Listen to Smarty 9

>You are Listen, a Smarty Friend
>It has been many bright times since your herd left the forest in search of a new safe place
>The herd follows the large black thing, keeping a safe distance from the metal munstas that run across it
>You know the black thing is a sign of hoomans, if you can find its end, maybe you will find a place without hoomans
>The trip, however, is beginning to take its toll on your herd
>You ran out of food bright time before last and the grass along the black thing is always too short to eat
>Just past grass are many tall trees, though less numerous than the forest, but all you can find around them are dried up brown leaves
>Some of your herd have taken to eating the short grass, eating mouthfuls of dirts along with the grass that give them tummy-owwies and owwie-poopies; others try the dead leaves, the awful taste making many of them spit up sicky-wa-was
>The herd has tried to keep the best food for Purple and Peach, but even they aren't getting enough
>Last bright time, one of Peach's foals, a indigo and white unicorn filly named Cloud, stopped moving
>You knew two groups of two foals would be too difficult to keep alive during the journey; without lots of nummies and wa-wa, mummas can't make enough milk for that many babbehs
>Peach was heartbroken at the loss, but making sure the other two and one stay alive has at least kept her distracted; she carries the remaining two and one foals on her back, covered with a big leaf to keep them cool under the blazing heat of the glowy sky ball
>The foals are miserable and their vocabulary has expanded to express this displeasure
"Mumma, Juice hunnngwy!" "Wock tuu hawt, wan huggies…" "Whewe sissy, Mumma?"
>Greenie and Peach try to soothe the foals with hugs and reassurances that they will eat soon, while Trevor's special friend Lucy, a green unicorn mare with a mustard mane and tail, hums her silly song to try and get them to fall asleep
>Peach and Barney still aren't speaking to each other, which has probably only made the loss of one of their foals worse for both of them; Barney has been extremely foul-tempered, once nearly biting Sky's ear off when the poor pegasus accidentally bumped into him
>Not that the rest of your herd has been faring much better
>Since Cloud took her big sleep, Purple and soon-mummas have become very nervous, wondering if there will be enough food when their babbehs come; they try to stuff themselves on the awful nummies, only to end up throwing most of it back up
>The stallions, on the other hand, are acting grumpy and irritable; they want so badly to help their special friends, but lack any way of supplying the much needed good nummies
>Your entire herd is tired, hungry, and miserable
>Still you press on, shouting and pushing your herd to keep it moving, only stopping for food and rest
>You are just as worn out from the trip as the rest of your herd, your little legs ache from the walking and your tummy continues to growl with disapproval, but you know you cannot allow the herd to slow down
>Slowing down would make the journey longer, which would mean eating more bad nummies; if you slow down too much, the soon-mummas will have their foals, and then even more of them will take big sleeps like Cloud
>As your herd marches its way through the trees, you notice Freddy breaking off from the group and start heading deeper into the woods
>You are about to yell at him when you see him point to something in the distance
>There, hidden deep behind the trees, is a large clearing containing a small pond and a veritable banquet of grass
>A great cheer erupts from your herd-mates as they begin charging towards the food, the sight of good nummies after all this time causing them forget the importance of being quiet and cautious
>You scream at the herd to stop, causing them to skid to a halt and look at you, their faces a mixture of fear and frustration
>Scowling back at the herd, you listen to the noises of the forest, made more difficult by the soft whining of your hungry fluffies; it doesn't sound like there are any munstas around, at least none that heard you or the others
>You make your way to the rest of the herd, growling at them in a low voice
"Dummy fwuffies! Smawty seh nu mek noise, nu eat stwange nummies!"
>Most of the fluffies look at their feet and mumble apologies, though a purple and orange pegasus mare tries to defend herself
"Buh- buh Bewwy sissy nee' nummies fo' babbehs!"
