The Toy Castle chapter 9 (Novelization) (Writer: SqueakyFriend)

The Toy Castle, chapter 9

Wawa’s Finale


It didn’t feel real. Deep red stains that were still fresh, small and scattered where the foals should have been, and in the middle of it were the pastel colors that made Snowcone’s stomach churn. A sky blue and seafoam green fluffy, standing over a green chirpy foal.

“Wawa!” she called, and Wawa paused. His deep blue eyes trailed over to her as he placed a bloody hoof back on the floor. “Nu huwt babbeh!”

He slowly glanced to the foal at his hooves, then back to Snowcone. “Dis babbeh?” he asked, then broke into a kind-hearted smile. “Otay.”

Wawa put a foreleg to the foal and then kicked, sending the little furball rolling to Snowcone’s hooves. It was peeping in distress, but she didn’t comfort it. Rather, with the baby safe, she was looking at the other babies. The little blue and pink ones had been dragged out onto the floor and crushed, the same fate that had almost awaited her green protegee. The other stains, scattered about, almost seemed just for show.

At least until she noticed the limbless torso lying in one of them.

Snowcone’s brain refused to register it. That Reddy, poor brave Reddy who had stuck by her and helped her so much, was dead. Torn apart and scattered like some gruesome jigsaw puzzle. That her sister’s son was gone, killed so horribly she couldn’t even bring his corpse back. It just didn’t sound true, even though she could see the pieces.

Again Wawa had taken everything from her. And now he sat there, watching her for a reply with that smile on his face. Unable to tear her gaze from what he had done, Snowcone choked out the only word she could think of.

“Hatechu.”

Wawa chuckled lightly, tilting his head in a show of innocence. “Wawa feews da same way.”

For some reason, that was what broke her. Not the deaths, not her struggles, but a calm retort said as cheerfully as a thank-you, confirming that his actions were ones of spite. He had spared her just to kill those she protected. To tear apart the one she kept closest. And for what? Why? She hadn’t even done anything. Nobody had done anything. So why? Why?

“Why?!” Snowcone screamed, tears filling her eyes. “Babbehs nu huwt yu! Snowcone nu huwt yu! If yu hate Snowcone fow wingy den fine but why huwt babbehs?!”

Wawa stood, his gaze even and casual. “Babbeh wishes awe da most dangewous. Babbehs wish fow anything dey want. Hugs… Nummies… Stwength.”

Wishes. Again with that. All of this was because of wishes? As though he was doing them a favor by killing them!?

“Nu even want stupid wishes!” cried Snowcone, stomping a hoof in Wawa’s general direction. Her voice was cracking and she didn’t care. “Just wan’ get babbehs an’ go home!!”

He stopped for a moment, simply watching her. What his expression was, she couldn’t tell; his face was unreadable and tears blurred Snowcone’s sight.

“Dat’s tuu bad,” he finally said. “Nu cawe about dat.”

Snowcone had no reply, she just kept crying. Somewhere along the line she had sat down and picked up the green foal, hugging it to herself. “Hatechu,” she sobbed. “Hatechu…”

There was no answer. When Wawa left, she didn’t even notice. And as her tears dried, a part of her kept expecting a little red hoof on her flank, and a concerned little voice to ask if she was okay. But that couldn’t happen.

Reddy was gone.

Reddy was lying in pieces around her.

She didn’t want to look, she just wanted to leave and never turn back. And yet, before Snowcone moved on, she collected Reddy and put him together as well as she could in the fluffy bed.


Mint still hadn’t moved one hoof from where she was dropped; she lit up when Snowcone returned, but her delight quickly faded. “Whewe bwuddah?”

Aside from a slow headshake, Snowcone didn’t answer. In her mouth she carried the little green foal Wawa had spared, and her thoughts were elsewhere.

“… Whewe bwuddah?” Mint repeated, either not understanding or not willing to acknowledge the thought. Snowcone stashed the green foal into her fluff as she found and picked up the one who had clung to her - a yellow little chirpy, fur matted with blood but thankfully unharmed. Snowcone placed it on her back with its sibling without cleaning it; she was beyond cleaning anyway, a little more wouldn’t matter. Besides, the only blood she wanted to taste now was Wawa’s.

“Sno’cone…?” Mint’s voice had grown near pleading.

“Weddy am gone,” she answered. Actually saying it out loud felt so much worse than thinking it. “… Weddy wun into big munstah. Wowst munstah.”

“Wowse dan meanie munchy munstah?” asked Mint, eyes wide. Snowcone glanced briefly to the collapsed platform where the cannibal had been crushed.

“Much,” she nodded after a moment.

There was nothing worse than Wawa. She was sure of that, now. Even as she pulled Mint along, passing through the room and into the cracked facade of colorful cheer that lay beyond, her heart was cold.

It wasn’t like the numbness she’d felt before. It was focused, a pin-point determination to stop Wawa from ever causing harm again. The only way to keep her foals safe.

It wasn’t long before she found a good hiding place. A little table with a cloth that stretched to the floor. Normally she wouldn’t have thought much of it, but she’d experienced firsthand the consequences of bringing foals too far. Of not being fast enough, of not being given the time to find safety, of carrying the foals into danger. All with the consequence of dead children.

