Seth had been reveling in the simple joy that Cyclops took from her new toy. Laughing as she excitedly bobbed and dashed to and fro, fetching the worn rubber ball after he rolled it each time. Even though he thought that the average fluffy was rather dim-witted, Seth had to admit, he wished he enjoyed anything as much as Cyclops clearly loved that ball. If not for the abrupt hungered chirps of her foals, the excitable mare may have kept playing all day. Before Seth could even get her attention, Cyclops lightly gasped, looking to her squirming and peeping progeny.
“Babbehs?! Mummah comin’ hungwy babbehs!”
Trotting towards her foals, Cyclops picked up the skittish fluffies, lightly shushing them as she held them to her breasts to latch. With the chirping abated as they began to nurse, Cyclops looked up to Seth, her expression slightly sullen.
“Sowwy daddeh. Cy’cwops hab tu giv hungwy babbehs nummies nao. P’way mowe wen babbehs fuww?”
Leaning down, Seth lightly scruffed Cyclops’ mane, the mare cooing at his touch. “It’s ok girl. Daddy has some things to take care of anyway. You look after your foals and we’ll play ball again before bedtime, ok?” Clearly pleased, Cyclops smiled as Seth rose up to leave.
“Otay daddeh! Dat sown’d gud tu Cy’cwops. Cy’cwops see daddeh fow nite-nite time. Wuv yu daddeh!”
“And daddy loves you too…” Walking away, Seth could hear Cyclops begin to sing the mamma song to her foals as he crossed the safety gate. She really is a good mother, thought Seth. Maybe when he and Dale started selling fluffies together, she’d make a good nurse mare. Cyclops clearly cared deeply for her foals and knew how to care for them. And with the exception of being tricked into beating Kickball, she was gentle and patient. He might have to watch her during the beginning of the enterprise, but the concept made sense the more Seth pondered it.
Stepping ever closer to the kitchen on his way to his hobby room, Seth grinned as he could hear the light sobbing of the brown foal. It had found it’s way between the upright foal canisters, several small drops of blood dripping down the glass the poor foal had tried desperately to embrace. Now lying almost catatonically, the brown baby was quietly sobbing, laying on the countertop with his front hooves covering his head. Despite how young the foal was, he was still a fluffy and fluffies were incredibly social creatures, so from his perspective it was like being rejected by several others of his kind.
Deciding that the foal would be more lively later if he withheld food for now, Seth continued on to his hobby room. Walking past the workbench, with Raptor still unconscious from their last encounter, he leaned down and hefted his wooden creation upward, taking it outside his apartment, in the alley behind his building. Once outdoors, Seth placed his project against the dumpster. Tearing off some tape, he adhered the corners against the green metal bin, occasionally shaking it to insure it was stable. Content that it would stay upright, Seth returned inside, grabbing an old and worn garden hose, as well as his altered kiddie pool, carrying both back outside.
Affixing the hose to the spigot outside, Seth placed the pool just underneath the wooden platforms then turned on the water and filled it to the brim. Once finished, he leaned over and made sure the pool was properly lined up, shifting it slightly until he was satisfied. Taking a small, loose brick from the ground, Seth placed it gently onto one of the upper planks. Once Seth released it, the brick caused the plank to fall, the brick sliding to the next plank, knocking it down as well. It continued it’s path, all the way past the remaining planks until it slid into the kiddy pool, a smile creeping on Seth’s face as it did.
Seth spend the remaining hour before the kids arrived putting the finishing touches on his project. First he went to his closet and rifled through his fireworks bag until he found several packs of roman candles. Putting them aside, Seth then went to his hobby room, grabbing some of his more mundane abuse tools, as well as a few old blankets, taking them and the fireworks outside. Laying the blankets out, Seth arranged the varied implements atop them. Nodding at the placement, he then piled the bags containing the roman candles at the end of the blanket. Taking some twist ties, he ripped the sheet in half, stripping one half of the ties of their plastic coating. Seth wrapped a stripped tie around each tail, working the other side onto the positive prongs of the nearby nine-volt batteries. He then put the rest in his pocket, as he wouldn’t need them until he was ready for the foals.
