Chapter 9: Monster Mummah
Crowley stood over a patch of dirt not too far from his den, the weather had beaten this patch just as bad as the surrounding areas but Crowley could still make out the indentation he had made some time ago.
An S written in the dirt, marking Scorch’s grave.
It was symbolic, Scorch’s corpse hadn’t been found after she was carried off by the birdie monster, neither were the bodies of her foals, out of the five foals she had with her at the time, only two remained, the first died from the fall, unable to cling onto her mother’s back, the second was Crow, the only survivor and only child of Crowley and Scorch still breathing.
The S indentation was Crassus’ idea, a way of remembering Scorch, of honouring her death. Most Fluffies in the herd balked at the idea, finding it too sad and too painful, but Crowley took the old Alicorn’s advice and wrote the S with a stick. He didn’t know where Crassus got the idea, the old stallion said very little of his life before the herd, but when he found himself mourning the loss of his mate, he appreciated this little area as a way to find himself again.
Crassus would never admit it openly, but he feared that by giving Crowley a place to mourn, the Smarty would never be able to fully process Scorch’s death, that his Fluffy brain would always have that reminder of her being gone and never properly move on like Crassus had seen so many other Fluffies do.
Crowley stood in front of Scorch’s memorial for a few minutes before he felt a presence next to him, he looked over and saw Crow slowly approaching him, Crow knew the importance of this place, but he wasn’t sure how best to act when his father was at hand.
Crowley motioned for his son to approach. “Come cwosa babbeh, daddeh knyo yu dewe.”
Crow took slow, cautious steps, despite his bravado he knew his father could be dangerous when it came to matter revolving around Scorch. Although for the moment, he seemed friendly.
“Wha daddeh duin wiv mummah foweba sweepies pwace?”
“Daddeh come hewe wen hab finkie-pwace pwobwems sumtimes. Scowch was smawt Fwuffy, awmosh as smawt as Cwassus, she knyo wha tu du.”
“Daddeh tawk bout Cowaw.”
Crowley nodded. “She bad Fwuffy, gib own babbeh foweba sweepies, Cwowwey babbeh.”
“Wai daddeh nu jus gib Cowaw foweba sweepies?”
“Nu enuff mawes in da hewd fow dat, wunce Cowaw pun-ess-ment dun, she gu tu udda stawwion, Cwowwey nu wub hew nu mowe.”
“Did daddeh eba wub Cowaw?”
Crowley sighed and turned away from his son, an unfamiliar feeling of shame washing over him. “Cwow am smawt wike mummah. Nu, Cwowwey nu fink he eba wub Cowaw.”
“Den… wai daddeh hab hew as speciaw-fwiend?”
“Cwowwey miss Scowch. Hab biggesh heawt-huwties wen she gu, an udda babbehs tuu. If Cwow nu hewe, Cwowwey maybe gib own foweba sweepies. Cowaw be nice, Cowaw be gud fwiend, Cwowwey… Cwowwey make mistake, heawt-huwties nu make him see dat Cowaw onwy be fwiends su she can be Smawty speciaw-fwiend, nu cawe who da Smawty is. Wen Cwowwey weawise, Cowaw awweady soon-mummah, Cwowwey stay wiv hew fow babbehs.”
Crow scoffed. “Den Cwow nu hab speciaw-fwiend wen he Smawty, onwy enfie-mawes.”
“Nu, dat wong. Need speciaw-fwiend su can pwepawe babbehs fow bein neks Smawty afta Cwow, Cwassus say it hab weh-git-te-mah-see. Enfie-mawed am gud fow gibben hewd gud, stwong babbehs, bu onwy babbehs wiv speciaw-fwiend can be Smawty. Mowe dan dat, Cwow need sum-wun tu twust, sum-wun to hewp him wen hewd hab twubbews.”
“Daddeh fink Iwis be dat fow Cwow?”
“Iwis am Mag-ee babbeh, Mag-ee awways gud Fwuffy befowe she wun way. Iwis am wittew wough coz she an inside Fwuffy, bu wunce Cwow gib hew Smawty babbehs, she be gud speciaw-fwiend.”
“Wike mummah?”
“If Cwow wucky, yeh.”
“Cwow nu wememba mummah, nu wememba bruddas ow sisstahs.”
Crowley looked down at his son, not sure whether he felt pity or envy over his short memory, taking a final deep sigh, he turned away from Scorch’s memorial and tapped Crow to follow him.
“Come, hewd need Smawty nyo.”
Crow did as his father told and followed him back towards the den, Crowley took one final look back as his way of saying goodbye to Scorch.
He noticed Crow did not look back at all.
