Snickers, Apple Bloom, and Scootaloo reached the Clubhouse and lay on cushions set closely side by side, within nuzzle distance if the fillies felt like he needed it. After their walk from town to the farm, during which casual conversation and concerns were expressed focusing mostly over Sweetie Belle, what had happened, and what they should do to help Sweetie feel comfortable, having a broken tail; regardless of its status of healing.
Juice boxes and alfalfa snacks were beside each and all eyes were on Snickers. “Well, I’ll only tell you a little because Sweetie should hear a lot of it, too, and I don’t wanna tell the story a hundred times. Well, when I was in that Harmony dream-thing, it made up some stuff that I didn’t really think about until last night.
“I had a really bad dream that I was in that dream world again, and it scared me because I didn’t want that place to be real because I knew it was fake, and nothing I did could get me out of it. I kinda woke up crying last night,” Snickers leaned into the nuzzle Apple Bloom gave him, “and Rarity helped a lot.
“There was something about me being from the future, and Sweetie changing her name… she got a cutie mark I didn’t see or remember.” Snickers looked up and hummed. “I guess it just wasn’t a good dream, both times. But… I guess I can tell you something about me and why I’m so-”
“Weird?” Scootaloo interjected.
Snickers looked at her. “Yeah, that.”
“Finally,” Scootaloo said with a smile.
Apple Bloom got Snickers’s attention by tapping his foreleg with hers. “Yeah, Ah’ve been wonderin’ why ya don’t know some stuff any pony should know…”
Snickers nodded. “Well, I told you I was an electrical engineer. That’s the closest I can say my actual job title, because the words don’t translate from my language to Equestrian. At least, not yet. Who knows what the future holds? I’m… from another world with amazing technology and sciences, but no applicable magic… at least not yet.
”When I came here, to Equestria, I forgot my old language as part of a deal I made, so in my head I have words that I can’t express because they don’t exist here.”
Apple Bloom tapped the cushion he was on. “Can’t you say what you wanna say in whatever language you normally speak and we can try ta figure it out?”
Scootaloo’s wings buzzed in excitement. “Yeah, that’d be awesome! To hear an alien language? No pony would ever believe us,” she giggled, beaming a grin.
“Language I spoke; I only speak Ponish now. If I could speak my old language then I would, I can’t even say my old species’ name. I can say we were bipedal, diurnal, and with better technology. That’s all I can say, except that there was a lot of fighting where I was from and it’s just part of my nature, that’s why I’m always talking the way I do and I don’t tolerate the strong picking on the weak.”
Scootaloo gasped and buzzed her wings. “That’s why you beat up the bullies!”
Snickers shook his head. “No, they were fucking cunts and deserved more than what I gave them.”
Snickers yelped and lept back, on three of his legs while a forehoof covered his nose. “Ah told ya, no cussin’ or ya get yer nose whacked,” Apple Bloom said. Both fillies were frowning at him. “It don’t matter if ya think yer right, cussin’ don’t solve problems, only makes more.”
Snickers felt his eyes watering and let out a quiet whimper before moving back to his spot between Scootaloo and Apple Bloom. Scootaloo placed a forehoof on Snickers’s leg. “It’s okay, Snickers, I won’t tell anypony that you said bad words, just don’t say so many more, okay?”
Snickers rubbed his snout and sniffled. “That didn’t hurt my nose as much as my feelings,” he admitted before blinking and shaking his head. “Why did I admit that?”
Apple Bloom scooted closer and her side touched his. “It’s just being a colt, you’re more sensitive and that’s okay. You have three fillies that’re here ta take care of ya.”
Scootaloo scooted closer and nuzzled Snickers. “Yeah, Sweetie will be here tonight and she’ll help you, too. She can’t really be in the herd the same, since she’s family, but being in a herd makes us all family, right, Snickers?”
Snickers shrugged. “I don’t really know. There’s so much that’s new and just so different and weird. Being naked, these feelings, even the way I think is different, I can feel it,” he said softly letting his snout go. “Ever since I got to this place, Equestria, it’s been a total mindfu- er, change,” he corrected himself when he saw Apple Bloom’s leg twitch. “So, what do I call you since we’re in a herd now?”