>The rest of the herd begins panicking as they are reminded of their desperate need of food for their future foals
>You shoot Berry an annoyed look; she and her sister Cherry, a brown unicorn with a red mane and tail, are the youngest members of your herd, born right after you found the cave in the forest, and thus have no memories of the dangers a fluffy faces when moving as a herd
>Berry's sister cowers behind her, looking far thinner and weaker then any fluffy should, much less a soon-mumma
>Cherry hasn't been well ever since Bad Fluffy Sharp made her special friend take big sleepies and gave her babbehs with his bad special hugs: she barely eats, almost never plays, and often just lays on her side staring at nothing; you wish you'd chased Bad Fluffy Sharp out of the herd sooner
>Berry's been trying to keep her sister's spirits up by playing with and taking care of her, as well as trying to get her excited about having babbehs; you have your doubts about how interested Cherry is going to be in being a fluffy mumma
"Hewd eat nummies suun, buh mus' be caweful. Ow Bewwy wan' sissy hab tummy-owwies an' big sleepies?!"
"Nu! Bewwy nu wan sissy big sleepies! Bewwy sowwy fow be bad fwuffy. Smawty pwease hewp Bewwy fin' saf nummies fo' sissy?"
>You nod and then order Rover to eat some of the tasty-looking grass in the clearing, the dimwitted pegasus having forgotten about munstas the minute you mentioned nummies
>Rover waddles out into the middle of the clearing and begins stuffing his face full of grass, the herd hungrily watching him, some enviously stomping in place
>He makes his way to the pond and begins lapping up water, the sight makes your parched throat ache, but still you watch and wait
>You wait until it becomes too much to bear; you're about to let the herd run free when an unfamiliar voice breaks the silence
"Why dummy nu-hewd in Bwutus hewd nummie pwace?!"
>From the opposite end of the clearing emerges a group of fluffies, almost entirely made up of stallions; you see only one female: a lone, tired and grumpy-looking fluffy mumma being pushed by two stallions
>The leader, apparently called Brutus, is a small orange unicorn with a messy-looking blue mane and tail
>Rover smiles at the new fluffies
"Wobew nu nu-hewd. Wobew hewd wite dewe!"
>Rover turns around and points directly at your herd, ruining any hopes you had of avoiding these new fluffies; figures that the one pooping time Rover actually remembered something it makes things worse
>You emerge from the trees, your herd following close behind; the fluffies behind you spread out a little to make your herd seem bigger to the other fluffies
>As Rover runs back to rejoin your ranks, you try and size up the opposing herd; despite not being able to count too high, you're pretty sure you outnumber them, though Brutus may have more stallions then you
>Still, your herd is tired and weak from the trip, many fluffies would get injured or worse if you got into a fight; maybe you can not fight and still get nummies for your herd?
>You put on a big smile, which feels strange after all frowning and screaming you've been doing, and wave to Brutus, hoping he's a smart Smarty Friend
"Hewwo, fwiends! Me Wissen an' dis Wissen hewd! Wissen wook fo' safe pwace fo Wissen hewd, buh nu knuw dis yuu pwace! Bwutus hab su many nummies, mebbeh Wissen hewd hab nummies an' pway wif Bwutus hewd, den weabe an nebbah cum bak?"
>Some members of the other herd look excited at this prospect, but Brutus just puffs his cheeks
"Dis Bwutus wand! Dese Bwutus nummies! Dummy hewd gif mawes tu Bwutus an' gu way, ow Bwutus hewd gif dummy fwuffies fowebah sweepies!"
>You scowl at Brutus, you're not sure what 'forever' means, but you know a threat when you hear one; well if Dummy Brutus wants a fight, you'll give him one
"Wissen nu gif mawes. Dummy Bwutus no-nos tuu smaww fo' speshal huggies, nu mek guud feews ow babbehs!"
>Brutus' herd breaks out into giggles, which causes the small unicorn to snarl at them; he turns back to you and charges, his horn glowing brighter as he approaches
"Bwutus gib dummy fwuffy biggest owwies!!!"