It had been 3 days since Coral gave birth, 3 days since she killed her own son. In that time the two surviving foals had been fed by Aqua and Blossom, the two of them alternating feedings so as not to run low on milk for their own foals, although both were still at least a week or two away from giving birth.
Coral hadn’t shut up in the entire time she had been stuck to The Hurty Tree, the only solace now being that her vocal chords were too damaged for her to be heard properly. Her shoulder ached where the branch had pierced it and she could barely feel her right leg, but what really hurt were her tummy and her teats. She was barely being fed, about once a day one of the Toughies would come up with a stick of wet, mushy leaves and shove it in her face, she’d never eat enough to be full but it was enough to stave off starvation. The side effect however was that she was still producing milk from her feedings and had no foals to relieve the pressure, it was a slow, dull pain at first but after three days she felt like her teats were going to burst.
Either she ate to ease her tummy hurties and dealt with overfilled teats, or she stopped producing milk and starved.
Every day she had to look out and see her babbehs, her no-pretty yellow colt and her Smarty looking red colt, cuddle up to Aqua and Blossom and feed from them, and every day Coral would cry out that they were killing her babbehs, that they needed HER milk, her bestesh mummah’s bestesh milk to grow big and strong and save her from The Hurty Tree. And every day, she was ignored.
Blossom took on her role with reluctance, feeding the two colts when it was her turn but never hugging them – not that she could with no front legs but she made no effort to even try - never singing to them. Aqua on the other hand, she took to the job with glee, happily singing to the foals whenever they were with her, both she and Zip would give the little foals hugs once they were full, Crowley even allowed them to keep the foals in a hug-pile during sleepie time.
That last one confused Travis to no end. “Wai Cwowwey nu hab babbehs wiv him at dawk-time?” He asked Crassus while munching on some grass.
Crassus looked over at Zip and Aqua feeding the foals. “Wai Twavis fink?”
Travis swallowed his grass. “Nu knyo, maybe Cwowwey tuu biz-ee bein Smawty?”
Crassus shook his head. “Fink bout wha happen wiv Cowaw, wai yu fink Cwowwey nu wan his own babbehs wiv him wight nyo.”
Travis thought about it, and something came to mind… but surely not. Unless…
“Am Cwowwey wetting babbehs fink Zip an Ak-wah am mummah an daddeh?”
Crassus nodded. “Cwowwey wan babbehs hab heawt-happies, nu can du dat wiv meanie mummah.”
“Bu how can Cwowwey wet babbeh gu wike dat? How can he nu be daddeh?”
“It ee-see-uh dan babbeh fink. Cwowwey du wub babbehs, bu dey nu Scowch babbehs, ee-see fow Cwowwey to gib dem tu udda Fwuffies, Zip an Ak-wah be gud mummah and daddeh, waise babbehs wike deiw own.”
Travis shook his head and took another mouthful of grass. “Twavis nu undastan, fink Cwowwey am bein siwwy.”
Crassus smirked. “Twavis neba hab speciaw-fwiend, nu knyo wha dat wub du tu a Fwuffy. Yu undastan wen yu big Fwuffy, an Cwassus fink dat happen soona dan Twavis fink.”
“Wha Cwassus mean by…?” Travis froze, the grass fell out of his open mouth as it suddenly hit him.
He was eating the grass, he wasn’t hungry for his mother’s milk anymore and he hadn’t even realised. If he was big enough for solid foods now, then so were her sisters, and if they were old enough for that, they were old enough for…
“Cwassus pwease!” Travis cried out in a pained whisper. “Nu teww Cwowwey dat Twavis am big Fwuffy nyo, if Twavis am bid Fwuffy den sistahs am big Fwuffies an Cwowwey make meanie Cwow hab…”
Crassus raised a hoof to keep Travis silent. “Cwassus nu say, Cwowwey pwobabwy awweady knyo bu he hab udda fings tu deaw wiv. Yu wememba was time yu see Coppa?”
Travis thought about it, while he did spend most of his time trying to avoid the other Fluffies he knew it was impossible to do so completely, and yet he hadn’t seen Copper in many bright-times.
“Nu, nu wememba.”
“Dat coz Coppa am finding udda hewd, Cwowwey pwepawin fow a waid.”
Across the den, Aqua lovingly sang to the two colts feeding from her teats, while part of her was scared of running out of milk for her own foals, a larger part of her loved being a mummah this soon. And because Blossom didn’t want to bother looking after the colts, Aqua got to look after them almost every hour of the day.
She giggled as the red colt kneaded her teat for more milk. “Dwink up babbehs, miwkies make yu big an stwong. Mummah wub babbehs, babbehs wub mummah.”
“Mummah.”
Aqua stopped. She looked down at where the tiny little voice had come from, and saw the red colt, his eyes open wide, his mouth smiling with a little dribble of milk coming off the side, and he was looking right at her.
