Two chapter in two days. It’s like I’m in high school again.
Scarlett couldn’t sleep that night. She was too giddy from the day’s excitement.
Part of her knew she was being too reckless, that killing Beetroot in broad daylight was asking for trouble, that so many things could’ve gone wrong, she could’ve misjudged the angle of the branch, one of the other Fluffies could’ve turned their heads a moment sooner and caught her. So many variables working against her…
And yet none of them did, she killed one of the herd’s own Toughies right in the middle of their den and got away with it. She couldn’t help but enjoy the electrical adrenaline pulsing through her body, wondering if her father would approve of her sneaky approach.
As she lay under a tree, resting but not sleeping, Scarlett heard a noise, movement from the perimeter. She guarded herself for just a moment before realising that Rolo the nummie finder was on patrol and it was likely just him.
After a second she heard his voice, but then she heard a second voice respond to him.
“Huwwy Owive, Wowo nu wan Smawty see Fwuffies weavin.”
“Huu, am sowwy Wowo, bu mummah nu wan wakies wastesh babbeh, nu wan munstah find Fwuffies.”
“It ok, Wowo nu wet aneefing happen tu Owive ow babbeh, gun be safe togetha, gun be famiwy.”
Scarlett was intrigued, Rolo and Olive hadn’t spent that much time together, but she reasoned that Rolo was offering protection to the only mare still stable enough to walk in exchange for companionship, maybe even a family of his own. It made Scarlett a little uncomfortable, considering the situation Rolo was putting Olive into, but she seemed to be agreeing to the conditions, so long as her and her last baby were safe.
Besides, it meant one less corpse for Scarlett to have to deal with.
When morning came, so did the fury.
“DUMMEH WOWO, YU DAWE WEAVE BESTESH SMAWTY WAND AN TAKE MAWE WIV YU? SMAWTY GUN FIND YU, BWEAK YUW WEGGIES, WIP OFF YUW NU-NU STICK AN SHOVE IT UPP YUW FUKIN POOPIE PWACE!”
Forrest yelled out into the void, cursing out Rolo for abandoning the herd, or maybe he was more angry for losing one of his mares, Scarlett wasn’t sure. Either way, the dumbass Smarty was furious.
“DEWE AM NU MUNSTAH, SMAWTY SAY SU! NU-WUN EWSE WEAVE HEWD OW SMAWTY FIND YU AN GIB YU AWW FOWEBA SWEEPIES!”
It was clear that nobody believed him, Winton and Fing both knew better by now, Queenie was still seething about her lost bestesh babbeh, and the heavily pregnant Lollipop she hoped that the monster would kill her quickly, wailing no matter how many times Pickle tried to calm her down.
Scarlett wasn’t scared of course, but that was for obvious reasons.
Forrest turned to face Winston and Fing, slobber dangling from his permenant scowl.
“Wins-ten, Fing, find Wowo an Owive, bwing dem bak hewe su Smawty can teech dem wesson.”
Winston immediately shook his head. “Nu Smawty, dat am bad finkie-pwace pwan. Hewd need aww stawwions hewe tu pwotect udda Fwuffies.”
“YU NU FINK SMAWTY CAN PWOTECT HEWD? Smawty am bestesh Smawty, nu munstah ow dummeh Fwuffy gun stop dat.”
“Wins-ten knyo Smawty, bu hewd am tuu smaww nyo, nu hab enuff Fwuffies tu chase wun-ways. Wet Wowo gu, he hab soon-mummah an wittew babbeh tu wook afta, he nu gu tuu faw befowe bawkie-munstah git him.”
Forrest glared at Winston for several seconds, before turning away and grumbling. He knew Winston was right, but he wasn’t going to admit it.
“Fing, come wiv Smawty, yu neba weave Smawty side nyo fow aneefing.”
Fing nodded and followed Forrest back to the cave, his hulking form thundering the ground beneath Winston’s feet as he left. Winston waited until they were far enough away before letting out a long breath, he could tell Forrest was terrified but he daren’t bring it up for fear of retribution.
Right now it was hard to say which frightened him more, facing a monster, or facing an angry Smarty.
If things were tense outside the cave, they were no better inside.
Queenie might have still been upset about losing her bestesh babbeh, but she was distracting herself with Strong and Pretty, her two new favoured foals who spent their time suckling away at her milkies. Both were upset that Queenie didn’t allow them to leave the cave anymore to take milkies from the other mares, but they were content in the warm comfort of their mother’s hugs.
