Archibald scanned the river, trying desperately to work out where Sweetheart had gone, she’d jumped into the river with Crimson, an attempt to kill him but at the cost of her own life. He needed to find her, either to save her life, or confirm her death.
Beside him, Ozzy and Peaches did the same, J.D. crying on his sister’s back, both were continually whipping tears from their eyes, making it hard for them to see, but they were determined to find their mother.
Finally, he saw her, a black Fluffy body had washed onto the shoreline, from the bridge he didn’t know if she was alive or not, but at least he knew where she was.
“Dewe, Sweetheawt by wiva-side, come on.”
With Archibald leading the way, the Fluffies raced off the bridge and down the hill towards the shoreline, all of them wishing that Sweetheart would be alive. Archibald rushed ahead of the children, wanted to make sure Sweetheart was ok so they didn’t traumatise themselves by seeing their dead mother. Things didn’t look good when he arrived, Sweetheart was laying face-down on the bank, she didn’t look to be moving, her front right leg broken from the impact and her breathing laboured.
Wait. Breathing? Archibald looked closer, she was alive, barely but alive, he heard her quietly muttering something, he leaned in to hear better and his heart sank when he heard her babbling in her delusion state.
“Wan die, wan die.”
“He’d seen other Fluffies fall into the wan-die phase and he knew it was a dangerous place for a Fluffy to be. Quickly he shook Sweetheart’s shoulders, trying to stir her awake.
“Sweetheawt? Am Awchie, sabe yu fwom meanie wawa. Babbehs come tu, wakies fow babbehs.”
Sweetheart’s eyes slowly fluttered open, still unsure where she was, piece-by-piece her vision returned to her as she was able to make out the vision of Archibald in front of her and her three children running up behind him.
“Bab… babbehs?”
“Dat wight Sweetheawt, babbehs come tu hewp mummah, yu hab weggie huwtie, need hewp wawkies.”
Sweetheart didn’t understand what Archibald was talking about, until she tried to stand up and felt a sharp pain in her right leg. She looked over and saw her leg bent at the wrong angle, the bone hadn’t pierced the skin but it could be seen pressing against it.
Just then, Ozzy, Peaches and J.D. arrived, Peaches almost instantly squeeled at the sight of her mother’s injury.
“EEK, mummah hab bad weggie.”
Archibald moved quickly to calm the foals down. “Yeh, mummah hab bad weggie su need babbehs hewp fow wawkies. Peechee, wet Awchie cawwy Jay-Dee, yu wet mummah west on yuw bak.”
Peaches trusted Archibald’s expertise and took J.D. off her back, placing him onto Archibalds. Ozzy waited to be told how to help but was told nothing.
“Wha Ozee du tu hewp?” He asked, a little more desperation in his voice than he planned.
Archibald shook his head. “Ozee west, hab big see-pwace huwtie, need tu wecova, stiww hab wong wawk an awmos dawkie-time.”
“Wha bout Cwimson?” Peaches asked, shivering at the thought of the monster.
“No see him, may-bee gun foweba sweepies, may-bee in udda pwace. Nu time tu fink bout him, wet’s move.”
Archibald led the way with J.D. curled up on his back, taking them deeper into the forest, Peaches went next, Sweetheart’s broken leg placed over her shoulder to help her mother walk. Ozzy stayed behind for a moment, a little hurt that he wasn’t allowed to help, then he caught his reflection in the water, his face caked with the blood from his missing eye.
He looked like a monster.
Ozzy kicked dirt into his reflection and turned away, not wanting to be reminded of his failure again.
Progress was slow going, without the use of all four legs Sweetheart was having trouble keeping a good pace and the extra weight was slowing Peaches down. In the setting sun the shadows of the trees were getting bigger and more sinister, scaring all the Fluffies but they had no choice but to push on for shelter.
Archibald looked over to Ozzy, the young colt had run up to walk alongside him but had stayed quiet for the whole journey, Archibald knew something was wrong and it was more than just his missing eye, something was eating away at Ozzy.
“ Ozee gud?” He asked the young Fluffy.
“Fine.”
“Awchie know Ozee wying, wan tawk.”
“No tawk, jus move tu safe-pwace.”
