Note: This chapter contains heavy spoilers for chapters 7-9 of The Toy Castle. I recommend you read the main story first!
Wawa’s Visitors, chapter 6
The Unforgivable
Little by little, his senses faded to black as he passed out.
That was Wawa’s first, and last, memory of his old life.
Tending his wounds so their bleeding would not give him away, Wawa searched for a good location for his plan. He passed a few foals as he went, but left them alone; Snowcone would pick them up, and the more foals she had the better.
The room he decided on was large and open, with pillows and furniture to make it look safe. As soon as he entered, the rotten smell of dead fluffies made Wawa wrinkle his snout; it meant the Cannibal’s Room was next to this one.
Good.
A soft fluffy bed was hidden away in a corner and Wawa dragged it into the open, placing a pink chirpy foal - dragged away from its spot on a sofa - onto the soft cushion.
Snowcone would know the Cannibal’s danger. She would place her foals where they were “safe” while she faced the threat alone, without knowing of Wawa.
He decided to wait within The Cannibal’s room, atop one of the rickety balconies so that he could see Snowcone enter, but as he stepped through the second floor doorway Wawa found something unexpected. A foal, green and talkative.
“Hewwo, am Mint!” the foal chimed as she saw him, waving. “Fwuffy fwend?”
Wawa just smiled and wagged his tail, which seemed answer enough for the little pest. He waited and listened keenly until he could hear the sound of someone outside - a voice he could not make out - and then, Wawa grabbed hold of the young foal’s scruff…
And threw her off the platform.
“Eeep!” The foal cried out in terror until she bounced off of the Cannibal’s head, hitting the floor in front of him with a hurt gasp. As the Cannibal stared down at her, mouth already starting to water, she shrank back and whimpered. “Be nice munstah…?”
“Tasty babbeh~”
Wawa watched in amusement as the voices outside grew panicked, then Snowcone burst into the room with a horrified “STAHP”. As he’d predicted, Snowcone had left her foals outside, and Wawa cheerfully circled back down to his trap to find three little chirpy foals.
All guarded by a single red talkie foal. The same little foal that had stayed with Snowcone ever since the incident on the walkways. The exact reason Snowcone had escaped that basement trap, and why she had snapped out of her blind rage.
He was so small, trembling in every limb as he stood between Wawa and the chirpies, not knowing whether to stand his guard or fetch Snowcone. Wawa chuckled, and the wider he smiled the more fearful the little foal grew until he turned to the Cannibal’s room.
“S… Snowcone…!” His voice was stifled by his own horror, and before the foal could find his voice or flee Wawa lunged forward, biting down hard on his neck and tearing the head right off.
Maybe it was gruesome. But to be quite honest, that was the point. Wawa tossed the head aside, then grabbed hold of the body’s limbs and one by one ripped them off, throwing them across the room. Finally he kicked the foal’s torso aside, turning his attention to the helpless chirpies.
One at a time, Wawa pulled the tiny foals out onto the floor and crushed their soft bodies into paste, each one in a different spot. He took his time and mused on whether Snowcone would return in time to help any of them, if she returned at all. And as he reached the third, final foal, Wawa lightly rolled it over as he placed his hoof onto its fur, taking his time.
“Wawa! Nu huwt babbeh!”
Wawa paused, glancing up to see Snowcone had finally returned. She was coated in blood and short of breath, eyes unfocused and shocked. The fact she’d only reacted to the foal in danger amused him to no end; she hadn’t even realized the fates of her other protegees.
“Dis babbeh?” he asked, indicating the green foal, and smiled pleasantly. “Otay.”
He kicked the furball over to Snowcone - it was more fun that way, making sure she always had something to guard and disregard her health for - and waited, watching in amusement as the pegasus finally parsed the rest of the blood-stained room. The light in her eyes was dim and she just stood there for many seconds, gaze trailing across the scattered body parts, before speaking in a strangled whisper. “… Hatechu.”
Wawa couldn’t help but chuckle, tilting his head in a deliberate taunt. Good. That was exactly the response he wanted. “Wawa feews da same way.”
He enjoyed seeing her this way. Breaking apart, her heart overflowing with suffering as the pegasus began to scream. “Why?! Babbehs nu huwt yu! Snowcone nu huwt yu! If yu hate Snowcone fow wingy den fine but why huwt babbehs?!”
“Babbeh wishes awe da most dangewous,” Wawa replied evenly. He’d heard this question before, and in the end, foals were in a way more dangerous than adults. Adult fluffies at least worked with logic, but foals? "Babbehs wish fow anything dey want. Hugs… Nummies… Stwength.”
After all, he had been a foal when he made his wish. A wish that gave him strength and knowledge he should not be capable of, freedom to roam, safety against any and all monsters.
A foal making the same wish would be a rival. A creature capable of hurting and killing him. Something that Wawa could not allow.
“Nu even want stupid wishes!” Snowcone screamed through her tears, and Wawa froze. “Just wan’ get babbehs an’ go home!!”
What? That couldn’t be right.
All fluffies wanted wishes. Right?
That was the logic Wawa had been working on. Those who had wishes granted were trapped and lost, and those who reached the Wish Granter had a wish to make. The mere concept of someone struggling that far just to leave, without making a wish at all, was utterly foreign.
Didn’t Snowcone want her dead foals back? Didn’t she want to wish Wawa dead for his actions? He struggled to parse the possibility. But, at the same time…
He knew how the Wish Granter acted. Threatening, manipulating, coiling around its prey like a cruel snake. Even if someone got through the castle unharmed, with no desires… It did not mean the Wish Granter would not force a wish.
“… Dat’s tuu bad,” Wawa finally answered. His voice felt uncharacteristically soft. “Nu cawe about dat.”
