A Monster in Paradise - 4 (Challenge No.65 winner)

ThreeRoadsDiverged, March 14, 2015; 21:44 / FB 30619
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A Monster in Paradise
Part 4


For several days the family, sans alicorn, lived in near-absolute bliss.

The parents' lives didn't change much: Any time not spent eating, drinking, sleeping, or relieving themselves were dedicated to their foals. This usually meant playing with them, although feeding and cleaning took priority when necessary. The younger foals were effectively blind and had little mobility, so they couldn't yet play as many games as their older brother could. As a result, the parents had to settle for simpler activities like songs, hugs, "upsies", and tickling the foals. Of course, they didn't want their firstborn to feel ignored, so they tried to include him in these games as well.

The alicorn, of course, had no intention of playing with his siblings. He made a point of staying far away from the foals, only daring to come close when necessary, such as when feeding. The alicorn wasn't foolish enough to try attacking them while his parents were nearby - and they were always nearby - but he wasn't even going to pretend to be their friend. Instead he sat and watched, waiting for his opportunity. He thought it would come soon, but minutes turned into hours and hours turned into days. As time passed, the alicorn's rage only grew and grew; The teething pain certainly didn't help, either.

Eventually, though, the alicorn's patience would pay off. The mare and her children were all in the den, the mare blowing raspberries into her younger foals' stomachs. The three blind foals were laughing and chirping, having the time of their incredibly short lives. Eventually the mare realized that her eldest son was moping again; While the alicorn felt nothing but disgust for the foals, he had enough self-control that he only appeared to be depressed.

The mare waddled over to where the foal sulked and nudged him with her muzzle. "Why Baby no pway wif wittow babies?" The alicorn simply curled up, his back to the young litter, and so was unprepared to be lifted by the scruff of his neck and deposited in front of his siblings. "Pwease, Baby," the mare pleaded. "Be good bwuvvah an pway." The alicorn responded by snorting and turning his head up in disdain.

The mare was beginning to grow concerned. Her son had never displayed this kind of behavior before the new litter was born. She briefly wondered if there was a connection between the two, but dismissed it out of hand. After all, the foals are family; Why would he not love them? No, there had to be another explanation for the alicorn's behavior. She didn't know what that explanation was, but she knew she had to figure it out. Something was clearly bothering the older foal, and the mare's heart ached at the thought that her son was unhappy.

With renewed resolve and the misguided belief that her foals were safe from harm, the mare turned to the alicorn and said, "Baby watch bwuvvah an' sissies. Mommy gonna be wight back." The mare then left to find her mate and talk to him about their son's problems.

The mare would later have plenty of time to regret this decision.

It took the alicorn a second to realize that he was finally alone with the foals. After taking another look around the nest, just to be certain, he turned his attention to his mortal enemies. He knew he would have to act fast, so which would he eliminate first? As he circled his victims, he noticed the red colt's horn. Like all fluffy ponies, the alicorn was convinced this meant the unicorn could use magic. No doubt this colt was the source of the "curse" placed upon his parents. The decision was obvious.

Normally, fluffy ponies are unable to deal significant harm to each other: Their teeth are blunt, their muscles are undeveloped, and their hooves, while by no means "soft", are still nowhere near as hard as those of their unmodified namesake. The worst one can get from a typical fluffy fight is a few light bruises, some "sorry poopies", and a lot of hurt feelings. Exceptions usually involve environmental factors or some unfair advantage, such as specialized training or adults versus foals. Even when physically capable, however, fluffies are naturally averse to violence. Many fluffies are willing to intimidate or even rough up the opposition, but their predisposition towards friendship makes them reluctant to inflict any serious harm. At the end of the day, most fluffies would rather make friends than enemies.

Of course, there's an exception to every rule, and our alicorn is quite exceptional. In addition to a genuine desire to kill the foals, the alicorn had quite an unfair advantage over his opponents. Or rather, a combination of advantages: Mobility, sight, and most of all mass. While most of a fluffy's growth occurs after weaning, the alicorn's extra two weeks of life left him somewhat larger than his siblings. On top of his age, he had managed to reclaim much the weight he had shed since he took his first steps. While he found himself on a crash diet, this was largely offset by his attempts to deny the young foals any milk. Furthermore, he was not getting as much exercise as he used to; The alicorn saw no good reason to walk around while his parents carried his siblings everywhere.

