PART TWO: ANGER
The fluffies pounded on the door that blocked their way to freedom. The room became hotter and the air harder to breathe. Even the warbling of the Scream Munstah outside had dimmed.
Huddled together as far from the smokey air vent as they could, the seven little animals held each other and cried. They cried for their Little Mummah, they cried for their family, and they cried for their lost sense of safety. One would periodically rear its little head back and renew screaming for help, but never for very long.
âWhaâ was dat?â
Smiley opened his eyes. Heâd been drifting off to sleep, smokies or not. Lime had said something.
âHuh?â he responded, voice dull.
âWime⌠Wime heaw noisie⌠Fwom outside meanie doow!â
Snapping awake, the five adult fluffies redoubled their cries for help. They could hear the noises too! It sounded like the big, heavy not-hoofsies that Hoomins had! Even Muffin and Cupcake offered their delicate peeps and kitten-soft hooves to the effort.
It was working! The steps were getting closer!
âPWEEEEEEEEZE!â the fluffies cried. âHEEEEEWP!â
The door bashed open with shocking abruptness. Puff and Cosmo took the brunt of the impact while the others were merely scattered. The delicate ivory fluffy flew backwards and crashed into the wall, wasting no time before howling lustily about âwowstest owwies.â Cosmo found herself staring up at the smokey ceiling several feet from the doorway, stunned. When she tried to roll onto her belly and stand , she realized that one of her forelegs was hanging at an unnatural angle.
âW⌠weggie?â she asked tentatively. Weggie did not answer.
There was a huge hoomin in the doorway. He was wearing some kind of covering over his face. Lemon and Lime, terrified beyond reason and babbling a confused stream of gratitudes, latched their huggies onto his not-hooves.
âI heard something from in here!â the hoomin barked over his shoulder, bulky breathing apparatus muffling his voice. His numbered helmet swung as he scanned the darkened room.
âI heard it too, John,â his partner said, clomping up behind him. âDonât see nothinâ, though.â
The first man jumped slightly when he realized that something was climbing onto his heavy boots. His disgust flared when he noted that the unnaturally bright neon creatures were speckled with shit and smearing it on his footwear.
âOh for fuckâs sake,â he growled. âDonât worry about it, Singh! It was goddamn fluffy ponies again, not a kid.â
â⌠Oh.â
John turned to leave, shaking Lemon and Lime roughly from his boot. They landed ungracefully in a sobbing tangle, their foals peeping in terror as they fell from their motherâs back. The broad-shouldered man took two brisk steps back towards the hallway before his partner caught him tentatively by the arm of his thermal coat.
âWeâre just going to leave them here? This place is going up fast; theyâll never get out in time.â
The big man looked at Singh coldly. âDonât start with that shit, kid. The foyer we came in had to be up to, what? Three hundred degrees already? Itâll be hotter now, and these fucking things practically combust at room temperature as is.â His eyes narrowed. âSo we carry out the whole⌠what, seven fuckers inside our gear? Not only do we stop and strip down in an active fire, but we insulate ourselves with a fuckinâ Molotov menagerie that can shit its own weight inside seven grand worth of municipal property that we have to clean afterwards?â He frowned disapprovingly. âIs that what youâre asking me?â
The younger man blinked. âI⌠The little girl outside was yelling about her âbabies,â though. I thought maybe she had some kittens or something.â
John shook his arm briskly, freeing it from Singhâs hand. âWeâre out of time. We need to fuckinâ fly or weâll join these things on the great cosmic barbecue.â
The young man nodded. âAlright. Ten seconds for one last visual sweep in case thereâs something we missed.â
âIâll check the room across the hall and then weâre fuckinâ leaves on the fuckinâ wind.â
As soon as his partner was out the door, Singh was down on one knee in front of the confused, bawling fluffies.
âBe quick and give me one of those foals before he gets back. I can at least get one out.â
Without hesitating, Smiley grabbed Muffin and pushed him towards the towering Hoomin. The chubby colt peeped in terror as the gargantuan creature wrapped its monstrous hand around him.
âSabe babbeh PWEASE, nice mistew!â Smiley begged.
As the firefighter slipped off his glove and started to tuck the minuscule puff of green and yellow in, Lemon flashed forward.
âNU TAKE BABBEH!â she howled, chomping her blunt teeth onto Singhâs hand.
Uninjured but surprised at the animalâs ferocity, he dropped the tiny foal onto the lush green carpet. It bounced once, its plaintive peeping silenced as the air was knocked from its minuscule lungs. It lay gasping on its back, immaculate little hooves waving wildly at the ceiling.
