• Published 28th Feb 2020
  • 1,141 Views, 197 Comments

Rarity's Colt: A New Life - Mocha Star



After so much has happened, can a normal life finally be in the cards for Snickers?

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Welcome Home, and is that a.. eek!

“Humph,” Snickers grunted as he walked past the nurse waving him past her out of the door of the hospital and into the world, a world full of nature, life, and a party cannon inches from his muzzle.

He had his nose up and eyes closed walking past the nurse, then bumped into something that opened his eyes. He blinked and pleaded for what he was looking at to be an illusion or dream. A grinning pink mare looked down at him and held a rope that was lost to the barrel of the cannon. “Surprise!”

Pinkie yanked the rope and, point blank, a shower of confetti and stream of streamers blasted past Snickers and coated his mane, shirt, and most of his body with mess. His ears rang from the boom so he didn’t hear Rarity scream and start shouting at Pinkie for messing up his style that she’d spent an hour preparing him to show off at the party, which was supposed to be a surprise party back at the boutique.

“Snickers,” Rarity waved her hoof in front of him to get his attention, “are you okay, darling?”

“Huh? Sure, I’d like some hay.” Snickers shouted his response in an effort to be heard by himself over the deafness he was experiencing.

Rarity stepped back and tapped her ear with her hoof. “Ah, you needn’t shout, Snickers. Now about that hay,” she looked around and noticed nopony else was around. “Pinkie, where is everypony else; surely you moved the party here?”

Snickers sneered. “Hey, I don’t want you to find me an easy lay! If I want one, I can find one myself! Rude!”

Rarity blushed and shook her head at Snickers, then focused on Pinkie. “Pinkie? What have you done to him with your party cannon?”

Pinkie snorted and giggled. “Oh, happens all the time. Here,” she said, clapping her forehooves together and pulled a green balloon from between her hooves. She inhaled and blew into it while Snickers watched with rapt attention and interest. Pinkie’s forelegs began moving faster than either pony could see and when they stopped, Pinkie was holding a balloon in the shape of a giraffe.

She brought it to Snickers’ ear and it popped with a pin, most of the air blew across his face. “Ew! Pinkie, that’s like… breathing on my face with your mouth breath! But, hmm… did you eat jalapeno red velvet cupcakes with lemon icing?”

Pinkie giggled and nodded, then gasped. “Oh, yeah! Hey, can you hear me? Hello?” Pinkie shouted and waved her forelegs over her head.


“Yeah, I could hear you before that thing boomed my… oh, my clothes and mane,” he pouted looking himself over, “I look simply dreadful and sparkly.”

Pinkie wrapped her foreleg over him. “Yeah! I added some glitter to help brighten your day and the confetti’s scented like cinnamon because you’re kinda cinnamon colored,” she beamed and turned him to face the town. “So, let’s get to town and have the party. But, act surprised because you’re not supposed to know about it.” Pinkie pointedly looked at Rarity, as though accusing her of telling the secret.

Rarity shook her head defensively outside of the colt’s view. “Yes, let’s hurry before anypony is any the wiser.”

“Oh, before I forget,” Pinkie said raising a small kennel into Snickers’s view, “here’s your pet timberwolf, she’s nicer than I, and a few other ponies, expected her to be.”

“Her?” Snickers asked as he sat and took the kennel into his hooves and set it on the ground while fiddling with the latch to open it. “Why do you think it’s a her?”

Pinkie pat Snickers on his neck mane. “Because, the eyes aren’t the same. Only male wolves go hunting on Equus while females stay to watch the pups and tend their dens; they have yellow eyes.”

“So, Pup has green and yellow eyes,” Snickers stated and opened the kennel door so Pup could hop out and then nuzzle into her Alpha.

“Well, there’s a way to check that you wouldn’t have seen since you were still under the privacy spell,” Rarity added in. Snickers looked at her and then to Pinkie. “Yes, now you understand. While we are quite different; everything has to dispel waste in a common matter.”

“Surprise!” Voices surrounded Snickers and his group once the doorway to the boutique was closed. Lights turned on, ponies hopped out of hiding, including Pinkie who was behind them for the split second between the door closing and the lights turning on. Pinkie was wearing a new party hat and hopping over a table to reach them.

“So, who’s ready to part-ie’ee?!” Pinkie shouted, then bit her lip to muffle a scream. She looked back to see Pup climbing onto her back using his claws for grip. Not enough to break the skin, but it sure felt close to the pink mare. She looked back and saw the green eyes of the timberwolf and forced a smirk through trembling lips. “Hey, Pup,” she said weakly, “how’s about loosening that grip, huh?”