No more. Not a single foal more would die.

“Stay hewe.” Snowcone pushed Mint deep in below the table and placed the foals with her. “Nu move, nu wet chiwpies weave, nu mattew what. Eben if yu heaw pwetty songs ow Snowcone’s voice, nu say anything and nu move. Undewstand?”

“M-Mint undewstand,” the little foal nodded fearfully. Snowcone nodded back and stepped away from the table, letting the table cloth drop and adjusting it gently - nobody would be able to tell there were foals beneath it.

And Snowcone moved on. For the first time since Wawa’s door trap she was alone, and that fact only strengthened her resolve. She didn’t check side paths or open doors this time; finding new foals would only put them in danger as long as Wawa was around.

Finally the hallway opened into one room, then another, and Snowcone found herself in a room full of pipes. What they were for, she couldn’t know. The room carried a strange smell and on the floor was a shallow ditch, as though someone had carved a path for a stream just like the one in the garden. There was no door, but the ditch carved through the walls and created its own path forward.

On the bright side, it wasn’t inviting.

Snowcone climbed into the ditch and walked on.

It was when the path opened up into another room that things began to feel wrong. The ditch had widened into a canal now, broad enough to fit three fluffies and so deep that she couldn’t see what was above her. The thoughts of a trap intruded on Snowcone’s mind and when she saw a small set of stairs climbing to the floor above she ran up them at once; she noticed a click as she went, and no sooner had she escaped than a roar of water filled her ears.

The ditch had overflowed in an instant, and Snowcone stared at it in horror before raising her head. She found herself in a maze of sorts, a multitude of platforms separated by a sprawling network of water canals. On each platform were levers, and sitting on the platform opposite hers, his forelegs resting on the lever, was the sky-blue monster she’d been looking for.

“Dat’s new,” Wawa said, sounding as infuriatingly good-natured as ever with a smile that told her why the canal flooded. “Nevew seen yu wiffout babbehs befowe, Snowcone. Whewe am yu gween babbeh?”

“Whewe am yu wing?” Snowcone snapped back, bristling. Wawa’s smile faded into a glare; for a moment Snowcone thought he’d attack, but the stream between them was too wide to cross.

She felt vaguely thankful. A head-on fight would be impossible - Snowcone had lost to him before, and that was with the element of surprise. And that was before she got caught in a fight with a cannibal.

Besides, like this neither could reach the other. Wawa paced, increasingly frustrated, before throwing his switch the other way - another click and the flow of water began to ebb and disappear, with Wawa heading for the canal stairs.

But her side had a lever too, and thinking quickly Snowcone pushed it down. The roar of water returned full force, causing Wawa to jump back so as not to be caught in it. As well, a loud thunk sounded nearby as a few metal wall rose into the canal, preventing the path next to Snowcone from flooding. Wawa glowered, but throwing his switch again did nothing.

However, the path next to Wawa was equally dry and thus, both fluffies could move between platforms. Wawa quickly ran across his canal to the neighboring platform, and Snowcone followed suit - above all, she needed to prevent him from trapping or reaching her. Before she had gotten across fully she heard the click of Wawa throwing another lever, and the wall keeping the water from her fell.

Snowcone barely managed to escape, clinging to the stairs as the water slammed against her hind legs. Dragging herself up to safety, she looked around and saw another lever, rushing over and all but tackling it to change the water’s flow once more.

This was how it continued. Snowcone did what she could to block off Wawa’s paths and keep her own clear, guessing at what each lever changed, while he seemed to know what they did - he’d wait for her to leave the safety of the platforms before flooding the canal she was at, and when Snowcone had access to a lever, Wawa wouldn’t enter the canals unless he knew he was safe.

But the more times he failed to drown or reach her, the more frustrated Wawa became. He grew increasingly reckless, growling and glaring as he rushed from one platform to the next, until he ended up in the wide middle canal. He was too far from any stairs to escape as Snowcone threw herself onto a switch, opening the floodgates beside him.

She didn’t even see what happened. His shocked gasp was drowned by the roar of water and his blue fur color blended with the waves as he was swept away. It took Snowcone several seconds to realize that the fluffy was no longer trying to drown and trap her.

Ensuring she had a clear path, taking a few long seconds to recover her breath, Snowcone continued. She found Wawa in the water by the exit; he was alive, clinging desperately to the edge of the canal, struggling not to be swept away.

“S-Snowcone…! Hewp!” he pleaded, eyes full of fear. Real fear. Snowcone sat and watched him, musing on that; even a monster could be afraid of drowning. With the waves dragging at his fur, it was clear Wawa couldn’t hold on for very long. “Pwease…!”

He had saved her from a situation like this once, Snowcone thought. Scrabbling, hanging over certain death with Reddy in her mouth. He had watched her for a long, long time, but he had pulled her up to safety. Saved them both.

Saying nothing, Snowcone simply watched as Wawa held on until his grip began to falter. Until finally, he got dragged into the waves and disappeared from sight.

Snowcone lay and watched the water for a few minutes longer before leaving.


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11 Likes

Fucking finally! I hope he meets a gruesome end with the hundreds of fluffies he’s trapped