The young litter was still oblivious to their impending doom. Having only just played with their mother, they were still chirping and giggling with glee. The foals were all on their backs, the unicorn in the middle, waving their legs blindly in vain attempts to hug their unseen family. With fire in his eyes, the alicorn reared up and moved his forelegs over the unicorn's skull. Thanks to his obesity, the alicorn couldn't remain in the air for much more than a second.

But a second was all Fate needed, for it was at just that moment that the unicorn finally opened his eyes for the first, and last, time. Although his vision was somewhat blurry at first, the red colt was soon able to make out a pair of cyan legs coming towards him. Still too young to grasp the concepts of malice and contempt, the colt could only come to one conclusion: Someone was going to hug him! His tail swishing in excitement, the unicorn let out a loud chirp as he stretched all four of his legs upward, ready to embrace his new friend.

The alicorn's hooves sunk into the unicorn's skull, crushing the red colt's eyes and a portion of his brain. Reflexively, the unicorn let out a bloodcurdling scream. The sudden sound and the splatter of gore sent the other two foals into a panic. Although they had no way of knowing precisely what had happened, the fillies did know that their brother was in pain. Fearing both for their own safety and each others', the fillies began chirping loud and strong, firmly believing that their parents would save them. Their legs continued to flail about, but now in a crude imitation of a gallop that would never get them anywhere.

The alicorn continued to pound his brother's face in, the unicorn's body spasming randomly as his brain was ground into a gooey pulp. The red colt had been dead for nearly half a minute when exhaustion finally overtook the alicorn's adrenaline. Once the murderous foal caught his breath, he stood back to examine his handiwork. The muzzle was the only portion of the unicorn's head that remained intact, and even that was disfigured. The rest was little more than a spreading pool of red, a homogenous mixture of blood, guts, and fluff. By now all four foals had voided their bowels: Two in fear, one in a fit of rage, and one in death.

The alicorn then felt something tap against his hoof: The unicorn's horn, floating in what was once his head. The alicorn tried snapping the red horn in two under his weight, but the horn proved too resilient to break. He instead settled for batting it aside, well beyond the reach of the other foals. This was enough to convince the colt that the spell over his parents was lifted, but he saw no reason to stop there. Surely his parents - who were still too far away to hear their fillies' pleas for help - would be proud of him for punishing these monstrous babies in their absence!

The alicorn's next target was the pegasus; He didn't want her flying to safety and returning for vengeance later. Pushing the crying filly onto her side, the colt placed his forehooves atop her torso and began pounding. This time the colt decided to use just one hoof at a time, lifting one as the other descended. The results were less spectacular, but still effective: The green filly's fragile ribs cracked under the pressure, bones piercing organs as the beating continued. There were few outward signs of damage, leading the alicorn to wonder if his attacks were having any effect. It was then that the pegasus stopped crying and spit up some blood, gasping for air as she struggled against a punctured lung. The colt resumed his assault with renewed vigor…

"Babies?" ...just in time for their parents to finally hear the cries of their youngest foal.

"Mommy! Daddy!" The alicorn abandoned his project and ran to the den's entrance, eager to show his parents the fruits of his labor.

The mare and the stallion both froze in their tracks once they could see what happened in their absence. Their firstborn was before them, his bright smile and madly wagging tail unable to distract them from his bloodstained legs. A trail of bloody hoofprints led their gaze to the brutalized foals, only one of which still had the strength to call for help.

"Wook!" the colt beamed. "Baby gib biggest owwies to meanie dummy babies! Now Mommy an' Daddy an' Baby can be happy fam'wy 'gain!"

The three fluffies stood in silence for several seconds, the yellow filly's cries the only sound echoing throughout the nest. The parents couldn’t believe what they were seeing: Their son, a murderer? And of his own siblings, no less? How could this have happened?

The mare was the first to react, letting out a low, long wail as she rushed to her injured children. The mare scooped the three foals into her forelegs, not yet realizing that the colt was dead. The yellow filly found this hug comforting, but it only served to complicate the pegasus' condition, her shattered bones digging deeper into her body. The green filly's voiceless pleas went unnoticed as her mother rocked back and forth, tears soaking her fluff as she mourned her children.