A stallion screamed, breaking the silence that had taken over the shop and Rarity looked intensely at Twilight who was in the middle center of the beginning stampede. A flash of purple and everypony froze in place, many landing on the floor in uncomfortable positions as Twilight puffed her cheeks and bowed her head from the strain on her horn.

“Everypony,” Rarity shouted, “thank you, Twilight,” she interjected upon herself, “I demand you remain calm and refrain from panicking! This creature here is, indeed, a timberwolf puppy. He is tame, he is little, and he isn’t dangerous.” She nodded to Twilight to release her spell, which she did with a loud exhale. Rarity swallowed loudly and looked at Snickers as he had just removed Pup from Pinkie’s back.

“In fact,” Rarity continued, “this little timberwolf saved my son’s life; and she’s a part of my family a much as my son’s herd is.”

Snickers hiccupped as the crowd looked at him, then everypony’s expressions softened as they looked at the foul mouthed colt with his odd pet, and the fillies that were pushing their way to stand beside him in support. Silver Spoon made a point to shove to his right and rested her side against his; and while none of the others made a point to make contact with him, a zony colt did.

Snickers looked to his left and grinned at Kiwe, then to his right and looked into Silver Spoon’s eyes. “You’re not wearing your glasses,” he said softly as the partygoers started to collect themselves.

Silver blushed as she stared into his eyes and saw her reflection. “I’m… like, wearing contacts. Because,” she swallowed and leaned closer to him, “like, just… y’know.”

Snickers leaned closer and couldn’t stop looking at her lips, inching closer to him. His heart rate increased and he had let Pup go sometime in the passing few seconds.

Kiwe smirked at the sight and bumped against Snickers, moving the colt the last short distance so that Snicker and Silver’s lips met in their first real kiss. Both their eyes were open and they exhaled in surprise, then inhaled one another’s scent and their eyes closed as their heads tilted to their right.

The room was filled with cute noises affirming the couple’s kiss while all Snickers could hear was a contented hum from Silver Spoon. He pulled back first and felt his lips tingling, like he’d licked a battery for too long while Silver Spoon’s entire body was sending her signals she didn’t understand completely. Part of her wanted to give herself to him right then, even though she didn’t truly know how, while another told her to play it safe and not be hurt, while a larger and shared part they both held closest told them to just be close to one another.

They nuzzled and retook their places with Silver to his right and now Pup to his left as they got their bearings on where they were and what was happening. “Oh, right,” Silver giggled awkwardly, “party. Uh, so… want me to get you some punch?”

Snickers nodded and Silver stepped away from him, looked back at him for a couple paces, then ran into the crowd to find punch. “Speaking of punch,” Diamond Tiara said giving Snickers a friendly punch that would probably leave a small bruise, “not only has my best <gal fremd> come back from the dead with a bucking timberwolf as a pet,” she leaned closer to him, “but you finally get the girl.”

Diamond shoved Snickers playfully. “Colt, if you were a mare; I’d make you my beta and- mgphlph!”

Pinkie looked over Diamond and grinned at Snickers. “Enough of that talk, we’re here to have fun, not talk about that ickiness; so let’s cut a rug!”

Snickers laughed at Diamond as she fumed at being interrupted. “Hey, <Sandy Cheeks>, at least you know you can count on me to save your tail, as long as there isn’t a handle involved.”

Pinkie’s smile fell a little. “Aww, inside jokes that don’t involve me make me sad… and the only cure is dancing!” Pinkie dropped Diamond Tiara and hopped back twice into the crowd as music started to play from around the room. The lights dimmed while staying just as bright in the center of the showroom where Pinkie started to dance with two other ponies.

Snickers moved beside Diamond and had to speak louder to be heard over the music. “Hey, I know I’m a walking cock that’s waiting to plow into some unlucky filly,” he said and smirked as Diamond laughed into her hoof, “but I think after a week in the woods alone, except for Pup, here, I need a minute in my room to take care of myself. Can you run distraction?”

Diamond stood tall and saluted. “Go do yourself, since nopony in their right mind would go anywhere near that thing.” She grinned and walked beside him. “I’m really glad you’re okay, though. Seriously, I was scared for you and we’re all really happy you’re back.” Snickers moved in to hug her and was stopped when her hoof pressed into his chest. “And here I thought you were a gentlecolt,” she teased.

