Choppers brood and Violet watched as the ramp from the van deployed. The smell struck the cannibals harder thanks to their enhanced senses than it did the puffy griffin, although even she cringed in disgust.
Fluffys were renowned for many things, bowel control was definitely not one of them.
Within moments of the gate opening, a surge of about thirty or more fluffies made a mad dash for the pen at once, like a horrible rainbow landslide going down the ramp. A couple fluffies fell off the ramp, although most of them were fine, if a little banged up.
One of them landed on their head with an audible CRACK and simply lay beside the ramp, twitching lightly, unit it voided its bowels and stopped moving. Violet ran her talons across her face⌠this is going to be a long night.
She waited until most of the fluffies were out of the van before attempting to address them. It went about as well as sheâd expected, with most of the fluffies either ignoring her, unable to hear her or responding to her presence with remarks of âscawyâ or âwingy munstahâ.
She paused briefly, looking over the herd before deeply inhaling, raising her wings to silhouette her head in an intimidation display and letting out a primal scream churned from the bowels of her chimeric DNA.
âSCREE-EEE-EECH!â
The heard all stopped talking, with the exception of the loud peeping and distressed chirping from a small foal cage in the back of the van which grew louder but was far enough back to be little more than an annoyance.
She also heard the telltale sounds of bowels emptying from deeper in the crowd.
âALRIGHT SCHEISSERATTEN! LISTEN UP!â
Violet shouted, quietly nodding to the three cannibals as a silent instruction to blend into the herd while she was distracting them, before beginning to strut in front of the assembled mass of fluffies
âYou will be spending the night in this pen, in the courteous care of my Vater, who expects all of you to behave yourselves!â
She thrust her talon toward a large patch of barren dirt near the far edge of the pen, sitting on a slight slope with open bars leading down the incline into a rain ditch.
âIf you must relieve yourselves, do it there. That will be your litterbox.â
She then thrust a talon toward the series of feeders and the shallow fountain near the house.
âYou will eat und drink there, there is plenty for everyone. If any of the feeders run out, call for Violet and I will refill them.â
Finally, she placed an open talon over her breast and addressed the herd.
âYou have toys. You have nesting materials. If you have need of anything you have but to ask und it will be provided. There do not come free of charge. There are rules that must be obeyed.â
Her eyes narrowed.
âFirst rule, you do not âmake poopiesâ anywhere other than the litter area.â
She instructed, visibly cringing at her own usage of fluffy speak before continuing.
âSecond rule, you do not hurt the other fluffies under any circumstance. Final, und most important rule; If I tell you to do something, you do it.â
âI am the âsmartyâ for this evening and you will listen to me. If you break any of these rules, you will be punished.â
âAny questions?â
A yellow and brown earthy waddled to the front of the crowd, flanked on either side by a slightly larger blue toughie and a red unicorn of similar build.
The yellow one puffed out his cheeks and stomped his hooves, while the other two added to his display of authority by stomping their hooves. The yellow smarty spoke will all the authority his position implied behind his words.
âDummeh wingy munstah! Smawty am smawty! Nu wisten tu dummeh munstah, hewd du wah hewd wan! Dummeh munstah wisten tu Smawty nao! Gib sketties fow bestest smawty an hewd!â
A few cried of agreement went up from deeper into the herd, not many, but a few. Violet looked over the herd, making mental notes on the ones she could see agreeing with the yellow smarty. She nodded and stepped forward.
âThis one is breaking the third, und most important, rule. I mentioned earlier that there would be punishment for disobedience, so I ask again.â
She walked right up to the little yellow pony, glaring him dead in the eye. To its credit, the little rat didnât blink as she approached him, despite the griffin towering over him in sheer size alone. Suicidal overconfidence indeed.
