Snickers: On the Road

“Laxxie?” Silver called out to the woods.

“She’s fine, she doesn’t want to scare the guards into attacking her. She’s really uncomfortable lately,” Snickers observed. “Do you think she’s okay, Silver Spoon?”

“I don’t know, maybe she’s just anxious. I mean, she’s only a couple months old and is already far away from the home she’s always known. Maybe, even, she’d have been happier back in Ponyville, this is as far away from the Everfree as a pony can get, after all.”

“Yeah, maybe she would want to stay out here and start a new life as a timberwolf in these woods,” Snickers wondered aloud.

“No!” Laxxie shouted and appeared from the woods to the guard’s surprise. “I will stay with father, it is my purpose.”

“What do you mean, Laxxie?” Diamond asked.

Laxxie strode to the little herd and merged into them, ignoring the curious guard that was watching intently at the creature that had just joined their group. “Father is my alpha, father is a small pony, and father needs to be safe.”

“And we can’t keep him safe?” Diamond asked. “We’re not as soft as you think we are, you know.”

Laxxie opened her mouth and showed several razor sharp conical fangs, a little sap dribbled from her maw as she growled deeply. “I am a predator, you’re not.”

Diamond’s ears fell back. “You don’t have to try to scare me, Laxxie.”

Laxxie looked at Snickers. “Father, she does not understand.”

Snickers nodded. “I know. What she means is that she can do things we can’t, and won’t, to keep us all safe. We can’t kill a monster like she can, if at all. It’s not in our nature to be the monster she already is, even if she doesn’t want to be that monster anymore.”

The fillies were quiet for several seconds, only the sound of wheels rolling on gravel filled the air, covering their smaller steps. “I guess that makes sense,” Silver said. “I don’t think I could actually kill an animal for food, except fishes, but Laxxie brought us that rabbit for the stew a couple days ago.”

Diamond felt her heart ache at the memory. “I can’t believe we ate a cute little rabbit. We’ve really changed since we left Equestria, haven’t we?”

“We needed it, didn’t we?” Snickers asked. “We asked for a little meat and Laxxie provided it for us, it’s not like we got sick or anything, right?”

“Yeah, and it was tasty… but I don’t wanna eat meat like that so casually,” Diamond said, “it’s one step away from being a carnivore, right?”

“Ponies are already borderline omnivorous, I don’t see what the big deal is,” Snickers said. “We eat fish, eggs, and have a vegetarian diet. It’s only natural we add a little variety to our protein intake eventually. Maybe in a hundred years we’ll be eating a little red meat every meal instead of just fish.”

“Gross,” Silver Spoon said. “I don’t care about eating a cute little bunny once because we got tired of fish, but every day? Ugh, like, no thanks.”

Snickers nodded. “That’s exactly the point Laxxie’s making; she’s willing to do the dirty stuff so we don’t have to.”

Laxxie noticed a guard looking at her and she narrowed her eyes at him before ducking her head down. “I wish to be home in the living forest, but I will not leave my pack, my family, in such a new place. I will return to the woods to watch and guard from other dangers, father.”

Snickers nodded and Laxxie slunk back from the herd and rushed into the woods with nary a sound. “I hope she doesn’t get into any trouble,” Snickers mumbled, “she’s still only a couple months old and the world is a big place.”

“Hey, colt, c’mere.” One of the guards called to Snickers. Snickers hurried to the guard and looked him over. “So, got a herd of Equestrian fillies, I see.”

Snickers nodded. “Yeah, they’re really cool. You know, for fillies.” He looked back at the two who were starting a conversation between themselves.

The guard chuckled and looked down at him. “I’ve seen it happen a lot, just remember to keep them happy and your life will be a lot easier.”

“Um, thanks, I guess. I’m Snickers, it’s nice to meet you.”

The guard looked down and smiled. “Name’s Foil. Nice to meet you, too. So, did you have any plans when you get to Frand, or will you just follow her?” Foil gestured to Trixie with the point of his spear.