“I was gonna hug you, not hump you. Gah, thinking of how dry that thing is makes me imagine sandpaper rubbing along my rod. It’d be the worst experience ever, no wonder you need a licking to get yourself ticking; all that chafing must suck.”

They laughed and then hugged for a short moment before they stepped apart and slyly went around the guests to the stairs. Diamond walked up halfway with him and Pup, then stopped and returned downstairs, leaving him to his own devices while she kept an eye on the stairway and made plans to stop anypony from bothering him.

Diamond laughed to herself, unheard over the music and din of the room, about how funny it would be if she walked in on him to surprise him and maybe watch him finish. She felt her cheeks warming and shook her head and began mumbling to herself. “No, bad girl. He’s a friend, just because he acts like a perfect mare doesn’t mean he is one.

“Mares only, nothing’s getting under my tail if it has to climb on my back to do it… but, who says it has to be on my back? No! Stop, just get some punch and think about Berry Pinch, that always works.”

Meanwhile, Silver Spoon climbed the stairs quickly with a cup of punch in her mouth for the colt she was ready to give herself to as soon as spring came.

Snickers lay on his bed and looked at the ceiling with Pup on the floor sniffing around. He held a pillow to his chest and rolled to his side, smiling at being back home in his room without any interruptions for a few minutes; just time to absorb the smells and sights he’d missed so much. “Pup, I can’t believe I’m back. You don’t know anything about this, I know, but this is my room and I guess I’ll have to make you a bed of leaves or something, right?

“Whatever,” he said with a smile and sigh, “home sweet home.”

The party sounds were muffled and with the press of a gem, Snickers could silence the world outside of his room, if he wanted. But he didn’t want that; he wanted to bask in the ambiance of life and civilization. “If I never go back to the woods alone, it’ll be too soon, Pup.”

The door to his room opened slowly and Pup gave all her attention to the filly entering. Snickers held his pillow still, but watched as Silver Spoon walked in and set the cup on the floor. “Here you are, I saw you leaving the party and was worried you were overwhelmed, so I brought you your punch and I’m here if my alpha stallion needs anything. I’m a great listener. Like, one of the best, I’ve been told.”

Snickers held the pillow a little tighter, then let it go and shoved it off the bed, onto Pup’s back. With a disgruntled noise, the wolf bit the pillow and dragged it under the bed and out of sight. Silver swallowed loudly. “Uhm, like, is that thing safe? I don’t wanna, like, be food for some monster, you know, right?”

“Pup’s fine. She doesn’t even eat meat; turns out they live on poop and water.”

“Ew! That’s totally gross,” Silver said sneering at the shadows under the bed, “and he’s not going anywhere near my rear end, unless he wants a good buck to the face by an earth pony.”

Snickers, still lying on his side, waved her over. “Come here, Silver. I wanna hold you… if that’s okay.”

Silver’s ears perked and before he was done talking she was at the edge of his bed and climbing up. She rolled to her side and scooted back until her back was snugly against his belly and when he wrapped his foreleg over her barrel while the other went under her neck, Silver felt completely safe and protected.

She touched the foreleg under under her neck with her hoof and sighed, relaxing in his embrace. “This is better than I thought it would be.”

Snickers hummed. “Yeah, it’s really cozy and you’re so warm and… real. It’s nice to be home and with a real pony in my forelegs, touching my body… smelling real and,” he snuffled into her mane, making her giggle, “you smell real nice,” he said.

Silver felt something press against her cutiemark and her smile faded. She bit her lip and waited, unsure of what to do or if it was really what she thought it was. How far she should go and if this would be the moment he claimed her as his mare. She flagged her tail slightly and felt a chill as her body prepared itself for her first time, earlier than planned but not wholly unwelcome.

“Hey, are you okay? You’re tense,” Snickers said softly.

Silver nodded. “Y-yeah, I… I’m ready when you are.”

“Wait, ready for what?” Snickers asked.

Silver rolled her eyes. “Well, duh... for--” she went silent when she felt something move from her flank to her tail and then under it in a way a stallion’s parts shouldn’t be able to move. When the odd sensation touched her vulva she sat up and looked behind her, expecting to see Snickers trying to find her entrance, instead she saw a wooden wolf behind her. She felt it exhale a cool breath against her heated and moist fillyhood and she reacted appropriately.

