The other mares gasped in shock at what Sandy was suggesting, some of them even covered their foals as though trying to protect them from the monster they now saw her as.
“Dat am WOWSTESH fing tu say.” Rita the blue earthie eventually broke the silence. “Fwuffies nu can num udda Fwuffy, mosh of aww babbehs daddeh.”
“San-dee nu sat dis coz wan num Fwuffy, bu cowd times am onwy gitten wowse, mummah can wook fow nummies bu onwy wisk guin foweba sweepies. Mummahs need ak-sept dat nu aww us gun see hot-times.”
“YU WIE!” Lisa the yellow Pegasus shouted. “Yu gib speciaw-fwiend foweba sweepies den teww mummah dey nu see hot-times gain, yu am…”
Lisa was cut off by Penny smacking her in the face. “Wothawio nu am yuw speciaw-fwiend, he Pen-ee’s… WAS Pen-ee’s. Bu he gib Pen-ee wowstesh huggies, wowstesh speciaw-pwace huwties, gib his own babbeh foweba sweepies, Pen-ee nu wub Wothawio nu mowe, nu mawe shouwd wub him.”
“Bu Pen-ee, yu an fwiends gib San-dee babbehs foweba sweepies, how yu say Wowthawio am meanie if yu du…”
“PEN-EE KNYO! Dat am miss-take. Miss-take Pen-ee hab tu wive wiv nyo, gib babbehs wowstesh huwties coz fink San-dee was dummeh fow nu wubben Wothawio. San-dee stiww save Pen-ee fwom Wothawio, Pen-ee am weaw dummeh.”
Penny looked over apologetically at Sandy, while it wouldn’t bring back her dead children, having Penny on her side would go a long way towards saving some of the more thickheaded mares.
Sadly, there was still a long way to go towards convincing all of them.
“San-dee stiww wan mummahs tu num udda Fwuffies. Rita screeched, unable to think of anything else. “Wai Fwuffies nu mowe angwy?”
Betty huffed and stepped forward. “San-dee nu wan Fwuffies nu num Fwuffies, bu she wight, cowd-times onwy gun be wowse, nu can find nummies tu keep mummahs fwom tummeh-huwties, gun wose sum fwiends, gun wose wot mowe babbehs befowe hot-times bak. If Fwuffy fwiend gu foweba sweepie, den dey become nummies fow uddas.”
Scarlett stepped forward, her hoofs still wet with Lothario’s blood. “Fwuffies neba gib udda Fwuffy foweba sweepies, neba gain. We onwy num Fwuffy who hab wowstesh tummeh-huwties, we nu be munstahs.”
Sandy made her way to the front of the group, looking out over everyone. “Fwuffies stiww twy tu wook fow nummies, bu fwiends need undastan it am difficuwt nyo, nu gun find wots. San-dee nu fowce fwiends tu num Fwuffy, bud a soona fwiend ak-sept it, dam owe fwiends see hot-time wetuwn.”
Taking a deep breath, Sandy turned to Lothario’s corpse, she carefully leaned in and bit into his stomach, even with the extra food he was getting from the humans his muscles were tight and stringy. It took Sandy a few moments but eventually she tore a piece of his flesh off, splashing her face with blood.
Some of the weaker willed mares cried at the sight and turned away, Sandy could hear a chorus of crying foals set off by the weeping mothers. She ignored, focussed only on taking enough off Lothario to sustain herself, plus she had to admit, the warmth of his ripped open stomach felt nice against the cold.
After a few moments she stopped eating and walked away, she was far from full but at least she wasn’t starving anymore. As she walked over to join with Amber, Sandy found herself shocked at how easy Lothario was sitting in her stomach, at no point had she felt the need to throw up at even the idea of eating another Fluffy.
Maybe it was desperation, maybe it was because she hated Lothatio and what he’d done to her friends. Whatever the reason, she was scared at how easy it was for her.
Sandy wiped some of the blood from her face and lay down next to Amber, the orange earthie gently hugged her friend.
“Am sowwy nu hewp wiv Wothawio, wookin afta babbehs.”
“San-dee undastan, Amba am gud mummah.”
Amber looked at the collection of foals nestled under her chin, her own, Betty’s and Scarlett’s were all coddled together, some sleeping, most wrestling about blindly trying to escape the loud yelling that had woken them. Amber nuzzled them gently, softly purring at their little faces.
“It ok babbehs, yuw mummahs bak soon, jus gitten nummies tu make miwkies.”
The sudden reminder of what counted as food now hit her like a ton of bricks and Amber shuddered. “Amba nu wike habben tu num udda Fwuffies, bu twust San-dee wen say it hab tu be dun.”
“San-dee knyo, nu wan hab tu num Fwuffies tuu, bu hab wittew choosies. San-dee gu wook fow nummies wata, nu hab babbehs tu wook afta nu mowe.”
