“Integration”
“Part 6, Imposition”
Author: It_that_watches
“Dearie…” Matthew said, before being caught by a terrified glare, “Celestia, dearest…”
Her sudden frown of uneasiness faded back into a neutral expression.
“You know that I’m here for you, right? Here in this house, with you?”
She paused for a moment, looking around the room. She surveyed it all, the color of the bedsheets, the doors, the placement of the pictures on the walls, and… the windows.
“My dreams nefer had no windows. I forgot what ou-side looked like.”
She craned her head upwards to look at him, horn poking into his neck a bit while her precious pink eyes caught the evening sun in spectacular fashion. She smiled a weary smile, not quite sure of anything anymore, but sure that this place, right here, right now, was okay. Happy.
Peaceful even.
“No…”
“What was that, Tia sweetheart?”
“No… Ih’ is too-” She cut herself off with a yawn, before violently shaking her head to focus again, “Is too nice. I can’t… I wohn’t fall asleep again…”
Even as she spoke those defiant words, it seemed as if she wouldn’t make it through the sentence. How long had it been? It had been around a full day since she woke up- 24 hours, but she was already haggard by it. She’d figured that her “long-sleep” would mean she would have a “long-awake”… But to her great dismay her eyelids felt heavier by the second.
“Hon- Tia… You look so tired. Have you been up all night? You know… You know you have to go to bed eventually. Right?”
Her vision panned slowly to the window, and through it, at the multicolored cretins playing in such close proximity to her home. To her family.
“I wanna see tha fluffies. Frum the window.”
Matthew sighed, looking down at his anxious angel, only to be met in turn with her piercing pink eyes. The look of desperate, exhausted determination was clear and bright. She really was convinced that they were a threat.
“I gotta see daddy, I gotta see ‘em. Needa make shure they’re still ou-side.”
He acquiesced.
“Sure Tia. I’ll carry you over.”
And just where she thought they’d be, there they were.
Frolicking in the frost-nipped grass were the fluffies of Twilights kingdom. They were cavorting about in all the manners that fluffies naturally do: cuddling up with one another for warmth and companionship, bounding gracelessly through the grass and bushes in games of hide and seek, playing games of tag with all of the bodily grace of berry-drunk pigeons, and in general just exercising the free time they had to spend with their families now that survival wasn’t their sole concern.
She looked down upon them with glowering eyes, searching across their mirth for any trace of hostility. She tracked the ones playing tag, watching their soft, padded hooves collide harmlessly with one another, their distant muted cries of excitement tensing her every muscle.
She gritted her teeth. Why weren’t they killing each other? Why weren’t they trying to get inside to kill her? She thought back to the night prior when she could see them through the downstairs windows.
Celestia paced the moonlit halls of her home, the cool air wafting through its cavernous interior. It carried with it familiar scents. Sensations. A serenity that she hadn’t felt in a long time.
She shook the sleep from her eyes. It was a feeling she couldn’t afford to feel now.
Dad and Twily were sleeping! What if fluffies broke into the house? Better check all the doors to be safe.
There they were, just where she expected to find them.
With grim determination, she approached the back door, its full-length pane of glass betraying the insidious motive of the fluffies to her. They were trying to get in.
She checked the other doors to be safe, but it was unclear how many might be outside those sturdier doors constructed of more opaque materials. The pony-door though… Oh yes… She could see them outside… and smell them too.
They jittered with ferocious intensity, pushing their filthy bodies up against the doors in squirming masses, the scent of their hideous countenances frothing into her space through the miniscule crack under the door, the sounds of their evil mewling unbearable and disgusting… But none of them were inside. Yet.
She stopped to listen.
“Nee’ huggies…”
Feh, nonsense.
“Wub mummah!”
More useless blather.
“Waw-m hou-sie…”
Wait… What was that?
She thought it was saying “War!”, but it seemed not. Jumping the gun.
“Warm house.” That is absolutely what they said, and absolutely what they were trying to take from her, she just knew it. Those little bastards had already seemed to weasel their way in by somehow appealing to her older sister. Why? Why did she let them in? Why wouldn’t she just throw them out already?
