It's been about three days since you separated from your family. You left Mimir about a day ago, and have been searching for the two since. So far, you've found nothing but burnt trees. Luckily, the fire didn't spread too far so the forest wasn't destroyed. Slowly stalking through the forest, you listened for any noise.
peep
You halt your movement and prick your ears up. The sound of a peeping foal, since it came from the ground and not the sky. If it did come from the sky it was worrying, so you lowered yourself into a crouch and began to approach the noise source.
“chirp Tummeh owwies… nee’ miwkies…”
You shudder. Starvation was something a foal shouldn’t suffer from. It usually came from a parent’s bad choices with favoritism or prejudice, or it could come from a lack of food in general. You hoped it had teeth and just longed for the warmth of its mother. Pushing through the grass, you see a brown foal lying on the ground, shivering. It wasn’t cold yet, so it was uncomfortable and in pain.
You could see its ribs poking through, so you gently tapped it to wake it up.
“Eeep! P-pwease nu huwt poopie babbeh!” You sigh and place your hoof over his mouth.
“Calm down. I won’t hurt you.” His breathing slows down, and he stumbles on his back, quietly sobbing. Propping him upright, you wait for him to face you and talk. You get a closer look at him, and your heart stops. His eyes were red, but you saw a spiraling pattern around them. The sign of a cannibal. Swallowing your fear, knowing that judging him for this while he likely did nothing wrong, you talk to him.
“W-where’s your mother at?” He sobs some more, takes a few deep breaths, and talks.
“M-mummah teww babbeh tu gu way… nu knyo wai, babbeh am gud babbeh…” Suppressing a growl in your throat, you pick him up and place him on your back. It would be nice to have some company on your search. You crane your neck backward to speak with him.
“We’re going to find your mother, and make her give you some milk. Just rest for now.” He wordlessly nods and collapses on you. Smiling, you begin trotting off; not in any particular direction. Just somewhere.
After a while, you begin to hear the voice of fluffies. Quietly shushing the foal on your back and slowing your pace, you peer through the thin blades of grass.
Two fluffies were stumbling through the grass clumsily, chatting to each other. Both were stallions, and one of them was a unicorn. The unicorn was a bright yellow with a red mane, and the other was green with a purple mane. Focusing your senses to get a better idea of what they were doing, you eavesdropped on their conversation.
“Fwend heaw wha’ smawty sai? Smawty sai dat if nummie findews bwing poopie babbeh tu smawty, den nummie findew haf enfie mawe.”
Your heart constricts at that. It was bad enough that the foal had a herd after it, but a fluffy would kill a whole litter of foals for enfies. Most likely doing both in the process.
“Yesh. If nummew findew fin babbeh, den gun make enfie mawe dat nyu munstah in hewd. Munstah nu desewbe huggies ow wuv.”
Quietly snarling, you prepare yourself to leap out at them. If you’re lucky, then the monster is your sister. Jumping out of the grass, you land between the two fluffies. Their eyes dart to your back, seeing the foal.
“POOPIE BABBEH! SMAWTY GUN BE SU PWO-”
“STAY BACK! OR ELSE!” You shout, cutting him off. The two are startled by your ferocity, but you calm yourself down a bit.
“You will bring me to this herd, or both of you will die right now.” You attempt to bargain with them. The two look at each other, back at you, and start laughing. Growling, you inch closer.
“What’s so funny?”
“Yu am jus’ widdwe tawkie babbeh! Gif poopie babbeh ow get fowebah sweepies!” The unicorn explains.
You hear sobbing and turn back towards the foal. Grasping onto your fluff, he cries into it, hoping you let him stay. Turning back, you use your power and form a horn on your head. Over the last few days, you have been exploring the extent of it. So far, you haven’t been able to cover much of your body, apart from the time with the falling branch. However, this will do the job.
“Wrong answer.” Darting forwards, you sink the sharp object into the unicorn’s leg. Quickly, you destroy the horn and jump back.
“SCREEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE! WEGGIE OWWIES! OWWIES! HUWTIES!” He screams.