>With a powerful battle cry, you charge towards your rival as both herds watch and shout encouragement to their respective Smarties
>Blinded by his anger, Brutus forgot to order his herd to attack, which suits you just fine; if you can defeat Brutus first, you can easily drive off the rest of his herd without risking your own
>Right before the two of you collide you try to dodge right, planning to tackle Brutus from the side to knock him over; however, your tired legs move too slow and Brutus's horn scrapes along your side, tearing out some fluff and causing a small amount of boo-boo juice to stain your fluff
>You stare at the boo-boo juice and feel your heart begin to beat faster; you feel like you've just woken up from a long nap, the fatigue from your body being replaced with strength
>You grin at Brutus
"Smaww no-nos an' smaww hown. Yuu onwy big dummy!"
>Brutus lets out a roar and lowers his horn, spraying sparks at you as hard as he can
>You begin running circles around the unicorn, your legs no longer feeling slow and tired, as the bad smarty turning to try and catch you in the sparks, but unable to keep up
>Finally you build enough of a lead on him and dash straight at Brutus, slamming your shoulder into his side and sending him toppling over
>You jump and land on the dummy unicorn's horn with all your hooves, resulting in a sickening crack and a scream
>Brutus rolls on the grass, wailing in agony; you can see the very tip of his horn has broken off, while part still attached to his head now has a large, jagged crack in it
>The enraged smarty eventually gets to his feet and points his damaged horn at you, puffing his cheeks as big as he can
>But nothing happens
>Anger turns to to confusion as Brutus tries again and again to bathe you with sparks, but his mangled horn fails to even glow; frustrated, he begins to make sad wa-was come from his eyes
"W-why Bwutus nu spawks? Wan' spawks! Hown pwease nu be meanie, mek spawks!!"
>You kick Brutus back on to the grass
"Bwutus nu hab hown, nu pointy fwuffy no mo'! Dummy Bwutus nebah mek spawks again!"
>Brutus begins openly bawling, tears and snot dribbling down his face, his legs flailing uselessly in the air
"BWUTUS WAN' SPAWKIES! BWUTUS GUUD FWUFFY, NEE' SPAWKIES! NEE' HOWN, NEE' MUMMA!!! MUUUUUUUMMMMMMMMMAAAAAA!!!!"
>You back away from the sniveling fluffy, conflicted on what to do next
>On the one hoof, Brutus is clearly beaten; driving the rest of his herd off now should be easy, after seeing the pathetic remains of their ex-Smarty
>You glance at the upset looking fluffies on the other side of the clearing; there are still so many stallions...
>No
>You can't risk it
>A heavy, hard feeling fills your chest as you glare at the crying form of a rival Smarty
>His herd threatened yours, HE threatened your herd!
>If you let him go, they'll think you're weak; they'll think your herd is weak and try to hurt them
>Smarties can't be weak; Smarties must be strong, must be mean, must do whatever is necessary to keep their herd safe
>You bare your teeth at creature before you, disgusted that this pathetic wretch called itself a Smarty
>No mercy for the weak
>You lunge at Brutus' neck, your teeth sinking into the soft, tender flesh hidden under his fluff; your mouth fills with boo-boo juice as you bite down and pull, tearing open the defeated fluffy's throat
>Brutus screams of agony turn to tortured gurgles as boo-boo juice sprays from his wound, spilling on to the grass and staining your fluff; he flails weakly for a few moments before becoming still and silent
>You spit the blood out of your mouth and turn to the remnants of Brutus' herd, puffing your cheeks
"Dummy fwuffies weave ow Wissen gif yuu aww BIGGEST OWWIES!"
