[A Couple Years Later…]

The gentle foot and hoof-falls of a decent trek came to an abrupt halt as the first rows of stones came into view—a single section nestled within lushness of grass and trees. Though the morning mist was still ever present, the sun above began poking holes through the clouds above.

As the sounds of early-morning wildlife entered into her ears, and as the cold helped to bristle her coat, Schnee still found herself markedly comfortable where she was. The war had turned her into a morning pony… or rather, one who could easily adapt to whenever the hell she needed to get up.

She sighed blissfully as she stood quietly beside her human. When it came to a trip back to Earth with Seth, she’d be up whenever he wanted her to be.

Even more so when he wanted her to meet his parents… and take a trip to a continent named ‘Europe’ to see some of the sites of the humans’ own ‘Great War.’

He apparently wanted to give her a ‘gift’ of sorts. He gave her more than she could have ever hoped.

“Well, here we are,” Seth’s voice comfortably broke the somber silence, and Schnee’s thoughts.

A breeze blew over the duo and served to mess up a couple strands of her long, flowing mane that was just getting a tad too long for her. Seth loved her mane when it was long, however… and she in turn loved when he would run his fingers through it. She felt the drawbacks were outweighed by the benefits, wholly.

Even after these short, couple years. The little things still mattered to her—to the both of them.

"Langemark Cemetery, Belgium. Close by to what was once called the ‘Ypres Salient.’”

Schneeblume smiled up at him—to which he returned the gesture in the same way as he always did since the day they met—and gazed over the identical stones in perfect rows.

“So it seems…” she said, nodding, and then aiming her gaze forward. “And the pon—the men buried here. They’re like me?”

Seth nodded down to her and offered her a gentle smirk.

“Yeah. They’re German. Just like Alemaneians. Those that died during our First World War.”

Schnee nodded again, her eyes scanning over every stone over this one section.

“How many?”

Seth seemed to take a couple seconds for an educated guess. Not that it was super important to her, but she did want to know at least a ballpark.

“Forty-five thousand, I think. Maybe fifty?”

Schneeblume pursed her lips and nodded once.

So many. For one cemetery no less.

As they stood at the edge, and the occasional, other human visitor came and went, Schneeblume was washed over with a certain feeling. It was somewhat familiar to her from when she would visit memorials for the Equidae War—a feeling of somberness and respect for those who didn’t make it out like she did.

But… this was different for her. She felt almost a sense of kindredness. Like she belonged here… not in a morbid sense though.

She felt welcomed.

And another gentle gust of a breeze through the trees tickled at her face, and further calmed her nerves… ones that were high ever since she was brought to Earth for a tour of the Great War sites. She thought that she might not have been welcomed in any of their memorial sites.

She was glad to have been wrong on so many levels. And this time, Schneeblume decided to ask something of Seth straight from her heart:

“Liebling?”

Seth’s eyes met hers and he smiled.

“Ja, meine Blume?”

Schnee felt her cheeks go red at that comment—Seth had been getting more creative with his words as he got better with her native language.

“Could… Would you mind giving me a few moments?” Schnee asked tentatively, feeling the confidence in her voice taper off as the last of her words exited her mouth.

Her sudden lack of confidence, however, appeared to be unfounded. Seth smiled brightly at her and seemed to wordlessly convey that he understood exactly what she wanted.

He was getting good at reading her. Too good, perhaps.

“Of course, babe. I knew you’d probably want some time here, of all places,” he said.

That’s when he reached forward and cupped Schnee’s cheek, which she instinctively leaned into whilst unable to contain her beaming smile. But in the midst of her sudden lack of spatial awareness, she was also bestowed a kiss on her lips by her beau.

Oh, how she adored him.

“Take as much time as you need. I’ll come check up on you in a little while. Sound good?”

Schnee only had to bat her eyelashes and respond with a now-timeless sentence:

“I love you.”

Seth blushed, then toyed with her ear in with his fingers for a single second.

“Love you too, babe.”

Schnee watched him turn on his heels and stroll back from whence they came. She internally commented how that dress uniform of his fit him so well… how the gold threads of the Solar Guard were complemented by the navy ones of the Lunar Guard.

She bit her lip—he looked hot. But more importantly, it reminded her of his achievements. He made it… and though he never failed to thank her consistently for her help, she knew he did it himself.

That warmth that had entered her heart from the day they met was as strong as ever, swimming in her chest. She was so proud of him.

She took a deep breath and looked back towards the cemetery, and a quick glance around revealed that she was alone within earshot… Not that it really mattered, but she preferred to do her revering with a little extra privacy, especially when there existed a certain kindredness of the fallen.

Schneeblume stepped forward with her ceramic hoof, making her first hoof-mark in the beautifully manicured grass.

Nothing willed her away, and she pressed onward in an easy trot until she happened upon the first row of stones. A certain calmness entered into her heart, one that compelled her to close her eyes and take a deep, thoughtful breath as another welcoming breeze surrounded her form—one that embraced her like an old friend.

