Screw Destiny

by CrossRedstone

Rating: teen
Tags: Main 6, Slice of Life, My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic, Human, Original Character, Cutie Mark Crusaders
Length: 10770

A pegasister and her friend get ponified and thrown into Equestria. But they have no cutie marks. (Starts between Season 1 and 2, follows canon with some additions of my own part)

Don was never interested in MLP or anything, while his friend Samantha (or Sam for short) is a total pegasister. One day he caught her up, as she was watching "Call of the Cutie", he couldn't help but ask what all the fuss was about.

He was never a fan of someone's destiny being predicted beforehand and in result the whole cutie mark thing went totally against him.

Sam isn't completely against the idea, just wants to have a choice.

Now, let's throw two blank flanks into Equestria.

Edited: 02.09.2015

Published 2014-12-18 00:40:01 UTC
Last updated 2015-03-16 15:58:23 UTC

Prologue: A quick chat about cutie marks

Samantha couldn't help but get the urge to just slap Diamond Tiara in the face, when she made fun of Applebloom's "blank flank". She seriously doubted anyone of the fanbase actually liked her or Silver Spoon, except one day there would come a really decent explanation as to why they were so mean. But it was probably the obvious reasons they were like they were.

"Sheesh, maybe I should skip this episode." she mumbled to herself, while munching on some cheese crackers.
It was Saturday and Sam had decided she would marathon MLP FiM the whole day. So far she had no interruption, which was a rare occasion when she watching the show in general. And of course it wouldn't be any different this day.

The doorbell rang, which caused her arm almost mechanically to reach out to the mouse and stop the video she was watching. Since she was the only one currently in the house, she had to answer the door. That or simply ignore it, but she wasn't that kind of person. It only took her thirty seconds to reach the door and pull it open.

"Hey Sam."

In front of her stood Sam's friend since childhood, his name being Don. He had his usual face that showed no willpower whatsoever, didn't stood straight and had his hands in his pocket. He was like this almost every day and Sam was used to it.

"What's up?" she asked with her usual smile. She was one of those pegasisters who took the harmony thing a little more serious and everything that her favorite show tries to teach mankind. Like for example she was mimicking Pinkie Pie's behavior of always smiling, though she had trouble doing that in some situations. She wasn't sugar high her entire life after all.

"I think I left my phone here yesterday. Was in the neighborhood and just noticed it was not in my pocket."

"Oh alright. Come in." She just walked back to her room, knowing he would follow. Don knew his way around and was pretty much allowed to roam free inside the house, as long as someone let him in beforehand.

Samantha, back in her room, simply picked up her phone and dialed Don's number. Immediately a buzzing sound could be heard from under her bed. Don, who had just walked in front of her room, saw what she was doing and briefly wondered how his phone ended up under Sam's bed, before taking action.

Ignoring the dust that had settled under her bed, Don crawled beneath it and followed the sound and light his phone until he hand clutched in his hand and hit the red button. Afterwards, he crawled back out and dusted himself off.

"Thanks." he said with the same unenthusiastic voice as before.

"No prob." Sam replied. "Wanna stay?"

"Actually had something planned." he replied with a sigh at the end. It was something that was normal for him. He never had been the most enthusiastic one and today he seemed to have woken up on the wrong side of the bed.

"Alright, see ya around."

"Laters."

He was just about to leave, when he stopped in his tracks, while his vision got fixated on the laptop screen. "Really?" he asked in a deadpan voice, pointing his finger at the screen.

"Hey, I thought you'd stop complaining about it." she put her hands on her hips.

"Pff, sorry. It's just no matter how many I see someone enjoying this, I can't wrap my head around as to why so many people are enjoying this show."

"Well, why don't you take in just one episode? Maybe tomorrow?"

Don thought about it for a second. "Alright, we can actually do it now. I'm in no rush."

'Meaning you have something planned to do on your own, like always.' Sam thought to herself. "Alrighty, take a seat" she tapped on her bed. Don just let gravity do the job of taking a seat. His friend quickly took her laptop, placed herself next to him and restarted the video from the beginning, though she skipped the theme.

