//------------------------------// // First Night in a New Land // Story: Snickers: On the Road // by Mocha Star //------------------------------// Arriving at the town wasn’t as easy as they’d thought it was going to be. Only Kiwe had ever been on a real journey across Equestria, so only he truly understood why the others were complaining. “Like, my legs… I need a hot bath,” Silver whined and leaned against Diamond. Diamond leaned back against Silver and huffed. “I know. My poor mane and coat…” Snickers looked at the roundabout of houses as they stopped a few minutes walk away. “I wish they had a spa. I could really use a complete package right now.” Diamond giggled and whispered to Silver, who snerked. “You are the complete package, Snickers,” Silver giggled. Diamond joined her friend and they shared hushed whispers. The fliers, though, weren’t winded at all after having spent a lot of time gliding over their ground bound friends. “Are you going to complain, or are you gonna hurry up?” Cress called from several paces ahead. “The sun’s gonna set before we get there, and it’s only five o’clock!” Snickers glared at the bat filly. “It took us six hours to get here?” He asked. Cress shrugged her wings. “Yup, not my fault you took so long.” Kiwe rushed to Snickers’s side and stopped the younger colt from charging at Cress. “Brother, do not act hastily. We have made good time and the distance traveled is not the same as what you see. A day’s trek can be spent to reach a city in sight and may break your spirits, but we have arrived now and have no such worries going ahead, yes?” Snickers relaxed and sighed. “Yeah, sure, whatever. Girls, let’s go and see what we can get in this town.” Groaning, and with a tired winnie, the fillies got back to walking after Snickers. “We are so grooming tonight, even if there isn’t a spa.” Diamond commented. Silver scoffed at the town as they approached the gardens. “This place doesn’t have a spa, Diamond. Like, I don’t even think they have an inn. What if… we have to sleep outside?” Diamond bumped Silver and leaned close. “Now who’s playing ‘what-ifs’? Should I kiss you, too?” She teased. Silver blushed slightly and bumped Diamond a step away. “So, Snickers… um, what’re we gonna do if we have to camp out?” Snickers glanced back with tired eyes. “Set up camp outside of town and go to sleep. At this point, I don’t even care about a fancy dinner, I just wanna crawl into a bed and sleep until morning.” There was a chorus of agreement from every creature as they gathered back up and walked down a dirt path into the hamlet itself. There were two ponies, covered in brown earthy cloth that draped from their ears to their hooves, only leaving their eyes exposed, talking in the very center of eight unevenly spaced buildings; each a single story and made from rocks, lumber, and thatch. “This place is like Griffonstone, only with ponies,” Gil quietly commented.  The two adult ponies stopped talking and watched as the group entered town and spread out, slightly.  There were looks exchanged for a moment between the foals before Diamond huffed and stepped in front. “Hello, we’re travelers from Equestria and we’d like to stay in your town, if possible, for the night.” There was a long silence, broken when a mare’s voice spoke. “Welcome to Emis. I am Sash, this is Pier,” the other pony waved. “We haven’t anything to offer travelers and it would be best if you carried on your way. Where are you coming from?” Sash asked, her green eyes blinking as she looked over the motley crew. Diamond bumped Snickers before he could answer and stepped ahead. “We’re travelling west. What can you help us with, if you don’t have anything? I thought a town as nice as this would have an inn, a store, maybe a restaurant, even.” Sash turned to face the group fully. “Nothing much, but if you’re interested I have some rare herbs and Pier can tell you a safe place to make camp for the night… outside of town.” Diamond nodded. “That sounds fine. Kiwe, you can shop for us, here are some bits. Laxxie, Silver, you go with him to make sure he’s getting good quality ingredients and isn’t getting swindled. The rest of you, follow Pier to the camping site to check it out, Gil, you stay with me and we’ll wait here for everypony to come back.” Gil wasn’t pleased at being told what to do, but he didn’t complain openly. The groups separated and within an hour were all back together, talking about what they’d bought or seen on the trip to the campsite.  