The Longest Winter
Chapter 3
The woods smelled of pine and leaves as the mare sniffed through the foliage looking for food. She came across some mushrooms and moss growing on a log. They didn’t taste as good as human food in the alleyways of town, but her instincts told her they were edible. She eagerly munched on them, making sure to grab every last bite. She gnawed them all off of the log, right down to the rotting wood. She breathed a sigh of relief; her babies would have milk tonight.
She sniffed around the rest of the log and smelled something strange. It was a scent that she had never picked up before. It was similar to her foals scat but unique. After circling the log she realized that it was coming from inside. Each end of the log was packed with dirt and leaves so she couldn’t see inside.
She used her hoof to poke through the rotting wood and took a good sniff inside. The smell grew stronger. She poked the wood again so she could peek inside. She saw a mouse nesting on the other side of the log. It’s scat was spread around the nest, and she realized that was where the scent was coming from. The mouse sat still, hoping its intruder wouldn’t see it. The mare saw that it had gathered a few nuts and acorns for winter. Her instincts told her to take them, but her intelligent conscience made her pause.
Should she steal this creature’s food? It had worked hard to prepare for winter, what right did she have to steal its hard work? She remembered her babies on her back that needed milk, but what if the mouse had babies too? The mare shook her head, arguing with her own mind. Intelligence for a wild animal was indeed a burden.
A fox would have eaten the mouse and stolen its food without hesitation, but a fluffy pony was able to feel guilt for such actions. She grabbed a mouthful of leaves and stuffed them into the hole that she had poked through the log and let out a snort while nodding her head. She had done the right thing, and in some distant manner, she had made a new friend; a mouse with a log for a home. She looked back at the log one last time before moving on. She wanted to remember its location so she could come back later and visit, she was curious and wanted to make sure the mouse was ok.
The mare sniffed the air around her, hoping to catch a new scent. Fresh grass, mushrooms, moss, anything. She tried chewing on a pine cone but quickly spit it out. She then began to follow her nose, sniffing around from tree to tree. Each trunk granted a bit of moss and the occasional mushroom, but not much else.
Suddenly her nose caught something wonderful, yet strange at the same time. It was like a mushroom, but sweeter. Her ears perked up and her fluff stood on end. Something delicious was nearby! She began to eagerly sniff the ground, looking for more clues. Leaves, dirt, wood… there it was!
She looked up to see a huge oak tree. It’s trunk was easily ten times her size. She sniffed the bark, but found only wood. She sniffed the ground below it and the sweet mushroom scent got stronger. Her instincts told her to dig, and her hooves followed suit. The ground soon turned from brown to white. Mushroom chunks started to come out along with the dirt. She sniffed them and her mouth began to water. They were like mushrooms, but better! She eagerly ate them, ignoring the dirt that came along with each chunk as she gobbled them up.
Her hooves began to ache after continuous digging. She was muddy and sore, but it had been worth it. Her belly was full of delicious food and she knew her babies would drink well tonight. Her once deflated post-pregnancy belly was starting to return to normal.
The mare looked up from the hole she had dug and squinted at the sun. It was warmer now and day was about half over. She decided it was time for a short break. The chirping foals on her back seemed to second the notion. She stomped her hooves around the hole she had dug to create a firm ground at the base of the tree. This would make sure that the babies wouldn’t be trudging through loose dirt while they explored.
She then hopped out and grabbed some oak leaves to place at the bottom for a dry bed. Lastly, she grabbed a pine branch and placed it over the top as a temporary cover. Intelligence had its perks, and she felt safe as she carefully crawled under the branch into her temporary home.
She slumped against the back wall of tree roots that acted as the back of her new nest, exhausted from her adventure so far. Her foals realized that their mother was stationary and began to squirm down towards her teats. She had begun to digest her food and her breasts were beginning to produce milk again.
The green earthy was larger than the other two foals and was able to clobber his way to the first of two nipples. He latched on and began suckling with gusto. The mother smiled, she knew he would become big and strong quickly.