"Call of the cutie?"
"This episode explains itself pretty good."

Twenty minutes later, Sam stopped the video once again, before the next episode started automatically. "So, what do you think?" This hadn't been really the best episode to try and bring someone into the fandom, but it had been worth a shot.

"Well," Don took in a deep breath "it wasn't as bad as I was expecting."

"I'm pretty sure you mean generation one to three. It wasn't really until they hired Loren Faust that the show became any good."

"Uh huh. I'm still not a fan, but there's one thing that I didn't fully get and it still got me curious. What's that all about those cutie marks? I mean, as far as I understand it's like you HAVE to do what it says, no matter what."

"Hmm." Samantha thought about it for a minute. "Let's start from the beginning. A cutie mark represents a special talent a pony acquired or...wait. Better is, THE special talent a pony was born with, their destiny."

"Sounds like bullshit to me." Don remarked, crossing his arms behind the back of his hand. "And what if the pony doesn't like his or her special talent? I guess it would be pointless to ask what would happen if they're not good at it..."

Sam nodded. "Yeah, they're always good at it, no matter what. About your question, I've read like one or two fanfictions about it, but so far there hasn't been an episode released with that kind of thing. As I said, it's like their destiny."

"They're destined to love it? Now that's screwed up."

Sam held up her arms. "Hey, in the end it is just a kid's show. Kids barely understand a thing we're talking about."

"Still, I personally think the simple idea is wrong." Don frowned at the thought of having to do what a tattoo says you to do.

"Mhmm. There is one thing that especially bothers me. You remember Twilight?"

"The stupid movie or the partly decent character?"

Sam rolled her eyes. "The latter. Later in the show it is shown that she was destined to become a heroine and immortal. Her cutie mark was on the tree of harmony." Don raised an eyebrow. "It's a very important tree with lots of power. Anyways, it's important because Celestia, one of the two leaders of Equestria, knew about what would become of Twilight and subtly manipulated her. Long story short, Twilight becomes an immortal alicorn princess and is going to survive her friends' deaths."

"Ouch and I thought you said this show was for children."

"Children don't think too much about it and write mature content about Twilight going insane and destroying half of the world in a sad rampage." she chuckled.

"I'd have gone on a rampage way earlier. Immortality is just counterproductive."

'Sheesh, you clearly need to stock up your vocabulary. The excuse of being from overseas doesn't count anymore.'

"So, mind staying as I try to convert you into the fandom with another episode?" Sam asked.

Don let out a yawn. "Nah, I'll just continue ranting at this rate." He stood up and stretched himself. "I bet we could go on all day."

"Yeah. I actually planned on filling my brain with ponies for the entire day."

"...I guess in the end we all have our personal drug." Don shrugged.

"And for mine I don't even need LSD. It's already included." the girl giggled.

"Wasn't I supposed to be the one with the lame jokes?"
Don left it at that and proceeded downstairs, leaving Sam in her room. It may seem more than a bit impolite, even for close friends, but that's how it mostly went with them.

Sam was eating more snacks, while waiting for the next video to load. There was some kind of holdup, probably a hick-up with her internet connection again. She hit the F5 button and waited for the side to reload, but then her laptop froze.

"Urggh, what now? I just wanna enjoy ponies..." she sighed while doing the usual typing and smashing the buttons, trying to get the thing working again. It wasn't until the screen went white that she gave up. "A virus? Really?" she growled in frustration.

She was about to take out the accumulator, when the brightness of the screen intensified to a level it shouldn't be possible for her laptop to reach. The girl covered her eyes with her arm, silently wondering what the heck was going on, when she felt a little light-headed...

XIII

Sam felt like she had been run over by a truck, while being on drug withdrawal for the first time in her life. It was impossible for her to think clearly, so she just continued to hold her eyes closed, while the sun was shining directly onto them. The wind was gently stroking over her. She could stay like this forever.

...

...

...
"-lo? Are you alright? Hello?" A voice called out to her.