“Honestly, I don’t know. I have so much to learn and so much to do… I started this journey a couple weeks ago without much of a plan, just to get away from my problems and maybe find my mark,” he said, glancing back to his blank flank. “I met Trixie on the way and I guess we’re just following her until we can get a real plan together.”

Foil hummed. “Well, that’s not much of a plan; making a plan as you go.”

“I never said it was a good plan we’d made,” Snickers looked up at the armored stallion with a wry smirk. “I guess we just ran and didn’t look back.”

Foil’s armor clattered when he shrugged. “Who am I to tell a foal what to do with their lives? All I can say is that I’ve heard of a lot of ponies going on journeys to find their purposes, marks, or fortune and fame. The only constant I’ve learned is that it’s never as easy as it seems. I wanted to be in a traveling carnival when I was your age, now I’m a guard for Lord Lorde.

“Life doesn’t end how you may expect, is what I’m saying. What skills do you have to help you along the way?”

Snickers snickered. “More than you could imagine. I just have to learn to apply what I know to a relevant career. I’m good with math, science, building, repairing… you know, I’m really good with technology, i guess.”

Foil nodded with a smile. “Then there’s a job for you for certain in Frand. Lord Lorde is really into future technology.Then there are the Terrans. They’re a weird bunch, but they claim they will be able to land a creature on the moon within our lifetime,” he rolled his eyes. “They even say they can communicate across the land instantly without magic.

“Maybe stay away from those ones, they’re a bit eccentric,” he chuckled and looked down and back to see Snickers had slowed to a near stop. “Hey, you alright?”

Snickers shook his head and ran to catch back up. “Wait, what’s this about Terrans? What do they look like? Are they tall, gangly, hairless? Do they have… carts that pull themselves or flying machines?”

Foil laughed. “You sound like one of their criers. Self driving carts and wagons and flying machines are pointless when ponies have wings and magic. I’ll tell you this once, colt: don’t fall into their trap or they’ll take all your coins and leave you and your friends broke in the slums. Happened to a mare I knew,” he said glancing at Trixie, “looked like your guardian.

“She went to the meetings and an expo held by Lord Glad a few years ago. It was about the future of Frand, one hundred years ahead. There were magic boxes that showed memories, weapons that could take a target out from farther than a spear could be thrown or an arrow could be shot, and then there were the Terrans.”

“What did they show?” Snickers asked, very interested.

Foil sighed. “They showed pictures, drawings, of what could be. It was all fanciful and fun, like something a thoughtful filly would think of, but all of it was pretty pointless. A hollow metal tube that ponies would fly in to get to different cities, trains without wheels or tracks, self driving wagons; all crazy ideas from crazy creatures.

“My friend was taken with the train idea and donated nearly all her Lordecoin to the idea, then the creatures vanished into the wind with her coins. She had to get a second job for a year just to keep her head above water and--”

There was a solid wet thunk that caught Snickers’s attention from the guard. He looked up and inhaled sharply as he watched Foil falling to the ground, nearly lifeless. A metal bolt stuck through the stallion’s head from between his eyes through the back of his neck. In the intervening second that it took Snickers to realize he’d just watched a random pony die, he had inhaled a lung full of air.

His tail down, his ears back, his eyes wide, Snickers shrieked in terror and shock as blood oozed from the arrow wound.

More bolts and arrows began to strike around the wagon as Trixie’s horn lit and she vanished in a flash of light. Diamond and Silver Spoon rushed to Snickers and tackled him, covering him with their bodies as the assault halted. Gil struggled to stick his head out of the window to see what was happening, but there was a clear argument and struggle that held him back inside.

“Get under the wagon!” Silver hissed as she began to push Snickers ahead of herself. He scooted a body length before he saw Foil and screamed again. Diamond shoved Snickers ahead of her with Silver by her side. A single arrow struck at Diamond, pinging off a pink shield that barely saved her from injury as they made it under and huddled together.

