Buck and Ted woke up the next morning and took a minute to stretch and shake themselves awake. Buck got to work preparing them some breakfast while Ted took up his position at the river bank again, watching the herd. They hadn’t moved since last night, the fluff-pile still seemed sound asleep.
Buck noted their captive fluffy was still there, and hadn’t moved either. Good.
He joined Ted after a few minutes, bringing their canteens of water and some of Ma’s sandwiches for them.
“Anything?” He whispered.
“Naw.” Ted replied, taking a bite of his sandwich. “They’re still all asleep.”
“Figures.” Buck muttered. “All those things do is eat, shit, sleep and screw.”
They watched for another thirty minutes or so until the fluff-pile began to stir, slowly separating as various fluffies got up, smacked their lips, stretched their legs, yawned, etc… some went to the ‘poopie-place’, others went to the nummy-pile. The last one awake was the Smarty, and as soon as he was up, he was back to his usual ways.
“OWDDA DAH WAY!” He barked as he stomped towards the poopie-place. “SMAWTY NEE’ GU POOPIES FIWST! MOBE, DUMMEH!” He hoofed a fluffy that was only just slightly in his way and continued. They saw him take a dump in the hole, then waddled over to the nummy-pile, where it started all over again.
“DUMMEHS, SMAWTY EAT FIWST! YOO KNU DAT! YOO AWW KNU DAT! NAO MOBE!”
Another hoof to the face, this time to a pregnant mare who was too large to move quick enough for Smarty’s liking, as he bullied his way past the others and ate a large amount of the minimal pile of food all by himself.
The herd itself milled around, quietly mewling and muttering to itself, until one fluffy finally spoke up.
“Whewe bwuddah?”
The fluffy in question was waddling around in circles, looking confused, trying to find someone. Buck and Ted watched it, realising it was the brother of their captive from the night before, the one who had been left out of the fluff-pile.
“Smawty! Smawty!” The fluffy wailed, sprinting up to the Smarty who was still in the process of stuffing his face with berries. “Nee’ hewp! Nu can find bwuddah!”
“So?” Smarty asked around a mouthful of fruit.
“So… so bwuddah gone!” The fluffy replied, unable to think of how to explain to the situation Smarty when it should have been obvious already. “Bwuddah nu hewe! Bwuddah maybe wost, owe… owe TAKEN! By MUNSTAH!”
The entire herd gasped.
“M-m-munstah?!”
“Safe pwace nu safe?!”
“Hewp! Hewp! Munstah!”
“SHADDUP!” The Smarty barked at them, kicking the brother fluffy directly in his face, hard enough that his nose began to bleed. “Dewe nu munstahs hewe! Dummeh fwuffeh hewe somewhewe… DUMMEH! COME OWT! NAO!”
There was no response.
Behind Buck and Ted, at their ‘camp’, the taped fluffy was wriggling and writhing furiously, but the tape was stuck hard against his fuzzy skin. He couldn’t let out a single peep, despite hearing both his brother and Smarty calling for him.
“DUMMEH! COME OWT OWE SMAWTY GIB OWIES TO BWUDDAH AGAIN!”
“Wha?!” The brother squeaked in fear, still massaging his bleeding nose.
“WAST WAWNING, DUMMEH! COME OWT NAO!”
No response.
Smarty huffed, and delivered another hard kick to the brother’s head, before waddling away from the entire matter.
But the herd weren’t so easily satisfied.
“Smawty, whew fwuffeh gu?!”
“We nu safe?! Safe pwace nu safe?!”
“Whewe munstahs?! Whewe?!”
Smarty sighed heavily.
“HEWD, SHADDUP!” He barked. "SMAWTY SAY DEWE NU MUNSTAHS, SO DEWE NU MUNSTAHS! DUMMEH FWUFFEH GONE… MUST’A GOT WOST IN DAWKIES! DUMMEH’S OWN FAUWT! NAO SHADDUP!!!"
“Buck…” Ted whispered. “Can we get him first? The Smarty?”
“No.” Buck replied, not looking away from the herd. “As much as I hate to say it, we need him there. He’s too stubborn to admit anything’s wrong, so he’ll keep the herd staying here. No matter how many of 'em vanish, he won’t let 'em leave. And he’s such a bully, none of 'em will even try to disobey him.”
As they watched, the Smarty continued to prove them right, waddling around the herd’s ‘safe place’ and delivering kicks to the face for anyone who dared disagree with him. Finally the herd fell in line, and the daily routine began. Most fluffies began looking for food, attempting to rebuild the modest pile that the Smarty had personally demolished, but anything they found couldn’t be eaten by themselves, it had to be brought back to the herd.
“The pregnant ones eat first, usually.” Buck said to Ted. “This Smarty went first I guess, but usually the pregnant ones go first, then the ones with kids, then all the others.”
Sure enough, once the nummy-pile was restocked, a pregnant mare waddled over to begin eating her fill, leaving almost nothing for the next mama. The rest of the herd were working flat out to find food in their meagre surroundings.
Then it happened.
“Buck, look!” Ted whispered. Buck turned his binoculars and saw what his brother was seeing: one of the fluffies had found some berries on a bush that was slightly out of sight of the rest of the herd, having been tucked behind a stump. They could see the fluffy’s rear, but not the bush, nor it’s crop of sweet juicy fruits.
