The Toy Castle, chapter 2
Wire-thin Walkways
“Snowcone feew bettew?”
Wawa eyed Snowcone’s back, and she shook her head. He was carrying the foals while she recovered, the stab wound leaving her too tender to do it herself. Despite removing the sharp splinters, her wound still burned and moving made it hurt all the worse.
Yet, she didn’t want to rest for too long. She only had one day, and she didn’t know how much time had already passed. They had taken a brief rest to let her recuperate, but it left her antsy. She wanted to get going, and so she soon nodded. “Snowcone can move.”
“Otay,” noted Wawa. “Whewe do yu wanna go?”
Pushing herself up to her hooves with a wince, Snowcone glanced up toward the stairway. She didn’t find it as pretty anymore, and not just because of the holes. Yet, if there were foals up there, she wanted to get them as soon as possible. She wanted to be done with those stairs and never think of them again.
“Awe yu suwe?” Wawa asked, tilting his head to the side. Snowcone steeled herself.
“… Yus.”
“Otay, then.” With that, Wawa moved onto the second stair step. Before Snowcone could ask she had a seafoam-green tail tickling her snout, Wawa looking back toward her. “Wawa wiww wead de way, howd onto taiw.”
Snowcone bit into the tail and at once, Wawa began to climb the stairs. All she had to do was follow, somewhat stumbling as she was pulled up the steps. It was a bit faster than she expected; Wawa seemed to know which parts were safe and didn’t need to look for proper footing, and Snowcone had trouble holding on until they reached the top.
Once there, Wawa stopped and stared as Snowcone pulled herself up next to him. She was about to ask what was wrong, but the words died before they ever came out.
Whatever was supposed to be on the second floor was gone. The carpet was torn and most of the floor ripped up, leaving a huge hole hastily patched with thin planks. It was like a web laid over a pit, narrow pathways crossing over nothingness.
“Dis is new,” murmured Wawa, taking a few steps forward and testing one of the planks as Snowcone crept to the edge to look down. She couldn’t see any debris below, but there was a terrible smell and though she couldn’t make out what was there, a pair of eyes glinted in the darkness. Something was there, something wrong and bad, and suddenly she didn’t want to know what it was.
“… Shud be abwe to cwoss hewe,” said Wawa, carefully walking onto the plank he had chosen. He stopped halfway across to look back at Snowcone, wiggling his tail. “Snowcone coming?”
She didn’t want to. As soon as they stepped onto the planks they would break and the fluffies would fall to their deaths - even without whatever was down there, the distance was long enough to kill on impact. Thoughts of only barely surviving, lying with shattered bones on a bed of splinters as a monster loomed over her, left Snowcone quivering.
At least until she heard the sobbing.
Chirpy foals didn’t sob. They chirped and peeped, cried in distress, but they didn’t sob. Snowcone stood up straight, ears perking as she looked for the sound’s source. And then she saw him. A red talkie foal, huddled and covering his face with his hooves, sat trapped on a small platform deep within the web of walkways. Reddy, one of her sister’s foals.
Summoning all her courage, Snowcone began to follow Wawa onto the plank. It felt wobbly under her hooves, and she couldn’t help but look down - at the uneven terrain below, at the unknown eyes trailing her movements. Expectant, waiting. She only managed a few steps before stopping, hooves unsteady and coming much too close to the edges.
“Snowcone,” said Wawa, snapping her out of her unease. “Dis way, gwab Wawa’s taiw.”
Right, the tail. Snowcone gingerly took a few steps more, enough to reach and snag the seafoam tail between her teeth. As Wawa began to walk again she followed his pace - having a rhythm to follow helped, as did being unable to stare down at the abyss below.
“Howd on tight,” urged Wawa. “Nu want to faww.”
Yes, of course. Snowcone spread her wings to stay balanced and only when they reached solid ground once more, a section of the floor that had not yet been torn down, did she dare unclench her teeth. “… Thank yu.”
She looked around as Wawa walked onward, and paused. There was another foal, a purple chirpy foal, lying on a plank that half stuck out over the pit. Part of her wanted to ask Wawa for aid, but … The foal wasn’t that far out. She could do this.
Slowly and carefully, Snowcone began to ease her way onto the plank, but it wobbled and shifted under her weight. The purple foal wiggled for anything to hold onto, cheeping helplessly as the wobbling plank bounced it closer to the abyss.