“Apple Bloom and Scootaloo,” Scootaloo giggled. “We’re not mated so we don’t need cute names like ‘Snuggly Wuggly Huggie Bear’, blehch,” Scootaloo shuddered.
Apple Bloom stuck out her tongue. “Or kissin’, or any of that adult stuff. All we’re doin’ is learnin’ fer when we’re growed up! Ah think Applejack was in three before she decided ta put it all on hold fer the farm. She’s got this thing with a couple mares she likes, but without a stallion, Ah dunno how it’s gonna work out.”
Scootaloo scoffed. “Psh, easy. My aunts are together and they’re just a couple. They’re plenty happy, too. See, Snickers, you don’t have to be in a herd to be happy, but it would really be nice to think about you when I’m an adult… like, maybe I’d have a chance, if I’m into you then, that is…”
Apple Bloom and Snickers looked at Scootaloo. “Nice goin’, Scoots,” Apple Bloom said with a roll of her eyes. “Why not just ask him fer his hoof right now?”
Snickers moved his forehooves under his barrel. “So,” Snickers said, “what else to herds do… since we’re kind of in one?”
“Well,” Apple Bloom hummed and then smiled when an idea struck her. “Let’s go play hide’n seek! Yer the colt, so ya gotta find us!” Apple Bloom and Scootaloo got to their hooves and bounced to the middle of the room.
“Yeah, Snickers, if you find us you get to tag us, then we have to count to twenty and find you! C’mon, let’s go,” Scootaloo urged and galloped to the door.
“Woah, hold on a minute, mares,” Snickers said, stopping the fillies and getting gasps from them, followed by blushes when they looked at one another. “I don’t know this place like you do, how do you expect me to find you out here?”
Apple Bloom and Scootaloo moved to stand side by side. “By smell,” Scootaloo said with a squeak in her voice.
“Y-yeah… use that colt nose of yers and sniff us out… ya know… like colts do,” Apple Bloom stuttered her reply and couldn’t look Snickers in the eye.
“Okay, what just happened? Why’re you acting weird?” Snickers asked the blushing fillies.
Scootaloo’s little wings flapped and then fanned open.“W-well… y-you tell him, Apple Bloom.”
“Y-ya see, no pony’s ever called us mares before. That’s a big step in a pony’s life, like gettin’ their marks… and a lot of stuff happens with mares that fillies can’t or shouldn’t do,” Apple Bloom looked at Scootaloo, “that we’re kinda curious about.”
Snickers hopped up and shook his head. “Fucking hell no, slap my snout and I’ll kick you under your tail! There’s no way I’m doing anything adult with kids… I might look like a kid, but I’m an adult, got it?”
Scootaloo lifted her snout into the air and turned around toward the door, walking away. Snickers was caught immediately by Apple Bloom looking at Scootaloo and when Apple Bloom followed his eyes she gasped and pointed a hoof at him. “You fibber! Scootaloo, he’s fibbin’ like a chicken in the feed bucket!”
Scootaloo turned around and looked at Apple Bloom, “What? What’s he fibbing about? What’d I miss?”
Snickers shook his head fervently without luck. “No, I was just distracted, I wasn’t-”
“He was peekin’ under yer tail! Ah caught him,” Apple Bloom hopped in place happily. Scootaloo frowned at Apple Bloom. “Scoots and Snickers, sittin’ in a tree…”
Scootaloo stomped a hoof and shouted at her friend. “Apple Bloom, stop it!”
Apple Bloom landed and looked at her friend. “Why, Scoots? He likes us, maybe he likes, likes us?!” Apple Bloom inhaled quickly, “Maybe we can try that one thing in that book?”
Scootaloo pushed Apple Bloom’s chin, turning her head to Snickers. Apple Bloom fell silent and sighed. She and Scootaloo swiftly moved to Snickers and lay beside him again, nuzzling him while he whimpered under the cushion he was on earlier.
Scootaloo sighed and lay her head on Snickers’s back. “Snickers, what happened? We were just teasing, I wasn’t even insulted, honest. It’s okay you peeked, I’m not mad…”
Apple Bloom nuzzled her muzzle into the crook of Snickers’s neck. “Ah’m sorry, too. Ah didn’t think ya’d take it so seriously. What can Ah do ta make it up to you?”
Snickers mumbled something they couldn’t understand, so they moved closer to hear him.