Nearly done, Seth had only two things left to do. The first was a fun surprise for one of the lucky kids. Pushing aside the varied tools within his trunk, Seth smiled as he saw the old cardboard box in the corner. Lifting the small but heavy package, Seth grabbed an extension cord and took them outside. Placing the box separate from the tools, Seth then ran the extension from the outside socket. Taking a quick look at everything he had set up, Seth nodded approvingly. Taking out his phone, he saw that the kids would be arriving soon. A cruel smile growing on his face, Seth thought aloud. “Now time for the foals…”
Grabbing the foals within the canisters first, Seth took them outside, ignoring the still whimpering brown foal. Once next to the wooden racks, he began to work the canisters open one by one, as the foals began to chirp and screech from the catheters suddenly pulling out of them violently. Seth then took one of the red foals, an earthie filly with slight brown tufts on her underdeveloped tail, and put her onto a plank, the blind fluffy chirping and peeping in protest. Taking two ties from his pocket, one stripped and one coated, Seth then affixed the coated tie to the filly’s front hoof, the confused foal trying in vain to pull her nub away from the unseen danger. He then wrapped the other end to the nail, working the slack until her leg couldn’t move anywhere except down, directly onto the tie connecting the nail and the battery. Finally, Seth took a stripped tie and wrapped it around the same hoof and connected the other firmly to the negative prong of the nine-volt. He then released the foal, watching as it tried to lay down, only for it’s hoof to hit the makeshift wire between the nail and the battery, delivering a small but painful shock to the filly, her head pivoting madly as she was assaulted by the electric arc. After several shocks, each sending her into a bout of chirps as she stood up, her weak back nubs unable to hold her for long, the filly finally stopped trying to lay down, her still sealed eyes leaking tears as she forced herself to stay upright, even as her whole body quivered with exhaustion. Satisfied with the results, Seth disconnected the filly for the moment, placing her back in her canister as he went to get the brown foal.
Taking some of the milk mix and running the tap, Seth prepared a warm bottle of the cheap foal formula. Shaking it vigorously, he then looked to the scarred foal, the sullen creature still lying down and covering his face, whimpering softly. Taking his scruff between his thumb and forefinger, Seth lifted him upward with a sudden scream, the foal now shaking madly as he began to chirp loudly.
“*screeeeeee! *chirp…*chirp…hewp!..*chirp…*chirp…*chirp…nu mowe huw’tes…*chirp…*chirp…*chirp…”
Holding the bottle near the foal’s muzzle, his eye widened. Losing so much time to pain and despair, the brown foal hadn’t realized just how hungry he was until he could see the bottle, could smell the milk before him. No longer speaking, the hungry baby held it’s nubs outward as far as they could reach, peeping desperately. Wanting the foal well fed for what he had planned, Seth decided against any teasing and simply let the foal feed, the fluffy sucking on the nipple nonstop until the bottle was less than half empty. With the foal now satisfied, only chirping occasionally from being scruffed, Seth took him outside.
It was finally beginning to grow darker outside, as the sun began to set. Seth took the brown foal and placed him on the highest plank, chirping and peeping at how high he was as Seth lightly affixed him to the nail, not yet connecting him to the battery.
“”*screeeeeee!!! *chirp…*chirp…*chirp…ba’beh tu hi!..*screeeeeee!..*chirp…*chirp…*chirp…nu wike!..“”
Then, one by one, Seth placed the other six foals onto their planks, working a sealed tie around their hooves as well. He double checked that while the tie was firm enough to hold the fluffy in place, it wouldn’t support their weight should the plank go loose. Taking one last look to make sure everything was ready, Seth smiled. This would be fun.
It wasn’t long before the kids began to arrive, with Jerome and a couple of other teenagers showing up first, shortly followed by two more stragglers. They were all in their mid teens and Seth even recognized a couple of them besides Jerome from the bottle rocket game two years prior. Once all the teens were in the alley and Jerome confirmed to Seth that this was everyone, Seth smiled and walked in front of the foal planks and greeted his audience.