She screamed and kicked behind her blindly as she scrambled from Snickers’s hold and onto the floor. She turned to face Pup and growled. “You dumb… thing! You ruined a magical moment between my stallion and I, I’ll get you back for this,” she said and ran to the door and opened it, spilling the punch as she left.

Snickers looked down his body to Pup and then looked at the open door that Silver had just left through. “Wow, females never make sense, do they?”

---

Pup cocked her head to the side and licked her snout. The scent of pheromones were strong from the female her alpha was going to mate with, but for some reason the female ran away before Alpha could meld their bodies into one and exchange pollens and seeds, and the female was upset with her for trying to help; which confused Pup even more.

With the melding ruined, Pup was just going to have to stay by Alpha’s side and perhaps help him find another female… she’d just have to play it by sense and do as Alpha commanded of her. He did have a habit of asking a lot of questions she didn’t understand and couldn’t answer, regardless, though. Pup wondered why he wasn’t telling her what to do like an Alpha should… he was her father and Alpha, but he was so different than what she had expected when bound to the earth.

When binding to the earth from being a spirit of the forest, the process would happen and then, from what she’d heard, larger creatures would show up to tell her what to do. Instead, she was fed very well, comforted during her initial sapling growth, and talked to for hours by the one that helped her arrive into the physical plane.

Nothing was happening like she had heard, but this was so much better, too. She didn’t have to start defending the forest right away, she didn’t have to soak in the decaying matter of physical lifeforms, she wasn’t being told what to do and where to go by some physical planer without knowing anything about anything.

Pup had a name, an Alpha that took care of her, several new words she could understand, and the bond between herself and Alpha was growing stronger every few hours. Pup could feel something happening, something special between them, but she didn’t know what; only that it was a nice feeling.

---

Snickers rolled from his bed and onto the floor with a sigh. “Well, time to go back downstairs and tell Diamond I rubbed it like a boss. You won’t tell her the truth will you? That I just came up here to have a moment?” Pup whined curiously. “Good girl, let’s go get some punch for real and try some dancing. I haven’t danced in a while and four legs is gonna be different compared to two.”

Through the afternoon, Snickers and Pup went around the party introducing themselves to ponies as they passed, mostly with Snickers showing Pup to a pony and coaxing the pony to hold their foreleg out so Pup could sniff and then give a sappy lick. Snickers danced with Pup, which started as Pup just happily running around the colt as he moved in awkward motions, but evolved into them chasing one another around ponies on the dance floor while the fillies of his herd watched from the side.

When opportunites presented themselves, one by one, foals took over the dance floor with dancing that turned into games of tag, followed by leapfrog, more dancing, and even individual tail chasing that Pup seemed to love doing beside a foal in some sort of race.

The adults watched when they could and they cheered when Pup would manage to grab her leafy twig tail and tug it free from her rump before running to Snickers so he could reattach it and the cycles would continue.

Starting at eleven in the morning and going until three in the afternoon, the party wound down when foals started falling in place, spent and out of energy after playing for two straight hours and succumbing to nap times. The music petered out and foals were carried out of the boutique with small gift bags and well wishes.

Each adult made sure to welcome Snickers back and welcome Pup to the town before they left and by four o’clock the boutique was quiet, cleaned thanks to Pinkie, and a welcome home for a colt that survived being lost for a week in the Everfree Forest.

“Wow,” Rarity said, looking around her shop, “to think this was the center of a Pinkie Party no more than an hour ago. And my little prince,” she said prancing to him and nuzzling him, “you’re home; how does it feel?”

Snickers thought for a couple of seconds. “Surreal. Um, have you seen the girls?”

Rarity smirked. “Oh, can’t wait to get your hugs from your herdmates?” She grinned when he frowned at her. “Don’t give me that, your little kiss will be on the lips of every mare for the next two days, you suave stallion you.” Rarity winked her eye at him and then turned to stand beside him. “They’re upstairs, they made a point to tell me they were taking their leave when the party started to end; something about filly talk in Sweetie’s room. I think it would be best to let them have their privacy.”

Snickers blushed a little. “Yeah, when I get involved in filly time it usually ends up being awkward and weird for me. Where’s Kiwe?”

“Oh, the darling went with Mrs. Cake to compare carrot muffin recipes, of all things. They should be done shortly, though. How difficult can baking truly be?” She asked rhetorically, knowing the answer full well: awfully difficult.