Sash and Pier returned to stand side by side and waited for the visitors to finish discussing their findings. “May I have your attention?” Pier asked, the stallion’s voice coming across as soft yet affirmative. His grey eyes were all that were visible and Silver felt a chill through her body when his gaze met hers. “I thank you for your patronage, but you should move to the site I told you about and camp. You should leave before sunrise, too. The townspeople don’t like outsiders very much, and they’ll be back soon. We won’t bother you at the site as long as you stay there and don’t bother us.” Sash nodded. “I agree, if you must stay close, come no closer than the camp after you leave our homes and leave as soon as you can. I can tell you’re from beyond The Veil, and heading west is your only choice. “The Forest of Woe is where you’ll have to pass through, first. Follow the road and don’t stray too far from the paths provided, and be wary of splitting up. Most monsters are manageable, even by your group’s obvious limits, but you’re easy pickings in small numbers. Stay together, stay safe.” Sash turned back to the same house as Pier and went in, closing the door behind her.  Silver spoke first, “Well, that was, like, totally rude.” “I know,” Snickers said, “but we don’t know anything about these ponies. They could be crazy, or dangerous. The campsite we saw was large enough for us all to fit… but I don’t trust this place. I think we should go further out and let them think we didn’t take their advice.” “But… the Forest of Woe. That sounds just as bad as the Everfree Forest,” Cress said.  Diamond moved beside Snickers. “Well, whatever we choose, we better get a move on. This town doesn’t have anything for us and we need to get moving before the rest of the town comes back. I don’t want to find out what they do to ponies they don’t like.” With a round of nods and agreeing sounds, they left the town and returned to the road, following it past where they were supposed to have camped and continued on until they reached the edge of what they guessed was the Forest of Woe, just before sunset.  “Let’s make camp here,” Snickers said, pointing to a small clearing that had the signs of a previous camp. He led the walk through the grass and muck to a circle of stones surrounded by four old logs.  “I’m, like, not sitting on those,” Silver complained and turned up her snout.  Diamond moved to one and gave it a gentle shove, then a harder one. “They’re solid, Silver. Just lay on the grass if you’re gonna have an issue.” “I’d rather just be by Snickers,” Silver retorted. While the fillies bickered, the rest of the group dug into their saddlebags and produced a sleeping mat, sleeping bag, a pillow, and a couple snacks. Silver was the first to notice they were being left behind on the snacks and rushed to join Snickers. “Honey, why didn’t you tell us we were having snacks? I’m famished.” Diamond walked over at her own pace and turned back to her saddlebag, produced an apple, and placed it by Snickers’s hooves. “There you go, sweetie,” she said, glancing at Silver Spoon, who chomped her meal bar in a huff. Silver was about to turn to her own bag to get something for Snickers, when he spoke up, “Girls, don’t start drowning me in food. I have an apple and my banana chips, I’ll be fine until the fire gets going and we can relax… maybe do some grooming,” he said, looking at his hind leg and tail; both were very messy and looked like he’d wallowed in mud out of spite to cleanliness. The fillies, Cress included, agreed. Kiwe shrugged. “I have been far more messy,” Kiwe admitted, “so being groomed does not interest me.” Gil licked his talon and raked it through the feathers on his head. “There, I’m mostly clean now.” Kiwe and Gil shared a laugh. Kiwe offered a hoof bump, but Gil didn’t acknowledge it.  Cress sniffed the grass and moved her head swiftly in between the blades, there was a quiet crunch and then another as she snacked on beetles. Silver and Diamond pretended to retch when they realized what the bat filly was doing, only to get a shove from Snickers, each.  “What was that for?” Diamond asked. “She’s only eating bugs. It could be worse, right?” Snickers answered. “Yeah, she could be out for blood,” Silver said, waving her forelegs rhythmically. “Vamponies are real, my auntie knows a pony that knows a pony that married one! It was in the Equestria Enquirer, so you know it’s true,” she said seriously, then giggled into her hoof.  Snickers rolled his eyes. “And shark bears like to eat eyeball jelly on rye toast, right?” He asked. Diamond clapped her hooves. “I know, I read about that! They say it goes great with warm pony ear chips.” Snickers sneered in disgust. “You’re gross, why would you say that?” Both fillies shrugged. “It was in the paper, you know it’s true.” They shared a look. “Gabby Gums exclusive!” They fell onto their sides giggling while eyes rolled.  