Your eyes open, and you immediately feel like you’ve been run over by a truck. Everything’s sore, and you can barely get up. You attempt to survey your surroundings, but all you can see are leaves. Cotton’s foal probably hid you, Bigby would likely go for you in your weakened state. You blink open your eyes and hiss at the pain. You slowly close your left eye and keep your right one open, and you knew you would have to get used to it.
Half blind for the rest of your life. You still managed to kill the smarty, so maybe things would work out fine. You close your eye, still wanting to rest.
“Hewwo?” Your eye snaps open, and facing you is an unfamiliar fluffy. You attempt to get back, but all you can manage is flailing your legs around, thrashing like a fish out of water. The fluffy gets closer, and you take a better look at him.
His fluff is teal, with a black mane. Unicorn as well. His eyes are red, but you notice that his left eye is closed. He has a sickening scar on his stomach, but doesn’t seem to be bothered.
“Nu wan huwt fwuffy. Jus’ wan tawk.” You let yourself relax, there wasn’t much you could do anyways. You try to search his body for any more scars, but then you realize that you can see through him. Probably wasn’t real.
“Fwuffy can heaw yu. Am weaw, bu’ nu can tawk tu odda fwuffies. Onwy yu see fwuffy.” Guess he can hear your thoughts, you try to communicate with him.
Who are you?
“Am… nu haf namesies. Sowwy. Bu’ fwuffy jus wan apowo-apowogize.”
Big words for a fluffy. Anyways, what do you want to apologize for? We never met.
“Am fwuffy dat take ofah bod-ee. Jus’ wan hewp yu pwotec hewd. Am sowwy fow wosin yu see-pwace. Jus’ wike fwuffy…” His tone is mournful and he hangs his head low. Yet you can’t bring yourself to hate him. If he didn’t take over, you would have done the same thing.
It’s alright. It probably was going to happen either way. But I have one question.
“Yesh?”
What was with the noises and all the slicing? Last time I checked, I don’t have a horn.
He grits his teeth in anger.
“Fwuffy nee’ tu expwain fwom man-ee bwight times ago. Fwuffy gu fowebah sweepies, bu’ am in yu thinkie peace.”
Okay, I suppose. I don’t feel like questioning life right now.
“Otay. Fwuffy knyo yu haf fwend, fwend’s daddeh was Timbew. Fwuffy tawk tu Timbew.”
“Timbew haf wowstest heawt huwties fwom hoomans. Make Timbew gif buwnie huwties tu fwends. Timbew fiwst speciaw fwuffy, wif majik.”
I always thought that the whole horn smoking thing was just some defect. You’re telling me he spews fire everywhere?
“Yesh. Bu’ wen hoomans see majik fwuffy, dey wan’ more. Man-ee majik fwuffies aww ofah. Bu’ sum hoomans wan make majik fwuffies wif huwties.” Tears form at the corner of his eyes, and he sobs a bit.
“Hoomans take fwuffys see pwace, an put fwuffy on wowstest sowwy stick fow man-ee bwight times. Den fwuffy can du… dis.” He closes his one good eye, and concentrates. Blue and orange sparks form around him, and begin to clump together.
Soon after, the noise of shattering glass tells you that it did something. Now he has a spectral… helmet of some kind. It has vicious spikes on it, and bears some sort of mark.
What is that meant to be? Can I do that too? You ask excitedly. If you could do this, then maybe you could protect the ones you loved from anything. The helmet dissipates, and he looks back at you.
“Nu knyo. Bu’ fwuffy use majik in yu bod-ee, su may-be. Twy?” Sure, you would do that, but you realize just now that you did see him before. After that nightmare, but he looks so calm. Nothing compared to the vicious snarl he gave you, and the absolute demon he was in the fight.
Why are you so calm now? You fought like an army before.
“Wai fwuffy wan knyo?” He snaps. You wince a bit. He looked angry, but then he let his face fall. “Am sowwy. Afta wha’ hoomans du, sumtimes fwuffy jus… feew angwy. Wan gif huwties, wan gif fowebah sweepies, bu’ nu wan tu awways.” Poor guy, he was probably just tortured by them just for the slightest result. You want to take his mind off of it, for now at least.
Hey, how about we practice the glowing thing? I’ll try to stand up.
“N-nu! Yu haf tu man-ee huwties. Jus’ twy nao.”
Whatever you say…
You concentrate as hard as you can. You think of metal covering your leg. Every chink between the plates, the texture, and eventually light flashes at the corner of your eyes. It doesn’t sound like glass shattering, it instead sounds like the opposite. Like little pieces of glass being put together, one by one. You can’t crane your neck to see if it worked. Instead, you look at the fluffy with an expression of pleading. He notices.