Snickers looked at Pup. “Okay, so then it’s me and Pup for a while. I guess, if it’s okay with you, mother,” Rarity sighed and rested a forehoof on her chest, “may I change my outfit? As much as I like parties, I’m still somewhat decorated as one,” he said and shook his foreleg and some glitter shimmered in the light as it fell to the floor.

“Not on my carpet, darling! Oh, those are just awful to get out,” Rarity huffed. “Go change and take a well deserved shower, and do the same with your wolf,” she shivered at the word, “because she smells a bit… unique still.”

Snickers walked to the stairs. “Yeah, she’s a poop eater, it’s gonna happen,” he said with a laugh and ran up the stairs with Pup behind him. They went straight to the bathroom and Snickers stripped his shirt off and realized he was very shiny and reflective in the light of day that came into the room from the window.

“Okay, Pup; this is gonna be your first shower, so if you have any problems just let me know and I’ll help you the best I can. Don’t eat the soap.”

Pup’s ear twigs went up and the image of a soap bar flashed into her mind along with the word ‘don’t’. She nodded once and Snickers stared at her, slowly turning away as he passed the event off as a happening of chance, nothing more. He started the water and tested it, then checked again to make sure it was water, since he seemed to have bad experiences with water at times.

Once sure, he climbed in and helped Pup after, and they both stood under the water. Pup let small roots extend from several parts of her body and she drank water in to fill herself while Snickers watched. “Hey, we gotta get you cleaner; mom’s getting upset because you smell like shit. Damn, I mean crap. Ugh, I can’t win with this, can I?

“Look, is there a way you can smell better? Because I don’t feel okay soaping you up since you’re a plant, and all.”

Pup started absorbing more water at his direction and watched as Snickers grimaced and covered his nose. She absorbed more and more water, until she had begun expunging the excess waste in her body in a dark brown slurry that made Snickers nearly retch. He quickly grabbed a bottle of random shampoo and poured too much on himself, then started rubbing it into his fur; the heady floral scent filled his nostrils and the rest of the bathroom, covering the rank stench Pup was making.

Another minute passed, then it was done and only water flowed from Pup, only now she was almost five times her normal weight and looked like a grotesque watermelon as opposed to a timberwolf puppy. Snickers had been rinsing himself of the shampoo and was finally done with his head and neck when he noticed Pup and snorted into laughter at the creature.

Pup’s vision was waving from all the water in her body, yet she felt sluggish and very tired suddenly. She retracted her roots and lifted her tail, then began letting the excess water leave her body.

Snickers watched with awe as Pup essentially peed herself thin and held back several jokes about weight loss and mares that would certainly come back to bite him in the future. “Wow, good girl, Pup! That was great and you smell a lot better, too. I’m just still rinsing my body from the shampoo I used, so don’t mind me while I try to stop being so bubbly.”

Pup looked at her Alpha and her vision dimmed. She was hungry, having gotten rid of nearly all the solid nutrients in her body at once.

Snickers stopped rubbing the shampoo from his coat and looked at Pup. “Are you okay? You look, feel... hungry? Hungry,” he said and thought about it for a moment before realizing Pup was hungry after what had happened. “Oh, crap… can you wait a few minutes? I’ve gotta finish… wait,” he inhaled and peeked from the shower curtain, “mom!

Four seconds passed before two bodies ran into the door, then the handle turned and he saw four fillies fall into the bathroom while Silver Spoon leapt over them and slipped on the damp floor and skidded into the room, stopping by Snickers with a worried look on her face.

“Sweetie, what’s wrong?! How can I help? Was it that thing?” Silver pointed at the puppy and then wilted when she saw how Pup was sagging in spots and didn’t seem any more dangerous than a real puppy at the moment. “Oh… um.”

Rarity reached the bathroom and looked at Snickers. “My little prince, are you alright? Mommy’s here, how can I make it better?”

Snickers leaned down and picked Pup up. “Get him outside into the dirt, he’s clean and all that, but she doesn’t have hardly anything left in her body after cleaning herself out! Please, hurry,” he said holding Pup towards Rarity.

Rarity looked at the creature and felt honestly sorry for it, for how it looked. She’d seen dying plants many times in her life, and this creature seemed to be starting the process. “Yes, I’ll get right on it. Just, don’t expect Pup to come back in this house without a good washing after it gets all dirty.”

Rarity galloped away with Pup in tow while Snickers sighed and sat down with a squishing sound. He rested his chin on the tub rim. “Okay, it’s okay… right, Silver?”

Silver Spoon nodded. “Oh, totally. We’ve got you covered and your… timberwolf, too.”

