It took less than a week for the first mare to fall.
Even with the trees providing their makeshift den some protection from the harsh snows and bitter winds, it wasn’t enough for the Fluffy herd. Coupled with a consistent lack of food and the expanding pregnancies preventing the mares from being able to move against the cold and Sandy wondered how only one of them had died so far.
The herd woke to find Jodie, the love-blind Alicorn, stuck on the outside of the Fluff-pile, her face scrunched shut in her last desperate attempt to will the cold away and protect her tummeh-babbehs.
She froze to death before the night ended.
Sandy looked around at the other mares, some of them crying about the loss of their friend, most of them worrying about their own foals now. If Sandy wasn’t too large to do anything but waddle, she would’ve went up and smacked some of her former friends, all of them too selfish to share what little food they could find, all of them too stuck-up to form a proper Fluff-pile, too scared that someone would take the coveted spot next to Lothario. Sandy herself had been on the outside as well, but she at least had Amber, Betty and Scarlett to protect each other.
Jodie seemingly had no-one.
Lothario took a moment to walk up to Jodie and gently stroked her face.
“Wothawio neba wan see pwetty mawe gu foweba sweepies. Wiww neba fowgit mawe an da time we hab togetha.”
Sandy felt her stomach twist at his hollow words, he didn’t care for Jodie, he didn’t even know who she was.
Lothario turned to the mares, a determined look on his face. “Wothawio wiww bwave da cowd, find mowe nummies so dat nu udda soon-mummah gu foweba sweepies.”
“NU!” A chorus of protests rang out, the loudest of which coming from Penny, an emerald green unicorn with a light blue mane, she’d bullied her way to the front of the pack and often spent her nights with at least one hoof on Lothario.
“Speciaw-fwiend nu can weave, cowd-times am tuu hawd fow Fwuffies.”
“Wothawio knyo, bu soon-mummahs need nummies, Wothawio be bak befow dawk-times.”
Before any of them could protest, Lothario bolted from the den, heading out into the harsh winter landscape. Sandy heard the mares let out a happy sigh at the apparent selflessness.
“Speciaw-fwiend am su bwave.” Penny hummed.
“Pfft.” A snort came from Lisa, a yellow Pegasus with a pink mane, Wothawio nu am Pen-ee speciaw-fwiend, am Wee-saa’s spec…”
Penny smacked Lisa hard in the face, the Pegasus tasted blood and looked at her attacker with shock.
“Wothawio AM Pen-ee speciaw-fwiend, udda dummeh mawes jus hab tummeh-babbehs coz Wothawio am gud Fwuffy daddeh, am bestesh daddeh.”
Betty stepped forward, not wanting to hear anymore. “Dat am dummest fing Bet-ee eba heaw. Wothawio am wowstesh Fwuffy, onwy wooking fow gud-feews, nu cawe bout mawes.”
Penny sneered. “If Wothawio nu cawe, wai he bwing bak nummies?”
“Coz dese awe cowd-times, Wothawio need mawes tu keep wawmsies. Pwus he gun wan mowe gud-feews, jus need wait fow tummeh-babbehs tu come.”
“Hmmph, Bet-ee jus am jeawous Wothawio nu wan gib hew wub.”
“Bet-ee nu wan dat dummeh’s wub. He gib wousy enfies aneeway.”
Betty turned and returned to Sandy and the others, the quartet finding a dry spot on the edges. As Betty lay down beside her friends, Sandy looked over at Jodie’s corpse, the other mares eyeing her suspiciously.
“Wha mawes du wiv foweba sweepie fwiend?” Sandy asked the crowd.
Penny looked over the half-froze corpse. “Pen-ee nu cawe, woww hew way fwom soon-mummahs.”
Tina, a pink earthie with a yellow mane, spoke up. “Pen-ee am cwuew, nu cawe bout Jo-dee.”
“Jo-dee am foweba sweepies, nu need tu cawe fow hew nu mowe.”
Sandy moved to step forward, but her idea was too horrid to say, so she turned back to her friends and lay down beside them.
“Wha San-dee gun say?” Amber asked.
“Nu wan say, tuu meanie.”
“Amba nu cawe, San-dee am bestesh fwiend, neba be meanie.”
Sandy sighed. “San-dee fink dat Fwuffie need num Jo-dee.”
A stunned silence fell over the other three, a silence broken by Scarlett.
“San-dee am wight.”