“Foil?!” The other guard called out as she rounded the wagon to locate her friend. A bolt flew just behind her from the opposite side of the wagon. She stopped and her spear nearly fell when she saw her companion lying in a growing pool of his own blood.

The barrage stopped after one of the arrows struck a shield the guard had erected around herself. There was a silence before rustling noises announced movement. “You have gold, real gold. Equestrian gold. It’s ours now, as well as any supplies we want.” A mare commanded. “It’s that or your lives, and we still take everything. It just means we sleep rough for a couple of nights before your gold helps us forget what we had to do to get it.”

The silence was broken after several seconds by the door to the wagon opening. Kiwe stepped out and onto the path before looking side to side. “We are mere traveling foals, would you kill us just for gold?”

An arrow sailed at him, stopped by the shield the guard projected. He shook his head and turned back to his saddlebag. He dug inside and pulled out a small bag of bits and tossed it further behind the wagon and outside the shield. “There is your gold, take it and leave us in peace.” Kiwe stated.

A stallion rushed from the foliage, hidden in the brush so well he couldn’t have been seen even if he was being looked at. He grabbed the bag, opened it, looked inside, then nodded back to the wooded area he’d come from. Six ponies stood up and shook foliage from their camouflage outfits and, showing that they had crossbows and bows in their weaponry, moved toward the wagon.

“Where’d the driver go?” An earth pony mare asked as she tapped a sheathed sword hilt.

Kiwe shook his head. “I do not know where she went, but searching for her is time not well spent.”

“Lower your shield and let us in the wagon to get our loot, and we’ll let you go without any more harm.”

“No,” the guardsmare stated as she aimed her spear at the lead mare. “You killed my friend, you tried to kill foals, you’re going to surrender or I’ll have to take you all down.”

There was a smattering of chuckles as more rustling came from the other side of the wagon. “You’re surrounded and have no chance of taking us out, or even managing a single strike before we kill you. Don’t waste the lives of these precious foals for your pride and ego.”

A deep growl broke the tension as it grew and all eyes were on the woods behind the first group. The second group shuffled into view to see what the commotion was as the forest detritus began to shift and come to life. “What the hay is going on?” A stallion asked openly as a form began to grow.

All ponies watched with bated breath as the first timberwolf rose tall, and it didn’t look pleased at the ponies that were aiming weapons at it. The ranged weapons tracked what appeared to be the head as it rose from the center pile of sticks until it loomed tall overhead. “What the fuck is that?!”

Laxxie, standing half as tall as the wagon, leapt into the grouped bandits with claws swiping and teeth gnashing. Two ponies were gutted and tossed in the first strike she made while all weaponry was loosed at her. Arrows and bolts stuck into Laxxie’s wooden hide without slowing her down as she chomped her maw closed on the back of a mare wielding a sword that had tried to take out one of Laxxie’s legs.

The crunch made by the mare’s back and ribs were jarring to all that heard it. The shocked mare was tossed aside like a ragdoll as Laxxie showed her fangs. With three of their number down the rest began a futile attack to avenge their fallen friends.

Snickers looked over Diamond’s body as she and Silver huddled around him to see his little pup swat a full grown stallion with her right paw into the face. He watched with shock as the pony’s head crumbled from the blow before he tumbled aside. Diamond pulled Snickers’s head down and held him close as all three trembled in fright.

The fillies screamed as they were each pulled from under the wagon while Snickers grabbed towards Silver Spoon and held onto her tightly. They were forced to lay in a line and had knives pressed to their throats held by magic as Laxxie finished off two more bandits.

Snickers heard a sound he didn’t recognize before the tip of a sword was pressed into the back of his neck. Laxxie stopped suddenly and locked eyes with the lead mare and they shared a moment of surprise as the fighting stopped. Ponies whined, cried, and moaned as they lay broken around the area, some dying while others wished they were dead after the sudden attack from the unknown wooden monster.