“Awchie am gud wistena, may-bee gud tu tawk. Hewp Ozee weawn dat his see-pwace am nu bad…”
“Nu cawe bout see-pwace. It bout Cwimson, he gib Ozee choose, take udda see-pwace ow take speciaw-wumps. Ozee choose tu keep wumps, nu knyo why, bu fink dat wha Cwimson wan Ozee tu say. Cwimson is munstah fwuffy, gib many fowebas sweepies and bad huggies, huwt mummah fow many bwite-times, an Ozee hab his bwood in Fwuffy body, scawed dat bwood make Ozee du bad fing.”
“Yu scawred Peechee du bad fing? Ow Jay-Dee?”
“Nu, bu it diffewent.”
“How?”
“Cause Peechee a mawe and J.D. a babbeh, nu hab thinkie-pictas wike dis.”
“Dey stiww Cwimson bwood, and dey Sweetheawt bwood, wike yu. Famiwy nu jus who yu shawe bwood wiv, it Fwuffies and eben hoomins yu be wiv, who yu wan tu be wiv. Who yu twust an wisten tu, who yu knyo twust an wisten tu yu. Cwimson may-bee yuw daddeh, bu he nu yuw famiwy an he nu contwol yuw choosies.”
Ozzy smiled slightly, his eye still hurt in the cool air but his heart wasn’t hurting as much after Archibald’s speech. Seeing the young boy smile again, Archibald gave him one final boost.
“Pwus Cwimson is asshowe eneeway.”
That brought a good chuckle to Ozzy, enough to ignore his eye for a few moments. Sweetheart smiled at seeing her son so happy, she was worried that being beaten nearly to death by Crimson would’ve sent him spiralling. But even still, it wasn’t enough to heal her own heart, she could still hear her mind telling her ‘wan-die’ though she couldn’t tell why that voice was still with her.
Peaches knew something was wrong with her mother, but didn’t know how to say anything to help.
Eventually, just as the sun was reaching its lowest point, Archibald and Ozzy crested a small hill and came across a small settlement, a burrow in the forest that Fluffies had once used to protect themselves, a perimeter had been set up with branches around the burrow, hollowed out trees had bedding and some small remains of old food to protect from the weather and the ground had been soften through hours of trampling to make for a softer surface to walk on.
If it wasn’t for the Fluffy corpses making it a graveyard, it would’ve been perfect.
Peaches and Sweetheart managed up the hill and found the same scene that the others had, both were shocked at the vicious display in front of them, easily 20, maybe 30 Fluffy bodies were scattered about the place, all of them had been dead for a while, most of their bodies were bone by this point with only a handful still having piece of flesh and fluff stuck to them. But that didn’t stop the scene from being horrifying to look at, many of the bodies had been torn to shreds, as though taken and ripped apart by horrid, carnivorous teeth. Some foals were among the dead, a few ripped by the monster teeth, most trampled by the escaping survivors.
“Wha happen hewe?” Peaches asked, horrified by the sight in front of her.
“Bawkie-munstahs pwobabwy.” Archibald answered, recognising the distinctive bite marks on the Fluffies bones, he’d lost a few feral friends to dogs before.
Sweetheart pulled herself off of Peaches and let her daughter rest for a moment while she limped over and examined the abandoned Fluffy home. She’d seen so much violence and death when she was at Josef’s, but seeing it like this, pure unlucky chaos hurting innocent Fluffies, it hurt her heart that much more to see it.
Then something hit her, a smell, it was faint, almost impossible to notice, but it was a smell she recognised from a life long gone. Sweetheart sniffed the ground, patches of the smell still lingered near the dead foals, they smelled like…
Smartie.
It couldn’t be, of all the places… Sweetheart had to find out more, she stuck her nose to the ground and sniffed as best she could, followed the scent towards one of the tree-hovels. Ozzy and Peaches watched their mother, confused as to what she was doing.
“Mummah, yu ok?”
Sweetheart didn’t answer, she kept on top of the scent, every so often she’d lose it again but she kept a good track as she followed the smell into the tree, inside she found another dead Fluffy, an adult male, patches of purple fur still stuck to his body, unlike the others he hadn’t been ripped apart by the dogs, his skull had been caved in by something, or rather someone.
