Little by little, Jingle made his way up the steep slope, his bell ringing with every movement. Several times he nearly tripped over the loose rocks, but the colt was undeterred, fueled by his anger and despair.
Finally, he made his way to the summit, but his target was nowhere in sight. “Munstah! Whewe am yu?!” the colt shouted out, “Come ou’, munstah!” But he got no response.
Then, he looked up at a nearby ledge, and was greeted with two glowing, ice blue eyes.
Forgetting everything for a brief moment due to his fear, Jingle jumped back, tripping over himself.
Regaining his resolve, though still shaking some, Jingle ran up to the seeker and stared him down.
“Munstah! Yu gib hewd fowebah sweepies! Yu gib Mummah fowebah sweepies! Hatechu, munstah!” the colt yelled.
But to Jingle’s frustration, the seeker simply ignored him.
The colt continued shouting, “Mummah go fowebah sweepies to sabe Jingwe!”
Further agitated at being ignored, he attempted to jump up and pounce on the seeker, futilely propelling his tiny legs with all his might. “Yu kiww Mummah! Bwing Mummah back!”
No use, but he kept trying.
“Bwing… fwuffy’s… mummah… back!”
But all Jingle managed to do was lose his balance, and he fell backwards, smacking into the ground. Though the fall was not high enough to seriously injure the young fluffy, the sudden pain combined with his overexertion caused him to lose consciousness.
The next morning, Jingle managed to find the seeker once again, this time drinking from a small pool in the rocks.
By now, the colt had realized that he was much too small and weak to even touch the seeker, let alone kill him. So Jingle had formulated a new plan. “Munstah! Jingwe nu wan be dummeh fwuffy nu mowe! Nu wan wun way an’ hab scawdies! Wan be stwong wike yu! Teach Jingwe how be wike yu!”
The seeker just turned and stared at the colt, emotionless. He then got up and began to walk towards the fluffy.
His fear overtaking him once more, Jingle quickly scampered away and dashed to hide behind a nearby rock pile. But the seeker continued to ignore him, simply walking right past him.
Jingle watched as the seeker then lept back onto the same ledge from the night before and laid down to go to sleep.
Frusturated, Jingle ran up to him and resumed yelling, “Pwease, munstah! Teach Jingwe how be stwong wike yu! Jingwe du anyfingies, eben take huwties!”
Angered at being ignored once again, Jingle began to scream even louder, “Wakies an’ wisten tu Jingwe! Wakies! Wakies! WAKIES!”
“Stop this noise, fluffy”, the seeker boomed.
Surprised at the seeker actually speaking, Jingle gasped and jumped back.
“You are interrupting my sleep. Exit, and I will return to kill you later”, the seeker continued before closing his eyes once again.
Jingle fumed at hearing this. “Nu! Jingwe wan be wike yu! An’ if Jingwe nu can, den yu can num Jingwe!”
But the seeker simply ignored the colt once again. Realizing this, Jingle scoffed, “Yu fink Jingwe am jus’ dummeh babbeh. Jingwe nu ask yu 'gain. Jingwe nu need yu tu weawn be stwong. Yu see!”
And so, Jingle went out to attempt to prove he could become big and strong all by himself.
First, he ran right up to a small group of feral fluffalo bulls and started “roaring” at the top of his lungs.
One bull tilted his head, both confused and amused. “Wut am babbeh doin’?” he asked.
Jingle frowned, puffing his cheeks, and turned to face him. “Nu am babbeh! Jingwe am scawy munstah!” he exclaimed before resuming his “roaring”.
The bull looked to his two companions in bewilderment for a moment before all three of them burst into laughter.
Jingle fumed at this reaction. How could they laugh at him?! He was a fearsome, terrifying monster! “Jingwe gon’ num yu! Yu beddah hab scawdies!”
The first bull only shook his head and sighed, before effortlessly picking Jingle up with his mouth and carrying him to gently drop him a short ways away.
He didn’t want to hurt the silly young unicorn, but he and his friends were quite busy looking for nummies to feed their special friends and babbehs, and didn’t have time to deal with Jingle’s antics.
After the bull left and the initial shock wore off, Jingle shook himself off. “Maybe dey am tu big fo’ Jingwe tu num…” he said to himself.
He then heard a very irritating buzzing noise and looked to see a bumblebee pollinating the wildflowers behind him. “Jingwe gon’ gib yu wowstes’ sowwy-hoofsies!” Jingle exclaimed.
But right as Jingle prepared to do so, the bumblebee noticed the threat, flew up, and stung the colt right on the nose!
“SCREEEEEEEE! OWWIIIEEES! WOWSTES’ HUWTIES EBAAAAH!” Jingle screamed, frantically flailing about and running away as the bumblebee simply resumed pollinating the flowers.
As he thrashed around, Jingle failed to notice a nearby ledge, and tumbled over it straight into patch of thornbushes.
Though the drop was a short one, the brambles effortlessly pierced his tender skin and tangled with his fluff, and the little unicorn screamed even louder as he kicked and squirmed in a desperate attempt to free himself.
After a while, Jingle finally managed to free himself from the brambles and dragged himself out, exhausted and utterly defeated. But despite the immense pain, Jingle forced himself to go on, and clambered all the way back up the mountain.
At last, he found a small pool of spring water and began to rapidly gulp from it, the cool temperature soothing his sore throat.
Suddenly, he fell in, and began to freak out until he realized it was shallow enough for him to stand up in.
After composing himself, Jingle looked up to see the seeker walking towards him. Or at least, he thought he was walking towards him. But no, the seeker simply passed him by, uninterested.
“W-Whewe am yu goin’, munstah?! W-Wait fo’ Jingwe!” the colt cried out. Seeing the seeker once again pay him no heed, Jingle gathered his remaining strength and dashed after him.
After several grueling hours, Jingle at last managed to catch up to the seeker.
Still panting, Jingle smiled weakly and looked up at the seeker, who was resting on the same rock ledge from before, but this time stared down at the battered fluffy colt incredulously.
“Whewebah yu gu, Jingwe gu. Jingwe nu wan wose tu munstah!” Jingle stated before finally giving into his exhaustion and dropping on the spot.
As the seeker continued to stare, Jingwe continued, “Jingwe… Jingwe wan be wike yu!” Then the last of his strength wavered, and the colt let himself fall asleep.
And the seeker once again walked away.
