You didn’t like being away from your babbehs for so long, but someone had to get food.
You’d taken your older poopie babbeh and Sunny’s purple babbeh with you. They needed some attention after all, with their parents looking after new brothers and sisters. That and some survival skills would go a long way.
“Nu can wait tu see Geowgie ‘gain!” Poopie said.
“Hu am Geowgie?” Purple asked.
“Geowgie am nice fwuffy wif homie hu gib daddeh nummies!” Poopie told her.
“Geowgie hab homie?” Purple’s head perked up. “Hab homie fo us?”
“Nu hab homie fo us.” You told her, “Homie am owny fo Geowgie.”
“Oh.” Purple’s head went back down.
“Nu wowwy.” You said to them. “Dweam fin’ gud homie fo ‘ou an bwuddas an sissies.”
“Daddeh?” Your poopie said. “’Ou ebah hab homie?”
You thought back far, to days before you’d had any babbehs to call your own. To days of your mummah and sissie. Cloud and her large litter, white Snowball, purple Grim, pink Lollipop, that annoying smarty Hulk…
“Dweam did hab homie. Had tu weave, was bad pwace.”
You’d arrived at Georgie’s fence. You were about to peer under the hole to see if Georgie was there, but already you were uneasy. It was quiet.
“’Tay back.” You whispered to the two foals.
Slowly, you pushed your head through the hole under the fence, looking around.
WHACK!
A sharp spade embedded itself in the ground an inch from your face. You looked up, a human towered over you.
“You’re the one Georgie’s been giving our food too, huh?”
In a second you jerked your head back and tailed it the other direction.
“Fowwow daddeh!”
Poopie and Purple came after you as much as their hooves would allow.
“AND DON’T COME BACK!” The human yelled from the fence.
You ran and ran, back into the forest. Purple was the first to give out, slowing to a crawl and panting.
“Tu… tiwed… nee… west…”
You stopped, as did poopie. Looking around, the human didn’t seem to be following you. You all took the opportunity to catch your breath.
“Wy humin angwy?” Poopie asked.
Georgie’s owner. He must’ve noticed the disappearing food, and interrogated Georgie about it. He was waiting for you, you realized, to poke your head through the hole.
“Nu tink we can see Georgie nu mowe.” You told him.
You kept quiet for a bit, listening for anything. Footsteps, leaves cracking, any bit of motion through the trees. There was nothing. Without a doubt the human was back at the house, hammering a board over that hole.
“Wemembah,” you told the foals. “Hoomins can gib foweba sweepies bewy easiwy. Hoomins bettah tuffie den any fwuffy. Hoomin am angwy, den u wun ‘way. Eben if hoomin am happie, hoomins nu aways teww ‘twuff, hoomins wiww twick fwuffies a wot. Aways wook out.”
Poopie and Purple both nodded, as if the last experience wasn’t proof enough.
When you’d all regained your breath, you kept on back towards the herd. You wanted to see your babbehs after an experience like that, know they were okay.
You got close, and stopped. Looking down, there were tracks. These weren’t made by any members of the herd you knew. Looking up, they led out towards the herd and your nest.
Without thinking, you broke into a sprint. Poopie and Purple did their best to follow, but disappeared behind you.
Nearing the nest, you could hear chattering, more fluffies. A big herd? Here? Hopping straight on the path that let into your nesting area, you came face to face with the herd that now occupied it.
So many of them, big tuffies, mares with babbehs, foals running around. In front of them, Tuffie lay bloody and dead. Next to him, your nest, empty. Your heart almost broke in two.
“Dweam!”
You turned around, it was Smarty. His legs were broken, and his head rested under the hoof of a large tuffy. Next to them, a face you’d never forget. The green-coated black-maned unicorn you thought you’d left behind long ago.
“Dweam miss Huwk?”