Snickers pulled out a small tent he’d used on his day trek from Canterhorn Mountain to Ponyville and the others did the same. With a little work, though, this time two pup-tents were combined into a larger one so Snickers and his fillies would have space to move, rather than just crawl in and sleep.   Opting to forgo a fire because they were all a bit tired, and Laxxie didn’t feel comfortable being too close to open flames, they chose a guard rotation and went into their tents with short ‘good night’s’ between them all. Kiwe and Cress went into their own single pup tents while Gil took to a clump of overgrown tree branches above them all. It was ‘the better vantage point over being a target on the ground’, he claimed. Laxxie took first watch and got hugs from Snickers, Diamond, and Silver Spoon before they went to bed themselves. Spending almost fifteen minutes each, they brushed their manes and tails free of as many hangars-on as they could before they prepared for bed. Pushing their sleeping mats together and zipping their sleeping bags into one large bag, they cuddled in the chilly night.  “Snickers?” Silver asked, softly. “Yeah?” “I… I’m…” Silver stammered. Diamond reached over Snickers to rest her forehoof on Silver’s side. “Whatever it is, just say it. We’re here for you.” Silver nodded. “I think I’m ready… to be yours. Like, however you wanna take that.” She said, blushing in the darkness. Snickers looked aside at her and barely saw her squeezing her eyes shut. “Like, to marry me? Aren’t we a little young for that?” Diamond pet Silver’s side. “Don’t be upset with him, he’s a dumb colt, Silver. Snickers, we’re both ready, we think, for you to be our stallion, for real. Not just like a foal’s game, but as a family.” “Yeah,” Silver spoke up. “We talked about it a lot over the last couple weeks, and leaving on this adventure is just one more reason, we think, that you should make our herd official.” Snickers glanced between the soft speaking fillies, his mind a jumble of questions. “Uh, how do we do that, then? If I was to go about it…” Diamond and Silver giggled and scooted closer, draping their hind legs over Snickers’s and letting their tails flick across his, their tails intertwining. Both fillies let their forehooves rest on Snickers’s barrel, at the base of his sternum. “Just, let us make you happy in any way you need.” That was when Snickers felt something stirring for the first time in nearly three days. He realized he hadn’t taken the potion Kiwe had prepared because of their mad rush to leave and distractions on the trip to where they now were. Snickers swallowed loudly. “Girls, I don’t know what you mean, but I think we should just go to sleep and talk about this in the morning.” Diamond tutted and let her forehoof draw a little circle in his chest fur. “You can’t just go to sleep without letting us know what we can do to make you happy. All stallions need something from their mares, what do you need from us?” She asked, whispering and then blowing lightly into his ear.  Snickers shivered and his ears flicked. Silver leaned close to his other ear. “Whatever you need, just ask and we’ll do it for you.” Snickers glanced down and noticed the sleeping bag was tented from his racing thoughts and where they were going. His fillies glanced down and gasped, then giggled, sharing a look. Their hooves trailed along his underbelly, slowly moving back along his body until they both felt what made him a colt. They gasped and shared a shocked look, never actually having touched one before.  “Okay, I know what you can do to make me happy,” Snickers said. Silver and Diamond looked nervous, but ready to do what he was about to ask of them. Silver whimpered and Diamond jerked her hips on his leg, earning a satisfied throaty moan from herself.  Snickers was losing control and was willing to let them have their way with him, just to experience what it was like to be willing and in a new body. Silver slipped the shoes off her forehooves and let them fall, moving them under herself. She gently gripped Snickers’s penis between her hooves and shivered at the sensation of firmness and softness, like her mothers had explained to her. Diamond repeated her action from a few seconds before and leaned closer to nibble on Snickers’s lower jaw. Snickers gasped and turned slightly towards Silver Spoon to let her have more access to him. Both of her hooves touched the base of his penis and made small jerky motions, showing her inexperience. Diamond, on the other hoof, was driving Snickers crazy with her repeated motions and noises. “Silver, Diamond… we shouldn’t, not like this.” Snickers managed between heated breaths.  