This will just be a short little aside detailing what happened to Betsy and how she ended up in the city. It’ll also introduce her mate who is going to play a substantial part in the upcoming arc.
*Chronologically this takes place not long after Travis’ escape at the end of The Hellish Herd and will lead right up to present time, providing of course I get the timeline right. And if not, then fuck it, it’ll be close enough.
Betsy shivered.
Partly it was from the cold of the night air, mostly it was the fear of being spotted, to her left, her mother Maggie kept vigil, watching out for anyone looking their way. To her right, her brother Tom and sister Iris; Tom still missing his eye from his fight with Crow, Iris missing one of her ears and her tail after both were bitten off by Copper when he returned the two runaway siblings to the den.
That was two weeks ago, the deaths of Crowley and Crow did the herd a lot of damage but the fight for the title of Smarty in the time since had done even more. Roarke, being the biggest and strongest, immediately declared himself as the new Smarty, and began his rule by forcing himself onto as many mares as he could; Seabreeze and Ness felt his violent lust first, Ness losing an eye in the process, then Roarke assaulted Andi while she was still pregnant with Elm’s foals, followed swiftly by the sickening tyrant attacking Coral while she was still pregnant with Pine’s children.
Andi suffered a violent miscarriage that almost killed her, Coral however was still too egotistical to accept her place as nothing more than a fuck-toy and tried to attack Roarke back. The piss coloured beast caved her skull in as retribution.
Nobody mourned her loss.
Now the herd was split, Roarke’s brother Boulder gathered Pine and Elm behind his claim to the throne, using Roarke’s murder of their unborn foals to rally them. Copper had also made a claim for the rights of Smarty, but being the weaker claimant he had turned to Crusher and Breaker for support. Roarke took the challenges as insults and set about proving his place as the rightful Smarty.
Betsy flinched as in the distance she could hear Roarke brutally killing Boulder, his own brother, for daring to challenge his rule.
Suddenly there was a rustling behind them, Iris let out a small yelp of fright before the face of Crassus appeared from behind the bushes, and the whole family let out a sigh of relief.
“It am time.” He said plainly. “Wet’s gu.”
Not stopping to turn back, Maggie led her three remaining children away from this Hellish place, ready to start again somewhere new, somewhere better. Crassus took the family to a small clearing where Seabreeze and Ness tended to a weakened Andi, while Zip and Aqua dealt with their restless foals, the last two sons of Crowley. Everyone else had either ran off in the night, or had been brutalised under Roarke’s rule.
Betsy thought back to when she first arrived here, how big the herd had felt, now she couldn’t help but notice how tiny it was.
“Am dis ebewywun?” Maggie asked Crassus.
Crassus solemnly nodded. “Am aww dat wemain, ebewywun ewse eeda nu can move tuu gud, ow dey nu move at aww.”
Betsy noticed Crassus’ eyes glance over at Andi, the mare was weak and pale, her body having never recovered properly from Roarke’s assault. Crassus didn’t say it out loud but Betsy knew he was thinking about leaving her.
“Whewe am Fwuffies gun gu mummah?” Iris asked with more than a slight quiver in her voice.
“Nu knyu yet babbeh, bu aneewhewe am betta dan hewe.”
At that moment, Zip and Seabreeze approached Crassus.”
“Zip an speciaw-fwiend need gu, babbehs am getting westwess. Be big pwobwem if dey wakies nyo.”
Crassus nodded. “Ok, am Zip suwe nu wan come wiv udda Fwuffies?”
Zip smiled and shook his head. “Fank yu, bu speciaw-fwiend nu wawk gud, onwy swow fwiends down. Need gu on own, maybe confoose Woawke an dummehs wiv diffawent gwoups.”
“Be cawefuw fwiend.”
Zip and Crassus shared a final nod together before Zip returned to Aqua and took off into the forest, Betsy watched as the two of them disappeared into the darkness. She felt strange seeing Zip get a chance of freedom, his devotion to Aqua meant that he hadn’t been as sexually aggressive as the other stallions but he had still been complicent to the many rapes and murders they had committed.
Regardless, it was too complex an issue for her young mind to comprehend, instead she returned her attention to Seabreeze, the blue mare had a cold, uneasy look in her eyes.
“An-dee nu am gud. Wose tuu much boo-boo juice, she gu foweba sweepies soon.”
Crassus sighed, he’d expected this, but it still hurt to hear. “Wha Fwuffies tu du?”
“Yu knyo wha Fwuffies need tu du?” Maggie replied grimly.
Seabreeze scowled for a moment, but eventually relented. “See-bweeze nu wike it, An-dee am guid fwiend, bu Mag-ee am wight. Need tu weave An-dee hewe.”
Betsy was shocked. “Wha? Nu.”
Maggie tried to calm her daughter down. “Babbeh pwease, Fwuffies nu wan….”
