California, a place known for its thriving tech and entertainment industries thanks in large part to Hollywood and the Silicon Valley, bustling cities such as New York and San Francisco, and Almonds (for some fucking reason). But for fluffies, the main draw of the golden state is the weather, as it never snows in most regions which allows them to feed and thrive even during the cold months in the more rural areas.
One such fluffy who was fortunate enough to be born in such a luxurious area was a large slate gray mare with a long, unkempt black mane and matted fluff who was currently trekking through the forest in search of a new nest. On her back, she carried five other small foals whom babbled and stumbled about as best they could without falling off whilst their mother sang to them in an attempt to settle them down, fortunately bowl fluffies were a bit wider and flatter than the average fluffy to make water travel easier in addition to making it less likely for their young to tumble off. During their long and exhausting journey, the mareâs hooves began to ache, the combined weight of her foals and her wide frame made expensive journeys on land very painful.
Fortunately, mother nature would smile upon them, as after making their way through a particularly dense thicket of trees they came upon a small bank of rocks leading into a stream that divided the land. The gray mareâs face lit up with glee, finally getting some respite from walking in addition to gently floating across the water which for bowl fluffies was one of their favorite things to do. âBebbehs! Mummah find wawa fo fwoties!â she exclaims, her young showering her in praise as she lowered herself down and allowed them to safely climb down before flipping herself over near the waterâs edge.
One by one her babies climbed into the bowl-shaped indent in her stomach before finally scooting away from the shore and gently floating down the river. Now no longer fearing falling off, her foals began to run and play in the small area that her stomach provided whilst others indulged in her milk. The gray mare sang and âclappedâ using her front hooves, coaxing her babies to dance and sing along with her whilst her tail swished furiously in an attempt to propel her to the other side. Although they were making decent progress in crossing the river, the riverâs currents were far stronger than the mareâs tail and the once gentle flow of the water became faster and more choppy, thus rocking her like a ship caught in a storm.
Naturally, the sudden sway of their mother caused several of them to panic, defecating and huddling together for safety as they feared that their mother no longer loved them and was trying to fling them overboard. âNu wan wawa! Wawa am bad fo bebbehs!â âWhy mummah nu wub bebbahs nu mowe? Am bad bebbehs?â they cried in between scared chirps. âMummah wub awe bebbehs! Meanie wawa nu take bebbehs away from mummah, mummah use taiw an bwing bebbehs tu neu nestie!â The mother assured them, though despite her reassuring words, the rapids began to toss her about more and more violently until finally she ran aground on a sharp rock jutting out of the water.
The pain was intense, a loud âSCREEEâ being heard from the mother as her limbs flail wildly in the air and tears streamed down her cheeks. Some of her foals attempted to comfort her by laying flat on her chest and âhuggingâ her whilst for others the stress had become too much and they coped by either curling up and suckling on their front hoof or holding each other for comfort.
The mother was losing blood at a rapid rate, a crimson red trail gushed out of her open wound whilst the freezing cold water pierced her normally water-resistant fur. Just before she was about to pass out, her body scraped against another jagged rock, creating several smaller sashes that werenât as deep but did manage to wake her and elicit more screams of pain. At this point, she was running on pure adrenaline, her eyes struggled to remain open and her foals were in pure hysterics thanks to their motherâs cries and the rapids tossing them about until finally the stream began to calm and the fluffy family was spat out into a small freshwater pond.
Despite having weathered the worst of what the stream had to throw at them, the motherâs injuries were far too grave and she passed away with a look of fear and anguish frozen on her face. No longer hearing their motherâs screams or feeling the ground beneath them shifting, the young foals attempted to wake their mother to no avail as she had managed to keep her promise at the cost of her own life. With the loss of their mother, the foals were practically stranded in the middle of the pond as the current was no longer strong enough to pull her body to the âexit pointâ of the pond.
