“Oh, he’s waking up! Hurry, get the nurse,” Snickers heard a filly’s voice call out through the haze in his head. Clarity came back quickly and his eyes opened. Instinctively, Snickers tried to roll to his belly so he could get to his hooves, only to find out he had a strap across his barrel and another across his hips.
“What…” he asked as his situation was understood. “What the fuck?! Get the out of this fucking place, where the hell am I? Who the fuck are you?!” Snickers shouted at the grey filly that was backstepping quickly. “What the fuck is going on? What is this shit?” He shouted and struggled against the straps to no avail.
He stopped swearing and exchanged it for grunting and growling as he tried to get the straps off for several seconds. “Fucking god damned, cock sucking, whore, strap on sucking, cunts!" He shouted at the white band across his barrel that he couldn’t reach with his mouth or forehooves.
Snickers saw the grey filly, tears running down her cheeks behind her glasses, then he realized where he was and who she was. He fell silent and suddenly felt his rage fading, changing into regret. His eyes met Silver Spoon’s and his breath hitched at the sadness he saw in them. Silver Spoon wiped her eyes on her foreleg and stood up, leaning against the wall she was cowering against, and started to move slowly to the door; watching Snickers for anything else he might say or do.
“P-please, don’t go,” he said weakly, feeling a pain growing in his chest that he wondered about, “I’m sorry, Silver Spoon. Please, don’t leave me. I don’t want to lose you as a friend before we’ve become friends.” Snickers pleaded quietly. "I just panicked, I'm not mad at you, or anything."
Silver Spoon stopped and sniffled, tears started matting the fur on her face and a quiet sob broke the silence. “Y-you scared me… I,” she grimaced and Snickers looked where she was cowering and felt even worse, seeing a small puddle. “I think I should go.”
Snickers exhaled a shaky breath. “Please stay… please,” he whimpered and laid his head down, closed his eyes, and felt a chill on his cheek and the sensation of a tear under his eye.
The door opened and a nurse came in, happily at first until she saw the foals and their expressions. “What happened in here?” The nurse asked, looking between the two. “And who peed on the floor? Was that you, young filly?”
Snickers started to sob, covering his eyes and muzzle with his forelegs. “I’m sorry, Nurse Beating Heart… I had incon-sis-tanance,” Snickers heard Silver say.
“No,” he said and lifted his head to look at the mare and fillies. He noticed Sweetie Belle with the nurse. “I scared her when I woke up… I panicked and started yelling and… oh, Silver, I’m so sorry for scaring you,” he whined loudly and the look of guilty pain he expressed before hiding behind his forelegs again broke every female’s heart. They all rushed to Snickers, the nurse used her magic to unstrap him, and Sweetie climbed on to the table to hold him from behind. Silver reared up and put her muzzle under his chin breathing heavily and nuzzling him as she stopped crying and focused on Snickers’s feelings.
“There, there, Snickers. Auntie’s here, and I promise we’ll make you feel better. Don’t cry, okay?”
The sound of hoof falls loudly stomping on wood came from the hall outside the doorway and Miss Cheerilee stomped in the room. She looked at the scene and her anger subsided a little, but not enough. “Snickers… why, under Celestia’s glorious sun, were you thinking shouting in that manner with your classmates on the other side of that wall?” She pointed to a wall and the sound of chatter could be heard, muffled.
Snickers shook his head, Miss Cheerilee growled quietly and stomped a hoof, marching to the crying colt. She gently, slowly nuzzled him, brushing her snout from the end of his muzzle to his face, then under his foreleg to exhale a breath of hot air from her lungs onto his eyes.
Snickers stopped crying and sighed, calming down suddenly. He whimpered and sniffled loudly, then raised his head to sadly look at his frustrated teacher. “You’re still in big trouble for your language, obviously scaring Silver Spoon so badly she had an accident, disrupting class, and missing the rest of your first day of school.”
Snickers understood. “I get it, I wouldn’t want me around either,” he rolled to his belly looked around the room. It was all finely painted wood with a mural of a meadow after sunrise with foals playing just behind where he was facing.
“Now, now,” Nurse Beating Heart said placing a forehoof on his rear, “nopony said anything of the sort. You need time to recover from fainting after playing so much,” she said and Snickers didn’t correct her; he wasn’t about to get his auntie in trouble. “We’re just going to send you home to rest, alright?”
Snickers nodded and started looking at the mural, shaking every now and then; ignoring Sweetie right in front of him. Sweetie looked at him sadly, then to the others in the room. She got up and hopped from the bed beside Silver Spoon and nudged the grey filly. Silver stopped playing with her braid nervously and nodded to follow Sweetie from the room.
“Wait, girls,” Nurse Beating Heart said. “Miss Cheerilee, can I send them to get Rarity? It shouldn’t be more than fifteen minutes and Snickers should be taken home by an adult.”