“Nu can weave An-dee hewe, dat am meanie fing.”
“An-dee git Fwuffies in twoubew, nu can take her wiv, she am tuu weak.” Seabreeze spoke softly, but Betsy could see the hurt in her eyes at leaving her friend behind.
Still, Betsy couldn’t understand that level of cold cruelty. “Bu… wha can Fwuffies du, nu can just wet meanie Woawke hab hew.”
“Can gib hew foweba sweepies.”
Everyone turned towards Tom, ever since his humiliating defeat at the hoofs of Crow, he didn’t speak much, he was the strong brother, and his strength had failed him, leading to him and Iris getting mutilated and Travis going missing. Guilt was all he had these days, and he was still too young to process it all.
“Can gib An-dee foweba sweepies.” He spoke up again. “If she gun hab foweba sweepies soon aneeway den it nu am bad fing tu du.”
There was a slight silence that carried across the group, no-one wanted to admit it outright, but it was a decent idea.
“Du Fwuffies hab time fow dat?” Crassus asked. “Need weave soon befowe Woawke see Fwuffies am gun.”
Seabreeze took a deep sigh and nodded. “Yeh, Cwassus take Mag-ee, babbehs an Ness an gu. See-bweeze gib An-dee foweba sweepies an fowwow afta. If yu nu see See-bweeze wen bwite-baww wetuwn, nu come wookin fow hew.”
Maggie gasped. “See-bweeze, nu can wet yu du dat, am dangawous.”
“See-bweeze knyo, bu An-dee am fwiend, it am See-bweeze dootee tu hewp hew. An if See-bweeze gu foweba sweepies, den at weast See-bweeze see speciaw-fwiend gain in Sketti-wand.”
Betsy watched in horror as her mother and Crassus simply nodded and left Seabreeze to her potential death, even as Maggie gathered her three remaining children onto her back, Betsy struggled.
“Mummah, wai weave fwiend See-bweeze? Woawke gun gib hew wowstesh huwties.”
“Mummah knyo babbeh, bu dis am See-bweeze choosie, she wiww twy tu wun way, bu she knyo wha dangeh’s am dewe.”
“Am Fwuffies nu guin hewp? Fwuffies am gud Fwuffies, nu weave fwiends in dangeh.”
Maggie sighed, Betsy was too young, too kind-hearted to understand the greyness of feral living. As Ness joined their little party, Tom placed a comforting hoof over Betsy’s shoulders and they watched Seabreeze approached the weakened Andi. Seabreeze placed a soft hoof onto Andi’s neck, then slowly pressed down, silently euthanising her friend and saving her from the horrors of what was to come.
The group had been travelling for a short time, the sky was still dark but faint lines of red in the distance signalled the arriving dawn. Seabreeze still hadn’t returned yet, but Crassus didn’t seemed worried, he had been following the river and knew that Seabreeze would be able to find them, likely she was just taking a longer route to throw off Roarke.
At least he hoped that was the case.
Betsy lay down on her mother’s back, while Iris and Tom had been able to fall asleep quite easily, Betsy’s frantic mind wouldn’t allow her an easy rest. Instead she looked outwards, the forest had cleared somewhat and in the distance she could see the city lights, hundreds, if not thousands of tiny flickering lights dotted the landscape, mostly yellow and white but some twinkles of red and blue were in there, even a couple purples. Betsy had never seen the city before, she’d heard about it from Big Mummah, but to actually see it like this… it was beautiful.
“Am Fwuffies guin dewe mummah?” Betsy asked quietly so as not to wake her siblings.
Maggie smiled. “Nu babbeh, Sit-ee am nu gid pwace fow Fwuffies.”
“Bu wook su pwetty an big, Woawke neba find us dewe.”
“Yuw mummah am wight babbeh.” Ness spoke up softly. “Sit-ee am big pwace, bu dewe am wots of Fwuffies, sum nice, wots of dem meanies wike Woawke ow wowse. Nu enuff nummies fow aww Fwuffies, nu be enuff nummies fow just Fwuffies hewe, be diffawent if jus wun ow twu Fwuffies, bu tuu many hewe tu find enuff nummies fow aww. Den dewe am da hoomins.”
“Wha? Du hoomins nu wike Fwuffies?”
Maggie sighed. “Nu babbeh, dewe am wots of hoomins who am biggesh meanie, gib Fwuffies wowstesh huwties fow nu weason udda dan cos we am Fwuffies.”
“Yu mean wike… Mistah Fwan-sis?”
Maggie slowly shook her head. “Nu babbehs, eben wowstesh.”
Just then the group heard soft thumping coming from behind them, they turned and through the low light of dawn they saw Seabreeze rushing towards them, Crassus couldn’t help but smile, seeing someone else make it safely out from Roarke’s tyranny.
That smile quickly faded as he saw the distress of terror on Seabreeze’s face, and behind her, the bloodstained look of absolute fury on Roarke as he gave chase.