With both fillies giving their attention to him, he was nearly about to give them an experience they’d never forget… then there was a brief flash of light from outside the tent that distracted them all. Then came a bone rattling thunderclap that terrified the three of them. They held each other close as lightning flashed again and only their panting breaths could be heard before another boom of thunder shook the earth under their gear. Rain began to patter on the outside of the tent and the temperature dropped quickly. Too quickly.  The herd shivered and huddled close, each of them thinking of what they had been doing and hoping they could get back to it, only for the weather to remind them of their youthfulness and inexperience with the world without an adult present to keep them feeling safe.  “Snickers,” Diamond eventually said. “Yeah?” “That was fun, right?” She asked. Snickers smiled and kissed Diamond on the snout. “I was enjoying myself, and if it didn’t start storming…” he trailed off, unsure of what to say about what he was about to do, or how, even. Having read some books on the subject, it seemed most sexual experiences between ponies were just like animals back where he had come from; male on top of female, orgasm, done. He didn’t know how long sex lasted, because that wasn’t covered, but it was apparently effective during heat and could be done for fun anytime. He’d laughed when he read the part about ‘fun’ in a biology textbook, but it was true, in his experience. Only, he knew of dozens of ways to make a woman climax, and mares were very similar in a lot of ways, or so he believed. Snickers looked left and right, to the fillies holding tightly onto him for comfort. “Girls, what do you know about sex?” They both stopped shivering in fear and looked at him, curiously. They exchanged looks and glances down Snickers’s covered body, then Silver cleared her throat. “Well, when a stallion and a mare love each other very much, they have sex and it feels good, and if it’s done during estrus the mare will get pregnant.” Diamond nodded. “There’s more to it, but that’s about it… right?” Snickers looked at the ceiling of the tent and flinched at the distant sound of thunder. “Mostly, but what if a mare doesn’t want to get pregnant? Or, the stallion or mare’s aren’t ready, or in the mood?” “What’d your mood have to do with sex?” Silver asked, innocently. Snickers looked at her, then at Diamond. “The mood to have sex is an intense thing, and sometimes it can be overwhelming, like a little bit ago. But, what if we don’t share that feeling at the same time? What if… what you were doing made me uncomfortable, or what if I made you uncomfortable? Then what?” The fillies locked eyes and then shrugged. “Then we wouldn’t do anything, but there’s still the other one of us, we can’t not want sex at the same time forever, right?” Snickers shook his head. “That’s not what I meant… well, it kind of is. Just, let’s talk about this when it’s not so scary, okay?” They all agreed, just as the tent opened and let in a torrent of rain. A skeletal pony head backlit by a flash of lightning peeked into the tent and made the three scream in terror. “It’s your shift, Diamond Tiara,” Laxxie said.  The fillies collapsed onto Snickers, crying quietly while Snickers shivered and shuddered for several seconds as adrenaline left his body. “Damn it, Laxxie, why would you do that?” Laxxie did look ashamed, even though she didn’t completely understand why. “Because, it’s been one hour and it’s my turn to rest. Isn’t that right, Daddy?” Snickers sighed and patted the fillies backs. “Give us a few minutes, and close the tent!” Laxxie backed out and zipped the tent closed as she resumed her walk around and through the camp. Snickers moved with Diamond back to the bedding and helped her and Silver tuck in with him. He kissed Silver’s snout and rolled on top of Diamond, surprising her. His weight pressed down on her, making it hard for her to move and breathe, his lime eyes shimmered in what light came in the tent, and her arousal returned in that instant. He leaned down and pressed his lips to hers in a short kiss. “Don’t get too much mud in here when you come back, okay?” Diamond took in a gasping breath and whimpered with a nod, moving her hips up slightly in the hopes of feeling something of his make contact with her, only to have her hopes dashed. He got off her and both Silver and Snickers watched the silhouette of Diamond shuffle through her saddlebags for a moment before leaving the tent with a grumble about the weather. Silver lay on her back as Snickers lay beside her. “We should get some sleep,” Snickers said, “our shift will be here before we know it.” Silver squeaked and rolled over, pushing Snickers as she went. She straddled him and pinned his forelegs with hers as she lay on him. She pressed her lips to his and lingered, moving her head slightly for a moment before Snickers closed his eyes and kissed her back.  