Cheerilee exhaled and shook her head, looking at the back of Snickers’s mane. “I don’t see why not. Girls, go get Rarity. I’ll get you a pass so the truancy officer doesn’t bother you while you’re on your errand, but I’m adding the time you left so don’t play around, alright?” Miss Cheerilee said as she left the room with the fillies.
“I hope I can see you later, Snickers,” Silver Spoon said as she left the room and the colt she was obviously developing a crush on.
Taking their permission slips, Sweetie Belle and Silver Spoon trotted at a steady pace from the schoolhouse into town.
“So, Silver Spoon… are we kinda friends now?” Sweetie asked.
“Yeah, I always kinda liked you out of your dumb group. Now that you have that colt, though…” Silver let the silence hang and Sweetie looked at the grey filly and noticed her eyes weren’t moving, a tell that she was lost in thought.
“Hey, stop thinkin’ about my nephew like that,” Sweetie teased and bumped her flank to Silver’s.
“Ugh, don’t get your blank flank on me,” Silver snapped. Sweetie stepped away and almost into a stallion in the market shopping.
“Oh, excuse me, sir,” Sweetie Belle said. “Silver, why do you hate us so much? What’d we ever do to you?”
“Ugghhh, do we have to talk about this now?” Silver complained.
“Well, when will we ever talk about it if not now?” Sweetie replied quickly.
Silver Spoon stopped near a house, out of hoof traffic. “Fine, you wanna know why? First, your country bumpin is as bright as a stack of hay. She can’t form a single sentence without butchering it and making the speakers of old Ponish want to end her family line. Second,” Silver interjected before Sweetie could defend her friend, “your pegasus friend is as hard headed as iron.
“She doesn’t think before she acts, she always has an excuse for why she didn’t do something she should have done, then gets away with it! She always talks about how great other ponies are and never compliments herself, and it brings the both of you down with her and you’re never going to get your cutie marks with her bad, bossy, reckless attitude dragging you under the lake with her.”
Sweetie, while staying quiet and taking the verbal lashing, nodded in understanding, even though she wholeheartedly didn’t agree with anything Silver had said about her friends. “Okay,” Sweetie said flatly, “what about me?”
Silver poked the packed dirt with the tip of her forehoof. “Well, you’re the only one I don’t have a problem with, except you hang out with those other two losers. Like, I’ve always wanted to be your friend, but Diamond Tiara wouldn’t let me.”
Sweetie motioned with her head for them to get moving. “Why do you even hang out with Diamond Tiara? She’s the worst filly on earth,” Sweetie said carefully.
“She is,” Silver said to Sweetie’s surprise, “but she’s the only other pony in this town that ever got me. She’s the one who really has the problem with all of you, more than I ever have.”
Sweetie, having slowed, rushed to side with Silver Spoon. “Wait, why’s she upset with us? We didn’t do anything to her and she just started being mean to my friends and me. Even now, she’s trying to bully Snickers and fight him.”
Silver scoffed and rolled her eyes exaggeratedly. “Like you Cutie Mark Dumsaders don’t know what you did.”
Sweetie frowned and it came across as anger in her voice. “Stop calling us that, we’re at least trying to get our marks. We didn’t just get them like you and Diamond Tiara did.”
Silver Spoon turned on her hoof and faced Sweetie Belle, shouting and getting the attention of passing adults. “That’s exactly the point! You dumb fillies don’t know what you did and that’s just, like… horrible! You never even said you were sorry or did anything to make up for it.”
Sweetie was getting to her breaking point. “What did we ever do to get you mad at us? We’re always trying to be nice, and you’re always so mean you make me cry sometimes, or afraid to go to school! Why are you so awful?!” Sweetie screamed so loudly the market fell silent save for her panting breath as she looked at the surprised filly across from her.
Silver Spoon looked around and her eyes narrowed at the adults watching the scene. “Don’t you have shopping to do?” Silver snapped and slowly the market became busy again. “Fine, you wanna know what you did?” Sweetie, still fuming with so much anger her horn sent some sparks from the tip, waited. “You ruined Diamond Tiara’s Cutecinera.”
Sweetie calmed down. “How did we ruin her Cutecinera? She invited us, with you by her side, teasing us the whole time! We all hid under tables to get away from you that was the first time you made me cry.”
“Well, how is that my fault?” Silver retorted.
Sweetie reared and stomped her hooves on the ground. “How do you even think we messed up Diamond’s Cutecinera? We were avoiding you like you had the ponypox!”
“You stole the attention the minute you made your little club and speech, you took what was the most important day in a filly’s life from her and made it all about yourselves,” Silver said angrily and pushed her glasses up her muzzle. “Diamond and I spent three hours at the salon getting groomed and primped, then we went to the spa and got our hooves done with new shoes and gloss.
“We put on makeup with Diamon’s mother’s help, and Spoiled never helps with anything, and Diamond’s mother bought a custom dress, on rush, from Baltimare just for Diamond’s Cutecinera that she helped put on Diamond with her own hooves and mouth. I don’t even care about my dress, because she was beautiful and proud.