âBabbeh neeâ MUMMAH, nu dummeh HOOMIN!â Lemon roared, standing above the foal protectively as she puffed her cheeks out. âWeave nao oâ mummah gib yu⌠gib yu⌠FOWEBAH-SWEEPIES!â She punctuated her threat by rapidly stomping her fat little legs.
âWemon! Nuuuu!â Smiley moaned, horrified.
Fitting his heavy thermal gauntlet back onto his nipped hand, Singh stood up briskly.
âIâm sorry,â he said, looking at Smiley sympathetically. âI have to go.â
He stepped into the doorway. He contemplated closing the door and resigning the biotoys to their fate but decided against it. He slipped out wordlessly, reconnecting the seal on his oxygen tank.
âNU GU!â Smiley wailed, chasing after the nice hoomin. He froze in the hallway.
Everything was dark except for the steppy-stairs that lead down to the Living Room. Thick smoke roiled along the ceiling and clung damply to the walls. With the door to the safe room ajar, fresh fumes began to spill in even more quickly.
âNUUUUU!â he bawled desperately, waddling several more steps after the young firefighter.
He quickly realized that he couldnât see either of the hoomins anymore.
âFWIENDS!â Smiley howled, turning back. âFwiends, neeâ tu weave nao! Nu safies!â
A chorus of wet sobs echoed back from the saferoom.
âIf nu weave nao, fwuffies gu fowebah-sweepies!â
âNu!â Lemon cried, tears splashing from her rotund cheeks as she stamped her hooves again. âSafe woom is SAFE woom! Safe woom is nu FOWEBAH-SWEEPIES woom! Fwuffies SAFE in SAFE woom, Smiwey!â
Smiley groaned, horrified. âWemon, nu! Wowstest scawies mean fwuffies neeâ tu weave!
âNU!â Lemon roared. âFwuffy mummah wuv babbehs! Keep safies!â
Cosmoâs plaintive cry broke their conversation, and the two fluffies turned to look at her.
âPwease donâ fight, fwiends! Cosmo hafâ wowstest weggie huwties! Neeâ huggies!â
Trotting over to her, Smiley inspected the awkwardly held leg.
âCosmoâŚâ he began hesitantly, sniffing at the strange bend. âSmiwey dunâ knu if huggies hewpies,â He frowned in concentration, mind working furiously. âNeeâ gu to vet, mebbe?â
Cosmoâs sobs grew louder. âDewe nu am vet in safe woom, Smiwey! Haf tu weave housie, anâ Wittwe Mummah say tu NEBEW du dat!â
All seven fluffies snapped their heads up when the squalling fire alarm clicked off. The silence was startling, broken only by a faint crackling from downstairs.
âHaf tu gu.â Smiley reiterated firmly, trying his hardest to sound brave.
As he trotted into the dark, murky hallway, he realized that only a handful of his friends had followed. Lemon, Lime, and their foals had stayed behind.
âNu weave fwiends, wight?â Cosmo asked tentatively, hobbling along with her broken leg held high and tight against her orange flank. Her snout quivered.
Smiley didnât reply. He hadnât wanted to say anything to scare his friends, but heâd seen something bright and orange beneath the closet door. He hoped his friends and their perfect little babies would be okay in the safe room, but he couldnât bring himself to believe that they would.
âNeeâ gu,â he said sadly, venturing further out from their little bright sanctuary.
Once, many forevers ago, Little Mummah had forgotten to close the safe room door all the way. Smiley had gone exploring the âHallway.â Heâd made it all the way to the rim of the Great Steep Steppies and pushed his little muzzle over the edge before Little Mummah had come sprinting towards him.
âSMILEY!â sheâd shrieked. âSTOP! Youâll fall!â Sheâd caught him just as heâd begun to teeter over the brink. Little Mummah had given him the terrible Sorry Stick for the first and only time in his entire life.
The horrifying chasm yawned out before him now.
Little Mummah wasnât here to save him this time, though, and he needed to somehow get his friends down those Great Steep Steppies. The door to the Great Outside came next, and that presented its own problems, but heâd worry about later.
The first steppie wasnât so bad. They were covered with carpet just like his safe room was, and even if it wasnât quite as soft and was a different colour, it still felt nice against his hoofsies. The second wasnât that bad either; he was concentrating so much on it that he wasnât even tempted to look further down. The third, though⌠The third was awful. He saw the void that awaited the slightest misstep. Ungraceful at the best of times, the little black fluffy realized with horror that he was only one stumble away from forever sleepies.
