You played with the other fluffies at the park. Some chased each other around, some sun bathed, some hugged and snuggled in the shade, and some played with some toys. You and Dusty played around with a ball with a circle of fluffies, taking turns kicking it to each other. Occasionally, you’d look back at your, and Dusty’s mummah. Sometimes they would be looking back at you, and you’d both smile and wave at one another. Whenever you felt hungry, thirsty, or needed to make good poopies, you stepped out of the circle and took care of it.
During one of the rounds of “kick baww”, one of the stallions gets the bright idea of really giving the red ball a hard boot. The ball ends up going flying over you all and over into the bushes. Some of the fluffies grumble and disperse while others get grouchy at him.
“Way tu gu, fwuffnuts…”
“yeh, nice wun, dummeh…”
You look at them, then back at the bushes…
“…and no going near the forest.” “Promise momma you won’t go there, okay?”
Even though your mummah said to not go near the the bushes and forest, you can’t help but feel bad for the fluffy that’s getting the business from the others. It… couldn’t have gone far, right? You gulp some and look over at Dusty, who’s playing around with some foals, letting them climb over him like a jungle gym. You steel your nerves, in spite of your shaking legs.
“Saffiuh wiww get baww.” you tell them.
The nearby fluffies stop berating the stallion before looking at you in surprise.
“'Ou sure? Buh munstahs wive in bushies! ‘Ou am jus’ tiny babbeh.”
You nod slowly before turning around. "Saffiuh be weaw qwick. Nu munstahs wiww get me!
…You wish your nerves matched the confidence in your words. But still, you made the claim, and now you must go the distance. You walk toward the bushes carefully, listening for any noises. Once you get close enough you hear the rustling of leaves and the familiar sound of the ball bouncing around. Was something playing with the ball?
You poke your head through the bushes, your tiny dark blue mane and light blue fur making you stick out in the deep green bush like… Well, you didn’t quite know what to compare it to. But you were definitely not hiding at all. Looking through the brush, you see what looks like a small herd of fluffies in a small, leafy clearing. They were fluffies of all different sizes, colors, types, and ages. Most of them were bigger than you… Much bigger.
A large, green fluffy just outside of your peripheral view began to sniff the air. “Smeww dat? Smawty am smeww new fwuffeh…” he says in a deep, intimidating tone.
He stands up and makes his way over to you. Each step of his felt like a miniature earthquake to your tiny stature. By the time you see him coming, he’s already spotted you and has started to sprint toward your bush. You let out a “Meep!” as you instinctively try to hide, but it’s no use. He’s standing outside of the bush.
“Smawty say ‘ou come out o’ bushies wite nao.” he says before stomping a hoof down and giving a disdainful snort. “Come out wite nao, ow smawty make 'ou come out!”
He sounded very angry and threatening… He could probably eat you up for breakfast. Still, you curl up in the deepest part of the bush, hoping the branches will protect you. Your refusal to comply only makes him angrier as his herd watches in a mixture of curiosity and fear.
“‘Ou nu wan’ wisten tu smawty? Fine! Smawty am gunna get 'chu!” he says before slowly breaking apart the bushes branches with his hooves and mouth. One by one they begin snapping as he makes an entrance for himself.
You softly scream in terror as you try to hide under your legs. “Pwease, nu huwt Saffiuh! Onwy wanted tu get baww back fow fwens!” you tell him, trying to defuse the situation.
“Nu! Baww am nao hewd’s baww! Babbeh fwuffeh nu can hab!”
At this point, you can see him glaring at you through the brush. As he begins trying to reach in for you, your flight instincts kick in and you haul ass out of that bush, back toward your friends. He sees you running as he extracts himself from the brush and runs after you.
You run as fast as your little leggies can take you, but his sheer size advantage makes him all the more faster. In no time, he catches up to you and pins you down using his sheer weight. Her grabs a hold of your collar as he picks you up in his mouth.
“'Ou am gunna be smawty’s enfie babbeh nao. Nu moah fwens 'ou mummah 'ou daddeh fow 'ou.” he says meaningly.
You remember what your mummah told you about smarties and their bad enfies…
“An’ if 'ou nu wisten, 'ou wiww become hewd’s nummies!”
Your eyes narrow in terror as you begin to cry. You? Becoming nummies for other fluffies? That could be the worst possible fate! Through the soft choking of your collar, you well up enough strength to cry out.