She shot a glare over her shoulder down the dark hallway into the laundry room, where those invaders were nesting. She made toward them at a stern and steady pace, and by the time she peered in, they were ready for her. They were waiting.
The fat green one stood shivering on some sort of mess of padding, the sound of creaking and squeaking barely audible over the space heater slowly oscillating in the corner of the room. The ugly brown one was just barely awake, looking up with tired hopelessness in its eyes. What were they up to…?
“P-p-p-pwease nu…”
She stopped Muddy before he could begin.
“Iow hurt you if I haf to. I dun wanna, but I will.”
To her surprise, he did not back away. She’d expected him to cower further, but instead he took a step towards her. She was ready for this eventuality. Muddy swept sideways, and she anticipated his incoming lunge. Her heart thundered while adrenaline and fear flooded her veins. She knew where he was about to be, and she was going to ensure that he met resistance.
The only issue is that she didn’t.
Her wing sailed through empty air and smashed into the hard tile. She gasped. She recoiled. She looked up at the intruder to ascertain why she had missed. She saw him trembling in front of his meagre family. She’d never seen a fluffy assume such a position, it looked like one of fear and stability, as opposed to the expected coil of a readied attacker. A position she’d never seen a fluffy in up close.
“P-p-p-p-p-p-wease! Nu! Nu hewt Muddy famiwiy!” he stammered, “Huwt Muddy if haf tu pwincess munstah, but nu hewt speshaw-fwend ow babehs!”
Monster? No, no! She was protecting her family!
But… so was this fluffy it seemed, as they lay shivering in fear in a pile behind him.
“I’m… I… You’re the monsters!”
She spoke with a voice trembling just as much as the targets of her hostilities.
Her head swam with swaths of light and color as she felt lighter by the second.
Was it the acrid smell, the rush of blood, or the lack of sleep that made her back away from the fluffies? She was afraid, but it wasn’t of them. She felt afraid of herself. She saw her own family in them, reflected in some cruel funhouse mirror.
She wheeled back to disengage from the situation, as if running from the room would somehow help her run from what she felt at having threatened a helpless fluffy that surely felt just as trapped as she did.
And so she ran.
Down the hallway, around the corner, and into the living room. She looked up at the cool-white moon just barely visible over the treeline and felt comfort in the embrace of its rays. The room was cast in a brilliant spectrum of blues and greys, the carpet was soft, and the impact of her body upon it was barely felt at all.
The impact reverberated through her frail body, bones shaking like a windchime dancing under a thin veil of skin. Black spots danced across her vision.
She lie in a state somewhere on the blurry gradient between dream and reality.
She listened to her own breathing; she could feel it slowing. The room was getting darker. Sleep was going to take her any moment now, creeping closer every second. She gritted her teeth and called out for help.
“Daddy… Twily… I nee help… I’m scared… dun wanna sleep ever again… I dun wanna be alone.”
And just as she thought she’d slip away alone she heard a voice from behind her. A soft voice, reassuring and warm, if a bit wavering. She recognized the words but couldn’t hear anything more than the fuzz and static filling her sleep deprived senses.
“Daddy…” She thought, but no the voice was too high.
“Twily?” She wondered, but even now she couldn’t find the strength to stand and turn around.
“Wight?” Wight could protect them for sure! She wasn’t here at the house though, was she?
“Dun leave… Stay wif’ me…”
The distant voice responded meekly.
“Uhh… umm… O-otay.”
Celestia’s eyes flickered awake after a night of peaceful dreamless sleep. She jolted to a sitting position and uttered a spout of complete gibberish, her still sleep starved brain taking its sweet time to fully come online.
Her bright pink eyes fluttered as her vision panned out of the large living room window, looking almost directly at the sun hanging on the horizon beyond the trees- an empty space where it seemed just moments ago the moon was looking down upon her. She felt as if she had jolted forward in time, skipping the night she was dreading would take her away from her family.
