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Cupcake had once had five beautiful foals, though she was now down to three. They weren’t looking so pretty now, either. The blue male her owner had named Wimpy had a long, healing wound looping his throat. Other healing scratches, burns, and abrasions were apparent though one only had to look at his throat to see that’s where the most damage had been done. Daddeh had taken away his talky-place and now he was just a dummeh who didn’t say anything.
A purple female named Royal didn’t have see-places anymore. Daddeh had poured bad wawa on them and they had burned away. Ever since then, she’d been huddled up against her mummah and had only wanted to drink miwkies and be sang to. It hurt and there was nothing much anyone could do about it.
Lastly, there was a fat yellow butterball of a male who seemed largely alright. Yet he too had received a punishment from daddeh: A needle in both eardrums made sure he would never hear again. There was no hearing the mummah song for him ever again, or that he was loved. His name was Waffle but he’d never know that: They received their names after the punishments.
“Wewe am babbehs, dummeh?” Cupcake questioned Wimpy. He knew where his brother and sister were but of course couldn’t communicate it. Lowering his head, the foal tried to whimper but could only gurgle in response.
“Wan bwuddah ‘n sissy. Wub.” Whined Royal from her place at their mummah’s teats. They could eat solid food now but it didn’t stop her from drinking miwkies all day. It was comforting maybe.
“HEWWO.” Waffle interrupted, slamming into a conversation he couldn’t participate in. His voice was always loud and sounded strange, too.
His other brother and sister were fowebbah sweepies. Munstah daddeh had said they were going to play a fun game, but it wasn’t fun at all. Wimpy knew this as he was the only one to get out of it. It had been horrible, and now it was over.
Not that Cupcake cared. All the mare wanted was her other babbehs. With a knock of her hoof, Wimpy went back on his bottom and looked up to her with watery eyes. Didn’t she love him? He didn’t hurt them. He missed them!
“BWUDDAH!” Waffle, not knowing what was going on, hugged up on his fallen brother and snugged closely. Snorting with frustration, Cupcake gave him a sorry-hoofsie too. It didn’t hurt but he went down with a squawk.
“Yew am boff dummehs! Dummeh dummehs! Dat am wry daddeh gib yew meanies!” Their mummah stuck her tongue out at them. At least Royal was saved from retribution: She worriedly suckled at the teat in front of her and tried ignoring what was going on to the best of her ability.
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It was maybe a week after the ‘game’ which munstah daddeh had subjected Wimpy and his other siblings to. Not long at all for a human but perhaps a lifetime.
“BAWW?” Waffle queried to Royal who whined and snuffled closer to Cupcake. Instead Wimpy came up and they decided to chase after the bright red ball together, one-sided giggling ensuing.
Just then a shadow loomed over them. Their ‘saferoom’ was really just a small corner of a room barricade with a few baby-gates with room enough to do a bit of running, contain a litterbox, and their food & water bowls.
Oh. Oh no. Munstah daddeh. His name was Trevor. A young man who was both tall and skinny, with a vaguely ratlike face, not helped by the fact that his teeth always stuck out on account of his mouth always being slightly open.
“Heeelllloooo shitlords! Awh, why the long face, Wimpy?” Leaning down, he curled his middle finger back and shot it forward in a savage flick against the blue foal’s face. Wrenching back, the babbeh got as far back to a corner of the gated area.
Cupcake and the two other babbehs didn’t even think daddeh was a munstah even if he had given huwties. Waffle even hugged up against his hand after he’d leaned in to bother them. “Ew, get offa me you little faggot.” Shaking the fluffy off, he went back in for Wimpy and held him by the nape of his neck.
“Good news, gang! We’re going to play a game again today.” None of this was for Waffle’s benefit of course. The little idiot stared up to his owner with a dumbfounded expression but Royal waggled her back weggies around.
“Am spechaw babbeh naow. Nu wan gamesies. Omwy wan mummah.” Hugging up against Cupcake defensively, she’d soon find out that it didn’t matter in the slightest what she desired. Swooping in and plucking Royal away from her mummah, the foal began to peep and flail around uselessly.
