so, here we are. the finale, finally. I know this has caused all kinds of posting schedule issues, and I’ll try to get back to my usual rate as soon as I can get the next arc back on track.
The worried clusters of the fluffies in the pen hushed as they pulled back into tighter clumps, all of them staring at the small, bat winged fluff bouncing her way across the lawn to the gate. “Nyu stwipy fwiend! Wittw babbehs! Am aww otay?” The slightly larger silver grey earthy mare caught up and poked an equally inquisitive nose through another gap in the chainlink. At the edge of the pen, the morosely snuffling purple pegasus looked up, blinking and rubbing his eyes before trying to take a closer look. “Mummah Shado’ am bewy nu-happies. Fwuffy fwiends am otay?”
In the crowd, a black eyed young unicorn sighed, heading unobtrusively further into the crowd. . The massive bronze stallion looked up briefly as the weanling ducked under his belly, returning to his careful conversation with the pair of still crated fluffies leaning against where their cages touched. The moment the blue foal reached his destination, the striped stallion grabbed him by the scruff, pulling him aside.
By the gate, Foxfire was still searching the crowd, lighting up a bit when she caught a glimpse of purple fluff and wings. “How Ammo babbeh in dis pen nao? Mummah Shado’ nu wike fwuffies gu tu udda pens wi’out Mummah Shado’ say.”
With a quick glance between his blue foal and the demonfluff at the gate, Tiger nudged at the brown fluffy next to him, gesturing him over. “Twig, can ‘ou hewp?” he asked, resorting to a quick shove in the right direction when the terrified little fluffy froze, and finally a steady push over to the right spot.
“Hi hewwo, nyu brownie fwiend!” the just about his sized creature on the other side of the fence enthusiastically greeted him the moment he was in sight. This close, he could clearly see the folded leathery wings and the sharp spiraled horn, the slit pupiled eyes….and the mouthful of gleaming needle sharp teeth. He squeaks, jumping back into the striped stallion behind him before being pushed back over. A flash of hurt crosses the demonfluff’s face for an instant, replaced by her cheerful smile as swiftly as it came. “Am wittw gwassy and splotchy babbehs otay? Mummah Shado’ bein’ bewy shoutie an’ maddies an’ nu act wite.”
“Eeeep,” Twig was still squeaking, cowering back as the smile revealed even more of those vicious fangs.
“Cawm down, ‘wig. ‘Ou tink buggy fwiends am munstas tu,” Tiger muttered soothingly in his direction, already turning back to Soul. “Dat one nu tu meanies, but Tigaw am busy. Pwease, ‘wig?”
The smoke grey fluffy looked between them, plopping back on her rump with a heavy sigh before mustering up another smile. “Mummah Shado’ hab man’ nu-happies an’ nu am nicey to fwuffies wite nao. Am fwuffies an’ babbehs otay?” she asked, how much her patience was being tested evident in her voice.
The striped stallion she was mainly addressing the question at finally spared her an actual look. “Tigaw am otay. Sword hab been bettah, nu knu ‘bout uddas.” With that short answer, he nudged the brown fluffy a little further over, pointing at the lock on the crate Sword was staring into. “Twig, can ‘ou du dis?” he asked intently, tapping the latch without his leathery hoof finding any purchase.
“Otay,” Foxfire sighed again, clearly not quite satisfied and still searching the crowd for the fluffies she knew. The cage door Sword, Twig and Tiger were all now tapping at caught her attention and her ears perked up. She tipped her head to one side then the other, deep in thought. “Fwippy-uppy open tingies awe easies, but dat wook wike puwwy-swidey open tingy. Dose am twicky. Nee’ gwabbin’” she remarked more to herself than anything else, just loud enough Marnie looked over.
The earthy mare’s ears flicked back for a moment, tail swishing with increasing unease as Foxfire glanced back at the patio. A clearly tired Rook was sniffing carefully and investigating the crate left under the table, a deep frown on his face. Without a single look over at them, he sighed, steadily shouldering the cardboard box with tiny noses poking up over the edge farther away from the beige mare inside.