As they watched, the fluffy glanced back and forth, then craned his neck forwards and chomped down on one of the berries, smiling away. He then grabbed another, and another, and another… and before long, the bush was empty.
“Wha dummeh doin’?!” Smarty barked at the fluffy, who jumped with fright.
“N-nuffin, Smawty!” The flufy lied, waddling back to the herd. “Wookin’ fow nummies, buh… uh… nu fin’ any.”
But the Smarty didn’t respond. He was simply glaring at the fluffy. He waited until the fluffy was close enough, then suddenly kicked him in the face, knocking him onto his back.
“OWIE! HUWTIES!” He squeaked.
“SHADDUP!” Smarty yelled at him. “YOO WYIN’! WYIN’ TO SMAWTY!”
“Wha?! Nu! Nu am wyin’!” The fluffy lied again.
“DEN WHA DIS?!” Smarty yelled, jabbing his hoof into the liar’s face. It came away covered in berry juice, which had been left smeared all over the fluffy’s mouth and chin. The herd gasped.
“NUMMY JUICIES!”
“FWIEND WYIN’ TO HEWD!”
“THIEF! NUMMY THIEF!”
The lying fluffy broke down at last.
“HU-HU-HU! AM SOWWY! SU HUNGWY, JUS NEE’ SOME WIDDWE NUMMIES!”
Smarty, however, was not satisfied with his tears.
“Dummeh fwuffeh, dummeh wiaw, say nu fin’ nuffin. Hewd, gu get nummies dat dummeh hidin’!”
Two of the herd broke off and went to where the liar had been burying himself into the bush… only to turn around again a moment later.
"Smawty… dewe nuffin hewe."One of the fluffies said.
“Wha?!” He gasped. “Nu nummies?! Nuffin?!”
“Nu, nu nummies…” The other fluffy said, before it connected the dots. "Nu nummies nu mowe."
Smarty looked furious.
“Yoo eat aww dah nummies?!” He shrieked, stomping on the liar’s belly.
“Owie! Smawty pwease, nu mowe owies!”
“Yoo eat aww dah nummies!” Smarty shouted, stomping on the liar’s belly again and again. “Yoo eat aww dah nummies, weave none fow Smawty… owe dummeh hewd… den wie aboud it too!”
“Nu mowe! Pwease nu mowe!” The liar squeaked as Smarty repeatedly stomped on his guts.
“Yoo wan hewd to STAWVE!”
“Nu! Nu! Was jus hung- OW! HUWTIES!”
“Yoo wan hewd to DIE!”
“N- ACK! OWIES!”
“Yoo hate hewd, hate Smawty, hate aww mummahs and babbehs too!”
“Nu, nu pwe- HURK!”
There was a crack as the Smarty’s hoof broke one of the fluffy’s ribs. The rest of the herd simply watched in stunned, terrified, tear-filled silence, while Smarty repeatedly stomped, kicked and battered one of their own.
Finally, Smarty reeled back and delivered one final crushing stomp to the liar’s chest. His hooves slammed down on his guts hard enough to force an explosive torrent of vomit, blood and berry juice out of the fluffy’s body. A veritable fountain of frothy purple-red liquid hosed out of his mouth, soaking the ground as the herd watched.
Smarty stepped back at last, panting for breath, and visibly sweating.
“Hewd, push dummeh into wawas.” He commanded.
“Nu… nu wa… wawas… pwuh… pwease…” The wounded fluffy begged.
“Pwease, Smawty,” One of the herd begged. “Fwuffeh hab enuff huwties fow now, nu mean to eat aww dah nummies, pwease nu mowe huwties.”
“SHADDUP!” Smarty shouted, spinning around to face the offender who had dared speak against him. "Smawty say dis dummeh gu in wawas, den dummeh gu in wawas! Get fowebah sweepies, wike he desewbe! Nu pwace in hewd fow wiahs, owe thiefys, owe bad dummeh stoopids who nu know deiw pwace!!!"
This last shouting declaration silenced the rest of the herd, and slowly, reluctantly, a few fluffies extracted themselves from the herd to begin rolling their wounded comrade towards the river-bank.
Buck and Ted, having watched the entire debacle, slipped back down on their side to let the higher ground of the river bank conceal them. They heard the fluffy’s feeble pleading and begging, followed by a sudden ‘splash’, a moment of blubbering… and then nothing.
They waited five minutes before looking again, and saw that the fluffy had landed face-down in the river. It wasn’t deep enough to carry the body away, but the fluffy had drowned quickly in it’s position. Even as they watched, they saw trickles of blood oozing from it’s mouth into the rest of the water, sifting through the water like red smoke.
The two brothers slid back down the bank on their side, stunned by what they saw.
“Buck… I feel sick…” Ted whispered. Buck nodded.
“Me too.”
“That was horrible… he ate all the berries, but… but he didn’t deserve that.”
Buck took a swig of water from his canteen and passed it to Ted, who drank most of it before taking a breath.
“Buck, I… I want…” Ted began.
“It’s okay.” Buck replied, taking the canteen back. “If that’s what you want, we’ll go home right now. Promise.”
“No. That’s not what I want. I…”
Ted paused, swallowing heavily.
“I want… when the time comes… I want to be the one to kill the Smarty.”