Cupcake stood up with worry on her face. “That am spechaw babbeh an’ bestest. Be cawefuw wiff wittew spechaw babbeh!” She pleaded, and Trevor gave a roll of his eyes after collecting Waffle too.
“All little foals are made equal in…The Gauntlet.”
Wimpy pissed himself in fear, dripping pitifully onto the floor. Not again. Please no.
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The Gauntlet. It was what Wimpy had gone through before though it had been modified since last time. Bringing the fluffies out into the backyard, Trevor placed each neatly into one of three rows. It was a long and looping thing which was isolated from the outside world by tall plywood walls. The fluffies weren’t separated from one another on the inside, however.
Wimpy frantically knocked his hooves against a slat of plywood inside the maze. No! Anything but this! NOT AGAIN! Waffle looked over to his brother, giving a dopey smile.
“BWUDDAH, WAT FWUFFYS DOIN’? IT NYU FING!” His shouting caused Royal to peep and cheep uselessly, nosing against the grass underneath of her first and then poking over to the wall. None of this was mummah and it made her feel lonely and desperate.
Trevor stood over the group of foals, grinning down at them.
“You know the rules already, Trevor. Better start running…or else.” Wimpy was smack-dab in the middle of the two others and that was intentional. Why, they’d need all the help they could get from the big brother to even hope for surviving the gauntlet. There were lots of fun things waiting around every nook and cranny today.
Just to indicate what they should be doing, Trevor grabbed a gun shaped stick with a nail tied to one end. Jabbing it at Waffle and Royal, both squealed with pain and began running along their tracks. Royal kept bumping into the wall, and Wimpy leaned over to gently pull her so that she was centered.
Cawefuw. That’s what he wanted to say. They had to be careful and keep running. If they weren’t, it was booboos of the worst sort. Waffle had gained distance on the other two, whooping and hollering.
“Nu wan huwties! Huu….nuuuu….!” Galloping along as fast as he could he had no hope of even noticing the trap laid out in front of him. A cruel twist being that it worked off of his handicap. Electricity running through a metal baseplate slotted neatly into the ground. A warning called out:
STOP
STOP
STOP
As soon as his hooves met the plate, Waffle surged with the current. Teeth clenching together and eyes twitching wildly, he seemed to freeze in place for a moment.
Wimpy had already been through this trap before. He knew that if he touched Waffle when it said ‘Stop’, he’d get huwties too. Royal had been meandering along the path at a careful rate and gingerly put a hoof out to the metal pad, whinging away when it zapped her.
GO
GO
GO
Royal took this to mean the huwties were gone and began stepping across the plate. Rushing over to Waffle, Wimpy took the nape of his neck against his teeth and dragged him away from the plate before it could give them both a shock.
“BWUDDAH! HAB SU MANY HUWTIES! HUU! HUU! HUUUUUUU!” Tears streamed down his cheeks and all Wimpy could do was offer huggies. There wasn’t even much time for that though as Trevor had reappeared with the nail stick, giving them both a prod.
“Off you go! Look, little Royal has a lead on you two…and my viewers want to see a proper race.”
The viewers. Yup, all around the maze were miniature cameras capturing the events live. In some chatroom were people absolutely beside themselves with excitement. Which would be the first fluffy to drop? What were the new traps? There was even gambling going on. These babbehs were nothing more than shooting stars of enterpainment.
“HUU! HUU! NU AM FUN GAMESIE! NU WIKE!” Waffle went bursting ahead at full speed. Despite knocking into walls, Royal had gotten further ahead than the two of them due to their small huggies break. Venturing further without a guide proved to be her momentary downfall as the ground beneath her collapsed. It was a small pit filled with pushpins, the office supplies stabbing into her hooves and sides as she went down into the hole.
“SISSY! NUUUUU!” Trying to jostle across Wimpy’s lane, the fat foal found himself unable to help. From personal experience, the one in the middle lane knew that the pits could be anywhere now. Poking a hoof out and watching in desperation as his sister flailed against the spikes, he tried to forge ahead without falling into the same trap.
