A Monster in Paradise - 3

ThreeRoadsDiverged, March 13, 2015; 20:43 / FB 30584
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A Monster in Paradise
Part 3


It wasn't long after their birth that the young foals found themselves hungry again. Milk was the farthest thing from their older brother's mind, having just recently gorged himself, until he saw his mother place the newborns at her teats. The mere thought that they were feeding while he went without lit a spark inside him. The alicorn ran up to his mother, too upset to realize that she was nursing while sitting rather than on her side. While two foals suckled, their mother rocked the third in her forelegs while singing to them all.

Mommy woves babies, Daddy woves-

"Peep! Mummah!" the alicorn interrupted. "Behbeh wan' miwkies!"

The mother tried to supress a laugh. "Biggah baby can wait. Wittow babies nee' miwkies fiwstest."

"B-but, Behbeh wan' miwkies! Peep! Wan' miwkies, wan' miwkies, wan' miwkies!!!" The alicorn threw himself to the ground, punctuating his tantrum by pounding the ground with his stubby limbs.

The mare sighed and leaned over to pick up the spoiled foal by the scruff of his neck. Dropping the whiny colt in her forelegs with his sibling, the mare resumed her lullaby. The alicorn was certainly glad his mother was singing to him again, but this brief bliss was undone when he remembered he was sharing the song with the sibling that was trying to hug his tail. Torn between his love for his mother and his hatred of these interlopers, the alicorn tried to crawl as far away from the younger foal as he could without leaving his mother's embrace.

Feedings aside, the rest of the afternoon was fairly uneventful. The parents spent most of their time in the nest looking after their youngest foals. The alicorn, of course, found this incredibly boring, if not infuriating. He kept himself near the main entrance to the den, following his parents outside whenever they left to deal with the necessities of life.

"Peep! Daddeh pway wif Behbeh now? Wan' pway! Wan' pway! Peep! Behbeh pway wunnie game! Daddeh no can catch Behbeh! Hee hee hee! Peep! Catch Behbeh, Daddeh! ...Daddeh? Why Daddeh no pway wif Behbeh? Behbeh wub Daddeh! Behbeh wub pway! ...Peep? Wheah Daddeh goin'? Why go in sweepy pwace? No' time fo' sweepies, time fo' pway! Peep! ......Daddeh?"

In time darkness blanketed the fluffy family's world, leading them to settle down for a long night's sleep. As usual, the parents slept side by side with the small alicorn nestled between them. However, the alicorn now found himself sharing his fluffy shelter with his siblings. The parents, not wanting any foals to pass on in the middle of the night, kept the three newborns within reach. Intent on distancing himself from the foals, the alicorn wormed his way to the rear of his parents' bodies. He briefly considered draining his mother's teats purely to keep her milk out of the other foals' mouths, but thanks to a full stomach he settled for guarding them instead.

For several hours the family slept soundly. The alicorn dreamt of a world with just him and his parents: They ran through endless fields together, play various games, and even swam through a river of milk. The alicorn performed for his parents, deftly weaving through the air and putting on incredible displays of magic. But, as with all dreams, the colt's private utopia could not last forever. At first he thought he heard rain in the distance, but as the clouds grew thicker and darker he realized it wasn't the sound of rain. It was chirping.

First one foal fell through the clouds, then another. Before long there were dozens, then hundreds of chirping foals descending from the heavens. The alicorn looked about, not wanting to be separated from his parents when the oncoming storm arrived. The moment he spotted them, however, foals began littering the path between them. The alicorn broke into a sprint, dodging the falling fillies and colts, but despite his best efforts his parents only seemed to be getting farther away. Eventually the ground was so thick with foals that the alicorn found himself running on them rather than around them. Their squirming and struggling slowed him down, but the alicorn refused to give up.

Just as he seemed to be making progress, the alicorn saw his parents sink into the writhing mass of infant fluffies. He stood there, stunned, before realizing he was sinking as well! He struggled to stay above the surface, but his struggle was in vain as the foals climbed atop him and pushed him further down. The alicorn searched for an exit, but all he could see were foals: Colt, filly, earth, pegasus, unicorn, alicorn, red, green, blue, yellow, orange, purple, pink, brown, white, black. And chirping. Every single one, chirping at the top of their lungs, contributing to the cacophony that threatened to drive the alicorn mad.

Fortunately for the colt, that was when his dream ended, if not his nightmare.

"No cwy, babies," the mare said, scooping up the three chirping foals. "Mommy an' Daddy heah. Babies no have saddies."

