Chapter 14: Blood For Blood
Travis was barely asleep when he woke up during the night, the faint sound of high-pitched crying could be heard in the darkness, as well as the frantic voice of a frazzled mother.
“Shh, it ok babbeh, mummah hab miwkies in wittew bit.”
“Huu, babbeh hab tummeh huwties, wan miwkies nyo.”
In the soft moonlight, Travis was just able to make out Aqua and Seabreeze attempting to console the red and yellow colts that Aqua had adopted a few days ago. Now with Aqua’s own foals taking priority, the two adoptees were last in line for feeding and would sometimes go without if Aqua hadn’t eaten enough to feed her six biological foals plus the two older colts. Some of the other mares had offered to feed the colts now that the majority of them were pregnant and had some milk to spare, but both colts had imprinted directly onto Aqua as their mother and as such would try to feed from her as much as they could.
Fluffies didn’t really have a word for irony, but Travis was at least aware of the odd bit of luck the colts found themselves in. It was only their wholehearted belief that Zip and Aqua were their parents that was the reason why Crow hadn’t had them killed yet. While they were Crowley’s sons, neither of them knew that and as such weren’t in competition for Crow’s right as Smarty.
Travis could hear the sounds of soft suckling and he knew that at least one of the colts was feeding, he couldn’t see Aqua’s face but he imagine she was relieved, babbehs might be the bestesh thing ever but they took a lot out of you. Of course Aqua would never admit it, she loved all her foals, even the two outliers.
With the crying of the foals dealt with, Travis could hear another sound coming from behind him, a soft, rhythmic thumping coming from one of the trees. Scared but also a little but curious, Travis carefully climbed out of the hug-pile with his siblings and went to investigate, ready to retreat at a moment’s notice if he saw a monster.
Instead, what he found on the other side of the tree, was his brother Tom repeatedly hitting his hoofs against the tree trunk, the most serious look in his eyes that Travis had ever seen.
“Bwudda? Wha duin?”
“Makin tuff hoofies su can gib Cwow wowstesh sowwy-hoofies in da bwite-time.”
“Need west, need tu hab stwenf tu fight.”
“Nu cawe bout west, nu cawe bout stwenf, tuu angwy tu gu sweepies, heawt-huwties tuu bad finkin bout dummeh Cwow gibben sissies wowstesh enfies.”
Tom hit the tree harder and winced, he’d drawn blood. Reluctantly he stepped back and tried not to cry out.
“Tom hate dis hewd Twavis, nu wan be hewe nu mowe.”
“Twavis undastan, hate dis pwace tuu. Fot famiwy be betta wiv Cwowwey gun foweba sweepies, bu Cwow even wowse.”
Tom snorted. “Tom nu scawed of Cwow, he jus dummeh, Tom gib him foweba sweepies.”
Travis immediately shook his head. “Nu, Cwow am bad Smawty bu he stiww wittew, nu can gib wowstesh huwties yet. If bwudda gib Cwow foweba sweepies den wikewy dat Woawke be nyu Smawty. If dat happen, bov Iwis an Bet-see wiww hab wowstesh enfies, an Woawke pwobabwy gib dem foweba sweepies tuu.”
Tom seethed with rage. “Su wha? Tom jus tu wet Cwow enf sissies? Wet dewe fiwst enfies be wiv dat munstah?”
“Nu, Cwow nu cawe if bwudda win ow wose fight, he hab enfies nu matta wha. Bwudda need stop Cwow fwom habbe enfies, take way his speciaw-wumps in da fight.”
“Speciaw-wumps? Dey gib Tom foweba sweepies if he twy dat.”
“Maybe yeh, maybe nu, bu Cwow WIWW enf at weast wun sissie if Tom nu huwt Cwow wumps.”
Tom sighed, between his physical exertion and now the very real possibility that the only way to save his sisters was to sacrifice himself, he was started to feel exhausted.
“Can Twavis du sumfing fow Tom?”
“Of couwse.”
“If Tom gu foweba sweepies in da fight, du Twavis pwomise tu wook afta famiwy.”
