A/N: Hey y’all, thank you for reading as always. I’ve tried to do some color coding here, but for the sake of time and my sanity, I’ve decided to leave group dialogue and Stormy’s dialogue uncolored. Please enjoy!
Two days later, Trouble, Cloudy, and Snowflake were once again preparing to try and bite through the rope that held their Mummah captive to the tree. Trouble had had another of his ideas this time, however. Today, instead of biting random parts of the rope, they would all bite the same part. Trouble had seen how when Mummah ate the grassies in one spot too much, the grassies got much much shorter- if they all bit the rope, then they could num their way through it like mummah nummed through the grassies! And so, one at a time, they bit down with their full strength- Cloudy first, his little nose scrunched up in a (for a fluffy) fearsome snarl as he attacked the meanie rope! He bit with all his might, his teethies strong enough finally to eat grassies! As usual, the bite force fo a single fluffy didn’t do much at all to the nylon rope. When he released it, his ears went back in disappointment and he scuffed at the ground, pouting. Trouble gave him a little pat. “Nu wowwy, Cwowdy. It wiww be a few twies.” Then, Snowflake bit the same spot, pinning it to the ground with her front legs and shaking her head back and forth not unlike a dog, attacking it with all the ferocity she could muster. When she drew back initally, it looked like there had been no different, and her ears went back, too. Trouble began to feel nervous- what if this idea didn’t work? But then he noticed- there was a tiny, itty bitty bit of fraying on the rope- not enough to even begin to truly count as a cut, but it was there. Stormy’s eyes went wide and hopeful- she’d seen it, too. “Oh, babbehs, pwease-” Trouble held down the rope, placing his teeth carefully over the frayed part, worrying at it with his teeth. He didn’t bite down hard- instead, he tugged and felt for threads that were loose, biting them and pulling them free. By the time his jaw had tired, he’d managed to make the fray visible enough that Cloudy and Snowflake also noticed the damage, and they exploded into cheers, clapping their hooves together and tackling Trouble in a hug- “MEANIE WOPE AM HUWT! MEANIE WOPE AM HUWT!”- And Stormy scooped the ball of foals up and into a tight hug, planting a huge kiss on Trouble’s forehead. She looked him directly in the eyes, the light of hope rekindled inside of her. “Mummah wuv yu, Twoubwe. Yu am gud babbeh.” Trouble’s heart felt so happy he was worried it would pop- and he almost felt like he was going to cry, so he hugged his mummah and buried his face in her fur. He loved her so so much. This would work- it would take time, but it would work. They would get bigger, and keep giving hurties to the same part of the rope every day. They would free Mummah! This was the best day of Trouble’s whole life.
Night fell, and they began their routine. Mummah had given Trouble extra milkies tonight as a treat, and so when they settled down for the night, it was with a full stomach and a joyful sort of fatigue that Trouble found himself with. They had their own places in the fluffpile- Mummah slept with her head propped up on Snowflake, who she used as a pillow. This served two purposes- it kept the rope from choking her in the middle of the night (the rope had dug its way deeper and deeper into Stormy’s neck, and caused trouble breathing if she laid in the wrong ways.)- and it stopped Snowflake from trying to go splorin’ at night when Mummah was asleep. Beside her, under her arm, was Cloudy, who slept soundly tucked into his mummah’s plush belly fluff. On Cloudy’s other side, Trouble slept. It wasn’t that Mummah said he couldn’t cuddle with her, but she always seemed to be unable to get comfortable enough to sleep if he did, so he’d begun cuddling Cloudy instead. They were all sleeping soundly- save for Snowflake. She’d been thinking, and her idea was ready- now was the time. She muffled a giggle, then called softly out to Trouble. “Pssst! Twoubwe! Wakie, pwease!” Trouble roused slowly, full and groggy. “Wha?” Snowflake quickly put on a worried expression. “Nee’ make gud poopies, but nu wan wake mummah up. Hewp pwease?” Trouble thought for a moment, then carefully wiggled his way beside Snowflake, easing her out slowly while providing Mummah with the support she needed. Stormy took in a deep breath- even though Trouble was smaller than Cloudy, he was still bigger than Snowflake, so it was easier to breathe with him propping her up- and fell into a deeper, more restful sleep. Snowflake wiggled free at last, turning around to kiss Trouble on the nose. “Fank yu! Wiww huwwy!” Trouble nodded, struggling to stay awake. He had to watch to make sure that Snowflake came back to the nest, but he was really properly warm for once beneath mummah, and his tummy was so full, and it had been such a nice day… and maybe he could pretend that Mummah had asked him to be her pillow…
Snowflake did feel bad about lying to Trouble, but they would all understand when she made it back with her long lost sister, or even with Mummah’s Mommy! She galloped to the edge of the circle, skidding to a stop right before, and shivering slightly from both excitement and the cool night air. Was she really going to do this? As if to answer her own question, her leggies did a big excited LEAP out of the circle and onto the plush, long grass outside the circle. She stopped and looked back, barely a foot past, but it was the farthest she had ever been, and Mummah couldn’t catch her and make her stay! She barely kept herself from squealing from excitement, prancing away in a random direction from the circle- she decided to go up towards the place where the loud things passed by now and then- she was scared to go deeper into the trees, because they were so scary at night. She meandered, stopping here and there to num the long grassies and leaves, to kick at pebbles that rolled in fun ways and to sniff excitedly at flowers. She looked like a little cloud floating over the embankment, and before long, she was gone.
