A chilly wind blew through the burrow, and Leaf woke with a start, the sudden fear of winter refusing to let the green Pegasus mare rest.
It was spring, but still just the early days, winter was still lingering in the air, a reminder of the hardships Leaf had suffered through. Unable to find sleep again, she turned to her foals, born in the freezing cold of their underground home, the four of them had finally opened their eyes and started talking just a few days ago.
Leaf had begged her special-friend to relent, to wait until the cold-times had disappeared and they could gather food together in preparation for their babbehs, but he ignored her protests, ensuring her that he was smarter and stronger than the dumb weather, he could find food for her.
Several days of starvation later, and Leaf gave birth to six foals, two of them born with forever sleepies, their bodies tiny and malformed by their lack of sustenance in the womb. Leaf had cried the entire day for her lost young, never given a chance to know them or let them know she loved them. Her mate suggested eating them, later claiming it as a bad joke to cheer her up, but Leaf knew there was seriousness to his suggestions.
Satisfied that her four young were still sleeping, Leaf looked around the burrow, her mate was still gone, out looking for food. He had been away for several days now, which wasn’t unusual, he normally took a long time to find food, but with Leaf unable to leave the burrow for fear of predators, the cold or even other desperate Fluffies attacking her babbehs, the time between feedings felt like an eternity.
“Mummah?”
Leaf turned and saw one of her children, a soft orange earthie filly, was stirring in her sleep. “Mummah? Am daddeh bak?”
Leaf let out a disappointed sigh. “Nu babbeh, nu yet. Gu bak tu sweepies, nu am wakies time.”
“Bu hab tummeh-huwties, nu can sweepies gud.”
Leaf felt her heart break at her daughters weak declaration. Hunger was an all too common issue for the family, and too many nights they had all gone to bed with pains in their stomach. Leaf glanced between her children, most of them still sleeping in their little Fluff-pile, and the opening to their burrow, leading out into the chilled woodlands of their home. She knew she wouldn’t be able to find much, but if she was lucky, she might just find some fresh leaves.
She didn’t want to leave, but with no knowledge of when her mate was returning, she was desperate enough to risk it.
“Ok babbeh, mummah jus gun wook fow nummies. Be vewy qwik, babbehs stay qwiet.”
The orange filly lazily nodded her head and lay back down to sleep with her siblings, Leaf took one final look at them before cautiously edging forward out of the burrow.
Having seen very little of the outside world in several weeks, the expanse of new greenery among spots of white was a welcoming sight. Leaf took a careful look around, making sure nothing or no-one was hiding, then quickly waddled over to a tree not too far from her den. The newly formed leaves weren’t at their full growth stage, but they were fresh and they were green and that was enough for her.
Carefully she began walking her front legs up the tree trunk, using the tree itself to balance herself as she raised herself up towards the hanging leaves, a trick most Fluffies wouldn’t consider since any idea that wasn’t standing unbalanced on their hind-legs never got brought into consideration. With the leaves just barely out of her reach, Leaf pushed herself upwards, just until she could feel the leaves in her mouth and…
“Dummeh mawe, wha duin?”
The sudden booming voice took Leaf off-guard, she involuntarily jumped resulting in her falling onto her back, not even getting the leaves she was reaching for. Quickly righting herself up, she looked towards the source of the voice, finding a mixture of elation and worry when staring into the bright red face of Burgundy, her special-friend.
“Speciaw-fwiend. Weaf jus twyin tu git nummies fow babbehs, hab wowstesh tummeh-huwties an…”
Burgundy smacked Leaf with the back of his hoof. “Dummeh mawe, Buh-gun-dee teww yu nu tu weave babbehs awone, yu am bad mummah.”
Leaf whined as she followed Burgundy back into the burrow. “Huu, Weaf nu mean tu, speciaw-fwiend jus am gun fow su wong dat Weaf hab biggesh wowwies. Nu wan babbehs gu foweba sweepies if nu hab enuff miwkies.”
Burgundy snorted as he positioned himself at the back of the burrow, the furthest part from the chilly wind breezing through the opening. Leaf paused for a second as she watched her mate struggle to turn around in their home, his bulk making movement a difficult task. Burgundy didn’t usually have any issues, had their home somehow gotten smaller, or was she just misremembering how big burgundy actually was having not seen him in so long.
With great difficulty, Burgundy found a comfortable spot and dropped down, already out of breath from the minor exercise he’d just went through. Several seconds of silence passed by before Leaf found the courage to speak up.
“Um, speciaw-fwiend, yu hab nummies?”
Burgundy rolled his eyes. “Su gweedy.”