Only Dummeh remained upset by the new order, what right did her stupid wingie sister and no pointy brother have to take her rightful place as the favourite child? Her daddy was a pointy Fluffy and he was the Smarty, her brother was a pointy Fluffy and he was the bestesh, obviously her also being a pointy Fluffy should make her the obvious choice for being the next bestesh babbeh.
But NOOOOOOO, her stupid dummy mummah refused to admit the truth, that Dummeh was a better babbeh then her stupid pointy brother, she at least wasn’t dummy enough to wander off and get lost.
Her stomach gurgling took her out of her angry thoughts, reluctantly Dummeh trudged over to Queenie, refusing to look her mother in the eye.
“Mummah, bestesh babbeh hab tummeh-hungwies, wan miwkies.”
Queenie scowled at Dummeh. “Nu caww yuwsewf bestesh babbeh, onwy dummeh babbehs du dat. An mummah nu hab miwkies fow dummeh babbehs.”
“NNNNGGGHHHH, YU AM WOWSTESH MUMMAH! NU WAN BE BESTESH BABBEH NU MOWE, MUMMAH TUU DUMMEH TU KNYO WHA BESTESH BABBEH AM WIKE!”
“Mummah nu wub dummeh babbeh nu mowe, yu nu hab miwkies, yu onwy hab poopies nyo!”
“MUMMAH NUM POOPIES!”
Dummeh stormed out of the cave, not really knowing where she was going, just so long as it was far away from her stupid mother and ugly dummy siblings. Why was her mother so being so mean, why couldn’t she just accept Dummeh’s place as the bestesh babbeh?
After running for longer than a babbeh should run for, Dummeh collapsed to the ground and cried, cried out of anger, out of fear, but mostly she cried because her mother was truly and unquestionable an idiot.
“Hewwo babbeh.”
Dummeh jumped and turned towards the noise, she saw Scarlett walking towards her, a coy smile on her face.
“Wha yu wan?” Dummeh spat at the mare.
“Babbeh hab sad-wawas, Scawwett jus wan knyo if babbeh am ok.”
“Babbeh am fine, gu way.”
Scarlett ignored Dummeh’s demands and lay down next to the filly. “Tawkies tu Scawwett, wha wong?”
Dummeh fumed but her angry act soon dissolved and she let loose all of her frustrations.
“Mummah wose bestesh babbeh bwudda, nu knyo whewe he am bu he gun. Su babbeh fink dat cos bwudda an babbeh am bov pointy-Fwuffies, dat mean babbeh an bestesh babbeh nyo. Bu mummah am su dummeh, nu wan nyu bestesh babbeh, caww babbeh wowstesh meanie namesies, wha mummah caww own babbeh Dummeh. Mummah gib dummeh fat-ee bwudda an ugwy sissie aww da miwkies, say dat babbeh num poopies cos mummah ne see dat babbeh am bestesh babbeh.”
Scarlett’s grin grew as Dummeh recalled her tale, her initial plan was to lead Dummeh away and eat her up, but now she had a much more interesting plan in mind.
“Dat am su meanie babbeh, yuw mummah sound wike Scawwett’s mummah, she dummeh tuu, caww Shy-nee sissie Bestesh babbeh jus cos she shy-nee, eben doh Scawwett am smawta, stwonga an pwettia dan dummeh sissie. Bu Scawwett knyo wha du, teech mummah wesson.”
“Wha Scawwett du?”
Scarlett looked around, partly to make sure nobody was listening, but mostly for the show of revealing a big secret. She leaned into Dummeh’s ear and whispered.
“Scawwett gib Shy-nee sissie foweba sweepies.”
Dummeh gasped. “Dat am howwibew, dat am meanie fing tu du.”
“Am it? Scawwett git wid of Shy-nee sissie, mummah weawise dat Scawwett weawwy am bestesh babbeh, wan say sowwy tu Scawwett, bu Scawwett nu wet hew, wun way fwom homesie cos mummah am tuu dummeh tu be gud mummah. Bu she neba fowgit dat hew bestesh babbeh gu foweba sweepies su ee-see-wy.”
As Scarlett’s words circled around Dummeh’s head, a voice from behind them caught their attention.
“Dummeh? Dummeh yu hewe?”
The two Fluffies turned round to see Winston heading towards them, clearly having been sent to retrieve Dummeh by her parents. Scarlett stood up and waved him over.
“Hewe, Scawwett find babbeh oba hewe.”
Winston jogged over to them, Scarlett noted the suspicious look in his eyes. “Wha Scawwett an babbeh duin hewe?”
“Scawwett jus wookin wound fow pwetty fwowas, babbeh wun hewe wiv sad-wawas, Scawwett wna see if babbeh am ok.”