Travis felt his heart wrench at the thought of losing another family member, but he knew that Tom was faced with real danger in the morning and needed moral support.
“Twavis pwomise, nu wet anee-fing happen tu famiwy.”
Tom smiled and leant over to hug his brother, the two of them stayed like that for a little bit longer before finally returning to the hugpile. Travis thought he might be up all night with his thoughts reaching but to his surprise, he was out almost as soon as his head hit the ground.
Morning came, and with it, a sense of dread in the air. Travis could feel it sitting heavily as he and his family joined the rest of the herd for breakfast. As he slowly chewed on some berries that were starting to turn, Travis took a moment to look over everyone.
Beside him, Tom had on his stern face, showing no emotion but Travis recognised just the slightest hint of worry in his eyes, not worry about being hurt or even dying, but worry that he’d be too weak to save his sister. Iris and Betsy wore their fear much more evidently, both of them were shaking at the prospect of either of them becoming Crow’s plaything and were cowering between Maggie’s legs, trying not to look anyone in the eye. Maggie herself was putting on a brave face but even she knew that today wasn’t going to end well for her.
Travis looked across to the mares, Aqua and Seabreeze seemed totally unfazed by the upcoming events as they were focussed on Aqua’s foals but the rest of them, Daisy, Meadow, Andi, Ness and especially Blossom looked worried, whether for Tom’s safety or for fear of what Crow would do afterwards Travis couldn’t tell, but none of them had an easy look on their face.
Even Coral, stuck in her one spot near The Hurty Tree with all her legs broken, could tell something was up, although Travis wasn’t sure if she cared or not, her focus seemed to be towards hating Aqua for stealing her foals.
The Toughies on the other hand, they looked eager as all hell, well most of them. Zip was too focussed on his new kids to give a shit and Travis could see Crusher and Breaker were putting on fake smiles to join in with the laughter. But Boulder, Onix, Copper, Pine and Elm, they all looked excited and giddy at the prospect of seeing a good fight.
Roarke wasn’t there yet, neither was Crow, but Travis could guess the smiles on their faces and it made him queasy thinking about it.
Finally Travis looked over at Crassus, the old stallion looked… resigned. As though part of them had feared something like this happening for a while, maybe since Crowley stole Travis and his family from their home. Travis still wasn’t sure where he stood with Crassus, but for a brief moment he pitied the Alicorn.
From Crow’s nest there was a loud thumping as Roarke stomped his way towards the herd, signalling the arrival of Crow, the young Smarty sneered at his subjects, his eyes brimming with cruelty and confidence.
“Am Fwuffies weady fow gud fight.”
The Toughies cheered, Iris and Betsy cried, Tom puffed his cheeks, Travis stayed silent, as much as he wanted to be there for his siblings, the memories of Crow’s assault still plagued his head.
Crow and Roarke made their way over to Tom, Tom in turn marched over to meet them, quickly joined by Breaker for moral support. As the two pairs met, Roarke snorted derisively at Breaker.
“Dummeh stawwion wuba pik dis babbeh oba Smawty?”
Breaker shrugged. “Tom am gud Tuffy, desewve knyo how fight wike udda Tuffies. Cwow am stiww Smawty, eben if he wose.”
Crow spat on the ground. “Smawty nu wose, Smawty am Tuffesh stawwion in hewd, gib dis dummeh foweba sweepies.”
Tom just shook his head. “Cwow need stop tawkin an stawt fighting, Tom fink he just woud-mouth.”
Crow moved to hit Tom until Roarke put a leg in his way. “Sabe it fow da fight Smawty, nee aww hewd see yu beat dis dummeh.”
Crow nodded in agreement with his new advisor and turned away to prepare himself, Tom stayed for a bit before turning around himself, Breaker followed him.
“Tom wememba wha Bweaka show him?”
Tom nodded. “Can gib gud fight, nu scawed of Cwow.”
“Yu shouwd be.”
Tom and Breaker looked over and the approaching Crassus. “Cwow nu wet dis be ee-see fow yu, if yu wose den yuw sissie git bad enfies, if yu win, den Cwow hab Woawke gib yu foweba sweepies, DEN yuw sissie hab bad enfies. Dewe am nu way fow yu tu come out of dis wivout sum fowm of huwtie.”