Sweetheart gave the body a sniff to confirm her thoughts, this was Smarties father, the leader of the Technicolor Herd before he was killed by his own son and Smartie took over, before Mother stole Sweetheart from her loving home.
Sweetheart turned to her children and Archibald, seeing the looks of confusion on their faces.
“Dis Twee-Pwace use bewong tu Smawtie hewd, dey take Sweetheawt fwom mummah befow Joesep take them aww, gib hewd foweba sweepies. Wememba Toughie by wiva bak home?”
Ozzy and Peaches nodded, remembering the trapped green Toughie that had nearly gotten them killed.
“He pawt of hewd, Sweetheawy fink he gune fow wong time. Smawtie an Mummah was bad fwuffies, Smawtie gib own daddeh foweba sweepies, dis his daddeh.”
“How you knyo?” Peaches asked, trying not to look at the skeletal remains.
Archibald looked up at the tree tops. “Big twees pwotect pwace fwom sky wawa, an nu udda Fwuffies come cause of da dead Fwuffies. Fwuffy smeww jus stay wonga dan fink.”
“Sweetheawt knyo, wememba smeww fwom gwoing up, Smawtie, Toughie an…”
She stopped, the idea popped into her head and she had to follow it through, she buried her nose to the ground again and went looking, it was still faint but now she knew what she was looking for. Her journey took her to another tree-hovel, this one without any bodies inside, while the majority of the tree was soured by his mate and her brood, Sweetheart could still smell his scent near the doorway, left out to the mercy of the weather.
“Daddeh.”
Whipped’s scent still lingered lightly on the ground, Sweetheart couldn’t help but curl up into it, feeling the warmth of her adoptive father again. She didn’t even realised how much she missed him until it dawned on her that this would be the last contact she ever had with him. Silently she started crying, crying for Whipped’s death, crying for her lost children, crying for the pain her living children had suffered, for the pain she’d suffered. Everything just came at once and burst out of her, Sweetheart suddenly felt more alone than ever, until she felt a small body lay down next to her, Peaches curled into her mother, making sure she could feel her body against hers, Ozzy lay down and did the same thing, Archibald lay down close enough for J.D. to crawl over and back onto his mother’s back, and together the five Fluffies made their own little Fluff-pile and slowly fell asleep, safe from the horrors of the world, if only for a moment.
That night, Archibald tossed in his sleep, something wasn’t sitting right with him, when he opened his eyes he realised why; Sweetheart wasn’t in the hovel. Carefully so as not to wake the foals, he ventured outside where he saw her sitting on a fallen branch, her black and silver fluff shining like diamonds in the moonlight.
If she didn’t look so sad, she’d be beautiful.
Carefully, Archibald walked up to join her, not hiding his presence but not announcing it either, he took a place on the branch next to her and waited, hoping she’d say something to break the tension.
She didn’t.
“Is Sweetheawt ok?” He asked after a few seconds of silence.
“Fwuffy fine Awchie, gu bak tu bed.”
“Nu, Awchie knyo Sweetheawy wying, wan hewp hew, yu can tawk tu Awcie. Heaw Sweetheawt by wiva, say she wan-die, dat bad fing fow Fwuffy tu say.”
A tear fell from Sweetheart’s eyes as she looked at Archibald. “Sweetheawt’s heawt huwties am tuu mush, nu wan die bu nu wan be awive, evewyfing Sweetheawt wuv gu foweba sweepies, onwy knyo huwties.”
“Bu Sweetheawt escap, run away fwom huwties, find safe-pwace fow hew an babbehs”
She shook her head. “Onwy du dat fow babbehs, dey nu desewve life huwties, Sweetheawt wan wha best fow dem, knyo she twust Awchie tu wook afta babbehs if she gu.”
“Nu tawkies wike day, Sweetheawt am su cwose tu seeing mummah gain, nu gib up nyo. Muwwigan wan see hew babbeh gain.”
“An wha if Awchiw wong? Wha if Muwwigan nu Sweetheawt mummah? Heawt huwties awweady tuu mush, wose mummah gain wouwd kiww Sweetheawt. Sweetheawt knyo tuu many huwties, nu wan wisk mowe, wan Awchie take babbehs tu Pawka famiwy, hewp dem take cawe of babbehs ow find dem good mummahs an daddehs, weave Sweetheawt awone tu die.”
