“You are forbidden to leave,” Harmony’s voice commanded.
Snickers opened his eyes, still on the train, but it was now empty and rolling through a nearly pitch black night, the trees mere shadows on the glass. The car was more than half shadow at this point. “What?” He asked, slightly confused.
Harmony stepped from the shadow and glared at the colt. “You can not leave Equestria, I won’t allow it.” The stallion said, his white mane danced around his grey coat, hiding his eyes.
Snickers pushed himself into a sitting position and looked at the stallion marching toward him. “You can’t stop me,” he stated. “I’m leaving this place! What do you have to lose by me going away, huh? Just get some new chump to do what you want. You don’t even have to tell them why, just like you did with me.”
“You are different, Snickers!” Harmony snapped. “You are Change, my avatar. And my best hope for this nation. You are not going to leave without my permission.”
Snickers huffed. “You’re gonna have to stop me, and I don’t think you can do that. We’re a group of kids running away from home, er,” he smirked, “on a life adventure. Trying to find our purpose in life. I know how this game is played now, Harmony. They won’t stop some foals from finding our purpose, even if it could mean danger to us.
“Cutie marks are that important to the world you’ve created, so much so that I’m going to walk across the border into unknown lands, just to stick it to the ponies you stuck me with.”
Harmony’s eyes glowed green and dark wisps of black left his eyes. “You have no power compared to me. Do not think to lecture me on the rules I helped create.”
Snickers hopped to the floor and stood tall, equal in height to Harmony. “This is my dream, and I won’t let you control me anymore. Auntie Luna taught me about how to be the boss in my dream, and I’m not even alone here. I have my friends and mares with me, to keep me strong when I wake up.
“All I have to do is--”
“You will have little to say in the matter when I erase your memory of the past month. You’ll be the colt you were, just trying to fit in with the three foals you were with then.”
Snickers laughed. “And then what? How would you explain to me, or try to prove to the others I’m with, that you didn’t play a part in a whole month gone missing from my memory? Hell, I’d head west just to find out why everything went weird! Give it up, you can’t keep me in Equestria any more than you could make me take your horn.”
Harmony opened his mouth, a torrent of black smoke poured to the floor and wrapped around Snickers’s legs and covered him almost instantly, save for his head. “You speak too much, boy. You refuse my kindness, you refuse my gifts, you spur my advice, but you can’t escape the seat of my power.
“Once you cross the veil west, I will not be able to protect you as I do now. Are you truly willing to risk the pain of loss I see in your future? Are you really ready to experience death and pain the likes of which you’ve never known, all to prove me wrong?”
Snickers chuckled, even though he was awash with fright at the creature in front of him. “I’m not doing any of this to, or for, you. I’m doing it because I won’t be controlled again. I won’t make the same mistakes I did last time. I want to walk my own path in life. I… want to live and not just survive, this time.”
Harmony snapped his mouth closed and the black smoke dissipated, letting a small colt fall to the floor. Harmony looked down at the correctly-sized Snickers and smiled. “You’re exactly what I thought you’d be, and you’re on the path I knew you’d choose. Go ahead, little one. Go beyond the veil and do what you must. When you return… I’ll be waiting.
“The only thing I have to give you at the start of your journey is my blessing. Keep your eyes and ears open and nothing will take you by surprise. And stay moving. Remember this going into the new lands; I am everywhere and no matter how bad it seems, somepony will have it worse. Now, wake up and keep me entertained in the way only you can.”
Snickers jolted awake and opened his eyes, meeting the soft warm underbelly of Diamond Tiara as his eyes focused. He noticed her teats and turned his head, letting his nose guide him to something sweet that he couldn’t help but try to see. The train hit a bump and his mind cleared enough to let him recall his meeting.
Snickers pulled his head free from Diamond’s hind legs and lifted his head to look around the cart. Everypony was asleep, except for Laxxie who was sitting by the far wall, keeping watch. He looked at Gil and saw the gryphon protectively guarding the egg while Kiwe lay on the opposite bench, as close as he could get to the gryphon.
Diamond stirred a little and lifted her head from Snickers’s hind legs while moving her own into a stretch. Her eyes met Snickers’ and she smiled weakly. “Hey, sweetie,” she whispered. “Did you sleep good?”
“Yeah,” Snickers replied, blushing at how they were positioned and what it made him think of. “Just had a weird dream, is all. I’ll be right back, I gotta pee.”
