The procession of fluffies slowly moved throughout the alleyways aimlessly, they followed the smarty as always, however this time he didn’t know where he was going. The smarty’s head was held low and his ears drooped as the only thought that ran through his mind was how he had failed his herd. The most important job of any smarty was to protect the herd, and yet he not only hadn’t protected them but had essentially abandoned them to their fate as he ran off.
“Smawty nu sabe hewd… nu sabe bwuddah… am wowstest smawty evah!”
"NU! Dat nu am twue! Smawty sabe fwuffies an’ babbehs! Smawty am gud smawty!
Spike was angrily puffing his cheeks at the red smarty who was confused by the sudden outburst. However Spike’s statement slowly clicked with the smarty and he began to ever so slightly feel better, and as the guilt and anguish of the event receded the smarty fell to the ground and let his tears flow freely. The remainder of the smarty’s herd sat around him and embraced in one big hug, and as each member joined the embrace they too began to cry in remembrance of the friends and family they had lost.
As the fluffies separated, the smarty was rejuvenated with a new purpose: to keep the remainder of the herd alive and help them thrive. However it would be impossible to achieve either as things stood, the fluffies no longer had a secure shelter to call home. So the first order of business was to find a new home. Any direction could lead to a potential new home so the smarty simply kept walking the way he was already going. Though the smarty would have to find a temporary shelter for the night as the dark threatened to swallow them whole. After a short journey through the back alleys of the city the group stumbled upon a particularly tall cardboard box. The smarty examined the size of the box and nodded to himself in acceptance. He approached the box and stood on his back hooves as he pushed the box with his front hooves until it fell on its side.
“big boxie am nyu nestie tiww bwight-time.”
While the fluffies would normally complain about the poor nesting conditions, they happily accepted the box as shelter due to their recent circumstances. The mares and smarty made the box more hospitable by plucking loose and shedded fluff from their body and arranging it as a makeshift sleeping spot. The fluffies ate the skettis that were once to be a feast of celebration for the whole herd now with only mild happiness, it truly was delicious and was even better then the foals could have imagined but for all of the happiness the food brought the memories of loss took away.
After the fluffies had finished the skettis and the brown filly had had her fill of sketti-milkies the smarty showed them an area away from the box to make ‘good poopies’. They formed one big fluffpile inside the box, the foals were placed in the very center while the smarty laid facing the box’s opening. While not nearly as comfortable as the old nest within the abandoned building had been, the box was serviceable enough. Or at least it was until a dripping sound could be heard, as time went on the sound picked up until it was obvious what the origin was, rain.
While the rain wasn’t pouring down violently, there was enough of it to begin seeping through the roof of the cardboard box. Water dripped from the ceiling on to the backs of the fluffies as the adults desperately tried to shield the foals.
“Babbeh nu wike bad sky-wawa! Huuhuu nu wan!”
Berry and the other foals were on the verge of tears just like the little filly, but tried to hold them back to keep up the strong older sibling act.
“Am otay babbeh… Bewwy pwotec yu…”
So the fluffies first night outside ended with a pile of wet shivering and whimpering fluffies in a cardboard box.
John didn’t know what to do anymore, it had been a little over a week since his pets had gone missing and not a single lead had turned up about them. He had occasionally thought about just going and buying a new fluffy but it felt too soon and disrespectful to Lemon and her children. They weren’t just an easily replaceable toy in his eyes, they were his pets, they were a part of his family. Ever since the day they disappeared John had taken up walking around the neighborhood in search of them. After each walk he would go talk to Simon and see if he had heard anything, though recently Simon had been looking very pale and wasn’t as talkative.
So John decided to go check in with Melissa today to see if she had heard anything. Melissa greeted John at the door welcomed him inside, she sat him in the living room and told him to wait while she prepared some snacks. It was uncommon for Melissa to be so happy and welcoming toward others, something good must have happened to her recently. John could only hope that her happiness indicated that she had information on his lost pets.
However, as John waited for Melissa on the couch he was struck with an unholy smell that caused him to involuntarily gag. He followed the horrible smell to just outside the door to the garage, normally John wouldn’t try to butt into other people’s business but this smell made him feel uneasy, he felt a need to know what its source was. The second John opened the door he felt as if his heart stopped.
On a bloodied table sat a decomposing carcass belonging to a familiar yellow fluffy, Lemon. The body had long been dead as maggots squirmed throughout the flesh and large tufts of yellow fluff and green mane had fallen out. But the most alarming part wasn’t the normal aspects of death shown on the body but the unnatural markings evidencing heavy abuse. All of Lemon’s legs had been sawn off and placed in a pile beside her, and the parts of exposed skin lacking maggots were covered in red welts from repeated beatings. The eyes had been removed and the tongue cut out, her beautiful yellow fluff had almost turned orange from all of the blood soaked into it.
John stood in the doorway, he did not cry or scream or run or respond in any way, he just stood there. His brain processed the information presented to it and didn’t know how to respond. The tortured corpse of his beloved pet stared back at him with hollow eyes, and a face contorted in fear. A mix of emotions ran through him: sadness, anger, and fear all sought control of his next action. However, John’s next action was chosen for him as a voice called out from behind him, “What do you think you are doing in there?..”