Up next was the brown alicorn. He quickly latched onto the second teat and began to drink. She gave him a small lick to help him climb atop his brother to reach the upper nipple. She watched him closely, realizing that he looked like her, a brown alicorn. Her eyes welled up with tears as her memories flooded back to her in a painful instant.
Alicorns were unwelcome in the fluffy community, as were any ponys that were colored brown. She was both, just like this foal. Life was hard for her; her family had abused and rejected her. She promised herself and the brown alicorn foal suckling on her that she’d do everything in her power to prevent that same cruelty from happening - not on her watch. She snorted and licked him again as he cooed, eagerly drinking her milk. She tried to resist the urge to call him her favorite, but deep down she knew that they had a common bond.
Suddenly the mare realized that the pink unicorn hadn’t come down for milk yet. The mother did her best to turn her head around to her back, trying to sniff the foal and wake it up. Try as she might, her neck couldn’t reach. She began to panic, was the foal dead? Was it stuck in her fur? Or worse, had it fallen off and she hadn’t noticed?
Her instincts told her to stand up and give her fluff a vigorous shake to knock the foal loose, but her intelligence begged her not to. Her other two foals were feeding peacefully and a hard shake might hurt the runt on her back. She didn’t want to risk upsetting or hurting them.
For the first time in months she decided to speak, something she hadn’t done since talking to her mate long ago.
“Babbuh?” She said with a dry, raspy voice. It had been a while since she had used her voice. She coughed and tried again. “Babbuh, aw you dew?”
She wiggled her back muscles a bit to try and stir the foal while also not disturbing the feeders.
“Dew is miwkies, babbuh! Come get miwk!” She urged in her primitive baby talk. Fluffy ponies were created as a bio-toy with limited, childlike speech. The mother had learned quickly that most humans founds it annoying at best. She had stopped talking because of it. But now she felt it necessary in hopes of stirring her foal. She wiggled her back muscles again.
“Pwease, baby. Wake up and come get miwkies!” She begged, her eyes welling up with tears. Was this another dead foal she would have to bury? She wiggled her back again in desperation.
Suddenly she felt a tiny squirm. Then she heard a little baby peep, then a chirp. The mother sighed in relief and wiggled her back again.
“Come on wittwe babbuh! Come get miwkies!” She said with a big smile, excited her runt was still alive. She joyfully wiggled her back again.
She felt the tiny unicorn begin to fumble its way down her belly. Suddenly she felt the foal lose its grip and tumble into the dirt and leaves below. The mother’s instincts knew that even a couple inches could hurt. She immediately began licking the foal in hopes that she was ok. She was relieved to hear excited chirps as the runt crawled toward her mother’s teats. Crunching her way through the leaves, each one acting as a large barrier to her goal. She finally made it to the backside of her chubby green brother.
The mother knew this was going to be a problem. The green earthy was locked on to the lower nipple and had no intention on moving. The brown alicorn on top was also glued to his feed and showed no signs of slowing. The mother decided that the overfed green foal would be the first to share. She curled herself inward and gently grabbed the earthie by his fluff. He popped off of her nipple and immediately began to protest. His chubby little arms flailed as he squealed in anger.
The mother was clever, however, and gave him the other things fluffy babies craved; hugs. She held him tightly in her arms and licked his face. With each roll of her tongue his squeaks of rage died down until he was finally pacified, cooing and nuzzling her chin as he fell asleep.
Meanwhile the baby alicorn had moved down to the bottom nipple after his brother was no longer his foundation. His eager sister climbed on top of him to get to the top nipple. She had to stand on his head, but she was just barely able to reach. She gripped the utter with her mouth and eagerly drank, falling silent as the life-giving liquid entered her system. Once again, the mother was so happy. Joy flooded through her as she held one baby in her arms while the others eagerly drank the milk that the mother had worked so hard for. Bliss overtook her as her eyes began to droop. The combination of a full stomach and happy feelings allowed her to gently fall asleep.
“Mama wuv babbuhs.” She said to herself as sleep overtook her.
She dreamt of sweet mushrooms and summertime as her babies drank the rest of her milk. Soon their bellies were full and they fell asleep against her warm teats. The forest lie still as they slept, with the exception of a small mouse coming to sniff their new home.