Snowcone didn’t reply. She was crying, hugging her lone remaining foal and sobbing “hatechu” over and over again.
Wawa could have killed her then and there. He had broken her down, just like he wanted. And he couldn’t let her reach the exit - the Wish Granter would pull a wish from Snowcone whether she wanted one or not. And if not her, then the vulnerable little foals. But…
His world view had been thrown into disarray and he needed time to process, just as Snowcone was processing her own grief. So Wawa decided to give her one last chance; to see if she would keep going to the end of the castle, or simply give up in order to keep her last protegee safe, as he slowly eased his breath and left.
He wasn’t surprised to find that the water puzzle room lay near the end. The maze of levers and canals was one of few rooms to always remain in the same spot, as the final obstacle before the Wish Granter.
It was endearingly familiar, and Wawa felt that had he been confined to a single room it would have been this one. And so he waited, ready to flood the path below.
He wasn’t surprised when Snowcone appeared. Despite her words, she was no different from any other fluffy after all. But though Wawa pushed down his lever the moment he saw her gory white fur, the pegasus was more alert than he expected and made a dash for the stairs that lead out of the canal, nothing but her tail caught in the waves.
She stared down at the rushing water, eyes wide, before raising her head to look at Wawa. It was the first time he had ever seen Snowcone without any foals, he thought amusedly. Even when they first met, she’d picked up a yellow foal somewhere - but now?
“Dat’s new,” he chimed. “Nevew seen yu wiffout babbehs befowe, Snowcone. Whewe am yu gween babbeh?”
“Whewe am yu wing?” Snowcone snapped back at once, which took any amusement out of the situation.
Wawa scowled and stepped as close to her as he could, but the canal was wide and he could not cross as long as it was flooded. At that, Snowcone did not seem interested in moving from her safe platform, so Wawa soon threw his lever the other way and let the water drain. If he could not drown Snowcone, he would simply kill her with his own hooves.
But as he moved to cross the canal, the ‘click’ of Snowcone throwing a lever on her own end rang out along with the roar of rushing water, and Wawa had to jump back to avoid being swept up in a new flood. He stared at Snowcone for only a moment before rushing over and throwing his lever once more, but this time it did nothing to stem the tide.
She was far too smart for her own good, Wawa thought with a glare. The canal layout changed with each lever thrown, keeping some paths dry and letting others flood, and it seemed she had realized that.
But that wouldn’t be enough. Wawa leapt into the dry canal beside him and ran across to the neighboring platform, and noted how Snowcone followed suit - the moment he reached his destination he pulled down another lever, and watched how the wall keeping Snowcone safe dropped away. This time he thought for sure she would be caught, but somehow she managed to reach the stairs and cling as the flood tugged at her tail and legs, barely managing to pull herself to safety.
And the moment she was safe, without even catching her breath, she leapt onto and pressed down another lever to block Wawa’s path to her.
It was frustrating. Wawa tried again and again to catch Snowcone, whether it was through flooding her or simply pouncing on her in person, but it wouldn’t work. She was always just a little too fast, pulling levers to keep him away.
She didn’t even know what the levers did. She was just being lucky! This wasn’t fair! She was supposed to be dead by now!
The more upset he grew, the more restless and impatient Wawa became. And the moment he felt he had an opening, he rushed through the canals to cross over to Snowcone’s side. But as Wawa ran past one of the walls keeping the water at bay…
There was a click, and it fell away.
Wawa snapped out of his frustration too late, only having time to look at the waves with wide eyes before they engulfed him. All at once, all he could hear was the roar of the water, tumbling head over hooves as he was swept with the flood. He scrambled and flailed in an attempt to get back to the surface, but he couldn’t even tell which way was up - crying out only filled his lungs with water and he couldn’t make headway in any direction.
It felt like only luck let him reach air again as the water threw him upward, and his fumbling hooves managed to catch hold of a ledge. Wawa coughed and gasped as he tried to recover his breath, but it was little comfort. The water was clinging to him, its weight and speed dragging at his fur like claws.
For the first time, Wawa felt the fear of death overtake him. He was safe from monsters, but water was no monster. It was a force of nature, destructive and uncaring, and he wasn’t safe from it. He tried to climb out of the water but he couldn’t get a grip, hooves scraping uselessly at the ledge as he struggled just to stay above the surface.
It felt like minutes before he heard someone approach, looking up to see Snowcone. “S-Snowcone…! Hewp!”
At some point, Wawa had learned that Fluffies were predisposed to helping those in trouble. Maybe not all smarties, but normal fluffies were kind-hearted. In the same way they struggled to lie, they struggled to abandon someone in need.
And Snowcone was just a normal fluffy. But she simply sat down, outside Wawa’s reach, watching him. And with her so close, Wawa realized with a start that the light in her eyes was completely gone. “Pwease…!”
She said nothing. At first Wawa thought she would shove his hooves away and force him back into the waves, but she seemed content to just watch.
Why? Was she making him wait before pulling him up? It was almost the same situation as on that ledge - Wawa had made her wait while he decided, was she doing the same to him? “H-Hewp… Pwease?”
But she did nothing. There was no sympathy in her gaze, nor was there hatred. The gaze Snowcone gave him was completely numb, unphased by his pleas nor struggles, and his hooves slowly slipped further and further. The never-ending pull of the water was proving to be too much and finally Wawa was dragged into the depths by the roaring waves. He tried to find something to hold onto, anything, but he was too exhausted and his hooves found no purchase.
When he slammed into a wall and was hurled to the bottom, tumbling and pinned by the water’s weight, there was no longer anything he could do. He couldn’t see and there was no air left in his lungs, only a burning pain and desperation that soon gave way to nothingness.
As Wawa met the same fate as so many of his visitors, the alicorn fell still; lying at the bottom of the canal, left as nothing but another drowned corpse.