Winston eyes Scarlett suspiciously, he was smart for a Fluffy, and he could recognise that things had only changed since she arrived. But even smart for a Fluffy wasn’t smart enough to understand what it all meant. His gut was telling his brain but his brain didn’t know what to make of it all.
Ignoring his own instincts, Winston looked down at Dummeh. “Come bak nyo Dummeh, mummah an daddeh hab wowwies.”
Dummeh huffed. “Mummah nu cawe, mummah hate babbeh.”
“Dat nu twue, nyo come hewe.”
Winston pushed Dummeh forward and forced her back towards home, Dummeh took one final look back at Scarlett before turning back for home, the red mare’s words still spinning in her head.
Back at the caves, Forrest furiously berated his daughter.
“Wha Dummeh fink duin?”
“Babbeh onwy…”
“NU CAWE! Yuw bwudda am gun missin an yu wun way? Yu weawwy am dummah babbeh, gib mummah an daddeh wowstesh heawt-huwties.”
“Mummah nu wub babbeh, mummah caww babbeh Dummeh, say can num poopies.”
“Maybe mummah wight.”
And with that, Forrest kicked the dirt around Dummeh and stormed off, taking Fing and Winston to check the perimeter. Dummeh fumed at her father’s actions, he too was as stupid as her mother, if neither of them were willing to recognise her greatness, then Dummeh would prove it to them.
Dummeh looked into the caves, seeing her sister Pretty resting on a patch of grass, lazily knocking a small stone between her fat hoofs. And her mind was set.
Pretty looked up, seeing her sister storming towards her. Unaware of the violent hatred in Dummeh’s heart, she blissfully waved at her sister.
“Hewwo Dummeh, yu wan pway wiv wockie tuu, Pwetty an Dummeh can…”
SMACK
Dummeh punched Pretty hard in the face, her head flew backwards and cracked against the cave wall, Pretty wasn’t dead, but she was scared and confused by everything that was happening.
“Wa… wai sissy gib hu… huwties?”
“YU NU AM PWETTY BABBEH, YU AM DUMMEH UGWY BABBEH!”
Before anyone could stop her, Dummeh punched her sister again, this time the force knocked Pretty’s head even harder against the cave wall, cracking open her skull and killing her instantly.
With blood-stains on her hoofs and a demented smile on her face, Dummeh turned to her horrified mother and screamed at her.
“AM BESTESH BABBEH, DUMMEH SISSY AM FOWEBA SWEEPIES NYO! BABBEH AM BESTESH, PWETTIESH BABBEH NYO!”
“BABBEH NU!” Queenie cried out and rushed over, pushing Dummeh to the side to try and rescue Pretty, but the more Queenie tried to lift Pretty up for huggies, the more of her brains leaked out of the back of her head.
“NUUUUUHHUUUUUHUUUUUU!!! BABBEH AM FOWEBA SWEEPIES!”
Dummeh was aghast, how was her mother this STUPID to still put all of her attention onto her dead sister and not her.
“MUMMAH AM DUMMEH, NU CAWE BOUT SISSY, BESTESH BABBEH AM WIGHT HEWE!”
Queenie’s head snapped towards Dummeh, and immediately the young filly shit herself from fear, the look in her mother’s eyes was not one of regret, or acceptance or love. It was pure, straight-up, hatred.
“Yu gib babbeh foweba sweepies, yu gib own sissy foweba sweepies. Yu nu am wowstesh babbeh, yu am MUNSTAH babbeh.”
Dummeh backed up, trying to escape her mother’s fury, but she soon hit the cave wall and was trapped. This wasn’t right, this wasn’t how it was supposed to go, why wasn’t her mother showering her with love and hugs and milk, apologising for being so wrong.
Unless… Dummeh had been wrong this whole time.
The filly didn’t have long to consider this possibility though, she only had enough time to look up and see Queenie’s hoof come stomping down onto her fragile skull, before everything went to black.
Having heard the commotion, Forrest came running back to the cave, arriving too late, only able to see Queenie curled up into a ball, gripping onto their last and only babbeh, with the two smashed corpses of their daughters on either side of her.
With the rest of the herd, what little remained of it, watching everything unfold from the distance, Scarlett stood at the back, enjoying the show and revelling in how easy it had been to destroy this herd. She looked at who she had left to take care of, the mares would be easy targets, but something was keeping her from following through on hurting them for some reason.
Ignoring that strange unease in her stomach, Scarlett turned her attentions to the last two Stallions. Fing she had plans for, but she needed to take him alone to stand any chance against him, which meant her next target was Winston, a challenge, but one she was willing to take on.
Even – as her eyes reluctantly looked over towards Pickle – if it meant asking for help.