Despite their current situation, this hardly seemed to matter as the foals either remained in denial that their mother was dead and continued to try waking her by singing, dancing, and nudging her whilst for others the trauma had become too much and they mentally regressed back into chirpy babies sucking on what milk was left in her teets and closing their eyes. All seemed lost for the newly orphaned foals but little did they know that a group of humans were camping just a few feet away from the river and some of them managed to hear their cries.
From atop a bit of elevated land came two young boys whom had just gotten back from a river rafting trip with their parents, their life jackets and helmets still strapped tightly as they clumsily stumbled down to the water across the rocks completely barefoot due to their overwhelming curiosity. When they finally made their way to the water, the two cautiously approached the fluffy corpse and peered down into the bowl indent to find several more similarly-shaped fluffies all crying and peeping for their mother.
âWhat is with these fluffies? Their stomachs are all caved-in and weird lookingâ One of the boys said, carelessly plucking one of the young away from the litter by its mane in order to get a better look at it whilst the foal screamed âBAD UPPIES! FWUFFY HED HEWTIES!â before thrashing about in a vain attempt to free itself. The other boy shrugged âI dunno, but itâs kinda cool. Theyâre like tiny boat fluffies.â He commented, holding his hand out for his friend to pass the fluffy he was holding over to him to which he simply dropped it onto the palm of his hand.
Unsure of what to do with them, the first boy took off his helmet and had his friend dump the remaining fluffies into it whilst the corpse of the mother was thrown into the bushes on the opposite side of the river in the hope of having wild animals eat it. Slowly, the boys waded through the water with the young bowl foals and made their way back to their campsite.
Their campsite was a modest little place, three tents were set up for the two boys and each set of parents along with a wooden picnic bench and standing grill that came with the property. As of that moment, their parents were changing inside of their tents only for one pair to be interrupted by the pair of boys that insisted that they come out and look at what they found. From the tent came a lumbering red-headed man currently only wearing a pair of jeans which left his potbelly hanging out âAlright boys, what did ya find olâ uncle berry?â he asks with a warm, friendly smile before being shown the helmet full of fluffies still crying for their mother.
âHmm, canât say Iâve ever seen fluffies like this before. You said that you found them in the water?â He asks to which the two boys nod their head in unison âWell if thatâs where ya found âem, you should prolly put them back there. If I had to guess it, they were probably just floatinâ back home before you boys found âem. Just set âem back in the water and let âem get back on their way before it gets dark.â Although a little disappointed that they were unable to keep them, the boys did as they were told and made their way back to the water.
One by one, the fluffies were set near the exit of the pond where the current carried them off back down the stream âNu! Nu put bebbeh in meanie wawa! Fwuffie wan mummah! Fwuffie wan warm nestie peace! Fwuffie wan miwkies!â They pleaded, though their cries were largely ignored by the boys who just assumed that they were just still shaken from their motherâs passing and that they would get to where they needed to go safely enough thanks to them being buoyant. Oh how wrong they were.
In an effort to stay together, the foalsâ stubby, inexperienced tails attempted to propel themselves to their siblings but to no effect thanks to even the gentlest current being far too strong for them. All they could do now was sit back and pray that they made it to somewhere safe. Minutes passed and the foals had finally gave up on reuniting, being far too exhausted and hungry to continue trying with their cries for their brothers and sisters instead being replaced by begging pleas for milk and warmth âHuuhuuâŚmeanie munstah wawa take mummah way! No wet wittle bebbah go tu bwuddas an sissies. Hatchu! Hatchu!â
Although the flow of water was linear and unchanging in its course, it was almost as if their words had angered the spirit of the earth as the once fairly calm waters once again became more and more choppy, causing the foals to panic and start crying out for their deceased mother or apologizing to the water.
The first to go was a pure white female pegasus whom was approaching a large black rock sticking out of the water with its edges being so finely eroded by the river that it looked like a shark fin peering out of the water âEep! Munstuh! Munstuh! Mummah, sabe bebbeh!â She pleaded, swishing her tail and flapping her wings to try and steer away from the rock only for the result to be all the same as she was bisected straight down the middle and having her two halves dift away from each other.
