Going fast. That was the only thing that was required of Quiver. The orange pegasus was preparing herself mentally. Her blue mane had been trimmed, for lack of a better word, down by her herdmates. The same happemed to her once long tail. The process had involved the toughies gnawing them down to a quarter of their original size. The fluffy had not enjoyed it, but she knew it was for her own good. Being a veteran Blackrock Runner, she needed all the help she could get.
This would be her three plus two run. With any luck she would grab her prize and ensure her herd would not have any tummy owwies for a few days.
Unlike regular nummie-finders, it was just pegasi that were chosen for this role. Amongst them, only the fastest lived long enough to learn the ropes. The splattered remains of those who had been either careless or unfortunare still littered the Blackrock.
Quiver steadied herself. Not trembling was hard enough, but accepting the fact she may never see her family again was unbearable. On her right, a new runner was having a panic attack.
âNu wan, nu wan! Fwuffy nu wan go fowevah sweepies! Pwease, fwuffy gib wickie cweanies anâ huggies anâ wub, buâ nu wan go!â
The poor thing was a recent addition to the herd. He had ran away from his home because his owner wouldnât let him have special huggies with the neighborâs mare and had gotten lost while trying to get to her. A nummie finder had found the green colt crying under a tree. Once he had been brought to the herd, Nightfall, the Smarty, had immediately told him what the price to stay would be.
âPwease, nu wan! Metaw munstahs gib wowstesâ owwies anâ fowebah sweepies!â
The two very large earthies who were stationed there to avoid desertion heard him. One of them, an imposing dirty white stallion, trotted over to the smaller pegasus.
âDummeh fwuffy go, ow toughies bweak âou weggies anâ weave 'ou on da Bwackwockie!â
The smaller fluffy let out a yelp and a stream of scaredy peepees escaped his private parts.
In truth, Quiver knew the toughies would never do that. It was simply easier than trying to talk him into it. Others had been given the same speech their first time, but besides some public shaming when a potential runner turned tail and ran back home, no leggies had ever been broken.
The fluffy at the green coltâs side was not a newbie, but he only had one run under his figurative belt. Quiver hadnât talked much with the deep brown stallion. He was a recent addition aswell and didnât like talking about his old herd. She figured heâd been bullied because of his colors. Black on brown isnât exactly a fan favourite among fluffies. Some of them did bring it to an extreme though. After all, no fluffy chooses their own fluff.
On her left, another freshmeat fluffy. This time a light blue filly with white mane and tail. She had left her old herd a few days earlier due to a lack of food and had stumbled upon Nightfallâs, who had offered her the usual deal.
Lastly there was Arrow. The yellow fluffy had grown up with Quiver. Both of them having born in Nightfallâs herd. He was on his three plus three run. His short, brown mane was gently moving in the wind.
âWemembah nyu wunnews. Nebah stop untiw 'ou feew gwassies undewhoof. âOu get owwies, keep wunninâ.â
Arrow was doing the usual speech to the new recruits, in hopes of minimizing the losses, but also to hype himself up and forget about the terrifying feat theyâd soon have to undertake.
âFoâ the owd wunnews, be bwave anâ fast. Fastew den any uddah fwuffy.â
Turning to Quiver, the yellow pegasus winked.
âWace 'ou tu da uddah side!â
âQuivew gunna see Awwow dewe.â
As the runners approached the road, leaving the safety of the forest, they could see their objective on the other side. The Queenâs Palace. The bright ball was shining up in the blue sky. It was time.
Quiver took a moment to scan the Blackrock. Today there werenât a lot of metal monsters. To a rookie, this might have sounded like the best time to cross. But she knew better. When there were fewer monsters, the ones that passed did so at even higher speed than normal. The Blackrock took a sharp drop a good distance to her right. The monsters coming out of there could ambush the runners at any moment. On her left, was a dark tunnel instead. The worst monsters were those who kept their bright eyes closed. You couldnât see them in the dark. Until it was too late.