Smiley was halfway down when he realized that Cosmo was still at the top of the stairs, crying lustily.
âFwuffy nu can du it!â she howled, soft little body quaking with sobs. âWeeeeeggie owwies!â
âCosmo neeâ twy!â he called up to her, watching with mounting anxiety as Puffy delicately hopped down a second step. They were taking far too long. Slowly, tentatively, Cosmo finally came to the edge of the stairs and peeped a hind leg out, searching in vain for the landing below.
That she managed to conquer her fears notwithstanding, the orange and purple fluffy didnât even make it down that first step. One awkwardly placed flabby leg was nowhere near strong enough to support her entire weight, off balance as it was from her injury. Her knee buckled as she was lowering herself carefully onto the first riser and she fell into oblivion. Screaming, she launched a single magnificent blat of flatulence as she tumbled lustily end over end.
âSmiiiiiiiiiiii-!â she shrieked as she bounced, thumped, and crunched her way down the stairs.
Smiley wasnât sure who screamed louder: Cosmo as she passed him and crashed to the living room floor with a sickening crunch, or himself, who boggled at the horror he was seeing. Her owwies were so bad that she sprayed red wawa across the wooden landing in a filthy glut when she thumped home.
Scrambling down the last few stairs himself, he was reaching for his friend when something hit him from behind and he sprawled onto the sticky floor. Legs starfished, for a terrifying moment he couldnât breathe. Dazed, he realized that Puffy mustâve crashed into him.
âOwwwwie!â she squealed, sitting on her rump and pressing her hooves against her eyes. She seemed unhurt, but Smiley couldnât tell for sure through her wild howls.
Squawling, she pulled herself unsteadily upright and squared off against the bottom of the stairs.
âMeanie staiws!â she squeaked, caught somewhere between a yell and a sob. She stomped her hooves, snorted angrily, and stalked away towards the living room. âBad, meanie, POOPIE staiws!â
âCawefuw, Puffy!â Smiley called out as he trotted after her. âStay wif hewd!â
âFwuffy am weaving!â she replied haughtily. âAnâ nebew coming back!â
She approached a towering door much like the one at the entrance to the safe room; Smiley dimly remembered it opening onto another set of stairs that led even further downwards. Heâd only been there once with Little Mummah and hadnât been much more than a talky baby at the time, but he was fairly sure that it led to where big open space called either the âdenâ or the âbasie ment.â
He didnât remember the door being ringed with an orange halo, though, and he certainly didnât remember the black smoke boiling out from the top of the door frame.
âPuffyâŚ? Nu⌠nu finkâŚâ
The chubby ivory fluffy pressed her front hooves against the door.
âMeanie doow! Open foâ fwuffy! Wan 'weaveâ
Door remained silent.
She hammered her hooves against the laminated wood.
âDOOW! OPEN NAO!â
In fury, Puffy extended herself upright as far as her wobbly hind legs could manage and snagged the metal doorknob with her ivory hooves. She had noticed that the door seemed very warm when she bashed her sensitive little footsies against it, but the metal handle was hot. Really, really hot. In fact, the knob wasâŚ
âEEEEEEEEEEE!â she shrieked, voice cracking in agony. âBUUUWNY HUWTIES!â
The soft leather pads of her hooves welded to the blistering steel of the doorknob with a sizzling hiss. Pulsing, blazing, inconceivable agony roared up her fat legs and set every nerve ending alight with staggering pain.
âNUUUU!â she squealed, reflexively pulling backwards yet finding herself firmly stuck. âWET FWUFFY GUUU!â
âPUFFY!â Smiley howled, horrified.
Her screams rising above the audible, the albino fluffy wrenched herself backwards wildly in soundless agony yet remained sealed to the door despite her efforts. With horror, she realized that the smoke rising up from where her little hoofsies were stuckies smelled⌠oh nu, why did it smell delicious?
âEEEEEE!â she bawled. âNUUUU!â
Pulling herself backwards even harder, she heard twin snaps as her roasting forelimbs broke. Eyes bugging and tongue lolling, she registered shards of white bone crunching out from her alabaster fluff as the world grayed around her. The fur above her hooves smoldered and caught fire, blackening the pale skin beneath.
Crazed with agony, Puffâs wild thrashings finally managed to unlatch the flimsy basement door. She took a deep breath to roar her fresh agony to the world but was promptly silenced.