She pulled tight the thick wooly blanket draped over her back with her wings and scanned her surroundings, taking a tentative step forward- only to feel her hair stand on end as a sudden crackling noise came from beneath her hoof, and she felt something squish under her weight. She recoiled quickly from the sensation only to see a smushed smores granola bar laid out before her.
Come to think of it…
“Dad? Twily?” she inquired, “Wight? Are you there? Hello?”
Her voice echoed somewhat as she faced the kitchen. It was empty.
“This is my fault” she thought, “I got scared and left the room… I almost hurt…”
She shook her head.
“I’m not a monster” she muttered to herself, tearing off the wrapper of the granola bar. Still her thoughts tore away at her troubled mind. “I’m protecting them from monsters, just like they protected me. I’m a big girl, and I’m strong. I’m not a monster.”
Suddenly, she heard it again. The voice from the night before. This time though she was awake enough to realize that she didn’t know it, or rather didn’t know it well. For the most part it was too afraid of her to speak while she was around.
It was… her.
“Am… Am pwincess pony otay? S- sweep otay?”
She turned on heel, almost falling over as her hindlegs tangled in the bed of blankets.
“You… Yer that… thing that Twilight keeps. You hide all day inna cat-bed an’- an’… and you dun’t do anyfing.” She scanned over the kitchen for potential threats, but only caught the glare of the rising sun on the glass of the oven. “Why tho? Tha other fluffies do stuff bud you do nuthin… Jus’ hide an’ wait.”
Briar’s sullen eyes drifted downward.
“Why? What are you for? Why’s Twily keep you awround!?”
“Bwiaw… Bwiaw dun knu’. Bwiaw am jus… Bwiaw. Pwincess Twiwight sumtime ask Bwiaw fings, an’ Bwiaw du bes’ tu hewp Pwincess… uh… umm…” She ruminated on it for a moment… “Du bestest yewwing at bad fwuffies. An’ hewp teww pwincess wut fwuffies mean. Mos’ fwuffies du’ bad tawkies.
“You… what?”
The words weren’t that hard to parse but that didn’t mean they made sense. Twilight would never take orders from a fluffy… or even advice from one… would she?
Briar seemed to shrink in size as Celestia slowly freed herself from the tangle of blankets.
“Sowwy fow gif tu many bwankies… Pwincess pony hav tu-cowd-shakies su Bwiaw du best fow make nestie fow pwincess… Pwincess pony nu haf fwuff fow keep wawm.”
Celestia stared back in a muted state of misunderstanding.
“Um… Gif um- shiny… gud foodies tu pwincess.”
Her eyes fell from the fluffy to the granola bar lying beside her bed. Her thoughts began to race back and forth. Could this thing be trying to help her? Why? Fluffies don’t help anyone or anything! According to dad all they do is eat and scream and ruin things!
“You’re lying.” She stated matter-of-factly “Only dad would do that.”
Both flinched as a low, irritated voice droned out from on one of the couches. On it lie Matthew, eyes shielded from the morning light as Twilight watched the exchange from his side, wrapped in a towel.
“Tia, don’t be a jerk to her, she’s the only reason I know that you were down here freezing your ass off because you decided to pass out on your midnight stroll. You kinda owe her for getting me, she did risk her life by waking me up after all.”
Twilight chimed in, “She’s not a bad fluffy, Tia. I didn’t know a lot about fluffies before she told me about them- Turns out their secret is that they don’t have secrets. I used to think they were like little evil geniuses because I couldn’t understand them, but it turns out they don’t make any sense for… other reasons. I’m still working on that one.” Twilight lowered her head onto Matthew’s chest. “They’re more like fuzzy goblins. Well, you know, most of ‘em. Some of them are okay.”
Briar’s gaze lifted from the floor to meet with Twilight’s, and a weary smile broke across her tiny face.
The warm, cozy smell of ramen noodles and eggs filled the air as Matthew stood half attentive at the stove. In his right hand he lazily stirred the meal with a fork, and with his left hand he held his phone, squinting at the stream of perplexing messages with increasing incredulity. Briar however, didn’t know what to make of it. She could smell the bestest nummies, but the nice mister looked like he had lots of maddies at the glowing rectangle in his hand.
