Tributes

The next one to wake up was Snails. He shook his head before opening his eyes - hoping the magic shooting at him was only the end to a nightmare. But it wasn’t; it was the beginning of one. He got off the ground and went to his friend Snips. Snails tapped the big colt’s shoulder, but Snips didn’t budge. After exhausting every option - poking him harder, whispering into his ear, and even hitting him - Snails used his head to heave Snips onto his back. Together, they reached the wall within only minutes. That’s when Snips woke up.

“Wh- wha..? Where are we?” he asked, rubbing his eyes sleepily.

“Looks like the Everfree Forest,” Snails answered.

“And why exactly are you carrying me?”

“Oh right. Sorry,” Snails set his friend down, “I guess whatever the princess hit us with was really strong. You weren’t waking up, so I had to carry you on my back.”

“Any ideas on how we get this wall down?”

“Shoot at it with our magic?” Snails suggested.

“Sounds good,” Snips agreed, “Let’s try it.”

The pair focused on the see-through, light blue wall, closed their eyes, and strained their horns for magic. Nothing came, but they did receive some massive headaches. The alicorn magic had a strong hold on them. “Well, that isn’t going to work,” Snips said obviously, “Why isn’t our magic working?”

“Maybe the princess took it away to keep us from cheating.”

“I guess that makes sense,” Snips replied, turning around and searching for some kind of shelter. It wouldn’t be long before the others woke up, and he was tired. Both of them were. “Hey!” he exclaimed, “Let’s hide up in that tree!” Snips pointed to a tall tree with some low hanging branches.

“Good idea.”

Together, they climbed into the tree and stopped only when they felt hidden - about twenty feet in the air.

“Good thing neither of us are scared of heights,” Snails laughed, actually feeling very uncomfortable so high up in the air.

“Y-yeah…” Snips said with the same fake bravery.

* * *

Twist awoke with only one philosophy in her head; trust nopony. As much as she wanted to awaken any of the ponies around her, she didn’t risk the chance of them being out for blood and victory, so she fled the scene. Within minutes, she had no idea where she was or where she would go.

Through zig-zags, twists, turns, and loops, she had lost herself in the thickly vegetated forest. Losing her way led to crying; crying lead to whimpering; whimpering led to fear, and fear led to her taking shelter in a log just big enough to squeeze in.