“Sixteen, fifteen, fourteen, thirteen…”
Apple Bloom and Scootaloo looked at one another for a second, their ears went up, their eyes widened, and they both grinned. They ran to the door and flung it open, hiding in different bushes as Snickers counted down. “Heh, almost got them,” Snickers giggled to himself, the blush he sported almost gone as the thought of play scrambled his thoughts and fun was his only goal.
***
Snickers, Apple Bloom, and Scootaloo lay under an apple tree, several partially eaten apples around them all as they lay on their backs and looked at the sky. “Hey, Scootaloo?” Snickers asked. “Why don’t the clouds ever move? Shouldn’t they at least drift sometimes?”
Scootaloo grunted. “Not over towns, the weather teams are super strict when it comes to managing everything. If you wanna see some clouds moving on their own you can either go into the Everfree and maybe get eaten, or somewhere about a mile out of town.”
“Eeyup,” Apple Bloom said, “sis hates when wild weather comes ‘round the farm on account‘a the weather messin’ up the balance. Ain’t a good crop comin’ if nature isn’t just right, after all.”
They lapsed into another silence while other aspects of nature happened around them. Birds chirped, the wind rustled leaves from the trees, and just as Snickers was dozing off an apple fell onto his head. “Ouch! What the fuck?!” He said loudly and held his hooved to his forehead, rolling to his belly.
Scootaloo and Apple Bloom looked at him and yelped when an apple hit the ground between them. They looked up and just noticed a rainbow colored tail pulled into the upper branches of the tree they were under. “Rainbow Dash, that wasn’t funny! Ya apologize ta Snickers or Ah’ll get my sister on ya.”
Rainbow peeked her head from the branches and looked at Apple Bloom. “Or what? Aj can’t do anything to me, especially when I’m up here and she’s down there.”
Scootaloo waved at Rainbow. “Hi, Rainbow Dash! It’s me, Scootaloo, great aim!”
Snickers got up and shoved Scootaloo on her flank. “Stop worshipping her, Scootaloo,” Snickers said, “she’s too lame to play games on the ground with us, that’s why she’s gotta strike from where we can’t get her.”
Rainbow fell from the tree and stopped an inch from the ground, landing and looming over Snickers, looking down on him. To his credit, only his ears sagged and his tail fell slightly. “What was that, chump?”
Snickers looked up at her. “I said you’re lame, what’re you gonna do about it? Fly away, little birdie?”
Apple Bloom and Scootaloo stayed back from the stand off, unsure of what to do. Rainbow snorted and took a step back. “You think you can beat me in something, let’s hear it?”
“Oh, not just me,” Snickers said and motioned to his friends, “all three of us.”
Rainbow laughed mockingly and waved a wing dismissively. “Three on one? I thought you were gonna bring a challenge, looks like you’re the lame one, Snickers,” Rainbow finished by poking the colt in his chest. “And for the record, that’s another bit in your jar.”
Snickers narrowed his eyes. “Fine, tag. No flying, no tagbacks. Rainbow’s it!” Snickers shouted and ran to the fillies, screaming with them as they all split up into different directions. Rainbow laughed and gave chase to Apple Bloom; the game was on.
***
“Apple Bloom?” Snickers felt his ears swivel toward the voice he’d never heard before. He stood up from his hiding place and called a timeout. “Ah hear somepony over here, where are ya, little sister?”
Snickers gasped and looked around, seeing some leaves fall from an apple tree followed by a yellow, red headed filly. “Ah’m here, Applejack! Ah’m playin’ with Rainbow Dash, Scootaloo, and Snickers!”
Applejack called back. “Hold it right where ya are, Ah’m almost there.”
Apple Bloom waved everypony over and they all stood in a small clearing near the Clubhouse. Rainbow Dash stood behind the foals with her wings open and holding a pose when Applejack trotted past a tree and came into view. Snickers looked the farm mare from front to back, taking in her look as an actual hard worker, the first he’d actually seen in this town to date.
“Well, here ya are,” Applejack said to her sister and then looked at Rainbow. “Rainbow, Ah told ya it ain’t the time. Farm’s a bit behind and Ah don’t have time ta go out with ya, Ah’m sorry, really Ah am, but family first,” Applejack looked at her sister and brought the filly into a hug.
