Chapter 3: Old Enemies
Crowley looked over the family in front of him, seeing the look of hatred and fear in the father’s eyes. He was confused for a moment, until he too recognised the Fluffy in front of him.
“Yu. Cwowwey wememba yu.” He spoke in a low, gargling tone due to his badly healed jaw. “Yu gib mouthie-pwace wowstesh huwties.”
Glen puffed his cheeks. “Yu gib speciaw-fwiend bad-huggies, gib tummeh-babbehs foweba sweepies.”
“Smawty git wha Smawty wan, an Smawty wan wump-huwties tu gu.”
“Yu nu huwt famiwy gain, weave nyo ow Gwen gib yu sowwy-hoofies.”
The three toughies laughed, they could see Glen’s weakened state, as much as he tried to appear tough, he was clearly struggling to keep it up.
The black colt sniggered. “Daddeh, dis dummeh nu can eban huwt babbeh, wet Cwow gib him foweba sweepies.”
Crowley smiled at his rambunctious son. “Nu babbeh, nu gib dummeh famiwy foweba sweepies. Dat tuu ee-see. Wan make huwties wast, wan dem tu suffa, Tuffies, howd dis Gwen down whiwe Cwowwey gib mawe sowwy-enfies.”
“NU!” Maggie screamed out, reflectively covering her children. “Famiwy hab nummies, can gub yu nummies if nu gib huwties.”
Crowley stopped for a moment, his lumps were hurting, but so was his tummy, the minor civil war he’d had to contend with in his herd after Glen broke his jaw had taken a fair chunk out of the herd’s food supplies.
He figured he could eat now and enf later.
“Ok, show Smawty whewe nummies awe.”
Maggie went to move but Glen got there first, he shook his head at her and she understood, he would lead Crowley while Maggie stayed behind, that way she’d have a chance to escape if everything went wrong. One by one, Crowley and his crew followed Glen inside, passing by Maggie and the foals, Crow went first, taking his rightful spot beside his father, the peace mare went next, waddling as much as her pregnant belly would allow, Maggie recognised her, her name was Coral, she wasn’t Crowley’s original special-friend or Crow’s mother, but seemed to have taken the spot following her death. Unsurprising thought Maggie, Coral was as big a meanie as Crowley and seemed to resent not being the Smarty’s special friend, now she was.
Coral made a point of shoving Maggie as she passed her. “Dummeh mawe nu git in soon-mummah’s way, bestesh babbehs am betta dan yuw poopie babbehs.”
Iris made to argue but Maggie stopped her, knowing there was nothing good to come from it.
The three toughies went next, she recognised the red and the blue one, the red was Crusher, the blue was Breaker, named for their love of crushing skulls and breaking bones. Maggie had heard rumours that they were special-friends with each other since no mare would go near them, but that didn’t make sense to her, how could two stallions be special-friends.
The yellow one however, she didn’t recognise him, likely recruited after she and Glen had left. She didn’t know if it was the unknown nature of the toughie, the larger size of him compared to the others, or the weird look he was giving her foals, but this yellow bastard scared her more than even Crowley.
Yellow stopped for a moment, his eyes looking down at Betsy, he saw her shiver with fear and it made him smile, even more so once Travis stepped in front of her.
“Weave sissy awone.” He said plainly.
“If Woawke wan yuw sissy, Woawke take hew. Den Woawke hab yu tuu.”
Roarke chuckled to himself and went back to following his herd, leaving Maggie and the foals to cry, wishing for their Big Mummah to come back.
Inside the house, Crowley and his herd saw the food bowl of kibble and scoffed at it.
“Am dis it?” Crowley asked.
“Mistah Fwan-sis weave dat fow Gwen an famiwy, be bak in sum bwite-times fow mowe.”
Coral kicked the bowl, sending kibble flying onto the kitchen floor. “Cowaw nu wan dummeh kibbew, wan bestesh nummies fow bestesh babbehs.”
Crowley turned to Glen, frightening him even more. “Wai Mistah Fwan-sis ny hewe nyo?”
