It seemed that Emma’s smart idea had worked as there had been no sign of the blue stallion ever since he’d left for the big field. She smugly grinned as she remembered how valiantly he’d declared he would get Emma the “bestest nummies 'ou ebew saw” and turned to gallop away as fast as his little hoofies would carry him.
“Dummy house fwuffy.” Emma shook her head pityingly as she laid on her side to let her two foals nurse.
“Whad ou say mummah?” Pine looked up at her mother questioningly, tilting her head and letting her ears flop to one side. She was black just like her father with her mother’s white mane and pale blue eyes.
“Oh. Nufin babbeh, just dwink ou miwkies.” She bopped the tiny black foal on her tiny little snout and gave a warm smile. Pine grinned back at her Mummah and started greedily drinking her milk, her tail wagging so fast that it looked like she could fly away.
Emma loved how her little tail buzzed like that. It reminded her of her last special friend, a scrappy ‘snap’ black unicorn who would wag his short little tail in excitement ‘crunch’ whenever he got happy. ‘Huff huff’
She was suddenly jerked from memory lane by a blue rocket of fluff and twigs and leaves came barreling into the clearing, and to Emma’s shock, a large blue stallion stood puffing and grinning, a bundle of items hanging from his mouth.
The loud noises of Colt’s entrance had scared the fillies causing them to scramble and tumble head over hoof over their mother’s side as they squealed in fright. Emma hurried to right herself and make sure her foals were ok before facing the wide eyed and puffing stallion.
“What am 'ou doin hewe!” She questioned him angrily, stomping her hoof and baring her teeth. She was shocked to see Colt covered in scratches and blood. What had he fought to get her that food?
“I gotted 'ou da nummies!!” He declared, setting a baggie of chips, a half eaten and…a brownie!? Brownies were one of Emma’s favorite foods, next to gerbils.
She edged toward the food and gave the items a tentative sniff, quietly surveying the foods and what condition they were in. The bag of chips were dirty but unopened, the pizza crust stale but not moldy and the brownie looked a few days old but almost completely whole.
Emma’s mouth started watering as she stared at the brownie. She was hesitant to eat it, knowing that would mean she accepted him as her special friend…maybe that wouldn’t be too bad.
Leaning forward she gingerly grabbed the brownie between her teeth and bit off a small chunk. She heard a soft gasp from Colt as she accepted his present.
“Does…does dis mean Emma wiw be Cowt’s special fwend?” Colt asked, leaning towards her. Emma lifted her head and glanced at her foals, staring with wide, inquisitive eyes.
“I guess ou good nuff to be Emma’s special fwend…” She sniffed, turning back to Colt who looked like a kid on Christmas day.
“Yay! Cowt hab pwettiest special fwend ebew!! Habe biggest heart happiness ebew!!” Colt squealed as he began jumping up and down in happiness.
As the sun sunk behind the trees Emma begun ushering her foals into the hollow in the tree, turning to tell Colt he was sleeping outside only to find him already standing guard, chest puffed out and his eyes scanning the slowly darkening trees.
“Be bestest daddeh, keep babbehs and special fwend safe.” He whispered to himself. Emma just shook her head and slunk into her nest, what a ridiculous stallion.
Colt stood through, what he felt, was most of the night. Protecting his new family. Emma was the love of his life and nothing would take her away from him.
Colt was going to be the best special friend ever and he’d be the best daddy ever to his new babies and the babies he’d have with Emma. He just couldn’t wait!
The sun filtered through the trees, gently waking Colt from where he’d fallen asleep against the tree. He gasped, scrambling over the tree root he was lying against and peering into the little den to check that his new family was alright.
Emma lay with her back to the entrance, her little foals tucked safely in her arms. He could see her irritated scowl from yesterday was still somewhat present on her face. Her two foals were tuck tightly against her back in little sleeping balls.
As he started to pull back from the opening of his new little home when the tiny black filly lifted her head and let out a huge yawn. She licked her lips and stretched out her legs, standing up and shaking off the sleep.
Pine’s eyes widened as she saw Colt peering in and quickly hid behind her mother’s belly. She peered over at the large blue stallion that mumma called her “new special friend”, Pine didn’t completely understand what that meant but mumma said he would bring them good nummies and new brothers and sisters.
She was super excited for more brothers and sisters, mumma never let her play with the foals in the big field, said they were stupid grass nummers and deserved to be turned into nummies.
“Hewwow…” Her greeting came out as a tiny squeak. Colt smiled and crouched down and set his head on his hooves.
“Hewwo!” He chirped, his tail wagging happily. Colt felt like he could float away, these were his babies now!! He was a daddy!!
“Ou am mummah’s new special fwend?” Pine raised her head. He looked so big compared to her, he was even bigger than her mumma. She gently stood up and clambered over her mother, lifting her nose to sniff at him.
She stared intensely at him. He looked to just barely be out of his colt years, with thin legs and patchy foal fluff still on his legs and stomach. His tattered yellow collar and bell hung around his neck, the glitter of the silver bell caught her eye as it swayed.
Pine’s eyes widened as she stared at the little tinkling bell. She slowly crept forward before pouncing on it, earning a startled yelp from Colt.
Emma woke up to the sound of squeals and giggles and the sound of a little bell. She glanced down at her foals and to find only Fern tucked up against her. Panicking, she shot out of her nest to see Pine chasing Colt as he ran away from her, head lowered so she could grab his bell.
It took quite a while and a lot of nitpicking and whining for Emma to feel comfortable letting her fillies play with Colt. After all he was so big and stupid! He might accidentally step on one of them, or kick one, or knock one of them over, or-or she should really just stop thinking about this.
