Six Locks

Chapter 3: A Difference

I groaned as I got out of bed this early morning. The sun is rising at a slow pace as I shielded my eyes from it's terror. I stopped in my tracks when I noticed something weird. The sun is a little redder than the usual burning yellow. I also noticed that Scootaloo was missing. This better not be a dream inception. I looked around my room. I almost screamed. It was almost in pieces. The wooden floor is grey, the ceiling badly damaged, the walls have grey roses, scratched paint, and a couple of holes.

"Morning Sam! Why do you look like you saw a ghost?" Scootaloo asks, walking in with a half torn chefs hat on.

"This place is a wreck!" I yelled. She looks around.

"Um, Sam, it was like this yesterday, you didn't seem to mind last time I checked," she said. I started searching through my memories, and I was. Indeed it was always like this, how didn't I notice this? I groaned. Maybe I just noticed because I am too tired to think. Yeah, yeah that's it. I looked through the window, which was located beside my bed, and saw Ponyville. At least, a recolor. The streets were gravel, the street lights were either not working or broken, and the grass was a sickly color of brown. I rubbed my eyes quickly, thinking I was just seeing things. The image of the recolored town was still there.

"When was the town um, painted?" I asked. Scootaloo comes over.

"Where?" She asks. I pointed everywhere.

"Sam, you do realize this is exactly how it looked when you got here right?" She asks. I shook my head.

"This is some inception crap," I said, started getting scared. I suddenly realized, the town did always looked like that. I groaned.

"Sam, are you okay? You seem sick," she said. I took a look at myself. Yep, this is inception. My skin turned from it's usual olive to a pale olive. I scratched my head, weirder out about what the hell's going on.

"Scootaloo, was I like this when you last saw me?" I asked. She shook her head.

"No, you were kind of, livelier, you know, more colorful," she said. I nodded.

"Alright, I'll be right back okay?" She nods and I run off to find Jacob. I walk, noticing that there are a few ponies. One pony, who was a pale green, and dark red mane, was digging through a filthy trash can, picking up a bloody knife and glaring at me. I hurried down the hard, crunching path. The brown grass was starting to weird me out even more. I looked up to see a dark blue pony, passed out in an alley between two, grey buildings. I then notice that he wasn't passed out, seeing a tip of a knife poking out. I hurried, and found Jacob, looking at the ground, kicking a can while walking to a Quills and Sofas. I run over to him.

"Dude, everything's different!" I say. He looks at me, his eyes looking like he is choosing between suicide by knife or toxic substances.

"Sam, the town was always like this, remember?" He says, giving me a questioning look.

"I just noticed though! This is some inception shit right here!" I say quietly.

"Oh right, you usually don't notice things," he said, grumpily and depressingly. I tilted my head.

"What do you mean?" I ask. He sighs, rolling his eyes.

"Well, you didn't notice that while you were marrying that mare, the music stopped, and when we first came to Equestria, you didn't notice that some of us had bruises," he said. I shook my head.

"You guys didn't have bruises, if you had bruises, I would've noticed," I said. He shook his head, giving me a disgusted look.

"Sure, same thing when it comes to your hair," he said looking up. I gave him a questioned look.

"What?" I asked. He got out a pocket knife, cut a piece of my hair off, and held it in front of me. It was a dark, dark brown. It was also straighter, which was rare when it comes to my hair, oh no it rhymes! I started feeling bad. I suddenly realized that I am not in a world I thought I was in. I looked down. When I did so, I saw his bloody looking hands. I started backing up slowly. "J-Jacob?" I stuttered, pointing to his hands, all ten fingers have at least two cuts. His wrists on the other hand were bruised.

"Don't freak out, it was only Fluttershy," he said.

"She must have been Satan!" I yelled. He gave me a death glare.

"Well, like you said, she's... Different," he said, looking off to the side, trying to get his attention on something else. How did I know that? I put this info in the back of my mind and looked at him concerned.

"Describe her," I said. He looks at me, looking like he saw a nightmare. He hung his head and muttered.

"She's red, her hair's a redder color, and when she talked, it was like listening to a monster," he muttered. I nodded, trying to understand. "She just seemed, evil," he said. I sighed, seeing that this is going to be hard to try and make them all back to normal. Jacob continues kicking at a can. Now that I think about it, he usually recycles, so why is he kicking a can? I saw his fists clench and I ran terrified. I ran over to Sugarcube Corner. I barged through the front door in time to see Max carry a mint green unicorn to the backroom. I stood frozen. Did Max just knock someone out and looked like he was gonna kill her!? Pinkamena walked out with a knife, saw me, and threw it. I ducked just in time and ran out. What the hell is going on in this town? How did I not notice the crap that's going on!? When I was five feet in from of my house door, I faded into blackness.