“Dis am nu Mistah Fwan-sis homesie, dis am Big Mummah homesie. She hab huwtie, need gu tu big doktow pwace. Mistah Fwan-sis gib Fwuffies nummies tiww she git bak. Weave dis hewe fow sum bwite-times, den come bak wata.”
Crowley scowled then punched Glen in the face, knocking him to the floor. “How dat hewp Smawty nyo? How feed hewd wiv dis wittew nummies?”
“Mistah Fwan-sis wetuwn, ask him fow mowe nummies, Mistah Fwan-sis am gud.”
Crowley looked down at Glen, and decided it was easier not to hurt him just yet. “Yu teww Mistah Fwan-sis tu gib wots of nummies, ow Smawty gib yu wowstesh huwties.”
“Gwen undastan, Gwen du dat.”
“Gud, nyo gu way, dese am hewd nummies nyo.”
And with that, Crowley turned back to the food bowl, sharing what he could with Crow and Coral while the Toughies started gathering the remains that had spilled out earlier.
Glen watched them eat away, it would be a tough few days until Francis returned, but the foals had full bellies and there was plenty of grass to num if things got tight. All he had to do was wait for Francis to return, Francis who didn’t care for Fluffies, Francis who was a bad human.
Francis who would get rid of the invaders in his mummah’s home.
That first day was not fun.
The food bowl was depleted entirely before it was even dark-time, mostly by Coral who still complained about being hungry, this wasn’t her first litter but it was the first one she was having with the herd Smarty so she wanted to make sure she had the best babbehs for him, and not having any good nummies in the last 20 minutes were putting her foals lives at risk.
“Hmmph, soon-mummah wan mowe nummies, wai dummehs nu hab nummies.” She spat venomously at Maggie.
“Mag-ee need wait for Mistah Fwan-sis tu come bak, nu Mag-ee fauwt dat Cowow hab aww nummies.”
Coral scowled and waddled over to Maggie. “BESTESH MUMMEH NEEDS BESTESH NUMMIES FOW TUMMEH-BABBEHS! Maybe if Mag-ee nu su dummeh she knyo dat, nu hab dummeh poopie babbehs, wet Smawty hab enfies and hab bestesh babbehs wike Cowaw.”
Maggie felt her eyes well up at the memory of his first litter. “Bu Mag-ee hab tummeh-babbehs wen Cwowwey wan enfies, speciaw-huggies bad fow tummeh-babbehs.”
Coral snorted. “Dem wewe dummeh babbehs, wike dese wuns, Mag-ee am dummeh fow nu habben Smawty babbehs.”
The stuck-up mare turned away from Maggie, not wanting to deal with a crying mummah who was too dumb to know any better. As she left she saw Deidre’s tulips growing to the sidelines, the soft pink colours told her everything she needed to know.
“Hmm, pwetty fwowas make bestesh nummies.”
As Coral took the first bite of a bulb, she heard a high-pitched scream coming towards her, she turned and saw Iris charging at her.
“Nu num Big Mummah fwowas, onwy bad Fwuffies num pwetty…”
Iris was suddenly cut off by Crow slamming into her, they tumbled over each other until Crow was on top of Iris, holding her down under his weight.
“Dummeh babbeh nu teww mummah wah du, mummah wan pwetty nummies, mummah hab pwetty nummies.”
Iris didn’t even listen to him, her internal programming misread the situation and cried out for help.
“Git off babbeh, babbehs tuu wittew fow speciaw-huggies, nu wan.”
“Wha am…”
Suddenly Crow realised what position they were in, all he had to do was move a little and he’d be in a perfect enfie pose, as his no-no stick began to harden, he kicked Iris’ legs open.
“Babbeh am big enuff fow Cwow, yu wike dese enfies.”
“NUUUU!!!”
“CWOW!”
Crow stopped as he heard his father’s voice, he looked over and saw Crowley staring daggers at him, behind his father, Crusher and Breaker fought to keep Glen on the ground, he was fighting with everything he had to save his daughter.