Arrow was silent. He was listening. A red monster had just passed, its roar still audible, when he shouted.
âNAO! WUN!â
Quiver bolted. She looked frantically to her sides, hoping to see her companions.
Arrow was a short distance from her, to her left. The colt was slightly behind her. He was fast. Maybe heâd make it.
The stallion was lagging a bit behind the green fluffy, but so far so good. They had reached the white stripes already. Only a few more secondsâŚ
Then she heard it. From her left, a shiny grey monster was charging at them, itâs eyes closed and dark. She reckoned it wouldnât hit her, but the monster released a terrible scream. The scream they made when they were about to kill a runner.
POOOOOOOT!
She glanced back and understood why. The light blue filly had stopped. A puddle of peepees had formed at her hooves. She was paralyzed by the monsterâs magic.
âNUUUUU! PWEASE HEWP FWUF-scrunch.â
The mere wind the monsterâs passing had caused was almost enough to make Quiver lose her footing. The colt, being lighter, was thrown forwards, alongside the brown stallion, who, despite being way heavier, had been mere inches from the monster. Had his tail been not trimmed, he may have been caught. Luckily for them, they landed in the small strip of grassies that divided the Blackrock. They had reached the safe spot and were now halfway through. The colt got up and looked back.
âScree! Munstah gib fiwwy fowebah sweepies! Wan go back! Nu wan be wunnew nu moâ!â
Quiver knew how he felt. She had seen it happen too many times. The poor filly had been smushed to a bloody pulp, her tummy sketties were strewn across the Blackrock, white, jagged pieces stuck out from her carcass. The only intact piece of the former fluffy was a single leggie, barely attached to the gory mess, still twitching.
The mare looked around. Only one casualty, for now.
Once Arrow had calmed the green colt down, through motivational speech and a generous application of bops to the nose, they prepared to press on.
The way looked clear, but Quiver knew better. She listened for the monstersâ noises. When she heard none, the mare gave the signal.
âNAO!â
She and Arrow got to the grassies first. The stallion mere seconds later. The colt had barely passed the white line. He was crying profusely and looked like he was going to throw up.
She heard the monsterâs voice before she saw its shiny eyes. The stallions urged the colt to run for its life. It seemed like the monster was not going for the green fluffy. Maybe heâd be lucky.
The small pegasus was almost safe when the blue monster had swerved suddenly towards him, making him jump in fear and land face first into the grass. Quiver could swear she had heard a voice saying ââŚWAY SHITRAâŚâ.
âHuhuu, mouthie-pwace huwties, weggies hab wowstes owwies, wan mummahâŚâ.
âGet up. âOu am safe nao. Fwuffies go tu Qween Buwgew, get bestesâ nummies foâ hewd.â
They had made it to their destination. A fast food restaurant of the âBurger Queenâ joint. They waited by the backdoor that gave onto the employeeâs parking for a few minutes, until a teenage girl wearing the patented BQ purple and white uniform stepped out with a paper bag in her hands. Once she noticed the four fluffies standing there, her face lit up.
Ever since she had shared some of the leftovers from the restaurantâs guests with a hungry, black unicorn stallion a few months before, it had become almost a ritual for her to check if any ferals had come to ask for some food. They had it bad enough already, at least she could make a small difference.
âHello little fluffies, how are you today?â
âWunnews am otay. Can Qween pwease gib bestesâ nummies foâ hewd?â
As always, the yellow stallion had called himself Runners. What a weird name. Maybe he was the fastest of the group. She also didnât mind being called queen. A girl can dream after all, even if her âsubjectsâ were fluffies. She opened her paper bag and produced several smaller ones, each containing some fresh table scraps. A few french fries, some half eaten burgersâŚ
âHere you go guys. Donât open them until you are home!â
When it came to the limping green coltâs turn to pick up his share, his bloody nose and teary eyes immediately caught her attention.