“How Scawwett say dat, Jo-dee am fwiend.” Amber was horrified.
“Jo-dee WAS fwiend, Scawwett nu wan num fwiend, bu Fwuffies nu hab enuff nummies fow all soon-mummahs, an Wothawio nu cawe enuff tu find mowe. It hawd fing tu du, bu Fwuffies may hab tu num fwiends tu suwvive.”
Amber softly started crying, too scared at the thought of having to eat her friends to live. Sandy, Scarlett and Betty all gathered round and hugged her, praying they wouldn’t have to resort to such horrors.
Over the next few days the herd lost two more members. Harriet, an older purple Pegasus who also froze to death, and Erin, an orange unicorn who was too kind and kept sharing her food with the other mares, never having enough for herself. Because of her pregnancy, she never saw herself wasting away until starvation took her.
None of the mares would ever know, but her tummeh-babbehs were already dead before she even passed.
Eventually though, the time came and almost 20 mares were ready to pop, all at the same time.
Scarlett was the first to feel the familiar signs of her tummy moving. “Oh nu, BIGGESH POOPIES!”
At the sudden exclamation, Lothario rushed over to help her. “It ok speciaw-mawe, Wothawio am hewe tu…”
“BIGGESH POOPIES!”
The reaction to Scarlett’s birthing process kicked in for one of the other mares, Lothario tried to help her as well, only for…
“BIGGESH POOPIES!”
BIGGESH POOPI…”
“BIGGESH…”
Even Sandy, despite her attempts, felt the push and she knew it was time. She still hadn’t felt that mothering instinct, but she wasn’t about to let babies die because of her.
The den was filled with the sounds of straining and crying, every single one of the mares was giving birth at the same time, Sandy stayed close to her friends, hoping they could help each other through this. Through her scrunched eyes she tried to see where Lothario was, but she could never find him, she suspected he’d abandoned them all.
Since Scarlett and Betty had had foals before, they were able to fight the pain more and help Sandy and Amber. “Bweath fwiends, babbehs come soon, nu fight dem.”
Scarlett braced herself as her first foals fell out, landing onto a pile of leaves behind her, the soft sounds of chirping filled their ears, and the mares couldn’t help but smile.
Then they were all hit with the pain again.
As more and more chirping filled the den, Sandy felt something push its way through her special-place and land behind her. She was able to stop straining just long enough to hear it.
“Peep.”
That was her foal, her first ever foal, she wanted to see it but she could barely move, and more babbehs were coming.
After a few moments, Betty was the first of the four to finish giving birth, having only a litter of three. Working quickly she gathered the foals of her friends and handed them over to let the mothers lick them clean, and not a moment too soon as Sandy felt her babies already starting to go cold from the winter winds. The four that she had already chirped and peeped in distress and tried hard to hold onto their mothers face for warmth.
In the end, Sandy had five foals, Scarlett had four, Betty had three and Amber had four as well, but one of them was stillborn, Sandy comforted her friend as she held her forever sleeping newborn against her chest.
“Amba wan be gud mummeh.”
“Amba wiww be, nu am Amba fauwt nu hab enuff nummies.”
“Is, Amba hab enfies wiv Wowthawio, Amba weave gud daddies John-ee an Gow-gee, nyo hab wost babbeh.”
“Amba hab udda babbehs, can stiww wook afta dem, be bestesh mummah fow babbehs, teww dem bout sista dey neba see bu awways wub.”
Amba smiled, still with tears in her eyes, and looked down at her surviving litter, she gently stroked them as they fed from her teats and sang to them.
“Mummah wub babbehs, babbehs wub mummah.”
Sandy didn’t sing, she felt love for her five foals but not a mother’s love. She would look after them, feed them, raise them, and she would love them, but she couldn’t find it within herself to call her their mother. They were born from lies, lies that she brought upon her friends, lies that had already cost the lives of three mares and Amber’s daughter, Sandy felt nothing but guilt looking at her foals.
She had three colts and two fillies, one of the colts was an exact match for his father, a purple Pegasus with a striking black mane, another was a black unicorn with a peach mane, and the last was a white unicorn with a purple mane. The two fillies were a monochromes peach Pegasus and the last was a purple Alicorn with a white mane, good looking babies all things considered.
Sandy would later find out she was quite lucky, out of the 17 mares there was 93 foals born, but out of those 93, only 81weren’t stillborn, plus they lost another 6 to the cold when their mothers couldn’t get to them fast enough.