>The stallions scream in terror and run back into the forest, their stampede kicking and pushing the complaining dam along with them
>The herd lets out a cheer as they rush into the field, descending upon the grass like… well starving fluffies on grass
>You order Cinder and Berry to push the big sleeping Brutus off the grass and into the trees; surprisingly neither complains, instead rushing to remove the body, never looking at you as they begin rolling the motionless unicorn off, leaving a trail of boo-boo juice as they go
>You waddle over to the pond, anxious to wash the taste of flesh and fluff out of your mouth; your entire body feels heavy as the strong fight feelings leave you, and you worry your legs will give out before you reach the water
>Luckily, your legs prove strong enough and you plop down on the edge of the pond, you whisper your thanks to your tired and sore limbs as you crane your neck over the water, already imagining its refreshing coolness on your throat
>Looking into the pond, you are greeted by the wa-wa fluffy, though he looks different then usual; instead of the grumpy looking orange pegasus with the grey mane, this one is a tired-looking red fluffy; he looks kind of scary
>You wonder what happened to the other fluffy, when you notice a small patch of orange peeking out under the red; you giggle a bit
>The silly wa-wa fluffy is covered in red nummie juice! What a messy eater he must be!
"Hewwo, Wed Howse! You see wa-wa fwuffy?"
>You start giggling madly at your joke, the wa-wa fluffy looking like he also enjoyed it
>It feels good to laugh
---
>You are Slugger, a Toughy Friend
>Your herd is currently grazing in a field of grass surrounded by trees, stuffing your bellies as full as you can after going so long without good nummies
>It's a good thing you've found all this grass now, you'd hate for your babbehs not to get any nummies while their in your special friend's tummy
>You look over at Sweetie, currently grazing with Barney; she hasn't told you about the babbehs, but you can tell by her bigger tummy and the fact she stopped asking for special hugs, though she's also been acting very sad and nervous lately
>She's probably nervous because of having to travel while having babbehs; luckily Barney's been a super good friend lately and has been helping you take care of Sweetie
>Normally, you would be making sure Sweetie only eats good nummies, but since Barney is helping her with that, you're doing something even more important
"Grrr, Wock gonna get yuu, Swugga Hoofsie!"
"Gwa-ha-ha! Swugga Hoofsie tuu big fow Wock!"
>You finally talked Peach into letting you play with her babbehs!
>If you're going to be a dadda, you need to learn how to be extra gentle when dealing with foals
>It also give Peach time to eat nummies for milk and groom herself, so everyone is happy!
>Well, except Barney; he still hasn't even talked to his babbehs, much less played with them
>You feel a bit bad for the foals, your fluffy dadda never played with you either
>Your dadda was a Smarty Friend, though everyone now calls him the Meanie Friend
>He always used to tell you that Smarties couldn't play with babbehs, that it made them seem weak and that Smarties always have to be tough and cruel for their herd to survive
>Rock runs as fast as her little legs can carry her, the little grey and brown earth filly headbutting your hoof, letting out an adorable squeak as she bounces off; you bet she'll be a good Toughy Friend when she gets bigger
>You roll backwards, giggling inside; you're glad your a Toughy Friend instead of a Smarty Friend, you can play with babbehs all you want
"Nuu! Wock tuu stwong fo' Swugga Hoofsie!"
>Rock climbs up on your belly on starts biting your fluff, though her lack of teeth means she can't do any real damage
"Nuu! Wock nu be meanie tu Swugga!"
>Juice, the blue and red unicorn colt, runs up your side and restrains his sister with a hug; he'll be a good herd-friend, even if he is a bit wussy
>You sit back up and hug both foals, making sure to be gentle and not give bad chokey hugs
"Juice guud fwiend. Wock pway wough, bu' guud fwiend tuu. Peach mumma be su pwoud!"
>The two babbehs chirp happily in your embrace
>Wait, two babbehs?
>You feel something run up your back and onto the top of your head, a small familiar voice screaming at the top of its lungs
"WICK-O'-WISH GUNNA FWYYYYY!!!"
>A small black filly leaps off your head, her tiny wings spread wide; you watch in horror as she falls straight to the ground like a stone, landing in a pile of grass
"Owwies! Why Wick-o'-wish nu fwy?"