“Now, will you answer me? Or do I have to do more?” You cock your head with a slight smile, a warning signal. The other fluffy is panicking, slowly trying to retreat, but when you lay your eyes on him, he freezes.
“F-fwuffy wiww bwing babbeh tu hewd! Fowwow fwuffy!”
He completely abandons his friend, already scampering off. You follow after, leaving the fluffy to mope over the hole in his leg. Luckily, the foal decided to stop staining your fluff, as he crawled up further and climbed on top of your head. You let him on, and start walking in the direction the fluffy ran.
Following the very jumpy fluffy, a familiar face appears next to you, walking alongside you. Silent, you decide to take up the conversation.
Where have you been? It’s been days.
“Am sowwy. Fwuffy haf tu du tings.” He explains. Ever since the incident with Bigby, the specter disappeared and hadn’t come back until now. Sighing internally, you turn towards him.
Would’ve been nice if you came back when I was alone. Now I have a foal and this little shit to deal with.
“Sowwy. Fwuffy can hewp, if yu wan. Gun gu fin hewd, see if bwuddah an sissy am dewe.” He offers. It would be nice to know if they were there, so you nod, ignoring the slight protests from the foal on your head.
Go ahead. Let me know if you see anything else interesting.
He nods, disappearing. You turn back to the fluffy silently leading you to his herd. You can notice the slight shake in his step, so you decide to strike up a conversation.
“Hey. I need you to answer some things for me.” He yelps and nearly falls over, but he nods vigorously and slows his pace so he’s walking beside you. You nearly burst out laughing at his face, he looks incredibly constipated.
“Who is this foal’s mother?”
“Poopie mawe am mummah. Dummeh poopie mawe get speciaw huggies fwom smawty, an make bad babbehs. Den poopie mawe make dummeh poopie babbeh gu way-” You whack him upside the head.
“OWWIES! Wai fwuffy gif huwties?”
“Brown fluffies are not “poopie fluffies”-” You say in an incredibly mocking tone. “-So if you say that again you’re going to end up like your friend. Now, continue.” He whimpers a bit but obliges.
“Poop- bwown mawe make babbeh gu way. Smawty wan gif fowebah sweepies tu gif mawe wesson.”
So the mother was brown and her mate was the smarty. Presumably, the smarty was her mate. If not, then that means she’s one of the infamous enfie mares that were in almost every herd. You sigh and hope she had a good reason. You continue following the fluffy.
Arriving at the herd’s location, you instantly begin to search for your family when you break through the grass. The specter told you they were there a while ago, so you hoped you could find them. Luckily, the fluffies were too occupied with whatever they were doing to notice you. You turn to the fluffy on your right.
“Go back to your smarty, and if you tell anyone you saw me or the foal on my head, I will end you.” He nods, wide-eyed, and does his best to hide his fear as he waddles back to his herd. You look over at the herd’s designated litterbox, and you sigh as you look at the scene. A brown fluffy, stallion, has a depressed look on his face as he eats the herd’s shit. But you see two fluffies next to him. Your brother and sister.
You consider sneaking them out, but the foal needed milk. You walk into the clearing and clear your throat.
“ALL OF YOU, LISTEN UP! I will be taking this foal’s mother and those two fluffies over there. If you fail to meet my demands, I will take them by force.” You announce while gesturing to your siblings. The two look at you, wide-eyed, and scamper over. Your sister slams into your flank, and you regain balance instead of collapsing.
“BWUDDAH! Miss bwuddah su mush… was su scawed an haf su man-ee heawt huwties.” You smile at her and turn towards your brother before a voice rings out.
“YU NU TEWW SMAWTY WHA’ TU DU!” Growling, you turn towards the fluffy. And good god, you could not miss him.
An electric blue color with a yellow mane, this smarty was huge. You could see the folds of fat on him, that rippled with each heavy step he took. After about a solid ten seconds of him struggling to waddle over to you like a penguin with a stick up its ass, he pants from the exhaustion. You wince at just how much he disgusted you.