At that moment, a feeling most inexplicable wafted over her corporeal form:

She was tired, despite the gratuitous amounts of sleep and hearty breakfast she was afforded. Her hind legs were fatigued… and she felt compelled to sit down.

And so she did, plopping her haunches down on the grass between two stones.

She regarded the left gravestone with gentle, prideful reverence whilst reading the name embossed on it:

Friedrich Müller…

Schneeblume sighed out once with a somber smile. As a gentle tear made itself known to the world in her right eye and traveled down her cheek, she placed her left hoof against the stone and traced a single line downward.

Further—though she could not explain why she felt compelled to do such a thing—she began to recite something most familiar to her:

“The land was scarred. The grass will grow.

“The air was poisoned. The breeze will blow.

“The flowers snuffed. But they will bloom.

“Life was born here. Taken much too soon.

“But beauty will always return to the Seel—”

Schneeblume caught herself in the spur of the moment, and made one adjustment to a poem she had written those years ago:

“But beauty will always return to Flanders Fields.”

She recited her entire work from memory, and duly made sure to replace a certain Seele Plains with Flanders Fields out of respect for the fallen in front of her. To her, the warmth in her cheeks on this cool morning demonstrated that perhaps… the change fit.

And someone clearing their throat right beside her indicated that she might’ve not been speaking to herself.

“Did you write that yourself?” called a voice in a familiar tongue.

Torn out of her reverie, Schneeblume gasped and nearly jumped out of her own coat—startled. She whipped her gaze to the right and found a young man in the midst of taking a seat next to her.

Getting a good look at him as she controlled her heartrate, Schnee immediately discerned that his features were quite young—at least several years younger than Seth. His short, yet unkempt black hair whipped with the gentle breeze that coursed over the cemetery, and his piercing green eyes (which complemented his pale visage along with a sharp jaw) found hers with a platonic warmness that Schnee found so familiar…

…too familiar.

Yet, she could not place it. The only thing she found mildly out of the ordinary was his choice of attire, which seemed somewhat ‘dated’ compared to the more contemporary clothes of the human’s she’d interacted with thus far. It looked plain, almost like one of her uniforms she used to wear in the army, but immaculately pressed and cleaned.

Perhaps this man was currently in the service—Schnee met no shortage of current and former military personnel.

She replied in her identical, yet different tongue:

“I did… some different context from where I came from but… it felt right for some reason. I don’t know why,” she replied, huffing after some sudden introspection.

The newcomer folded his arms over his knees and smiled right back at her, revealing perfect teeth.

“Well, I must say it was beautiful to hear.”

Schneeblume returned a half-smirk.

“Thank you! Safe to assume you were eavesdropping?” she teased.

The German man shrugged with a knowing grin, chuckling warmly all the while.

“Heh, I tend to catch many conversations around here when I come and visit,” he said, turning his gaze away and staring off into the distance for a few moments.

Schneeblume’s feelings eluded her for the umpteenth time this day. Something seemed off about this human—she was often privy to sudden conversation by virtue of being a pony in the human world, on top of being a veteran. But she was again struck by the aura of familiarity from this man.

As if she knew him somehow.

Her mild daydream was disrupted when the human turned to her again:

“Still. It’s… good to know that this place hasn’t been forgotten after nearly a century. Still plenty of visitors that I’ve seen,” he said, nodding.

Schneeblume nodded as well, sighing out in an untold relief.

“That’s so reassuring! Our… ehm… ‘Great War’ ended about eight years ago. I still worry that ponies like me will be forgotten. Especially the ponies that never got to live. I think I can rest a little easier now…” she mused aloud.

The man offered his right hand to her and smiled.

“Walter Weber.”

Schneeblume returned the smile and offered her ceramic hoof to his palm.

“Schneeblume Herbstlicht. Lovely to meet you, Walter!”

Walter glanced down at their joined hand and hoof and seemed particularly unfazed by her prosthetic. In fact, he only nodded and returned his gaze to her eyes, smiling fondly at her. They didn’t have to even say a word to each other in that moment of camaraderie.

“The pleasure is all mine, Lady Herbstlicht.”

Walter called attention to something new on Schnee’s right hoof:

A gold wedding band.

“I see you have found a lucky man!”

Schneeblume blushed and regarded her band with love almost leaking from her eyes. The gold glimmered in what little sun was able to break through the mist and cloud layer. It reminded her of just a week prior, when he proposed to her literally right after she met his parents.

She could not remember any time she cried such tears of joy in her life… having welled up with such strong, positive emotion that she was simply not used to.

Of course she said ‘yes!’

She then giggled and sighed out dreamily, her eyes misting over at the amazing memory that would be cherished until the day she died. Especially so, as she repeated her answer to Seth’s proposal.

Yes! A million times yes! To both our worlds, yes!

“I did. I never thought I’d be able to after my war… but, he’s my everything now. I don’t know what I’d do without him,” she thought aloud.