âHey, what happened to you?â
âsniffle Metaw munstah huwt fwuffy⌠huuhuu⌠can Qween gib huggies pwease?â
âErm⌠not a chance buddy. You are dirty as hell and bloodstains tend to be a pain in the butt to wash off. ButâŚâ
The young pegasus had finally reached his breaking point. The threatening, the monsters, the dead filly, the hurties⌠and now the Queen refused to help him. He threw himself to the ground and began wailing.
âWAAAAAHHHH! FWUFFY NU WAN BE WUNNEW NU MOâ! NU WAN GO FOWEBAH SWEEPIES! chirp chirp WAN MUMMAH! Huuhuu⌠wan homesie 'gain. NuâŚnu wike Bwackwockie⌠chirp⌠wai Qween nu wub fwuffy? Am⌠peep bad fwuffy?â
The girl felt horrible. While she couldnât quite grasp all the colt was saying, one thing was clear: he needed help.
âPlease donât cry little one. I donât know what happened to you, but⌠here. You can stay in this box for now. Wait here and donât go anywhere. Iâll help you, but now I have to go.â
The girl waited until the sobbing fluffy had gotten in an empty cardboard box by the dumpster, then said her goodbyes to the others and went back in. If the green colt was still there when she was done with her shift, well⌠perhaps Peach could use a friend.
As soon as she had left, Arrow spoke up.
âFwuffies neeâ go back. Weave da cowt. He can fowwow nu wongew.â
Picking up a paper bag each with their teethies, they set off for the Blackrock once more. Now that they couldnât speak, it was even harder. Each runner would have to cross individually, in order to avoid running when itâs too late to follow another fluffy.
Archer narrowly avoided a black metal monster after passing the white line, but made it to the safe spot. Quiver and the brown stallion risked losing their spoils because of the wind blast made by a large white passing, but managed to hold onto their bags.
They were almost safe.
Quiver listened. One of them was coming, so she waited. Rightly so, because a smaller blue monster passed right by them. As soon as it passed, she thought, sheâd run. But then she heard a terrible scream. A blast of blood had erupted from the brown stallion as monster used its magic to rip one of his hear-places off! But how? It had never happened before! Looking around, she saw a small, blood covered pebble near a piece of bloody flesh.
The wounded pegasus had dropped his bag, spilling its contents on the grass and was now screeching like a madman. Even worse, in his thrashing, he had wandered onto the Blackrock! Quiver froze when she heard the thunderous scream that was a death sentence for any runner.
HOOOOOOOOONK!
A pink metal monster was now coming for the stallion, too preoccupied with his wound to notice. Arrow had thus dropped his prize and sprinted towards the other runner, grabbing his short tail with his mouth and pulling him back. The wind blast sent them both reeling. The yellow pegasus got up and yelled.
âQUIVEW! WUN! AWWOW HEWP FWUFFY!â
She ran past them while Arrow was attempting to drag the now delirious brown pegasus to safety. The mare had barely touched the grassies when she heard the loudest, deepest monster scream ever. But it was when she turned around that she literally voided her bowels. It was the biggest one yet. Red with white burnies all over it, as big as three normal metal monsters put together and just as loud. Its many bright eyes gave off a bluish light. She knew it was too late for her friends to move out of its way.
Quiver heard a horrible, wet âCRUNCHâ and opened her eyes, expecting to see both fluffies dead. Sure enough, the poor brown stallion had been reduced to a bloody paste, but Arrow was still alive! He had somehow survived the huge monster and he looked injured. One of his front leggies was bent the wrong way! Maybe she could stillâŚ
Then she heard it, and so did Arrow. Another monster was headed their way. The yellow pegasus looked to his right, then back at the yellow mare. He smiled weakly, then gathered his strength and yelled at her.
âWUN QUIVEW! NU WOOK! WUN! WUN 'WAY!â
She did just that. But she couldnât ignore the loud screeching noise that followed. It was as if a whole herd of fluffies was screaming at once. Tears came soon after, but no matter how fast the orange mare ran, she couldnât outrun her sorrow.