âWho is the âsmartyâ here?â
âSmawty am smawty! Stoopi wingy munstah wisten tu Smawty! Ow ewse get sowwy poopieEEEE-â
Violet grabbed the yellow smarty in both talons and took off in a standing leap, kicking up a massive cloud of dust and spraying the two would be toughies with shit as the yellow smarty panicked in her grasp and sprayed sorry poopies out behind him as they went airborne.
Her powerful wings carried her higher and higher in the air, until she stopped and began to hover about forty odd feet above the pen.
âWet gu smawty, dummeh! Nu wan fwy! WET SMAWTY GU!â
The smarty shrieked loudly, thumping his front nubs ineffectively against Violets breast, and obviously not realising the poor choice of words.
She gave a very cat like grin as she looked in the smarties terror-stricken eyes.
âAs you wish.â She replied, letting him drop from her talons.
The smarty screamed as he fell, drawing the attention of the herd, who all watched in horror as the smarty dropped like a stone and impacted the ground in the drainage culvert just outside of the âlitter spotâ.
He hit like an overripe melon dropped out of an airplane, exploding into a puff of gore and soft bones just out of immediate eyesight of the herd.
Most of the fluffies let out exclaims of terrified shock, although she did hear some slightly frantic giggling from a suspiciously large pink mare in the herd.
Violet turned downward into a dive, coming to rest just in front of the now terrified former toughies of the yellow smarty.
As the herd slowly regarded her, she looked back out on the massed fluffies and in a much louder a more authoritative voice addressed them.
âWHO IS THE SMARTY OF THIS HERD?!â
It took a moment, but a chorus of replies of âwingy munstahâ and âViowetâ started to emerge from the crowd, along with a bunch of wordless âhuu-huusâ that made her confident that her point had been effectively made.
âWunderbarâŚâ
âEverybody, find a spot to nest. I will retrieve your foals in a moment order so you may feed them und return them to your nest.â
The fuffies slowly scattered and formed into smaller groups, some sorting by color, others by old herd affiliations from before being captured, but all of them regarded their new âsmartyâ with a mixture of dread and caution the ferals did not have before.
-=-
Spike broke from the larger herd and made his way up the ramp into the back of the van, reaching the top and taking in the sight of the disgusting mess in the back.
The back of the van had was divvied up into three sections; a cramped âbottom penâ for the adults and two smaller hanging pens suspended from the roof for the chirpies and alicorns respectively.
The bottom of the van looked like a sewage line had burst, piss and shit strewn across the floor most of it half mushed by the stomping hooves of over around dozen fluffies packed into the back like a sardine can.
As Spike looked around the back, quickly realizing that he wasnât alone back here. He saw a blue and grey pegasus cuddling a spotty dark brown earthy mare who was sobbing while sitting under the chirpy cage.
âHu am yu? Wai am yu stiww back hewe, yu nu weave wif hewd?â
The blue pegasus looked up at Spike, taking in the sight of the large spiral eyed fluffy and hugged his special friend a little bit tighter.
âHoomin take Wivew babbehs an put dem in not sowwy boxies.â The blue pegasus replied pointing to the two cages with his right nub.
âWivew and Mud nu weave wif out babbehs⌠Tu widdwe, nee mummah and daddeh.â
âHuu⌠huuâŚâ
Spike nodded. That was a sentiment he understood.
He walked over to the two ferals, River and Mud cringing back as the unfamiliar stallion approached them.
He sniffed the both of them up close, careful to not overwhelm his senses with the ambient smell of fluffy excrement around them.
Once he had their scent, he walked over to the cage containing the chirpies and stood up on his haunches to reach the release on the clamps holding the cage.
He popped the clamps and carefully unslotted the cage, using his front hooves to guide the cage down to the floor, eliciting a bunch of distressed chirping from inside.
As Spike looked over the chipies he lowered his head and sniffed the lot of them, managing to pick out of the wriggling chirping mass two fluffies that smelled very strongly of the brown fluffy Mud and very lightly of her special friend.
He pulled open the top of the cage, reaching in with one of his front hooves and gently pulled out both of the babies, a light brown earthy filly and a faded blue-grey unicorn, placing them on his back and walking over to the pair.