“MUMMAH! DUSTEH! FWENS! HEEEWP!” Your voice rings out like a siren
Suddenly, all of the nearby fluffies stop to look at you. Your mummah takes a moment to look around for you. Dusty spots you and sees what the earthy smarty is doing to you. He shakes off the foals that were on him before giving a powerful, ox-like snort.
“Fwuffeh am huwtin’ Saffiuh!? Nu on Dusteh’s watch!” he says with determination, scraping the ground with his front hoof a couple of times before charging in your direction.
Michelle points at Dusty as he takes off toward you, both Michelle and your mummah get up to give chase, leaving their things behind on the table. The Smarty merely chuckles softly as he brings you back toward the bushes.
“Nu wun can sabe 'ou nao. 'Ou am Smawty’s nao.”
You close your eyes as you hear the bushes rustling. You feel that this is the end for you and your mummah… No more friends, no more mummah, no more homesie… Until you feel a sudden shift, pulling you off to the side and thunking on the ground. You come to a few seconds later, dazed from the fall. You shake your head some before looking about.
You see Dusty standing over the earthy fluffy. The earthy stands up shakily, and angrily. He has a sizeable puncture wound on his side, and Dusty has some blood on his horn… Did Dusty save you from the smarty?
“‘Ou tink dat ‘ou can jus’ hab fwen’? ‘Ou tink dat Dusteh am jus’ wet ‘ou take bestest fwen’? Dusteh am nu dummeh, Dusteh pwotec’ Saffiuh.” he says through winded breaths.
The smarty wipes the blood from his mouth before chuckling some. “'Ou hab nu idea who ‘ou hab jus’ fwuffeh wif!” he says before throwing a punch at Dusty. Dusty merely stands there and takes it, hardly flinching in spite of the blood being drawn from his nose.
Seeing that his punch made little impact, the earthy looks at you. You’re hardly far enough from him to be safe… He slowly walks toward to you.
“‘Ou bettah nawt gu neaw her. Wast wawnin’…” Dusty says in a warning, tone. You’ve heard the same tone before, when your mummah warned you about the forest…
The smarty continues to approach you. “Hehe… If 'ou come any cwoser, smawty am gif wittle babbeh hewe sowwy hoofsies and fowebah sweepies~” he taunts. He’s going to use you as a hostage!
Dusty lets out another ox-like snort as he scrapes the ground again, preparing to charge. The smarty looks at you before shrugging.
“Smawty wawned 'ou!” he says before rearing up onto his hind legs, preparing to stomp you out.
The next several seconds felt like they took an eternity. You watched as the green smarty reached his peak and began his descent. His herd huddles and hides in terror as Dusty begins his charge, horn drawn and wings open. Just before the hooves land on you, Dusty rams the smarty, bowling him over into the brush clearing and continuing his bulldoze sweep to him.
You’re swiftly picked up by a human’s hands as you watch Dusty. He’s aggressively stomping the smarty over and over. The smarty knows he’s lost, but continues to taunt the large alicorn until his last breath. The feral herd flees in terror at the sight of Dusty stomping the smarty out in a bloodlust, leaving a trail of urine and feces behind them.
“Oh my God, Sapphire are you okay!?” your mummah cries out, holding onto you. You nod some, watching Dusty in shock. She looks over over before dusting you off and gently hugging you. “It’s okay baby, momma’s got you. You’re safe now.”
You watch as Dusty hyperventilates, the corpse now just being a pile of broken bones and mush. Michelle grabs a hold of Dusty and holds him tightly. She whispers into his ears as he slowly begins to come down from his bloodlust high. It takes a few moments for the shock to truly settle in as you begin to uncontrollably cry. your mummah just holds you tighter as she begins to cry as well.
“Momma was so worried about you when you cried out. I’m so glad you’re okay…” she says through sobs.
You reach out for Dusty who looks like a shell of his former self. His eyes were dark and his body looked limp and heavy… The decline from his rage must’ve settled in and made him realize what he had just done… Your mummah looks between you both.
“What were you doing back here? Don’t you remember that I said to not go near the forest?” your mummah scolds you.
You fold your ears down before pointing at the ball. “S-Saffiuh wanted tu get baww backsies fow fwuffeh fwens… Thought couwd do it befow munstahs get Saffiuh… Saffiuh wong…” you say, folding your ears down.
Your mummah sighs as she steps in to grab the ball. “I understand, sweet pea. All that matters now is that you’re okay. But if a toy goes into the forest like that again, you tell momma, okay?”
You nod in agreement.