Crowley continued talking. “Nu gib babbeh enfies, tuu wittew.”
“Bu Cwow wumps hab…”
“Nu cawe, nu enf babbehs yet.”
Crow reluctantly got off of Iris, who immediate ran for her mother, crying and wailing about the fear and the pain she just went through. Crowley walked over to his son, taking him over to where Maggie was shielding her foals.
“Cwow knyo wai he nu enf babbeh?”
“Coz bad-enfies gib babbehs foweba sweepies.”
“Nu, it coz too-soon enfies can gib babbeh wowstesh huwties. Wook at Iwis.”
Maggie tried to shield her daughter but one stern look from Crowley made her move her leg, exposing Iris to her would-be attacker.
“Wook at how pwetty babbeh is, gun be vewy pwetty mawe and hab pwetty babbehs, if Cwow gib enfies nyo, den Iwis neba hab babbehs, hew tummeh git tuu bad huwties. If Cwow wait, den can hab wots of pwetty babbehs wiv Iwis.”
Maggie shook her head. “Nu wet meanie Cwow gib Iwis enfies”
Crowley didn’t even look at her, he simply backhanded Maggie and sent her tumbling to the floor. Tom and Travis barked up.
“WEAVE MUMMAH AWONE!”
“Babbehs quiet, big Fwuffies tawking.”
Maggie tried to crawl away, tried to ignore the taste of blood in her mouth, until she felt Crowley put two hoofs on her back and fear paralysed her.
“Of couwse, if mummah nu wet yu gib enfies tu babbeh, den yu gib enfies tu mummah. Undastan.”
Both Crow and Maggie nodded, though both for very different reasons. Crowley smiled as his lesson was understood and took Crow back to the house. Maggie curled up and wept, her four foals tried to hug their mother better but fear and trauma had consumed her at that point.
The only sound breaking the silence was Coral eating the flowers.
Travis was awoken the next day by the sounds of grunting, at almost a month old he could recognise what the sounds were although he didn’t fully understand them. All he knew was that they scared him.
Jumping awake, Travis instantly looked over his family to make sure they were ok, Maggie had Tom, Iris and Betsy curled under her stomach, Glen was right beside them to complete the hug-pile, and yet the grunting continued.
“Enf, enf, enf, enf.”
In the low light of the dawn, Travis looked around, until he saw two forms in the shadow of the house moving away, the figure on top he could just recognise the blue fluff of Breaker, but the one on the bottom seemed to have the red fluff of Crusher.
“Babbeh confoosed?”
Travis yelped slightly as he spun round to see Crowley watching over him, the Smarty seemed to have been awake for a good while. Travis didn’t know if he had slept at all.
Crowley motioned for Travis to come closer, the little unicorn didn’t want to, but he was smart enough to know he had no choice. Carefully Travis stepped over his mother’s legs and approached Crowley, the monstrous red Smarty at least had the courtesy to lead Travis away from the enfing stallions as they walked to the edge of the garden.
“Babbeh neba seen stawwions enf eech udda befowe.”
Travis shook his head. “Neba seen enfies befowe, nu weawise stawwions can be speciaw-fwiends.”
“Cwusha an Bweaka awe… yoo-neek. Vewy wittew Fwuffies wike dem, wots of Fwuffies scawed by dem coz dey nu enf mawes. Bu Cwowwey see dem diffawently, Cwowwey see dem as gud tuffies dey awe, Cwowwey wet dem in hewd, nyo dey du wha eba Smawty say.”
Crowley looked down and saw Travis look back towards his family, a strange look on his face, part of it was fear, part of it was wondering where Crowley was going with this.
“Da point Smawty am makin is dat it impowtant tu wecognise stwenff, eben if it nu make sense at fiwst. Cwowwey see twu stawwion speciaw-fwiends, shouwd gib dem foweba sweepies fow beein un-na-too-wal. Bu Cwowwey see twu stwong Fwuffies who jus wike tu enf eech udda, nyo Cwowwey hewd am stwonga.”