“Welcome! Now, I can already see some of you are chomping at the bit to get started, but first, for those who are new, a brief introduction and explanation. My name is Seth and this is this year’s game: Dunk the Foal. Just like last time, you pay to play with fireworks and fluffies. Just like last time, if you win, you get a fluffy to enjoy however you see fit. Unlike last time, winners can use some of my own tools I have assembled right here for your convenience…”
One of the kids that had arrived with Jerome, a taller blonde kid with a pale complexion spoke up, interrupting Seth’s speech. Slightly frowning, Seth looked to the teen, his arms crossed. “How much?” Jerome elbowed the pale blonde, clearly annoyed with his acquaintance. “Dude, don’t be an ass! I invited you because you wanted some fluffies to play with Nathan!”
Shaking his head slightly, Seth answered Nathan’s query. “It’s gonna be eight dollars. For each try.” This sent the small crowd into a slight tizzy, with all but Jerome looking annoyed.
“Eight dollars?!”
“Damn! That’s highway robbery!”
“Like hell I’ll pay that!”
Holding his hands up slightly, Seth gestured for them to settle. “I know the price seems quite high, but there are a few key points you may be missing here. One, is that I have to cover my expenses here. Two, you are paying for the opportunity to abuse the foals, not the fireworks. Three, I know for a fact that if any of you could get your hands on a fluffy yourself, you wouldn’t be here. Closest place that sells them is the Fluff-Mart nearly an hour away. And none of you are going to ask your folks to take you just so the fluffy can vanish the next day! You could try for a feral if you want to test your luck, and you want to explain to your parents why you came home covered in shit! Four, those of you who have dealt with me before know that when you make a transaction with me, you are all but guaranteed a good time!”
Waiting for the rabble to calm, Seth nodded as he saw the teens slowly come around, now quietly awaiting him to finish his earlier explanation. “Everyone good so far? Ok then! Now, the idea is simple, there are several newborn foals on these boards behind me. The planks they’re on are made to fall if they’re jostled too much. You will use these…” Seth picked up one of the bags filled with roman candles and held them in front of the group. “…To get the foals to move and shake enough to knock their plank loose. That means they slide down into the water, where I’ll scoop them up and dry them off. Once the next round starts, I’ll raise the plank below and any foals that hit the water will go down one rung. Once we’ve gone four rounds, any foals that hit the water from the lowest planks belong to whoever hit them the most with the fireworks. If no foal falls from the bottom at the end of the fourth round, then the foal that is the closest to the bottom goes to whoever hit it the most. With me so far?”
Most of the teens nodded, seeming to understand the concept. One kid, a shorter kid with brown hair raised his hand. “What about that Two-Face lookin’ fucker up there? Why is he higher up?”
Seth seemed slightly perplexed. “Two face? What do you mean? The burned one?” Seth pointed to the scarred foal, the fluffy chirping louder as it noticed all the attention on it.
“Yeah, that one. Looks like motherfuckin’ Two-Face! You know, from Bat-Man?”
Seth sighed. “I don’t read comics kid. And neither should you. But not a bad name for the poor little guy. Ok so to answer your question, Two-Face is the timer for the game. He’s a bit bigger and older than the other foals, but he can stand on his hind legs for far longer, which is really important.”
“How come?”
Walking over to the planks, Seth brought the nails and the batteries to the crowd’s attention. “If I just had the foals on here, the moment the fire started flying, they’d lay down and cover their faces. They’d be too hard to hit and they wouldn’t move enough to trigger the planks. Before each round, I wire the foals so that if they stop standing, they hit this wire and get shocked. Not much mind you, but they will stand up for as long as physically possible. Hit them enough, they try to get down. They try that, they get shocked. Repeat enough and they collapse from exhaustion, causing the plank to go loose. Now if Two-Face hits the water or you’re all out of ammo, that means round over, so try not to hit him too much…”
“What about those lil’ balloons? What are those for?”
Seth grinned. “Prizes! You hit one of those and it means that after the round is over, you get something special. In addition, the first one of you to win a foal tonight also gets a very special prize!”
“How you gonna keep track of who hits what? And how many times a shitrat gets hit?”
Pulling out his phone, Seth held it up high. “I’ll be recording every round. Regardless of who says what, I am the judge and final arbiter of what happens. Everyone got that?” Looking to each other and then to Seth, he was met with nodding and muttering approval, with nearly all of the teens wearing a wicked grin.
