>“Rrrrrrreeoowwrrrrrrrrrrerrr!”
>Be Mint, and you’re saved!
>Chip’s gone mad, claiming you’ve made the Kitty-Friend into your Special Friend! He kicked you, he’s scaring the babies, but the Kitty-Friend is standing up, baring his long, white fangs, your grey baby sliding down onto the ground from his hiding place in the Kitty-Friend-Munsta’s thick chest-fluff.
>“Waaaaah-hah? Kitteh Munsta nu haf wongest sweepies?” Chip squeals in terror, his fluff flattening against his body as he turns awkwardly to face the Kitty-Friend … and gets slapped across the face with one of the Kitty-Friend’s paws!
>It looked so easy, so quick, yet Chip’s head snaps around, and the pink Pegasus grunts in pain, staggering away!
>Hissing angrily, the Kitty-Friend rears up onto it’s hind legs and lashes out again with the other paw, snapping Chip’s head back the other way and making the pink Pegasus squeal.
>Slap slap slap slap slap slap slash!
>On the final blow, as the Kitty-Friend slapped Chip back out of your Safe Place, it extended it’s claws, and now Mint staggers away, bawling and shrieking, four deep, bloody gouges running from the back of Chip’s jaw to the very end of his muzzle.
>“Bhuu-huu-huuu! Nuuuu! Chip nu wan’ wongest sweep-eech-eeh-eehies!” Sobbing and bawling, Chip staggers as fast as he can away, while your Kitty-Friend jumps around him, swatting at Chip with his huge, fluffy paws, slapping Chip across the muzzle, his ears, his tail, his wings, yowling angrily and baring his impressively long fangs.
>Halfway across the yard, the Kitty-Friend obviously thinks that Chip has had enough, and stops dancing around your sobbing, bleeding Ex-Special Friend, who is blindly charging towards the hibiscus bushes, dribbling blood from his cut face and badly beaten muzzle, tail tucked firmly down to protect his No-No’s.
>Wow. Just… wow. You’ve never seen anyone put a Fluffy in their place like that before. Even the horrible Stallions of the Herd never did more than slap each other with their hooves and then burst into tears when they got hit in return.
>The Kitty-Friend just destroyed Chip.
>And as he pads over, you can’t help but feel a surge of affection for him. The Kitty-Friend never asks you for Special Huggies, never complains about your babies, never hits you when you say you miss your Mummy …
>And now Chip’s gone, and your Mummy is right next door…
>Is it possible that this … is your chance?
>Fuck that horrible pink thing.
>Fuck it in it’s horrid, shit-projecting backside.
>Seriously.
>At least it’s gone now. After being on the receiving end of a beating, the Pink Thing fled with it’s tail between it’s legs, and left you alone.
>Seriously, whatever these things are, they’re horribly shrill when they are in pain. You’ve got the mother of all headaches now.
>Aaaaand the Green Thing and her Kittens are still under the steps. Sonnova…
>“Tank yuu. Yuu is guud fwiend.” It says to you, then starts to crudely imitate your own purring.
>Oh for the love of … whatever. Just… just whatever.
>The Management can sort all of this out. You’re going to groom yourself for the next two hours to calm down, then nap till the Management gets back and sorts this whole mess out.
>Today cannot possibly get any worse. It just can’t.
>You’ve ruined any chance of rejoining your former Herd by stealing Mint away, and that was the largest, most successful Herd within a whole bright-time’s walk!
>Then you lost Mint to, of all things, a Kitty-Musnta.
>Then you got beat up nearly to death by the Kitty-Munsta, and he scarred your beautiful, perfect face!
>How did this happen? You’re sure you delivered the killing blow! You pounded the Kitty-Munsta while he was asleep, not even Walnut could have survived a beating like that!
>Yet he got up as if nothing had happened and… and…
>You break down into tears once more, sitting on your rump and holding your mangled muzzle with both hooves, sobbing for your rightful destiny, which seems to be forever just out of your reach.
>There’s no way you can go back. All you can do is swallow your pride and keep running in one direction till you find somewhere new, and try again.
>Surely it can’t be that hard? Just put one hoof down in front of the other and start walking?
>But when you get up and start walking… your tail doesn’t want to go! You strain and struggle and try to go forwards, but your Tail is a meanie and clings to the ground, and gives you terrible owies.
>“Du-dummeh taiw! Chip jus’ wan weave! Nu wowth dis! Have owies, wost Hewd, am ug’wee now! Jus’ wan’ guuuuu!” You sob, straining hard until the stinging pain in your tail is too much, and you plop down onto your rear again, sobbing loudly.
