Later that evening Tricia returned to her basement saferoom to see the sisters sleeping in a pile surrounded by the blocks.
“Hi girls, you hungry?”
“Hm?” Bramble lifted her head as Berry wriggled out from under her.
“Bewwy wan’ sketties!!”
“Alright, one bowl of sketties!” She pulled a bowl piled with sketties from behind her as if she could tell the future and set it down in front of her.
Berry cheered as she ran to her meal. Bramble started to run towards the bowl as well, but slowed seeing Tricia watching her. She plopped down onto the floor again, watching as her sister chowed down on her sketties.
“Good girl, Bramble. If you still want sketties in a moment here I’ll bring you some.”
The green mare dropped her head sadly, chin resting on the padded floor as her sister dove into the pasta dish. “Huu… wan sketties…”
“You’ll get some in just a moment-”
Tricia was cut off by Berry’s head shooting up, eyes bugging out of her skull as she stumbled back from the bowl. “SCREEEEEEEEE!!!”
“What’s wrong?!” Tricia gasped, kneeling down next to the panicked fluffy.
“SKETTI OWWIES! SKETTI OWWIES!!” Berry blabbered, tears and snot streaming down her face.
“The sketti hurt you??” Tricia asked incredulously, as if she couldn’t believe the half bottle of hot sauce strong enough to make a grown man cry would do this to a fluffy.
Bramble watched, wide eyed in horror as her sister vomited on the padded floor. Berry moaned as she heaved, her body trying it’s best to force the burning substance from her body but instead forcing into her esophagus and sinuses.
“Oh no!” Tricia pushed the bowl of tainted pasta away. “Bramble, have either of you had sketti before??”
“Nu! Nebah!” Bramble replied, her voice raised over her sister’s wordless screeching. “Onwy hab kibbow nummies an’ miwkies!”
Tricia nodded curtly. “I guess sketti isn’t good for you at all.”
“Buh… buh sketti am bestest ting!” Bramble protested as her sister’s hoarse wails turned to coughing sobs.
“Well, you can have it too if you want.” Tricia pushed the bowl over to Bramble. “You can either have the sketti and hope it won’t hurt you too or ask for something else.”
“Uhm…” Bramble leaned over to sniff the bowl, flinching as the sharp smell of the hot sauce filled her nostrils. “Can Bwambwe hab kibbow… pwease?”
“Of course you can! As long as Berry has some first!” Tricia pulled the bowl of sketti away and set a bowl full of soft kibble in front of Berry. “Take a bite of this, it should get the mean sketties out of your mouth.”
Berry pulled herself away from the puddle of vomit and took a tentative mouthful of the soft kibble. The safe room was silent as she chewed. After a long pause she swallowed and released a relieved sigh.
“That’s much better, right?”
Berry sniffled between bites of kibble, eyes and nose still irritated and red. “Mh-hm.”
“Good! That’s so strange, I thought sketti was the bestest thing for fluffies!!” Tricia examined the bowl of pasta closely. “We’ll just have to remember how mean it is, right girls?”
“Y-yus.” Bramble replied, conflict in her eyes. Berry nodded into the bowl, too scared to even look at the sketti in case it decided to attack her again.
“Well, you two eat up.” Tricia nudged Bramble towards the bowl if kibble. “I’ll get this cleaned up and then maybe we have some TV?”
The mares didn’t reply, Berry still crying softly to herself and Bramble cautiously eating one crumb of kibble at a time as if any one of them could decide to hurt her.
Once the floor was scrubbed Tricia washed her hands in the nearby sink, wiping them dry on her pants. “Alright ladies, I have some chores to get done, but I’ll be back to tuck you in before bed.”
“Nuuuu…” Berry whined. “Nu feew pwetty… huu… nee’ huggies!”
“I’m sorry honey, I have-”
“Sissy nee’ huggies!!” Bramble protested. “Meanie sketti gib wowstest huwties! Nee’ Miss Twicia tu hug bettah!”
Tricia paused, staring down at the pair. Berry cowered from her cold stare while Bramble stepped forward confidently.
“That’s not how good fluffies talk.”