“Yesh! Majik wowk. Haf… nu knyo wowd fow it. Bu’ yu haf shiny not-fwuff on weggie.”
What colors? I’m interested. Interested can’t even begin to describe how you feel. What was the extent of this? How useful really was it? This fluffy used it as if it were his own leg. Could you become that skilled?
“Not fwuff am… wike yu fwuff an see pwace.” Orange and blue. You would have to get a better look later. You look back, and the fluffy looks… tired.
Want to just rest for now?
“…Yesh. Am tiwed.” You won’t argue. You close your eye and rest.
You wake up to the leaves of the bush rustling. It’s Cotton’s foal.
“Hewwo fwend, sissy wan tawkies wif yu. Bu’ sissy am scawed. Wan fwuffy tu be wif hew.” You nod. She did look scared when you last saw her. She pushes her way through the bush and is looking at the floor. The ghostly fluffy is still next to you, and looks at you.
“Am sowwy if sissy hatchu.”
Can’t be that bad.
You look back, and your sister meets your gaze. “H-hewwo bwuddah. A-am yu otay?”
“…Yeah. You okay?” You croak out. She’s definitely uncomfortable.
“…What’s wrong?” She sighs and looks at you.
“Am sowwy bwuddah, bu’ yu wook su scawy wen bad smawty gif huwties tu hewd. See pwaces was wed, an nao yu see pwace gu way, an haf huwties-”
“Hey, calm down. It’s alright.” You do your best to give her a warm smile. You cast a glance towards the fluffy.
You made my eyes red?
“Fwuffy nu knyo hao! Jus’ wan hewp!”
Alright, relax. God, all of you are so jumpy.
You struggle up to your hooves, and stumble towards the two. You hug your sister, and she does it back. She cries into your fluff, but you don’t care. As long as she’s safe. Well, It’s time to see the herd again. Dandelions going to be a pain in the ass.
It’s not even two seconds stepping out of the bush before you hear her banshee mating call.
“BESTEST BABBEH! BESTEST AM BAK!” She instantly tackles you, and you’re still sore. Unfortunately, she does not know this. It hurts like hell. You yelp in pain, and she drops you.
“Bestest nee’ more miwkies!” And here we go. You grit your teeth to fling a sharp retort, but ever since the fight you’ve felt more… confident. You pause, then say what you always meant.
“I don’t need your fucking milk! I’ve been eating solids for over a week! Leave me alone!” She gasps in shock.
“B-bestest nu sai bad wowdsies! Am bestest! Bestest nee’ miwkies!”
“And what about my sister? Does she need milk?” She snorts and rolls her eyes.
“Dat am poopie munstah babbeh, nu nee’ miwkies! Onwy keep hew fow enfie mawe wen big fwuffy.”
Your heart stops. That’s why? Thats what they planned to do to her? You look around at every fluffy in the clearing.
Rotten. Disgusting. All of them except three, Cotton, her foal, and your sister. The rest of them can go to hell. In the shock, you open both of your eyes, and Dandelion sees the milky color of your left one.
“Bestest haf see pwace huwties! Nee’ miw-”
“SHUT UP!” Your heart beat furiously. Your sister stares in shock, and the rest of the herd forms a ring around you two. You peer into the crowd, and see Cotton with them. She only gives you a reassuring smile. She didn’t deserve all of this.
“You think I love you just for being my mother, but I couldn’t hate you more. All you do is hurt my sister for being born with wings and a horn, and no other reason. You hurt innocent fluffies all because you and dad are nothing more than attention seeking rodents.” The spectral fluffy appears behind her, and looks at you.
“Sai wha’ yu wan. Fwuffy wiww hewp if yu haf huwties.” You only spare him a glance as you turn to Dandelion. She’s staring in abject horror.
“Bestest nu mean dat! Nu am bad mummah!” She chuckles. She’s trying to reassure herself, and nobody else.
“I mean every word. I don’t even know why you ever thought you were a good mother. Your mate is nothing more than a coward, who won’t even fight for his own herd! Who the hell was out there fighting the other herd?” You pause. Technically you didn’t fight them. The fluffy did. But he looks at you.
“Sai yu fite dem. If yu bod-ee nu was stwong, den nefah win. Fwuffy an babbeh fite.” You know he’s giving permission. You look at Dandelion, expecting an answer.
“S-smawty sabe hewd! Am bestes-”
“Wrong. I was out there fighting. All of you make sandbags look intelligent. None of you can even see that Bigby’s the one eating all your foals!” Bigby sputters something, and instantly most of the herd turns on him. Bigby realizes he’s fucked, and starts running. The herd chases after him. Wow. They instantly forgot everything. The only one staying behind was Dandelion and your little group.
Her eyes are blank, and staring off into nothing. You scoff and walk over to Cotton. The others follow.