Walter smirked.

“It seems you’ve come a long way… but the scars never leave, do they?”

Schnee raised an internal eyebrow at that question… it was oddly specific for her, especially from one who appeared so young and—dare she say—naïve.

But yet… the question felt right.

“They… don’t,” Schnee hesitated with her answer, regarding Walter with renewed suspicion.

“And they never will. They can only become less visible.”

Walter nodded and reached to his right whilst continuing the conversation:

“I would like you to do something for me, if you feel so inclined, Miss Schneeblume…”

Before Schnee could even—curiously—inquire on what he could possibly mean by that, Walter handed her a flower:

A poppy, having beautifully bloomed.

“I would like you to live,” Walter continued, his tone turning from friendly and cordial to almost pleading in nature.

And yet, his bright, gorgeous, inviting smile never waned.

Schnee’s gazed flicked back and forth from his face to the flower, to which she tentatively yet instinctually reached for. It called to her.

And she would have it.

“Live for all of us, man and pony, who never got the chance. Live in happiness. Live in peace.”

Schnee could barely process what he was saying, especially when her attention was focused on the gorgeous, blood-red poppy in the crook of her wounded hoof.

Someone suddenly called to her from behind:

“Hey gorgeous!” Seth’svoice rang out through the morning mist as he strode over to her.

“You doing alright, babe?” he further inquired.

Her confusion waned away in his sudden presence, and she smiled up at him, nodding.

“Ummm, yeah! I was just—”

She gestured towards her right to introduce her fiancé to Walter…

…only, he was no longer there.

Schneeblume blinked. Then blinked again, hard. She then recoiled and got to her hooves, glancing all around her as her coat bristled. Nothing but the wind and the two of them were present in the immediate area.

Silence reigned supreme. The somber mood had returned.

Seth did not appear blind to her sudden change in mood, and he knelt to eye-level.

“Hey… something up?” he asked.

Schnee’s mouth opened, but no words came out… nor did any thoughts materialize in her head. In an attempt to rationalize the last few minutes, her eyes happened to glance at the gravestone that lay to her right:

Walter Weber.

She could feel her face going pale… and that’s when she lifted her right hoof to her face, where a lone poppy rested in its crook. Schnee cocked her head and twirled it in her grasp as she fought with her words, especially as more tears began to well up in her eyes.

Did… did that just happen?

Seth seemed to notice this as well:

“Hey, cool! You found a poppy! But… where? There aren’t any around here,” he noted his observation, drawing his own gaze around the area.

Schneeblume continued to regard the poppy in her hoof, and she could slowly feel her mouth curling upward as warm feelings returned to her core. An again-inexplicable heat rose to her face as a flurry of emotions ran through her mind, making her feel like she wanted to cry and laugh altogether.

Without answering Seth, she placed the flower atop of Walter’s stone.

Thank you, Walter. I WILL live. Rest in peace.

Schneeblume then turned fully to Seth, smiled up at him, and locked eyes as she stood on her hind legs. Instinct kicked in for the both of them as the two embraced one another, with Schnee wrapping her left hoof around his neck and leaning back just enough to get a good look.

Seth cocked his head, and silently asked his previous question inquiring about her emotional state, given where they were, and what he was not privy to just now.

Schneeblume, however, wanted to answer him vocally:

“Kein Problem, mein Schatz. I just… had a moment, was all,” she explained vaguely.

She didn’t know how he would react if she told him the full truth. Perhaps she would tell him at a later date… of Walter.

Schnee continued, beaming brightly at Seth as the sun began to cut a swathe through the morning clouds.

“I was also reminded that I made the right choice… and that I eagerly await to see what our life together holds,” she said, unashamed at the two small drops cascading down from her eyes.

Seth’s face brightened, and he adopted his trademark sarcasm and jest:

“You sure, Schnee? The return window’s still open, you know…”

Schneeblume couldn’t stem the tide of her pent-up laughter… laughter infused with all the joy and love she had for this silly human. From the first day they met, to their first kiss, to their first training session, and to the first time they came together and made love, Schneeblume had never felt so strongly about anyone, or anything.

“That won’t be necessary, Seth. As sappy as it may sound I... I just... can’t wait to live in peace with you.”

The two shared a tender kiss and pressed their noses together, beaming brighter than the sun, all the while.

Author's Note

*Closes Book and places pen down*

Of many endings I've done to stories, I wanted to try something a little bit different. I went with my gut here with what I liked and felt was right. In the end, I think this was a halfway decent sendoff for this couple after a short story, and I can only hope you think so, too!

Thank you guys SO much for reading in this little corner of the woods. I just hope you guys enjoyed the ride as much as I enjoyed putting drivel to paper.

Please feel free to comment your likes, dislikes, rants, concerns, lambastings, etc. below. In the end, it's how I improve as a writer, whether I'm shitposting or not.

Again, thank you SO MUCH, and I hope I'll be seeing you around soon for some other cool things going on!

~Flamm