The foals had been walking along the edge of the road for who knows how long, occasionally ducking down to hide under their hoofs whenever a car passed by. They didn’t stop at any house to see if it was theirs, having blind faith that their daddy would be waiting outside of it for them.
“Bewwy nu wike metah-munstahs! Wan gu home!”
“Tuwip miss mummah! Wan daddeh!”
The complaints had started up shortly after they had started walking and had only gotten more frequent. Spike wanted to complain along with his brother and sister, but he knew he needed to set an example if they were to get out of this.
“Hoofies hab huwties fwom su many walkies! Tuwip nee’ west weggies!”
“Nu west hewe, wook fo’ safe pwace. Babbehs nee’ hide fwom munstahs.”
The trio looked around for a safe place to rest, but right before they gave up they heard a man’s voice coming from one of the houses, “Alright! This should be the second to last load and then I’m good to go. Never thought I’d be living in the city, even if it is just a few miles away.”
A man carrying a small open cardboard box with the word fragile written on the side left the house and walked over to the street where a car was parked. The end of the driveway was covered in boxes, though none were taped up. The man gently placed the box on the grass and went back inside the house. The tired foals looked over the field of boxes in wonder and Spike got an idea from the small open box.
“Babbehs safe in boxie, den babbehs west weggies!”
The other two foals cheered at this foolproof plan and got to work to find a way inside the box. The lip of the box was just short enough for the foals to reach it by hopping to it from the sidewalk. Inside was a large supply of packing peanuts and an ornate plate hidden beneath them. The three felt safe and secure for approximately one minute and then they heard the man coming back.
“Hoomin hewe, babbehs nee’ hide in wittwe not-fwuff bawws!”
“Wha if hoomin nice mistah?”
“Wha if hoomin MEANIE mistah, wike meanie wady?”
Berry and Tulip both shuddered at the memory and began to bury themselves in the packing peanuts. The man began packing up his car with the boxes, closing each one that he picked up but only using the minimum amount of tape on each of them. Eventually he came to the box containing the three hidden foals; and just like with the others he closed the lid, put a piece of tape over it, and packed it in the back of his car. As soon as the lid was closed the inside of the box became much darker, startling the now not-so-well hidden foals.
“Bewwy nu wike boxie nu mowe! Nu wike dawkies! Wan out!”
That’s when the car engine started up and put all of the foals in a panic, which caused a considerable amount of scaredy pee-pees.
“Huuhuu! Metah-munstah num babbehs! Bwuddah save Tuwip!”
However, Spike was just as terrified of their situation as his brother and sister, “Spike nu knu wha du! Huuhuuhuu!”
So the siblings endured the thirty minute car ride in a dark ‘no smell pretty sorry-box’. When they reached their destination the man began to unpack but stopped and reflexively held his nose when he picked up the small fragile box.
“What in the world?! When did decorative plates start smelling this bad?”
When the man opened the box he was greeted with three crying baby fluffies covered in dried poop and pee, “Oh you have got to be kidding me! How did you even get in there?! That doesn’t matter, get off of my plate you disgusting vermin!”
The man took out a handkerchief and picked each one up and plopped them down roughly on the sidewalk, “Now get out of here and don’t bother me again, or else you’ll end up part of the sidewalk!”
At the furious statement the three scared foals dashed away into a nearby alleyway, so as not to anger the man any more. Once out of sight the siblings got into a group hug and cried tears of fear and relief. After they had calmed down enough they surveyed where they were, only to come to the conclusion: “Spike nu knu dis pwace, nu see pwetty twees o’ gwassies, onwy see wots o’ big housies.”
As Spike tried to think of where to go next, a new problem presented itself to the trio.
“Bwuddah? Bewwy hungwy, wan miwkies.”
“Tuwip hab tummie huwties tuu, bu’ mummah nu hewe. Whewe babbehs get miwkies bwuddah?”
Spike’s tummy was rumbling as well which deeply worried him, the foals still hadn’t grown in their teeth yet and had to rely on milk for food. However, without a mother to feed them they would starve long before they got home.
“Babbehs nee’ find mummah mawe wif wots of miwkies tu shawe.”
Thus the babies set off on their quest for milkies down the alleyway, occasionally they would run into another fluffy sleeping or eating ‘trashie-nummies’, but none had any milk to spare. The sun was starting to set when the foals heard a voice behind them, “Wha babbehs doin’? Why nu wif mummah?”
A green fluffy pegasus asked with concern plainly visible on their face.
“Huuhuu! Mummah gu foweva-sweepies! Naow babbehs nu hab miwkies o’ wuv!”