“Whatever the hell you are, you’re going to leave; or I’m going to kill these foals and then the rest.”

Laxxie growled and bloody sap drooled from her maw, but she didn’t leave or advance.

Snickers cried quietly as his body shook and quaked under the weight of the weapon ready to end his life before he’d begun to live it. Diamond Tiara turned to look back at the ponies holding her family and she glared at the mare threatening her stallion’s life. Her head was forced to face forward again by somepony behind her she couldn’t see.

“Go away, monster, or the colt dies first!” Snickers gasped as the sword broke the skin against his mane and he froze in terror. Laxxie took three steps back quickly and then growled with her head lowered. “That’s right, no one wants to see a colt die, not even a monster like you.”

Laxxie looked at Snickers and then backed away some more. The sword left the back of his neck as the mare smirked in triumph. The sword then sliced down and cut into Snickers’s side before it fell to the ground. The mare fell beside him grabbing at the spear that pinned her to the ground through her neck.

Snickers looked to his side at the dying mare before he shrieked again, this time Diamond Tiara joined him as all hell broke loose again. A thin cloud of smoke puffed between Laxxie and the bandits and blasts of fireworks shot into the faces of the ponies holding the fillies at knifepoint. They lost control of their spells as their fur and skin burnt and their weapons clattered to the ground beneath the fillies.

“Vile cretins! How dare you attack Trixie’s friends!” Trixie shouted as one of her fireworks spells shot from her horn directly into the open screaming mouth of a bandit unicorn. She grimaced as the explosion went off inside the mare’s body expanding her like a balloon before she fell to the ground smoking from every orifice. Snickers and the fillies watched as Kiwe pulled a vial from his bandolier and threw it at one of the bandits with his golden magic before he darted towards the cowering herd.

The vial shattered on the stallion’s side and began to turn his clothes into stone, weighing him down to the point he could barely stand, immobilizing him.

“Get inside the wagon, now!” Kiwe shouted as he grabbed Snickers by the mane and began pulling him.

The guardsmare stomped her forehoof on the dying lead mare's neck before pulling the spear free and turning it on the nearest bandit. Snickers watched as the mare stabbed another bandit mare in the chest just as she was, in turn, stabbed in the eye with a flying dagger.

Snickers pulled his attention to the brown zony just ahead of him, then to Cress as she helped Snickers and the fillies into the wagon. The door shut and the sound of battle muffled to a dull series of shouts and growls. There was an occasional pop of fireworks, the sound of thuds against the wagon. A long minute dragged on, then silence fell as all inside the wagon stood still.

Cress trembled as she stood facing the door, a staff in her mouth. Gil curled in the corner hugging the egg tightly. Kiwe’s golden magic lit the area around him as he readied himself to do anything needed to survive the next attack, while the little herd lay together on the mattress trembling. A clean towel was pressed to Snickers’s cut, but the colt just stared ahead of himself shaking.

Two minutes passed before the door slowly opened and Trixie, eyes red from crying, smiled weakly at Cress, who sagged in relief. Kiwe’s magic grabbed a small cloth and hovered it to Trixie, who looked at it with curiosity. He tapped his lips and she got the hint. “Oh, thank you, Kiwi. Trixie vomited a moment ago… is everypony in here okay?”

“Kiwe,” Kiwe corrected the mare who ignored him and walked in.

She looked at Snickers and the fillies before gasping and covering her mouth. Snickers was covered with blood, most of it wasn’t his. The Diamond had blood splatter on her side while Silver’s coat was clean, as though she hadn’t just been through anything. Trixie rushed inside and Diamond moved to let the mare look at Snickers’s wound.

“I have to take the towel off to see the wound,” Trixie said softly before she gently pulled it back to look. She sighed as she looked at it and smiled. “This is not deep, but it is long. It will bleed a lot without proper care, but you’re in luck because I know how to patch up little colts that get hurt. Stay here and keep this covered, there are stitches in my saddlebags. I’ll be right back.”