Rainbow flapped her wings, taking to a hover. “Yeah, I know that. I was just showing you my feathers, I know you’re gonna make time for me, someday, and when you do…” Rainbow flew a circle around Applejack, “I’ll be ready.”
Applejack waved her foreleg at Rainbow. “That’s fine’n dandy. ‘Til then, stay outta my trees!”
Rainbow laughed and flew away leaving the group. “Aww,” Snickers and Scootaloo said in unison. Scootaloo looked at Snickers. “She was fun, and it was her turn to find us,” Snickers said.
“Yeah, sis. Why won’t ya just go out with her and get her off yer back?” Apple Bloom asked.
Applejack looked at Snickers and raised an eyebrow. He was looking between the Apple sisters curiously. “Hey, Ah’m Applejack. Apple Bloom’s my little sister; who’re you?”
Snickers raised his forehoof and bumped it to Applejack’s. “I’m Snickers, nice to meet you.”
Applejack narrowed her eyes. “The colt with the foul mouth?”
Snickers sighed and sagged. “Yeah, that’s me…”
Applejack tipped his chin up and looked into his eyes. She inhaled sharply and let him go. “Well, Ah’ve never felt that before…”
“What’d’ya feel, sis?” Apple Bloom asked Applejack.
“It was cold, like somethin’ inside that colt’s missin’,” Applejack looked at Snickers and shook her head. “Listen ta me, talkin’ about ya like ya weren’t here. Whatever’s ailin’ ya, lunch’s what ya need ta fix ya up. A hearty meal’ll warm up even the coldest night, Granny says. Now, let’s get’n get some grub,” Applejack said and lowered her front, pawing the ground.
Snickers watched Apple Bloom and Scootaloo do the same before he realized it was a race. He got ready just when Applejack took off, leaving a trail of dust behind her. The others were at a fast pace ahead of him and he fumbled his legs into a trot, then gallop until he caught up with the girls.
“Whoo! The feeling of wind in my mane is great,” Snickers shouted and hopped over a low exposed root. He passed the fillies and ran behind the blonde tail using the red hair tie to keep him on course. Applejack stopped and panted twice, catching her breath quickly and looking back to see where she’d left her sister and friends.
“Wow,” Snickers said startling Applejack, “you’re fast! I could barely keep up with you…” he inhaled deeply and exhaled slowly.
“Well, Ah’ll be. Ah haven’t seen a foal run that fast in my whole life. Much less a colt, tie my tail in a knot that was impressive. Well, yer the first here so ya get first plate,” Applejack gave the table outside a couple taps and Snickers happily grabbed a plate and picked several apple treats.
Scootaloo and Apple Bloom came up to Snickers breathing heavily. “How… did you… get here… so… fast?” Scootaloo asked when she reached the table and rested her head on it while the rest of her lay on the ground. Apple Bloom came up to Snickers’s other side and did the same as Scootaloo.
Applejack laughed with a bucket handle in her mouth. She set it behind Snickers and Apple Bloom sat up and turned to the bucket, burying her muzzle into the water and drinking her fill. Scootaloo sat up and did the same, sighing loudly. “Ah, all better! I call next plate,” Scootaloo said loudly completely refreshed.
Snickers looked back at Scootaloo with a raised eyebrow. “I thought you were tired from your run?” Snickers asked.
Scootaloo giggled with Apple Bloom. “Nah, we were just messin’ around. Apple Bloom, let’s dig in!”
“Hold up a second, Scootaloo! Ah see Rarity comin’ over, Snickers, ya think she’s here for you?”
Snickers groaned with a full mouth.
“Ah think that’s a yes,” Applejack said giving her sister a little shove toward the table. “Eat up, Snickers, yer growin’ and need all the food you can get. Ah’ll send a pie or three home with ya so ya can snack on somethin’ when ya get a hankerin’ fer something.”
“Uhff, Uh afwana eaff…” Snickers gulped some apple juice with his food. “What if I don’t wanna eat apple snacks all day?”
“Then ya have options fer later,” Apple Bloom chimed in.
“Oh, Snickers!” Rarity called from hundreds of feet away. “Stay right there, I’ve come to pick you up to visit Spike and Twilight.”
“Ugh, does she have to sound so happy about it?” Snickers grumbled.