The green pegasus gasped, “Dat tewwibwe! Nu wowwy babbehs, fwuffy hab speciaw-fwiend wif wots an’ wots of miwkies tu shawe wif wittwe babbehs.”
All of the babies rejoiced at this turn of events with hugs and thank you babbles. That is until Spike noticed something about the pegasus, he couldn’t see it before because it was chipped but there was a horn on the fluffy’s head. Spike’s blood ran cold as he realized that this wasn’t a ‘wingie-friend’, this was a monster. What else could it be? Every fluffy knows that there are only three types of fluffies: ‘earthie-friends’, ‘wingie-friends’, and ‘pointy-friends’. However, this fluffy was both a ‘wingie-friend’ and a ‘pointy-friend’? That was impossible! The only explanation was that this was a monster pretending to be a fluffy, and if the group followed the monster it was sure to gobble them up!
“Mu-mu-mu-MUNSTAH!!!”
The shout caused the other two foals to realize what Spike already had, causing all three to be thrown into a blind panic and run deeper into the alleyway screaming, “Nu num babbehs munstah!”
The green alicorn was taken aback and by the time they understood what was going on the babies were already gone. The trio kept running blind ahead (literally as they had closed their eyes to hide from the monster) when they ran into a pink fluffy wall. The foals opened their eyes to see that they had run straight into another fluffy’s cardboard box nest.
“Wha pwetty babbehs doin’? Why babbehs wun into nyu-mummah’s nestie?”
The foals frantically told the pink fluffy their tale, frequently talking over one another and forgetting details.
“Nu wowwy pwetty babbehs! Nyu-mummah wuv aww pwetty babbehs, wet yu sweepies in nestie an’ dwink nyu-mummah miwkies!”
The invitation caused all of the foals to perk up, they had literally run into a solution to their problems. Without missing a beat the hungry babies began suckling away, though the taste of this milk was nowhere near as delicious as their mother’s they were too starved to complain. Before they could fully fill up the pink fluffy pushed them off and placed a small pink ‘chirpy-baby’ on her teat saying, “Dat enough, bestest-babbeh nee’ mostest miwkies.”
“Bu’ Tuwip mummah say aww babbehs am bestest-babbehs.”
The pink fluffy scoffed, “Den dat mummah am dummeh mummah!”
The three gasped, their mother wasn’t a dummy! They were about to retort when they remembered the grim reality, this fluffy was their only lifeline and they needed to stay on her good side. The foals sat with half-filled bellies listening to the ‘bestest-baby’ suckle on the teat containing more milk then it could ever stomach.
That’s when Berry noticed chirping coming from just outside the box, curiosity grew in the young foal as he stepped outside the nest to check. A little ways away from the box was the pink fluffy’s designated litter-box area (though it was just a random corner without any litter). Berry could swear he heard chirping coming from over here but all he saw were poopies, and poopies don’t chirp. Just then one of the poopies wiggled and chirped, causing Berry to jump in fright. Berry tried to creep closer to get a better look at this marvel of nature, “Wai’… dis nu am poopie, dis wittwe chiwpie-babbeh!”
In the pile of poo laid a small brown fluffy baby chirping its heart out in hopes of being noticed. It was all skin and bones, and looked like it had never eaten anything its entire life. Berry immediately ran back to the pink mare to tell her about the distressed starving baby.
“Bewwy see hungwy chiwpie-babbeh wost in poopies! Fwuffy nee’ hewp wittwe babbeh!”
“Nu! Dat poopie-babbeh! Poopie-babbeh wive in poopies! Poopie-babbeh nu dwink mummah miwkies, onwy num poopies!”
The trio was stunned! How could a mother treat her own child like that!
“Bu’ babbehs am fo’ wuv an’ huggies…”
“Fwuffy think dat tuu wots of bwight-times ago, den hoomin mummah teww fwuffy ‘bwown babbehs am poopies pwetendin’ be babbehs tu steaw miwkies fwom weaw babbehs!’ Mummah teww fwuffy dat ‘fwuffy’s cowows am bestest cowows! Su babbehs wif mummah’s cowows am bestest-babbehs an’ desewve mostest miwkies an’ wuv!'”
“If fwuffy hab mummah, why nu in housie?”
The pink fluffy began to tear up, “Fwuffy hab wots of poopie-babbehs, su mummah say ‘fwuffy am bad fwuffy! Nu gib mummah pwetty babbehs, onwy ugwy poopies! Mummah nu wuv bad fwuffy!’ Den mummah thwow fwuffy out of housie. Bu’ fwuffy knu if gib mummah bestest pwetty babbehs, fwuffy wiww be gud fwuffy, den mummah wuv fwuffy!”