“Excellent! Now if there are no further questions, then line up and we’ll get started.” Walking up to Seth in single file, each kid handed over eight dollars and was handed a roman candle in exchange. When Jerome made it to Seth, he only winked subtly to the kid, only taking four dollars from him. Once they each had a firework, Seth walked them over to the edge of the blanket. “You’ll shoot from here. Now when it comes to fluffies and fireworks, nothing is a coincidence. I bought these specifically for this purpose. Once you light it, you’ll hear a whistling sound before it starts to fire. Each candle has fifteen shots, so make them count! If you find it hard to count and aim, then remember that the fireballs change color, with the color turning green when it’s almost spent.”
Walking up to the foal planks, Seth looked to the eager kids, each one flicking their lighters excitedly. "Ready? " Seth quickly placed the stripped ties on each foal, causing them to peep and chirp as their rest was disturbed by painful shocks, with Two-Face screaming as he continuously hit the wire.
“*screeeeeee!!!..*chirp…*chirp…nuuuuuuu!!!..*chirp…*chirp…*screeeeeee!..”
“And go!” Seth lifted his phone, angling the shot so that both the excited teens and the foal board were in plain view. As the lighters ignited the wicks, a cacophony of hissing filled the air as orange sparks counted down the foal’s last moments before the first barrage. Several candles whistled nearly in tandem, sending the already terrified foals into a further panic. Two-Face, who had finally righted himself upward looked towards the sparks as they died out, the whistling making him try in vain to cover his face, his left nub firmly affixed to the nail.
“*screeeeeee!!!..nuuuuuuu!!! *chirp…*chirp…hewp ba’beh!..*chirp…*chirp…nu wan…”
Then the barrage came. Several went off nearly at the same time, coming close to the foals who could smell the black powder and feel the heat as the embers died inches away from them, the foals squirming nervously as they instinctively hunkered lower, only to receive a punishing zap for their troubles. But Two-Face could see the whizzing spheres of flame, gargantuan from his perspective, as they volleyed in an arc, bursting against the wood and cardboard, his good eye wide with frenzied panic. Now trying to pull himself free, Two-Face tugged at the tie in vain as he screamed for mercy.
“*screeeeeee!!! *nuuuuuuu!!! hewp ba’beh!!! sab’ ba’beh!!! *screeeeeee!!!”
While many of the brilliantly colored bursts missed, some found their mark, with one of the red foals getting winged twice before a third fireball hit him dead center, the foal shaking wildly as it’s light fluff began to smoke, his mouth open in a pained, silent scream. His board went loose as he slid and tumbled down the board and splashed into the water, flailing wildly. The final embers now spent, Seth ran over and scooped up the foal, drying him off lightly before unhooking the batteries and putting the red foal on a lower plank. As he unhooked Two-Face, the foal put his free nub on his hand sobbing as his ruined face met Seth’s.
“…*chirp…*chirp…nu mowe…*chirp…*chirp…*chirp…p’we!..*chirp…*chirp…”
Letting the façade fall, Seth glared at Two-Face, his expression a mirthless enigma. “No. You are going to die tonight. And tomorrow, no-one will care you’re gone…” Two-Face began to sob deeply, the young foal now understanding a brutal truth it was far too young for. Turning to the teens, the group chatting and giddy about the game, Seth spoke. “Not bad guys, not bad. But only one foal downed?! Only one! I know you guys can do better! Don’t lose focus when the fire’s flying! Pick a target, and focus on it! Remember, these things arc, they don’t fly straight! Now line up and we’ll start round two.”
As the excited kids lined up again, now far more eager, the foals ,who had been quietly chirping before the start of the first round, were now loud and panicking, their cheeps desperate as they raised their heads high, trying to let their mammas or other fluffies know they were in extreme distress. Some had fluff that had been too close to where a burst had hit, while others could smell the sulphur and burnt fluff in the air. Down on the second board, the red foal had began to cry, it’s chest hurting badly, not only from the ball of fire, but from the hard impact of the water.
Two-Face was quietly sobbing again, the occasional chirp and cheep coming from the sullen foal. He watched the monsters smile. He heard them laugh. And when he saw them occasionally glance towards him and the other foals, Two-Face knew…
He knew that they wanted him to die…