Applejack mussed his mane. “Now, now, young stallion. Rarity’s bein’ mighty kind lettin’ ya run around all day playin’ with these here fillies, the least you can do is show that mare the respect she deserves.”
“Respect,” Snickers snarked, “fuck that noise. Gah!” He yelped when a hard slap hit the top of his head.
“Snickers?! How dare ya say somethin’ like that! Why, if’n Ah had time Ah’d tan yer hide just fer sayin’ that word, but ta say it about mah friend!”
Applejack raised her hoof to swat him again, then looked at Rarity who was holding her foreleg in a blue aura of magic. “Ah, I see my little colt let his distasteful language come out again,” Rarity frowned. “How many words did he say?” She asked letting Applejack’s leg go.
“Just the one… if he’s got a problem cussin’ and ya can’t handle it, Ah’m more than willin’ ta take a switch ta his rump,” Applejack said glaring at the colt who was holding the top of his head with his forehooves. “Ask Apple Bloom, apple trees are mighty tough, and their branches don’t break easily.”
Apple Bloom nodded at Snickers seriously.
“Oh, I won’t need your help in such matters. That’s another bit in the jar and the threat alone is enough to hold his tongue, I’m sure. So, Applejack, while they enjoy a lunch worthy of the Princesses, may I ask you a question in private?”
Applejack grinned at the compliment and turned to lead Rarity a little ways away. “What’d ya need, Rares?”
“Well, Applejack, darling… given how you are a sister to one of Sweetie’s friends, I was wondering if you’d like to come to the party Pinkie is throwing for her return. None of the CMC know about it yet, and after I was cornered in the market by Pinkie, I decided I’d ask you and Twilight.”
“Why, shucks, Rares. Ah’d be delighted… when Ah heard about what happened Ah darn near cried fer the filly. Ah’ve heard once or twice about it happenin’, but never thought about it. Ah think Apple Bloom might need her trainer seat again, just to be safe,” Applejack bit her bottom lip looking at her sister. “Ah’d hate fer her ta go through that.”
Rarity giggled into her hoof. “Why, Applejack. If you do that I imagine your sister would hold quite the grudge for you. I strongly advise against such an action,” Rarity looked at the foals who were grabbing food from one another’s plates to eat. “They certainly seem to be close, don’t they?”
Applejack smirked. “Ah think so… Ah also think that colt is just what the Apple family needs on our farm.” Rarity looked at Applejack anxiously. “Rares, ya think we can have him when he’s older? He’d make a fine pairin’ with mah sister and their foals would be a mighty good help around here.”
Rarity shook her head. “I’m quite sorry, Applejack. You know that’s not up to me to decide, it’s his choice on who he wants to be with.”
“Ah know that,” Applejack smiled at the foals play shoving over their plates, “but if ya kinda nudge him a bit, tell him every day how good apples are or have him come on down to the acres…” Applejack trailed off when Rarity’s look turned to a frown.
“I will do no such thing, that colt has been through enough already in his short life and for me, his mother and caretaker, to do such a thing… why it’s simply…” Rarity couldn’t think of anything so she said the first thing that came to her mind, “fucked up!”
Rarity and Applejack gasped, covering their mouths and looking at the foals nervously. “Rarity,” Applejack said aghast, “Ah’ve never heard ya say that word in all my years…”
“I… I’m so sorry, darling, really. I… it just slipped out and I meant nothing by it. Please, understand that I meant no offense to you.”
Applejack shook her head. “No, I’m not offended, just surprised. Ah get it. It’s pushin’ the colt in the wrong direction in life and Ah was wrong ta suggest what Ah did. Ah hope you can fergive me.”
Rarity hugged her friend. “Of course I forgive you, our friendship means more to me than some hopeful words, even if they do imply something inherently wrong,” Rarity said and got a playful swat on her foreleg from Applejack. Rarity knew it might bruise, but she toughed it out anyway as she and her friend watched the foals start to wrestle in the grass, their food half forgotten.
.*.
Rarity knocked on the door to Golden Oaks Library before letting herself in. She was surprised to see three stallions and a mare inside looking at books. She walked past them, leaving Snickers to look at books at his own pace, and ascended the stairs. “Twilight? Are you up here?”
Twilight’s voice was muffled when she called back. “In the bathroom, Rarity.”