Stormy woke slowly the next morning, not bothering to open her eyes for a long while. She was so comfortable- for some reason, her neck wasn’t giving her as many hurties, and she felt like she’d finally gotten the first good night’s sleep since she had her babbehs. She wanted to enjoy this soft, floating state for a little while. She could feel Cloudy’s familiar bulk under her arm, and Snowflake under her chin. She couldn’t feel Trouble, but that wasn’t unusual- he usually slept curled up on the other side of Cloudy. Eventually, her bladder made itself known and she let out a soft annoyed huff as she stood and stretched, opening her eyes. What a beautiful day! The sun was slotting down beautifully through the leaves of the tree, and the birds outside were singing. She looked down, intending to wake her babbehs to start the day. Trouble stirred from where he’d been sleeping under her chin- the sudden loss of warmth had woken him. Cloudy slept on soundly- but Snowflake was gone. Immediately, panic ripped through her- it was like her other lost babbeh all over again! She let out an anguished SCREEEEEE and began to tear around the tree, looking for her sweet little Snowflake. Cloudy, startled awake, couldn’t help but make scaredy poopies and Trouble hugged him, frightened.
“SNOWFWAKE! SNOWFWAKE! WHEWE AWE YU? PWEASE COME BACK TU MUMMAH!” She ran around and around and around, crying and screaming and shitting in distress, untill finally the rope pulled taut and she choked, then turned and ranned the otehr way- her little filly was gone! She had been under her chin when they had all gone to sleepies, and then- Snowflake froze stock still. Her face, fur matted with panicked tears and snot, fell into an oddly blank, cold expression. She turned and trotted back to the burrow. Inside, her remaining foals sat,clinging to each other and covered in poopies. “HUUUU! SCAWIES!” Trouble noticed she was back first, and he turned to her, noticing her tears. He ran to her, reaching up for huggies- “Mummah? Why yu cwyin? Whewe is-” Stormy kicked him, sending him tumbling backward further into the den, where he sprawled out for a moment, winded. “HAFF! HAFF!” Stormy walked over to him calmly, bringing her foot up and then slamming it down hard on his left back leg, pulping it. Trouble let out a horrible shriek and writhed in agony, finding enough air only to scream pitifully. “SCREEEEEEEEE! WOWSTEST HUWTIES! SCREEEEEEEEEEEEE!” Stormy raised her hoof to stomp again- but then Cloudy was between her and Trouble, his hackles raised, cheeks puffed, tears flowing freely down his face. “NU! NU HUWTIES TWOUBWE! NU HUWTIES!” Stormy blinked, and took in what she had done- her bestest babbeh was standing over his brother, trembling with terror and in full fluffy fighting pose- and Trouble’s back leg was obliterated. He only stopped screaming to draw breath, the twitching red-and-white mess of his leg twitching horribly and bleeding heavily. “Oh! Oh! Mummah su sowwy, Twoubwe! Mummah nu mean tu-” she reached out to him, to give him huggies, and Cloudy jumped up, slamming his head brutally into her chin as hard as he could. Stormy fell back as her teeth clacked together painfully and she nearly bit her tongue, landing awkwardly and choking as the rope gagged her.