Amber’s face suddenly lit up, she reached into the pile of foals and pulled one out, Sandy recognised her in an instant. It was her daughter, her purple Alicorn daughter with a white mane.”
“Amba hide babbeh wen Pen-ee wook tu gib wowstesh huwties tu San-dee’s babbehs. Wan save mowe bu nu couwd weach dem.”
“Who da bwue babbehs bewong tu?”
“Teena, she hab tuu many babbehs anee-way, nu see Bet-ee take wun, nu eben weawise dat hew babbeh gu foweba sweepies.”
Sandy briefly thought how awful it was for a mother not to notice one of her own foals was missing, but that she realised she’d done the exact same thing. There were five dead foals and one of them wasn’t hers, she should’ve noticed that one of her foals was still alive but the thought never crossed her mind.
Sandy sighed, gave the filly a short nuzzle and gently pushed her away.
“San-dee am bad mummah, nu eben fink bout babbeh tiww Amba say. San-dee nu can wook afta babbeh, need wook afta udda mummahs. Amba am babbeh’s mummah nyo.”
“WHA? San-dee nu mean dat, dis am yuw babbeh…”
“Babbehs need mummah who can gib huggies an wub, San-dee wub babbeh coz she am babbeh, bu nu hab mummah’s wub, nu feew wike dat tu hew babbehs. Feew wike wowstesh Fwuffy bu knyo San-dee nu can gib babbeh wha she need. Amba can, Amba am gud mummah, Amba am bestesh fwiend, San-dee twust Amba.”
Amber sniffled and softly cuddled the filly into her chest. “Amba du bestesh tu keep babbeh safe, if San-dee eba wan babbeh bak yu onwy hab tu ask.”
Sandy nodded knowing she would never ask. Even if at some point her feelings changed, by that point the filly would’ve recognised Amber as her mother, to rip that apart for her own selfish reasons would just hurt everyone.
Looking down at her daughter as Amber sung ‘mummah wubs babbeh’ and watching the filly hold onto her adoptive mother, tiny tears in her eyes as she heard a mummah song for the first time in her young life, Sandy knew she’d made the right choice.
By next morning, Lothario’s body was mostly bones, not every mare had resorted to cannibalism but from what Scarlett told Sandy later, most of them did, even Penny who forcefully and purposefully chose to eat the battered remains of his genitals.
The two biggest outliers were Lisa and Rita who both saw the idea of eating another Fluffy as barbaric, they weren’t alone but they were certainly the loudest. Unfortunately Lisa quickly learnt how bad the food situation was when she woke that morning and saw that one of her foals had starved to death in the night.
“NUUHUUUHUUUU! Wisa fot she gib babbehs enuff miwkies.”
“Babbehs need wot of miwkies.” Scarlett explained. “Mummah nu hab enuff nummies tu make enuff miwkies.”
“Wisa nu wan wose mowe babbehs, Wisa wub babbehs.”
“Scawett teww Wisa, bu Wisa nu wike wha Scawett say.”
“Pwease, Wisa du aneefing.”
“Wisa need num babbeh.”
“NU! Babbeh am onwy wittew babbeh, Wisa neba num babbeh.”
“Babbeh am gun foweba sweepie, it am wowstesh fing bu babbeh can hewp keep bwuddas and sissies awive. Wisa need du soon befowe cowd-times make babbehs tuu hawd tu num.”
Lisa looked down at her foal, a little pink unicorn filly, she would’ve been so beautiful. Closing her eyes, Lisa put the foal in her foal and swallowed, then fought with everything she could not to throw it back up.
“Wisa am wowstesh mummah.”
Scarlett placed a comforting hoof on Lisa’s shoulder. “Wisa du howwibew fing tu keep udda babbehs safe. Wisa am gud mummah.”
Rita remained unconvinced and made sure that everyone knew that, most of all Sandy as the two of them left the herd to find more food. Being the only two mares without any foals, they were the most suited to brave the cold weather.
“Wita neba num udda Fwuffy, San-dee am munstah fow twicking fwiends.”
Sandy sighed. “It nu am twick, San-dee nu wan see fwiends gu foweba sweepies. Eben wiv numming Fwuffies dewe am stiww nu enuff nummies tu stop babbehs am mummahs guin foweba sweepies. Fwuffies need du meanie fings if wan tu suwvive.”
“Hmmph, nu need du meanie fings if Wowthawio stiww hewe.”
Sandy didn’t bother arguing with her, if Rita still believed that Lothario was a good Fluffy after raping Penny and killing her son then there was no convincing her otherwise. Instead Sandy kept pushing onwards, trying to fight against the new snowfall to follow the tracks left by her and Lothario yesterday.
She had to find the human home again, they had food, they were willing to share it, all Sandy had to do was think of a reason why she and Rita were there and not Lothario. Maybe he was hurt, maybe he’d gone missing, maybe… maybe she’d tell the humans he was dead, maybe she’d tell them the truth.
