Banana stared out at the stars that seemed to mock him, dacing playful in front of his eyes. He was wide awake, his eyes a tired red under heavy lids and his unfocused gaze sank to his herd mates curled around him.
His heart twisted as he gazed at their sleeping forms, he hated the pitying looks they always gave him, hated the stupid advice they’d give while patting him mockingly on the shoulder, hated how soundly they slept while he was forced to sit awake, suffering, while they were peacefully slumbering. His special friend was snuggled into his side, a peaceful smile on her round face. Jealousy swelled in his chest as he watched her gently fluttering lashes and how her breath ruffled his fur.
“It nu am faiw.” He snarled to himself, anger rocketing through his body and causing him to shake with rage. Banana gently maneuvered himself out of the nest he shared with his special friend and stepped over the herd members between him and the entrance of the little hollow his herd shared, Peanut butter and his sister Jelly, Sticker and her brood, and Tangerine, the orphan. Banana used to feel such love for the sweet little filly but now all he felt was jealousy and rage.
Banana stepped over the orange and green filly, casting a disgusted look at her curled form as he passed. He sat hunched in the ragged opening of the herd’s tiny rock home, growling curses under his breath and muttering to himself.
“It nu am faiw, why can’ Banana nu gu sweepies.” Banana whimpered, the red hot rage slowly cooling to a heavy stone in his chest, tears welling in his eyes and dripping down his cheeks. He pressed his hooves to his head and groaned as he wrestled with the swelling hurricane of emotions. Why was this happening to him? He had done nothing to deserve this, his head felt like lead. He just wanted to sleep, oh how Banana regretted taking sleep for granted.
His hooves pulled back before smashing into his own head. The pain throbbed through his skull but it did nothing to clear the aching tiredness behind his eyes. With every defeated whack his tears fell heavier and the hurricane inside him swelled to it’s climax.
"Um, Banana? Awe…awe yu awight? A tiny voice squeaked from behind him causing him to jerk his head back towards the wide eyed Tangerine behind him, his eyes bulging and red and his teeth bared in a painful grimace.
The filly scrambled back, her mouth dropping open in shock and a tiny squeak of fear erupted from her. She stared up at the distressed stallion before glancing around to make sure she hadn’t woken anyone. Thankfully none of the lumps around them had stirred or seemed to even twitch.
“Waz…waz wong?” Tangerine asked in a quiet whisper, half terrified of the bedraggled stallion and half scared of waking up the herd.
“Ebeyfing wong.” Banana snarled, “Banana nu can gu sweepies. Hab owies.” He gave a pained whimper as, trying to rub the tired ache from his eyes.
Tangerine shuffled her hooves nervously and thought for a second, she had noticed that Banana had been slowly degrading. His fluff was wild and ungroomed, his mane a floppy mess. He’d become snappy and angry with his herd mates and often lazed around, complaining about how tired he was and how little sleep he got.
“Maybe…” She thought long and hard about what she could do for her friend, “maybe huggies-”
“NU!” Banana roared at her, cutting her off before she could even finish, causing her ears to flatten to her head and her little hooves to fly over her eyes in an attempt to shield herself.
A couple fluffies shot up from their sleep, panic in their eyes as their heads whipped around, searching for danger. Their eyes landed on the bristling Banana and the whimpering Tangerine, still hiding in her hooves. Banana’s ears flicked back in shame and an embarrassed flush crept across his face as his herd mates turned irritated glares on him. A flash of anger ripped through the embarrassment, they didn’t know what he was going through! How he was suffering. They didn’t deserve to be angry with him.
Banana let out a soft growl as they began to curl back up and went back to sleep. He was seething at that point, they didn’t deserve to sleep! No one deserved to fucking sleep if he couldn’t sleep! He let out and angry, shrill scream of anger and smashed his hoof into the sobbing orange filly’s side, sending her flying out of the entrance of what once was Banana’s safe place but was now his living hell.
The fluffies he had woken up slowly lifted their heads up in exasperation, their eyes shooting wide as they watched the Tangerine skip across the dirt and tangle into a bush.
“Wha!? Why yu do dat?” Jelly, a raspberry red mare with little tan flecks scattered through her coat hopped up to rush to the filly’s aid only for Banana to throw himself on top of her. He battered her body with his callused hooves, cracking ribs and smashing her face. Banana was ripped from Jelly by her brother, Peanut butter, but immediately turned on the smooth brown pegasus and bit down on his ear. He pulled and tore till the stallions ear ripped from his head and a fountain of blood splattered across the deranged stallion’s face.
