The Toy Castle, chapter 7
A Veil of Hatred
As she trotted down the hall, Snowcone couldn’t feel her steps.
She knew she was taking them, just like she knew Reddy was running alongside her. But she couldn’t feel it, and all she could think of was Wawa. How he had tortured someone. How he had saved her, only to harm her. How he had stood over a dead foal and claimed it wasn’t his fault.
“Snowcone?” Reddy asked, ears pinned down. “Am yu otay?”
“… Am otay.” She tried to press the thoughts down, but they just bubbled back up. Had he saved her just for his own amusement? As another toy to starve in a cage? Had he stood there when she cried for help in the dark room, listening as she tore her hooves open on the door?
Snowcone frowned, her gaze mindlessly sweeping over the carpet as they walked. No new foals in sight, not that she could focus on looking very hard.
As the carpet shifted color and they stepped into a new room, Snowcone forced herself to raise her head and exhale. She couldn’t keep thinking about this; if she missed foals she’d never forgive herself, and if she was killed by a monster none of this would matter.
The room they entered was cluttered, boxes and sheets in colorful fabrics scattered like an obstacle course, and -
A heavy sense of dread filled Snowcone as she heard singing. The song was similar to the music in the starved smarty’s room, a cheerful half-hummed tune inviting dance, but it was the voice itself that filled her throat with bile.
Somewhere in the room, Wawa was singing.
“Snowcone…” whispered Reddy, pressing against her side. “W-Weddy heaw Wawa… Same song dat Wawa was singing when wook fow babbehs…”
Gently brushing against the foal with her tail, Snowcone forced herself to walk forward. Thankfully, the many boxes and obstacles provided ideal hiding places and she moved carefully not to be noticed until she could catch sight of Wawa.
It felt numb, like she wasn’t even the one looking at him. The monster fluffy was just casually singing to himself, calmly searching his surroundings. The lyrics to his song, he seemed to make up as he went - humming about foals and how he was safe to approach.
The realization of what he was doing came slowly, cracking through the numbness and spreading through Snowcone’s veins like magma. A tiny chirp ended the song and Wawa walked to a sheet, dragging out a tiny yellow foal with a cheerful smile.
“Found yu!” he declared as the smile grew wider, wider than any fluffy could smile. He lifted a hoof and placed it above the foal, then-
Snowcone shrieked as she sprang out of hiding and attacked. Wawa was stronger and faster, but he was caught off guard; she slammed into his side and bit down on a wing with all her strength, her own wings buzzing. Wawa yelped and stumbled aside, trying to swat her off or bite back, but couldn’t get nearly as good a grip as she had on him.
She clung and jerked her head, tearing at what she had grabbed - feeling the muscles beneath tense and wiggle as Wawa tried to throw her off, this time catching hold of her tail. The taste of metal seeping into her mouth was accompanied by the sickly noise of flesh and skin being torn, and then a snap as she was hurled away from her opponent.
Wawa’s cry of pain reached her before the realization that she still held his left wing in her jaws, only a bleeding hole left on Wawa’s back. He was steadying himself, staring her down with a piercing hatred. “Yu …!”
Good. She felt the same way. Her heart was bubbling lava.
She could put it all together, now. How he had only watched as she did the dangerous parts.
How long he had paused before pulling her from the pit, only to ask how many foals there were to find.
How he had pushed her down the stairs knowing full well it’d kill the foals with her, then searched for the ones she hid away.
How he had suggested splitting up, and then lied to her face when she found him standing over a corpse with bloody red hooves.
How everything he did was to murder everyone Snowcone was trying to protect.
“Munstah,” she whispered as she dropped the wing, spitting not to leave any feathers or fur. Wawa didn’t answer, snarling as his ears flipped back. For a moment she thought he’d just run, but then he sprinted straight at her - she dodged aside, and the other fluffy screeched to a halt as he turned to follow only to be headbutted.
This time she bit for his throat, but the fluff was thick and she couldn’t get a good grip. A hoof slammed into her shoulder and forced her away, followed by another tackle; Snowcone tried to dodge again, but he was too fast and too close, his horn digging through her skin.