Emma glanced up at the morning sky and scrunched up her face, it was time for her to hunt but she didn’t want to leave her precious babies alone with a stranger. But surely Colt wouldn’t be any help hunting, he’d just freak out and run off like the dummy grass nummer he is.
She jumped as Fern nuzzled her, looking for milk. Emma sighed heavily, she’d have to go out and hunt, she didn’t have enough milk for both of her foals at the moment. Admittedly though, both of them probably should have been starting to wean about now but Emma couldn’t bear the thought of them growing up.
“Mummah need go wook fow nummies babbehs.” She stroked Fern’s mane softly as she called her other child over. “Dwink 'ou miwkies so mummah can go get 'ou wed nummies!” Emma cooed, moving her hoof to let Pine access her other milky place.
Colt trotted over, panting lightly from his game of chase with the girls, a goofy grin on his face.
“Cowt wiww hewp get nummies!” He volunteered, plopping down besides her with an ‘oof’. “Am bestest nummy cowwectew ebbew! Owd daddeh tewd Cowt dat.” His proud grin and innocent eyes caught Emma off guard, how could she say no…
“Oh-ok…but…Emma and babbehs onwy eat wed nummies.” She replied cautiously. Colt tilted his head in question, trying to remember if he’d ever heard that phrase before.
“Hmm…Cowt nebba had wed nummies. Wat am wed nummies?” He put a hoof to his chin as he thought, thinking of all the red foods he knew.
“Weww…” She paused, thinking of how to explain this to Colt, “Wed nummies awe in 'ou. Da wed nummies awe in aww fwuffies. Dat’s where boo-boo juice comes fwom.” She explained slowly. Colt simply nodded along, she wasn’t entirely sure he understood but at least Emma had tried.
Colt mulled this over in his brain, he had gotten hurt once before trying to fly and saw the boo-boo juice. So if the boo-boo juice was inside of him, then the red nummies Emma was talking about…he poked his stomach and cheeks, were those the red nummies? They weren’t red right now but he knew they were red underneath.
The thought of red nummies scared him but Emma needed to eat and so did her babies, he was her special friend now! He couldn’t just not feed his new family, that was his responsibility.
“Otay, Cowt wiww hewp 'ou get wed nummies!” He lifted his head and stood up, ready to get hunting.
The soft, padded hooves of a fluffy are actually well equipped for walking quietly but most fluffies don’t know how to or really realize they can. Emma was so quiet Colt had almost lost her a few times whereas Emma could hear Colt stomping through the leaves behind her, stepping on twigs and tripping over rocks. Emma was almost ready to eat Colt for lunch.
“Shh!” Emma froze, her ears perked up and her head moved from side to side like a snake, she had spotted something. Colt halted his violent rampage on the forest’s undergrowth and tried to find what Emma was looking at. He was becoming more and more nervous. The more he thought about the red nummies the more questions Colt had.
A light orange and green mare crept into view, searching the sparse bushes in the forest for any sign of food. Emma started creeping forward and Colt followed, stepping on a twig. The mare’s head darted up and she lazily glanced around the area before returning to her search.
“Stay hewe.” Emma growled at Colt before continuing her slow march forward.
Colt watched Emma army crawl towards the mare, sneaking behind a rotten log and under bushes. When Emma was a couple feet away she stood up and greeted the mare.
“Hewwow! Fwuffies name is Emma, working fow nummies fow babbehs!” The orange fluffy jumped, dropping all her food and squeaking in shock and surprise.
“How did 'ou get dewe! 'Ou scawed Tuwip!” The mare scolded Emma, who’s head and ears went down in fake shame
“Emma sowwy, nu mean to scawe pwetty mawe. Jus wookin fow nummies…” Emma began sniffling and wiping her face with a hoof. Tulip looked concerned and moved into hug her. Just as Tulip’s arms wrapped around Emma, she shot up and clamped down on Tulip’s throat. Blood bloomed from the bite wound as Emma skittered out of the way of Tulip’s sorry hoofies.
“Cowt! Hewp Emma!” She called back to the frozen blue pegasus and went in for another bite as Tulip screamed.
Colt’s legs shook and his head felt fuzzy and he couldn’t move his body. Time moved incredibly fast and so slow at the same time as he watched Emma tear a chunk of mellow orange fur from Tulip’s back side.
“Cowt!” Emma roared at him. He blinked a few times as he heard his name being called. Emma had backed the bloodied mare up against the dead log and was calling for him to help her. Blood dripped from Emma’s nose and the area above her right eye had begun to swell up.
Time returned to normal and Colt shook the fuzziness from his head and darted over, tapping his hooves nervously as he stopped on the other side of the mare.
“What Cowt do?” He assumed a weak, shaky fighting pose, lowering his head and extending his wings.
“Gib hew sowwy hoofies. Emma wiww gib hew fowebaw sweepies.” Colt felt a small prick of fear as he heard the words ‘fowebaw sweepies’…this was how red nummies were obtained. He paused wondering if he really wanted to do this but a sharp prompt from Emma got him started.
He slowly started towards her, the mare begged and pleaded for her life. Colt slowly lifted a hoof and closed his eyes tight as he brought it down on her. Tulip let out a sharp yelp as he hit her, slowly beginning to subdue her. His hooves became messy with blood from the repeated hits. Emma nuzzled him away and he slowly came back to reality.
Tulip lay bloodied on the ground, the bones and muscles of her face exposed in a bloody pulp. Colt might have thought her dead if it wasn’t for her low raspy breathing. Emma ducked in and clamped down on her throat and ripped away the flesh. The broken mare began to struggle and gurgle as she drowned in her own blood.
The hunt had been successful.