Your mummah and Dusty’s mummah brought you both back to the other fluffies, a safe distance from the forest. A lot of the fluffies around gossiped in worried shock about the boo-boo juices on Dusty’s body as his mummah cleans it off him. You were both checked over for any major problems… Dusty had an ouchie nosie, but otherwise seemed to be okay. You quietly shuffled over to him before sitting next to one of his legs and holding onto it. He seems despondent, not even reacting to your touch.
You quietly look at him before folding your ears down and laying quietly by his side.
“Fank 'ou.” you start. Once again, he has no reaction. “If Dusteh di’nt come sabe Saffiuh, Saffiuh might hab been bad enfie fwuffeh… 'Ou nummeh fwuffeh…” You quietly tear up at the terrorizing thought of it.
He hears you soft, fearful sobs before raising his hoof and dragging you closer to him. The dirt you were dragged on made you a lot dirtier, but you didn’t care. You snuggled into his chest fur as you openly wept.
“Saff… Saffiuh am su happies tu hab fwen’ as gud as Dusteh… Dusteh sabe Saffiuh’s wife.” you tell him. He slowly snaps out of his daze and snuggles you gently.
“Dusteh am fankfuw fow makie in time. Saffiuh am onwy fwen’ Dusteh hab. Nu wanted tu lose Saffiuh, su Dusteh got weawwy angwies…”
Your mummah and Dusty’s mummah watched and listened on your conversation without interruption.
“Dusteh onwy wanted tu gib bad smawty sowwy hoofsies fow twy tu huwt fwen’, buh befow Dusteh knew wha’ Dusteh doin’, Dusteh am gibin’ dummeh munstah smawty fowebah sweepies.”
You look up at him as he tears up some. “Di’ 'ou mean tu gib fowebah sweepies?”
He shakes his head some. “Nu. Buh all Dusteh knew was dat Dusteh wan’ make dummeh smawty pay fow huwtin’ Saffiuh. Nu wan’ let smawty huwt any obah fwuffeh again. …Su Dusteh gib fowebah sweepies.”
The other fluffies murmured amongst each other. Their fear was slowly replaced with admiration and respect. Dusty looked at the others before looking at you.
“Dusteh nu am munstah fwuffeh… Can fowgib fwuffeh fow gib fowebah sweepies?”
You nod at him before snuggling in as close as you can. The “leaders” of the fluffy groups each stepped forward before bowing to him.
“Fwuffeh hewd undastan’.” the unicorn starts.
“'Ou… Dusteh am nu munstah fow gib fowebah sweepies. Boo-boo juices from bad smawty who wun huwt fwuffehs.” the pegasus continued.
“Dusteh am hewp fwuffeh from bad, scawy smawty. Dusteh nu am munstah, Dusteh am twue fwen’ and hewo.” the earthy finishes.
Dusty tears up a little more, knowing he had earned the respect of the herd.
Michelle held onto Erin’s arm. “Would you look at that? Dusty’s made a lot more new friends and earned their respect. I guess he just wanted to protect Sapphire that badly.”
Erin nods some, still shaken up by the events. “Yeah, he did… But what about Sapphire? Will she be okay?”
Michelle pauses to think for a moment. “Well, if she’s anything like her mother is, she’s a tough little cookie to crack.” she says before giving Erin a gentle punch on the arm.
“I sure hope so.”
Dusty sniffles a bit before wiping his eyes. “Fank 'oo. Dusteh nu am wanted tu be scawy munstah… Am hab heawt happies tu know hewd fwuffehs nu am scawdies of Dusteh nu moah.”
You and Dusty rested for a good while before playing a tiny bit more with the others. Bit by bit the other fluffies left with their families. As the sun began to set, you gave Dusty a final, hearty hug before saying your goodbyes for the day and being led home. It’s been one eventful day, with lots of scary things happening… You never knew that Dusty could be so brutal… But you knew it was just because he wanted to protect you.
Even though that smarty left a pretty bad mark on your soul, you smiled on the way home as you thought about what an amazing friend Dusty was.
After you got home, your mummah gave you a warm bath and checked you over again. After she finished, she made you a small helping of comfort skettis to go with your kibble dinner. Once you finished eating your food with a heartful “Fank 'oo fow nummies mummah!”, you settled down into a quiet evening with your mummah. You made good poopies in the litterbox, got a small treat, and curled up on her tummy as she read a book and stroked your fur. You quietly doze off to sleep before she puts you into your bed for the night.