75 foals, born to one father, a father who conveniently reappeared just as the crying had stopped.
“Ah, pwetty mawes hab Wothawio’s babbehs, wet’s see aww da pwetty babbehs.”
Penny flagged him down first. “Speciaw-fwiend, speciaw-fwiend wook, Pen-ee hab wots of pwetty babbehs fow yu.”
Lothario looked over, Penny had had six foals, the mixture of purples, greens, blacks and blues made for interesting patterns across them all.
“Wothawio hab biggesh heawt-happies tu be daddeh tu such pwetty babbehs.”
Lothario gave Penny a quick nuzzle before moving onto the next litter, Tina had the largest litter out of the mares with 8 foals, not including the 2 that were stillborn. And she was utterly terrified.
“Tee…teena nu hab enuff miwkie-pwaces, nu hab enuff miwkies, nu can feed aww babbehs.”
“Dat such a shame.” Lothario spoke with the conviction of a am-dram student. “Wothawio nu wan pwetty mawe wose babbehs tu tummeh-huwties, bu nu knyo wha tu du.”
At that moment, Betty stormed up, her three foals resting on her back. “Dewe am wots of mummehs yu dummeh, an wots of miwkies pwaces, Bet-ee shawe miwkies wiv Teena, nu wet mowe babbehs gu foweba sweepies.”
For a brief moment, Lothario scowls at Betty, but he quickly puts on a fake smile. “Dat gud pwan, aww mummehs shawe miwkies, nu hab udda babbehs gu foweba sweepies.”
At the mention of more dead foals, there was a loud wailing coming from the side, Lothario wandered over to where the noise was coming from. He finds Rita, a young blue earthie with a green mane and green spiral pattern across her body, this was her first litter, and from what Sandy could see, it didn’t go well.
“Wai pwetty mawe hab sad wawas?” Lothatrio asked.
“Aw… Aww Wita bab…babbeh hab foweb…eba sweepies. Nu am mummah, am wow…wowstesh Fwuffy eba.”
Rita burst into tears again, hopelessly holding her four neverborn children in her arms, wishing for them to breathe again.
Lothario walked up and rubbed himself against Rita. “Wothawio hab biggesh heawt-huwties tu see mummah wiv nu babbehs, Wothawio wiww gib pwetty mawe mowe tummeh-babbehs tu wub, yu be bestesh mummah.”
Sandy could see Rita’s face about to burst into a smile, the last thing the herd needed was more foals. But before she could rush in and stop them, Penny did it for her.
“Speciaw-fwiend, Pen-ee need gud nummies tu make bestesh miwkies for bestesh babbehs, nu hab time fow enfies nyo.”
Sandy could see Lothario grit his teeth, but once again he had a smile on before turning to face Penny.
“Of couwse, Wothawio jus wan hewp pwetty mawe, need put babbehs fiwst, Wothawio gu find nummies.”
As Lothario left to find more food, Penny marched over to Rita. “Dummeh mawe stay way fwom Pen-ee speciaw-fwiend, yu am bad mummah an nu gun wose mowe of Wothawio’s babbehs. Undastan?”
Rita nodded before bursting into tears again, Penny stuck her nose up and left her there, returning to her own foals to sing at them. Sandy hated Penny’s stuck-up attitude, but their goals were the same, no more foals in the herd.
She hated it, but right now it was necessary.
Four more foals died over the next couple days, even with Lothario gathering food there was never enough to feed all the mummahs equally.
As the latest foals died and the howls of a broken mummah filled the den once more, Sandy wondered just how Lothario was making it without taking any food for himself.
“San-dee stiww nu twust Wothawio, gun fowwow him, fwiends wook afta babbehs?”
Betty and Scarlett nodded, Amber didn’t but she was busy looking after her own foals, the trauma of losing one already had made her all the more skittish. Sandy still trusted her though, she had proven to be a good mummah so far and wouldn’t let anything happen to Sandy’s foals.
When Lothario left to find food, Sandy gave chase, the winter snow still lay thick on the ground and made it hard to walk through, especially against her engorged teats, but Lothario’s rich purple coat made sure that Sandy never lost sight of him even as he pulled further and further ahead of her.
Eventually he stopped, Sandy hid behind some bushes and watched him as her fears were proven right. Lothario had found a small human house nestled amongst the trees, had Sandy known the name she would’ve known it was called a cottage. A small plume of smoke drifted out of the chimney and a warm orange glow emanated from the window, it looked cosy, it looked friendly.