“Mummah.”
Aqua knew she couldn’t say anything, this was Crowley’s son, not hers. But looking down at the colt’s bright eyes, she felt her heart burst as she leant over and scooped him up into a hug.
“Yeh, am mummah, mummah wub babbeh su mush.”
The red colt gripped his tiny legs onto Aqua’s Fluff. “Coo, wub mummah.”
“Mummah?”
Aqua beamed, the little yellow colt was talking as well, his eyes opening a little lazier than his brothers but he was talking. Aqua held the red colt with one arm and took the yellow up with her other, hugging them both at the same time.
“Am mummah, mummah wub babbehs, neba wet anee-fing huwt yu gain.”
As Aqua and the two foals were lost in their huggie, behind her Zip was looking very nervously at Crowley.
“Smawty, Zip knyo babbehs am yuws bu…”
“Nu, dey Zip babbehs knyo, wook afta dem.”
Zip nodded and ran off to join his mate, the pair of them welcoming the two new additions with glee. Crowley watched as Zip and Aqua doted on his sons, no longer his sons anymore. It was a hard decision but one he needed to make, in order for the foals to completely disregard Coral as their mother, they needed to disregard him as their father as well, to truly and wholly believe Zip and Away were their parents.
Crowley did love the foals, but in the way he loved all members of his herd. To him they were just that, members, nothing special about them, which made it all the easier to walk away from them.
Satisfied that the foals had latched onto Zip and Aqua, Crowley motioned for Crusher and Breaker to follow him over to The Hurty Tree, it was time to release Coral. Although looking at her, he wondered if that was even worth doing, her peach Fluff was stained with dried blood, her face drenched in snot and tears, and her teats so painfully swollen he could make out the veins in her skin.
If he cared at all, he might have thought death was better for her.
“Babbeh am tawkie babbeh nyo, dey nu fink Cowaw am mummah, yu neba hab dem gain.”
“Pwease.” Coral’s croaky voice grated on his ears. “Babbehs need mummah’s miwkies, nu dummeh mawes dummeh miwkies.”
Crowley sighed, Coral hadn’t seemed to have learnt anything. “Du Cowaw wan down fwom Huwtie Twee.”
She nodded. “Pwease, need sabe babbehs…”
“Babbehs am nu yuws. Say Cowaw undastan an pwomise nu tu gu neaw babbehs an Smawty wet yu down.”
“Bu… bu… dey Cowaw babbehs.”
“Su was wingie-pointy, Cowaw gib him foweba sweepies. Yu wose babbehs coz yu bad mummah.”
Despite her situation, Coral still turned her nose up at Crowley. “Cowaw am bestesh mummah, nu hab munstah babbeh.”
Crowley said nothing, he simply turned away from her, at this point he was actively considering kicking her out of the herd, she clearly couldn’t be trusted with her own foals, how the hell could he trust her with anyone elses.
“WAIT!”
Crowley stopped and turned back, it had taken a lot of effort for Coral to shout after him but desperation took over her.
“Cowaw pwomise nu tu gu neaw babbehs, undastan dey nu hew babbehs nyp. Pwease jus git Cowaw off Da Huwtie Twee.”
Crowley nodded to Crusher and Breaker, together the two of them were able to pull Coral off of the branch and dropped her to the ground. The hole in her shoulder was bleeding and festering, but she would live.
The peach unicorn silently cried about the new pain her body before she looked up at Crowley. “Wha Smawty wan du wiv Cowaw? Am speciaw-fwiend gain?”
“Neba. Cwowwey awweady hab nyu speciaw-fwiend wiv Mag-ee.”
Coral felt her stomach twist, how the hell had that runaway bitch taken her place so quickly. Crowley could see the pain and confusion on Coral’s face so he went in for the kill and whispered in her ear.
“Mag-ee awweady hab Smawty tummeh-babbehs. Gun be betta mummah dan dummeh Cowaw.”
Laughing away, Crowley left Coral to her misery and went off towards the fighting pits where Onyx was battling Pine and Elm for enfing rights of Meadow and Daisy.
Coral sat for a moment, absolutely stunned. How had it gone so wrong, so quickly, it was all that monster babbehs fault. No, no the problems were earlier than that, things hadn’t been the same between her and Crowely ever since…
Ever since they found Glen and Maggie. That fucking mare was trying to take her place. Coral looked over to where Maggie was helping Blossom reach her food.
And Coral saw red.
With great difficult due to her wound, Coral marched over to Maggie, her cheeks puffed to near bursting point, and stood her ground in front of the green mare.
“Wai Mag-ee twyin tu steaw speciaw-fwiend?”
Maggie turned and looked at Coral confused, she barely had time to register that Coral had been freed from The Hurty Tree, let alone understand her question.