“Briar!” Twilight interjected, startling the ashen mare, “Come back over here, Tia wants to meet you.”
She wasn’t quite sure of that. The expression on her face portrayed much more that she wanted her to leave. Still, her princess told her to do something, so she had to do it. She meekly approached the duo, straying far to the left towards Twilight.
“Briar, this is Tia! She’s my sister, and I want you to show her that fluffies aren’t dangerous.”
Twilight’s grin widened as her sister leaned away from the slowly approaching fluffy. She could hear them outside, screaming and yelling, and she tried not to imagine the damage that they were causing to the house with their ignominious existence.
“Umm… Bwiaw… Bwiaw nu knu how tu du dat. Nu fink Bwiaw can.” Her vision timidly strafed over to Celestia, being sure not to linger too long, “Dat pwincess pony nu wike fwuffies. Wook wike have maddies an- an… an Bwiaw am haf scawdies…”
“See?” Twilight chimed in with a chipper tone, “They’re all afraid of you! To them you’re big and strong and scary, and well really you are. If you want to see for yourself, I could arrange that.”
Celestia broke her gaze from Briar’s worried face.
“I wanna fight one.”
Twilight looked at her with worry.
Briar took a step back.
Matthew finally interjected.
“You wanna what? You wanna fight one? Swe- Ti…” he let out a heavy sigh before continuing, “Celestia, you are still waking up. You… you aren’t really a fighter either. I don’t want you pulling something whacking a fluffy around.”
“Dad I wanna. I wanna kno’ they’re weak.” She stared up at him with staunch determination in her eyes. “If I can win, and I’m still weak, then you’re all right. But I wanna know that you’re safe.”
“No.”
“I’m gonna do it dad. I’m gonna fight one.”
“I don’t want you doing something that could get you hurt. You could hurt yourself; their bones are sharper than you think.”
She was determined. She had already made up her mind, though she wasn’t quite sure what to make of the comment about bones.
“Twilight, which ones are bad. I’m gonna fight ‘em.”
Twilight looked up at the sternly disapproving face of her father, then to her sister and finally to Briar.
“Briar.”
She shrank back and held her breath, fearing the words to come.
“Which fluffy was the meanest to you. We’re gonna teach ‘em a lesson.”
She flopped down on the carpet, releasing the strain already building on her little lung. “Su… Bwiaw nu haf’ tu take hewties fwom pwincess pony?”
“What? Why would we kick your ass?” Twilight replied, “You haven’t done anything wrong.”
“Bwiaw twy tu be gud fwuffy… Gud fwuffies nu gif hewties. Nu wan take hewties eifer.”
She trundled gracelessly over to the glass door leading to the backyard, stared through it for a moment before raising a hoof. “Dewe. Dat fwuffy am Wump. Wump am bigges’ meanie fwuffy of aww hewd. Bwiaw wus gonna say Gweenie, bud…” Her hoof lazily fell over in the direction that Greenie stood crucified. “Gweenie nu can gif anyfink nu moaw. Nu can gif hewties ow du tawkies. Owny haf saddies.”
Twilight turned around to see Matthew had finished cooking and put down his phone. His full attention was now on her, and the potential decisions she was about to make.
“Lump’s the big ugly blue one, right?”
Briar turned to Matthew and nodded.
“Yus nice mistaw. Wump am bigges’ meanie and nu wook pwetty. Wump owny gif hewties an saddies tu Bwiaw. Teww Bwiaw dat Bwiaw nu am wanted in hewd, dat Bwiaw nu haf famiwy nu moaw. Bud Wump am swow an dummeh, su nuw fwuffy twick Wump an get be smawtie.”
“No fluffy?”
“Nu, NUW fwuffy. Bwue fwuffy fwom vwoom-vwoom munstah twick Wump. Namesies wus Winus oaw somefink.”
“I’m sorry, did you say vroom-vroom monster?”
She paused, unsure of the answer he wanted. She opted for the truth.