“Hewwo babbeh! Am su pwoud. Yu finawwy teww dat dummeh hao yu feew.” You smile, the anger subsiding. You gather the herd around.
“Tonight, we’re leaving this herd. All of us. We’re going to start our own herd, away from all of them.” The group gasps, but they nod.
“F-fwend… can fwuffy be tuffie?” You look at him.
“Sure. I thought you would want to be the smarty…”
"Nu. Fwuffy see hao yu fite bad fwuffies fow hewd, been wen yu nu wub dem. " It’s surprising. He used to hate you, but this is how he felt about you now. You nod, and sit down. Still sore, you nuzzle into Cotton’s fluff, and the rest of them sleep to gather strength.
CRACK!
Your eye shoots open. The herd returned, and nobody bothered you about what happened. It was night, but you look up in horror. It was raining, and lightning struck a tree.
The terror of death swept through the herd like a blade. The raging inferno hopped from tree to tree, and you did your best to keep the group composed. You had to get Cotton out of here now.
“Come on! We need to get her out of here!”
“Nu.” You look back. She refused? Her foal looked at her in fear.
“M-mummah nu sai dat! Mummah haf tu cum wif fwuffies!”
“Nu. Cotton am weady fow fowebah sweepies.” She touches heads with her foal. "Wiww see yu daddeh 'gain. Wiww teww yu daddeh hao yu am stwong an bwave. "
The three of you don’t even try to hold back the tears. Her foal sobs quietly, and she turns to your sister.
“Babbeh. Awways wan yu tu knyo dat Cotton wub yu wike own babbeh. Be stwong fow Cotton.” Your sister buries her head into her fluff and whimpers.
“Mummah nu stay…” She smiles sadly and looks to you.
“Wan yu tu be bestest smawty fow hewd. Teww Cotton hao yu wiww be bestest smawty.” You swallow a lump in your throat, trying to blink the tears out of your eyes.
“I-I’ll go hungry so they can eat. I’ll be the first to fight for them. I’ll do everything myself if they can’t. No mother will reject their own foal. No stallion will hurt another’s mate.”
She smiles fondly. “Den yu wiww be smawty betta dan Cotton. Wun way nao. Awways wub yu.” You sniffles and nod. Yu turn to the other two. They look at you and nod. You turn to run away, but then you see your father standing there.
“Yu nu am bestest. Yu gif speciaw fwend heawt huwties. Yu git fowebah sweepies, wif munstah an’ poopie.”
The spectral fluffy appears in front of you.
“Wet fwuffy hewp. Yu haf tu man-ee huwties.”
“This one’s personal. He dies right now.”
Lightning flashes as you begin to circle each other, waiting for the other to make the first move. Cotton’s foal and your sister back away, nested into Cottons fluff, savoring their last moments with her. You look back, and your father has begun to charge at you. You instantly sidestep, but stumble a bit as his hoof grazes you. He swings back, and before you can react, bats you aside.
The soreness amplifies the pain. But you can’t give up. You feel your eye wound reopening, and it stings. You only use it to fuel the anger. He comes at you from the side, but you whirl around to face him. You concentrate, and see the glowing light. It forms around your head, and you slam into him at the same time as he does.
You’re both knocked to the ground. He recovers fast, and your movements are pained and slow. You hear a crack. You look up as a charred branch falls down, directly towards you.
“WOOK OU’!” It’s too late. The branch chases down on you.
Shit. You look over your back, and you see the orange and blue shimmer surrounded your whole body. You thank the spectral fluffy, and shrug off the cinders. You emerge from the branch, and stare your father dead in the eyes.
“HAO AM YU NU FOWEBAH SWEEPIES!”
“I’LL DIE WHEN YOU DO!” You don’t waste a second. You feel the helmet shift and mold, and the front of it feels heavier. You ram into his side, and you feel his bones crack under the layers of fat.
“SCREEEEEE! OWWIES!”
You bite into the spot, and amplify the agony.
“SCRRRRRRRREEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE! WOWSTEST OWWIES EFAH!” You want to leave him to die in the flames of his poor excuse for a herd, but that’s too kind. He crashes to the ground, and you go around to his back. You raise your hoof and stomp.
“SCREEEEEEE! SPECIAW WUMPS! HUUUU!” You only quicken your pace, and castrate him fully. He sobs and begs for mercy, but you bat him aside. You walk over to Cotton and your friends. They looks at you and nod. You nuzzle into Cotton’s fluff.
“Goodbye, mom. I’ll always remember you.”
She sniffles and smiles at you. You all say your goodbyes, and leave the raging fires.
And so, you fled into the night, only illuminated by flames. The only thing louder than the thunder were the cries of death. The moment you heard a tree crash to the ground with no scream was when you knew.
Cotton found her mate.