She felt his tongue brush her lips and she opened, letting his tongue enter her mouth. She tasted alfalfa and bananas and loved it, then she felt a pressure growing between them, pressing against someplace special for her. She broke the kiss and rolled off of him, clutching her hooves to her chest.  “Oh, no… I almost took you before Diamond,” Silver said in partial shock. “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to. I wasn’t trying to take alpha mare from her, honest.” Snickers groaned and lamented his treatment over the past half hour; it was torture to any male to be teased, but to be so close to sex, only to have to leap away, was enough to make him want to convince her that it didn’t matter. Then, Snickers saw the regret and worry on Silver’s face. He sighed and motioned for Silver to face away from him, then he used his free forehoof to hold his erection close to himself as he scooted close enough to hold her from behind. “I’m not mad, and I won’t tell if you don’t want me to,” Snickers consoled. Silver and Snickers flinched at another clap of thunder, but shared warmth for a few minutes. “Snickers?” “Yes, Silver?” Snickers groggily answered, nearly asleep.  “Would you have… made sex with me just then?” Snickers snickered. “Made sex,” he repeated. “Probably, but I didn’t know how important Diamond being with me first mattered.” Silver bit her lip and turned her head to glance back. “Well, we both could be your first, but she has to be the first to accept you inside of her… that’s what I was told, anyway.” Snickers nodded and nuzzled into Silver’s mane. “Okay, I’ll remember that as best I can,” he yawned, then she did, and soon they were both asleep. Diamond eventually reentered the tent looking miserable. She was cold, wet, and worried about what had happened while she was out there right after so much had just happened before it was interrupted. Diamond pulled the towel she’d taken out earlier and draped it over herself, then worked it around her legs, and finally her tail. “Thank Celestia for enchanted towels,” she whispered and set the towel on the floor by the door. She moved into the bedding and groaned happily at how warm it was in the blankets. Snickers sniffed the air in his sleep and turned to face Diamond, nuzzling against her and curling up slightly, like the foal he was. Diamond’s heart warmed and she held him close, taking his warmth to make up for the cold she’d brought with her to bed, but she also held him close thinking of how content she felt right then. … Diamond woke up early in the morning, just before sunrise, with something poking her back. She felt Snickers’s breath in her mane, and knew what it was right away. She turned over and held him close, trusting him more than ever before as she fell back asleep with a large part of him pressed between them. She awoke later to the sound of slurping. She cracked an eye open and saw Silver Spoon sipping from a canteen. “What time is it?” Diamond quietly asked, noticing Snickers was holding her from behind again.  “I’unno, maybe seven. I haven’t gone out yet, but it can’t be that late, right?” Silver answered with a soft yawn. Diamond turned over and felt the same object between her and Snickers, looking down in the morning light she saw it, and it was glorious to her eyes. She wondered how it would fit inside of her, and how it would feel. Would it hurt, would it be amazing, or would it just be like she was touching herself, but from the inside? She heard Silver tittering and looked up to see the grey filly looking very cute. “Why don’t you kiss it good morning?” Silver whispered. Diamond blushed and reached across Snickers to pull him closer to her, pressing their bodies together. Snickers smiled a little in his sleep and Diamond was more than happy with that. She kissed his lips lightly and pulled his head down to rest hers on top. “I’ll keep you safe, Snickers.” “Too cute,” Silver whispered to Diamond, then made several gestures Diamond didn’t understand, but involved Silver moving her hooves around her head and making her cheeks bulge in time with her hooves moving at a certain rhythm. Diamond’s eyes widened and she glared at Silver Spoon. “Shut up, you’re awful,” Diamond whispered with a blushing grin. Silver covered her belly with a hoof and expanded it, then pointed to Diamond. She rocked her forelegs side to side after that and Diamond’s imagination filled in the blanks, sending a curious worry though her mind. Can I get pregnant by swallowing his sperm? Diamond wondered if that was what Silver was telling her. The pink filly had heard a lot of crazy things about sex from fillies at school and mares on the streets.  