“BWUDDAHS HEWP! MEANIE FINGS AM HUWTIES! EEEEEE!” Royal was unable to get out and the resistance only sent her further down into the pit, crumbs of soil collapsing against her hooves as she desperately attempted to be freed. Finally getting up to her, Wimpy bit against the nape of her neck and hauled her out. Around six pushpins stuck out from her fur, the blind foal whimpering.
No time to get them out. Munstah daddeh was coming back with the nail stick. Giving his sissy a hoof to the backside, Wimpy sent her crying further down the track.
They were coming up on a weird thing. Wimpy didn’t recognize it at all and it hadn’t been a part of The Gauntlet before. All papery, an angry buzzing from within. Lifting up a singed hoof that had slightly melted and warped after the electricity had coursed through him, Waffle knocked against it. His hoof softly punched through.
“BWUDDAH AN’ SISSY! CAN WAWK FRU!” With that he punched his head into the papery structure, immediately backed up. Attached to his face was a wasp, it’s stinger thrust straight into one of his eyes. It felt like a fiery spike and sent him straight back into the waiting nail which jabbed into his backside.
“The only way to go in all manners of life is forward!” These words would mean nothing to the deaf fluffy of course, but he was goaded back onto the track with further pokes of the nail. He disappeared into the wasp’s nests with bellows of pain.
“Nu wan! Nu wan! Daddeh pwease! Woyal scawdies! NUUHUUHUU!” Royal had curled up on her track and refused to move, shaking in fear. Trevor gave her a few tentative jabs with the nail which would illicit a few squeals but didn’t urge her forward. Looking over to his sissy, Wimpy knew what came next. There was no helping her right now. Closing his eyes, he plunged into the darkness of the wasp’s nest.
“Penalty round! PENALTY ROUND!” Picking Royal up, Trevor tied a string around one of her legs. Getting a pair of thick leather gloves on, he punched a hole straight into the wasp nest and dangled her down inside. Wimpy had walked out the side to safety with only a few stings to show for the effort, angry welts rising up through his fur. Waffle was curled up on the other side of the nest and suckling his warped hoof.
“EEEE! REEEEE! NUUUUU! BUZZY FINGS HUWTIES! OWWIES! MUMMAH! MUMMMAAHHHHH!” Royal was subjected to the full treatment she’d decided to bitch out on, dangled down into the insect-filled cavern below. Bobbing the string to further agitate the winged attackers, Trevor finally yanked her out. Body completely swollen by stings and woozy from the venom coursing through her body, Royal stood and wobbled forward.
“Woyal am be gud babbeh…nu wan huwties…nu mowe, nu mowe!” Crying, she’d learned that The Gauntlet was something to be trifled with. Not moving meant a penalty which was often worse than just going along.
Wimpy began moving forward once more. There was no point in trying to give huggies right now even if he really wanted to. Waffle looked over to his sister wobbling along and joined the pace.
“I think it’s time for a little break, you little troublemakers.” Trevor told them as they got to a break spot. There was a tiny dish of water, a food dish, and even a stuffy-friend. Waffle immediately moved to the stuffed toy and began hugging it while sobbing pitifully.
“AM VEWY SCAWDIES, STUFFY-FWEND. GIBBIN’ HUGGIES!” This was a trap though. Of course it was. Wimpy couldn’t tell him but had tried to rush over in order to try and stop him from what had to be hiding. Waffle wailed out pitifully as hidden razorblades interlaced along with stuffy-friends arms sliced right through his fur and into the tender flesh underneath. Recoiling, he ran around in a circle while bawling.
“EBEN STUFFY-FWEND AM HUWTY MEANIE! WAN MUMMAH! MUMMMAAAHHHHH!”
Royal was lapping up wawa. It was instinctive to stop her but Wimpy didn’t…it didn’t seem like it was giving her huwties. That was fine for now at least.