“Tom knyo dat, Tom knyo wt Cwow win fight. Bu Tom nu make it ee-see fow him tuu.”
Crassus sighed and left them, his fears of the fight were coming true. Crow might have the excuse of breeding rights but in truth he was fighting for pride, to prove to the Toughies that he could be a strong leader like his father. Tom was fighting for his family and Crassus could tell Tom was the better fighter, more importantly he could tell that Tom could tell he was the better fighter and likely wouldn’t be able to hold back from beating Crow.
Crassus stopped in front of Maggie. “Cwassus hope yu weady.”
“Weady fow wha? Fow seein babbeh fight Cwow?”
“Nu, if Mag-ee am wucky, den she onwy need be weady tu buwy wun babbeh dis bwite-time.”
Once bellies were full and the sun was high, the moment came at last for the fight to begin. With Zip and Seabreeze looking after the mares, the Toughies all formed a circle around the fighting pit, Crow on one side brandishing his horn as Roarke whispered in his ear, Tom on the other, flexing his earthie muscles whilst his family gave him huggies for luck.
“Bwudda beat dat munstah.” Iris whispered in Tom’s ear.
“Tom wiww twy, nu wet him neaw sissies.”
“Bet-see bewieve yu.”
“Mummah bewieve yu tuu, yu am gud babbeh, big an stwong.”
Tom hugged his sisters and his mother one final time before turning to Travis. “Be bwave bwudda.”
“Yu tuu, Twavis wememba pwomise.”
The brother hugged again, and then Tom turned to face his rival, Crow sneered at him as the two young stallions approached each other in the middle, Crassus stood there waiting for them as decider, being the only Fluffy smart enough to be impartial.
“Weady?”
“Weady.” Crow nodded, his eyes never leaving Tom’s.
Tom replied in kind. “Weady.”
“GU!”
Crassus ran out of the way as both Fluffies started circling, stalking around each other as the sound of their blood pumping drowned out the cheers of the crowd.
Crow chuckled. “Am dummeh finkin bout wha Cwow gun du tu sissies wen Cwow beat yu? Finkin bout aww da enfies he gun hab wiv dem.”
“Tom fink dat dummeh Cwow tawk tu mush.”
“YU DA DUMMEH!”
Crow shot out with the first blow, but his rashness proved his undoing as his aim for Tom’s side was interrupted by Tom stepping out of the way of the attack and kicking Crow in the ribs.
The Smarty coughed violently from the hit, but recovered quickly and was right back at it, slamming his hoofs down at Tom. Tom was able to dodge the first few as he jumped backwards, away from Crow’s attacks, but all it took was one good hit and Tom was thrown off balance, allowing Crow to smack Tom in the face multiple times.
Tom was tasting blood by the time he leapt forward and rammed his shoulder into Crow’s stomach. The black colt nearly threw up for the sheer force of the hit, and felt his legs twist violently as he was thrown away from Tom, landing in a rough pile near Roarke. Crow held his breath, trying not to scream out as his legs ached from the tumble, but then he heard the chuckling, and Crow looked over to see Tom, battered and bloody, but still standing.
“Du Cwow gib up yet?”
“YYYYYYAAAAAAAHHHHHH!!!”
Crow FUMED, the adrenaline pumped through him enough to ignore this pain and he charged again at Tom, his horn wielded like a spear. Tom tried to dodge the attack again but Crow was prepared and switched directions at the last minutes, Tom was only just able to move out of the way of a fatal blow but Crow’s horn still left a deep graze on his back left leg.
“BABBEH!”
Maggie screamed as she saw her son dropped to the ground, his leg bleeding on the side. Travis felt Betsy and Iris cowering beside him, he tried to comfort his sisters but his eyes were focussed on the fight. Much like when Roarke killed Glen, he didn’t turn away, couldn’t turn away.
He was going to watch his brother die.
While Tom was distracted by his wound, Crow positioned him in front of the earthie and smirked at him.