Diamond nodded and laid her head down onto Silver’s side. Snickers stood up and looked at his fillies sleeping together and couldn’t help but smile, even though worry gnawed at his conscience of what he was getting them all into by leaving the safety of Equestria.
The pain in his bladder took precedence and he rushed to the small side door by Laxxie. He gave her a soft nuzzle before he opened the door and rushed in. Once he was done, he left the toilet and sat by Laxxie. “So,” he spoke softly, “did I miss anything?”
Laxxie shook her grassy mane out. “No. After you went to sleep, they talked boring stuff, then went to sleep and I turned off the lights. I chose guard because I don’t have to sleep right now, but Cress has next watch. She doesn’t sleep much, she said, because she is awake at nights, mostly.”
Snickers leaned against Laxxie and sniffed her grassy, earthy scent. “You are doing a very good job, Laxxie, keep it up. I’m gonna get a snack and a bit more sleep,” he yawned and clicked his tongue. “And I’m so glad the seats fit all three of us.”
Laxxie stayed silent as Snickers walked to his seat and dug his snout into one of Silver’s saddle bags to pull out a snack bar. He ate quickly and crawled up to lay face to face with Diamond, who tucked her head over Snickers’ and pulled him close to herself.
Silver didn’t seem to mind being the pillow for two of her friends and just sighed loudly in her sleep as Snickers joined his herd in the sweet throes of slumber.
Snickers woke up to the feeling of eyes on him, a primal instinct made his ears perk and his head rose faster than he knew it could. His attention was on Cress. The bat filly was about to poke him, but she lowered her forehoof with a smile. “Morning, I was gonna wake you up, but I guess you heard me.”
Snickers relaxed and looked at Silver Spoon and Diamond Tiara. The fillies were wearing their saddlebags now and sitting side by side, close to the window. The scenery had changed little. It was still lightly wooded, but more sparse now. “It’s like the closer we get to the edge, the less trees there are,” Diamond sighed.
“Are you sure we wanna do this, Snickers?” Silver Spoon asked, looking at him for a second before her attention was back at the window.
“Yeah, I know it’s not healthy to run from my problems, but all I have are problems in Equestria. Mommy can’t help me, daddy is a flake, Mom hates me, and the rest of them…” he trailed off and followed Silver’s gaze into the morning clouds. “You know, we have a lot of paper and drawing stuff, we can draw what we see as we travel…”
Silver gasped and clapped her hooves. “I love to draw! Can I be the drawer, please?” She asked with a toothy smile.
Snickers nodded and turned to reach into his saddlebags, stopping when he realized the art supplies were not there, but in Kiwe’s. “Kiwe, can we use some of your drawing stuff?”
The zony blinked owlishly and yawned. “I apologize, I was awake late from my shift. Perhaps you can ignore my mental drift.”
Snickers asked again and Kiwe magically passed a small sketchpad to Snickers, who passed it to Silver Spoon. “This is gonna be, like, totally fresh,” Silver said. Snickers groaned and facehoofed. “What?”
Snickers looked flatly at Silver. “You’re not gonna go all ‘woke’ on us, are you?”
“‘Woke?’” Silver asked. “I don’t know what you mean, sweetie. But if it’s something mean, I’m gonna punch you in the foreleg.”
Snickers remembered being punched a lot when he was with the Crusaders, and the bruises that had formed. So, he smiled awkwardly at his filly. “No, it’s just talking a lot like your moms. That’s what I meant.”
Silver nodded and pocketed the sketchpad. “Okay, then. I’ll try not to, but I can’t help it if I do.”
Snickers smirked at Silver. “Darling, I haven’t the foggiest as to what you mean.”
The herd shared a laugh while the others kept busy watching the scenery pass. Over time games were played, questions were asked, and the terrain flattened. The train only made two stops, but they all knew theirs was approaching quickly.
Finally, the train reached Sour Patch’s Farms. They gathered everything they had into their bags and got off the train onto an old and worn down station. They looked at a nearby map and weren’t surprised to see it ended a mere day’s trek west with no further details. “So, we really are gonna be the first ones out that way, huh?” Kiwe said, softly.
Gil trilled in the back of his throat. “I think it’s exciting. We get to see something nopony else has, and might even get to fight a monster or two on the way. If I kill a monster, I get to take a few souvenirs to show off back home.”
Kiwe nodded and was the first to look at the dirt path that would lead them into the unknown. Snickers appeared from his left and Diamond from his right. He glanced at the pink filly and quickly looked away as his coat darkened from a blush. Silver stepped to Snickers’s other side and Laxxie stayed back, her grassy mane and tail blowing in the wind.