Leaf dropped her head in shame as Burgundy reached into the Fluff on his back and pulled out small twigs of berries, an old, soggy packet of peanuts, and a slice of bread with mould already growing along the edges.
To call it pitiful would be a compliment.
“Um, fank yu speciaw-fwiend… am dewe anee mowe?”
Burgundy stood up, his nostrils flared and his eyes wide. “MOWE? Fwuffy gut u aww dat twubew tu git dis an dummeh mawe wan mowe?”
Leaf cowered in front of her much larger and much stronger mate. “N…nu speciaw-fwiend, jus wan knyo if dewe am mowe fow babbehs, su mummah can make bestesh mikwies.”
Burgundy stomped his hoof, shaking the whole burrow and sending the foals into a crying fit. “Dat am aww Fwuffy couwd find, if mawe nu wike it den Weaf can gu find nummies neks time.”
“NU, nu, dis am… dis am gud.” Leaf quickly dove into the berries, they were clearly old and whithered, tasting more than a little sour, but it was the first meal she’d had in days. “Fank yu speciaw-fwiend fow bwining mummah bestesh nummies.”
Burgundy snorted and lay back down. “Make suwe feed bestesh babbehs fiwst.”
Leaf frowned. “Pwease nu caww him dat speciaw-fwiend, aww babbehs am gud babbehs.”
“BESTESH BABBEH AM BESTESH!” Burgundy yelled out, sending the four weeping foals into sheer panic as they all shit themselves. “He wook wike Buh-gun-dee, dat make him bestesh babbeh.”
Leaf felt something in her, a spark that wanted to ignite and shout back at him that he was wrong, but just as quickly as it came, did it die out, and Leaf was left a shaking mess on the dirt floor of their home.
“Yeh speciaw-fwiend, fank yu speciaw-fwiend.”
“Gud, nyo nu mowe tawkies. An cwean da babbehs up, homesie smeww wike poopies.”
Leaf shakily nodded her head and walked over to the foals, taking each of them one by one and giving them lots of hugs to calm them down, all while licking their shit stained backsides clean. As she was distracted by the foals, Burgundy took the bag of peanuts away from the nummie pile to scoff himself, leaving just the dirt stained mouldy bread for Leaf to have.
Hunger, it seemed, would still a familiar friend for a while longer.
It was a short time later, just when Leaf felt her milkie-places starting to swell, that the parents decided to finally name their children. The four foals were split evenly between boys and girls, the two fillies were an orange earthie with a green mane and a yellow Pegasus with a red mane, while the two colts were a green earthie with an orange mane, and a red unicorn with a blue mane, it was the red unicorn that Burgundy favoured, being his exact double the stallion constantly referred to the foal as the bestesh babbeh.
Leaf knew better, she had seen bestesh babbehs in her childhood herd and she knew how dangerous they could be. She tried to teach her red son better, but Burgundy’s toxic influences proved too strong to resist.
“Bestesh babbeh wan bestesh namesie, gib babbeh namesie fiwst.” The red unicorn bounced on his ass, already slightly tubbier than his siblings.
“Howd on babbeh, mummah stiww finkies bout gud namesies fow babbehs.”
“Ugh, dummeh mummah, huwwy up, bestesh babbeh wan namesie NYO!”
Leaf thought for a moment and suddenly remembered, back when she was a feral living in the city, a nice man with nu-fluff on his top lip gave her a slice of pizza with something red and round and hot on top, the fire inside of her red son reminded her of that fiery kick of the red meat and she knew the best name for him.
“Yu can be Peppawoni nyo.”
To her dismay, Pepperoni looked disappointed. “Dat am dummeh nameies, wai mummah gib bestesh babbeh poopie namesie? Daddeh, bestesh babbeh wan betta namesie.”
Burgundy looked down at his progeny, he thought about it for several moments before coming up with a bright idea.
“Bestesh babbeh wook wike Buh-gun-dee, su yu awe Buh-gun-dee Joo-neh, daddeh caww yu Bee-Jay fow showt.”
Leaf choked on her shocked gasped. “Speciaw-fwiend, Weaf heaw hoomins tawkies befowe. Nu fink Bee-Jay am gud namesie fow…
“Dummeh mummah shuddup.” The newly named B.J. spat out. “Daddeh gib Bee-Jay bestesh namesie, yu nu tawkies bak tu daddeh wike dat.”
Leaf sighed, knowing there was no convincing him of taking any other name now. Instead she turned to her other children, she looked down at her orange daughter first. Despite her frequent tiredness, the orange filly was frequently soft-spoken and friendly, even to her asshole of a brother.
“Yu can Cwemintine, afta owange nummies mummah hab befowe.”