Horror rippling through her fur, Snowcone quickly laid down and hugged onto the plank to slow its movements. She couldn’t go out there – she needed another solution, and only one came to mind. “B-Babbeh…”
The little foal peeped, but its ears twitched. Snowcone prodded further. “Dis way, babbeh, pwease come to Snowcone. Nu am safe thewe.”
Recognizing her voice as a source of love and warmth, the foal began to move. With tiny chirps, spurred by Snowcone’s gentle encouragements, it slowly crawled its way across the plank until she was able to pick it up in a hug.
The tiny ball of fur nestled right into Snowcone and fell asleep, secure in her warm fluff, and she felt a little sorry for it as she transferred the baby to her mouth. It cheeped in protest, but she had no choice - she didn’t dare leave the baby where it could fall off, not up here. With the foal securely held between her jaws Snowcone sought out Wawa, and soon found him standing at the very edge of the platform.
“Wawa,” she said as she caught up, placing her new charge down. “Found anothew babbeh.”
“Oh- good job. Hewe, wet Wawa howd it.”
“What am Wawa doing?” Snowcone looked out from where they stood as she handed the foal away - the sobbing talkie foal Reddy was so close, just one long plank separating them.
“… Haf bad news,” Wawa replied. “Dat pwank nu can cawwy two fwuffies.”
Snowcone winced. He was right; the plank carried deep cracks, similar to the stairs that had broken under Snowcone’s weight. It was hard to imagine even one fluffy could cross safely.
Once again part of her wanted to ask Wawa to go, but this wasn’t a chirpy baby. Talkie babies could see; they knew how to speak, how to fear. Sending a scary fluffy like Wawa might panic the foal and send it scrambling right into the abyss.
“Weddy!” she tried calling, hoping to maybe use the same tactic as before. “Weddy, dis way! Come to Snowcone, pwease!”
The sobbing didn’t end. She tried again. “Babbeh! Weddy babbeh, can yu heaw? Yu mummah am wowwied! Am Snowcone, do yu wemembew? Can hewp!”
“Tuu scawed,” blubbered Reddy between sobs. “Tuu scawed, nu wan faww, nu wan move!”
Snowcone’s ears flattened. He wasn’t coming. There really was only one way, and that was for her to cross. She took a deep breath.
She’d done fine with Wawa leading her, so she just had to pretend he was walking ahead of her. She consciously refused to look down, wings spread out far to the sides as she stepped onto the plank and began to walk. Right, left, moving in a calm rhythm. Right, left, don’t look down, straight ahead. Ignore the creaking, the bending, right, left.
It was only the ‘thuff’ of her hoof striking carpet instead of wood that told her she’d reached the other side. She let out a breath she didn’t realize she’d been holding and looked down to the little foal, pulling him into a hug. “Nu cwy… Is otay now. Am safe.”
Reddy sniffled. “Nu wiww faww?”
“Nu wiww faww. Snowcone wiww hewp yu cwoss.”
“… O-Otay.”
Holding the baby in her mouth, Snowcone began to walk back. Same tactic as before; right, left, walking in a rhythm. Ignore the creaking, don’t look down.
Except when she stepped over a crack, she felt her hoof sink through. A loud snap confirmed the worst case scenario - the plank was breaking. Panic surged through Snowcone’s mind as she leapt forward, hoping to close the last distance and buzzing her wings as hard as she could, but it wasn’t enough. Her panicked scrabbles let her front hooves latch onto the edge of the platform but that was all; she found herself swinging helplessly, struggling to hold on.
She couldn’t fall. Not here! Not like this! But she lacked the strength to pull herself up, or even hold on for long. She wanted to cry for help but not even that was possible, not unless she wanted to drop Reddy to his death. He was wailing, squirming in a panic, and she had to struggle just to keep hold of him.
Wawa… Please…! she begged quietly, looking up with tear-filled eyes. She could see him, staring down at her from the edge, but he was unmoving and his gaze indecipherable. Why? Why wouldn’t he move? Why wouldn’t he help her? She whimpered in an effort to plead without words.
Finally, Wawa seemed to decide. He leaned down and grabbed her foreleg in his hooves, pulling up until he could bite down on her scruff. From there he dragged her up and back to safe ground; despite being her size he was much stronger than her, like a toughy trapped in a normal fluffy’s body.
Sprawling out onto the soft carpet, Snowcone finally released the foal and tried to stabilize her hitching breath. Wawa simply watched, letting her recover for a few seconds before speaking. “Yu otay, Snowcone?”
She rubbed her eyes with her hooves, trying to get rid of the lingering tears. “… Wan go back down.”
She never wanted to be up here again.