“Gif poopie babbeh NAO, ow smawty wiww gif fowebah sweepies tu dummeh babbeh!” The threat was incredibly empty, which was the direct opposite of his stomach. You doubt he ever felt hunger in his life. You shift your stance and stand your ground.
“I said to give me his mother and these two. You will regret not giving them up easily.” You snarl.
“Dat am smawty’s enfie mawe. Nao gif babbeh!” He just doesn’t listen. You’re about to yell back when you hear sizzling. You look to your side, and your brother is standing in front of your frightened sister. While you weren’t looking, a red toughie started to inch closer, and now your brother was all that stood between him and you. His horn was smoking, nearly sputtering flames.
You walk to his side and touch him. He looks back at you.
“Yesh, smawty?” He says through gritted teeth. You look at the ground. The ground was mostly dirt, with no grass since the herd mostly ate it all. You turn back to him.
“Remember how your dad said he could shoot fire from his horn?” He nods, and a grin spreads on your face. You gesture to the toughie. “Light him up.” You whisper. He grins as he begins to understand, and turns back to the toughie.
He strains himself a bit, but eventually, the smoke thickens. Sparks begin to dance at the tip of his horn. The toughie inches closer. With a final heave, your brother shouts in anger and determination, as fire bursts from his horn.
The toughie gasps in fear and attempts to dodge, but the flames brush his fluff. One-second passes. The next…
“SCREEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE! BUWNIE HUWTIES! WOWSTEST BUWNIE HUWTIES!” The toughie fell onto his side in his attempt to run, kicking his legs around as if he were drowning, not burning. The herd dissolved into panic and fear, some began to run, and some began to watch in horror. For a solid minute, you stared into the toughie’s eyes and he burnt to death. After he breathed for the last time, you looked up.
“DO ALL OF YOU UNDERSTAND NOW?! GIVE ME HIS MOTHER!” You let the foal down from your head. He looked up at you in awe. You give him a nudge.
“Go ahead. Go get her.” He nods and runs off. He searches for a bit but eventually dashes towards a brown mare. She looks at him and bursts out crying. She runs towards him and tackles him in a hug.
“Huu Huu! Am su sowwy babbeh! Nefah wan make babbeh gu way, bu’ mummah haf tu!” She lets him up and places him at her teat, and the foal rapidly begins suckling. She flinches when she notices the three of you approaching her.
“P-pwease nu gif huwties! Jus’ wan sabe babbeh!” You stop, and glare at her.
“Tell me. How does sending him away into the wild save him? I found him starving and alone.”
“Smawty was gun gif babbeh fowebah sweepies! Jus’ wan babbeh tu wun way fwom smawty!” You sigh and cast a glance towards the smarty, who is slowly inching back. You turn back to the mare.
“Fine. I see that you had good intentions, so if you want, you can come with us.” You don’t let her answer, and walk to the smarty, who freezes in fear.
“If I ever see you again, I will kill you. Now, get out of my sight.” He screams and starts to waddle away as fast as he can. As you turn to leave with your small herd, a fluffy runs up. The brown stallion from before.
“Pwease take poopie fwuffy! W-wiww num poopies! Wiww gif wickie cweanies! Wan be in nyu hewd!”
Well, this day certainly was more exciting. Three new herd members. Guess you were living up to the title of smarty. You smile at him.
“You can come with me, but you do not have to eat our waste. Just listen to what I say.” He smiles and holds his head up proudly.
“Tank yu nyu smawty! Wiww be bestest fwuffy ebah!”
You look away from him. Most of the herd had already run away, and the fluffies that were left were too scared to approach you. You look at the foal suckling from its mother, and your brother walks up to you.
“Smawty… dat babbeh am-” You shush him, and he looks confused.
“I know. But we’ll make sure he doesn’t turn out like him.” You whisper. He nods, and you look at your rapidly growing herd. It’s going to be a wild ride.
Authors Notes: I’ve been inactive because I recently testest positive for covid. This means I have nothing better to do than write this. Hooray.