“Cutecinera’s aren’t free, and Diamond’s mother had to rent the party room and buy all the stuff you saw there. Every cake and pie was fresh that morning, a chocolate pony melts, how much do you think that spell cost?! Even the hay was purchased from Dodge Junction’s drying lots!
“It was her right to be the center of attention and to treat whoever she wanted however she wanted,” Silver said with a snort and started to choke up, “so what if she was mean, she still invited you muzzle to muzzle, not by card. Not by messenger or through somepony else, by her own voice!” Silver sniffled.
“Then Apple Bloom came in and made a scene, and Diamond had to get the attention back on her over and over again, then you made your little debut and stole the whole day! All she wanted was a celebration, and you three stole that from her. She was so sad, I’d never seen her so hurt.
“Her heart was smashed and she couldn’t even bear to show her face at the party, even after practically begging for attention before you were swarmed by the other fillies and colts. It was supposed to be a new start to her life and she started by inviting everypony in there with me by her side. And you took it from her, started your dumb club, and she hasn’t forgiven you, and neither have I, for being so rude and discourtious at somepony else’s party.”
Sweetie was staring at the ground and noticed the tears hit the dirt and be absorbed almost instantly. She didn’t have a thing to say, there wasn’t anything she could say, so she walked past Silver Spoon and silently they went on.
***
Snickers sighed and stopped looking at the mural, got to his hooves, and went to the window to look at the real scene. It was lovely, better than anything he ever though possible. Sure, nature and lush areas existed where he was from, but they were often guarded or restricted. The ones that were natural didn’t produce edible food and were practically barren of huntable life or digestible greenery.
Deserts of green or scrap yards and wastes, it was lose-lose and there wasn’t any point to live at the boundary because farms were protected more than colts were in Equestria.
Snickers watched the grass sway and felt his mouth water a little, knowing he could make it across the grasslands and find what was on the other side if he was back home and still equine… and armored, armed, with friends.
The memory of Harmony was almost a distant memory, but Snickers could feel it still. The meaning behind the vision was a part of him and he knew it. He couldn’t stop the message from becoming a part of him any more than being told red is red and blue is blue. He had to adapt, and thanks to Harmony, Snickers was becoming Equestrian.
The most confusing part to the colt watching nature from the window of a schoolhouse in a pony centric world, was that he wasn’t as bothered by his vision or the idea of Harmony anymore. Spiritualism existed everywhere in some form or another, anyone that travels would know that. Add on the fact he had friends, safety, a family, and a future, it was of little importance whether some magical force helped him understand familial bonds or if he spent ten times as long and had to eat a truckload worth of soap to learn it for himself.
A soft knock on the door brought his attention from self inflection bordering on an existential breakthrough to the white unicorn smiling at him. “Hello, Snickers. I heard you had a fainting spell and I’m here to take you home.”
Snickers left the window and silently went to Rarity, following her tail that was styled with waves and trimmed so it didn’t drag.
“Take a seat, Snickers,” Miss Cheerilee’s voice rang in his ears and he looked up, noticing he was in a private office usually used for meetings or tests, like the one he took two days prior. “Rarity, the reason I’ve asked you to visit with me is because of Snickers’s attitude today.”
“Oh, my,” Rarity sat taller and payed total attention to the teacher, “he hasn’t been roughhousing or fighting, has he?”
“No,” Miss Cheerilee shook her head, “he was fine until he fainted at recess. When he awoke, that was when the issue occurred. He swore louder than was appropriate by the most foul mouthed ponies in the known world, used a combination of words that I didn’t know went together, and every word was heard by his entire class.
“Miss Rarity, you understand what a forget-me-not enchanted gem is used for, right?”
“Well, clearly, I do. Contrary to the name, it is a gem used to erase several seconds… oh. Oh my, did you have to use it?”
Miss Cheerilee sighed and nodded. She pulled a piece of paper from the desk drawer and slid it over to Rarity. “The invoice is here. As you know, in this case you have to replace it. I’m sorry about this Rarity, but the school isn’t made of bits. Our budget is tight as it is and we can’t afford a replacement, or to help purchase a new gem.
“If I hadn’t used it, the foals would have new vocabulary and it would certainly discredit our school and we’d have to send the foals right into trade skills until we got our certification back. I’m sorry to have to say this, but Chancellor Neighsay isn’t very friendly to schools that he believes reflects poorly on pony society.”
“No, I do understand,” Rarity sighed as she looked at the invoice, then to Snickers as she slid it over for him to look at. Snickers’s eyes widened, then he slammed his eyes shut turning his muzzle to the floor out of shame. “So, should I send Snickers to school tomorrow with cookies or some other way to make amends?”
Miss Cheerilee shook her head sadly. “No, while Snickers has a lot of potential, I don’t see him coming back for at least two more days. The rules and policies state that I should expel him for his language and having to break such a valuable gem that I have to purchase directly from the EEA, but I’m going to tell them that it had come loose after one of the many events in recent history and I stepped on it by accident.