“Ah, well, Snickers and I are here to meet with Spikey, but it seems you have some business downstairs for once.” Rarity knocked on the door and turned the handle, finding it locked.
“I know,” Twilight said, “I’ll be right out. Stallions usually come by every Thursday when the Manhattan magazines arrive. They’re full of articles and stories, eep! Stories stallions love to read that cover -ouch- grooming, current trends in mane and tail styling, and sometimes certain positions for sensual evenings.”
Rarity knocked on the door again. “Twilight, are you certain you’re alright?”
“Perfectly fine,” Twilight said as the door unlocked and swung in, showing Rarity something the white mare would never forget. “See, I look nice, don’t I?”
Rarity’s cheeks puffed and she let a snort leave her snout. “Tw-twilight, while I do like the stockings… are you wearing makeup and eyelashes? Ahem… I’m not sure the saddle and,” Rarity squeezed her eyes shut as tears formed at the corners of her eyes, “bridle are in style for such a common occurrence as stallions checking out magazines.”
Twilight, oblivious to her fashion choice being over the top, looked at her legs. “Oh? I read in one of the magazines the stallions are reading that they like this sort of thing on mares, and the bridle is a bit tight. Thank Celestia I didn’t listen to the article and put in the bit with a ball on it,” Twilight cocked her head and furrowed her eyebrows at Rarity. “Rarity, this is no laughing matter. There are stallions down there waiting to see me this week wearing the latest in Manehattan fashion.”
Rarity’s mascara was running down her cheeks and she shook her head, holding her barrel as she fell over. “T… Tw… Twilight, y-you…” Rarity tried to speak. Twilight rolled her eyes and her horn glowed as she cast her spell pulling herself through the aether and a space beyond understanding to appear in the center of the room.
“Hello, stallions,” Twilight said in a sultry voice, swaying her hips as she went to a bookshelf. “Oh no,” she said in a high voice, pulling a book from its shelf, “I dropped my book. I’d better pick it up.”
The stallions and mare were watching Twilight without blinking as she started to lean down, licking her lips to pick the book up in her mouth.
“Miss Twilight, can I borrow this book?” Snickers called from the next room scaring Twilight into casting her teleportation spell. Snickers turned the corner with a large book on his back and stopped when he saw four ponies glaring at him. “What?”
Rarity was wiping her eyes with some tissue paper from Twilight’s room. “Oh, darling, that was the funniest thing I’ve seen in days. Thank you for that,” she snorted and giggled seeing Twilight still dressed the same.
Twilight exhaled a shaky breath. “That was close… Snickers almost saw me do the drop and pick up.”
Rarity gasped and stood up, moving beside Twilight and turning the mare to face her. “Please, tell me you didn’t actually go down there dressed like this,” Rarity gestured to Twilight who nodded in reply. “And you did the drop and pick up?”
Twilight moaned in frustration. “I was almost done, all their eyes were on me and I was just about to do the swish, but Snickers came into the room and I teleported away. I can’t have a colt see me do that, it’s a technique to get a coltfriend, Rarity, not a colt!”
Rarity gave Twilight a little shake. “Keep it together, mare. First of all, undress. Second, take that makeup off, you have the wrong pallet for your fur. Lastly, never do this again, do you understand me?”
Twilight pushed Rarity’s hooved off her. “Rarity, I need a stallion. I have needs, okay? I can’t just read by myself every night and snuggling with my pillow isn’t the same,” she stomped a forehoof. “And I’m not trying with Spike anymore. His spines are firming and they poke in all the wrong places.”
Rarity placed her hoof over Twilight’s mouth. “Tonight, after a party I’m inviting you to at my home, you and I will talk, mare to mare, about the articles in the magazines and their accuracy in real life. And after that… tut tut, after that I will help you dress for the occassion for finding a suitable mate.”
Twilight blushed and took a step back, looking down the tree to the ponies that were milling around, grumbling about something while a chocolate colt lay on the couch with a book open. “I… I’m not looking for a mate, Rarity. That’s a huge step in a relationship and I don’t think I’m ready for that right now.”
Rarity cocked her head. “Then why have you chosen to dress so… enticingly?”
Twilight looked herself over and moved her jaw under the tension of the bridle. “I don’t get it, don’t stallions like this?”
Rarity sighed quietly and ushered her friend into the bathroom.
