Better luck next time (Challenge No.02 entry)

aroptua, November 28, 2012; 11:37 / FB 7078
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Better luck next time

>be male fluffy pony

>you have a special friend and she’s the best

>she’s giving birth to your babies now

>she’s in pain and screaming but you stay by her side to provide what little support you can

>”wuv speshal fwen’. wuv babehs. evewyffin’ be otay.”

>she’s breathing hard and pushing

>other fluffies from the herd are helping with the glorious miracle that birth is

>they just poke her belly and cheer for the foals to come out

>one by one they plop out and immediately start chirping for their mother

>you carry them in your mouth to her for her to clean and feed

>she softly coos to them as they eat and hug

>”wuv babehs. pwetty babehs. momma’s wittaw tweasuwes.”

>the sight makes you happy, you smile and join your new family

>all four of you hug and slowly drift off to sleep in a cute little fluffpile

>days pass

>you have to head out with the better part of the herd males to gather food

>being autumn, there’s lots of fruit fallen from trees on the ground, some berries but very little grass

>you gather as much and as fresh apples, quinces and pears as you can manage to carry and bring them back to the cove where you live

>what greets you there, however, is a disaster

>seagulls found your herd

>they picked and tore every fluffy

>you herd is all but wiped out

>some of the scavengers break into tears, others stare in disbelief and yet others frantically search for survivors

>you run to where your family used to sleep

>your face is wet with tears, your heart is pounding out of your chest

>you hold your breath and shiver more and more violently as you approach

>before you are the remains of your special friend, all that’s left of her is torn up fluff, bones and a face with contorted expression

>you look for your babies but they’re nowhere to be seen

>you fall down and wail their loss

>suddenly, you hear someone else crying, a high-pitched familiar voice

>it’s one of your babies!

>it must have managed to hide somewhere and survive

>”BABEH! WHEWE AM YUU?” you scream

>”DADDEH! SCAWED! Waaa”

>you hurry to the source of the voice and find your baby underneath a mess of thrown away bowels

>you pick your blood-soaked baby up and hug it

>”Babeh! Wuv babeh, dadeh is hewe, evvewyffin betta”

>it just cries in your embrace and eventually tires itself into sleep

>turns out your foal is the sole survivor of the attack

>the other fluffies of your herd don’t like you for it

>they lost their babies and special friends and think you’re to blame since one of your babies is fine

>it’s not your fault but they think it is

>you had to find a new place to live and gather food all over again

>you tried to pick up your life with your baby and make the best of it but the others would only give you a tiny ration, barely enough to keep you full

>your baby constantly complains that its tummy has owies but there’s nothing you can do

>the others take away whatever food you try to hide

>your only hope was to find some fruit while they were asleep and give it to your child

>but it wasn’t enough, it couldn’t be - only one good meal a day

>you want to leave the herd and take care of your baby alone but it’s almost white time and you know you won’t be able to survive alone

>other fluffies had tried before and later you found their frozen bodies while you were looking for food

>no, you must stay with the rest

>your foal grows, it’s beginning to look like a big fluffy now, even if it is skinnier

>it constantly complains to you that you’re a bad daddy for letting it starve so much

>you take it with your head down and hope that some day it will understand what you’re doing for it

>you constantly have arguments about leaving the herd and fending for yourselves

>your baby doesn’t want you to look after it any more but you know you have to, you know it can’t fend for itself yet, especially in the white time

>”yuu neva unnstan fwuffy! am big boi nao! can tak cawe fow maisewf! nu nee’ stupi hewd, nu nee’ stupi daddeh!”

>”yuu stay wiff hewd. daddeh tak cawe of babeh untiw babeh become big stwong fwuffy an’ fin’ spesha fwiend. den babeh tak cawe of own famiwy.”

>”am nuu babeh! am big fwuffy!”

>and then it stomped out of your tree hollow

>you ran after it but the other fluffies held you back

>”nuu go aftew fwuffy. fwuffy big fwuffy nao, can tak cawe of sewf.”

>but he wasn’t a big fluffy yet, he was still a baby and you had to take care of it, you alone

>”NUU!”

>you punched the fluffies holding you down and ran after your baby but you quickly lost its tracks

>you wandered the forest for hours to no avail

>you found hide nor hair of it

>”BABEH! BABEH!” you kept screaming but you got no answer

>as the day drew to its end, so did your strength

>finally, you collapsed in the middle of the woods, tired, cold, hungry, alone and in despair

>you only had your one baby left and you couldn’t protect it

>you couldn’t take care of it and it was lost

>you were a bad fluffy daddy

>you wept until the chill took over your body and stole your last breath

>and all you kept repeating until then was “whewe babeh? fin’ babeh.”