“I’ve spoken with the nurse and she understands completely, so she didn’t even know about it while she helped a foal in the next room. That leaves me with the room to let Snickers back in to class after a short suspension. Believe me, Rarity, this is the best I can do and I know Snickers isn’t happy with himself or everything that has happened over the past hour, but with luck this will be water under the bridge before too long.”
“Yes, I see. Thank you for your help, Cheerilee, and I’ll do my best to pay for this as soon as possible.”
Miss Cheerilee pressed her hooves to her temples and groaned. “Okay, one last thing. The date on the invoice is the due date for a new one to be ordered.”
Rarity’s mouth fell open and she looked at the invoice, then Snickers. “Well. It seems I have a lot of work to do, so we shall take our leave. It was a pleasure, as always, Cheerilee, and I hope to see you at the spa Thursday after school.”
Cheerilee nodded and smiled weakly. “I’m thankful you’re so understanding about this. My hooves are tied and your attitude really helps. I’ve got to get back into class to teach the last lesson of the day… which is actually the third,” she said dejectedly. “I’ll show you out.”
…
Snickers looked up at Rarity and noticed her posture was relaxed, she seemed fine in every way as they entered the town, but her face, from what he could see, wasn’t very expressive. For a mare that was constantly on an emotional rollercoaster, it told him she was restraining herself. Snickers cleared his throat and waited, Rarity didn’t respond, not even an ear twitch.
“Rar… mom?” Snickers asked meekly and finally saw her ear swivel toward him for a split second, indicating she was at least listening. “I… I’m sorry about the bill you have to pay. I’ll get a job and help how I can.”
“You’ve helped quite enough, young stallion.” Rarity replied calmly, yet it cut Snickers like the fine edge of tin foil.
“I’ll give you all the bits in my jar, too,” Snickers offered and he noticed Rarity’s gait shorten.
“I’ll be taking from that first, but thank you for the offer,” Rarity replied.
Seconds passed, the sound of hooves on dirt and ponies talking around them did little to distract him. “Um, what if I--”
“Silence!” Rarity looked back and scolded Snickers. “I’ll not hear another word until we’re home, after what you did,” she turned to face Snickers and loomed over him, casting her shadow over the colt; by happenstance the sun was just right in the day to do so. “You caused such a disruption in class that they lost part of the entire day.
“You used you vile language around other foals, you caused damage to school property that I have to reimburse, thanks to all this, I’m behind on my work and have to work even later tonight to not only catch up, but to get ahead to make the bits I have to repay directly to the royal coffers.
“I will hear nothing more from you, colt, until we’re home and behind closed doors… and until I’m not upset anymore,” Rarity stomped her forehoof in finalization, “do I make myself perfectly clear?”
Snickers looked around and saw dozens of ponies looking at them, at him, with disdain in their expressions. They’d heard Rarity’s comments and had seen her in rare form; angry. An emotion she almost never showed, always hiding it behind upper class snobbery. Snickers’s attention returned to Rarity when he heard her snort so hard she practically nickered in frustration.
Snickers nodded meekly. “Y-yes, mommy. I’m sorry.” Snickers mentally chastised himself for calling Rarity ‘mommy’ like a true child, but, while following further behind her and to the side, he realized he was a child. She was his guardian and, regardless of how he felt a week ago -give or take- he was starting to bond with her in a family role of parent and child.
The thought of Harmony messing with his mind was passed off, his mistakes for the past hour were all his own and Snickers wouldn’t deny it. He had messed up in every way Rarity said, and a couple she didn’t know about.
Snickers noticed Rarity holding the door to her boutique open for him and when he passed her, she followed and slammed the door behind her. Without a word, Rarity left Snickers to his own devices while she grabbed the red glasses from the face of a wooden model and brought them to her muzzle.
Rarity left to the back room and after standing still for almost a minute the sound of Rarity’s sewing machine started. With a heavy conscience, he climbed the stairs and went to his room. He looked around the room and sighed. Moving to the bookshelf he grabbed a book at random with his forehooves and jumped back when a flutter of paper rushed at him. He looked at the notebook he’d used his first couple days and sat down, turning to the first page that wasn’t torn to shreds.
He wondered what he could write about to make himself feel better, maybe to help the whole situation go away. Then the book he was initially grabbing tipped past it’s balance point and fell onto his head, landing open. Snicker yelped, brought a hoof to the spot and swore quietly at the book.
His eyes widened when he saw what page the book had opened on and what the implications were if he just started writing. But, as his mind raced he knew he needed more. He needed help, he needed… Pinkie Pie. Snickers mentally cringed, but physically got up and ran to his dresser and opened the top drawer and found the gift cards he’d gotten from Pinkie.
He flipped to a page and placed a hoof on the one offer a free diagram and ripped it off. He waited, expecting the pink pony to pop out of his dresser drawer for a while. He rolled his eyes and put the booklet back into the drawer and closed it, then moved back to the book to at least read it, maybe get inspiration.