---
Snickers looked at the bookshelves and the tomes held on them. Some were history, some were fiction, several were about magic and written in a language he couldn’t read, then he found the technology section and grinned. He pulled out a book that interested him and scoffed. “What is this, the dark ages?”
Snickers thought it over and shook his head. “Yeah, pretty much. Let’s see… heh, horse puns. Horse puns. Horse puns… oh, what have we here?” he asked himself. He used his hooves to pull out a book on engineering and flipped it open to the middle. He looked at the diagram of an airplane that would never fly, but seemed to be something they were trying for.
Snickers shrugged and, after several tries, got the book onto his back. He was surprised to see how well it balanced once there and chalked it up to magic. “Miss Twilight, can I borrow this book?” he asked as a flash of light brightened the room. He saw every pony looking at him. “What?”
“Oh, nothing,” a stallion said, turning back to the bookshelves, “just ruining the best part of the week for some of us.”
Snickers raised an eyebrow, then dismissed the comment and moved to the couch to read the book. He skimmed the text getting little from it, except many of the designs were wrong or simply didn’t make sense. He looked at the cover again and wondered how practical these tools were; the thought that physics could work separately from magic or in conjunction with it made him wonder.
Returning to the book, Snickers didn’t notice the patter of feet on the floor approaching him until Spike crawled up onto the seat and sat beside him. Snickers sat up and held the book between himself and the little drake. “Hey,” Snickers said carefully.
Spike exhaled and twiddled his thumbs. “Look, I’m sorry I got mad and overreacted yesterday. I had a long talk with Twilight and there’s this thing with dragons that makes us obsess with things we think are ours, and I guess that’s how I see Rarity. When you insulted her I just lost it and… I’m sorry.”
Snickers started breathing again. “Uh, I’m sorry I dissed your girl. Won’t happen again, honest.”
Spike looked sheepishly at Snickers and hesitantly extended his arm with a closed fist. “We cool?”
Snickers looked at the hopeful dragon and then his fist. “Uh, not yet… but let me get over being almost melted by your spit, okay?”
Spike winced and moved his fist to his leg. “Yeah, I get it… I don’t have any friends here yet, and this is why, I guess.” Spike slipped from the couch sullenly.
Snickers shoved the book away from himself and rushed to follow Spike. “Hold up, Spike. I didn’t say no, just… give me a couple hours, okay? Just to… come to terms with what you said and see if I feel differently. When I was back home, I had a teacher that taught me to think everything through before you act.
“It applies to everything I do… okay, everything really important. And, being friends with you would be awesome, but I don’t want to start a friendship being afraid of someone because that would be the foundation of our friendship, get it?”
Spike smiled and nodded. “Yeah, I do. Hey, maybe you can tell me where you’re from… if we become friends. And why they say ‘someone’ instead of ‘somepony’.”
Snickers averted his eyes. “Well, I’m from far away and a lot of things are different,” he looked at Spike, “where I was from we weren’t supremacists.”
Spike looked at the ponies around the room and then at his hands. He looked up at where Twilight’s room was, then back to Snickers. “You might have a point, but be careful who you say that to. Some ponies are really sensitive about…” Spike hesitated and leaned closer to Snickers, “their xenophobia.”
“I knew it!” Snickers shouted and stomped a forehoof on the wooden floor clacking loudly, wincing when he was hushed. “Sheesh, pull the stick out, people. The librarian isn’t even here.”
The mare in the room grumbled and gave Snickers a dirty look. “Hey, I came here all the way from Briar’s Point to see that librarian, and you just scared her away.”
Snickers looked at the mare. “I have no idea or care about you or what you’re talking about. I’m talking with my… dragon that I know and it doesn’t involve you. So since we’re in a library, why don’t you ‘C’ your way out of here before ‘D’ jumps over ‘E’, and I have to fuck you up.”
The mare gasped loudest in the room. “Young colt, that is no way to talk to an adult!”
“Yeah, heard it all before. Ya try to touch me and I’ll buck you under the tail so hard you’ll grand foals will feel it,” Snickers said sternly when the mare took a step toward him.
She stopped and noticed he was serious. “You’re just a little troublemaker, when I find your mother I’ll tell her and you’ll be put in time out for hours.”