Before she could regain her feet and shake the stars from her vision, Cloudy had heaved his brother onto his back and ran as fast as he could out of the nest, hauling ass way from the circle. Stormy chased after him, gasping and choking for breath, and called out to him- “Pwease, nu! Wa-haff! KAFF! Wait!” Cloudy turned, and she had a moment of hope- “It dangewous out dewe! Come back tu mummah!” Cloudy puffed up his cheeks and blew a raspberry at her. “Dummeh! Dummeh Monstew Mummah! Bad Mummah! Yu am da onwy dangewous fing hewe, yu give wowstest huwties to Twoubwe, and Twoubwe nebah eben du a bad fing! HATECHU, MUMMAH! HATECHU!” He turned and ran, unknowingly following the path of his errant figure back towards the suburbs. Behind them, watching them retreat, Stormy watched in disbelief and utter sorrow as her bestest babbeh ran away, taking his brother with him. She sat down heavily and wailed, heaving sobs from the very depths of her core. her babbehs didn’t love her any more! She was a Bad Mummah! She had hurt her babbeh, and it was no wonder the meanie man had come and tied her to this tree- he must have known he was a bad mummah, and was trying to save Mommy from her! Oh, she was so so sorry! She was more sorry than she’d ever been before, and she had the biggest, worstest heart hurties she’d ever felt! She was the worstest and baddest mummah ever! Unable to do anything else, she cried until she finally had no more tears. She got up shakily, thirsty from crying and went to the drink cup. She stared into it. At the bottom of the cup, there was a few scant sips of water. Cloudy and Trouble hadn’t gone to refill the cup yet today.
Cloudy and Trouble had left a sticky trail of blood behind them, and her own hoof was smeared in the gore that had once been Trouble’s poor little leggy. She felt terrible- why had she done it? She didn’t hate Trouble, she loved him! Right? She loved all her babbehs! Sure, she did love Cloudy the best, but that was okay, wasn’t it? No answers came to her. She stared out at the last place she had seen her babbehs, althought they had long since disappeared. Her neck itched, and she scratched. The rope around her neck was deeply embedded at this point. The skin, rubbed constantly and without the protection fur offered, had eventually formed over the rope, and it was inflamed, red, tight and itchy. She was hungry, but she was so sad she didn’t feel like eating. She had done the worstest, baddest thing ever. She wasn’t just a Bad Mummah, she was a Bad Fluffy. It was no wonder the bad scary man had come. Some deep part of her hoped that now that she had realized it, maybe the bad man would sense it, and come and take her back to her Mommy now that she had learned her lesson. But the world was quiet, clouds beginning to form overhead, and slowly, the pitter patter of rain began to come down. She sat in the rain for a long time, looking out for her babbehs in case they decided to come back, but eventually, the cold and wet sent her back inside the nest, where she lay down and stared out into the gathering gloom.
As Cloudy followed the black ground, Trouble held on tight, shaking his head to try to clear it. He had to think, had to concentrate through the pain. He had to figure out nummies, and water, and nesties, and they had to find Snowflake. He glanced back over his shoulder, but the Sorry Tree was a good ways in the distance now and he couldn’t see his Mummah from here. He could see the trail of boo-boo juice behind him, and it made his head swim so he turned quickly back around. He tried not to make sick on Cloudy’s back. Cloudy was following the road as best he could- he wasn’t sure where to go, but he had to get Trouble away from Mummah and toward help. He couldn’t believe that Mummah would hurt Trouble like that- or, at least he wished he couldn’t believe it. The yucky feeling inside of him clicked into place, and he began to trot faster to try to get away from these big, scary, complicated feelings that were too big for his heart and his think-place. Trouble made a pained noise on his back, and ahead there glowed the soft lights of suburbia. The programming in his brain told him that Humans were Good- if he could find a human, they could help his brother. “Hang in dewe, Twoubwe. Cwowdy got yu.” Cloudy wasn’t bright even by fluffy standards, but he understood a few things. One was that he loved his brother with his whole dang heart. Two was that it was Trouble, not Mummah, that had kept them alive. Mummah gave them milkies, but it was Trouble who stopped the poopies from making them sick and it was Trouble who’d figured out how to get water safely. It was his turn to save his brother.
