You first realized something was wrong when the mummahs and almost-mummahs went sleepies and then stopped breathing. You knew that meant they were forever sleepies, and wouldn’t wake up. You didn’t understand why it happened, didn’t want to believe it. Your bigger brother, the herd leader, and his toughies went to see what wrong; then they fell over, one by one, and stopped moving. They were forever sleepies too.
Then you heard the screaming. The hurt baby crying owies. Then the whole herd got scared and ran, but there was nowhere to run, nowhere to hide: the invisible monster made fluffies go forever sleepies. You saw and smelled boo-boo juice. The herd was surrounded by invisible monsters! They huddled in a big fluff pile for safety, huuhuuing and begging the scary monster not to hurt them. It hurt them. It made them go forever sleepies.
You saw a mummah with babies go forever sleepies next. You ran. When big brother herd leader’s special friend started to slow, started to get tired, you nipped her next to her poopie place to make her run faster. Your special friend was keeping pace, running almost as fast as you…
Then the invisible monster got her. She tumbled and fell and didn’t move and you knew she was forever sleepies then. You ran faster, nipped big brother herd leader’s special friend again to keep her running. Something hit you on the neck; it felt like when the buzzy, stripey thing stung you while you ate nummy flowers. It burned. You’re too scared to huuhuu or cry about it; the invisible monster just tried to get you!
You charge into the bushes right behind big brother herd leader’s special friend. The branches are owie and scratch you and poke your eye, but you keep running. She stumbles and you butt her with your head, too breathless to yell encouragement; she gets up and runs again.
Finally, you’re both too tired to run any more. You’ve run a long way, but you don’t know if the invisible monster is chasing you still. She flops to the ground in exhaustion, but you butt her with your horn again to keep her moving. It’s not safe here; you need a good hiding place!
You guide her to a dark hidey spot under a big, leafy bush and huddle there, gasping and panting for breath and giving each other scared huggies for comfort. You’re both breathing too loud to hear if something is chasing you, so you try to hold your breath and listen; it doesn’t work, you have to breathe so badly!
Eventually, you can breathe normal again. The white mare with blue tail and mane, now your only companion, is still shaking and scared. You’re the stallion, you’re bigger than her, and you’re big brother herd leader’s littler brother: you need to be brave so she isn’t scared. But… you’re scared too.
Maybe you’ll just pretend to be brave and she won’t know you’re really scared too. You give her more huggies and whisper comforting things to her to calm her down. After a while, you don’t know how long, it works.
The bright shiny ball in the sky is going down; you know that means it’ll be dark times soon. How will you find the rest of the herd in the dark? Or how will they find you? You need to go looking for them. But… big brother herd leader’s special friend is still scared. She made scared poopies while you hid under the bush; you can smell it. And you can tell by her smell and the way she’s getting big that she has big brother’s babies in her tummy. It’s too dangerous for her to help you go look for the herd. You try to think of the best thing to do and can’t; you’re not as smart as big brother, that’s why he was herd leader and not you. But big brother herd leader is forever sleepies now… your have sads and your chest hurts thinking about it. But now there’s just you and big brother’s special friend; you’re the smartest, and you’re the biggest and strongest, so you should be in charge and make decisions now.
The idea is almost overwhelming. But you know what you need to do: find the herd. She can’t come with you, so she has to stay here. That sounds right to you. But this isn’t a good hidey place; if you can smell her scared poopies, then so can the monster!
“Come wif me!”
You lead her out from under the bush to another big bush nearby and find another dark hidey place underneath.
“Stay hewe-” you wince in irritation, correct yourself. “Stay here! Dangerous! Stallion will go look for herd, fluffy hide here so monsta no find her!”
Big brother sounds so smart, and you always try to talk like he does. But it’s hard sometimes, especially when you’re scared. He never got scared. But now he’s forever sleepies. So you really have to be smart like him now. The mare nods and huddles in a ball of fluff under the bush, mewling quietly in terror. You don’t really want to leave her by herself, but this will have to do for now.
You carefully make your way back to the open field the herd was playing in when the invisible monster struck.
You don’t see anything; it takes you a second to remember that the monster was invisible, so that doesn’t mean anything. You smell only fluffy boo-boo juice. You listen intently, but the only sound is the breeze rustling the grass. Maybe the monster is gone now? You cautiously walk out into the field, nervously turning your head in all directions to look and hear and smell. You come up to where the herd was.