"Five more minutes mom..."

"*Sigh* Figures. About three hours trapped in this place and the first intelligent being I meet is just sleeping around."

"Nnngh, shut up, Don."

"Hey, how do you know my name?"

"Huh...?"

Sam forced her eyes open, only to close them again as the light blinded her eye. She noticed first that she was laying in a grass field, as it tickled her skin. Still a little confused as to everything that had happened today, from which she was pretty sure 90% had been a dream, she blinked a few times in order to get her vision clear.

"Hmm, thought it would be harder to wake you up."

Sam blinked.
Then she blinked again.
It didn't change, though her mind had a hard time comprehending what her eyes were visualizing inside her brain. Right in front of her stood a pony. Not a pony as she was used from seeing in petting zoos, the miniature horses. No this was an honest to goodness pony from the "My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic" show.

"P-pony..." she stuttered. "Y-you're a pony."

The pony had a grey/bluish coat, black eyes and his mane was a lighter black if that can be described as a color.

"So are you, you know?" The pony replied whose voice sounded a lot like that off...

"Don?! That you?!" Sam shouted, trying to get up, only to fall back to the ground immediately. Don in the meantime raised an eyebrow, until it made click inside his brain, understanding the situation.

"Heh, good to see at least someone familiar in this place, though do me a favor don't freak out as much as I did, when you look down on yourself."

In fact, in front of Don was lying a mare with a red coat, green eyes and a darker red mane, which was pretty long and thus tailed up in a ponytail, with a few strands falling down in front of her face. Unlike Don, Sam also had a horn, making her a unicorn.

None of the two had a cutie mark in case you were wondering. Oh well, probably not, since the whole story is about the lack of a cutie mark, while going along with canon. But enough of breaking the fourth wall. This chapter is almost over anyways.

Pinkie's Pinkie Sense had told her about a doozy today and all of the sudden it stopped. What she didn't know, the doozy had been one heck of a scream filled with mixed emotions and almost causing Don to lose his sense of hearing.

"I'm a pony...you're a pony...is this Equestria?" Sam's voice sounded almost timid and she was shaking uncontrollably, while at the same time her pupils shrunk to the size of an insect. The boy turned into a stallion recognized the symptoms immediately. Samantha was suffering from fangirl overload.

GASP!!! and first meetings

Author's Note

I wanted to write more, but I had a hard time going on. I'm sorry if AJ's accent is not very well written. Poor title choice on my part :applejackunsure:

GASP!!! and first meetings

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."

Background for a non-magical unicorn.

Author's Note

I'm pretty sure I somehow screwed Twilight's character.

Background for a non-magical unicorn.

"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.

The party comes next chapter, promise.

"Are you sure you're alright?" a concerned Twilight asked, having joined Applejack in showing Ponyville to the two newcomers.

"Yeah, sorry 'bout that. I tend to get like this when I'm like super excited." Sam replied with a sheepish smile. "Never thought I'd learn magic. And from Celestia's student none the less."

"Oh please, I'm not some extraordinaire pony."

"Ah, come on sugar. Don't put yourself down. Ya defeated an ursa minor by yourself for example."

"A-applejack! You know it wasn't like that! I didn't just defeat the ursa all by myself."

"I heard something interesting." Don spoke up, getting the attention of the others. "You're the element of magic, right?"

"Yes?"

"Doesn't that make you like...the most powerful unicorn on the planet?" he asked.

"W-wha-? How did you come to that conclusion?!" she asked, totally flustered.

"Common sense? It sounds like you're magic in person. Or...pony, I guess."

"S-stop it already. I'm NOT the most powerful unicorn in Equestria just because I'm the element of magic."

"Jeez, just asking." he chuckled. Never going to get used to the hoof-sound-effect. He thought as they walked over a bridge.

"So, where exactly did you two come from?" Twilight asked changing the subject. The question almost made the two former humans freeze, but luckily the only thing that happened was Sam stumbling over her own hooves. Don knew better than to come up with an excuse for that question and left it to Sam to answer it.