Stormy had stared up at the sky until it had gotten too dark, and then her eyes had dropped to settle on the smear of gore in the nest where she had done her horrible deed. There were little shards of bone half-submerged in the mud, and the mud was thick where the blood had clotted in the earth. She stared at it even when it was too dark to see, until she fell asleep. She had awful nightmares- She was back in the saferoom, and Mommy was about to give her tasty kibbles. Suddenly, she remembered that her babbehs were lost. “Mommy,” dream-Stormy said, “pwease hewp Stowmy find babbehs!” Mommy had begun to laugh at her, her mouth getting wider and wider and wider until finally she had bent down inches from Stormy’s face. “Stupid,” she said, pointing down at the carpet, “they’re right here.” Stormy had looked down, and instead of the soft, plush carpet of the saferoom, she was standing on millions of tiny shards of bone, more than could have ever fit inside of any of her babbehs, but she knew they were all Trouble’s bones. Mommhy began to laugh and laugh and laugh again, and Stormy woke up screaming. She took in great heaving breaths, looking around in confusion and terror before she realized where she was, where her babbehs were. The sun had risen, and the rain had stopped. The puddle of mud was in the burrow again, but the rain had washed away the worst of the blood. The little shards of bone remained. Stormy felt sick and left the burrow. She wanted…
No. She didn’t want to die yet. She had to find her babbehs, to apologize to them. Then, she would find her Mommy, and she would give Mommy her babbehs, and then she would die. Stormy realized that she didn’t deserve Mommy’s saferoom or love any more, but her babbehs did. She found the bit of rope that Trouble had begun to fray, and pinned it against the ground like she’d seen him do. She tore at it with her teeth, worrying away at the threads until they splintered and filled her mouth with fuzz. She spent most of the day doing that, until she’d gotten almost halfway through. She let herself have a brief moment of satisfaction at that. She ate some grass- not because she was hungry, but only to give her the strength to find her babbehs. She went to the cup of water- it was nearly full to the brim with clear, fresh rainwater. She thought about how Trouble had figured out how to fill it from the stream. She didn’t deserve to use this. She tipped it over, spilling the water into the earth. She would drink the mud. It was all that she deserved.
60 feet downwind, in the little forest of trees that bordered the suburbs, there was a purple unicorn stallion named Blackberry. Blackberry was horny and pissed off, an unpleasant combo. He’d gotten sorry-hoofsies from the herd’s smarty and his toughies, because he’d tried to enf the mares. “Nu enfies wite nao,” the elder had said as he’d given him a black eye, “it am tu cwowse tu cowd times fow babbehs.” Blackberry kicked the ground angrily- the sorry hoofsies had hurt, but not as bad as his pride did. Stupid smarty, what did he know? It was still plenty warm and- suddenly, on the breeze, he smelled it. A mare. He snuffled, taking in big breaths, tracking his way to the source. Eventually, he trailed the scent out of the trees (it made him a bit nervous- the trees provided cover from birds of prey) and sure enough, under a lone tree a little ways away, there was a mare laying down, chewing on something. Blackberry slicked his green mane back. He’d give this mare enfies and have the bestest good feels, and he wouldn’t even get in trouble for it! He trotted up to the mare. Stormy looked up when she’d heard hoofbeats- had her babbehs come back? She froze when she saw the stallion. Her body reacted on instinct from the last time she’d had special huggies, and she backed up, placing her rear against the trunk of the tree, preventing access. “H-hewwo nice fwuffy. Namesie am Stowmy.” Blackberry smiled, but it wasn’t a very nice smile. “Hewwo, fwuffy am Bwackbewwy.” He took a few steps closer, and she pressed her butt against the trunk. “Bwackbewwy give enfies to mawe.” Stormy shook her head, nervously pawing one hoof at the ground. “N-nu fank yu, nice stawwion. Stowmy nu wan enfies wite nao.” Blackberry took another couple of steps closer. “Dummeh mawe nu undastand. Bwackbewwy nu askin fow enfies.” Stormy swallowed thickly, trying to think. She couldn’t run away, she had to bargain. “C-can Bwackbewwy hewp Stowmy? Nee’ tu bite dis wope.” She showed him the rope, and how it was tied around the tree. Blackberry followed the line of it.
The smile on his face got bigger, but that didn’t make Stormy feel better. “Suwe. Fwuffy wiww bite wope fow mawe after enfies.” Stormy hesitated- but this was her best option. She swallowed, then sighed. She turned around and covered her eyes with her hooves. Unlike with Snowball, she could definitely tell that Blackberry was giving her enfies. He bit her shoulders and back, called her mean names, and slapped her flank, drunk on the power. She cried silently, thinking about her babbehs. It was worth it. It was worth it- she just had to survive long enough to find her babbehs. Eventually, he slammed into her a final time, crying out “GOOD FEEWS!” and dismounted. Stormy sniffled, uncovering her eyes and shakily standing up. “O-otay, n-nao Bwackbewwy bite wope-” but Blackberry just laughed. “Dummeh mawe! Why wouwd Bwackbewwy bite wope? If yu stuck hewe, Bwackbewwy can enf dummeh mawe whenebew he wan!” He laughed, trotting away happily as she sobbed. He was so smart- he would come back here every day and enf this mare, and he wouldn’t have to share her with the herd, or wait until the elder said it was okay to enf the mares. Stormy watched him go, disbelieving. He’d tricked her! He’d given her bad enfies and tricked her! On top of that, the warmth in her belly told her that he’d successfully knocked her up. She wanted to hate her tummy babbehs, but she remembered the smear of gore on the wall of the nest, and she promised she’d do better this time. Be better. She had to find her babbehs first, and her new babbehs would never know who their mean daddeh was. She attacked the fray with new vigor, her vision blurring through the tears.