>You let out a sigh of relief as Licorice sits up, grumpily puffing her cheeks and fluttering her wings
>She's a very active filly, which means she's good at getting into trouble
>You're about to hug her when a shadow falls over her, you both look up to see your Smarty Friend standing over Licorice, his orange fluff still tinged a bit red from the boo-boo juice; Juice whimpers a little in your legs
>The Smarty looks down at Licorice
"Fwuffy nu fwy."
>Licorice giggles like the Smarty has made a joke, but looks concerned when the Smarty's face remains serious
"Buh Wick-o'-wish wingie fwuffy! Hab wingies, wingies fwy!"
>The Smarty shakes his head and flaps his wings a bit
"Wingie fwuffy nu fwy. Smawty nu fwy, Peach mumma nu fwy, Wick-o'-wish nu fwy. Fwuffy nebah fwy."
>Licorice begins flailing her arms, her tiny eyes held shut, as she begins to work herself in a tantrum
"NU NU NU! WINGIE FWY! SMAWTY WONG!! WICK-O'-WISH FWY AN' GIB HUGGIES TU SKY BAWW AN' FIN' NUMMIES AN' SEE SISSY-"
>The Smarty lifts his hoof and taps Licorice on the head, the tiny blow changing her tantrum to full blown crying, causing the Smarty to roll his eyes and waddle away
>You put down Rock and Juice and scoop up Licorice, the tiny filly weakly struggling in your embrace as she sobs into your fluff; her brother trying to scale your tummy to comfort her while her sister blows raspberries at the retreating form of the Smarty
>You think back when you were a foal, remembering when your little orange and grey pegasus friend jumped off the large, metal icky-nummy in an attempt to fly, only to fall and get small leg owwies
>You remember what his mumma said as she cuddled both you and him, hugging away the owwies and the disappointment
"Swugga gwad Wick-o'-wish nu fwy. If fwy, Swugga an' Wock an' Juice nu can fowwow, nu can gif huggies ow pway."
>Licorice looks horrified at this revelation and begins struggling to get to her brother and sister; you scoop the other two babies into one big hug, the siblings chirping happily at their reunion
"Wick-o'-wish nu wan fwy no mo', nu wan nu huggies Bwudda and Sissy. Fwy dummy, onwy dummy fwuffy wike Smawty wan' fwy!"
>You smile as the three foals begin squirming in your embrace, starting an impromptu game of hide and seek
>All fluffies have their dreams crushed at some point in their lives: Pegasi will never fly and Unicorns will never use magic
>Even your father, the biggest Earth fluffy you've ever seen, had his dreams crushed
>For all his strength and ferocity, he couldn't save your mother from hooman-munstas anymore then he could protect himself
---
>You are once again Listen, a Smarty Friend
>After giving Brutus a big sleep and driving off the remnants of his herd, you allowed your herd to graze and play in the clearing in the trees; it's too close to the long, black thing to be your new home, but it should be safe enough to sleep in until the next bright time
>You don't like staying in one place too long but the herd needs time to recover and eat; you'll gather up a bunch of nummies next bright time and get the herd moving again
>Right now, though, the glowy sky ball has begun to go home, you'll need to gather the herd into a fluff pile soon, probably should find a good spot for the herd to sleep
"Puwpwe nee' mek big poopies!"
>Or you could go deal with that
>The herd begins gathering around Purple, some concerned for their herd-friend, others actually making the connection of "big poopies" and "babbehs"
>You push your way through the crowd, forcing all the herd except Sparks to give Purple and some space
>Purple keeps whining about her big poopies as you look around the ring of fluffies, wondering where Greenie is
"Dummy fwuffies muv owtta Candy way! Ow wan' Puwple babbehs hab biggest owwies?"