It looked like somewhere the herd could’ve stayed.
Sandy watched as Lothario knocked on the door, it opened to reveal a kindly old woman on the other side.
“Oh hello again, are you here for more food?”
“Yeh pwease nice wady, Fwuffy an speciaw-fwien nu can find gud nummies.”
Special-friend? Just one?
“Oh well that can’t do, here you are.”
The old woman handed Lothario a balled up napkin, even from the distance Sandy could see carrots, apples and other great nummies for the whole herd.
“You keep yourself and your family safe, tell her that we won’t hurt her or her foals.”
“Fwuffy twy nice wady, speciaw-fwiend nu wike hoomins, tuu scawed, bu Fwuffy twy tu teww hew.”
“Please do, we don’t want anything bad to happen to you out there.”
Lothario nodded and took the napkin, trotting away happily. As he got further from the cottage, he ducked behind a tree and opened the treasure trove, happily gorging himself on the fresh food inside.
“Wothawio am smawtesh Fwuffy eba, hab gud nummies AN gud feews.”
“WIAW!”
Sandy stormed over, absolutely furious at Lothario. “Yu am WOWSTESH Fwuffy eba, take nummies fwom soon-mummah, wet babbehs gu foweba sweepies, yuw OWN babbehs. Sandy nu knyo wha she see in yu.”
“Pwetty mawe see gud-feews an tummeh-babbehs, dat wha Wothawio gib tu hew.”
“Wothawio gib nuffin by heawt-huwties, San-dee gun teww aww udda mawes bout yu.”
“Weawwy? An wha make San-dee fink dey wisten tu dummeh mawe oba speciaw-fwiend.”
He had a point, most of the mares still loved Lothario, despite his shitty parental instincts, she needed proof.
Proof like a napkin full of food.
Sandy headbutted Lothario, her horn just scratching his eye. While he was distracted, she grabbed the napkin and raced back home, hoping this would be enough to convince the others that Lothario was a liar.
She could hear Lothario shouting after her as she fled, he was bigger and stronger than her, but Sandy was faster, and she was desperate, able to just keep ahead of Lothario as she burst into the den.
“FWIENDS, FWIENDS WOOK! WOTHAWIO AM…”
Every pair of eye turned to look at Sandy, and she felt a chill go through her. To the sidelines, Scarlett, Amber and Betty huddled together around their foals, blood dripping from Scarlett’s right eye. Penny stands beside them with a crowd of Lothario’s most loyal mares, all of them sneering at Sandy.
“Dummeh Sandy pway twick on fwiends, twy tu make speciaw-fwiend Wothawio wook bad, yu ma bad Fwuffy an bad mummah, nu can eben pwotect babbehs.”
Babbehs? Sandy dropped the napkin and ran past Penny and the mob. Behind them she found her foals, all five of them, stomped to death, their tiny little bodies broken beyond repair, never living long enough to even open their eyes.
“Babbehs am gun foweba sweepies?” The loss hit Sandy harder than she expected, as much as she couldn’t claim to love them, they were still her foals and she still failed them. She looked over their bodies, her purple wingie son, her peach wingie daughter, her blue pointy son…
Wait a moment.
“Dis babbeh nu San-dee’s.”
“Wha?”
“San-dee nu hab bwue babbeh.”
Penny looked down at the blue colt, with her anger cleared she saw that it looked far too different to the others to be Sandy’s son.
“Which dummeh mawe wose a babbeh? Dewe am tuu many babbehs hewe and dummeh mummahs nu can keep see-pwace on dem. Dis is yuw own fauwt.” Penny spat out at the herd.
“Pen-ee, it nu am mummahs’ fauwt, Wothawio am wying, he find nummies an nu shawe wiv…”
“Pen-ee nu wan heaw San-dee wies bout speciaw-fwiend, yu nu wub him wike Pen-ee du, yu jus wan tummeh-babbehs, Pen-ee wan wub, Pen-ee neba hab wub tiww Wothawio, nu wet dummeh San-dee take him fwom hew. Nu wosing anudda special-fwiend, nu wosing mowe babbehs.”
Sandy could see tears falling from Penny’s eyes, and Sandy realised she knew very little about Penny’s past, they had never been that close of friends. From what she was saying, it was a hard life.
“Pen-ee, San-dee nu wan take Wothawio fwom yu.”