She’d tried to bite all the way through the rope so that she would be gone by the time Blackberry came back the next day, staying awake much later into the night than she felt safe to- but to bite the part of the rope that was frayed, she couldn’t be in the burrow. She’d made it two thirds of the way through before she’d collapsed from exhaustion. She woke to the sound of hoofprints, and she jolted to her feet. Blackberry let out a low chuckle- unlike Stormy, he’d slept the night soundly, the pain in his special lumps gone, sound in the knowledge that he had an enfie mare of his very own for the next day. He’d trotted away from the herd as soon as he could- he’d made sure no one followed him- he didn’t want to share his prize. He was bright-eyed and bushy-tailed, and he trotted with a bouncy, jaunty step around the tree and into her line of sight. He wasn’t worried about her running now- she was stuck to the tree, and that meant he could play with her more. “Hewwo again, dummeh mawe. It am enfies time 'gain.” Stormy bolted- but Blackberry caught the rope, letting out a low chuckle that was muffled by the nylon. Stormy stumbled, the rope going taut- and then it snapped. The tension of it was too much, and the last little bit of fabric gave up the ghost, and Stormy was free. She took off as fast as she could, not bothering to stop and catch her breath. She had to get away. Blackberry took a moment to realize what had happened, buying Stormy precious moments to gain ground. He looked at the retreating form of his enfie mare, then let out an enraged bellow, dropping the rope and chasing after her. Stormy had a headstart and desperation, but he had raw muscle from living in the wild. He was gaining on her quickly, but they both failed to notice the shadow of what was overhead. Stormy wasn’t sure where she was running, but she knew she had to get away. She could feel Blackberry behind her now, hear his breaths as he easily caught up to her, felt him try to bite her tail- and suddenly he wasn’t there.
“SCREEEEEEEEEEE!” Blackberry shrieked as sharp red-hot pain seared through his sides as the red-tailed eagle swooped and grabbed the fluffy, its talons easily securing its meal. Blackberry had the bad luck of being a bright, attractive color, the kind that would have gotten him sold for a decent price at the shop, but in the wild, this was a detriment. The eagle, who had originally went for the movement below had been intending to get the smaller grey target- it was moving slower, but the purple target was bigger, brighter, and a better catch. The eagle was quite pleased with itself- its brood of chicks would eat well today! Blackberry, meanwhile, was shitting wildly, flailing with his hooves in a vain attempt to hit his abductor. “STUPID BIWDIE MONSTEW WET BWACKBEWWY GO!” His useless short legs were much too short to reach the magnificent bird, but the bird was feeling magnanimous today, and kindly obliged, dropping the little rapist bastard from 50 feet in the air. He landed with a wet, meaty thud on the banks of the small stream, and the eagle swooped down to pick up its catch again. It was much quieter now, only twitching, and so the eagle continued its journey home.
Meanwhile, Stormy was still sprinting for her life- she hadn’t even realized the bird was there, or that Blackberry was gone- panick drove her up onto the road and right into the path of an oncoming car. There was a bright white flash of pain across her back and leggies, and then everything went black.
The car stopped, and the huge hulking frame of a man heaved himself out of the car. He walked casually to the front of his car, looking at the twitching form of the little fluffy he’d hit. She’d been knocked out by the hit, but when he squatted down and poked her, she let out a muffled groan of pain. Her back legs were toast, twisted at odd, sickening angles, but they twitched when he touched them. He hadn’t broken her spine. He stood, and calmly went back to his car, turning on his hazards before opening the back door of his modest sedan and grabbing one of the cardboard boxes he used for groceries and went back to the fluffy, who was beginning to stir. She woke shrieking in pain as he scruffed her, placing her in the box without much care for her comfort. He placed her in the back seat of his car, got into the front seat, fastened his seatbelt, checked the mirrors, turned off his hazards, and continued his drive. He didn’t seem to mind her frenzied, pained shrieks and begging for help, acting as though he were simply listening to the radio.
Stormy’s world was abject pain- the boneshards in her leg ground against each other in excruciating torment, and she screamed and pleaded until her voice gave out, only pained wheezing escaping. She rubbed her tummy subconciously for comfort. She could still feel the little lives inside of her, furiously kicking. She took some small comfort in that. Even now, she deeply believed that babbehs really did make things better. She knew she had been a bad fluffy and a bad mummah, but she still loved her babbehs. She promised herself she would do better this time, if only her hurties would go away. Eventually, the pain became too much to bear again, and she passed out.
