Snow Heart sat down on one of the chairs in the kitchen. She and Stargazer had just gotten back from the market and the event that kept running through her mind, the brutal deaths of the two ponies out in front of their own home. Snow Heart couldn’t comprehend why it was done.
She started, “I can’t believe they--”
“I know,” Stargazer interrupted. He wasn’t trying to sound like he didn’t care, but he was processing what happened himself, so it came out as such.
“Right in the market!”
“I know.”
“In front of everypony!”
“I know.”
“We have to do something!”
“I--What?” Stargazer dropped the can of food he was putting away and looked at her. “You can’t be serious.”
“Of course I’m serious! You saw what happened. Sombra is going too far if he’s ordering public executions like that!” She stood up from her chair, a look of determination in her eye.
“You say that like Sombra is a good emperor. In case you forgot, he came into power by killing Princess Cadenza and her husband, as well as incapacitating the entirety of the Crystal Guard. What could you possibly do?”
“I... I don’t know yet…” Snow Heart’s determination faltered as Stargazer said this. She was feeling some bitterness and sadness when he mentioned the princess and the guard, though she didn’t know why.
“Snowy, I know you mean well. You hate to see ponies hurt, but be real here, you’re one pony, and while I’m sure hundreds if not thousands of ponies in the empire would agree with you if they could, they’re being smart and just trying to live their own life. I mean, look at us, we’re eighteen, our whole lives ahead of us. Sure, our country isn’t the best, but we’re still alive.”
“Hmph.” Snow Heart fell back on her haunches again and crossed her forelegs. “Why do you have to be the grounded one between us?”
“Because if I wasn’t, the world would end due to all the crazy stuff you do,” he said with a small smile on his face.
“Hmph, I slightly overcook a sandwich one time and no one lets me live it down.” She rolled her eyes.
“Snowy, you turned it into burnt liquid… I’m still not sure how that’s physically possible.”
“That was one time!” She glared at him, and he met it with a similar glare. They continued to glare at each other for a couple seconds before bursting out laughing. Snowy loved that about Stargazer. They argued sometimes, but he always seemed to know what to say and do to make her feel better, even if it's teasing her. Though, that particular memory was admittedly funny, so she had no problem laughing with him.
As their laughter died down, Snowy’s ears perked up. She thought she heard something from the other room, almost like crying. But that couldn’t be right; she knew there were a few younger kids in the orphanage, but they were usually taking a nap or playing outside at this time before dinner. She put her hoof to Stargazers muzzle, shushing him. Before he could voice any concerns on why she did so, she started to walk towards the door, ever so slightly peeking out. He raised an eyebrow before he finally noticed the crying himself. He went over to her and they both looked out, not seeing anything in the hallway. It seemed to be coming from the big family room. The family room was the only room with a big fireplace, meaning the room was good for the orphanage ‘family’ to come together for stories or meetings.
Together, they slowly made their way down the hallway and peeked into the family room. Inside, they saw Mum sitting in her old rocking chair, crying. This made both their minds reel; neither of them had ever seen Mum cry like this before. She did, of course, cry sometimes, like when one of the foals were adopted, though that was happy crying. This was sad crying. Something bad had happened; they knew it. Snowy made her way in first.
“Mum? What’s wrong?” she asked, coming to within a few hoofs of the chair and the mare in it. Mum looked up to see the two sitting there looking worried. She weighed her options before deciding that they were old enough to know and understand, so she explained.
“You see, dears… a couple of good friends of mine were… well… killed today.” She waited for the two gasps that were expected and was not let down.
“What? Wait, where?” Snowy asked. Thoughts of the two that were killed at the market flooded her mind. Did she witness the death of Mum’s friends? She sure hoped she didn’t. Mum tilted her head slightly, confused why she would have asked, but answered anyway.
“Near the far edge of town. They lived in a house together. Apparently, the Peace Keepers thought they were harbouring contraband, while I know for a fact they weren’t, but somehow they found some and after that… well… you know.” Mum looked down as tears came to her eye again. She brought a hoof up to wipe it.
“Then the two at the market weren’t the only ones?” Stargazer silently asked Snowy, trying to say it quiet enough for Mum not to hear, but she always seemed to have supersonic hearing.
“You two saw them murdered?” She asked, shocked, her eyes widening. Both Snowy’s and Stargazer’s ears flattened as they looked down. Snowy answered first.