Cress took wing, flying over them all. “Hey, why’re we waiting? Wanna head back, or maybe in any other cardinal direction?” She suggested.
Snickers took the first step towards the Undiscovered West and led them from the platform onto the well trod earth. “We’re going, and there’s nothing that’ll stop us.”
…
“Halt! What business have you beyond Equestria’s borders?” A stallion royal guard wearing golden filigree asked while three others stood in formation behind him. A gate blocked the path, but Snickers didn’t see the point as any creature could simply backtrack and go around through the foliage and not be seen.
“We’re heading west to find our destinies,” Diamond Tiara said.
“We cannot allow you to proceed without a better reason. There are dangers beyond our borders that you can’t begin to comprehend, and shouldn’t even try to at your age.”
Silver stepped up and held her forehoof out, showing a sixty-four piece bit. “How about we forget about this drama and you go buy yourselves some shakes back at the farm, huh?”
Snickers facehoofed. The guards all became serious. “Little lady, bribing a royal guard is a crime,” the lead guard stated.
Snickers stepped up and smiled at the guards before anything could escalate. “My name is Prince Aquelis, son of Princess Celestia, and I would like to pass with my entourage.”
The guards looked between one another and then to the guard in front. “W-well, do you have any proof of that?”
Snickers shrugged and reached back to grab two diamonds he’d set into one of his shirt pockets. “I can just call my mommy, Celestia, and have her talk to you about listening to her son… Silver?” He turned his head to the grey filly, but paused when the guards began talking over each other to get his attention.
“Well, we don’t need to bother the Princess with this, Your Highness. I saw the papers and know what you look like. As well as the unicorn colt you travel with. This was all…” the guard hesitated, “just routine. We’ll let you pass, don’t worry. And, save your bits, they’re still used in the next town ahead, but after that we can’t say.
“Just, keep Her Highness’s contact crystals close, because you may need to return quickly from wherever you end up.”
Snickers didn’t show any emotion as he led the others past the gate. As they went through, a prickly sensation washed over them. When they looked back they didn’t see anything but an expanse of forest with a rough overgrown trail in the direction they’d come from.
“That must be The Veil, of which there are many a tale,” Kiwe said, walking back and reaching his forehoof through a shimmering barrier. He stepped back and returned to his friends, who all began walking close into the wild unknown.
Snickers noted to ask Kiwe about The Veil, sometime.
...
As far as they could see there were rolling grassy hills with trees in patches and there were the usual noises they’d come to expect in the wilds. Cicadas, insects, and birds set a relaxing rhythm for them to start with. “Well, we’re off into the unknown, just the few of us against an unkind world,” Gil said, poetically.
“Well, we don’t know if it’s not kind. I just hope we have some good stories to tell and we make some interesting friends along the way,” Diamond said.
“Me, too. I like new friends,” Laxxie chirped from behind. “And if we make not-friends, can I eat them, Daddy?”
Snickers barked a laugh and looked back, grinning at Laxxie. “We’ll say no, but that could change based on what’s happening. Ouch!” Snickers looked back to see Kiwe had yanked his tail.
Kiwe let the tail go from his magical grip. “Do not encourage violence, for it will come back upon you, and we do not need that on our heads.”
“Sheesh, nopony has a sense of humor here, I guess,” Snickers grumbled.
That was when Gil Chuckled. “Laxxie, if they won't let you eat a monster, I’ll share what I carve off of them with you, okay?”
Laxxie panted in a very non-pony way for a moment, then licked her sappy saliva from her lips. “That sounds yummy.”
Gil raised an eyebrow. “I didn’t think a golem would react that way. You have a big enchantment on it from Celestia, don’t you?”
Snickers flicked his tail. “She has nothing to do with my mommy, or anypony except me. Laxxie, show him your real form,” he said, stopping and turning back to watch. The others did the same and they watched as Laxxie crumbled into herself and growled, menacingly. Gil’s wings partially opened, in fear.
Laxxie began to lengthen and grow, pulling sticks and leaves onto herself until she reached the size of Celestia. Then she expanded and, with a heavy thunk, locked her new limbs into place. She was twice the size of Gil and completely timberwolf. She snarled, her wooden fangs shining in the midday sun with amber saliva slowly dribbling from her maw.
She exhaled a breath at Gil that made him shudder and take flight to the others, landing behind them. “What the Tartarus, Snickers?! You’ve been walking around with that all this time?”
