With Maxine fast asleep in Strawberry’s bed, now was the time for revenge. Strawberry double checked to make sure the foals were asleep. Don’t need any noises spoiling the fun. Strawberry made her way to the kitchen and pushed a wheeled stool to the knife drawer. Oh what fun Strawberry’s had with these knives they thought as they pulled the drawer open with their mouth.
So many options, but which one to choose? Slicers, carvers, chef knives… maybe a boning knife? Something with a handle that Strawberry can manipulate. A crow’s beak paring knife is deal here, small enough to hide in his mane if he gets spotted but with enough of a point that it should make quick work of that bitch.
The hard part was actually getting to it. The paring knife was nestled between a few chef knives haphazardly shoved into a drawer. Strawberry vowed to organize better after this mess was cleared up. He used his mouth to move the handles out of the way, being careful not to cut himself on the blades. It took a solid 5 minutes of grueling effort but he had it. The paring knife was held firmly in his mouth. It was time.
Or it would be if he didn’t have to make his way up the staircase. What was once an everyday act not worth noticing was now a mountain of walls he had to climb with his stubby little legs. He wasn’t deterred though. No, it reminded him why he was right to commit a murder. He struggled over the stairs, trying to keep his strained huffs from being too loud. It took a good deal of effort, especially carrying a knife in his mouth, but he had made it to the top.
Strawberry slinked to his room as quietly as could be. The door wasn’t shut, the careless woman clearly didn’t see him as a threat. How wrong she was. He pushed the door open with his flank and scampered onto the bed. There she was. The woman who turned his life into a nightmare. Tonight, she dies.
He crept up to her neck and positioned the knife to cut into her artery. One solid cut and this nightmare will be over. He reared his head back and gritted his teeth. He slammed the knife into Maxine’s throat only for the blade to bounce off with a tink. He tried again. And again. And again and again and again and the damned knife wouldn’t pierce her skin!
Strawberry kept trying to stab Maxine. The paring knife plunked harmlessly off her skin time and time again. He spit out the knife in frustration. “Fwuck!” he growled. The angry mare stomped on Maxine’s neck. It worked. Trickles of blood appeared where he stomped. A knife didn’t work but these shitty hooves did? Sure, whatever. He’ll take it.
Strawberry cackled and stomped harder and faster and faster. Maxine had woken up by this point but the fluffy had managed to crush her windpipe. In hindsight giving an asshole the same level of protection she had was maybe a bad idea. Too late for that. Maxine passed out from blood loss and bled out on Geoff’s bed.
“Dummeh bitchies.” Strawberry spat on Maxine’s corpse. Still a fluffy but at least this idiot was out of the picture. Strawberry hopped off the bed completely drenched in blood. The fall strained his bones in an unfamiliar way. “Timeses foh dummeh babbeh fowevah sweepies.”
“Babbehs~” Strawberry said in a singsong voice as he walked into the living room, “Mummah haveses speshal newses.”
Eclair and Cherry groggily opened their eyes. What could fluffy mummah have to tell them so late at night? Strawberry flicked on a lightswitch. Eclair scree’d louder than she ever had before. Strawberry was covered in hurty juice and it wasn’t hers.
“Wha… wai mummah havses hurty juices?” Eclair asked. She already guessed the answer. There were four living beings in the house and three of them were here. She had thought that her fluffy mummah was mean but secretly kind. She found out that she was very, very wrong
Cherry took the foal’s basket in his mouth and placed them on the ground. Eclair scree’d again and started crying. In between sobs she whispered to cherry, “dat ams nuh mummah. Dat ams munstah. Chewwy, pwease wun an hideses. Huuu… ecwaire nuh walkies… huuuuu….”
“Wha… mummah do’ins?” Eclair stammered despite her terror. She had to buy time for Cherry. The thought that there was nowhere to run to hadn’t crossed her mind. “Whewe ams wady mummah?”
A wicked grin came over Strawberry’s face as he picked up Eclair between his teeth. Cries of bad upies and squirming were swiftly silenced as he tossed her at the wall. A soft thump followed by sobs of “Huu… hurties”. He had missed hearing this sound…
Cherry couldn’t believe what she was seeing. Mummah was bestest mummah. Always made sure her babbehs were fed. Didn’t pick favorites, even loved Cherry. Why was mummah being so mean? Cherry could feel something clawing at the back of her mind, a flood of memories kept back by a rapidly failing wall. She scampered over the edge of the basket with a quiet fwump.
Strawberry loomed over Eclair. The tiny foal was coughing blood. “Nuh wowwies dummeh babbeh. Yuses gonnah be wid ur pwecious mummeh. Stwahbewwy gaves her fowevvah sweepies jus wike dis.”