Silver reached behind her neck and unhooked her necklace before wrapping it around Snickers’s neck. Once she latched it his body shimmered and sparkled before his coat was cleaned of all the blood and dirt he’d been exposed to. She took the necklace back and put it back on, then nuzzled Snickers.

Diamond watched the exchange and looked longingly at the necklace, then at Snickers. “Honey? Are you okay?” She asked and sat facing him. He looked up to meet her eyes, then shook his head. She didn’t say anything as she lay down and let him lay his head on her side.

…

Cress stepped from the wagon’s back and her nose crinkled at the scent around her. There were clearly enchantments in the wagon that she was going to enjoy when she got back inside, but for the moment she wanted to see the battle area. Nearly twelve strangers were strewn around the wagon, only a few moaned and moved, barely alive as she walked around to Trixie, who was hitching up quickly.

“Trixie, aren’t you going to do anything about these bandits?”

Trixie didn’t stop, but she slowed down to look at Cress. “You should be inside the wagon, this isn’t for your young eyes to see.”

“I’m not helpless, Trixie… I’ve just never seen such… carnage in real life.” Cress admitted as she looked at a stallion with a broken face. He was trying to feel for something but with his eyes swollen shut she doubted he’d be able to find anything.

“Hey, listen to the mare and get back inside until we’re away from here,” the guardsmare said from the other side of Trixie. Her head was wrapped in cloth and there was a wad of gauze where her eye once was, but she was still alive and sporting a bloody spear. Her gaze softened as she looked at Cress. “You’ll be fine, just don’t let the others come out, can I count on your help?”

Cress looked at the bodies and saw a mare weakly pawing at her entrails, trying to replace them as she slowly died. The bat filly nodded back to the mare and trotted back to the wagon before shutting the door and locking it. She inhaled the sweet scent of fresh air and fell to her haunches.

The herd was silently supporting one another, Kiwe was staring out a window looking to the sky, and Gil was looking unhappy with himself as he stared out of the other window, watching the dead and dying.

The wagon lurched as they began to move and Cress exhaled deeply. “What the hell happened out there?” She asked no one.

Diamond lifted her head, tears having matted the fur under her eyes. “I… I can’t explain it. It happened so fast and all I could think of was not letting Snickers die, then there was a knife at his throat and…” she sniffled and was hugged by Silver Spoon as they both began to cry.

Cress looked at the colt and grimaced at his expression. Blank was the best way she could describe it. An hour earlier she was sure he was smiling and playing outside the wagon. She heard the herd playing some game to kill time on the trek and the ball they’d been tossing and kicking back and forth earlier in the day was beside her in its cubby. She heard him screaming and saw the weapons from the woods firing at them, but even she knew it was suicide to run out into a bandit attack.

She did the only thing she could think of; lock the windows and door and try to save those she could. Not one of them had actual combat experience and it wasn’t her place to die for some ponies she barely knew. Her eyes traced Snickers’s body and the cloth covering his wound before she looked at Gil. He gently petted the egg passively as the area was left behind.

So much death in such a short time. The timberpony was a timberwolf. She’d seen it in the Forest of Woe, but it hadn’t seemed as real as when she’d seen it tear into the bandits. Now it was gone, back in the woods to hunt down the couple of ponies that had run away. She wondered what horrors would befall those that she caught up to.

A wolf in pony clothing. Cress quietly chuckled at the thought and reference to the story.

Cress knew there were still two days to Frand. Two days with this motley crew that were now scarred and scared. She wasn’t immune to the horrors of what she’d seen, and she was safely inside the wagon. The herd was going to need time to come to terms with what they’d experienced and she couldn’t do anything to help, and it hurt her to know it.

She glanced to the roof where the stallion guard had been wrapped in a sheet. Some spell was cast on him to keep him fresh so he wouldn’t rot while they made it to town. She knew of such things having happened, but reading them in a book is so much different than anything she’d ever thought.