“Y- Yus. Vwoom-vwoom munstah in bigges twee pwace gif fwuffies tu hewd. Over fwuffies teww Bwiaw ov gud vwoom-vwoom munstah dat gifs fwuffies to big twee pwace, Bwiaw onwy see it dis many times.
She held aloft a single hoof to indicate the number one.
“Was this… nearby?”
“Yus. Onwy dis many bwight times afore fin’ nice mistah’s housie.”
She wiggled her hoof in the air, reiterating the number again. Matthew looked dumbfounded. So not only was someone releasing fluffies from the Hasbio labs, but they were doing it was was essentially his backyard, and had been for some time.
He began to portion out food. Without thinking, or with a bit too much, he laid out a fourth bowl and filled it along with the rest.
“Right… Right… I’ll get security on tracking departures… and maybe… I can catch… Whoever…”
He laid down the bowls on the coffee table and mumbled to himself as Twilight arranged a fight for her crippled sister mere feet from him. He looked for his phone, only to realize he must have left it somewhere.
“Briar, I…” He looked down at the confused mare, and the extra bowl he just realized that he’d metered out, “Uh… I guess this is for you. Try not to, you know, get any on the carpet.”
“Fow… Fow… Fow Bwiaw?”
“Yeah, for Briar. After this though, we gotta talk.”
“Bwiaw nu evah haf sketties afore…”
He leaned over to get a better look at the bowl that she was now staring into with watery eyes.
“Huh. I guess it does look kinda like spaghetti.”
Celestia flinched as she stepped out of the house for the first time in memory, and her hooves made contact with the cold, crunching grass.
“Don’t worry Tia, it’s just the frost. It’s getting colder!” She beamed at her sister, “It’s probably gonna snow soon! You remember the snow right?”
“Yeah. I ramember… You get it all over you an’ be dry, but go inside and get all wet. Then tha fire made you dry again.” She returned the smile. “I like tha snow. Yo think daddy will come ou’side an’ play with us?”
“Of course he will! He can’t work all day every day. I’ll tell him how important it is to us, and he’ll make time, okay?”
Celestia placed her hoof back down onto the cold grass, taking a moment to analyse the feeling of the chilly weather. It had been so long since she’d felt a sensation such as this, and she couldn’t tell is she were shivering with excitement, or from the weather.
“Okay Twily. I beleef you.”
“Awesome. Lemme show you just how weak fluffies really are. You don’t need to fight one, trust me. Once you see this one you’ll understand why. I had dad tie him to the side of the house a while back as punishment for not listening to me and trying to run away.”
After a few more seconds of walking, they rounded the side of the house to see the captive fluffy. Shivering and alone, far from any fluff-pile, a weather worn plastic plate with a few berries and leaves on it beside. The length of the tether was just barely long enough to extend to a stagnant, muddy puddle.
“You can smack him around if you want though. I’m not exactly fond of this guy.”
The terrified pink fuzzball jolted to motion at the sound of Twilight’s voice.
“Hello, Cheery.”
At the mere mention of his name, fluffies in proximity either fled or turned a curious eye. What was she up to? What was going to happen to poor little Cheery today?
“I see somefluffy brought you food, even though I told them not to… that’s very disappointing. Tell me who it was and I might go easy on them, and of course you. You don’t want me to have to get my knights involved do you?”
Celestia rounded her sister, curious about the leashed fluffy, and who exactly her prisoner was. She began to feel… bad about all of this. She had one on a leash, and the other ones seemed to be giving them both a wide berth. She’d never even seen this one, and it was clutching its own tail between its legs as she got closer to it, trembling all the while like a dead leaf.
“Ch-Ch-Cheewy nu knu… pwease… nu gif hewties.”
She raised a wing as if to strike him, stonefaced all the while.
“P-pwease… nice pwincess… pwincess n-nu am meanie…”
She smiled.
“Oh… I guess you’re right Cheery, I’m not a meanie. However-“
Celestia whispered into her sister’s ear, increasingly unsure about the situation, and feeling she’d for sure gotten in over her head.
