The bright times are here again. Yay! Now you can see what the new babies look like!
Their mummah is still asleep, and you try not to disturb her. But the babies are so tiny, they’re hard to see while they’re snuggled into her fluff. You’ll have to wait until mummah wakes up to give them milkies, then you can get a better look at the babies.
In the meantime, you nudge Oscar and he looks at you sleepily.
“Oscaw- Oscar, go find nummies for mummah!”
“Otay, Oscaw fine nummies.”
He obviously just wants to stay asleep, but he dutifully crawls out of the hidey place. You wrinkle your nose in displeasure at your own task; you’d rather have Oscar do this, but you don’t want to be meanies. While the mummah continues sleeping, you stifle your gag reflex and carry out mouthfuls of nestie material soaked in the stinky bad wa-wa that came out with the babies, carry them far from the hidey place, and go back for more. It takes a lot of trips, and when you finish you make poopies from your mouth. You go to the wa-wa place trickling through the woods to get a drink, and Oscar finds you there.
“Oscaw am gud fwuffy! Oscaw bwing back wots uf gwassies fow mummah!”
“Oscar am good fluffy. Need good nummies so mummah make good milkies for chirpy babies.”
Oscar does a little happy dance, singing about what a good fluffy he is. You sit on your haunches and watch, amused. Then you jump to your feet as Oscar slips on little loose rockies and falls into the wa-wa!
“Hewp! Oscaw nee hawp! Wa-wa bad fo fwuffy! Huuhuu!”
Without thinking, you run into the wa-wa, which fortunately only comes up to just above your hoovesies, grab Oscar by the scruff of his neck, and pull him back to dry land. He shivers and huuhuus and gives you hugsies and says “fank yoo” over and over. You feel really good for saving him at first, but then it gets annoying; he won’t stop hugging you or huuhuuing! You finally push Oscar off and head back to the hidey place, Oscar following at your heels and babbling about how you’re such a nice fluffy for saving him. Arriving at the hidey place, you both wiggle under the bush and go inside.
The mummah is awake now, feeding her chirpie babies and singing a mummah song.
“Mummah wuv babbehs, babbehs wuv miwkies, mummah gif miwkies, babbehs wuv mummah, mummah wuv babbehs, babbehs am bestes babbehs an get gud miwkies…”
It doesn’t rhyme or even follow a coherent tune, even you can tell that, but mummah and babies alike are comforted by it. You come closer so you can get a look at the babies.
One chirpy baby is a little pale blue unicorn with dark blue tail and mane. A sniff tells you that this baby is a filly. She finishes suckling and climbs into her mummah’s fluff, chirping contentedly. The other baby keeps suckling until the milky place is all empty and wiggles over to his sister’s milky place to suckle there.
And no wonder! It’s a big baby! It’s a monochrome dark red unicorn, like you and your big brother. You sniff it, sniff again to be sure, and yes! It’s a little colt! This gets you excited. He finishes suckling and crawls up to join his sister in his mummah’s fluff.
Oscar is excited to see the babies too; he tells you he always just gave special hugs and gave mares tummy babies, but he never got to see any of his babies. You wonder what sort of strange life he led before you found him.
The three of you eat the gwassies Oscar brought into the hidey place, then settle down in a fluff pile for a nap. What a good day. Maybe things are finally getting better for your little herd.
Two or three bright times later, you’re not sure, and the red foal’s eyes are open. He doesn’t have big brother’s red eyes, he has his mummah’s blue eyes. But otherwise he looks just like big brother! You love both babies, but you think you love this one just a little more. His littler sister doesn’t open her eyes until the next bright time; hers are a paler shade of blue.
Then you notice something. The little filly is a typical chirpy baby, clumsy, silly, and blissfully unaware of anything other than milkies and mummah’s fluff. You help her mummah clean the baby’s poopies from her mummah’s fluff.
The little red colt, on the other hand, makes you stop and really look at him. He looks around curiously, sooner than his little sister. And he isn’t just being curious; he’s WATCHING things, studying them. His chirpy sister is constantly chirping, either to mummah or just to herself. He’s quiet, unless he wants milkies and his mummah isn’t around (usually when she’s outside making poopies away from the hidey place.). And while his sister just flops around and tumbles feebly from her mummah’s fluff to her milkie places and back, he sat on the floor of the hidey place and studied his situation, then very carefully stood on all fours, wobbling the entire way. Then he very carefully took a step, wobbling even more. Then a second step. Then he flopped onto his side and had to rest. After a while though, he very carefully stood again, took a wobbly step, and fell over again. After that, he didn’t try walking again the rest of the day, but you were very impressed. He shouldn’t try walking for another bright time or two! He’s such a smarty baby, just like your big brother! You’re proud of the red baby. You also notice that while he sometimes just makes poopies wherever he happens to be like the blue baby, he also sometimes waits until he’s not on his mummah to make poopies. He’s a smart baby!