“Dummeh gib gud fght, bu nyo yu gu foweba sweepies.”
Crow raised his hoofs up to stomp on Tom’s head, but as he brought them down, Tom rolled out of the way. Crow’s leg hit solid ground, the already weakened limb shot through with agony, crippling Crow long enough for Tom to kick Crow in the hind-legs, crumpling the Smarty to the ground.
A hum of shock pulsed through the Toughies, Tom was clearly holding his own, some of them thought he might win the whole fight.
Crassus was scared he’d win the fight, even if he didn’t kill Crow life would be so much harder for Tom’s family if he didn’t yield the fight to Crow. Until Crassus saw Tom moving behind Crow, towards the unicorn’s unprotected lumps.
Now he was utterly terrified of what might happen next.
Tom pressed a hoof onto Crow’s lumps, letting him feel just that little bit of pain to know what was about to happen.
“Feew dat. Dat am da wast fing dummeh wumps feew. Yu nu gib sissies enfies wiv nu wumps, yu nu gib bwudda enfies, yu neba gib enfies gain yu fukin dummeh.”
Tom lifted his hoof, ready to smash down on Crow’s lump and end the Smarty’s reign of sexual terror before it even began…
Only for Crow to kick his hind-legs up and catch Tom in the throat. The earthie dropped to the floor, coughing and spluttering at the sudden trauma to his airways. By the time he found his breath again, Crow had gotten up.
Tom had mere seconds to notice Crow’s horn just before it pierced through his right eye, utterly obliterating it.
“NUUUUGGGGGHHHHHH!”
Tom fell to a quivering wreck as he was half-blinded by Crow’s horn, the Smarty ripped the appendage from its owner and flicked his head to throw it away. Iris and Betsy screamed in terror, Travis and Maggie could only watched stunned.
Crow pressed a hoof to the back of Tom’s neck, claiming victory over the fight.
“Yu fink yu can take Smawties wumps? Yu fink yu du dat an nu git huwties? Smawty teww yu wha happen nyo, Smawty gun enf bov yuw sissies, and yu gun watch.”
Without a second’s hesitation, Roarke took Crow’s place to hold Tom to the ground. Maggie felt all eyes turn to her and her children, and instinctively she tried to cover them.
“Nu, gu way, yu nu take Mag-ee babbehs, babbehs am tuu wittew fow…”
A swift kick from Boulder sent her flying away.
“MUMMAH!”
The three foals tried to rush to their mother’s aid, but this left them open for attack at Boulder knocked Betsy to the ground and threw her over to Crow. Betsy cowered at the lecherous leer Crow was giving her, she tried to curl up into a ball but Crow kicked her back legs open exposing her special-place.
“P…pwease nu… nu wan ba… bad huggies. Am on… onwy wittew bab… babbbeh.” Betsy tried to plead with Crow through her tears.
Crow ignored her. “DIS WHA HAPPEN WEN YU TWY tU HUWT SMAWTY. NU WUN EBA HUWT SMAWTY!”
A loud cheer erupted from the Toughies, most of them eager to see Crow claim his prize, Crow could only hear the cheering of his Toughie. Betsy could only hear the screaming and crying of Tom, Iris and Maggie.
No one heard Travis’ battle-cry until he was already charging at them.
“AAAAAAGGGGGGGHHHHH!”
All eyes were suddenly on the little green unicorn as he hopelessly charged at Crow, the monstrous Smarty almost laughed at the pitiful sight; he’d make sure to enf the little idiot again to teach him a lesson. As Travis got close enough, Crow shot out a hoof to strike him in the face.
Only for Travis to duck under Crow’s attack, leaving him wide open for Travis to slam his horn into Crow’s neck.
Travis smelt the blood before he felt it splash onto his face, his eyes were closed as he pierced Crow’s throat but once he heard the gurgling he opened them. In front of him, Crow stumbled and choked, his black Fluffy getting increasingly redder and redder from the blood pumping out of him. Crow tried to raise a hoof towards Travis, tried to give orders for his Toughies to kill him. But all he could do was gargle meaningless nonsense before his eyes rolled back and he collapsed to the floor.