Sam hesitated maybe a moment too long, which may bite back sometime in the future, but she came up with a story. "Don is from Germania. I actually met him there first and we became friends over the two weeks I was there. Fate sure has a strange sense of humor. A month later I see the dude walking towards the same school I was headed."

"And of course, she just HAD to scare the shit out of me." the stallion added. "Not to mention I needed to learn this freaking language first. I'm not good with learning new languages."

So far the story was true.

"Wait, if you were in Germania, how come you never met any ponies? I know there're not many ponies living there, but still..." Twilight pointed out the contradiction.

Arrgh, that's why I don't like playing mafioso games.

"Chance of fate." Don said, seeing the collapse of the story. "Besides, I left at a pretty young age and never needed any magic lessons. Sam was there for only two weeks. And when I moved, I was even farther away from pony civilization." I think. Don't exactly have a map of the universe with me.

"Really? Wow, that's some mighty coincidence." Applejack commented. "So where exactly did ya live?"

"Our country is called..."

"CUTIE MARK CRUSADERS SOAP BOX RACERS, YAY!!" The shout interrupted Sam and her probably not so throughout made-up story. On the other hand, every brony and pegasister knew this scream meant immediate doom for everyone who stood in the way. And right now, Sam was standing in the way.

She got hit by the soap box of the CMC and thanks to what she would later think of being cartoon logic, she was in for the ride, seemingly glued to the cart.

"What the...? What was that?" Don asked, looking after the cart, which was becoming smaller and smaller over the seconds he stared after it. "Man, wish I had my camera with me." He talked more to himself, before he ran after the vehicle. Twilight and Applejack followed him immediately.

"Ah'm mighty sorry about that!" Applejack shouted. "Mah sis and her friends dunno their limits!"

"They're doing this on a regular basis?" Don asked in disbelief.

"They're the Cutie Mark Crusaders. They found their club in order to find their cutie marks!" Twilight explained, having a little hard time keeping up with the two earth ponies. "Unfortunately their ideas are often a little....intense."

"I'll translate that as insane."

XIII

In the meantime Sam was screaming her head off. Whether it was the pain or the high speed, her brain wasn't sure.

"HIT THE BREAKS!" Sweetie Belle shouted.

"THEY AIN'T WORKIN'!" Apple Bloom shouted over her shoulder.

"GIRLS, WE HIT A PONY!" Scootaloo pointed in front of them.

"HOLY SHIT!" Now normally Samantha was someone who watched her language around little children or fillies in this case. However the possibility of being crushed into a tree didn't exactly helped her adrenaline filled brain.

The CMC and Samantha screamed as the tree came closer and closer. Just like in any other (or most) cartoons, Applebloom turned the wheel at the last possible moment, barely avoiding crashing into it. The CMC wiped the sweat off their foreheads.

"ROCK!!" The red mare screamed on top of her lungs. It wasn't a big one, but still big enough to cause an accident. All parties involved started screaming again until there was an audible crack. The former human turned her head around, since the sound came from directly behind her. She found the fillies staring at the wheel in Applebloom's hooves, which was no longer attached to the wooden vehicle.

"AAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!"

The front right wheel hit the rock, causing it to fall off. The next thing that happened was the body of the cart hitting the ground and thanks to the speed it already had, it flipped over. The last thing Sam remembered was that she didn't feel wood on her back.

XIII

"Urrgh...what a dream..."

"Really? Tell me how to wake up."

The deadpan voice of her best friend was like splashing cold water on her face. Sometimes, no, a lot of times Don was just plain annoying. The headache was enough of an indication that she hurt her head pretty badly.

The smell of disinfectants entered her nostrils. Yup, she was in the same or at least a similar hospital room to that Rainbow Dash would stay in. A motion with her hoof confirmed a bandaged around her forehead. On a side-note, her mane was now hanging loose.

Don was sitting next to her in a chair, although the way he was positioned just seemed wrong to Sam. The next second she knew why it seemed so wrong. He was sitting there in a way a human would position himself on a chair. His front legs were behind his head, while leaning with his back against the chair. One of his hind legs was put over the other one.