The mummah only leaves the hidey place to make poopies or get wa-wa, not going very far, and spends all the rest of her time eating the nummy grassies you and Oscar bring her, giving milkies to the babies, and giving them hugs, loves, and singing. You and Oscar have to wander farther and farther from the hidey place to find fresh grassies for you and the new mummah. But it’s ok; the babies will be big and almost full-grown fluffies before the cold times come, so you have plenty of grassies for now.
You settle down for sleepies, happier than you have been since the herd and big brother all got eaten by the invisible monster. Both chirpy horny babies are saying words now, asking for mummah, miwkies, huggsies, and wuv. The red colt, you notice, is learning his words a little faster. Both of them are walking around a little each day too! Now all five of your are happily cuddled together in a fluff pile. This is the happiest you’ve been in a long time.
You wake up. What’s happening?!
“EEEEEEE! Mummah! Mummah! Chiwp! Mummaaaah! EEEEEEE!”
That’s one of the chirpy babies! But it’s not in the hidey place! You scramble out of the hidey place and crash through the bush, ignoring the pokies and owies it gives you. Where’s the baby?! It’s dark, it’s hard to see, and- You feel sick. And scared. Mostly scared. It’s a monster.
A long, black, no-leggies monster glistens in the light from the not-as-shiny ball in the dark times sky. It’s slithering away from the hidey place, holding one of the chirpy babies in its mouth! It’s going to eat the baby!
“Babbeh! Whewe babbeh?! Mummah hewe! Babbeh!” Oscar and the mummah are starting to come out of the hidey place too. But what can they do?
You’re the herd leader. It’s your fault the no-leggies monster got the baby. If you’d been a better herd leader, the monster wouldn’t have gotten the little chirpy baby. You know what you have to do. You have to be a good herd leader.
You have to get the baby back.
You’re so scared you’re shaking, but you puff up your cheeks and chase after the monster. You have to stop it. You stomp on its tail with all your weight. The no-leggies monster ignores you and keep slithering away.
“Stahp, munsta! Dat nu yu babbeh!”
You’re so scared and angry, you don’t even try to talk right. You jump in the air and stomp on its tail again with every bit of strength you’ve got. The monster stops and spits the baby out. Yay, it worked!
You’re in such incredibly bad pain that at first you don’t even realize what just happened. Then it hits you- the monster spun around and bit you! It’s chewing on your face! Owies! This is the worstest owies EVER! In your life! You scream in rage, and fear, and pain. Especially pain. Unbearable pain. You scream and kick and thrash and bite and make scaredy poopies, and eventually the monster lets go of your face with its sharp teeth and tries to run away.
Now you’re mad. Now you’re REALLY mad. You chase the monster and decide that if jump-stomping hurt it enough to make it let go of the baby, then you should jump-stomp it again to hurt it some more. You want to hurt it. You want to kill it. You want blood.
You jump-stomp on the monster’s middle and it stops and rolls around, trying to bite you again. Another jump-stomp and you can tell it’s hurting. You jump-stomp its head several times in a row, then, suddenly remembering that pointy things are owie, you head butt it with your horn. You stand back and the monster follows you! It’s heavy and on your face and- oh. The monster is stuck to your horn. You shake your head and it comes off. The monster is no-movies now. You jump-stomp it again a few more times just to make sure, then stand back again. Yes, the monster is definitely forever sleepies now! You’re so proud! You’re finally a good herd leader! You saved the chirpy baby and made a monster forever sleepies!
You’re so elated that you don’t realize how badly you’re hurt until you blink and you’re looking up at the dark times sky. Why are you laying down?
Then the owies come. You can only see out of one eye; you think the other has boo-boo juice in it and that’s why you can’t see. Your face hurts. So does your shoulder on the opposite side. You don’t feel good.
The mummah has one chirpy baby nestled in the fluff on her back, and is huuhuuing over the other chirpy baby. Both babies are making scaredy chirpies, so you know the one the monster tried to eat isn’t forever sleepies. She gently and carefully carries the hurt baby back inside the hidey place. Good. You’re a good herd leader now. You saved the chirpy baby from the monster.
You stand up, make poopies from your mouth, and fall over again. It hurts. It hurts so bad, you’re sick. This is the worstest owies of your life.
Oscar gives you hugsies and helps you crawl back inside the hidey place. You just need to rest. You just need some rest and you won’t hurt so much.
You don’t remember falling down and going sleepies right inside the hidey place.
The woods are quiet. A large rat snake lies on its back, dead, near a pile of fluffy feces and disturbed earth. A shadowy form moves through the night, sniffs the dead snake. When it leaves again, the snake is gone.
this is bad.