“She wies.”
Sandy and the others turned towards the voice, Lothario had finally returned, his eye still bloodshot.
“San-dee find nummies, teww Wothawio we can wun way togetha, weave dummeh mawes tu da cowd-times awone.”
“DAT NU TWUE!” Amber finally yelled out. “San-dee hate Wothawio, wan nuffin tu du wiv him.”
Lothario ignored her and continued talking, stepping closer and closer to Sandy and Penny. “Wothawio teww hew dat Wothawio nu am weaving babbeh, nu wan hew nu mowe. She gib huwties wen Wothawio say nu, nyo Wothawio gun gib hew wowstesh huwties.”
Lothario kicked Sandy in the face knocking her over, as she reeled from the pain, she felt Lothario position himself behind her, and his growing erection pressing against her leg.
“NUUU! NU WAN BAD HUGGIES, NU WAN MOWE BABBEHS!”
“Dummeh mawe be qwy-et, Wothawio gun gib yu babbehs.”
“Wai?”
Lothario stopped fighting Sandy and looked over at Penny, her eyes still crying but a look of confusion and anger on her face.
“Wai speciaw-fwiend gib San-dee tummeh-babbehs if nu wan hew nu mowe? Wai gib hew mowe babbehs wen yu am Pen-ee speciaw-fwiend?”
Lothario didn’t even try to hide his fury when he launched himself forward and knocked Penny to the ground, he pressed a hoof against her neck and kicked her back legs open.
“Wothawio hab had ENUFF! Yu dummeh mawes am da wowstesh, aww Wothawio wan is gud-feels an wawm homsie, yu dummehs jus gib finkie-pwace huwties an wump huwties, Wothawio nu wub yu, Wothawio neba wub yu, Wothawio jus wan gud-feews, and Wothawio gun hab gud-feews.”
“NU! Speciaw-fwiend wai?”
“YU NU AM SPECIAW-FWIEND!”
And Lothario slammed himself inside Penny, there was such a force that Sandy saw blood trickling out of Penny’s special-place.
“NUUHUUUHUUU! Pen-ee hab wowstesh speciaw-pwace huwties, nu wan bad huggies.”
Lothario bit down onto Penny’s ear and tore a chunk off to stop her moaning. Suddenly he felt something beside him, a small pair of hoofs knocking against him, he looked down to see one of Penny’s foals, driving by the sound of his mother in pain, trying to give Lothario sorry-hoofies, but was too young and feeble to make an impact.
Lothario raised his hoof and stomped on the foal, killing it immeditately.
“NUUUUUUUU!!! BABBEH!!!” Penny wailed, earning a smack to the face from Lothario, hard enough to burst her lip.
“ENF, ENF. Wothawio. ENF, ENF. Gun gib yu. ENF, ENF, ENF. MOWE BABB…!”
A sudden slam to his ribs knocked Lothario off of Penny on onto the ground. Penny raced away to her surviving litter, gathering them all up to protect them all. She looked up toward her saviour and was shocked to see Sandy, her face fuming as she stared down Lothario.
“Wothawio nu gib bad huggies tu ANEE mawe. Yu am bad Fwuffy, yu gut sowwy-hoofies nyo.”
Still on his back, Lothario spat at Sandy. “Yu jus wun dummeh mawe, yu nu can huwt Wothawio, Wothawio am…”
He never finished as he was interrupted by Scarlett smacking him in the head, then she stomped him again, and again, then Betty raced forward to stomp on his ribs, then Sandy joined in, crushing his back legs and groin.
Together the three mares overpowered Lothario, keeping him pinned to the ground as they stomped on him over and over. One of the other mares moved to stop them but Penny held her back, finally realising how wrong she had been.
Eventually Sandy felt the hard ground, and she knew it was done, Lothario was dead, his body broken, bloodied and frightening still. Covered in blood, she turned to face the herd, the mares that attacked her helpless foals were now cowering in front of her. One of them cried out in fear.
“Yu munstah, gib Wothawio foweba sweepies, nyo how can Fwuffies git nummies?”
“Wothawio am weaw munstah, an dewe am many Fwuffies stiww hewe, can find nummies on own.”
“An wha if we nu can? Wha if Fwuffies nu can find nummies in cowd times?”
Sandy looked down at Lothario, her horrid idea came back to her, but she knew they had no other choice.
“Den Fwuffies num udda Fwuffies.”