“Wai am Cwowwey tewwin Twavis dis.”
The smile on Crowley’s face frightened Travis as the Smarty lifted a hoof and tapped Travis on his horn.
“Yu am pointee-Fwuffy, wike Cwowwey, yu am smawt babbeh. Mummah an daddeh tweat yu diffawentwy yeh?”
Travis took a second before shaking his head, but that second was all Crowley needed to know the truth. As much as Travis was loved and cared for by his parents, he wasn’t given the same adoration as his pretty sister or his strong brother.
Crowley had already picked that up, but he was impressed that Travis still cared enough to lie for his parents.
“Babbeh am awways gun be oussida, mummah an daddeh awways wook at yu wike yu diffawent, wike yu maybe am munstah.”
“Dat am Cwowwey fauwt, gib mummah bad huggies, gib bruddas an sissies foweba sweepies.”
Crowley smirked at the accusation. “Sowwy? Did yu wose sumfing? Bwuddas an sissies yu neba meet? Who gu foweba sweepies befowe yu eben tummeh-babbehs? Cwowwey neba huwt yu babbeh, nu fink yu hab wight tu call him munstah.”
“Bu yu huwt mummah, gib wowtesh heawt-huwties.”
“Cwowwey hab heawt-huwties tuu, wose speciaw-fwiend, hab huwties in heawt an in wumps. Mag-ee nu undastan da wules, dat Smawties enf who dey wan, wen dey wan. Dat wha it meens tu be weada, dat wha in meens to hab powa.”
“Dat nu powa, dat jus excoose tu be meanie. Yu fink coz yu stwonga yu can buwwy udda Fwuffies?”
“Cwowwey nu am stwonga, Cwowwey can fight suwe, gib many bad Fwuffies foweba sweepies, bu if Cwowwey fight Cwusha, ow Bweaka, ow Woawke? Cwowwey wose. Cwowwey am Smawty coz Cwowwey am smawt, knyo how tu wead, how tu git udda Fwuffies tu du wha Cwowwey wan. Knyowedge is powa, powa IS powa, Twavis am smawt tuu, need weawn dis fings befowe be big Fwuffy.”
“Twavis am diffawent, Twavis use smawts tu wook afta famiwy, tu pwotect dem fwom munstah wike yu.”
Crowley smirked at him “Yu nu hab wong tu twy, Fwuffies weaving soon.”
Travis felt all his bravado knocked out of him. “Whewe… whewe am Cwowwey guin.”
“Bak tu hewd, wan dis wand fow Smawty, habe nummies fow soon-mummahs an Tuffies. Bu nyo findin yuw mummah an daddeh, gun gu bak tu hewd and take Twavis famiwy wiv us. It been tuu wong and dummehs need pun-eshed.”
“Nu. Nu yu nu take famiwy, need be hewe fow wen Big Mummah come bak.”
“Cwowwey suwe Big Mummah am nice, bu she take in bad Fwuffies. Gwen gib Cwowwey mouthie-pwace wowstesh huwties, stiww hab huwties. Udda dummehs in hewd fink dat Cwowwey nu am Smawtie nyo, dat if dummeh wike Gwen can huwt Smawtie, dey can tuu. Wose wots of Fwuffies, some wun way, some hab tug u foweba sweepies. Cwowwey need take yuw famiwy bak su dat he can show hewd wha happen tu dummehs who twy tu huwt Smawty.”
Travis pissed himself with fear as Crowley loomed over him. “Wai… wai teww Twavis dis.”
Crowley leaned in closer so that his face was inches away from Travis, close enough that Travis could see the dried specks of blood on Crowley’s Fluff.
“Bee-coz Cwowwey wan yu tu twy an sabe dem, su dat wen yu faiw, it gib aww dam owe huwties.”
Crowley turned and chuckled as he returned to Coral and Crow, leaving Travis alone in the garden, shivering and crying. He would stay that way until his parents woke a few hours later.