“You really don’t like her , do you?” Snickers asked.

Silver opened her mouth, but Scootaloo answered. “It’s not that we don’t like her, we just don’t know if she’s safe. We trust you, but timberwolves eat ponies; it’s a fact. We’re prey, they’re predators, it’s just how it is… and I don’t wanna be eaten.”

The others in the room nodded. “Well,” Snickers said, “how many timberwolves have you ever actually heard of eating ponies?”

“Tons!” Apple Bloom shouted. “They always come after ponies that get near the forest.”

Diamond cleared her throat. “That’s not an answer to his question. Have any of us ever actually heard a real story of a pony being eaten by a timberwolf?”

Scootaloo raised her forehoof hesitantly, then lowered it while the fillies looked between one another. “Huh,” Sweetie Belle said, “they have to have… I mean, they’re predators and it’s what they do.”

Snickers shook his head. “I don’t think so. They’re like forest guard dogs, I think. Just, they keep the forest safe from outside threats. I mean, it’s called the Everfree Forest, it wouldn’t be very free if ponies took it over and pushed every creature to new places or captured them, right?”

The fillies looked between one another and shrugged. “Maybe, but I think we should ask Twilight Sparkle about it, she knows everything about that stuff,” Sweetie added.

“You mean that librarian that dresses inappropriately, trying to get a stallion every week?” Diamond Tiara said snidely. “What a weirdo loser, I wouldn’t go there even if a princess moved in to that hovel.”

Silver Spoon agreed. “Yeah, tre gauche and I heard she sleeps with a new stallion and mare every week, she’s the easiest pony to have sex with and you don’t even have to get her drunk.”

Snickers sat up and clacked his hoof on the tub floor. “Shut up! That’s an awful rumor and if you want to be with me then you won’t spread that shit, got it?”

The fillies stepped away and cowered down. “Y-yes, sir,” Diamond Tiara said, despite herself.

The others nodded and Snickers looked up with a groan. “Great, now I’m acting like a jerk. Look, girls; I know Twilight’s weird, but she’s really nice and is actually really strict on her sexual activities. She has a book with her sex logs in it in a drawer for anypony to find and read; she mostly has sex during her estrus, that’s it since the past four years, actually.

“She’s dressing, or was before mom got on her case, that way to find a stallion to court and date, not for sex, okay?”

He was met with dubious expressions. “Are ya sure ya ain’t just sweet on her?” Apple Bloom asked. Silver Spoon shot the bow wearing filly a glare that could instill fear in a bear.

Suddenly, Snickers inhaled deeply and groaned loud and long as he sank into the tub. The fillies crowded around the tub and watched as Snickers rested on his belly with a goofy smile on his face. “Yummy food, good food.”

“Okay,” Scootaloo said with a giggle, she moved her forehoof in a ‘crazy’ motion, “he’s busy so I’m gonna get back to our talk. Silver, you were talking about being on your side, right?”

Diamond rushed to the doorway. “No, belly first, then back, then side!”

Apple Bloom rolled her eyes. “Who cares how ya get yerself groomed?! It’s all the same in the end.”

“Psh, shows how much you know, with your mane all frizzy and your fur all sticky.”

“Excuse me, but Ah happen ta have trouble gettin’ tree sap off mah body when the new pet drools the stuff on me, and mah mane’s just fine for me.”

“Girls, let’s talk about manes later; right now we have to figure out the best way for Silver to groom for her spring estrus when she and- oh yeah, let’s talk about this in private.”

“Y’all go ahead, Ah’m gonna check on Snickers and make sure he’s okay.” Silver was about to protest and take Apple Bloom’s place, but she was pushed and pulled by her friends from the room. “Hey, ya doin’ okay down there?”

Snickers sat up and nodded. “Yeah, remember tasting something really good and it overwhelmed me, is all. Uh, must’ve been the suds, right?”

Apple Bloom rolled her eyes. “Yeah, Sweetie told us ya like nibblin’ on them. If Ah leave ya, ya aren’t gonna drink a bottle of shampoo, are ya?”

“Ew, no way. Conditioner only; shampoo makes me farty.”

Apple Bloom snerked. “Okay, smart-flank, if ya need anythin’ just holler and we’ll come a runnin’.”

Snickers saluted her and with a salute in reply, Apple Bloom left Snickers to finish washing. Snickers, meanwhile, started to ponder the nature of his relationship with Pup and what was happening between them.