“Yu. Nu. Desewbe. SWEEPIES!” He screeched as he straddled the stallion, desperately pounding away at his now bruised and bloodied face.
A heavy earthy heaved Banana off of Peanut butter by his scruff and dragged him out of the den, throwing him into the dirt where he flailed around in a blind rage, desperately trying to find his hooves.
“Aaaargh!” Banana wailed in frustration as he shamble to his hooves, his wild red eyes flicking from fluffy to fluffy as his herd slowly surrounded him. A wide set purple toughie, named Cough syrup, stood in front of him, a confused and terrified look on her face as she guarded the rest of the herd from the frantic Banana.
“Banana! What am yu doin!” Sidewalk, his special friend, tried to run to her other half but was blocked by the mountain of a mare that stood between her and Banana.
“Grah! Yu nu desewbe to gu sweepies if Banana nu can gu sweepies!” Banana thrashed his head about as he glared at the concerned fluffies that had formed a semi circle around him.
He stared at the herd when his eyes lit up with wild fury “It…it am yu guys’s fauwt Banana nu can sweep! Yu am steawing Banana’s sweepies!” He let out a shrill scream as he lunged at a random fluffy, a pastel green and pink stallion named Ticket who reared back in fright, whinnying loudly in terror at the horrific beast in front of him.
The Cough syrup jumped forward and caught Banana’s tail in her just as Banana’s teeth clamped down on Ticket’s eye. A stomach churning pop followed by a pained howl shook the herd as Banana’s teeth closed on the poor stallion’s eyeball. A small tearing noise followed as the eyelid tore from Ticket’s face, pulled by the momentum of Cough syrup’s yank on Banana’s tail. Ticket crumpled into a howling mess as he clutched his eye, blood flowing through his hooves and dripping into a mess on the ground.
“Wet gu, wet gu, wet gu!!!” Banana thrashed back and forth, trying to snap at Cough syrup, a pink froth thick around the edges of his mouth and flecks of blood flew from his gnashing teeth. A bright red hoof smashed into his nose and a bright spray of blood fountained from the deranged yellow stallion’s nose as he fell down, dazed and pain shooting through his snout.
He glanced up, the stars above him swimming as he tried to gather his thoughts which had already been struggling through the tired thick mess of his mind. His vision slowly began to focus on a neon red unicorn stood above him, hoof raised in case Banana made any sudden moves.
“What am yu doin’ Banana?” Knife snarled as he leaned down into Banana’s face.
“Yu dummehs stowe Banana’s sweepies! Banana want dem back!” He roared in his Smarty’s face and attempted to struggle to his feet only to feel Cough syrup’s hoof slam into his back and her teeth dig into his tail.
Knife scoffed in disbelief at the irrational stallion and stared down at him in disgust. “Yu need weabe.” He growled.
“Nu! Nu! Nu! Banana nu weabin wifout his sweepies!” Banana’s voice became a high pitched wailing that even foals could rarely reach. His eyes growing more wild and desperate as his head whipped around towards the herd mates that surrounded him. He needed to kill them. He was going to kill them.
“Cough suwup.” Knife jerked his head towards the edge of the clearing where the bushes parted and directed the giant mare as she dragged the wailing stallion by his tail. She dropped him next to the bush and backed away quickly, having seen what his teeth and hooves could do.
“Now gu!” Knife lowered his horn towards Banana, stomping his hoof at him.
“Banana wan hi-” Banana started to yell but was quickly cut off.
“Ged out befowe Knife gibe ou fowebah sweepies!” The red stallion gave a false charge, stopping just inches from Banana. He scrambled back, his hooves slipping in the loose dirt and fear distorted his already twisted face.
“F-fine. Banana weabe fow-fow now, but Banana be back fow his Sweepies!” He yelped in his shrill voice and turned to run away, staggering in to the night.
Knife sighed and turned to his herd, Jelly lay sobbing next to her brother’s corpse in the den, his face was almost unrecognizable, snout twisted and eyes so swollen they couldn’t be seen as blood trickled from his mouth. Jelly had nasty oozing patches of raw flesh where Banana had ripped fluff from her body and skin had torn away with it. Her left eye and cheek were swollen and she could barely move from the broken ribs she had suffered. Tangerine had been tenderly pulled from the bushes by Sticker and lay on her side, her broken wing stuck up over her body at an odd angle. Ticket wouldn’t let a sould near him, screaming and flailing and anyone who attempted to get within arms reach.
“What am we gon’ do?” He whispered as Cough syrup collapsed next to Knife and buried her head into his shoulder. She simply shook her head in response and turned to gaze out into the forest.