Reaching down into the break area, Trevor scooped Waffle up and began gluing little red things to his hooves. Repeated for his brother and sister, the fluffies all huddling together as their owner smiled down to them.
“Alright gang! Breaks over! Time to hit the ‘ol dusty trail!” Orienting Royal so she was on her proper track, the other two got into position as well. So it began again.
Their path opened on a ground which was unfamiliar. Lots of red sticks under them instead of grass or dirt. Moving forward cautiously, he didn’t know what to expect. Royal and Waffle were going slow as well, heads down to the ground. Defeated looking, unsure of themselves.
“Faster! Faster! Move, dumbass! Get those hooves SCRABBLING!” Trevor jabbed Waffle right in the ass with the nail stick and sent him forward with a yelp. Rapidly moving across the track, the strike anywhere match tips glued to his hooves would suddenly flare up with the rough movement. The red sticks under his feet lit up with a hiss of sparks.
“WAT AM DIS?” Waffle asked himself as he looked under his body just as the firecrackers all lined up along his lane began going off. It seemed as if the world was ending. So many loud sounds, flashes of light, the stench of gunpowder. Hell itself had been unleashed on the fluffy. Diving over to his sissy, Wimpy curled up with her as they both cried in fright. What was happening? Why? It didn’t make a lot of sense. The force of the explosions was as such that Wimpy couldn’t ever hear the cries of his sister. And Waffle…what about him?
Once the explosions had ended, he looked up curiously. A haze of smoke in the air. Sulfur thick in the air, it almost made him want to choke. He needed to find Waffle. Where was he? Cautiously moving along his track, he looked down to the ground.
There he was. A piece of him anyways. A smoldering weggy with the white shard of a bone poking out of it, blood pooling on the ground. Over there, another piece. This time the limp form of his tail which had the hairs all scorched off of it.
“B-Bwudda…’nee hewpsies…” That was Waffle! Not talking loudly anymore. Carefully moving along, he spied through a curtain of smoke to find what remained of his brother.
Half of Waffle’s face had been blown off. The skeletal structure of what lay behind it made Wimpy sick to look at: He could see the musculature of his jaw, many teeth missing with a blackened tongue underneath. Only remaining eye moving to his brother, the deaf fluffy rasped.
“Nee’…huggies…” He begged. Huggies couldn’t fix this though. Even Wimpy knew that by now after having run The Gauntlet once before. The entirety of Waffle’s body was covered in burns and blisters now. Most of the fur had been blow right off, and his stomach had ruptured open to reveal a spill of tummy skettis.
“Pwease…nu wan fowebba sweepies…” Tearing up, Wimpy stood over him. He didn’t want to hear him crying out in pain as they made their way down the rest of this deathtrap filled maze.
He couldn’t say sorry to his brother. Or that he loved him. Stepping over the steaming pile of his entrails, Wimpy began sending his front hooves down on his brother’s ruined head. It began caving in. Eyes squeezing shut, wishing he could say something, anything, it hurt too much to deal with. What had once been his brother who gave him huggies, wub, and played all day was reduced to an unrecognizable wet pile.
“Bwuddah? Wewe bwuddah? Waffew? Wimpeh?” Royal asked, beginning to walk with some uncertainty. Joining his sissy, Wimpy squeezed his eyes shut as they meandered past the ruined remains of their once loud brother.
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They had gotten to the next obstacle. Their tracks had run out into a murky mire of black water. An indescribably horrible smell drifted up from within, and the only way across were a series of wooden platforms. Looking over to Royal, he knew there was no way she was going across without help. Gently grabbing ahold of her mane with his mouth, he guided her to one of the platforms. Too narrow to hold two of them at once. Immersing himself in the disgusting wawa, he began leading her across.
Things flickered against him inside of the wawa. He’d have cried out in fright were he capable of doing so but concentrated on just barely keeping his head above water, nosing against his sissy so that she made her way safely across platforms. Just a little more. The Gauntlet couldn’t be that much longer.
