The Toy Castle chapter 6 (Novelization) (Writer: SqueakyFriend)

The Toy Castle, chapter 6

The Starved Prisoner


With the foals coated in white powder leaving the haunted room was easy, though Snowcone had to fuss a bit to keep Bluey from shaking it out of her fur. She left the bag where it was, just in case Smarty changed his mind and wanted an out later on, and so they went.

As they got back to the food room and Snowcone helped the foals get all the powder out, Bluey blabbered about how kind Smarty had been. How he’d told her stories and kept her safe against the scary white fluffies. Unfortunately, she couldn’t say how she ended up in there - as far as she knew, she had fallen asleep tucked against her father, and woken up among the ghosts. Reddy backed her up - he’d slept in a fluffpile with his family and awoken alone on a platform above certain death.

It made no sense, but then again, nothing in this place did. Snowcone tried not to let it get to her - she had to save the rest of the babies and then find a way out, somewhere back to the herd and far away.

With a brief pause to let Bluey grab something to eat, during which Snowcone had to nudge her away from the sweet green water, the group moved on down the only other path available.

Another hallway, wide and bright and colorful - wider than the others, even. Despite its warm, inviting air, Snowcone shivered. Anything inviting was bad in the castle.

There were no doors and pictures dotted the walls. It was like a normal, empty room that just happened to stretch onward for a really long time. Chandeliers hung in the ceiling, and cheerful music of a kind she’d never heard was playing from somewhere far away.

“Pwetty,” whispered Bluey, eyes sparkling. Snowcone didn’t correct her, just walking onward.

Even though she had prepared for something bad to happen, it still caught her off guard when she saw the cage. It sat against the wall near the middle of the room and looked almost like a pillar, long thin bars like those of a bird cage stretching all the way up to the ceiling. She had thought it was just a strange decoration until she got closer, able to see through the bars to what sat within. Snowcone slowed to a stop, the talkie foals continuing for a few steps before noticing and stopping themselves.

Pressed against the bars, gaze fixed on the group, paced a thin, brown fluffy. His clumped fur was ragged, ribs poking out as though they’d tear through the skin. His jaw and chest were a mess of dried blood, and his eyes …

Snowcone felt the shudder ripple all the way out to her tail. The fluffy’s eyes were crazed and desperate, yet prickling with tears. She had only seen ones like it once before - when the herd had stumbled onto a mare eating her own foals. She had been paper thin and as they confronted her she had cried, her crazed gaze staggering back and forth as she called her actions necessary.

The herd had passed her over, seeing her as a horrid and cruel being. Some of the toughies had even hit her. But later, when nobody could find food and the hunger pains set in, Snowcone had begun to wonder if they had really judged her correctly.

She was torn out of the memory by a loud BANG. Bluey had gone closer to the cage and now shrieked as the brown fluffy slammed himself against the bars, snapping at her. At once Snowcone rushed forward and shoved the foal away, dragging both Reddy and Bluey to a safe distance.

This fluffy was a foal eater, of that she was sure. The way his gaze was fixed on the babies, how drool slipped from his jaws and his shallow breathing quickened as he pawed between the bars, there was no questioning it.

And yet as she ushered the foals away, continuing down the hall, Snowcone couldn’t stop thinking of the mare her herd had rejected. Hunched over and eating her own children, starved to the point of despair, crying that she had no other choice.

They were leaving him to die. Desperate baby eater, starving to death in a cage. Helpless. The mare must have died too, with the wounds the toughies gave her. Were they doing the right thing? She had her own to protect, and yet.

And yet.

And yet.

… She couldn’t. Snowcone stopped and turned back.

“Snowcone?” asked Reddy. “Whewe going?”

“Sno’cone hewping hungwy fwuffy?” asked Bluey.

“Thewe wots of nummies in othew woom,” Snowcone replied. Maybe he would still go for the foals, but her wounds had healed enough she could fight back. She wouldn’t let him hurt anyone, just give him a chance. Snowcone ran back to the dinner room and grabbed hold of the table cloth, yanking and pulling all she could to drag the food with her.

It didn’t work, of course, but rather just broke off part of the cloth in her mouth. Another method was needed - not knowing what the fluffy would like best, Snowcone stashed some fruits and berries in her fur, careful not to place them onto the two foals still resting there. Then she took a big piece of meat in her mouth and went back.