“Nu cawe!!!” Bramble protested, cheeks puffed. “Miss Twicia gib ba’ sketties, nee’ gib sissy huggies and kissies and wicky cweanies!!”
The pair stared at each other for a long moment before Tricia took a step towards them. Bramble watched with a smug smile as she reaches down to her sister, a smile that fell quickly as Berry was yanked into the air by her mane.
“Owwies!!” Berry wailed.
“Dat nu am huggies!!”
“She’s not getting huggies.” Tricia said, dropping Berry onto the nearby counter. “She’s getting punished.”
“Buh-buh-buh Bewwy nu du anyfing!!” Bramble protested.
“Quiet.” Tricia growled as she pressed her hand firmly down on the mare’s shoulders while she dug through a drawer. “Berry gets everything first, remember?”
Bramble watched, silenced by horror, as her owner lifted a paddle covered in thin spikes over her pleading sister.
“Am sowwy, nu wan-” Berry tried to apologize. She was cut off by a firm strike on her tailbone. “OWWIES!! AM SOWWY!!”
“That is for whining.” Tricia ripped the spiked paddle out of her, a few drops of blood splattering the counter below her.
The paddle came down again, square on Berry’s back “HUU HUU!! SOWWWYYYYYY!!”
“That’s for talking back.”
“MISS TWICIA PWEASE!!” Bramble found her voice, pleading with her owner. “BEWWY NU DU ANYFING!!”
Tricia glanced down at the mare, lifting the horrible paddle again. “And this is for not taking your punishment like a good fluffy.”
Berry yelped as the sadistic discipline tool slapped down on one hip, again as it hit the other.
“You done?” Tricia asked not the trembling fluffy under her hand but Bramble hunched down at her feet.
She nodded, tearfully.
“Good” she roughly dropped Berry to the padded floor. “Do you want to get punished now?”
“N-nu!” Bramble stumbled backwards.
“You don’t want to be punished?” Tricia cocked her head, gently slapping the unspiked side of the paddle against her palm.
“Nu, nu wan’ huwties!” Bramble said.
“Alright, I hope you’ve learned your lesson.” Tricia dropped the blood splattered paddle into the sink. “I’m not coming back here until breakfast time, no one wants to spend time with bad fluffies. Watch tv and then put yourselves to bed.” She stepped on one of the large buttons and the TV turned on to show foals dancing to royalty free music.
Bramble waited until Tricia had left and shut the door behind her before darting over to wrap her hooves around her sister. “Bwambwe sowwy sissy!!”
“Owwies!!” Berry squirmed out of her grasp. “Nu touch, owwies!!”
“Sowwy…” Bramble wrapped her hooves around herself instead, listening to her sister’s sobs mixing with the repetitive music.
“Wai… wai sissy nu get huwties?” Berry asked, wiping her tear stained fluff with a hoof.
“Bwambwe… Bwambwe nu knu. Nu wan.”
Berry’s eyes narrowed. “Bewwy nu wan’ huwties eithew. Wai say nu nicey tings tu mummah?!”
“… Sowwy sissy… jus’ wan’ siss feew bettah…” Bramble stumbled over her words, trying to find the right thing to say.
Berry continued to glare at her sister in silence. Bramble didn’t know what to do so turned her gaze towards the screen displaying the dancing foals. A human viewer would have found “dancing” to be a strong word, the foals were suspended by fishing line on either hoof and quite a few of the foals had tear-matted cheeks but fluffies like Bramble were enamored by the bouncing babies.
She turned back to see her sister limping over to the pair of beds. The pair had shared a bed since they were newborns snuggled up in their mother’s fluff, but Bramble watched as her sister took the fabric in her teeth and dragged it over to the wall. She shot Bramble one last glare before curling up with her back to her sister and the TV.
With a heavy sigh Bramble plodded over to her bed, collapsing in it and resting her chin on the edge. She felt so exposed without another warm fluffy form against her back, but the TV was a bit of a distraction from her loneliness.
As her eyes grew heavy the foals danced their way over to where their mothers fed the rest of their litters, the tiny forms resting tightly against the happy mares. Bramble felt happy seeing them too, something in her said this was the greatest thing ever. Something more wonderful than anything else.