Meanwhile

I watched as Sam fell to the floor, unconscious. I flew as fast as I can while Pinkamena was carrying him. In a flash, I grabbed him, knocked Pink down, and flew off. I'm guessing Sam saw something from Sugarcube Corner. Why am I saving him though? It's not like he's special, save for the fact that he's a human. Maybe I'll turn him into rainbows, wait, no his blood comes out as colors from black to grey to white. What will I do with him? I looked around. Pinkamena was in hot pursuit. I jetted to my house, flew straight in, and locked the door. I threw Sam onto a couch, carefully. Well, by carefully I mean threw him onto the couch and let him fall down. My house is made of clouds so I'm not worried. I walked to my kitchen, panting from flying so fast. I hadn't flown that fast since I became a manager. I miss the old days, which I can't remember too much about. I just remembered that I was happy... A sound made me escape from my thoughts. The sound came from Sam as he got off the floor and laid on the couch. I walked over to him.

"Hey Sam, are you okay?" I asked. He didn't answer. He just kept staring into the ceiling. "Um, Sam?" I ask. He just looks at me. I realized that his skin is different, not the usual olive touch. Instead, it's pale. His eyes were grey, his hair was kind of turning black, and his attitude was different. Not in a bad way, but he seems depressed.

"Yeah I'm fine," he said bluntly. He turned to face away from me.

"All.right, I'm going to work, don't leave before I come back," I said. He didn't answer me, instead he just lays there, facing the wall, and doing nothing. I left Sam to his own, and went to work.

Meanwhile...

I laid on Rainbow's cloud-made-couch. It's softness was very unique to me, but I didn't care. I only stared at the white, fluffy walls, thinking.

Why are you here you freak? Asked a memory from a long time ago.

You think I'll stay? This is a war Sam! I must fight for my country! Yelled an angry Corry, in my memory.

Sam, if you keep trying to protect us, you're going to kill us. Said an annoyed sister, who was pointing out the door in my first house. Well, I guess it's their house now.

Sam, I can't help but wonder why the hell you think we need you! Said Tom. I wonder why as well.

This is your fault... Said my subconscious. I couldn't agree more. I wonder, what would have happened if I never existed. Guess I'll never find out. I stayed still on the couch, not moving. I just stared into the wall, trying to figure out why people and ponies gave a damn. Why they gave a damn about me. I realized, that I'm not that important. I was a coward.

Weak... I'm not strong, I always wind up letting someone down.

Idiot... I was usually wrong every time I try to figure out someone.

Fragile... I always needed help from someone, I'm usually never stand up on my own.

Worthless... I'm not worth caring about. It hit me, it finally hit me. I'm not worth really caring about. I got off the couch, and went out the front door. I looked down. I'm guessing maybe ten to twelve feet. I braced myself as I stepped off, falling to the ground. The ground came up to meet me, and I saw blackness. I woke up, seeing the grey sky and reddish sun. I got up, wincing at the pain which was enormous in my ankle. I limped into the town, not caring about a green pony glaring, a grey pony dead, or even paid any mind to Jacob, who was sobbing on the gravel. I turned my head to him, seeing his pain. He looked up at me, sorrow, grief, and misery in his eyes.

"Help me!" He said. I shook my head.

"I don't care," I said. I just turned back to my house, ignoring Jacob cursing me, ignoring his misery, ignoring my friend. Except, he's not my friend any more. I want no part of this world. I opened my door, to see a sticky note on my room door.

Dear Sam,

I'm sorry, but I need to go away, Rainbow Dash told me it wasn't safe anymore. I hope you understand.

Yours, Scootaloo.

I just stared, the gears in my head not turning. I sighed, and threw the note into the trash can in my room. I took up some wood that was sitting in my living room and nailed it to the window. I sat in a corner, and started singing a tune. I also started going over my life.

First, a boy, a boy who was weirder than anyone else. He sat alone at lunch, talking to himself. In those words, he was telling himself jokes. He was known as a comedian in his school, but he was not too social. He barely had any friends. Soon, after he graduated, he went to the military. He stayed there for a year, but his brother stayed. After a couple of months, his brother's leg was blown off. He was sent home, and he couldn't be payed. The boy worked. He worked overtime. Then, his sister worked. She got paid more, and she didn't even worked overtime. His family, told him to go away. He did, he got a home, and while getting interviewed for a job, he made five friends. They were all different. One wasn't liked much. The now man, and the friend never got along too well. They were all hired. They were sent on a job, and turned out to be illegal. They went to court. They were being test subject. They all landed into a new world. The man fell in love with a pegasus. The pegasus loved him as well. That part, confused me. Why is the question. Why did she fall in love with me? I stopped singing, and leaned my head against the wall. Why do I feel miserable?