“Let’s see,” Snickers said to himself, “mechanical properties and functions of the Turning Test Machine Mark 2. They have the basic idea of a computer, and they can read some data with their current technology. How can I make it better?” he asked himself and turned the page.
A huge grin crossed his muzzle so large it kind of hurt, but he was too enraptured by the pink envelope added to the book. He opened the envelope and read the words on pink paper.
Dear Snickers, even though you’re not my dear.
Hehehe. Scootaloo would be upset if that happened.
I had a feeling you’d need this, so I snuck it in after our party.
I hope you actually picked this book and not something else.
If you don’t get this letter.
Hi other pony that isn’t Snickers. If you’re from the future, I’m Pinkie Pie.
We’re friends now, just so you know. ^_^ I can make funny funny faces, see.
Only friends can do that for each other, that’s how I know we’re best friends.But, that’s only if you’re not Snickers. Since you probably are Snickers it means the pony that got this letter gave it to you by now and I know they would have because a friend always helps.
This is that diagram I offered, I don’t know what it means though.
Gummy asked me to put a pencil on his tail and to make sure it stayed sharp.
I tell you that when that alligator dances its a real party!
Whoop whoop party on the escalator! Dance dance party party.
Go Gummy Go gummy!I hope your tail’s swaying to the music in your head. Use the wubs to do what ya gotta to to make this squiggly line and that straight line do the thing! And don’t forget to smile!
That’s kinda my thing.May the Force be ever in your favorite flavor of cupcake and may the resistance call Ohm upon you! Hehehehehe. *hugs and snugs*
XOXOXOXOXO
Best Friends!
There was a crude drawing of a pink pony with curly pink hair standing beside an equally sized chocolate brown pony with white mane facing her. Snickers couldn’t help but chuckle and set the letter aside and removed the diagram. Without reference he didn’t know what it went to, but he knew he could figure it out.
He blinked and noticed something. Turning the page at an angle, he saw the words ‘page 42 has the answers you seek’ written in fine lettering along a <circuit>.
Snicker furrowed his brows. He knew the word, but even trying to think the word he had trouble understanding it. He hummed once in frustration before ignoring it and adding it to the questions he’d ask Twilight, if he could ever get alone with her without supervision because of Spike.
Setting the extra papers aside, Snickers turned to page 42 and noticed the pages between 42 and 56 were almost 30 numbered pages of double sided of diagrams that formed a complex <circuit board> that would work in a <computer>.
Snickers carefully slapped the side of his head. “C’mon, stupid brain. Make the words happen.” He grumbled. “I can make a power source. Great, I can say that but not… exactly. Whatever, I’ll figure it out later. I know how to make this work, and I’m sure there’s a way to make a monitor,” Snickers grinned. “Yes! Those exist here,” he hopped to his hooves and started doing a dance Twilight Sparkle would gladly join him in.
He stopped, giggled to himself, then went to work making the diagram work for him by calculating the potential voltage and cooling he’d need. The lizard knew his science, and when he next met Gummy, Snickers was going to give that alligator a pony back ride for the rest of the day.
Hours passed before the other CMC ran into his room. Snickers sat up and waved his forelegs at them, stopping them before they trampled over his work. Two dozen pages of math and pictures of what the end result would be lay scattered around Snickers and the fillies moved around the pages looking at them.
“What the hay is a ‘Turning Test Machine 6?” Apple Bloom asked.
Snickers chuckled happily. “Well, I’m six-ish, so it makes sense. Besides, why go in order when the future is now?”
The door to Rarity’s room opened and got their attention. The mare growled and slammed the door in frustration. Sweetie shrugged. “She’s just gonna yell at Mister Ed for about five minutes to feel better, then she’ll be happy again.”
Snickers covered his muzzle with his hoof to very poorly hide his grin and snickering.
“Why’re ya’ll so giggly? Ya thinkin’ somethin’ funny? Oh, did ya hear a joke?” Apple Bloom asked, stopped by a hoof on her withers and a shake of the head from Scootaloo.
“Hun… uh, like hunter, yes,” Scootaloo said nervously, “you were sent home from school and Miss Cheerilee said you were taking two days to recover, but Sweetie told us that you were,” she hesitated and scuffed the carpet, “suspended. Does that mean you’re a bad colt?”
Apple Bloom looked at Snickers, who had a smile still but had stopped laughing. “Ah dunno about bein’ in a herd with a jail bird. Ah heard once ya start bad in school, you’ll be in jail for breakin’ the law when ya grow up. Ah don’t want a jail cutie mark unless I’m workin’ in one… hmm,” she looked between Scootaloo and Apple Bloom who shared a firm nod.
“Later, Apple Bloom,” Scootaloo continued, “Snickers, are you really suspended?”
Snickers nodded.
“So,” Scootaloo asked, “now what? How can we help you be a better colt?”
Snickers snorted and waved Scootaloo and the others back a step. “Don’t step on my work, for one. Look, I’m working on a project that’ll help pay for the stuff I broke at school that mom has to pay for. Rarity… mom,” he furrowed his brow in frustration. “Fine, mom, I guess.”