“Fank yu mummah, Cwemintine am pwetty namesie.”
She then turned to her yellow daughter, a sweet little thing who took after Leaf is a lot of ways, primarily in caring for her siblings who she would often cuddle up to during the night to keep warm.
“Babbeh namesie am Hun-ee, cos babbeh am su sweeties.”
“Fank yu mummah, Hun-nee wub namesie.”
Leaf then turned to her final foal, her green son, almost her exact double only her mane was yellow where he was green, he was a timid little thing, the last of his siblings to start talking – almost a day later than everyone else – and with a notoriously weak bladder that B.J. had very quickly taken to bullying him. Leaf loved him all the same but she was careful not to smother him, wanting her son to find her independence. As much as she loved being a mother, she loved the idea of her children growing up to become parents themselves even more.
“Gween babbeh namesie can be…”
“PEE-PEES!” B.J. suddenly burst out, cackling away at his own joke, the green colt immediately burst into tears and hid his hoofs in his hands as he, despite his best efforts not to, pissed himself. Honey and Clementine rushed over hug their brother better.
Leaf glared at B.J., but was horrified to see Burgundy laughing along with him.
“Speciaw-fwiend? Babbeh am bein biggesh meanie tu bwudda, wai yu waughing.”
Burgundy stopped laughing and groaned. “It jus am jokeies, wai mawe make big pwobwem bout it.”
“Cos gween babbeh hab heawt-huwties nyo, Bee-Jay am bad babbeh fow gibben bwudda heawt-huwties, he need say sowwy wight nyo.”
For all his bluster, the look on his mother’s face frightened B.J. enough that he cowered behind his father. Burgundy however stood still against his defiant mate.
“Bestesh babbeh nu need say sowwy fow makin jokeies, if gween babbeh nu su DUMMEH an WEAK, he be waughin tuu.”
The green colt cried even harder at his father’s cruel words. Lead desperately wanted to hug him better, but she daren’t move from Burgundy’s sight.
“Du dummeh mawe stiww wan Bestesh babbeh tu say sowwy?” He growled at her.
Again Leaf felt a spark inside her flare up and burn out, something wanted her to cry out but something even stronger to keep her from doing so.
“Nu speciaw-fwiend, am sowwy speciaw-fwiend.”
“Gud.”
And with that, Burgundy smacked a hoof across Leaf’s face, hard enough to draw blood from a split lip, she was thrown to the side and smacked against the side of the burrow. Clementine rushed over to aid her mother while Honey stayed with her green brother.
“Neba tawkies bak tu Buh-gun-dee eba gain.” The fat red stallion spat at his mate. “Buh-gun-dee du su much fow dis famiwy, yu am jus ungwatefuw. Dummeh gweedy mawe.”
Burgundy kicked dirt into Leaf’s face before making for the exit, B.J. saw his father leaving and panicked. “Daddeh, whewe am guin?”
“Daddeh gu wook fow mowe nummies, sum-wun hab tu wook afta is famiwy afta aww.”
Leaf didn’t even retort, she just cried even harder.
“Take bestesh babbeh wiv yu.” B.J. pleaded. “Nu wan stay hewe wib dummeh mummah an cwy-babbeh bwudda.”
“Nu, homesie need stwong bestesh babbeh tu pwotek whiwe daddeh am gun. Bestesh babbeh need stay hewe and wook afta homesie, need gwow big an stwong wike daddeh. Daddeh nu be wong, onwy few bwite-times tu find nummies.”
Burgundy turned round to face Leaf one final time before he left.
“Twy nu tu gib anee mowe babbehs foweba sweepies whiwe Buh-gun-dee am gun.”
Without waiting for her reply, Burgundy set off into the forest, B.J. stayed at the burrow’s entrance, proudly watching his father disappear from view.
With their father gone, Honey and Clementine brought the unnamed brother closer to Leaf, the four of them sharing in a loving hug-pile.
“Am sowwy mummah.” The green colt sobbed out. “Am sowwy am su dummeh an weak, wan be stwong wike daddeh bu…”
“Nu babbeh.” Leaf cut him off with a soft but firm declaration. “Yu neba be wike daddeh, daddeh am meanie, meanie am neba stwong.”
Leaf reached over and softly licked the tears from her sons eyes. “Babbeh namesie am nyo Twee, cos Twees am stwong, an babbeh am stwong. Stwonga dan mummah eba be.”
The three foals went to protest their mother’s sentiments but she cut them all off with a hug, she didn’t think it was possible to love them anymore than she already did, but seeing how they all cared for each other during their father’s rampage filled her heart with hope.
And somewhere deep inside her, that spark began to flicker once more.