Smiley watched in frozen horror as his friend was immolated by a giant wall of boiling orange and red munstahs. Sickened, he realized that the door had somehow grabbed hold of Puffy and she couldnât get away. It was so hot and so bright that Smiley had to shield his eyes with his hooves: the heat was so intense that he found himself unable to breathe.
The backdraft only lasted a moment but felt like an eternity. As his flash blindness faded, Smiley scrambled towards the door that still held his friend. It.. it was Puff there, right? His friend didnât look like his friend anymore, but when could another fluffy have snuck in and taken her place?
âPuffy!â he cried, tripping over himself. âPuffy otay??!â
There was no response from⌠well, whatever was stuck to the door.
âPuff⌠Puffy?â As he reached⌠it, he found himself approaching tentatively. âFwiend⌠otay?â
The⌠thing was breathing. Roughly, and with great effort, but it was breathing. Something that had the basic outline of a head turned towards him.
âThmiwey?â it croaked, black and lipless.
The thing that might have been Puffy had no face left. Gaping sockets stared mournfully at him. Even her eyelids were gone. In shock, Smiley realized that the slime on her cheeks were her melted see-places. Her flawless ivory fluff had vanished (fluff that Little Mummah had said was âjust like a puffy cotton ball!â - the name had stuck!), leaving only blackened grit. It flaked off her in sandy drifts.
âOh PuffyâŚâ he said, fresh tears spilling down his cheeks. âSmiwey su sowwy.â
The thingâs roasted mouth opened and closed, slowly managing to form the faintest whisper. Fighting his revulsion, Smiley leaned in towards the scorched creature.
âIiiiâŚâ the thing began. âotayâŚâ
âPuffy?â Smiley sobbed.
âAaaaamâŚâ Its throat clicked up and down as it fought to create words. âAaam jusâ⌠baaaad⌠dweamieâŚâ
Wrenching sobs shook Smiley as he put his forelegs around his roasted friend.
âHaf tu gu, Puffy,â he sniveled. âHuuu hu huuuu! Nu safe hewe foâ fwuffies!â
When she didnât move, Smiley gave his friend a gentle shake. âPuff⌠Puffy?â
With only the slightest resistance, the little black stallion found himself falling backwards with his friend in his arms. Why, sheâd hardly been stuck to the meanie door at all!
âSiwwy Puffy!â he said, startled. âWhy fwuffy nuâŚâ
He looked down but couldnât believe what he saw. It simply wasnât⌠It made no sense!
In his chubby little forelegs he held⌠most of his friend. Her skin had sloughed off like a glove. He dropped the warm, blackened molting, realizing that it included four perfectly hollow little weggies and most of what had been her scalp. The rest of Puffy remained welded to the doorknob, arteries visibly pulsing along her back, delicate musculature and tendons laid bare.
Even with her face and eyes gone, he could tell that she was trying to look towards him.
âSmmmrrrrrrrâŚâ the thing that had been Puffy gurgled. Smiley realized that it was trying to say his name.
âPuffy.â he said, shocked at how calm he sounded. He shouldnât be this calm: his friend had the worstest hurties ever. âPuffy. Smiwey wuvs yu.â
Ebony voids regarded him indifferently. âRrrrgâŚâ the thing that had been Puffy whispered. âDewe⌠nuffinâ⌠rrrrl⌠smrrrrrrlâŚâ
Tears dripping onto the blackened floor beneath him, the little stallion tried to smile. âOh Puffy⌠Smiwey wuvs yu su much.â
There was a hiccup. His friendâs ravaged lungs tried and failed to inflate, their delicate tissues scorched beyond repair. A quick runnel of tears appeared from the corner of a mostly cauterized eye socket. With a gentle sigh, Puffy became silent.
âP⌠Puffy?â Smiley asked. There was no response.
Why wouldnât she answer him? How bad could her owwies actually be? What should he do to make them better?
âHuggies.â he said firmly, remembering. Fighting his revulsion, he forced himself to hug his scorched, blistered friend, but had to let her go after only a moment; she was horribly, horribly hot. That she smelled simply delightful was even more confusing.
âPuffy?â
The roasted, skinless fluffy remained silent, burnt forelegs stretched out and melted to the doorknob, body slack and motionless.
âSmiwey nu can stay hewe, Puffy,â he said, fresh tears puddling beneath him. âSmiwey⌠Smiwey wiww tum back foâ yuâŚâ
His only answer was a tendril of thin gray smoke that slithered up from her silent throat.