Royal reached the end of the water section without once knowing what was beneath her. Emerging from the murky depths, Wimpy recoiled in shock and disgust as he found several leeches dangling from his body. Pitching himself to the ground and rolling around, he wouldn’t stop until they had all released their grasp on him. Smears of blood slicked the ground but he didn’t have time to stop and think about it. Just time to march on.
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“Bwuddah…smeww funneh…” Lifting her nose to the air as they walked along their respective tracks, she was commenting on all of the strange plants which had suddenly surrounded them. It was practically a jungle for the foals, all sorts of strange smelling plants which loomed over them.
He wanted to tell his sissy to be careful still. Anything could be around here. ESPECIALLY here. So strange and foreign. Royal’s hoof found the top of a strange structure on the ground, squishing against it with a squeak.
“Wat am dis? No am huwties…” Curiously squishing down again, Wimpy gave a silent scream. No! NO! Be careful! That’s what he tried to say but before he could, the ground popped up and many furred legs snatched up his sissy and dragged her halfway into a hole.
“BWUDDAH! BWUDDAH HEWP! OWWIES! HUWTIES! EEEEEEEEEEEE!” Wrenching around the lip of the hole, halfway out of it, her front hooves scrabbled frantically. Running to her, Wimpy shoved a leg out which Royal grabbed onto and hugged against with both arms. Jutting back, he tugged with all of his might. Finally, Royal was released from the whole. Though not all of her.
The blind fluffy’s back half had been tore off. Whatever in the hole had grabbed it down greedily, and now she was screaming. Over and over. Hurties. Nothing but hurties she couldn’t understand. Stepping back from Royal as she attempted to crawl around with only two legs, he shook his head. Not again. No, not again.
Hyperventilating, Wimpy lashed out with his front hooves. He didn’t want to see this. Didn’t want to live through this again. Not being able to help his sissy or bwuddah. It was all his fault. He hadn’t been good enough.
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Wimpy walked through Hell itself. Razorblades attached to walls in the darkness, over mousetraps hidden beneath leaf litter, scalding surfaces. There were times when he was sure he’d be fowebbah sweepies or at least wishing he was but that didn’t happen…and he didn’t care anymore. Walking like a zombie through it all and receiving abuses as they came, it was like nothing remained in his think-place anymore.
The world felt numb and indistinct. Like being in a dream. Most of his dreams were about playing with a ball, or eating good nummies. Maybe this was a dream too. A really bad one. It didn’t matter though. Nothing really mattered anymore.
A victim of The Gauntlet twice now, though he’d survived. An empty feeling. Crawling out of a tunnel filled with nails and pits of stinging lemon juice, Wimpy poked his head out to a familiar sight. A piece of tape representing a finish line. Stumbling along, he pushed through the tape and collapsed on the ground. Blood oozed out from wounds screaming with pain from lemon juice he’d tipped into.
Trevor draped a small cardboard crown over his head.
“Winner! Winner! CHICKEN! DINNER!” Sarcastic-ass applause followed t.
“Let’s get you back to your mom, huh? Big winner.”
Wimpy couldn’t protest it. Couldn’t celebrate it. Even if he was physically able to, why would he even bother?
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Cupcake stared down to her only remaining foal, cheeks puffed out.
“Wewe am babbehs at, dummeh!?” A hoof tipped against Wimpy’s body, sent him down to the floor. He was too tired to even do anything about it. Looking up to his mummah, he hoped for forgiveness. Something. Tears rolled down his cheeks.
“Yew am poopie babbeh. Wose AW yew bwuddahs ‘an sissies! Bad babbeh! Stinkeh babbeh! Dummeh poopie stinkeh!” Picking Wimpy up by the scruff of his neck, she brought him over to the litterbox. Dropped him down into it. That was his reward for trying. Surviving twice.
“If babbeh am poopie, babbeh wib in wittahbox! Dummeh!” Cupcake lifted her tail, farted in his direction.
His eyes closed, body scrunched up on the rough litter. There was nobody to give him fowebbah sweepies. That’s all he wanted now, and nobody would be able to help him as he’d helped Waffle and Royal.