Nu Num Fwuffies!
Ever since she was a little foal, Swirly had been a tiny bit different from the rest of her herd. It all started when, playing with her siblings, she had nipped her brother just a teeny bit too hard and he squealed so loud the entire herd got alerted. In all the confusion about how he got so hurt from a little nip, Smarty had opened Swirly’s mouth and taken a good long look inside, then declared:
“Dis babbeh haf shawpie teethies!”
Of course Swirly didn’t know that was strange, just like she didn’t think it strange that her name changed from Lemon Juice to Swirly once her eyes opened. It wasn’t like she got shunned or thrown out, either.
But every time she found a tasty little morsel, her mummah or siblings were right there and would pull her away, chiding her with a “nu num squeaky munstah!” or “nu num babbehs!” or even “nu num mummah!”.
Yes, growing up was tough when you had a hankering for meat but could only get trash and greens.
Once she grew up, Swirly thought, then she’d get to eat all the meat she wanted. So she waited and waited and ate all the greens she could to grow up faster, until she was a proper big fluffy who didn’t need any mummah.
… But she still wasn’t allowed meat. She tried to sneak a little nibble here and there, but now not only her family would cuff her; every fluffy in the herd seemed in on it. She only ever had time to open her mouth against someone’s fluff before getting bapped on the snout. Once, a fluffy even sprinted through the entire herd just to give her a bop and a big “nu num Wowmy!”
That fluffy and Wormy became special friends after that, but this didn’t exactly help Swirly. She whined and complained and felt sorry for herself, but nobody ever budged or said “oh okay just a little bit”. She even tried to nab some little mice and birds the herd passed by, but now that she’d grown up she was too big and clumsy to ever catch hold of one. The one time she found a dead one, it had been dead so long and smelled so bad that even she didn’t want to eat it!
If she could become a soon-mummah and have her own babies, nobody could complain if she ate just one or two, but perhaps the herd sensed this too because nobody was very keen on giving her tummy-babies. It was so unfair! Just one teeny tiny nibble, that was all she asked!
One day as the herd walked, Swirly noticed that Wormy - who had gotten to be a mummah with many little tasty babies - wasn’t carrying all her foals. Most were on her back, but a little brown one was stumbling alonside her and quickly falling behind. A classic little poopie baby, one nobody would miss, tired and weak and really just taking up space.
Swirly carefully snuck closer to the baby, lowered her snout to its back and opened her mouth, then -
Got bopped right on the snout, making her flinch back. “Nu num babbeh!” chided her brother before snatching up the baby in his own mouth, taking it back over to Wormy. She kept a better eye on all her babies after that, having been scatterbrained rather than malicious, but this again was of no help to Swirly.
Oh if only she could get one little bite! Just a single tiny nibble of anything with the tasty salty blood she’d had as a foal. It just wasn’t fair at all.
But then came the day where she finally had her chance. It wasn’t a fluffy, but a human - a mean little pre-teen who thought it funny to kick around herds and watch them scatter. He only wore shorts and a shirt and a backwards cap and some tough sneakers, stomping around and laughing as he sent fluffies running.
Yes, for the only time in her short life, Swirly found that every fluffy was too busy panicking and fretting to pay any attention to what she was doing. And it was so, as the boy turned his attention to a pregnant dam who couldn’t run much of anywhere, that Swirly inched closer and closer to his exposed ankle and then bit down.
The boy’s scream could have shattered glass. He flew into the air and Swirly flew along, fangs tucked deep into his leg. As the human shook his arms and legs around she soon came loose, hitting the floor with a nice little chunk of skin and flesh in her mouth, and the boy - fearful that he’d stumbled across a whole herd of sharp-toothed fluffies - ran crying as fast and far as he could.
“Swihwy save Jommy!” gasped the soon-mummah, legs wiggling in delight. Soon all the fluffies had come back and they cheered for Swirly’s courage and bravery and quick thinking and all kinds of things. The Smarty was even talking about her being a toughie as she noticed Jommy’s forelegs held out for a big thank-you hug.
As she swallowed her morsel and embraced Jommy, Swirly took in the warmth and softness of the soon-mummah. Surrounded by little cheers and chimes, she nestled into the hug and then slowly, just a little bit, opened her mouth and inched it toward Jommy’s ear -
And got bopped on the nose by her mummah. “Nu num fwuffies!”