“That’s nice ta hear, honest it is, that ya got a real mom.”
Snickers’s ears perked and he sat up, looking at Apple Bloom in surprise. “Wait, what about Applejack?”
“What’d’ya mean?” Apple Bloom asked curiously.
“I thought she was your mom,” Snickers said, getting a different reaction than he expected. The other two fillies took several steps back and Apple Bloom switched to anger.
“What in tarnation did ya just say?” Apple Bloom growled and lowered her head, pawing at the floor.
Snickers looked at his paperwork and then sat up, waving his forelegs defensively. “No, no! I didn’t mean anything offensive, honest! Don’t hurt me, I just thought she was you sister.”
The snort Apple Bloom made ruffled the pages two feet in front of her. “Ya got five seconds ta take that back!”
Snickers moved back and took a submissive posture, similar to what Silver Spoon had done earlier in the afternoon. “Woah, hold on, Apple Bloom!” Scootaloo said running between the two, walking on his notes. “Didn’t you hear him, he just said Applejack’s your sister. That’s okay, right?”
Apple Bloom used a foreleg to push her lighter friend aside like she was opening a door. “That ain’t what’s got me upset. He think mah sister is my sister.”
Snickers’s head spun in confusion. He sat up and looked at the fillies. “Wait, hold on, hold the fuck on, right now. Yeah, put two bits in the fucking jar, Sweetie, what the hell are you saying right now?” He asked in a way that stopped Apple Bloom from charging right then to at least whack his snoot for swearing.
“What the hay’re you talkin’ about? Ya better answer good or Ah’ll leave this herd and won’t talk to ya fer the rest of the week.”
Snickers shook his head and tapped his temple. “Wait, something’s wrong. Something… I…” he looked at Scootaloo and pointed at her. “What are the roles in a family from top down?”
Scootaloo pointed to herself and looked between her friends. “Uh, okay? First there’s the parents who are the f<b>a<r>t<o>h<t>e<h>r<e>, and the m<s>o<i>t<s>h<t>e<e>r, then the foals. If there’s more than one mare to the f<b>a<r>t<o>h<t>e<h>r<e>, then they’re all m<s>o<i>t<s>h<t>e<e>r’s to one another. Why’re you asking me that?”
Snickers’s ears fell and he looked between the fillies who had fallen silent. Even Apple Bloom, who was still mad, was curious about what was happening. Somewhat worried as well.
There was a muffled but deep moan from Rarity’s room that got all their attention. “Mister Ed, you bad stallion. That’s not supposed to… mmm, how could you?”
Sweetie rolled her eyes. “Five times some days, can you believe how mad she gets at that thing? She won’t even talk about why she yells at him so weirdly,” Sweetie said looking back at her friends, who shrugged. “I’ll close the door, she can get really loud sometimes.”
The door shut and the mood in the room became solely focused on the colt holding his head. “What… I… what’s happening to me?” he looked up and met the eyes of his herdmates and they all became worried for him. “I’m hearing too much, there are words in words in words, why are there so many?”
The fillies stood facing one another and started talking about what to do and who to ask, finally ending on Twilight Sparkle, since she knew the most words out of anypony in Equestria, in their opinion.
They helped Snickers from the room and even through his confusion the sounds coming from Rarity’s room as he passed were more than enough for him to know what she was doing, but he wondered what the smacking sound was until Sweetie clarified when they were leaving the shop.
“That mare is so weird!” Sweetie exclaimed.
“Why, because she yells at a fake stallion penis six times a day?” Scootaloo asked as two mares were passing and then stopped to follow the fillies’ gossip.
“No, well, yeah,” Sweetie said, “but because she spanks herself with a crop and sometimes in the middle of the night, if she’s working late, I’ve had to go pee and she’s wearing full tack with a ball in her mouth. At first I thought she was just modeling, but then I heard a stallion call her back to her room and ask her to nibble his edible boots.”
“Wait,” Scootaloo asked her friend, “if she’s yelling at a fake penis, then why’s it talking about her emergency edible boots? I thought she only made those for her Date Night Delights designs and we weren’t even supposed to know about them.”
Snickers was holding back his laughter through snorts and raspberries as the fillies talked over him.
“How am I supposed to know?!” Sweetie shouted. “She’s the one with a talking penis that wears boots.”
Snickers burst into laughter falling to his side while the fillies watched. The mares following them kept walking, faster and whispering animatedly to one another between giggles and swishing tails. “What’s gotten into ya now? More weird words rollin’ around in yer noggin?” Apple Bloom asked exasperatedly.
Sweetie looked at Apple Bloom. “Maybe Applejack would know about talking boot wearing penisus since our stallion can’t even keep on the subject without falling over.”
“At least he didn’t pass out this time,” Scootaloo said. “But he’s got the giggles bad, he’s crying over here. Maybe it’s something you said, Sweetie Belle.”