The chainlink clinked loudly, claws on wire as Foxfire started scrambling clumsily up the gate. At the sound, Tiger pulled his colts further under him, trying to hide the purple alicorn from the demonfluff as much as from the rest of the herd.
“Fo’fia, pwease nu be twouble. Mummah Shado’ am awwedy nu- happies, pwease nu…” Marnie trailed off into a resigned sigh as Foxfire reached the top and dropped over to the grass on the other side with a soft oof. She looked down, finding the small brown fluffy with the green mane studying her, a puzzled look on his face and shrugged before focusing back on her friend. “Fo’fia, Mummah Shado’ nu say gu in udda pen!”
“Nu say nu tu eida! Fo’fia wan bettaw wook at open tingies on cwaties.” came the retort, even as a purple pegasus slunk along the edge of the fence as far from her as possible.
“Mawnie? Bu’ munsta num Mawnie! Foweba ago, afta Mawnie wead munsta hewd way fwom Iwis an’ Absin’ an’ Astaw an’ Wawkspu’” he whispered incredulously, creeping past Maple and a still distraught Ocean.
“Mu- Scawy fwuffy nu num Mawnie. Teww Mummah Shado’ wet Mawnie insidies.” The halloween maned mare glanced back over her shoulder, checking on the rest of the pack over on the patio. “Fo’fia am nic- am mean weww, wan be nice. West ob Pack…” she looked again, her ears flicking back nervously. “West ob Pack nu huwt Mawnie unwess Mummah Shado’ say.”
Even as she spoke and Foxfire trotted over to the crate, reaching up to see if her claws would fit under the latch, the massive stallion drew himself up. It wasn’t a full fledged battlestance, but it still screamed tension and aggression. Blocking her further from his caged son, ears pinned back.
“Du ‘ou knu wat ‘ou num?” he asked, eyes fixed on the fangs exposed by another cheerful grin.
The question brought Foxfire up short, a puzzled look to her tilted face. “Fo’fia num wat Mummah Shado’ put in Fo’fia boww?” she offered, clearly trying to find both an answer and figure out why he was asking. “Fo’fia num boww nummies, sketti sometime, …oh, an bad fwuffies!” her ears perked up again at that, seeming proud she had found an answer. “Bad fwuffies awe guud tu num. Mummah Shado’ say dat smawties aw wowstest fwuffies, wike bad Macky was. Awe meanies an’ huwt babbehs an twy gib bad enfies. Su nee’ gu foweba sweepies an’ be nummies.” At the last thought, her ears dropped again, a worried look crossing her face. “Tigaw’s babbehs am aww otay? Fo’fia nu see wittw gweenie gwassie.”
With that question, Tiger looks a little alarmed, looking around and checking his fluff. “Uh-oh,…” Another frantic search around himself finds Cammo covering Ammo’s wings in a hug as protective as comforting. “Cammo? Wewe Gwassie?” The splotched earthie filly giggled softly at that, pointing up at the base of his mane. At the gesture, he feels a bit of movement, Foxfire’s expression brightening considerably as she also spots the green foal’s hiding place.
Sword, on the other hand, was giving the demonfluff a resolute, offended glare. “Gud fwuffies ow bad fwuffies, nu cawe. Fwuffies am fwuffies, an’ ‘ou num fwuffies. Su gu ‘way ow hab sowwie hoofsies.”
The statement and the threatening step he took towards her caught her attention back, and Foxfire blinked. “Bu’ Fo’fia wan wook at puwwy-swidy wockting on cwaties…” the glare deepened and a hoof lifted, and she shook her head. “Fine. Fo’fia gun gu wook afta Pack babbehs, den.” With a last scrape of her claws over the flat catch of the latch, she turned, bouncing back for the gate. Another quick scrabble brought her back up to the top of the gate, where she paused, snuffling thoughtfully at the gate latch before launching herself off with spread wings. In something between a clumsy glide and a controlled fall, she landed just past Marnie. “Mawnie, why am aww aww outsidies fwuffies meanies an nu wan be fwiend? Wan fwiends.”