Snickers giggled into his hoof. “Laxxie, sit down.” She did. “Roll over.” She rolled and stood back up in a single motion, beginning to pant and spray sticky spittle ahead of her. “Okay, that’s enough fun,” he said, then noticed Silver and Diamond were standing slightly behind him. “Change back to a pony before you scare Gil into laying his own egg.”
Laxxie slurped her drool up and collapsed into a pile of sticks. She stepped out of them as the timber pony they’d all come to know so well. “Sorry for scaring you, daddy’s friends.” Laxxie apologized sadly.
Silver and Diamond laughed nervously and moved to stand beside Snickers again while the others relaxed their postures. Cress, it seemed, was the most tense and wasn’t relaxing at all.
Snickers pulled free from the pressure he was experiencing from the fillies and turned back to the west, facing Gil. “Well, still think she’s just a golem?”
Gil relaxed the hold he had on the egg and used his talons to fix the feathers on his crest. “So, she’s not a golem… she’s really a timberwolf. Big deal! We’ll see what happens when we get into a fight with a monster on the way to town.”
“Sure, and you weren’t a little scared of her?” Snickers teased. Gil growled, deeply. “Hey, just saying, you flew behind me pretty quick. There were plenty of other places you could have gone, is all I’m saying.”
Gil snapped his beak and opened his wings. “I don’t have to explain myself to you, little pony. I’m gonna scout ahead. Don’t die before I get back.”
Gil flew off while the others laughed at his expense.
They soon followed a rough, rocky, unused path that was overgrown and poorly maintained for the next few hours. The sky was filled with different types of clouds none of the group, save Snickers, had ever seen. There wasn’t a pegasi in the sky and yet the clouds moved, astonishing most of them while Cress and Snickers paid more attention to their surroundings.
As hilly grasslands became light woods, the wonder of the sky waned and became replaced by annoyance as their tails were filled with burrs and their coats got dirty with sweat and pollen. And a little tree sap, too. Snickers was the first to suggest another scouting mission by Cress.
The filly flew up and was out of sight while the group trotted down the path. Cress returned soon, landing at a trot to keep up with her friends. “So, there’s a town about an hour’s walk ahead, but I didn’t see anypony. It’s kinda weird, but we’re making good time and maybe they’re just inside because the weather’s strange, or they’re all hot, or maybe they’re--”
“Maybe it’s a ghost town and it’s haunted by specters, aching for pony bodies to possess,” Gil quipped.
Silver and Diamond whimpered and moved to touch sides with Snickers while the colts in the group glared at the gryphon that was in the center of their group. Snickers stumbled and returned his attention ahead while flicking his ears at any sound around them. More than once he had stopped and looked at something, worrying his fillies into moving in front to guard him.
Now, though, Snickers was practically marching in the direction of the town. His shirt was messy and needed a good rinse and he couldn’t deny he didn’t like how he felt. More of Mom rubbed off on me than I thought, I think. I can’t help but want to be clean and…
“Ugh, my tail’s gonna take hours to get clean,” Snickers whined.
“Don’t worry, my big strong stallion,” Silver cooed, “we’ll take time to get you as clean and groomed as possible, right, Diamond?”
Diamond Tiara nodded. “Yeah, as long as he helps us, too. I feel so gross right now, I hate sweat more than how Ponyville treated Snickers… but not by much.”
Snickers nickered and nuzzled to his right and left, both fillies clearly enjoying his affection by showering him with kisses on his cheeks that made him want to skip or pronk.
“Ponies are so weird,” Gil said, a little less complaining this time.
Kiwe moved up from the back and stood by Gil. “So, perhaps we are not all as bad as you think?”
Gil narrowed his eyes at Kiwe, but the usual anger wasn’t behind it. “Whatever, Kiki, just stay back there and make sure the egg doesn’t get ambushed.”
Kiwe smiled warmly to Gil and the gryphon averted his eyes. Then Kiwe returned to the back with Laxxie. “I do not think he hates me now. I think he has taken a pill that has helped him cow.”
Laxxie hummed. “I think a cow pill would be fun. You should make a cow pill and turn Gil into a cow.”
Kiwe quietly laughed to himself. “I think you misunderstand my jest, let us just keep this one close to our chest.”
Laxxie didn’t say anything, thinking about what Kiwe meant as they crested a hill and saw the town. Several houses were set up in a circle, with gardens surrounding the outside. “Well, there it is, let’s see if the ponies on this side of the divide are friendly.”
With that, Snickers, Diamond, and Silver led the group down the hill and toward the town.