Death came to every creature under Celestia’s sun and Luna’s glorious moon, but the bat filly never thought she’d be so close to so much of it, ever.

The image of the mare trying to save her own life flashed though her mind and she swallowed back bile.

This was a long trip already, but now it just felt like a mistake to leave home for such a stupid reason. How much more pain would she have to see or experience? Or her traveling companions?

It was almost too much for her as she felt her emotions welling. She moved beside Gil on the off chance he wasn’t going to be a jerk. If he was, then she’d gladly take her troubles out on him. When she stood beside him, he glanced down at her before looking back out of the window at nature as it rolled by them.

“It’s like it didn’t even happen.” Gil said. “We just left them there to that monster like they never existed.”

“Laxxie,” Snicker said quietly. “She’s not a monster, she’s my pup. She’s a good timberwolf. She kept… kept me safe the only way she knew how.”

Gil grumbled. “Didn’t look like a little puppy when she was chewing that mare like a fresh kill.”

Cress opened a wing and prodded the gyphon. “Can you at least try to show some compassion? I didn’t see you doing anything but hiding in the corner when the fighting started. At least Kiwe made an effort instead of cowering around.”

Gil growled and narrowed his eyes at the filly. “I have to keep the egg safe, can’t do that running into the first fight we come across.”

Cress looked back outside and sighed. “I’m sorry, you’re right. None of us thought that could happen. It was just… so fast and intense. We could have all died and nopony would know back home, ever.”

“We did not die, that is the important thing,” Kiwe said from the far window, still scanning the sky. “Many lives were lost this day, that is all that I have to say.”

Gil’s wings trembled and Cress looked at the gryphon before noticing his eyes were still narrowed. “Are you okay? You’re a predator, are you mad you didn’t get to kill anypony?” She asked.

Gil shook his head. “I’m not weak like you ponies, but I’m not some bloodthirsty savage, either. I’m supposed to be home right now with my family. I was just tagging along to do paperwork and experience Equestria with Gul as her assistant. Then she gets pregnant and my life is thrown into chaos.” He turned his head to look at Kiwe. “If it wasn’t for that colt, I wouldn’t be here like a useless chick.”

“You aren’t useless. I bet that if it was our turn out there, we’d have seen the ambush and would have been able to avoid it or help. That guard wouldn’t have had to die, Snickers and his fillies wouldn’t have had to see all that first hoof, and no pony would have had to die today.” Cress reached a foreleg out to touch Gil, but he glared down at her.

“Don’t try to make me feel better. When this egg hatches, I’m going home; with or without the chick. There’s no reason for me to stay besides to keep it warm and safe from whatever monsters you bring out.”

Snickers stood up and moved from the safety of his fillies to stand behind Gil. “She’s not a monster, she’s just a timberwolf. She saved us, that includes you and the egg you’re so worried about.”

Gil snapped his beak at Snickers. “What kind of prey are you to say that a predator like that can be tamed and kept on a leash? Hypocrite. That pup you talk about will turn on you as fast as any other monster in Equestria once it gets hungry.”

Snickers bared his teeth. “Laxxie isn’t a monster!” He shouted. He turned and bucked at Gil, striking his lower back. Grunting in startled pain, Gil wrapped his arms around the egg and curled over as Snickers began to punch the gryphon for a few hits.

Cress tackled Snickers to the floor as Diamond and Silver rushed to hold him back. “Stop it!”

“Stop fighting!” Diamond shouted as she held her lover down and sat on his chest. “This isn’t you, Snickers. Just talk to me, what’s wrong?”

Silver, holding his forelegs to the floor, looked down into his inverted eyes and watched as his eyes watered. “Oh, sweetie,” she whispered and let him go.

Snickers twisted suddenly to get Diamond off of him, then he squirmed free. He rushed to the mattress and covered himself with the blanket before he began to sob. All eyes were on Snickers as he did his best to hold back his emotions.