The second was an earthie that was a near one-to-one replica of the mother, though instead of being a mare, it was a young stallion whom kept his eyes covered using his front hooves and sobbed to itself. It was only when it felt the familiar touch of another fluffy that it finally uncovered its eyes and looked over at what it initially thought was its sister only to realize that half of her body was gone and caused the fluffy to panic. The foolish foal thrashed about from side to side, attempting to get away from his literal half-sister before managing to flip itself over and waterlogging its non-water resistant stomach fur. Unable to keep itself above water, the poor foal sank below the water, its screams being replaced by gargling as its lungs quickly filled with water and finally sank down to the riverbed never to be seen again.
Third was a brown foal with a luscious green mane whom broke the furthest away from its siblings and focused all of its efforts on reaching the shore which was just inches away. It reached its little hoof out, straining itself to just touch the soft soil only for its hopes to be dashed away by an unseen force beneath the water. Then it came back around, although further away from the shore before with the foal now trying to break away from the strange swirling current, but little did it know that its fate was already sealed. He was pulled further and further away from the shore, the watery vortex becoming faster and faster until he was sucked below the water down even further below the riverbed. The light from the surface slowly faded as its body was thrown against jagged rock walls, tearing away bits of fur and flesh whilst also knocking their air out of it. In its dying moments, it begged the air bubbles to come back to him before finally passing on.
Much like the others, the fourth was not spared natureâs wrath, though due to its lime green fur and blue mane it wasnât like it stood much of a chance anyways as its high mobility and constant flailing made it the perfect target for predators such as a bird whom was currently flying overhead before spotting the tasty morsel. Without any hesitation, the creature swooped down and snatched up the wriggling creature, piercing its sides with its razor sharp talons and taking them far into the air. The foalâs loud, pained âSCREEâ echoed through the forest until it was taken to the nest of a mother bird and picked apart piece by piece to ensure that her young didnât choke.
This left only one last baby left, a deep green pegasus mare with a black mane whom was the last to be released down the stream and as a result was practically forced to bear witness to the many horrifying deaths of her siblings. From the trip down the stream with her mother to now, the pure chaos that unfolded before her left her thoroughly traumatized with her eyes remaining shut and begging someone, anyone to help her fly away from the evil river. But, she was alone now, no siblings or mother to keep her safe or hear her cries and yet she managed to pass through the harsh river rapids and make her way into a calm section.
For days sheâd repeat the same words over and over again âWingiesâŚWet bebbeh fwyâŚfwy faw way fwom meanie wawaâŚâ, managing to elude the clutches of death time and time again as if fate itself was keeping her afloat. Her body shriveled up and withered, the harsh sun beamed down upon her unyielding malice, and just she felt like her time on earth was done, she felt it; her back and wings were no longer submerged in water, a rapid breeze passed through her fluff and for the first time in days she opened her eyes to see her miles above the forest. Her prayers had finally been answered, she was flying, soaring high above the forest, above the rivers which troubled her for so long. Her face lit up with a mixture of excitement and joy, her little wingies flapped harder than they ever had in her entire life as she thought that she was finally going to be able to fly away from it all, but it was too good to be true.
In reality, she was thrown off the edge of a tall waterfall, her body swiftly plummeting to the forest floor below and despite trying to keep herself in the air it was all for not as her body splattered directly onto the forest floor, missing the stream by a few inches.
Meanwhile, a mother bowl fluffy and her foals were trotting through the forest in search of a new nest until they made their way through a bush and found themselves in front of a gentle stream. Due to having been walking for some time, the mare was relieved to finally be able to take it easy for a bit by floating across the water, though before she could tell her babies a small foal crashed onto the ground just inches away from her, spooking the mare and causing it to waddle away as quickly as possible away from the water with her young on her back.
END.