The battered quartet dashed back along the path next to the stream as fast as their legs would carry them, panting and sobbing as they went.
Silver’s heart pounded in his chest, the adrenaline pumping through him.
He’d have been lying if he had said that he hadn’t been as terrified by the birdie monster as the rest of them.
And yet, his terror was mixed with a strange sense of elation.
Buggiefriend was dead but the rest of them were safe. And it was all thanks to him.
He gave a quick glance to his side, in order to ensure that Chocolate was keeping up with him.
Not that he didn’t care about the other two. But Chocolate was his priority.
A surge of guilt was added to the complex mixture of emotions that Silver was experiencing.
Chocolate hadn’t wanted to go with them. He’d known that. They could have been killed.
Silver quickly banished the thought from his mind. Chocolate was safe. Just like he’d promised.
Silver just hoped that she wouldn’t be too scarred by this experience.
“Wook!”, shouted Milkie, snapping Silver out of his own head. “We awmost dere!”
Sure enough, the central tree of the herd’s home loomed into sight in front of them, a familiar beacon guiding them home.
++++++++
Leaf and Berry lounged next to the tree at the centre of the herd’s home, surrounded by their growing cabal of admirers.
“Wook”, one unicorn babbled simperingly “Chewwy bwing pwetty Fwower fow Weaf!”
He dropped a slightly mangled looking daisy in front of the green pegusus.
Leaf giggled coquettishly but didn’t dignify him with a response.
A bright orange earthie pushed past him, an equally tattered but slightly larger daisy clutched between his teeth.
“Owange hab eben pwettiew fwower fo’ Bewwy!”, he exclaimed.
Berry gave her sister a subtle glance, as she smiled coyly at Orange.
The two of them were quickly learning that they got more from their admirers if they gave less in return.
A third admirer approached them, a mangy looking twig hanging out of his mouth, in what he hoped was a gift original enough to make him stand out from his romantic rivals.
However, before this bold but risky hypothesis could be tested, the crowd’s attention was diverted by the sound of wailing.
++++++
Silver and his friends collapsed into a heap in front of their suprised looking herd mates, their tearful sobs replaced by exhausted panting, now that they were back within the relative safety of their home.
“Munsta!”, was all that Milkie managed to splutter, by way of explanation.
Needless to say, this did little to defuse the tension.
A collective “Screeeeeeeeee” echoed through the trees and there was a brief but intense symphony of shit, as the members of the assembly all voided their bowels.
The commotion was enough to bring Biggie waddling over, looking irritated rather than alarmed.
“Wat am aww da noisey?!”, she rumbled in her oddly bass like voice.
“Monsta!”, squealed Leaf.
Her hooves were drapped across her eyes in what she believed to be a masterful stroke of predator evasion.
Biggie seemed unruffled by this information, although this was due more to her slow information processing skills than an ability to remain calm in a crisis.
“Siwwy fiwwy”, Biggie eventually replied. “Nu monsta hewe. Jus’ uddeh fwuffies.”
“Monsta nu hewe”, pipped up Silver, who had managed to compose himself now that they had made it home. “Was birdie monsta. Aww da way oder dere!”
He gestered in the general direction of the lake.
“Dat’s wite!”, wailed Milkie. “Dummeh, scawy birdie monsta gib bwuddah foreba sweppies!”.
It was the first chance Milkie had had to truly consider this, now that the he and his friends were safe.
By this time, other fluffies were gathering round, drawn by the commotion.
Gasps of “monsta”, rippled up and down and shreiks and squeals began to spread.
“It otay!”, shouted Silver, sensing the panic rising among the herd. “Monsta faw 'way now.”
The rest of the herd seemed unconvinced.
“Am twue!”, Chocolate chimed in, her loyalty to her brother overriding the anxiety that would usually hold her back.
“If munsta su big an meanie”, yelled a fluffy from the crowd “den wai it nu gib aww yu babbehs foreba sweepies?”
Some of the other fluffies murmered in agreement.
Chocolate’s ears drooped at the fluffy’s confrontational tone and she lowered her head ever so slightly, as her fear response kicked in.
She hesitated for a moment before raising her head back up. She did her best to meet the fluffy’s incredulous gaze.
“Bruddah saved us!”, she exclaimed, getting her voice as close as she was capable to a tone of defiance. “Siwvew gab dummie monsta wowsest sowwy poopies!”
This prompted another round of murmers from the onlookers.
“Dummeh poopie”, the original heckler shot back. “Fwuffy 'sposed to fink dat ugwy cowouw babbeh fite munsta aww awone?”
“It twue!”, pipped up Grassie indignantly. “Siwvew sab us.”
Milkie nodded, before adding in an ashamed tone “It twue. Miwkie wanted tu be bwavest spwowin babbeh. Bu’ Miwkie took fwends tu monsta’s housie. It aww Miwkie’s fauwt!”
This confession prompted a fresh batch of tears from the white unicorn.
A new scream filled the air, as a purple earthie mare pushed her way through the crowd.
“Babbehs!”, she exclaimed, as she reached the foals.
“Mummah!”, Milkie and Grassie squealed in unison, as they ran towards her.
Silver and Chocolate exchanged a glance, the same thought occuring to them simultaneously; what were they going to tell their Mummah and Daddeh?
As if on cue, Flower and Charlie broke through the gathering of fluffies that surrounded them.
“Mummah!”, whimpered Chocolate, as Flower promptly ignored her and headed over to Leaf and Berry.
“Fwower heaw aww about monsta!”, she babbled, lowering her body so that her precious twins could climb onto her. “Am babbehs otay?”
Silver felt a surge of anger, as he observed yet another little piece of Chocolate die inside.
He cuddled up to his sister, his desire to look after her outweighing everything else.
Charlie wrapped his front legs protectivly around the two of them.
“Am babbehs otay?”, he whispered, giving each of them a comforting lick on the muzzle.
The two of them didn’t say anything. They simply nuzzled into Charlie’s fluff as best they could.
The rest of the fluffies had begun to disperse.
Their notoriously short attention spans had kicked in and although the monster hadn’t been completly forgotten, they’d accepted that there was no immediate danger.
At least, no more than there was on any other day in the life of a feral fluffy.
As the foals were comforted by their respective parents, Silver looked up and caught Milkie’s eye.
A look of understanding passed between them.
The day may have been a disaster. But in that moment, the two of them knew that that fateful day was the first day of a bond of friendship thay would never be broken.
