Where Fluffy Bodies Lie
By @Za
Chapter Seven:
Isolation
You are Smarty Sunset.
You were even deeper into the cold times now. The coldies got colder, the wind blew faster, and the cold sky wawas had almost buried you in the stump.
All you could really do was nestle in with Cookie and Noon, hoping it would let up soon.
There was no room to play, no food to eat, nothing to talk about. So you slept to pass the time, when you were able. And with sleep came the sleepy pictures.
Dreams, you thought you’d heard a human call them once. You couldn’t remember if that was Shaw, Jeremiah, Jack, or Neil. You were too little.
But those dreams always came. Dreams you hated.
As you drifted off, warm enough in the fluffpile, the stump turned into a vast forest free from snow. The trees grew higher and higher, higher than you could ever hope to see. You could see nothing but trees in all directions. A blue sky, full of clouds, and a bright sun that seemed to smile at you.
“Babbeh?” called a soft, gentle voice.
You turned to look, and you saw three figures just out of view. Too blurry for your see places to make out. One looked totally black, completely enveloped in shadows. The second seemed to almost blend in amongst the browns of the wood. The last was a salmon pink, bathed in golden sunlight.
“Yes, dat am babbeh,” replied another more gravelly voice.
“Pwettiest babbeh mummah ebah had,” sang a softer voice.
You rubbed your see places as best as you could with your little hooves.
“M… mummah? Daddehs?”
The fog in your vision disappeared as the three figures approached you.
“Hewwo babbeh,” the raspier voice spoke. Your daddeh stood before you as you had always remembered him, with black fluff and a lime green mane.
You reached out to give him huggies but found that you couldn’t move. Struggling seemed to take you nowhere, it was like swimming through sketti sauce.
“Daddeh… Sunset miss ou. Sunset am so scawedies. Am smawty nao, an nu kno what to do, an… an…” You sputtered an explanation before you broke down completely. Tears stained your fluff and you started blowing snot bubbles. It wasn’t a pretty huuhuu.
“Nu cwy, babbeh,” Fast Hoofsie said, his voice monotone but his face cracking a gentle smile.
He never really could talk right after Shaw choked him half to forever sleepies for letting Strong Branch live.
“Fast Hoofsie was dummeh. Huwt fwens,” he spoke, turning to the brownish figure beside him that you could now see was your nyu-daddeh. Strong Branch laughed, giving Fast Hoofsie a playful nudge.
“Stwong Bwanch an Fast Hoofsie am even nao,” he chuckled.
You spoke up, eyes torn between them.
“Why daddehs weave Sunset aww awone?” you sobbed, still unable to move. “Nu can be smawty, am onwy widdwe babbeh!”
Nyu-daddeh shook his head. “Nu, babbeh. Ou can be bestest smawty ebah. Stwong Bwanch am sowwy fow weavin ou awone. Nu mean to. Buh nu can come back nao. Dat am bestest fow hewd. Hoomans nu come back nao. Nu mowe huwties.”
A hoof wiped the tears from your eyes. The salmon pink figure from earlier stepped into view, no longer obscured. Blueish curls fell across her face, framing a pair of beautiful eyes you’d recognize anywhere.
“Hewwo bestest pwettiest babbeh!” she called in her usual singsong voice, one you hadn’t heard in a long time.
“Mummah?” was all you could choke out.
“Das wite babbeh! Ou am so big an stwong nao!” she cooed, tip-tapping her hooves excitedly. She nestled into a gentle hug with your daddeh.
“Am pwoudies of babbeh, speshuw fwen,” daddeh rasped again.
“Mummah am pwoud too! Membah babbeh, mummah an daddeh an nyu daddeh awways watchin! Awways su happies an pwoudies! Awways wub ou fow fowebah an fowebah!”
You blinked away tears and the lush green forest was gone. Your parents were gone.
There was darkness. Trees without leaves, their branches sharp and pointy. Storm clouds thundered overhead, announcing a rain that never came.
You felt a leggie wrap around your shoulders in a hug.
“Sowwy about ou daddeh, Sunset,”
And only now did you realize you were in a dream, because this was one you’d had before.
“Boseefus gib huggies. Make huwties gu way. Sunset feew aww bettuh.”
You turned slightly, looking up at the giant orange monster of a fluffy that was Bocephus.
“Did Boseefus ebah teww Sunset why Boseefus am in hewd? Nu, Boseefus nebah teww hewd. Nebah teww nobody but smawties.”
He leaned into sniff your mane, licking your ears. And you were still stuck in place.
“One bwite time, daddeh an mummah came home. Boseefus was awone wif nyu babbeh. Boseefus did bad, bad thingies. Daddeh an mummah gave wowstest huwties. Made Boseefus weave. So Boseefus wun away, meet Smawty Big Twee. Wong time ago. Boseefus was nyu toughy fow hewd.”
Please wakies. Please, please wakies.
“Buh Boseefus nebah hab enfies since. Smawties make Boseefus pwomise. An Boseefus nu wan go fowebah sweepies awone, so Boseefus pwomise.”
He walks in front of you, looking into your pinprick eyes through walls of tears.
“Buh nu am smawties nao. Boseefus do wat wan. No fwuffy biggah den Boseefus. Hab biggest weggies, biggest toofies… biggest no-no stick.”
He grinned, licking his lips.
“Boseefus gabe fiwst babbeh fowebah sweepies. Buh Sunset am biggew. Mebbeh Sunset stay wakies so Boseefus can gib enfies again.”
He took one step toward you.
“HEY!” came an almost-choked shout from somewhere behind you. You seemed to backpedal on your own. This was new. The dream had never ended this way before, but this… this was how it actually happened.
A cream-colored giant of a fluffy, a head taller than Bocephus, stepped in front of you.
“W-wuh doin, Boseefus?” he spoke, as stern as a derpy fluffy possibly could.
“Wenny, bestest fwen! Boseefus am jus pwayin wif-”
“Nuh uh. S-smawties teww Wenny bout Boseefus,” he growled, an odd warble behind his words. “W-Wenny awways w-w-watchies. Pwo-wotect ba-babbehs. Wenny pwomised.”
Bocephus stepped back, looking up at Lenny in terror.
“Wenny, bestest fwen, nu… nu gon huwt Boseefus, wite?” he pleaded, tears and snot running down his muzzle. “Nu du nuffin… nebah twy nuffin ebah gain!”
“Wenny pwomised.”
Lenny lurched forward and effortlessly knocked Bocephus to the ground, pinning his head beneath his front hooves. Bocephus swung his legs, trying to find anything to kick off of to escape Lenny.
“REEEEEEEEEEEE! WENNYYYYYYYYY!” Bocephus cried, his eyes beginning to bulge from his head. Lenny looked away, closing his eyes as he started to cry.
“WENNYYYYYYY, WEN-”
crack
Bocephus’ legs went limp.
And you jolted awake, scaring Cookie and Noon enough for them to crawl off of you. Noon curled up in the corner, shaking.
“Scawy…” he cried. You give him a reassuring huggie and he seemed to calm down.
Cookie hugged you as well. “Bad sweepy pictuwes gain?” she asked sympathetically.
“Was bettah dis time,” you replied. “Saw mummah an daddehs.”
Cries from a distant part of the clearing caught your attention. You guessed another fluffy in your herd had gone forever sleepies. Again.
You hadn’t been a good smarty.
But your head finally felt clear enough to start trying.
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