“Wook, ou’ num fwuffies. Nowmaw fwuffies nu num udda fwuffies, su ‘ou am munsta!” Sword shouted after her. He turned back to both Tiger and Twig glaring incredulously at him. Almost in unison, both of them pointed back at the latch she had been looking at before he banished her, the one that had sprung back into place the moment she had stopped trying to open it.
The lapis blue unicorn wandered out from his siblings’ huddle, pacing the edge of the fence before sitting back as his eyes went pure black again. Across the yard in a different pen, Warlock stiffened, shaking his head repeatedly before he curled into his brother, crying softly as the door slammed open again.
There was blood up to her elbows, three different knives tucked into her belt, a scattering of blood traced runes over what skin was visible under her tanktop. She set the glass bottle and the handful of silver baubles she carried on the table, checking the yard with a hard eyed glare. “Basic offerings made, tools and kit all nice and re-consecrated,” she remarked to herself as she looked over what she had brought outside. Across the yard, black eyes marked her every move, and a brown fluffy stared in terror between the bloody human and the unicorn at the fence. “Could use something special for the runes and the protection jars, though. Using fluffies instead of actual stallions, goats or humans is enough of a downgrade as is. " Indifferent to the utter fear on almost every face in sight, she studied the inhabitants of the various pens. “I suppose I could handle a few of the new feral alicorn foals disappearing out of the sale lineup. Haven’t even got their pictures up yet on the website. Or maybe…” Her gaze slid back towards the feeder pen, a thoughtful look on her face.
“Mummah?” came a questioning voice from her ankles, Rook rubbing his less bandaged side over her calf as he waited for her to look down. When she did, he circled around a still snuffling and offended looking Foxfire.
As he arched his uninjured wing over his sister and shot a glare in the direction of the feeder pen, the silver gray mare still sitting at the gate winced. “Dat nu gun be gud. Wook tink Fo’fia am siwwy fo’ wikin’ fwuffies wike us, bu’ stiww wub Fo’fia. ‘Ou mad’ Fo’fia saddies, an’ Wook an’ Mummah Shado’ nu wike 'ou afowe,” Marnie warned quietly, already starting to slink back farther from the fence. “Ammo babbeh say Swowd kiww scawy fwuffy an’ doggeh munstas. Mawnie wan…Mawnie wub Fo’fia, bu nu wub hewe.” she opened her mouth again after that, only to shut it and scurry off as the nearest members of the orchard herd looked at each other.
“Dat am why nu shou’ hab dun dat,” Twig muttered to Sword, glancing at the demonfluffs huddled around Shadow’s ankles. “Nicey du mowe dan scawy sumtime.”
“Mawnie,” Tiger asked the grey mare before she got more than a few steps away. “‘Ou am fwiend tu Fo’fia, can gu tawk tu Fo’fia? ”
She paused, hesitating. “Mawnie can gu tawk to Fo’fia, bu’ nee’ get Fo’fia way fwom Wook fiwst. Wat Twig wan Mawnie teww Fo’fia? Wan ask if Fo’fia can pway open cwosie wit cagie doow?” Marnie asked hurriedly, half her attention on the human back on the patio, hooves tapping on the dirt.
“Nu nao. Nao jus’ teww Fo’fia dat Twig wan tu say sowwie fow Swowd been meanie.” he answered hurriedly, trying not to look over at the patio.
“Otay, Mawnie wiww teww. Twig an’ Swowd stiww nee be caweful. Mummah Shado’ in meaniest ob nu- happies.” Marnie shuffled off with that, slinking back to the group under the table.
“Why nicey cwaw fwuffy gu way?” the purple alicorn asked, breaking off from his sibling to approach the adults. There was a sharp intake of breath, and Tiger’s eyes widened in the moment before Larkspur started shrieking. Ocean joined in moments later, the words “munsta babbeh” bouncing in shrill tones around between the old feeder herd and some of the orchard fluffies.
Over by the patio, Rook was still comforting the smallest of the grown demonfluffs. “Big fighty stawwion am wude tu Fo’fia, caww munsta. Am wude an’ meanies, bu’ am stiww bewy gud at fighties. Am speciew ‘nough fo’ wat Mummah wan?” he asked, the same edge of glee in his voice he’d had when Aurora had stepped over the line.