“WUN!”
Crassus, Maggie and Ness all bolted, behind them all they could hear Roarke senselessly growl and yell out all manner of insults and threats. Only by the grace of timing and Roarke’s tiredness from killing Boulder were they able to have the slight advantage to stay ahead, but that advantage wouldn’t hold for long.
The sudden jolt had woken Tom and Iris, and tom had instinctively put himself over Iris to hold her down while he gripped onto their mother’s Fluff to keep them steady. Betsy however couldn’t keep still, her grip on Maggie’s Fluff loosened with every new bump and shake, she could feel herself slipping on each and every thump of her mother’s hoof.
“SISSY! GWAB ON!”
Tom reached out a hoof toward Betsy, if the three sibling could work together they could keep each other safe, with no other option, Betsy let go of Maggie’s Fluff and reached for her brother…
Only for Maggie to make a mighty leap over a fallen branch, leaving Betsy weightless for just a second, before she crashed back down and bounced off of her mother’s back and landed straight into the cold water of the running river.
“SISSY!”
“BABBEH!”
“MUMMAH!”
Betsy spluttered as the water seeped into her veins and froze her insides, the violent current pushing her further and further away from her family. Thankfully she was big enough to stay just above the waterline to keep from drowning but her Fluff was slowly getting waterlogged and she could feel herself being pulled down with each sudden twist in the river.
Crassus angled himself to run alongside the river, he tried to reach out towards Betsy but trying to run on three legs only slowly him down, all Betsy could do was flail her legs, desperately trying not to let the waters take her life. All the while, she watched her mother sobbing as the current pulled her further and further away.
“MUMMA…”
THUNK
Betsy’s head smacked itself against a rock, and then everything went black.
Betsy woke to the feeling of dirt pulling pulled along her face, as he eyes slowly fluttered open she felt teeth on the back of her neck and realised that someone, or something, was pulling her out of the water.
When she turned slightly to see who or what had her, the teeth on her neck dropped her and a figure ran to her front. Through her blurred vision she could make out it was another Fluffy, a stallion with brown Fluff.
For as brief moment, she was scared that Pine or Elm had found her.
“Hewwo? Am wittew mawe awwight?”
Betsy slowly and shakily climbed onto her feet, water dripping from her Fluff, her body still bruised and battered from the harsh currents that had taken her. She blinked several times trying to find someway to unblur her vision, it took some time but eventually she was able to see the face of the stallion in front of her.
He was a Pegasus, his Fluff was a rich chestnut brown, and his mane a sleek obsidian black, he seemed slightly older than she was, maybe just over the age of an adult Fluffy whereas she was just under it, and despite some obvious strength within his back and legs, his smile was soft and warm, easing her stress and making her feel safe.
To put it bluntly, he was a handsome sort.
“Am wittew mawe awwight? Syc-Ah-Mowe see yu in wawa pwace, nu knyo how wong yu be dewe, bu wittww mawe hab wots of wawa in Fwuff, fink yu be dewe fow wong time.”
“Yu sabe Bet-see?”
The stallion, Sycamore, smiled. “Wittew mawe am cawwed Bet-see, dat am nice namesie. Syc-ah-mowe am Syc-ah-mowe, an yeh, puww Bet-see fwom wawa pwace, wucky Bet-see am stiww wittew mawe an nu big mawe.”
Sycamore chuckled for a moment before seeing the tears in Betsy’s eyes. “Wha wong, am Bet-see ok?”
“Bet-see wose mummah an bwudda an sissy. We wewe wunnin fwom biggesh meanies an Bet-see faww intu wawa, finkie-pwace git wowstesh huwties den mummah gu way. Syc-ah-mowe nu see aneewun ewse?”
Sycamore frowned and shook his head. “Sowwy nu, jus Bet-see. Bu wawa am big pwace, gu fow wongest time, wittew wawas gu intu big wawas den back intu wittew wawas. Ee-see tu wose Fwuffy if nu knyo wha wawa dey am in.”
Betsy looked back towards where she’d come from, sure enough she could see a number of rivers around her, all converging into a small lake near the top of a hill, which then branched off into even more rivers of varying sizes. Betsy had no idea which one she had travelled down, which stood to reason that her mother had no idea where she’d gone either.
“Huuuhuu, wan mummah bak.”
Sycamore stepped forward and gave Betsy a soft hug. “It ok nyu fwiend, Syc-ah-mowe take yu tu nestie pwace, Bet-see hab nummies an westies, den Syc-ah-mowe hewp Bet-see find mummah.”
“Yu… yu du dat? Wai?”
“Cos it am gud fing tu du, dat wai. Nyo come, nestie pwace am dis way.”
Feeling slightly less scared, Betsy wiped the tears from her eyes and followed Sycamore, a new dawn breaking above them as the two new friends made their way towards the morning hustle of the waking city.