Archibald couldn’t believe what he was hearing, Sweetheart was choosing death because she was too afraid of getting hurt again.
“Bu wha bout babbehs, dey need mummah.”
“Sweetheawt nu wan wose babbehs, ow gib dem heawt huwties, babbehs moss impowtant fing in hew wife, bu she knyo dey betta wiv hoomin famiwy, waise dem wight, gib dem aww da huggies an wub dat Sweetheawt nu can.”
“But Sweetheawt am wong, aww mummahs can gib wub, huwties nu take dat away.”
Something finally broke inside Sweetheart and she burst into tears, weeping in the soft moonlight, Archibald quickly took her in his arms and hugged her, letting her vent all her pain and suffering as she bawled against his chest…
“Huu, Fwuff… Fwuffies am fow huggies an… an wub, bu Sweetheart nu… nu wememba wha wub feew wike, onwy huwties an saddies. Nu wan huwt babbehs bu nu knyo how tu wub dem pwopawy.”
“Sweetheawt DU knyp how tu wub, she bwavesh Fwuffy Awchie eba see, escap meanie hoomin, pwotect babbehs fwom monstah daddeh, wiwwin tu die fow babbehs. Dat is wub if Awchie knyo it, Sweetheawt du anyfing for babbehs, and babbehs wub Sweetheawt. An… an Awchie wub Sweetheawt tuu.”
Sweetheart looked up at him, not quite believing what he said, why would Archibald; a wonderful and brave stallion, love a broken wreck like her? “Awchie wying. Twy tu make Sweetheawt feew betta.”
Archibald leant forward and gave Sweetheart a soft lick on her cheek.
“Dat feew wike wying tu yu?”
There was a beat as Sweetheart processed what was happening, then she returned the lick, just as soft and caring as his, Archibald nuzzled her neck, sending unfamiliar shivers of joy down her spine. The two Fluffies licked and rubbed each other, enjoying the feeling of another against their bodies, Sweetheart looked down and saw Archibald’s no-no stick was hardening.
And for the first time in her life, enfies didn’t scare her.
“Du Awchie wan gud feews wiv Sweetheawt?” She asked him coyly.
Archibald looked down and realised that he was erect, he turned away embarrassed. “Awchie du, bu nu wan if Sweetheawt nu wan, wan make suwe she happy fiwst.”
Goddamn she got lucky with this one, Sweetheart licked his cheek again, then turned around and bent over the branch, presenting herself to Archibald while also keeping the weight off her broken leg.
“Sweetheawt wub Awchie tuu, wan knyo wha weaw gud feews awe.”
Archibald didn’t need telling twice, carefully he mounted her, giving her back little licks and kisses as he manoeuvred into position, when the tip of his penis brushed against her special place, Sweetheart gave a soft coo, her heart pounding with a little fear and a lot of excitement.
“Sweetheawt weady?” Archibald asked her.
She nodded. “Sweetheawt weady.”
Slowly, Archibald inserted himself into his mate, Sweetheart shuddered at the slight pain as memories of horror and agony flashed in her mind, only to melt away as the gentle touch of Archibald took over, she felt a warmth, a joy in her heart that she’d never felt before.
This was what good feels were supposed to be.
“Enf, enf, enf.” Behind her she could hear Archibald grunting as his drove into her, where before the grunting meant pain, now it meant love and she loved Archie for being so gentle with her.
She turned to look at her new mate and smirked. “Awchie, am nu gun bweak DAT easiwy.”
Archibald understood what she was saying and quickened his pace, being rewarded with another shiver of ecstasy running through Sweetheart’s body.
In the tree-hovel, Ozzy and Peaches were stirred awake by a strange noise in the distance, Ozzy looked around and realised that Sweetheart and Archibald were nowhere to be found.
“Peechee knyo wha stwange noisies is?” He asked her, a little bit of fear in his voice.
Peaches listened out, hearing a faint grunting sound and a slight cooing on the wind, she smiled as she understood what was happening.
“Nu wowwies, Awchie jus showing mummah gud feews.”
“Oh.”
Peaches turned over to go back to sleep, leaving Ozzy to work out the meaning behind what she just said. Then the penny finally dropped on his head with an audible thunk.
“Gwoss.”
