Strawberry, a pink unicorn fluffy with a red mane, has recently given birth to five foals in a nest in an old hollowed out tree in the forest.
The firstborn, her “bestest babbeh”, is a vibrant fuchsia alicorn with a royal blue mane like his late father.
The secondborn is a sky blue pegasus with a lime green mane, the thirdborn is a golden yellow unicorn with a hot pink mane, and the fourthborn is a red earthie with an orange mane.
The fifthborn is a light brown earthie with a dark brown mane. He is the runt, and is consequently smaller and less developed than his siblings.
She feeds her foals in order of birth, with her two oldest eating first and the runt eating last.
Though she doesn’t hate or neglect her youngest foal like some other fluffies might, Strawberry doesn’t have high hopes for his survival.
While her other foals are beginning to crawl around and are constantly chirping, the little runt is quiet and hardly moves apart from breathing and nursing.
Due to the untimely death of her special friend, Strawberry must leave the nest periodically to search for food.
Though by no means a genius, she is smart enough to know not to leave her foals alone for too long, for danger lurks in even the calmest of places.
One morning, Strawberry leaves once again to find food to make milk for her babies.
“Nu wowwy, babbehs. Mummah be back bewy soonsies!” she tells them before heading on her way.
She has only been gone for a few minutes when the older four foals, their eyes still closed shut, notice her absence and begin chirping.
After a while, the noise attracts the attention of a local Barred Owl.
Though mostly nocturnal, this species will also venture out and hunt during the day. They often feed upon the hatchlings of other birds, and the chirps of fluffy foals are very similar to the chirps of bird chicks.
The Barred Owl, his sense of hearing just as keen as his sight, is able to pinpoint exactly where the sounds are coming from.
And so he begins his descent, his wings not making a single sound.
“Mum-mah”, the firstborn foal says. His first word, and his last.
Quick as a flash, the owl swallows the wriggling foal whole. He easily spots the rest of the brightly colored foals and gobbles them up as well before taking off just as quickly and silently as he arrived.
Later, Strawberry returns from her foraging as normal.
“Mummah am back, babbehs! Hab bestest nummies fo’ make bestest miwkies!” she gleefully announces.
But her mood quickly plummets when she comes upon the sight of an empty nest.
“Babbehs?! Whewe am babbehs?!”
There is not a single trace of them. It’s as if they’d never even been there.
After frantically looking for them to no success, Strawberry begins to sob upon realizing that her babies are truly gone. “NUUUUUU! AM MUMMAH NU MOWE! HUU HUU HUUU!”
Just then, she hears a tiny, weak chirp from within the twigs and pine straw she’d used to line the nest.
It was the little brown runt! His small size and lethargy, which had previously been a detriment, had ended up saving his life. This, along with his dull brown colors, allowed him to blend in with the nest material and escape the detection of the owl.
“Am mummah stiww!” Strawberry exclaims, immediately rushing over to the little foal and gently placing him on her teat to nurse.
“Wastest babbeh dwink miwkies to gwow up big and stwong!”
After a moment, Strawberry remembers that she hadn’t yet named her foals. With them having been so young still, and with her mind preoccupied with gathering food for them, she hadn’t thought of what to name any of them.
But now, she had the perfect name for her little survivor. It was a word she had heard her special friend use before, which he in turn had learned from his old owner.
“Wastest babbeh namesie am…Wucky!”
And so, the little runt foal now known as Lucky truly had a fighting chance. The odds previously stacked against him had now turned in his favor.