The thoughtful look on Shadow’s face deepened, a slow smile growing. “He very well might be. Just what I was thinking, Rook sweetie.” she patted him fondly on the head, heedless of the blood streaks the gesture left on his black mane. “Stay here and don’t let anyone mess up the cords and the things I drew.”
“Munsta! Munstas num fwuffies, nu am safe!” Ocean shouted, Maple nodding along behind her. In the far corner, Soot and Smudge gave their best attempt at a defensive position, blocking anyone from the nests where Rose and Grape cowered with their foals.
A cheerful, hopeful expression on his face. Ammo trotted up to the loudest of the shouting fluffies. “Hewwo, am Ammo. Nyu fwiends?” he asked, as his smallest sister dives under him and Cammo came to his side.
With difficulty, Tiger tore his eyes away from the approaching human, turning another glare at Sword. “Wat hab ‘ou dun?” he whispered, shaking his head before he stalked up behind his alicorn colt.
“Munsta fwuffies nu am fwiends! Nu bewong wit hewd! Dat why stupi’ Dwuid an’ dummeh Wiwwow nu wib wit hewd nu mowe. Nu wet hewd pwotect udda babbehs fwom munsta!” Larkspur shouted, his cheeks puffing up as he stalked over to the small alicorn.
“Gu out wit udda munsta fwuffies.” Ocean huffed as well, puffing up even farther. “Bad Smawty Wawwock nu hewe tu pwotect dis munsta babbeh wike Wiwwow’s. Nu wet Munsta stay an’ num tummeh babbehs wen come,” the pregnant mare insisted. “Nyu gud smawty Wawkspu’ make munsta gu. An’ speciew fwiend hewp!” The brown pegasus behind her seemed far less sure of himself, especially as he looked around at the adult fluffies backing the small alicorn, but nodded slowly.
THe weanling sniffed, the first hints of muffled sobs audible, and Tiger took a step over him, cheeks puffing angrily. " ‘ou can twy, buh ‘ou nee’ tu get twugh daddah tigah. an’ nu sowwie hoofsies wiww stop tigah!" Hostility in every ounce, he charged, aiming to double stomp Larkspur before he could bring his lifted hoof onto the colt.
A flash of bronze movement, and the purple stallion was slammed out of the way, Sword taking the hit with barely a flinch. “Tigah, cawm down.” he ordered, and a grumbling toughie sat back. “Wawkspu’, du 'ou knu wah makes munstas munstas?” Sword asked with all the patience of an experienced leader.
“Munsta’s hab wingies and pointies. Wawkspu’s mummah teww aww da time bout munsta’s an’ bad babbehs. an’ den Wawkspu’ hewd come hewe, an den knu fo suwe! wots ob munstas wit wingie pointies, aww big an scawy, an’ Wawkspu see dem num fluffies! Num bot sissies! an munsta hoomin awways come an’ pwotect wittw munsta’s fow hewd can gib dem foweba sweepies. Munsta hoomin nu cawe bout nu munsta fwuffies!” Wild eyed, Larkspur was stamping his hooves. Cheeks still puffed, he stomped over back over to Tiger before seeming to finally realize the striped earthy was bigger than he was.
“Cept fo’ Mawnie. An’ munsta hoomin cawes bout Wawwock wittw mowe tu…” Maple started to point out, before Ocean thumped a hoof back into his chest. “Munsta hoomin wub munsta fwuffies,” he swiftly corrected himself, ears falling back.
“Munstas num fwuffies, dat am wat a munsta am. Jus cus fwuffy hab wingie an’ pointy dings nu make fwuffies munstahs. dah muntahs obew dewe,” Sword insisted, pointing straight at Rook and Glory under the table. “Hab bad teethies in dew nummie pwace.”
Behind him, Tiger had backed off, hugging his children to his fluff. The splotched earthy carefully ducks under the embracing leg, trotting over to a confused looking Maple. “Nyu fwiend?”