The story deeply troubled the foals, but Spike kept them quiet knowing that she was still their only source of food.
“Am time fo’ sweepies! Pwetty babbehs sweepies ovew dewe.”
The pink fluffy pointed with her hoof to a corner of the box, while she laid down in the other corner with her bestest-baby on top of her. The trio set themselves up into a fluffpile and drifted off to sleep, except for Spike who kept one eye open. When all of the babies were asleep the pink fluffy gently placed her bestest-baby down in the softest spot she could find, stood up, and walked out of the nest. This intrigued Spike who had been keeping watch, so he careful left the fluffpile and trailed behind. The pink mother had gone to the pile of poopies and began to whisper-yell at the ‘poopie-babbeh’.
“Mummah hatchu! Mummah bad fwuffy because of poopie-babbeh! HATCHU! HATCHU! bu’ pwetty babbehs come tu nestie! Naow fwuffy can gib hoomin mummah pwetty babbehs an’ be gud fwuffy again! Bad poopie-babbeh stay in poopies, mummah gu find nummies tu make miwkies fo’ pwetty babbehs.”
Spike knew they had to get out of here, this fluffy may be their only source of food, but they couldn’t allow themselves to be handed over to just any human. They needed to be with THEIR daddy, and the sooner they left the nest the better. Spike went to wake up his brother and sister, when he told them they were leaving right now Berry spoke up, “Babbehs nee’ save bwown chiwpe-babbeh!”
“Dewe nu am time fo’ dat!”
“Bewwy nu wan chiwpe-babbeh gu foweva-sweepies!”
This was the first time Berry had ever puffed his cheeks out at Spike, and Spike could see that Berry wasn’t going to take no for an answer.
“Otay… bu’ yu cawwy chiwpie-babbeh.”
Berry’s puffed up cheeks deflated into a big smile. Tulip and Spike helped get the tiny malnourished baby onto their brother’s back, the little baby didn’t know what to make of all this movement and defaulted to the one option available to it: wiggle and chirp loudly. The brown baby’s loud chirping then woke up the pink baby which began to make its own variety of loud chirps.
“Am otay wittwe chirpie-babbeh, pwese nu make woud chirpies. Yu am safe nu nee’ wowwy witt-”
However before Berry could calm the chirping baby down, the voice of a very angry mother could be heard.
“Why bestest-babbeh make scawdie-chiwpies?! Pwetty babbehs gib bestest-babbeh scawdies?! Pwetty babbehs nu am gud babbehs, dey wowstest babbehs! Wowstest babbehs get sowwy-hoofies!”
If there was ever a cue to run that was it, the foals hightailed it down the alleyway they had come from with one extra baby on board this time. Although the little ones ran with all their might they could hear the angry mother steadily gaining on them. That’s when they saw it, the monster! In their panic they had run right back to the monster! With a monster in front of them and an angry mother behind them the trio did the only thing they could think of, they laid down and covered their eyes with their hooves. Finally the pink mare caught up with them and reared back preparing to attack, “Wowstest babbehs get wowstest sowwy-hoofies!”
“Huuhuu! Nu wan sowwy-hoofies, am onwy wittwe babbeh!”
Just as the mare’s hooves were coming down on the three a green blur rammed into her, toppling her over. The dazed mare looked up to see a terrifying green monster who was very, VERY angry.
“Bad fwuffy nu huwt babbehs! Babbehs am fo’ wuv an’ huggies!”
The mare began falling over herself to get away from the monster fluffy, causing a long trail of scaredy pee-pees and poopies back to her nest. The green alicorn huffed and went to make sure that the foals were okay, “Am babbehs otay?”
Spike heard the voice of the monster but it had sounded worried for them, and it even protected them. Monsters didn’t protect babies! Then wouldn’t that mean that he wasn’t a monster after all. The revelation hit Spike as he uncovered his eyes and looked at the green fluffy. At first he couldn’t help but still feel a bit of fear at the frightening appearance of this nice monster, but as he kept looking he realized that the green fluffy monster really was a fluffy!
“Bwuddah! Sissie! Dis nu am munstah, dis am pointy-wingie-fwend!”
With the green fluffy gaining their brother’s acceptance, Tulip and Berry began to warm up to the nice green fluffy.
“Puwpwe babbeh am smawty babbeh!”
Spike smiled at the compliment and felt a warm feeling in his chest. This time the foals accepted the green alicorn’s invitation happily, and followed him to the promise of food and safety.
“Fwuffy nu can wai’ show babbehs nestie wif speciaw-fwend an’ whowe hewd!”