Diamond lifted the blanket to look at him and was wrapped in a tight hug that surprised her. Snickers cried then. He bawled like a baby that was refused a treat in a store. Silver Spoon hugged him from the side and held him as he let loose. After a few minutes of crying he wound down enough to talk.

“We were just talking, then he was dead. I never saw a pony die before, and it was horrible, Diamond. He was just… gone. He looked at me when the arrow went through his head and he was still talking, but didn’t say anything. Like he was muted but didn’t know it until… until…” Snickers sobbed again.

“Then there was Laxxie. I never thought she could kill a pony, but she did. She told me she was going to save me and she did… but it was so awful. She was so big and strong, and scary. I forgot how she looked when she was a timberwolf but I never knew she could do anything like that.

“She didn’t even care about the ponies she killed, I know that. I tried to tell her to not kill them, so she just swiped them away, but even her swipes are from a hard body. She didn’t have time to stop until they were about to kill me. That mare was about to kill me… fuck,” he whimpered. “Then Laxxie listened and was about to leave, but the guard fucking speared the bitch through her fucking neck.

“I watched the mare die, Diamond. You were right there, but did you hear her? She begged to live with the last of her voice before…” Snickers buried his head into Diamond’s belly as tears dripped from his eyes. “Trixie exploded a pony from the inside, but she didn’t die right away. She looked at me, in my fucking eyes, as she tried to talk. Smoke was coming from her mouth! I don’t know what she was saying, but she was looking at me while she died, too. What the fuck is that guard’s name?! She was stabbed in the fucking face and I don’t even know her name!”

Snickers sat up and wiped at his eyes furiously. “I don’t even know her name after three days because she wasn’t that important, just like Foil wasn’t important, until he started to talk to me. Then he…” Snickers sniffled and wiped his eyes some more. He looked at Diamond and whined before he lay back down onto her lap. “I’m so sorry.”

Diamond rubbed his neck. “You don’t have to be. None of that was your fault, I was the one throwing around bits like nothing, even after we learned about the exchange rate. I’m more to blame--”

“I should never have left Equestria,” Snickers interrupted. “If I’d just ran to Manehattan or some other city, I could have hidden out and this could have blown over. We’d still be a train’s ride away from your families and Gil wouldn’t hate us all so much.”

“I hate Kiwe, not you, Snickers,” Gil said as he tore his eyes from the colt to glare at Kiwe.

Snickers inhaled Diamond’s scent, not for the first time, and felt his body relaxing. He appreciated the filly for being there for him, as well as Silver Spoon, but he wasn’t ready to accept what had happened.

Kiwe used his magic to open the window and he peeked his head out. “Guard, what is your name?”

The guard answered, “Potter.”

Kiwe thanked her and closed the window. “Her name is Potter, now you know.”

Snickers shook his head, burying his muzzle deeper into Diamond’s lap. “I don’t care. I don’t wanna know her, or she might be next.” His muffled voice stated.

Diamond blushed in embarrassment and lifted his muzzle from between her legs. She looked into his eyes and pouted. “Snickers, it’s over and we’re here for you. Take all the time you need, but you aren’t alone though this. I was there, I watched ponies die and get hurt, too, okay?”

Snickers moved forward and pressed his lips to hers for a kiss, then hugged her. He opened his foreleg from the hug to let Silver Spoon join in and together they enjoyed a moment with one another.

“I’m so sorry, I’m so sorry that you had to be there for that.” Snickers apologized again.

“It wasn’t your fault, Snickers,” Silver Spoon finally said. She nuzzled against Snickers’s cheek before she pulled back and nipped his ear. “Stop blaming yourself or I’ll have to think of a way to punish you.”

Snickers smirked. “How would you do that? We don’t have anything to take away.”

She leaned close and whispered into his ear before pulling back with a smirk of her own. Snickers contemplated what he’d been told and sighed. “I’ll think about it.” He was embraced into a hug again by both fillies as silence befell the wagon. The bumps and rocking were barely noticeable but it did provide a little comfort to know they were moving on past the horrors that would plague them into the future.