The alicorn couldn't comprehend what he was seeing. Turning back to his father, he asked, "Daddy, why Mommy sad? Bad babies gone now! Mommy can be happy now!”

The stallion was still processing the scene before him, but soon realized that action needed to be taken. He couldn't risk the foals being harmed any further. Without a word, he turned his son around and pinched the nape of the colt's neck between his teeth. Leaving the nest, the stallion headed straight for the stream while steeling himself to do what needed to be done. The colt, however, was lost in his own little world.

"Wheah Daddy take Baby? Daddy pway wif Baby now? Baby wub pway wif Daddy! Wan' pway wif bwockies! No, wan' pway huggie-tag! No, upsies! Wan' pway upsies and fwyin' wide! No, hide an' see'! Baby no pway hide an' see' in wots of bwight ti- *gasp* In days! Daddy, Baby know wha' day is now! Yay! Baby wub day! But den, wha' is dawk ti- Nigh'! Baby know wha' nigh' is now, too! *giggle* Baby wub day an' nigh'! Baby wub… Why Daddy take Baby to wawa pwace? Daddy nee' wawa? Otay, Baby wait fo' Daddy, den Baby and Daddy pway!"

Holding his eldest son over the stream, the stallion wondered if he was making the right decision: This colt was his son, a part of their family! Such thoughts fell aside, however, when the stallion heard another round of sobbing from his mate. This foal - No, this monster had assaulted their children. He was too dangerous to be kept around. Without a second thought, the stallion released his grip on the alicorn, whose wings instinctively began flapping.

"Daddy, wook! Baby fwy! Baby f- Eeeee!" The colt bounced off a rock and landed in the stream, urine mixing with water as he sputtered and scrambled to stand up. Before he could get his footing, however, the stallion pushed his son below the surface, placing just enough pressure on his foreleg to keep the colt pinned.

The foal's legs flailed aimlessly, desperate to find purchase where none could be found. It wasn't long before he tried calling out for help, water rushing into his lungs in response. The alicorn quickly found himself in a downward spiral, his panic worsening his condition while his condition reinforced his panic. Soon his vision began to fade, followed by his consciousness. He never had the time to wonder why his parents weren't saving him, never mind to realize that his father was punishing him for sins he didn't know he committed.

The colt's body had gone limp, but the stallion kept his hoof in place until he felt certain that the foal was dead. In time he removed his leg from the stream and watched the tiny corpse float away. When the alicorn's body was finally out of sight, the stallion simply collapsed and cried. He cried for himself and his partner, who were once again denied the family they so deeply desired. He cried for his young foals, whose lives were cut tragically short. He cried for his firstborn, who for two whole weeks had been the perfect child.

No... He had appeared to be the perfect child. The stallion simply couldn't accept that such a sweet and innocent foal could transform into a monster. The alicorn must have always been a monster, he reasoned. It must have manipulated him and his mate with some kind of dark magic; How else could they feel love for a creature with both a horn and wings?

The sun had begun to set before the stallion had the strength to return to the den. Upon entering the family's shelter he found that the mare had discarded two of their foals, the pegasus having succumbed to her injuries some time ago. Neither knowing what to say, the mare leaned into her partner's embrace, their only surviving offspring sheltered between them. Although still heartbroken, the pair managed to come to terms with the days events before drifting off to sleep.

The parents eventually convinced themselves that the alicorn had been a monster from the start, deceiving them for as long as it could. The monster used them both for its own wicked ends, whatever they might be, but the young foals couldn't serve it like the parents could. Naturally, it did what all monsters do to those weaker than it. Surely it would have done the same to the adults once it was no longer a baby itself. That was simply the nature of monsters.

But that couldn't be the nature of their youngest foal. She didn't have a horn or any wings, and was even a girl instead of a boy. She was the exact opposite of the alicorn in every way, which was enough to convince her parents that she would grow up to be the perfect child they once thought they had. They saw no reason to treat her any differently than they had her eldest brother, for she showed no sign of being a monster.

Thus had Fate rigged history to repeat itself. But that, my friends, is a story for another time.