Crow bled out in moments and was dead.
Time froze for the herd. Everyone was reeling from watching Crow’s violent death, nobody, not even Crassus or Roarke knew what to do. Maggie recovered first and sprinted at Roarke, she knew there was nothing she could do to stop Roarke from killing her foals, but she could give them a chance to escape, even if it killed her.
Maggie slammed her body into him, knocking Roarke hard enough to release Tom. She then looked at her foals and she screamed.
“WUN!”
Everyone was suddenly broken out of their stupor as panic quicklu and violently set in. Travis gathered Tom and Betsy just in time to see Roarke kick Maggie in the face, splitting her mouth open as she spat blood across the grass.
“MUMMAH!”
“BET-SEE NU!”
Travis tried to stop his beloved sister from fruitlessly running to their mothers aid, but it was no use, by the time he went for her, Copper was already between them snarling his teeth at Travis and Tom.
“WUN!”
Travis’ last view of Betsy was her holding onto Maggie’s dazed form before the view was swarmed by angry Toughies. Travis turned away from the sight to join Tom’s hurried escape just as they heard Roarke’s voice cry out.
“GIT DEM! DEY GIB SMAWTY FOWEBA SWEEPIES!”
Ahead of the brothers, Iris was already sprinting away, her Pegasus wings cutting a swath through the air, the two of them followed her, trying to ignore the horrendous thunder behind them. It was only their small size that saved them, their ability to dart between the trees faster gave them the slightest edge they needed to stay ahead of the rage induced Toughies.
Travis could feel a weakened Tom starting to lag behind, knowing that it was his fault they were in this situation, Travis knew what he had to do.
“Bwudda, stay wiv sissie. Twavis find yu bov wata.”
“Wata? Wha du…?”
Before Tom could ask, Travis split off from him, running at an angle wide enough to distance the two brothers, splitting the amount of Toughie chasing each of them in half.
“OBA HEWE DUMMEHS! TWAVIS GIB SMAWTY FOWEBA SWEEPIES, TWY AN GIT HIM!”
Travis taunted the Toughies, hoping to drive more of them away from Tom, he could just barely make out Iris’ pink Fluff through the foliage, Tom was nowhere to be seen, a few colourful patches moved quickly but he couldn’t tell what Toughie they belonged to.
He daren’t look behind him, even as he felt his muscles burning, his heart ready to explode and his head pounding, he daren’t look back at who was chasing him, one Toughie, Two, None? He didn’t want to know, he wanted to keep running as fast and as far from them as possible until…
Suddenly the ground disappeared from under him, and Travis found himself tumbling down a steep hill. His body bounced and crashed all across the dirt, his legs bruising on impact, his mouth filling with muck and blood.
The last thing Travis saw was a bed of flowers coming towards him, their bright colours and long stems hiding the hard ground that would knock his head out cold and send him straight into the blackness.
So a couple quick BTS tidbits.
Firstly, we will see some members of The Hellish Herd again, but not all of them and not for a long while, Travis is on his own now which was the goal of this arc from the beginning. Although I did like a lot of the theories about what would happen in the herd, most of them were never going passed this arc, although there will be some pay-off later on in the series.
Secondly, Crow’s death was originally how I planned for Crowley to go with Crow dying during a reunion later on. However I couldn’t think of a good way to have Crowley attack Betsy when that felt like more of a Crow thing to do. So instead I made this Crow’s death, allowing me to open up the shock doors by killing Crowley earlier than I initially planned.
I know some people might be taken aback by this decision, considering how much focus I put into developing the herd – at least I hope I developed the herd. But while the point of this series is Travis and his journey, I also wanted it to be clear that there’s a ton of stories happening all around, each new group that Travis meets going forward will have their own personalities, their own histories, some will get more focus than others depending on the arc, but all will be there in some form or another.
At the very least, trust that I can bluff my way into looking like I have a plan.
. Poor Betsy hahaha ha would say shit out of Luck but did you ever had one I’m not sure always the third best out of four. Nobody expected something of you and nobody was disappointed.