Adrenaline blocked off the pain, Snowcone snapping for Wawa’s ears to rip another piece of him out, but he tore himself free and backed off. Snowcone followed in an instant and tackled him, the two fluffies rolling together in a bundle of hooves and teeth. Wawa caught hold of Snowcone’s wing but only managed to rip out feathers and fur, while Snowcone aimed for anything in range and bit down hard on limbs and neck alike.
Nothing else mattered; this was a monster, a creature pretending to be a fluffy who tormented and killed those it befriended, and she wanted to end it here and now. It made her sloppy, blinded her to his movements, and that was what lead to her loss - as she snapped for his throat a hoof slammed her head into the floor and then Wawa was standing on her chest, pinning her down.
For a few moments both were silent, the only sounds their heavy breathing as they glared. Red hot blood dripped from Wawa’s mouth where a good hit had made him bite his tongue, bite wounds on his forelegs and his previously pretty fur uneven and torn. Snowcone didn’t fare much better; her white fur was marred with blood from new and reopened wounds alike, and one of her ears felt unresponsive as though ripped in half.
Her head was fuzzy from that last hit, but she couldn’t help but notice that the inside of Wawa’s mouth was the same blue hue as his hateful eyes. How did she not see it before? Wings or horn, no fluffy looked like that. “… Munstah.”
For a moment Wawa’s eyes narrowed and he pressed down, a painful ache that made Snowcone realize how easy he could cave her ribs into her body, but then he paused. He glanced to the side, and Snowcone followed his gaze.
He was looking right at where Reddy sat huddled, the yellow chirpie hugged to his body, staring at the two in terror. Snowcone skipped a breath. Caught up in her rage, she had forgotten about the foals.
“Dun be siwwy, Snowcone,” Wawa suddenly said, snapping Snowcone’s attention back to him. He was smiling, but it wasn’t the kind-hearted expression he’d used to trick her. His eyes were narrow and full of spite, his smile too thin and too wide, and he stared down at her with a voice full of cruelty. “Thewe’s nu such thing as munstahs. Onwy fwuffies.”
Before she could respond he had stepped off, giving her a final sharp kick in the side as he walked away. Why he would spare her, Snowcone didn’t know. She curled up on her side, coughing and wrapping her hooves around herself. Blood dripped from her shoulder and wing, and something wet seeping down her head confirmed her right ear had been torn up.
The entire time she recovered her breath, Reddy was watching her. Even after Wawa was gone the fear didn’t leave his eyes, and it took her some time to realize who that fear was aimed at.
“Weddy?” She dragged herself to her hooves and approached the two foals, heart breaking just a little bit as Reddy squeaked and quickly hid behind a sheet. “What’s wong…? Am Snowcone. Wemembew?”
“Scawy…” whimpered Reddy, but did at least peek out. “Snowcone suddenwy wun at Wawa an’ attack, an’ had scawy meanie wook in eyes. Nu wisten when Weddy caww, an’ awmost huwt babbeh fighting befowe Weddy hewp…”
Snowcone slumped to a sit. She had been so caught up in the flood of rage nothing else had mattered. Not the foals, not protecting anyone, just killing Wawa. Even if she had won, it would have been by ripping Wawa’s throat out or crushing his head right in front of young children.
“… Am sowwy.”
“Snowcone otay now?” Reddy asked carefully. “Fow weaw otay? Nu cweepy bad otay?”
She couldn’t help it. Snowcone reached over and pulled the foal to herself, hugging him close. “Snowcone nu wiww gu mad again. Am otay now, pwomise.”
“Nu scawy fight anymowe?”
“Nu scawy fight.”
Now that the adrenaline and hatred was fading, Snowcone’s bruises and wounds were beginning to ache. She tried not to show it; her back had hurt for so long she couldn’t let it stop her here, and the other wounds weren’t as deep. Just lost fur, lost feathers.
Wherever Wawa had gone, whatever he was planning, she had a bad feeling that she needed to find the rest of the foals as fast as possible.