Sweetie looked at her friend, all three fillies were standing over him now. “What? I haven’t said anything funny for a while, it’s been a stressful day. Maybe I should yell at a penis to feel better.”
Snickers started kicking his forelegs. “S-stop… please, too much…”
“That’s it,” Sweetie stomped her forehoof and leaned down. “You’re dumb and look funny and smell weird and my m<s>o<i>t<s>h<t>er makes weird noises a lot!”
Scootaloo joined in and leaned over Snickers to shout at his… lower belly. “And school was boring today! I wanted to see Rainbow Dash, but I couldn’t.”
Apple Bloom looked at her friends and shook her head. “Ah don’t get it, Ah don’t feel… wait a minute,” she said with her voice deepening. The colt was howling with laughter and extended his hind legs, looking down at the fillies scowling at his parts. Apple Bloom leaned over. “Mah dumb herd stallion was a jerk earlier! He made me mad and that wasn’t nice of him!”
The fillies stood up and smiled to one another. “Hey, I do feel kinda better,” Sweetie said.
“Me, too. We should yell at Snickers’s penis more often. My auntie said that before she loved my other auntie by marriage, that a penis would always make her feel better. Maybe this is what she meant.”
Snickers had reached the pointed where he couldn’t laugh, only wheeze like a person gasping for air at high altitudes. “St-stop, can’t breathe,” he wheezed, still grinning with tears running from his eyes.
The fillies gasped. Scootaloo ran sat and picked up his head and looked at him. Apple Bloom lay her head onto his chest and listened. Sweetie pranced in place. “Oh no, what happened? Is he okay? He’s okay, right? Everypony, stay calm… we trained for this. We trained for this!”
Adults finally started laughing at the group and cast bits at them, thinking it was a street play while Snickers lay possibly literally dying of laughter in Scootaloo’s embrace.
Apple Bloom sat up and wiped her forelocks from her face with a sigh. “He’s okay, girls. Just a mild cardiac arrhythmia, nothing to worry about. Just get’m walkin’ and it’ll fix’m right up like apple juice on a hot day.”
Sweetie stopped panicking and sighed. “Whew, that’s good to hear. Okay, let’s help him up then.”
“Uh, girls?” Scootaloo said with a worried look to them. “He really did pass out again.”
Apple Bloom and Sweetie face hooved.
So...the school does deserve to shut down, and fire that useless Cheerilee bitch.
Seriously, they tie down an emotionally damaged colt while he's unconscious, and then PUNISH HIM for waking up confused as to why he's tied down?!?!
And this isn't Harmony, but Order.
About the only good part was Silver Spoon's reasoning for why they hate the Chaotic Mindless Cretins.
9975231
Actually, it was the nurse who tied him down, and she wasn't privy to the details of the colt. And it would make sense to have a child on a bed held down when they can easily freak out and fall to the floor injuring themselves further. It was meant to keep him safe in their eyes and culture; not as a punishment as seen in ours.
They live in a medieval style of reality, not the modern pansy life we live now. Teachers could slap, spank, swat, whip, and suspend children for absolutely any reason from the beginning of time until sixty years ago. Plus these are equines that have easily breakable legs if fallen on at the wrong angle; hold the foal down while not watching them or risk a broken leg from a sleep spasm off the table?
Different cultures, species, reality; this story is based in theirs, not ours.
9975258
So you are saying a horse would be perfectly fine waking up strapped down to a bed in an unknown room with an unfamiliar ceiling with no memory of how they got there?
Ok.
THAT isn't the punishment i was talking about, it was the bullshit about his language and the gem. It's like setting someone up to have a bucket of water fall on them, then calling them an idiot for not doing it.
I can say with a very high degree of certainty that, on an instinctual level, the characters would likely have a mild panic attack at the bare minimum from waking up the way that Snickers did all tied up, especially at his age. It would likely be mild due to societal conditioning, but there will always be that instinctual panic response due to being restrained for unknown reasons. Snickers' history, however, is most assuredly going to amplify this response, and you did a great job showing that while including a nice bit of verbal comedy. Guy really has an extensive vocabulary.
I also want to say that I kind of like this story for the way that you portray their idea of harmony. It's actually kind of terrifying to a degree because they're equating order and harmony, and they end up pushing them a little too far. Memory manipulation of children? Expulsions for terrified exclamations of swear words? An utter lack of any attempt at understanding or listening to a mentally stressed and emotionally damaged colt? You do a great job of portraying their society's blinders, so kudos for that.
I'm wondering if there's going to be any change that happens in the future? Will Snickers snap and go an in immense tirade? Will he try to run away like when he accidentally hurt Sweetie? Is there going to be any major conflict or events in the future that tie into the show's events?
I would like to see a little more understanding or attention from the adults. It should be clear by now to any medical staff and to Rarity that Snickers is messed up, badly. His life wasn't pleasant, and at times it seems as if Rarity conveniently ignores her experiences with his kinds of stuff from when they were in their comas. This kind of makes it feel like you're forcing Snickers to change to be more like them, and creates a bit of a repetitive conflict. It would be nice to see Snickers finally speak up and be heard, and possibly get someone to understand.