>The herd ring parts to reveal the dull, worn pink fluff of Candy, her blue mane and tail containing more then a few strands of grey and white; behind her are Greenie and Peach, Peach's foals sleeping on their momma's back
>You are filled with equal parts relief and annoyance: Candy is your herd's oldest and most successful mumma, she's been around since you were a foal and she was the last mumma to give birth when you arrived at the cave, though you can't remember which fluffies used to be her foals; she's even better at helping mare's give birth then Greenie
>Candy glares at various herd members as she passes by, then fixes her attention on Purple, who is now aware of her babbehs and crying that they'll now get biggest owwies, while her special friend Sparks tries to hug the fear away
"Ugwy Gweenie an' Scawedy Peach gu mek dummy Puwple nu cwy nu mo'."
>The problem with Candy is she's a notorious grump and loses her temper quite easily: she out and out refused to have anything to do with Peach's pregnancy, claiming that such a scaredy fluffy would be a terrible mumma; the only fluffies she's even remotely civil to are Cherry and Berry
>Candy approaches you as her two assistants waddle towards Purple's front half
"Dummy Smawty wan gif fwuffy mumma owwies 'gain?"
"Onwy if Dummy Candy tuu wazy tu hewp Puwple."
>The two of you scowl at each other as Greenie and Peach try and calm Purple, trying to convince her that no harm will come to her babbehs
>Finally Candy loses interest in harassing you and trots over to Purple's rear, where she begins pulling the fluff around the expectant mumma's no-nos out with her teeth
"Owwies! Nu take Puwple fwuff! Nee' fwuff!"
>Candy ignores Purple's cries, tearing more and more fluff out, Greenie tries to get Purple to focus on her instead, doing her silly, panicked hopping dance
"Puwple nu be scawedy. Candy nee' take no-no fwuff tu mek saf fo' babbehs. Babbehs vewy scawedy, twy hide in no-no fwuff an' get big owwies. Candy take fwuff, babbehs nu hide an' nu get owwies."
"Buh Puwple nee' fwuff…"
>Peach turns around and lifts her flank a bit, showing Purple her no-nos
"It otay. Gweenie take Peach no-no fwuff wen Peach babbehs cum. No-nos cowd fo' whiwe, den fwuff cum back."
>Sparks lifts his head from Purple's side and adds helpfully
"Spawks mek suwe speshal fwiend an' babbehs wawm! Keep Puwple no-nos wawm 'til fwuff cum back!"
>Purple smiles weakly as her limbs wiggle a bit, trying to hug everyone but still being too bloated to accomplish anything
"Otay, Puwple be bwabe fo' fwiend an' babbehs, wet Candy ta- HNNNNGGGGHHH!"
>Purple's body visibly spasm as she pushes out her first foal, the tiny babbeh landing on the soft grass where Candy gives it a quick sniff before giving it to Sparks, who in turn brings it to Purple to be cleaned and placed it on a teat
>The process continues smoothly for the next two foals: Candy inspects, Sparks carries, Purple cleans and gives milk; once the one group of two and one group of one babbeh is cleaned, the first babbeh is moved off its teat and into its momma's embrace
>Peach gives one last grunt as expels  a final babbeh, followed by the icky-not-babbeh stuff; Candy sniffs the babbeh and rears back in disgust, causing the babbling herd to grow silent
>A dumb babbeh has been born
>Candy lifts the tiny newborn by its scruff and brings it over to Purple, allowing Purple to sniff it in case Candy's nose is being silly; Purple give the babbeh a quick sniff and then pushes the wailing infant away
"Puwple nu wan' dum babbeh."