“I… meybe I dun’t wanna fight your fluffies. Not…” She stole a look at the quivering pink fluffy before them, “Not like tis… Meybe not a’h all.”
“That’s… Okay!”
“I’m sorry. I dun ramember who I am too good… I’m just scareded of… of… sleep. These fluffies look more… sad than scary.”
She turned to her sister and smiled, the quick motion of which sent most of the onlookers scampering to look busy. Most of them, but not all of them. While she was turned away, the arrogant defect-turned- toughie Lump, as well as one of the other of her knights approached.
“Missy Pwincess Twiwiaght?”
“Yes, Knight Lavender Lily?”
“Wavendaw fink yu caww for knights, su Wavendaw am heaw nao.”
“Dummeh Wavendaw mak’ Wump gu tu dummeh Cheewy, nu wan be heaw.”
Twilight gave more than a little side-eye to Lump as she spoke to Lavender.
“Wow, you must have amazing hearing. No, thank you though. I did say ‘knights’ I think… but I was just threatening this here nerd. I don’t need you right-”
Lavender was bowled over by a sudden kidney-shot from Lump, terminating their conversation.
“Dummeh Wavendaw am dummeh mawe. Pwincess nu caww.”
Twilight stomped forward and shouted, prompting Cheery to hit the dirt. Celestia to stumbled back, already off balance from witnessing Lump strike a fluffy that she had assumed to be his friend.
“Lump what the hell! Seriously dude, what is your fucking damage!? You don’t just hit fluffies! Only the fluffies that I tell you to hit! She made a simple mistake, you didn’t need to break her ribs.”
In the ensuing silence, barely audible over Lavender’s whimpering could be heard the muffled cries of a foal. Twilight rolled her eyes.
“That’s on you, dumbass. Go take care of your kid before I get really mad. Here Lavender, let me help you-”
She moved back with ample time to avoid being struck by Lump’s rear hooves as he spun around and kicked clumsily. She watched as his poor excuse for an attack upon her threw the source of the noise into the grass nearby. Through gritted teeth she spoke.
“See Tia? Even if they wanted to hurt you, they’re too slow to hit you. Harmless.”
“Wump gif’ wast fwuffy dat yeww at Staw foweba sweepies. Nu yeww at-”
But Twilight wasn’t paying attention to that anymore. She was more concerned by the choking noises coming her sister.
“What’s wrong? Are you-”
“I dun- dun- dun- wanna sleep! No! No! Nonononononononono-”
All eyes however whether they be seeing red, watering over, wincing in pain, or staring indifferently, were diverted before the situation could escalate further. Matthew had left the house it seemed, and he was holding Briar no less! She looked elated at being held, though she stopped speaking to her handler as soon as he noted the commotion.
“Hey! Girls, I need to go up the drive real quick, but uh… What’s going on here?”
“Dad, can I ask you for a favor, if you’re heading up into the forest?”
“Uhhh…” He droned, looking on at his bewildered children, “Yes?”
“Take Lump with you, and-”
“Say no more, Twily. I’ll make sure he has a great time.”
“No, dad I-”
“I said, say no more. You cheer your sister up. C’mon Lump, let’s go.”
“Nu! Wump nee-“
His voice was silenced as Matthew’s grip tightened around his throat.
“That was an order not an idea.”
Lump swayed side to side aggressively as he attempted to breathe and presumably voice his discontent, though he didn’t get the chance. Matthew began moving up the gravel roadway at a brisk pace. Twilight turned to her sister and moved to comfort her, but found that she had already moved onto something else. Something had her attention more than her own woes.
She had her head cocked to one side, peering into a patch of wiggling grass. Nestled in the scintillating shards of crystalline crabgrass lie Star, shivering and chittering in the icy cold.
“Oh I’ll take care of that Tia, don’t worry about it.”
“But… I am worried Twily.”
She brushed her wing across the surface of the lawn, wiping a few blades clean of the frost.
“Sh… should we help? Id’s gettin’ slower an’ slower, an’ dad said nefer to fall asleep in snow.”