>“Su. Dis whewe yuu an’ mah Speshaw Huggies Mawe get tu.” A voice rumbles behind you, deep yet calm, and you feel cold suddenly. You know that voice. You’ve lived in fear of that voice …
>“Wah-Waw’nut! Wha’ … yu come wookin’ for Chip an’ de Mawe?” You babble, looking over your shoulder and forcing the best ‘delighted’ look you can, even as your poopie-place has a scaredy-fit of it’s own. Thankfully, you’re sitting down, and there’s no poopies left in you, otherwise this lie would get you a beating for sure…
>“Yeaw. Wet’s gu wit’ dat.”" Walnut replies blandly, the entire Herd following in his wake, either grumbling at leaving the safety of the Warren, or staring at you in surprise, and in more than a few cases, malicious glee. “Chip, whewe is mah Speshaw Huggies Mawe?”
>Aww poopies, think quick, think qui…
>Wait … Walnut is the toughest Fluffy you’ve ever met… and that Kitty-Munsta is quite tough too…
>Maybe they’ll give each other the Biggest Owies? You can Steal a Filly from the Herd while the Toughie squabble over who’ll be the new Smarty Friend!
>“Ch-Chip fowwow Munsta dat took Speshaw Huggies Mawe! Is a Kitteh Munsta, biggest, fwuffiest Kitteh Munsta dat Chip eva seen!”’ You say as loudly as you can, several of the Herd’s Mares fainting dead away at the news, and many of the Toughies going pale under their fluff. “Kitteh Munsta twy to take yuu Speshaw Huggies Mawe, an Chip see it an’ teww yuu Toughies, buh dey wun ‘way! So Chip hide, an’ fowwow Fwuffeh Kitteh Munsta!l Speshaw Huggies Mawe is in dere, wit’ thwee baybehs, an’ de Fwuffeh Kitteh Munsta is guawdin’ dem!”
>The Herd immediately breaks into frightened, confused babbling.
>Everybody knows that a Kitteh-Munsta doesn’t kill it’s prey outright, but rather tortures it, beating the poor, unfortunately Fluffy to death.
>Walnut looks at you with that same, unflinching face, even as the Herd starts to mumble about getting a new Special Huggies Mare, that there are other, smaller Herds they can raid for nummies and babies, before the Smarty Friend, of all things, grins.
>“Den yuu got de owies twyin’ tu get de Mawe back den? Das guud.” Walnut says loudly, then shuffles up to you, putting his muzzle right up close to yours and starts to whisper, that horrible grin still on his face. “Cause Waw’nut know yuu wyin’. Waw’nut nu ask fo’ Mawe tu gu outside de buwwow fo’ Poopies, Waw’nut nu gif Speshaw Huggies tu Fwuffy Mummas. Buh den, Chip know dat, wite?”
>“Suh-sowwy! Chip think dat he do dat, make Speshaw Huggies Mawe weady, den Waw’nut think dat Chip is guud Fwuffie, may’beh make Toughie!” You babble, petrified as those eyes bore into your own, unreadable and implacable. All you can think of to save your ass is to pretend you’re a silly Fluffy, and hope you get off with a beating.
>“Does Hewd heaw dat? Dis dummeh tink dat Smawty wan’ gif Speshaw Huggies tu a Fwuffy Mumma, dat he couwd be a Toughie!”’ Walnut yells, then starts to laugh, and soon, all the Herd is pointing and laughing at you.
>It’s horrible. You’ll never live this down. You’ll never be anything but a Gatherer in this Herd, not after a blunder like this!
>But it’s better than being beaten to death by an outraged mob of Toughies, so you’ll play along and then flee as soon as you can.
>“Ya-yah. Chip am su sowwy, Waw’nut. Nu haf de Speshaw Wumps to be a Toughie. Nu twy tu do dis ‘gain.”" You whimper, causing the Herd to burst into laughter again, and you fight to resist the urge to rush up and start bopping noses. You’d never win, but there’s a small part of you that says ‘To hell with it?’
>“Das wite. Now, yuu show Waw’nut whewe Hewd can get into dis yawd, an’ get owr Mawe bawk. Den, Smawty gon’ make you nu a liar.” Walnut yells, silencing the Herd, and you sob and point to the hole in the hibiscus bushes with a hoof, Walnut standing right behind you.
>“W-wite dere, Smawty Fwiend. B-buh how yuu gonna ma-*!”
>CRUNCH
