STORY 1
“What the hell is this…?”
Pete sighs as he steps out onto his porch, the last few looming storm clouds slowly blowing away as rays from the sun blanket the world around him in a warm, golden glow.
He looks down at the grass covering his backyard, a sour expression growing over his face. It looked as if something had pulled a large section of it up, handful by handful. Patches of shorter grass and patches that were completely bare, showing only the soil that lay underneath.
Without moving from wooden deck, Pete takes another sip of his vodka soda and carefully examines the outer perimeter of his yard. He didn’t have any bushes or shrubs to hide any would-be entry points in the fence line, not that it mattered. The fence is as well crafted as the day he put it up.
“No holes leading here, underground or through the fence, but…”
His eyes slowly land on the small wooden gate leading to the side of his house where he had built his garden shed. He quickly walked over to the shade-covered side of his cabin-like home and there he saw it. The shed door had a corner rotted out it, making for an easy entry point for any creature willing to put in the work of breaking through it.
Pete didn’t even need to check what kind of creature was taking refuse in his shed. He lived on a quiet plot of land at the furthest edge of his street. His neighbors always kept track of their pets and wild animals never really showed up around Pete’s neck of the woods. Since Pete hadn’t seen a single child since moving here, the culprit was pretty obvious.
Pete finishes his drink, carefully setting his empty glass down on the torn up grass near his feet as he quietly bends down to get eye-level with the hole. Carefully, he looks inside for a few seconds, his eyes adjusting to the dark as the sight in front of him came into focus.
“There you are, my grass nibbling goblin!”
STORY 2
“huuhuu… Pwease sky-wawas, nu mow’ hewties… Nee’ fin safie pwace… Fin’ nummies… Huuhuu”
A lime green fluffy mare with a pickle-colored green mane, tail, and wings wimpers to herself as she waddles through a vacant lot in search of a safe place to build her nest. Her belly wobbles from side to side as she walks, occasionally scraping loose gravel or jagged scraps of trash. Though she was obviously emaciated, her plump belly was a clear sign she was also heavily pregnant.
A sudden gust of wind kicks up, nearly blowing the mare off of her unbalanced hooves as she fights to retain her balance against the weather. It had been raining for almost 3 days straight, and it was taking a heavy toll on her health.
The mare’s tears had long since blended in with the water pelting the dingy fluff covering her cheeks, but that didn’t stop them from falling all the same. She had to find somewhere safe. If not for herself, then for the foals now growing in her belly.
Before she could make it back to her hidey-hole though, a deafening crack of thunder rips through the darkened sky overhead, finding a target in and striking a tree situated just a few feet away from the mare’s hiding place.
A large branch falls, smoldering from the lightning strike, falling right on top of the hole leading into the mares den.
“SCREEEEE-! NU HEWT FWUFFY!! WOSTES’ HEAW-PWACE HEWTIES!! NUUU!”
The mare’s ears ring out from the loud surge of electricity that had just barely missed her, and waddles as quickly as her stubby legs can carry her in a random direction away from the now slowly burning tree that blocked her old den. Her belly and crotch-tits drag pitifully behind her as she drags herself over the broken glass and rough gravel that littered the vacant lot as she flees in terror away from the “Loud noise monster”.
Before the mare has time to realize where she’s going, she bonks her head on a freshly placed wooden fence post with a comedically gentle thud-
The boney nub that remained of her horn stung like the dickens, sending pain shooting down the back of her head and down her spine, ending at the tip of her tail.
The mare doesn’t even have time to cry out before another crack of lightning shoots overhead, accompanied by another roar of thunder, this one louder than the previous.
“NU HEWT FWUFFY WOUD SKY-MUNSTAH! PWEASE!!”
She screams out in fear, only for her tiny voice to be smothered out by the sound of pounding rain and raging thunder.
Without another thought, the mares first instinct is to run once again. Run for safety. Run for anywhere she could take shelter from this raging storm.
Rain stings her eyes and her vision blurs as she looks down the row of fence posts in a blind panic. That’s when she see’s it. An opening in the fence, a gate that had been left open leading to a small building just on the other side.
Suddenly flooded with new found determination, the pregnant mare uses the remainder of her strength to make a break for the small building. She puts her head down and charges forward, paying no attention to what is in front of her as she only thinks of the safety of the building she was now running toward.
