a sad little smile. "No... That's not wrong, but I don't love you, Sam. I like you a bit, but to be honest, you've been kind of a jerk." She held up a hoof. "Now don't get me wrong. I know you're going through a lot. I know that... I'm willing to give you a chance to be a friend, and to knock that chip off your shoulder, but... really, there's no way I can offer what you're asking for right now."
Shining looked between the two and leaned in close to Cadance, whispering, "She seems to have this under control."
Sam deflated at the denial, as gentle as it was in comparison to how it could have been. In his mind, Lucy was the only woman he knew, and she didn't want him. Then it struck him and he frowned at himself. "Yeah... You're... you're right, Lucy. I've... I'll get better. You don't deserve to have some desperate slob crying all over you."
Lucy shook her head. "On the contrary, if you need to get out a cry, we're always here, Sam, all of us. Crying doesn't make you a jerk. Being a jerk makes you a jerk, and I think you know the difference." She stood up and turned to head inside. "Let us know if you're moving back in. You'll probably want to visit Lyra first."
When she was gone, Sam looked to Cadance and Shining with a heavy heart, but mind whirring with possibilities. He tried to voice a few, but nothing came out.
Cadance wrapped him in her magic and lifted him up, pulling him over between herself and Shining, where a group hug quietly occurred. "Your little friend is very wise. You have my fondest wishes that you find happiness. If you need to get a message to me, ask Twilight."
Soon the royalty had departed, secure in the knowledge that no foal would be harmed by Sam.
Shall I now name him Shot Down Sam?
6098916 Low blow.
Sam is shot down, now what will he do? no he was crushed he is alone yes he was looking at Lucy as a gf but he really just needs a friend.
Harts Fire
I wanna have the first comment :( anyways, I feel sorry for Sam. But is he trying to get Lucy as his.. well.. you know.. girlfriend (Or in this case, something like marefriend or fillyfriend xD)
and you forgot to capitalize Cadance once :p
6098989 Fixed!
Well, that was handled maturely. Sam has no choice but to move on now; it's good to see that he finally is. I think he's going to be okay.
David Silver
Blaxbone
I agree that it'd be quite the emotional trial but my answer depends on the end results of an attempt. If even the smallest semblence of his past life can be achieved, would it not be worth it? And should an attempt fail, would not knowing he at least tried instead of just giving up, still be worth the pain?
Consider if you both will trial and error. One attempts a feat one way, succes ends the experiment, failure leads to a repeat with some modifications.
Sam tries to return to his human life. He succeeds, he stays (or tries to bring both lives to a kind of compromise, like bringing has family to equestria). He fails, he attempts to build a life but with either of the Equestrian related worlds. Sure there's a touch of homesickness and depression (going through it myself) but good friends and a busy schedule tend to keep it at bay. Plus he'd be able to say "I gave my all" with pride.
In summary there's plenty of reward for even making an attempt, the biggest being any and all info
6099254 Except he still doesn't know if he won't just show up dead in the ground, the end. Stepping through the portal may be tantamount to suicide. He doesn't know, and he isn't brave enough to test the theory. That's an awful big risk to ask someone to do to chase after a wife that's left them and a home that isn't there's anymore to try and get a job they were undoubtedly fired from.
6099173 Everyone involved behaved quite well, I think. Here's to Sam growing as a person.
Lucy had the correct response. She is very mature.
Oh you silly Author, Twilight will NEVER have mercy for the continuous amount of Typos that you release upon this planet. In fact, I would be willing to wager that some of them have visited Twilight in her own writings!!
6099678 Oh no, I'm in a Twilight fanfic? I'm dooooomed!
Sorry Sam looks like your outta luck here. Though admitting he'll get better is the first step toward that, gotta acknowledge your depression to get though it. I have liked how each case of the "once human" ponies is presented as a different circumstance, having them all share the same origin would be rather dull and having Sunny Skies be a pony who only thought shew as a human while the others are still humans turned pony was good call.
6099802 Even if her arc was very confusing to a lot of readers, I like Sunny. Thanks for being part of the herd!
Wow... I don't understand Sam's thought process anymore. All he wants is to go back home and now the door is open and he walks away? Then tries to hit on a child?... I think he needs more than a professional friend.
6099845 Not sure I can explain it much more than it already has been. He got close enough to see that his world moved on without him. His girl has a new guy, living in his old house. Whatever job he had is gone. Everything he thought he could just go and pick up where he left it? Gone, all gone. He is dead. It isn't home anymore.
Lotta hoof-wobbling in this story, I have to admit. :)
6099918 At least it wasn't hoof rolling. I hear that annoys people.
6099924 Well... it does sort of turn up a lot. It's not so much the action itself as the identical description each time. Same verb, same noun. If it was a deliberate literary device it might work, but best I can tell it's not symbolic or marking a story tempo or indicative of something else going on in the background or playing around with text. The repetition makes it stand out and draw attention, but without anything to draw attention to the effect is to make the reader's brain thrash around trying to figure out what the author's trying to indicate. This doesn't do much to help the smooth reading experience.
I guess... maybe break it up a bit? Or add a level and write in something that the action indicates? Is it a quirk of Lyra's? Is there backstory? Does she do it deliberately for some reason? She already has spycams throughout the human-house; is the hoof-roll linked to another spell she doesn't want discovered?
I have to say Lucy remains by far my favorite side character in this story. It's a little bit of a shame we don't have that deep of a glance at the others.
I don't know why, and I hope this doesn't make me sound like a horrible person, but that sentence made me laugh a lot. Not at Sam's misery or anything, just seems like a very casual way of saying, "Don't worry, he's not going to start dating a foal. Foalcon averted."
6100386 As amusing as it was, that was what brought them there. Good on them. Few human politicians would make a special trip just to cut off potential crime from a confused person. They would have been very kind, but firm, had Sam been belligerent.
6099269
Forgot about that bit.....well at least his sacrifice will be good for future reference....I kid, though eventually someone is going to need to test that theory out for future reference just in case somepony REALLY desperate to return to earth makes an attempt.... I volunteer Trenderhoof.
Seriously that is the biggest obstacle in the way of him and the others learning about whether returning is doable.
6100443 Well, for the others there's the fact that it's not their earth. So many complications!
6100205 Nuuuuu I'm sorry! *Runs*
6100917
I like the medieval idea. It could be interesting.
Simon's probably a decently realistic version of the noble becoming a bum though. (That is, if the noble earned their position.) Since it's what they know, they'd try to gain some followers. I can't think of many reasons for them to visit Lyra other than to gain more followers, or to find good people to delegate certain tasks to.
If a noble didn't deserve their position, they'd likely be in the same boat as the average human, but with a different culture shock.
6100492
Tell me about it, I'm getting such a headache. That's why I tend to stay away from time/space discussions, too many factors and influences. I'd rather do things the old fashioned way and either use a poke-morph like celebi, the time matrix, a time based song, or a spell. The time matrix is handiest since it crosses time and space but I hid the blasted sphere in a well guarded location.
6098609 You can just stick to New Vegas; I like it better, personally!
Though don't tell my friends; they'd crucify me as a heretic. XD