Just as Maple took a cautious step out of Ocean’s reach and extended a curious nose to the almost invisible earthy, Shadow leaned over the fence, humming softly. “You know, any other day, I’d let the fact you’re trying to get through to them on the alicorn shit be your salvation. As many questions as I have about how the little purple guy got in here and not in the alicorn friendly pen I left him in. Today, I’ll let you have a choice.” She pointed at the nearer of the two heavy crates, a vicious smile crossing her face. “Once upon a time, my ancestors set stallions against each other and sacrificed the victor to the gods. I don’t have real horses around, but the two of you seem the closest to warring stallions here. It could even be said you won against Rook when you had him on his own. Pick. You or him as my last sacrifice.”
The bronze stallion tipped his head, clearly struggling to understand her request. “Twig! come obeh hewe. Teww dis fwuffy da diffewence between munstas an’ fwuffies,” he ordered, walking over to meet Shadow at the gate. “ Sword tink yes. Swowd wan fite ‘Wook’, 'gan.”
“No, I think you’ve already done enough damage there. And that’s when things started going wrong, wasn’t it? Everything started going wrong when your herd came here.” She hummed again, the hand that wasn’t behind her back drumming over the white handled, sickle bladed knife at her hip. “I want to see whether your death would help put things right. Come here, then.” She pulled open the gate, just wide enough for one large fluffy to exit.
With only a dully dawning look of comprehension on his face, he stepped though after her, still fixed on the tall demonfluff waiting for her. “Wait-” the small brown fluffy called after his leader, his eyes focusing on the hose she held behind her back. The one wrapped with extensive silver and shiny things on chains, with symbols etched shallowly into the rubber. “Swowd, nu gu, hoomin nu…” At the threshold of the building, runes and sigils drawn in blood and shimmering clear liquid lit dimly for a moment, before there was a soft yelp back in the pen, and the blue unicorn’s eyes changed color again. It was enough to draw the striped and brown stallions attention again, and they turned back to the herd.
As she slammed the gate shut and flipped the latch again, Shadow aimed the hose briefly in the direction of the feeder pen. “Hey, if anything happens to that alicorn before I get back, there will be further bad things happening. Don’t push me today.” She points at the area right in front of the nearest door, where a half circle of something braided lay in intricate patterns. The bronze stallion hesitated on his way over there, glancing between it and the demonfluffs watching, and a blast of water hit him, sending him on a panicked bolt across the yard, “Screeee!” The spray tightened, and chunks of metallic fluff tore off, leaving bloody patches underneath.
The more of the oddly shimmering water filled the air and the grass, the further the lapis unicorn’s ears pinned back in fear. There was a sharp clanging noise, and Shadow turned- and promptly started cursing as she turned the water off again. The crates in the pen had doors hanging askew. There was a gaping hole in the fence itself, edges as rusted as if it had been cut decades ago. And there was a bright colored mass fleeing down the alley behind the facility.
“What. The. Fucking. Shit.” A closer inspection proved that there were still a few fluffies huddled in the corner,and a still cursing Shadow hauled them up to drop them in one of the intact ex-pens. “I hope that’s on the cameras, because no one is going to believe this.” She looked around, rubbing at her eyes, before she picked up the decorated hose again and started washing down all of the grass. As soon as she was done, she shut the gate to the inner half of the feeder pen, chasing the bronze stallion back into it.
She gave a long look between him and the still waiting cord bounded circle, before checking her phone and cursing again. With a long, shoulder cracking stretch, she seemed to come to a decision, grabbing the largest, dullest colored of the weanling alicorns still in the expen and carrying it back to the circle. “Better safe than sorry. Bad luck for you, but Nate got back to Asher with a price just in time.”
With the curved knife she’d threatened Sword with, she peeled back skin and fluff, eventually dropping the still living, screaming bit of flesh in the middle of the circle and pulling an almost spear shaped dagger. “To you, Odin and Freya and Loki. To the Morrigan, Babd and Nemain. To Arawn and Gwyn Ap Nudd.” The screaming stopped abruptly as she brought the dagger down, and some of the brittle, feral edge faded out of the blue haired woman’s expression.
First Chapter- The Pack- because what we need is more fluffies bred to eat other fluffies. (1) by :Shadowfox
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