THUD
CRACK
Having not realized how close she was to the building, our mare tumbles blindly into the darkness beyond it’s door. The force of her “sprint” had caused enough force to break through one of the lower corners of the door sitting on the front side of the building, allowing her to blindly tumble inside.
The pain is instantly forgotten upon the realization that she was no longer being pelted by the rather large drops of rain falling in the storm just outside the now-broken door.
Having exhausted her last bit of energy, our mare collapses in a heap onto the dry floor, water seeping from her drenched fluff into a puddle around her on the cold hard floor.
Her eyes flutter shut as she passes out, falling asleep to the sound of rain hitting the roof of her newly found shelter. The world around her grows quiet as she slowly drifts off into a deep, deep sleep.
STORY 3
Bourbon is a golden alicorn fluffy male with deep matte black wings, mane, and tail to match. His horn was a bit larger than your average fluffy, but it only further complimented his features being the exact color of his fluff, tipped in the same matte black of his mane.
Jack was his brother. A deep matte black colored alicorn with golden tipped horn, wings, and tail. He WAS, anyway. Jack looked a tad bit different from your average fluffy. His horn was broken, leaving only a jagged mound in its place. On his left side he wore a pair of large scars running from his forehead over a permanently closed eye and down his cheek. You wouldn’t see this though as part of his mane grew over it from just behind his left ear. His build was larger than your average fluffy, having a much denser muscle mass and thicker fluff to match.
The two brothers slowly approach a smoldering tree branch, part of it’s leafy foliage trying to ignite beneath the falling rain. A think smoke fills the air around them even though the wind still softly blows through the pair’s long-grown manes.
Bourbon cautiously sniffs around the branch while Jack carefully examines the surrounding area.
The only thing Bourbon manages to find is a small tuft of singed lime green fluff. Before he can continue his search, he hears a familiar whistle. He looks over at jack and returns his intense gaze. Jack uses his head to motion toward an open fence gate at the adjacent end of the lot.
Bourbon quickly stomps the ember away from the tuft of fluff before carefully tucking it into his own as he quickly runs over to where his brother now stands. Jack is wildly sniffing at a patch gravel as Bourbon approaches.
“Fin’ somfin’ Jackie? Wha’cha fin?”
Jack lifts his head, letting out a long and low growl as his breath steams from his nose into the stormy air around them as he quickly turns his gaze toward the open fence gate.
“Gu’ job, Jackie. Take a wook’ at dis”
Bourbon carefully pulls the tuft of singed fluff from where he had tucked it, carefully holding it in his teeth up toward Jack so that he could examine it.
Jack turns back around, placing his nose onto the fluff tuft and taking a deep breath in. He quickly smells the gravel around them again, looking back at Bourbon and nodding in agreement.
Bourbon smiles as he carefully tucks the fluff tuft away once again.
“Wooks wike we haf’ a twail. Wet’s get a moof’ on, Jackie. We haf wowk tu-du.”
Bourbon follows quickly behind Jack, watching as he occasionally sniffs at the air. The rain around them has begun to let up ever so slightly as the eye of the storm slowly approaches. The pair slowly make their way up to the open fence gate, quickly approaching the small house in front of them.
Jack lessens his pace, Bourbon following suit, until they’re standing before a large structure surrounded by well manicured grass. Jack holds out a single hoof, signaling for Bourbon to stay put before he carefully moves over the boundary line from rough course gravel to soft, wet grass. He sniffs a few more times before creeping closer to the shed. He turns and motions it toward Bourbon, signaling to him that it was safe to approach.
Just as Bourbon reaches his brother, Jack’s ears perk up and his nose scrunches a bit. He looks down at his older brother and shakes his head. Too many smells coming from the thing in front of them and the grass around them.
Bourbon’s expression suddenly drops as he softly whispers up to his little brother-
“hoomie-howse…?”
Jack solemnly nods his head before using it to quickly motion back toward the gate they had come in through.
“Wook at dis gwass tho, Jackie! Is bestes’ wookin’ gwass we haf’ seen in fowebahs’. Wet’s fiww up fow’ the jouwney den’ we weave. Dat’ soun’ gud?”
Jack is already gorging himself on the wet grass, already having eaten a large patch down to the muddy soil below. Bourbon grins and follows his brother’s example. Together, they fill their bellies with grass until they can’t fill any more. After their meal, the two quickly set out for the gate, running over the grass line and back onto the muddy gravel into the neighboring vacant lot as they continue onward with their search.