Eclair screamed in anguish. Maxine was the one bright light in the little foals life and she was gone. Taken by this monster. “Duh-… dummeh mummah… huuu…” eclair sputtered out, “nuh bestest mummah… nuh nommies!” Eclair glared at the mare in defiance. That fluffy was smarter than any fluffy eclair had met and far more cruel. But in its malice it didn’t think about how to get food.
“…fwuck.”" Strawberry said. He was now trapped inside his own house. His dumb hooves couldn’t work the doors and Maxine had locked them before bed. “FWUCK.” He snarled and trampled Eclair under his feet. The sobs and crunching bones were music to his ears.
Cherry looked back in horror. She didn’t know Eclair for very long but she was her beloved sister. Eclair tried so hard to protect Cherry. From the metal munstah, from this bad mummah. The gears in her head were finally spinning. That was not her mummah. That was the munstah.
The little foal flashed back to last night as her memories came flooding in. She heard her siblings being picked up and thrown at the walls. She remembered her mummah trying to hide Cherry behind her. She remembered the cries for help from her siblings and her mummah begging for their lives.
She remembered feeling shocky zaps and the sound of the munstah hitting the ground. She remembered her mummah pleading with someone to save her babies. She remembered hearing the nyu mummah crying as she tried to save bestest mummah…
She remembered her mummah telling nyu mummah how to take care of Cherry. That cherry needed miwkies and wubs and hugs. She remembered both mummahs crying and crying. Her nyu mummah locked it away to stop the heart hurties.
Cherry was filled with a grim determination. This munstah stole her family. Twice. She turned around and stood up. Her tiny legs straining, she galloped as fast as she could towards the imposter mummah.
Strawberry turned around to look for Cherry. If he could get the little shit to grow up that should still break the curse. He saw her trotting slowly toward him from across the room. How’d she get over there? Whatever, dumb thing probably has no idea what’s going on. “Dummeh babbeh.” Strawberry said, “Cumses ta mummah.”
Strawberry scraped her hooves clean on the wall. The mess was something to deal with later. Preferably with hands. He walked over to the last remaining foal and picked her up. The thing screeched angrily. Stupid rat couldn’t even recognize her own mother. Idiot.
Cherry screeched and cried. The munstah had her. Would it get away with taking everything from her again? Cherry’s only hope was that the munstah didn’t know Cherry’s secret. Her real mummah would know but not this imposter.
Strawberry looked at the flailing foal and thought to himself, “The fuck do I do with this.” These dumb things love hugs, maybe holding it for a while will get it to shut up. “Mummah gib… huggses. An wuvs.” Strawberry said unconvincingly as held the foal up to his shoulder. He nuzzled it with faux affection.
This was Cherry’s chance. “Huu… che-chewy… Wubs mummah….” Cherry said, choking back both her tears and her fears. She climbed up the mare and moved in for her one last act of defiance. “Gib mummah h-huggies. Bestest Huggies.”
Whatever, if it made the dumb thing stop screeching it’d be worth it. Strawberry nodded and motioned for Cherry to come closer. All he had to do was put up with this thing for a while and he would be back to his normal self.
Cherry snuggled right up to Strawberry’s neck and nuzzled her forehead against it. Strawberry screamed. The horn hidden under Cherry’s mane pierced right through Strawberry’s flesh. Strawberry moved to throw the foal off of him. A mistake. He dragged the foal across his neck and slit his own throat.
Cherry fell off of the munstah. Her legs broke from the fall. She cried in agony, “Huuu… w…wowstest hurties…huuuuuu….” but she knew that she had avenged her mummah. Both her mummahs. She looked up at Strawberry.
Strawberry was starting to black out. The fuck just happened? That little shit doesn’t even have teeth, how’d she cut him? He wobbled a bit as he tried to get up. This was fine. He was fine.
He was not fine. He fell backwards towards the one fluffy in the entire world he didn’t want to kill.
“Mummahs, bwuddahs, sistahs… ecwaire.” Cherry thought in her last moments, “Chewwy wubs yu-”
He had crushed Cherry under his weight. “F…fwuck.” There goes his chances of ever being human again.
Not that it mattered. The protection Maxine offered him went away with her death. He was a regular fluffy bleeding out to its own hubris in the regular way. He sputtered up blood and smiled. Well, at least he went out doing what he loved.
The end everyone dies. someone posted a comment about what if Strawberry succeeded in killing off maxine and I thought that’d be interesting. Cherry being a secret alicorn was fun. Cherry’s probably a bit too talkative here but I always intended for her to be slightly older than she appeared, just fucked up from watching her family get killed.
Actual chapter 6 has a few drawings I want to make but it’s done too.