"That was my first time being unconscious. Felt different than I always imagined."

"Really?" the stallion raised an eyebrow.

"Yeah, I always thought it would be a really deep sleep. But now...it's more like someone pressed the pause button inside my brain. When I look at my memories it's like watching a movie, where somebody cut out a part of the movie out. It's the best way I can explain it. By the way, how long was out?"

"Err..." Don looked at the clock on the wall "around two hours. The docs said you were lucky your horn is undamaged. They made some kind of checkup anyway and...well you can cast magic that much is clear. Just your- I forgot what they called it- the veins that transport energy to use your magic are underdeveloped."

"Mhm." Sam leaned back into her pillow. "What happened to the Crusaders?"

"Huh?"

"The fillies."

"Oh, the kids." Don scratched his head. "They got off lucky. All landed in a tree."

"How the hell is that being lucky?" The red mare asked with a raised eyebrow.

"They didn't even had a scratch on them. They were a little dizzy, but else okay. Though Applebutt wasn't too thrilled about what happened. You were oiling pretty good after all."

"Head injury. Looks always worse than it actually is. You know, this is kind of a problem. I have no way of paying-"

She didn't get any further, as the door to the room was opened by a brown magic aura. A doctor pony with two crossed syringes as a cutie mark entered the room.

"Please tell me that she's gonna die, doc. The world is better off without her."

"Hey, I have yet to sell my virginity on e-bay."

"Everyone knows that you don't have that anymore."

"What do you mean? You sold me yours for 50 bucks."

"...Sheesh, forgot about that."

The two laughed over the poor stallions face. The best part was, the story was all too true.

"Well, it's good to see that you still have your humor. You were pretty lucky with your horn and the damage is only on the surface. You're free to go, after you answered some of our questions."

"Sure thing, doc. By the way...about paying my stay here....eh...I'm kinda broke. But I already got a job here, so-"

"Why, whatever do you mean?" the doctor asked. "Do you mean paying for your hospital stay?"

"Y-yeah, what else?" Samantha asked.

The doctor chuckled. "You're from overseas, aren't you?"

"Yes."

"Ah." He nodded. "Well Miss, here in Equestria the hospitals are supported by the royal treasury." The doc explained.

"Really? That's cool."

It kinda fit Celestia's personality. Sam got off from the bed and with some help managed to get out of the hospital gown.

"Okay doc. you need my name, age, stuff?"

The doctor shook his head, causing his short light brown mane to wave. "No, your friend already provided us with the necessary information. However if you want to have a quick look over what he told us-"

"That's fine, doc. He may be a lazy bone,"
"I'm still here, you know."
"but he's good with paperwork. The only thing he's really good at." she added, grinning.

"Shut up."

"But seriously doc, what's up?" Sam placed herself the same way on the bed, as Don was sitting on the chair, except for her front legs supporting her body on the bed.

The doctor pony raised an eyebrow, seeing how the two ponies positioned themselves, but decided to concentrate on the matters at hoof.

"Okay, first things first, Miss Sparkle already informed me about your...lack of magic experience."

"Twilight's here?" Sam asked.

"She, the apple, and...the white unicorn, what was her name?"

"Rarity, too?"

"Yeah, oh and the rainbow gal. They gave the trio one heck of a talk." Don was looking towards the door.

I wonder if I somehow messed up the timeline already. Sam thought silently to herself. "Oops, almost forgot your question. To sum it up, I've never used magic in any form, I don't have a cutie mark, I feel all right despite lacking one and my head hurts a little."

*GROWL*

"Yeah, and THAT."

"Hmm, now that's peculiar." The doctor stated. "I have already run every magical test I knew on your friend here," he waved at Don "but couldn't find any abnormalities. Except one thing."

"That being?" Sam asked.

"Earth ponies have those magic channels too, ya know." Don interrupted. "One thing we didn't know. Only they're running more in my legs than my brain. They're the same state as yours."