The alicorn was both frightened and exhausted, but soon he was able to distinguish dream from reality. He didn't noticed his mother setting the foals down to drink again or his father hugging the foals and singing them to sleep; If he had, no doubt he would have thrown another fit and demanded the attention they were giving to others. Instead he turned his back to the foals - and the mess he had made in response to his nightmare - and dug himself deeper into his parents' fluff, silently thankful he only had three foals to deal with.

~~~~~~~


When morning finally came the alicorn was the last to wake, and only then because his parents were moving about, leaving him exposed in the cold shadows of their shelter. This morning he would not have to wait his turn to feed, but that was due more to his late start than anything else; Since his siblings were nearly done anyways, the alicorn could convince himself that he would once again get his milk whenever he wanted. Once all the foals were fed, it was time for the parents to make a decision.

"Babies heah fo' one day," the stallion said, "an' no take fowevah sweepies..."

The mare looked her mate in the eyes. "Babies awe no-sickies babies? Safe to take babies ou'side?"

The stallion nodded, and began placing the young foals on his partner's back. Once again the alicorn felt the sting of jealousy, and so ran up to his father and stretched his forelegs upwards. "Peep! Behbeh wan' wide on Mummah!"

Seeing no reason to object, the stallion picked his firstborn up and placed him with the other foals. His back to them, the alicorn might not have noticed his companions if one of them hadn't picked up on his scent and gave him the best hug one could expect from a blind fluffy foal.

The alicorn let out a loud chirp and a stream of liquid feces when he realized who was hugging him. "No! Bad behbeh! Cheep! Behbeh no wan' wide wif bad behbehs!" Struggling out of his younger sibling's weak grip, the alicorn turned around and pushed the foal off their mother's back.

Fortunately for the young foal, both parents were too shocked by their eldest colt's sudden outburst to have moved very far. Acting faster than one would expect from a fluffy, the stallion reached out and grabbed the falling foal. He was about to set it back on the mare when he noticed the alicorn rolling one of the other foals off. The stallion snatched the alicorn in his mouth before putting the other foals back where they were.

Nobody in the family was happy at that moment: The alicorn, paralyzed in his father's grasp, was whining about "bad babies"; Two of the younger foals were chirping madly, not knowing why another fluffy was being so rough with them, while the third tried unsuccessfully to hug their fears away; The mare desperately wanted to comfort her foals, but dared not move for fear of spilling them and was too panicked to consider singing to them; The stallion didn't know what to make of his firstborn's unusual behavior, but knew he had to do something. After all, the alicorn wanted to ride on his mother, but he couldn't be put with the other foals if this was how he was going to act.

That's when the stallion got an idea. Taking the alicorn outside, the stallion rolled on his side and craned his neck as best he could, depositing the foal on his own body. "Baby wide on Daddy? Baby can have fwyin' wide!" This made perfect sense to the stallion: His son loved riding on him while he ran around the grassy area they called home, and his mate needed to move slowly to keep the younger litter safe. This way, everyone could be happy.

The alicorn, however, was only interested in his mother at the moment. He had noticed the night before that his mother could once again walk around on her own four hooves. Until the other foals were born, she couldn't run and play like the male fluffies could; It was difficult for her to even give hugs. In the alicorn's mind, there was only one logical conclusion: Those foals have been trying to keep him and his mother apart for as long as he could remember! Maybe even longer! They hid in his mother's tummy, preventing her from doing the things all good fluffies should get to do, until they were ready for the next part of their evil plan. He had no idea what that plan was, but he wasn't going to let them win!

The rest of the day was filled with similar drama, although the parents were quick to dismiss their firstborn's behavior as a series of isolated incidents. The alicorn constantly tried to rope his parents into various activities, but could never get more than one at a time. The other parent always kept their eyes on the younger foals - or worse, tried to get him to play nice with his siblings - inadvertently undermining the alicorn's efforts. Things only got worse when he found himself once again waiting his turn for milk. He didn't understand what his parents did: That younger foals need less milk more often, whereas the older colt could endure the wait. All he "knew" was that the young litter was stealing milk that was rightfully his and his alone.

As the sun set, the sullen colt snuck off to sulk. "Behbeh no know wha' to do, wocky fwen'." The alicorn hugged a random rock close to his chest. "Behbeh know dat bad behbehs awe bad, but no know why Mommah an' Daddeh no know. Behbeh no know why bad behbehs awe bad an' twy to take Mommah an' Daddeh fwom Behbeh. How Behbeh gonna stop bad behbehs?" The alicorn was on the verge of tears, but thanks to his father's voice the only waterworks he produced was the yellow pool between his hindlegs.

"Otay, babies. Daddy give baffies now." Deciding to investigate, the alicorn peeked into the den. He could see his father licking his siblings clean of a long day's worth of dirt and excrement. By now the younger foals' tails had grown in - like their parents, their tail fluff was simply a darker shade of their body fluff - which only served to further collect filth.

Not wanting to be left out, the alicorn reflexively lifted his tail as he pushed out the biggest turd in his short life, wincing in pain in the process. Satisfied in his work, he leapt into the steaming pile of digested milk and rolled around until he was coated in his own waste. He then ran into the nest, making sure his father could see him.

"Peep! Daddeh! Gib Behbeh baffies! Peep! Behbeh nee' baffies!"

As Fate would have it, the mare returned to the den at just that moment. "Baby!? Why Baby have poopies in fwuff? Baby nee' baffie!" The mare picked her son up and, trying her best not to gag, began cleaning him.

The alicorn was less than pleased at this turn of events. While he may have had his mother's undivided attention, he was now a captive audience to the baths his father continued to give to his siblings. Now more than ever he was certain that his parents were blind to what these foals truly were. That the foals somehow tricked his parents into loving them more than him, no doubt with some kind of dark magic. He was certain that, if he wanted his old life back, he would need to put an end to the foals' spell, and he could think of no better way than by putting an end to the foals themselves. He knew he would have to be careful, though: The last thing he wanted was for his enchanted parents to protect the otherwise-defenseless foals from his righteous fury.