âTake babbehs.â
Spike squatted down and gestured to his back. The ferals looked to each other before quickly snatching their babies off of Spikes back and cuddling them close to their fluff, the mare Mud making joyful cooing sounds and shedding tears of joy as she did.
He stood up to leave, when he felt a light tugging on this fluff. He looked over to see River tapping him on the side with his hoof.
âTank yu nyu fwiend! Gween fwuffy am gud smawty-swiend! Nyu fwiend hewp Wivew get wast babbeh?â
âWast babbeh? Yu nu hab uddah babbehs in dewe.â
âWivew wast babbeh in dewe.â
River pointed to the other cage, the alicorn cage. Spike looked to River and blinked. Thatâs, uncommonâŚ
âYu wast babbeh am wingy-pointy?â
âYus!â
âAn yu wub wingy-pointy babbeh?â
âWivew wub aww Wivews babbehs!â
Spike pondered for a moment. He had been given a very specific mission from Duncan for the night, and he was originally intended to do it alone. That being saidâŚ
âSpike gib wingy-pointy babbeh back tu Wivew. Buh Wibew an Mud nee du sumting fow Spike.â
River looked at Spike, before looking back at the cage that held his last baby.
âWah Spike wan Wivew tu du?â
âSpike am take cawe of wingy-pointys fow tu-nite. Spike nu dewe uddah wingy babbehs in dewe. Nee mummah, nee miwkies⌠Nee wub.â
âSpike wan Wivew be Spikes toughie tu-night and wan Mud tu be mummah tu aww wingy-pointys.â
River and Mud stared at Spike, trying to process what the big fluffy was asking them to do. It was Mud who spoke first.
âSpike⌠Spike wan Mud and Wivew tu be in hewd⌠Wan Mud tu be mummah to aww wingy-pointys?â
âYus.â
Mud smiled sweetly and clapped her hooves together in joy. River nodded and stood up proudly before Spike.
âYus! Yus! Mud wub babbehs, mud be mummah fow aww hewd babbehs!â
âWivew be gud toughie fow smawty-fwiend Spike! Be gud daddeh fow wingy-pointys!â
Spike nodded as he looked at the two ferals before standing up to unhook the wingy pointy cage, bringing the cage down to his level.
He looked inside seeing four alicorns; two somewhat distressed chirpies, one sea green and one reddish orange, both clinging to a splotchy green filly with a faded yellow mane and one white weanling with the beginnings of a light blue mane who regarded him with cautious fear.
Spike reached down and found the cage pins holding the top of the cage in place, flicking them out of their hinges and removing the top. The filly backed cautiously gripped the two chirpies to herself and the white colt backed up to the back of the cage.
âN-nu hewt wingy-pointy babbehs pwease! Am tu widdwe fow hewties!â
Spike huffed at the insinuation, but understood the green fillyâs apprehension.
Wild alicorns rarely lived long enough to reach her age without living through some truly miserable things.
Moreover, in his experience, Alicorns were the only one who could tell that there was something⌠not fluffy like about himself and the others in his brood.
He pulled the side release and opened up the cage, turning to River who stood beside him.
âWhich one am youws?â
River looked in the cage and pointed to the sea green chirpy.
âDa wun! Am Wivew Babbeh!â
Spike looked to the splotchy green filly, after a moment, she released her grip on the little chirpy who began to slowly wiggle its way toward the familiar smell of its father before River picked it up and began to stroke its mane.
âFowwow Spike.â
He returned as he turned away from the back of the van, just in time to see Violet grab the chirpy cage and fly off toward the center of the pen where a number of mommas had gathered to retrieve their babies.
Spike heard the sound of River and Mud following behind him, turning back to look at the three remaining alicorns and gesturing with his head when he saw that they werenât following him.
After a brief pause, he heard the sound of two small sets of footsteps following after him.
and goes splat! 