Meat tasted weird. It was fatty and raw, damp from something she didn’t want to think closer about. But soon she had returned; Reddy and Bluey met her halfway and they found the brown fluffy pacing again, endlessly turning in circles as his cage didn’t allow for more. As he saw them approach he stopped, staring at them with that same desperately hungry look.

Snowcone carefully put down her food haul, gave the babies to Reddy and Bluey and ushered them far away, and then approached. There was a small, small latch on the cage, and she hesitated on touching it. But she couldn’t just leave him in there, so after gathering her courage and preparing to fight, she pushed the latch up and let the cage swing open.

At once the fluffy tore loose, slamming Snowcone aside and knocking the wind out of her, and then he was upon the food. He dug into the meat and ripped it apart without even chewing, and only when it was all gone did he seem to calm down, slumping down onto the floor.

“… Thank yu,” he whispered, his voice shallow and quivering. “Thank yu.”

“Fwuffy… nu eat babbehs?” asked Bluey. “Am nice fwuffy?”

“Jus’ so hungwy,” said the fluffy, tiredly looking between the foals and Snowcone. With his hunger sated, he looked almost normal. “Am sowwy fow twying tu eat babbeh. Was just su hungwy.”

He felt different from the others Snowcone had met. Nobody else had been in a cage, had suffered so … physically. The other fluffies had talked about wishes, about asking for something, and she had to ask. “… Did fwuffy make wish?”

“Nu. Nu haf chance.” He shook his head. Snowcone frowned. If he hadn’t made a wish, then why was he like this?

“What happen?”

The fluffy met her eyes, carrying tints of sorrow and hatred alike. “Made mistake. Smawty twusted munstah.”

“Munstah?”

He nodded, sitting down and narrowing his eyes at the floor. “Hewd wose babbehs. Smawty went tu get babbehs back, but stwange fwuffy wanted tu hewp.” He sneered. “Was stupid tu agwee.”

A strange fluffy. Someone who had suggested helping, then betrayed him. Snowcone almost didn’t want to say the name. “… Wawa?”

The way the smarty stiffened and hissed told her the answer before he even spoke, his head snapping up with a sharp glare. “Nu twust Wawa! Nu am fwuffy, am munstah!”

It was intense enough that Snowcone backed up, suddenly fearful of him lunging at her, and he seemed to notice. He slumped, glowering at the floor. “Wawa kept smawty twapped, waughed an’ taunted. Onwy gif enuff nummies tu keep smawty awive.”

It was cruel. It was beyond cruel, the kind of evil only humans were thought capable of. Trying to ascribe such actions to a fluffy, even a fluffy-shaped monster, left Snowcone numb.

Perhaps the smarty again saw how she felt, because he suddenly changed topic. “Smawty nu wiww wet Wawa kiww any mowe babbehs. Can keep kind mawe’s babbehs safe.”

“Mawe’s name am Sno’cone!” Bluey chimed in. “Sno’cone am nice an’ pway wif babbehs wots!”

Snowcone pushed down the numbness for later, focusing on what was best for her protegees. The smarty seemed kind enough, filled with determination, and she knew the dangers she may face ahead. Was it worth the risk of trusting another stranger? “Du babbehs wan stay with smawty ow Snowcone? Wiww scout ahead, an’ come back fow babbehs when suwe it’s safe.”

“Bwuey stay wif smawty,” Bluey agreed. “Smawty huwt an’ wonewy, nee’ huggies!”

“Weddy stay wif Snowcone!” declared Reddy, puffing himself up. “Know is dangew, but nee’ keep Snowcone an’ babbehs safe!”

“… Yu haf gud babbehs,” smiled the smarty. Snowcone nodded.

“Nu am Snowcone’s babbehs. Am hewd’s babbehs.” A flash of understanding crossed the smarty’s face. “Snowcone entew tu scout, but …”

He nodded empathically. “Smawty wiww pwotect babbehs untiw de end. Nu wowwy.”

“Thank yu.”

With Reddy by her side and a heart weighed with thoughts, Snowcone bid her goodbyes and moved on, hoping dearly that she hadn’t made another mistake.


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10 Likes

ooo another amazing chapter!

personal theory

Wawa is evil because when he asked to be stronger than all monsters, the Wish creature gave him the strength of a monster but the mind of a (munstah) human. That’s why he is so evil, clever, and charming - a perfect abuser in a fluffy’s body

Stronger than all monsters both physically and mentally, if you will

5 Likes