“Wha Cowaw say…?”
“Wai Mag-ee twy steaw Cowaw speciaw-fwiend. Cwowwey teww Cowaw, say yu hab Smawty tummeh-babbehs, wai Cwowwey pik yu oba Cowaw.”
Maggie started to back away slowly from the crazed mare. “Cowaw, it nu wha yu fink. Cwowwey gib Mag-ee bad huggie, nu wan…”
“YU WIE!”
And with a sudden burst of mad energy, Coral sprinted forward, the adrenaline numbing her to the pain in her shoulder, and she charged into Maggie, knocking her to the ground.
Maggie looked up in a daze, Coral had knocked the wind out of her. She looked over and saw Coral walking towards her, only for Betsy to get in her way.
“Yu weave mummah awone yu big mea…”
Coral smacked Betsy away like she was nothing and continued onwards towards Maggie.
“Babbeh…” Maggie tried to reach out for her daughter but was cut off by Coral pressing a hoof down onto her tummy. Everything went silently between the two mares, they couldn’t hear Travis and Tom trying to console their beaten sister, they couldn’t hear the two colts wailing into Aqua’s Fluff, they couldn’t hear Zip racing towards Crowley to warn him what was happening.
All they could hear was Coral’s fractured voice as she leant in to Maggie’s ear.
“Dis am Cowaw’s hewd.”
And Coral stomped down on Maggie’s stomach with everything she had.
Maggie felt sickie-wawas burn her through, her poopie-place let out a torrent of shit from the sudden pressure change, then Coral hit her again and again until she saw red spraying out with the brown.
“Pwease.” Maggie begged. “Nu mowe huwties.”
Coral ignored her and reared up on her hind legs. “Cowaw gib dummeh mawe foweba sweepies.”
Suddenly there was a flash of black as Onyx crashed into Coral, the two of them tumbled over each other but the much larger and stronger stallion won out, pinning Coral to the ground, her already wounded legs now badly broken from the attack.
Crowley appeared by Maggie’s side, but the damage was already done, she felt her stomach lurch as the pain spread to her speciaw-pwace.
“Ohh, biggesh poopies.”
And with great difficulty, Maggie passed three pink splotched, each of them barely bigger than a bean, nothing about them recognisable as a creature let alone a Fluffy. But Crowley knew, these were his foals.
He had failed his own children again, and it was all Coral’s fault.
He stormed over to where Onyx had Coral pinned, the bitch was crying about her broken leg until Crowley kicked her in the face.
“Wai yu gib Cwowwey babbehs foweba sweepies AGAIN?”
“Pfft, dey suppose be Cowaw tummeh-babbehs, Cowaw am Smawty speciaw-fwiend, nu dummeh wun-way mawe.”
“YU NU AM SMAWTY SPECIAW-FWIEND! Yu am wowstesh fukin mawe Smwty eba knyo, am dun wiv Cowaw. Yu gu foweba sweepies nyo.”
“NU! Nu Smawty pwease, Cowaw nu wan foweba sweepies , nu du aneefing wong. Pwease…”
“SMAWTY!”
Everyone turned towards the voice, Copper had returned. And he had a smile on his face.
“Smawty, Coppa find udda hewd. Smaww bu wots of mawes, stawwions am weak, ee-see tawget fow hewd.”
Crowley looked down at Coral, he badly wanted to kill her, but the herd needed the mare. Reluctantly he turned away from her.
“On-ix, Bow-dug, wook afta hewd whiwe Smawty gun. Aww udda Stawwions come wiv Cwowwey, we gu on enfie-waid gain.”
The stallions cheered, they hadn’t been on a raid in far too long and all of them were itching to get back into the action. Crowley turned to Onyx.
“Make suwe she stay awive tiww Smawty git bak, deaw wiv hew wata.”
“Yeh Smawty.”
A final nod and Crowley gathered the last of his stallions, finding Crassus waiting for him by Maggie who was alive but clearly hurt.
“Cwowwey wan babbehs wiv us?” Crassus asked, cocking huis head towards Travis and Tom.
Crowley nodded. “Babbehs gitten bigga, need weawn bout Enfie Raids soon. Bwing dem wiv us.”
“BU MUMMAH!” Travis and Tom protested.
“Mummah be ok.” Crassus said, pulling the two colts away from their mother. “Dis mowe impowtant. Yu wan be pawt of hewd, need weawn how hewd du Enfie Waids. Dis big moment, nu be siwwy ok.”
Travis and Tom nodded as Crowley and Copper led the stallions away, all the while Travis silently wondered what an Enfie Raid was and why did it make him feel so nervous.
We’re about half-way through this arc now, things will be moving a lot quicker from here on out.