Where Fluffy Bodies Lie
By @Za
Chapter Nine:
Restructuring
You are Smarty Sunset.
Things are finally picking up around the clearing. Food is being gathered en masse, though you did have to teach these new gatherers the difference between gud nummies and huwtie nummies. You weren’t nearly as smart as your daddeh, so… it took a bit of trial and error. You were going to miss Cheese Danish, but his sacrifice is the reason your herd didn’t bring bushels of that huwtie berry back.
Cookie wasn’t doing much better, despite getting more nummies. Water wasn’t an issue, you were surrounded by it. You were warming a mouthful of snow right now, snuggling with Cookie to keep her warm. You tapped her shoulder with your hoof, humming. She barely cracked her mouth open, just wide enough for you to spit the water into her mouth. Cookie convulsed, tensing up as she coughed a disgustingly deep cough. What didn’t run out of the corners of her mouth was immediately hacked back up, filled with chunks of yucky red and green slime. She seemed to hitch, trying to cough up more but only a nasty, stinky wave of beige sickies came. It dripped down her snout, and she looked up at you. She couldn’t, or wouldn’t, speak. You hadn’t heard her say a word in a few forevers. Until now. A solitary whisper escaped her.
“S-scawy…”
The word hung heavily between you. The stench of the sickies made you want to be sickies too, or… maybe that was something else. Her eyes barely met yours as she breathed a shaky, tired breath.
“Cookie wan mummah…”
You couldn’t stay here any more. You had to go somewhere. Seeing Cookie like this gave you the worstest heart hurties.
As you trotted out of the hollow stump and into the clearing, you saw that another fluffy had gone forever sleepies. One of Raul and Peppy’s babbehs. Their last babbeh, save for her tummy babbehs. The foal was being carried away by Snowy, a diminutive white unicorn only a bit taller than yourself.
He was the only cleaning fluffy around right now, so you went to him. He turned to you, sunken eyes staring right into your core. Snowy has told you, many a time, that he wasn’t happy. But what was happiness anymore? You hadn’t felt warm, or full, or loved in a long, long time. Who had? When it’s so bitterly cold and dark, and you’re starving, how much is there to smile for? You didn’t complain. You worked. You did your best for the herd.
“Snowy,” you began firmly, “nee num Cookie sickies gain.”
Snowy, without missing a beat, dropped the foal and stomped his hoof. He leaned in, snout pressed to yours, gritting his teeth.
“NU MOWE! Snowy awways doin yucky fings! Nu wan no mowe! HATECHU!”
You stood, barely even flinching. This kind of response wasn’t abnormal anymore.
“Snowy num sickies an poopies an take fowebah sweepy babbehs way! Snowy am doin Snowy bestest but Smawty jus nu wike Snowy! Smawty hate Snowy!”
“Nu, Sunset nu hate Snowy-”
“Shuddup! Snowy tawkies nao! Snowy nu cawe if Wenny gib sowwy hoofies! Snowy hate Wenny! Snowy hatechu!”
You stood in silence as tears began to stain the white fluff under Snowy’s one remaining eye, dripping down his face before disappearing into the snow.
“Snowy nu wan wakies some bwite times, cuz Snowy nu feew pwetty. Snowy hab heawt huwties.”
A word caught in your throat, and it took you a moment to choke it up.
“Snowy… wan be nummie findew? Can taste nummie thingies?”
Snowy’s eye began to sparkle, and the corners of his mouth turned to a smile.
“Yes pwease. Snowy sowwy… Snowy nu hatechu. Snowy wub Sunset.”
“Sunset wub Snowy tuu.”
You embraced each other in a hug, and you smiled through it like your mind wasn’t swirling with thoughts. Surely this would be fine, right? Maybe you could find someone else to be a cleanie friend in Snowy’s place? Maybe… maybe the other fluffies should change what they do every few bright times. Trying that couldn’t hurt. Yeah… then everyone could do everything! That would be great!
As you and Snowy parted ways, the sun started to set over the horizon. It case a wide, branching shadow over the clearing, blanketing the sky in a brilliant orange. Bright times seemed to finally be lasting a little longer. You thought that was a good sign. Maybe more bright time meant less cold.
You watched Snowy trot along with the rest of the nummie finders, chirping about how excited he was to be trying something new.
You returned to the safety of your stump, nestling up against Cookie. She was shivering, so you got there just in time.
“Pwease be otay, Cookie,” you pleaded to no one in particular. No one could hear you. Once your words faded out, it was eerily silent. No wind, no crying from across the clearing, no barkie munstahs in the distance.
Maybe things were finally back on track.
You nuzzled into Cookie’s fluff and drifted off into a peaceful sleep.
For a while, anyway.
A shrill screaming awoke you with a start, and you immediately bolted into the clearing. Lenny followed close behind, with the other toughies (save for Cookie) close behind. Lenny stared straight-ish towards the sound of the screaming, a well-walked dirt path deeper into the woods. Bear Claw stood trembling behind Big Rocky, while Lenny shielded you from whatever imminent danger would come.
Another shrill scream, this time closer, echoed through the clearing. Fluffies were gathering around to see what was happening, and Bear Claw broke off to usher them back into their stumps.
And then you saw it.
From the brush came a large, bloodied barkie munstah, carrying Snowy by the stomach. Snowy’s eye met yours for a moment, before he was crushed within the beast’s teeth. His corpse fell to the ground in two halves, spilling boo-boo juice everywhere into the white snow below.
Only then did you realize that the wolf was staring directly at the clearing.
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