Diamond began to wonder, now. Swallowing sperm is supposed to be a show of love when the mare doesn’t want to have sex, but the stallion does. Maybe it just goes through and makes babies, too. Who can I ask about this? What an embarrassing question… maybe Cress? No, she’s already lying enough. Diamond frowned and snorted, waking Snickers. He lifted his head from the mat and bumped muzzles with Diamond. “Ouch, whassit?” He groggily asked. “Time to wake up, love birds,” Silver teased. Snickers yawned and scooted back from Diamond, both of them noticing the cool morning air.  Snickers got up and moved to the doorway. “I really gotta pee, you coming?” He asked them both. With a duo of nods, Snickers exited the tent and noticed Kiwe sitting on a log, tapping his hooves together.  “It is a good morning after such a rough night. I hope you all slept quite tight?” Kiwe greeted them. “The rain was, like, kinda nice, but everything else was really scary,” Silver admitted as she passed him. “Thank Celestia Snickers was there, or else I think I would have cried.” “Me, too,” Diamond agreed. “I cuddled so close to him when my shift was over, I thought I was gonna freeze him because of how cold I was.” She flicked her tail to the side and brushed Snickers’s back leg.  Snickers walked behind some nearby bushes with Silver and Diamond with him. They all quickly peed and the fillies realized they didn’t have anything to clean themselves with, adding to the discomfort of the morning.  “This sucks,” Diamond said as she broke down the tent. “Why?” Silver asked. “Is it because we’re cold, the tent is wet, we have to pack it up while Snickers takes his stupid potion, or because we almost did something crazy last night and were interrupted?” Diamond snapped the tent once to get as much water off of it as she could before dropping it onto the cold ground. “Everything you just said… and I wanna take care of some of it, but I can’t with all these ponies around.” Silver looked at Diamond with understanding. “Well, we could just stay behind a little with Cress and take care of it.” Diamond glared at the bat filly. “I’d rather do it in front of my mom.” Silver giggled. “Wow, do you have a problem with Cress? Think she’s trying to steal Snickers, or something? Because I really don’t think that’s gonna happen.” Diamond shook her head. “I just don’t trust her. Who ditches their school, family, and everything to follow some colt they barely know?” Silver pointed her forehoof at herself, then Diamond while giving her a look. Diamond looked up to the clear blue sky and sighed. “You know what I mean.” “I get it, Diamond. But, like, she’s just along for the ride, right? If you want to tease her, I’m with you, even if those days are supposed to be behind us.” Silver began helping Diamond separate and roll the tent they’d slept in. “Seriously, what is it with you and her?” Diamond shook her head. “I won’t tell, I promised, but she’s a liar, Silver. And Snickers doesn’t need that kind of pony around him.” Silver agreed quietly, and they quickly finished packing up. Snickers offered them each a snack bar when they’d packed the last of the sleeping gear into the appropriate saddlebags.  “Here you go, ladies.” Snickers said. Silver and Diamond grinned at his compliment and took their breakfast in their hooves, sitting side by side a short distance from Snickers. “So,” Diamond said once she’d emptied her mouth, “are we going to keep heading west, or do you wanna head back to that town while everypony’s away?” Every creature looked between one another, then all eyes went to Snickers. He sighed, “Well, I think we should just skip that town. The guard said they took bits, but they didn’t look like they wanted us around. Maybe it won’t be so far and we can get some supplies there, I don’t wanna eat everything we have, right?” The others agreed and eventually finished their small meal before returning to the path.