"Underdeveloped."

"Indeed." The doctor looked at his clipboard "Of course I have yet to run every test on you Miss Nights. But if the results are the same, than that means on a magic level you two are as good as foals at grade school age."

"Jeez, that good?" Don asked in a sarcastic matter. So much for a little strength boost.

"*sigh* So much for learning magic. Is there any therapy for this, like for someone who needs to learn walking once again?" Samantha asked the doctor.

"Certainly there're, but I've never seen such severe cases. In any event, Miss Sparkle also stated she wanted to tutor you in magic. While this may seems unprofessional, she IS the student of Princess Celestia. I'm sure she has more of a chance of finding out what is wrong with you and with her help we may be able to consult a therapy."

"A doc thinking a civilian is more qualified than he himself? I've seen it all." Don chuckled.

"If you say so, doctor. Hey can you help me with my hairband? Is always a pain to put it on without magic."

XIII

"So what now?" Don asked as he and Samantha walked down the stairs. "With our abilities still on human level, I doubt we'll make much of our stay here."

"Don't worry, I'm sure we can get help. Besides I have a theory." Sam said with confidence.

"A theory?"

The mare stopped walking, causing her friend stumble a little. "Our channels are those of newborn, right? And we just landed in Equestria in what I can only assume complete NEW bodies?"

"Yeah...?"

"Urrgh..." Sam facehoofed. "Get a hint, dude. I know you're smarter than you always let on."

"I'm hungry, cut me some slack." he whined.

The red pony took a deep breath. "Look, I don't claim to be an expert or anything, but if we're in bodies that have the potential to grow? Hint. hint."

Don raised an eyebrow. "You sure? When the doc examined me he looked like one of those who have to tell somebody that they'll never be able to walk again."

"I'm positive on this one. I think of it like that. Someone or something created those new bodies for us, but since magic is pretty new to us we just have to train for it to grow stronger inside us like everyone else in Equestria. I mean, imagine I had the power level of a decent magician and had no idea how to use it."

"Explosions? Utter and complete chaos?"

"Nah, they got Discord for that in this place."

"Who?"

XIII

The mood was rather tense on the first floor in the Ponyville Hospital, at least among a certain group of ponies, plus one dragon. The Crusaders all looked towards the floor, ashamed of having (let's be honest: FINALLY) accidentally hurting another pony during one their crusades (did I miss an episode? Please tell me).

Their older sisters (in Rainbow's case kind of figure), Twilight and Spike were quietly talking with each other, carefully avoiding the topic at hoof.

"Urr, how long do we have to wait?" complained Rainbow. Yeah, I was lying.

"Rainbow Dash, the doctor said they would be here in a few minutes."

"It's already been ten minutes." Rainbow complained again, throwing her fore legs up.

"Honestly Dash, you need to learn to be a little bit more patient." Rarity huffed. "There's nothing wrong with being fashionable late every now and then." she said, holding her head high.

Rainbow Dash just gave her a look and sighed. "Why didn't they come with the doctor?"

"Didn't ya listen at all, Dash? He said they wanted to talk 'bout somethin' alone."

"Oh, I can see it right in front of me. Two souls, shunned away by the world for their difference, comforting each other in their embrace. The knight in shining armor, telling her soothing words-"

Twilight, Applejack and Spike looked at each other, rolling their eyes, while Rainbow wasn't even listening anymore.

"Hey Twilight," Spike got the attention of his sister? (They never really cleared up his relationship, except the assistant part, did they?) "about this Sam."

"Yes, what is it Spike?"

"I was just wondering. When a unicorn doesn't use magic for too long, doesn't she or he gets magic surges after some time, which can be fa-...ehh...hurt a lot? Or am I mixing something up?"

Twilight's eyes widened slightly, as she realized that he was right. "You're right Spike. She SHOULD have had magic surges. But the doctor said her, actually both their arcane channels are severely underdeveloped."

"So, what does that mean?" he asked.

"I'm not too sure, Spike. But I think we better write to Princess Celestia for a little advice."