No, if she told the truth, that Lothario had been lying to them and now there was nearly 100 mothers and foals needing fed then it didn’t matter how nice the humans were to Lothario, they would never agree to help a herd that big. Sandy had to start small to keep the herd going, this was a day by day operation and death was inevitable.
But as they pushed on, Sandy realised that finding the tracks was getting harder and harder, the harsh winds were picking up and the snowstorm was starting to cut into their eyes. Sandy could barely see what was in front of her, let alone follow tracks. Realising that all she could make out in front of her was the fog, Sandy made the decision to turn back.
“Nu can see hoof-pwints nu mowe, need gu bak.”
“N…nu can g…gu bak ny…nyo. Nu ha…hab num…mies yet.” Rita’s face was deathly blue from the dropping temperature.”
“Need gu bak befowe nu can find homesie gain. Wook fow bewwies an gwassies on da way bak.”
Rita nodded and slowly turned around, Sandy noticed that she was taking small, laboured steps, trying to conserve what little energy she had. Even with their fresh tracks through the snow, trying to find the way back home was a chore, Sandy had to fight the weather, her own self-doubt, low visibility and a lack of food just to see where she was going.
Every so often Sandy would see a small bush or tree and make her way towards it, picking off small wet leaves or frozen berries to try and bring something back to the herd. Rita would stay on the pathway, partly so as not to exude any excess energy but mostly so that Sandy could find her way back to the pathway, Rita’s blue Fluff was easier to spot in the white snow than Sandy’s peach colour.
The yield was always small, and the detours were taking more and more out of her with the snow getting deeper with each passing minute. After another bush with barely anything left to strip off of it, Sandy returned to Rita disheartened.
“Nu find anee nummies gain Wita, fink we jus gu bak nyo wiv wha we hav an…”
Sandy could feel the cold pulsing off of Rita without even touching her, the blue mare was uncomfortably still, her body no longer even shivering. Sandy understood immediately that Rita was dead, her starving body wasting the last of its energy in a futile attempt to keep her warm.
Sandy was heartbroken, Rita might have been difficult but she was still part of the herd and Sandy had taken it upon herself to make sure as many of them made it out of this winter alive as she could manage. Losing Rita already just reminded her of how difficult this was going to be.
But now she needed to act fast, she could just barely see the trees of her home in the distance and the cold was coming in fast. She had to get Rita back to the herd quickly, or else the ice take her first.
With great effort, Sandy nudged Rita forward and rolled her over, the earthie’s dead weight against the heavy snow almost made Sandy question if it was worth the hassle. But Rita was big, earthies had a firmer muscle structure, she could keep the herd fed for at least one night. Knowing that, Sandy pushed onwards, praying that she didn’t end up frozen herself before she got home.
The sun was starting to set just as Sandy returned, she pushed Rita’s body into the clearing and collapsed, her vision was starting to blur before she felt the warmth of Scarlett and Amber on either side of her.
“San-dee am su cowd, bad fow fwiend tu be dis cowd.” Amber said, wrapping her hoofs around Sandy’s body.
Scarlett nodded in agreement. “Yu gu fow so wong. Fwuffies fink da cowd-times take yu.”
Sandy shook her head and pointed at Rita’s corpse. “Need git Wita back hewe, nu can see anee-fing, nu can find hoomin pwace. Nu knyo whewe nummies awe ow wha tu du wiv da cowd-wawa huwting San-dee’s see-pwaces. Wita gu foweba-sweepies, San-dee nu wike it but Wita make nummies fow hewd.”
The mares around her solemnly nodded, most of them were less disgusted with the idea of cannibalism now but it was still an ugly topic they tried to avoid talking about. Scarlett let go of Sandy and looked over the herd.
“Fwuffies, fwiend Wita gib hew wife su hewd nu hab tummeh-huwties. Need num hew nyo before da cowd take hew body. Wememba hew, an fank hew fow wha she du fow us.”
A low chorus of ‘Fank yu fwiend Wita murmured through the herd as they slowly closed in to start chewing into Rita’s cold corpse. Several of the mares already crying at the thought of having the feed their foals milk made from Fluffies again.
Sandy held back, trying to regain her strength as Amber’s body warmed her up. As she lay on the forest floor, she looked out at the biting winds and heavy snow that surrounded them, it felt like they were trapped in a globe of white, where once there was rolling fields and even far away homes, now there was only ice and snow.
Amber looked down at the worried expression on her friends face and knew exactly what was on her mind. They were fully stuck here now, and things were going to get a lot worse before they even begun to get any better.
So this was intended to be the final chapter, but guess what, it’s not. With what’s coming up I can easily get one more chapter out of this story, maybe two but I’ll try to keep it to just the one. It’s a shitty time for the herd, don’t want to waste all that suffering on just this chapter.