You find poopies and pee-pees and boo-boo juice, but no fluffies. There’s a big wet spot on the ground and when you sniff it, it smells like wa-wa. Strange. You circle all around the field, going where big brother herd leader and the sleepy mummahs were. Nothing. They’re all gone. After a few moments of heartbroken sorrow, you suddenly realize that they’re all gone because the monster ATE THEM. You need to get away from here in case the monster comes back looking for more fluffies to eat!
You’re just about to leave when you hear a PEEP! behind you. You almost flip over you jump so badly, and maybe you made a little scared poopies. Just a little. And no one saw you, so you can still pretend to be brave for the scared mare. You look around in a panic, remember the monster is invisible, and brace your quivering legs to make a run for it…
CHIRP!
Wait- do monsters chirp? You don’t think they do. The only thing you know of that chirps is-
CHEEP!
Babies! There’s a baby calling for its mummah somewhere! You frantically search the field, and finally you spot movement. There’s a pink and green wingy baby in a clump of grass. It chirps again, and when you walk up to it, it struggles to sit upright and focus its eyes on you.
“Mummah?”
“No am mummah. Me am stallion.” You struggled to say the words right, but you know you still sounded like the other dummy fluffies. Whatever, who are you trying to impress, a baby? As if!
“Whew mummah? Wan miwkies!”
“Mummah is… Mummah go bye-bye. Me protect you from munsta- monster, keep baby safe! Wiww take you to mawe- mare!”
“Wan mummah! Wan miwkies! Tummy owies! Wan mummah! CHIRP! Mummah! Mummah! Mummah! Cheep!”
You really hope the baby decides to be quiet. The monster might hear it and come back to make you forever sleepies and eat you! You carefully pick up the wingy baby and place it on your back; your fluff isn’t as thick as most fluffies for some reason, but the baby should be able to hold on until you get back to your hidey place. You set off again.
By the time you get back to the hidey place, it’s dark and you have trouble seeing. The dark times are always scary, because you can’t see if a monster might be coming to get you. But you have to be brave, so you can find the hidey place. You check under a bush; no, this is where the mare made scaredy poopies. You think you moved her… there? You go to another bush.
“Whaa! Munsta! Gu way, munsta! Nu huwt fwuffy!”
“No am monster, am fluffy!”
“Fwuffy? Nu munsta?”
“Dat- THAT right, am fluffy. No monster.”
You wiggle under the bush and find the mare there.
“Whewe hewd?”
“Herd gone,” you say sadly. “Munsta- monster, ate them all up.”
She’s horrified.
“Wha du? Wha fwuffies du wi nu hewd?”
“We herd now.”
She regards you skeptically.
“Onwy me fwuffy and you fwuffy; dat nu hewd!”
“Yes, is herd!” You gently bop her on the nose with one hoof; not enough to make owies, just to get your point across. “We herd now! Find more fluffies, make big herd again! But wight now, we only fluffies in herd. Wittle herd, can hide from monsters better than big herd.”
This makes sense to her, and she eventually settles down, though she still has the sads. You have the sads too, but you know you need to be brave so she doesn’t get more scared and more sads. Big brother would want it that way.
Suddenly, you remember!
“Oh! We not only fluffies!”
“Weawwy?!”
You gently roll onto your side and the little wingy baby tumbles off your back next to the mare. He fell asleep after the dark times came and before you found the hidey place. Now he’s awake again and crying for his mummah.
“Babbeh? Wheaw babbeh mummah?”
“Baby mummah gone. Gotted by monster.” You think for a moment, then emphatically state, “YOU baby mummah now! Me baby daddeh! Take cawe of baby!”
“Bu… fwuffy nu have miwkies yet! Babbehs stiww in tummy! How gif miwkies to uvver babbeh?”
You don’t have an answer for that one. You’re tired, you’re covered in itchy scratchies all over, your neck hurts where it’s still leaking boo-boo juice, and you have the new burden of being herd leader. And you still have sads, because the herd and big brother were gobbled up by a monster. And now you have to give milkies to a baby, and don’t know how.
You flop to the ground, eyes making sad wawas, but careful to be quiet. She can’t see you make sad wawas in the dark, but she can hear if you start huuhuuing. You’re so tired, and it hurts. It hurts everywhere, especially inside. You close your eyes and wish all the hurt would go away.
After a moment, the mare, similarly at a loss for what to do, lays down and snuggles up next to you, the chirping, hungry baby between you. Eventually, exhaustion overtakes the baby too and he quiets down and you all go sleepy.
You keep waking up, but it’s still the dark times. You shiver because it’s so cold; two fluffies and a baby don’t make a big enough fluff pile to keep the colds away. Your eyes make sad wawas again and you just wish everything would get better.