Now, a few suggestions:
1) Try to cut back on some of the sexual humor and conversations. Just a wee bit. If you use it too much, it'll become dull and lose its impact, so when you make a hilarious joke later on the readers might be tired of the subject and not be as amused as you might have wanted.
2) Pay attention to continuity. Sometimes, it seems like characters will forget something they might have learned or realized about Snickers, and will act in a way that might be too far in any given direction had they remembered something. This will help character growth and ensures the story feels like it's constantly progressing.
9975654
Thanks for the comment, I get it and there's gonna be a lot of expansion on his psyche, but I can't just exposition dump everything.
He's gotta realize things on his own, and that's happening.
Soon.
The jokes are about up, too.
No spoilers, but he's obviously gonna tell them how uncomfortable he is with the topic.
As far as people reacting tip his condition and pushing it aside, they simply don't understand with their mindset and influences. Harmony is obviously not harmonic, Rarity is conflicted but has no one to talk with outside of the sphere of influence.
SOMETHING HAS TO HAPPEN! What could it be? Only time will tell.
It's all coming to a head soon, at least this arc.
That's because it didn't really happen, it was a vision given to Snickers by Harmony
9975280
I'm saying that in this story, in this world, a PONY is going to react a certain way. Applying real life situations to everything a MLP does, even when it seems like it make the most sense, defies the point of the entire show.
They do things differently. Hell no I don't agree with many things, but this is a STORY ABOUT MAGIC ANTHROPOMORPHIC SAPIENT PONIES.
They live in a world that's different. That evolved differently than ours. That has societal and cultural differences. That is completely different in thousands of ways.
The show even shows us that they have few actual similarities to us humans beyond speech and some habits.
No I don't think anyone would be fine waking up in a damned different room. I'd panic, too. They thought having a worried friend would keep him calm, and normally it would, given the trusting nature of "Harmony" they all have.
1) Snickers is still not 'Harmonic' because he's not mentally a pony and nothing is going too make him accept pony life completely.
2) Don't imply to tell me how I feel or what I think.
3) I am upset right now, obviously, but I still appreciate your comment and normally wouldn't react this way, and thank you for reading and commenting. Beyond my stupid feelings, it still means a lot of good to me.
9975688
Exactly, thank you!
Overall, I'll admit that Harmony is messed up. But it's an underlying thing in this story that had a point to be noticed by those affected.
:)
Thanks for the comment.
9975690
Alright, I won't comment anymore. I think it's obvious that I don't like where this fic is going(Not least of which is that FUCKING WORDS being more offensive than murder, genocide, and implied rape has started to really infuriate me in recent years. I can't watch Westerns anymore because of the...hypocrisy, of the audience).
As for your number 2. I'm sorry? It wasn't my intent to say anything about your feelings or thoughts, except where your previous comment left me with the impression you thought I thought his punishment was being strapped down to the bed. I have never heard of that even happening except for dangerous individuals, and even then I don't recall them being punished further for waking up confused and fighting. And I mispelled "dodging" as "doing".
Just reinforces the notion that I should never write again.
Edit: I seem to be terrible at getting my point across. So terrible I even forget to put it in.
9975688
Doesn't change the fact that to HIM it was real and it affected his mind like it really did happen. Rarity, from what I've seen, really isent a good mom to him. Not once has she tried to understand anything from his point of view. To me she's one of those tyrannical parents who dont give two shits what their kids going through. So far she puts her wants and needs before his own. Instead of finding out why he fainted and freaked out like he did, she locked him in his room and then went to fucking masturbate. Shitty ass parenting if you ask me. Snickers woulda been better off in a new orphanage somewhere. At least there he wouldn't be mind fucked all the time.
9975797
Can't argue with that.
okay, got to question the words within words, that along with the bit with apple_bloom is raising flags for me. I can write off being strapped to a bed as the usual kinky pony stuff going on, but this has me intrigued.
9976584
I'm glad you're intrigued. I'll solve that soon.
😺
I really do like this story and am eagerly looking forward to another chapter of "RC/ A New Life".
Well done.
The Monk
"Knowledge is power and power corrupts, so study hard and be evil." - Reykan
10183121
Thanks! Me, too. I've got a lot to write still and plans for months ahead in his life. Glad you'll be there! Comments are writers fuel, keep it up!
Serves her right for her behavior to those three fillies. I have no pity for that low life Diamond Tiara. Maybe she should have had the center of attention but they doesn’t excuse her behavior.
Haha, hilarious. Definitely will read next books. Nice work :)
10425161
Thanks! Got lots happening ahead so enjoy and is appreciate a comment or two as you go.
Keeps me writing.
Finally getting around to reading this series and I gotta say I'm surprised that he didn't even bring up waking up strapped down is what caused him to freak out...
The adults never asked him, ‘Why?’ Come on, adults.
11897030
I never thought of that, good point!