>Candy picks the dumb babbeh back up and brings it over to Peach; as the only other mumma in your herd, Peach is the only other fluffy who could care for the dumb babbeh, and is it's only chance of survival
>It's a practice started by the Dummy Friend, a dumb babbeh is offered to each mumma of the herd, seeing if any of them will take it; he use to say that hoomans liked dumb babbehs and that fluffy mummas who raised them would definitely get hooman mommas and daddas, though few fluffies believed him
>When you became Smarty, you stopped offering dumb babbehs to the mummas, just getting rid of the dumb babbehs by placing them far away from the herd; after you began your exodus from the city, you restarted the practice
>You'd learned the truth about dumb babbehs by then
>Peach sniffs the babbeh and is clearly repulsed, but does not immediately reject it; she keeps looking at the babbeh and then her own foals, possibly reminded of the foal she recently lost
>You've only seen a mare actually accept a dumb babbeh once, back when you lived in the city: a mumma who had lost her foals to munstas two groups of two times and had recently had her special friend taken by kitty-munstas accepted a dumb babbeh, only for them both to drown when the Dummy Friend tried giving the dumb babbeh a bath
>Finally Peach shakes her head
"Peach nu hab enuff miwk fow mowe babbehs. Peach nu wan' dum babbeh."
>Candy takes the dumb babbeh and waddles over to you, placing it on the ground in front of you
>Disposal of bad babbehs is part of a Smarty's duties
>You pick the babbeh up by its neck scruff and waddle off towards the other side of the field, far enough so that the rest of the herd can't hear its cries, setting the dumb babbeh on the grass as it continues to desperately chirp and wriggle, seeking love and nourishment
>No matter how you look at it, it feels wrong; a sort of wrongness that threatens your herd, your babbehs, your everything
>Trying to ignore these feelings, you begin licking the birthing fluid off of the dumb babbehs face, nearly gagging on the taste combined with the babbeh's awful smell
>You can't lick off to much, you've learned that much, but no fluffy should face the big sleep with its face covered in icky wa-wa
>The foal is still wet from saliva and birth fluid and with the glowy sky ball almost gone, there is too little light to tell what color the foal is
>Gently and with more then a little fear, you reach down with your front legs and scoop up the dumb babbeh, gingerly holding it against your chest; you feel two small lumps move on the babbeh's back, it's a pegasus like you
>The dumb babbeh tries to hug and suckle your fluff, looking for a nonexistent teat as you softly whisper to it
"Wissen sowwy. Wissen knuu dum babbeh twy tu be guud babbeh, wan wuv and nummies and huggies. Buh Wissen knuu twuth 'bout dum babbeh. Dum babbeh keep hewd saf, keep fwuffies fwom hab bigget owwies an' gu tu big sweep. Dum babbeh is guud hewd-fwiend, is guud fwuffy."
>You place the dumb babbeh back on the grass, the foal struggling not to lose the fluffy warmth it so briefly held, squeaking in distress
>As you slowly waddle back towards your herd, you notice a small area of your fluff is wet with icky wa-was that covered the dum babbeh when you hugged it
>You decide to leave it there for now, you can always clean it off next bright time
---
>It is the dead of night, the moon hangs high over the small clearing
>The fluffy herd sleeps peacefully under a tree on the border of the clearing, nestled comfortably amongst its large roots
>From out of the trees emerges a lone coyote, searching the forest for food, drawn by the strange scents of the herd
>It stares at the herd for a bit, having never seen such creatures before; they are small, but numerous and the coyote has no mate or pack to assist it, attacking the herd head on could get the coyote injured
>As it observes the herd, a gust of wind blows a strong scent into its nostrils, similar to the herd before
>It follows this new scent to the other side of the clearing, finding an abandoned foal lying in the grass, the tiny creature barely moving and it's chirps reduced to but a whisper
>The coyote sniffs the foal, the scent is similar but off somehow; it licks some of the amniotic fluid off the foal, eliciting a weak squeal of joy from the runt
>Seemingly satisfied with the taste and desperate for a meal, the coyote opens it's jaws and bites the foal in half, killing it instantly
>And then the coyote vomits
>Even for a creature known to eat carrion, the taste of fluffy runt is too much to stand; the desperate coyote runs its tongue on the grass and swallows some dirt, trying anything to remove the awful sensation filling its mouth
>The coyote darts back into the woods, never even glancing back at the rest of the herd, in search of prey it can actually stomach
>The herd is safe for another night