“Psh, yeah. Remember, I’m a colt. I have to be treasured and loved like the jewel I am,” Snickers pouted and one stallion awed.
“Look here, little pony, I’ll have none of your lip service while-”
“Lip service? Ha,” Snickers faked a laugh, “your lips are so wide I bet I could see your cervix. Service that while you walk out of my face.”
The stallions had started to chuckle and it built into controlled laughter at the mare’s reddening head. Snickers turned his attention to Spike, his piece was done and he wouldn’t be pulled into anything else with the mare. He did turn and look at her when she started stomping all her hooves on the floor like a filly throwing a tantrum.
She turned and stomped to the door, opening it with a slam against the wall. “I’ll look for your mother, you little brat, and when I do I’ll make certain she spanks you, or I will!”
The mare stomped into the street and galloped out of sight. “Wow, what a drama queen,” Snickers said and got nods in return.
“Son,” one of the stallions said, “you do have a potty mouth on you… however that thing about her cervix was clever… I may use that someday.”
Snickers turned to the stallion and smiled. “Shoot, when I was with a mare I really wanted, I’d offer her help and if she said no, I’d just mumble, ‘If you need me, I’ll be at your cervix.’ They loved it if they heard and took it as a kindness if they misunderstood me. Either way, I’d win!”
“Wait… are you saying you’ve had mares?”
Snickers nodded. “Oh, yeah. Before I got here I was just a single stallion survivin’ day ta day… mares were begging me to spend a couple hours with them… it was no big deal.”
Spike grabbed Snickers’s foreleg and pulled him to they were muzzle to muzzle. “Wait, how old are you, Snickers? You can’t be over four… and you’ve mated with a mare already?”
Snickers nodded. “Yeah… why, is that bad?”
The silence was deafening for several seconds. “Dude,” Spike said, “that’s messed up.”
Snickers shook his head. “No, it was fine. I was an adult back home, I never did anything too bad, even at my most excitable.”
“Snickers, have you told anypony else about this, about your past with mares?” Spike asked.
Snickers pulled his foreleg away from Spike. “Yeah, and it’s none of your business about the details or who I told what to,” he said calmly. “Besides, I think I’m cool with you being my friend after that saggy teat nag got me all emotional.”
Spike quickly changed his mood to happiness and excitement. “Really? You’ll be my friend, for serious?”
“Sure thing, Spike,” Snickers rubbed the fins on Spike’s head, “just don’t be a floppy dick and we’ll be cool, cool?”
“Uh, dragon don’t have… oh, oh, I get it! Yeah, I’ll totally be a cool dude to hang out with and read comics, maybe talk about mares… like Rarity,” Spike sighed and adopted a dreamy look.
“Look… hey,” Snickers said to the stallions who were still watching Snickers and Spike talk, “mind your own bees wax. Spike, I just want a bro to hang with, I don’t care what we do; as long as it’s not illegal or breaking the law. I’m not going to jail here over something dumb, go it?”
Spike nodded and took Snickers’s hoof in his hand, leading the colt back to the couch. “Okay, I won’t. I just really wanna do stuff friends do that aren’t about cleaning this place,” Spike looked around the room disdainfully.
Spike climbed up onto the couch while Snickers hopped up. “I want more out of life before I grow up and can’t do as much. What do you and the fillies do for fun?”
“I dunno, play tag, hide and seek, cards, kind of. I dunno, we just have fun. I’m new to being a colt, but the wiring in my noggin’s changing me to thinking like a colt, so I kind of am in a mental bubble where outside I’m a colt, but inside I’m an adult.”
Spike ran his claws through his scales on his belly. “Well, it sure sound different. Do you have any proof you’re from far away, or should I just take your word on it?”
“Spike, my drake, have I ever let you down?”
“We just met, Snickers. And yesterday I almost melted your skin off, so I think we should celebrate our friendship with ice cream! It’ll show that we’re cool now, right?”
Snickers pulled the book back over and flipped to a page. “Sure thing, Spike. If anyone tries anything to mess up our friendship, I’ll karate chop them to next week and kung fu their faces into the floor,” Snickers hopped up onto the couch and balanced on his hind legs, chopping his left foreleg down with a sound effect akin to a battle yelp.
Snickers lost his balance and fell onto his bottom on the couch, rocked forward, and happily got back to his book.