“They just… killed them! For the same reason. All we could do was watch.” She shuddered from the memory.
“Oh, dears… I’m so sorry you had to see that. You two don’t deserve that kind of thing; you’re both nice and sweet. Why don’t you go upstairs and rest? I can handle dinner.”
“It’s alright, Mum, we can still make dinner,” Snowy reassured her.
“I won’t take no for an answer, little missy, and you know that. Now get your flanks upstairs. I don’t want to see either of you till I call for dinner, you hear?”
“Alright, Mum,” both Snowy and Stargazer groaned in unison. They turned around and headed upstairs.
They didn’t share a room, but Stargazer could often be found inside Snowy’s room or vice versa. They were inseparable aside from sleeping and going to the bathroom. Today was no different. They both walked into Snowy’s room and sat on the bed.
“Why is Mum making us come back up here? It's our turn to make dinner. Plus, she’s the one who lost somepony today, not us,” Snowy said, pouting. Though she was secretly glad that Mum gave them the night off--she was mentally exhausted from today's events--she wouldn’t tell anypony that, not even Stargazer, even though she knew he felt the same way.
“I think she just wants to have her mind on other things. You know she's normally just sitting on her chair reading or doing something before dinner. She has a lot on her mind now and probably doesn’t want to think too much on it. Also, like she said, we went through a lot today. She probably wants to give us a break.”
“Yeah, I guess you’re--Hey, what’s that?” Snowy asked as she looked out her window. Below, on the ground, they could see black-armoured ponies walking up to the front door of the orphanage before knocking on the door.
“W-Why are Peace Keepers here?” Stargazer worriedly asked as he looked out the window next to Snowy. He had an idea in his head, but he didn’t dare give it any real thought.
“Us… It has to be because of us! Why else would they be here?” Snowy looked at Stargazer in a panic.
“But why? We just saw it happen. It wasn’t our fault they did it in broad daylight!”
A knock came from the door. Both ponies in the room held their breaths, scared about what could be behind the door. The silence was deafening for what seemed like an eternity before they heard a voice from the opposite side of the door.
“Dearies, are you awake?” Mum asked. The two ponies in the room sighed in relief as they opened the door to let the older mare in.
“Mum! What’s happening?” Snowy asked, gazing at the door. Mum shushed her almost immediately.
“The Peace Keepers are here to ‘recruit you’, and you both know what that means. You two need to leave now. I will not let them take two of my favourite foals.”
“But where are we gonna go, Mum? This is the only place we know,” Stargazer said. Mum glanced at the door, hoping that the Peace Keepers were still waiting downstairs.
“There’s a mare I know in Equestria. Her name is Granny Smith. She lives in a town called Ponyville. Go there; she’ll take care of you two. I know she will. Go south until you cross the border, then ask for directions. Now, get going. Use the back staircase and run. I’ll try to hold them off. I’m not sure how long I can, though. I love you both.”
“But Mum--" Snowy started, but Mum cut her off.
“No more questions. Go on.” She pointed to the door. The two looked at each other before starting towards the door.
“We love you, Mum,” they both said as they exited the room and headed to the back staircase.
“I love you both.” Mum left the room and headed back downstairs to face the Peace Keepers.
Snowy and Stargazer sprinted across the backyard and the plain behind it. Their brains focused on getting as far away from the building and their deaths as possible. They didn’t want to leave Mum or the other kids but knew Mum wanted only what was best for them, so they left, hoping the Peace Keepers wouldn’t hurt any of them.
Climbing the hill at the end of the plain wasn’t the easiest with the snow covering it, but they trudged along. They were cold, extremely cold; they didn’t even have scarves. Still, they trudged on, meeting North Star as they ran up the hill. Once they got to the top of the hill, Stargazer looked back. He gasped at what he saw. “Snowy… Look.”
Snowy stopped and turned around. Her eyes widened at the sight of the orphanage, her home, in flames. Her world shattered. If she couldn’t see her breath due to the cold, she wouldn’t have known she was even breathing. Her eyes became misty with tears. She wanted to turn away, but she was frozen, staring at everything she knew burning away. Thankfully, she had Stargazer to break her out of it.
“Come on, Snowy. We can’t stay here, even if we want to.”
Snowy nodded and took off again with her friend. They didn’t look back again. They couldn’t. There was nothing left for them.