Listen to Smarty 13

>You are Listen, a Smarty Friend
>After following Ugly for so long that the glowy sky ball has turned the sky orange and red as it heads off for sleep, you have found Twig: her herd is currently playing at the bottom of a small ditch near the edge of the forest
>Twig herself is resting on top of a hollow log, accompanied by a familiar looking green pegasus; it's taking all your self-control not to charge down there right now and give them both biggest owwies
>Twig's herd is bigger then you hoped: you don't know how many fluffies either herd has, but looking at both herds, you feel like they're around the same size; many of her herd look underfed and weak, but yours has many owwies from the earlier raid, making getting you mares back that much harder
>You look sadly at your mares: Twig had corralled your mares between the log and a large rock, most are crying and several have clearly been given owwies; a few of your mares are currently being given bad special huggies by some of Twig's stallions, who strike the crying mares whenever they try to free themselves
>The rest of Twig's herd, who also appear to be all stallions, are "playing" with your stolen foals: many are satisfied just chasing the foals around, kicking them if they trip or try to hide to get them to keep moving; a couple of stallions have found a more cruel form of entertainment: they let foals try to  make it back to their sobbing mummas, only to chase them back just before they reach them, giving the mumma a quick buck if they dare get too close to their terrified babbehs
>You feel your teeth grind together
>You want to stomp them
>You want to stomp and stomp and stomp until all their leggies are broken and their heads are nothing but red boo-boo juice and pink not-nummies
>Turning back to the forest, you're glad you left you herd behind the trees; originally, you didn't want Twig's herd seeing yours, but now you doubt you could keep control of your stallions if they saw the states of their special friends
>That would have been a disaster: fighting Twig's herd with the mares on the other side and the babbehs spread amongst the stallions would be terrible: your herd wouldn't be focused, would try to get to their special friends instead of giving owwies, not to mention all the babbehs that would get trampled underhoof of the meanie stallions
>No, if you're going to give Twig and her herd biggest owwies, you need to unite your stallions and your mares and get the babbehs away from Twig's dummy herd
>The herd mulls around impatiently as you think
>Need a way of getting the stallions away from the mares babbehs; maybe do what Twig did to you?
>You don't like the idea of acting like a meanie like Twig, but giving a herd owwies the way they gave you  owwies… that's smarty, right?
>Sparks tries to sneak a peek at the meanie herd, but a quick glare sends him scurrying back to the rest of the herd
>It must be; so send a fluffy to tell them of a safe place where there's-
>No, that doesn't work; they already think they're safe, that's why they're playing and having special huggies
>So maybe… do the opposite?
>Your head begins to hurt
>Send *ow* fluffies to make *ow* them think its… dangerous? *owowow*
>Fighting through the growing pain in your head, a plan begins to emerge
>A not-raid! That's it! Send some of your herd  on a not-raid to distract Twig's dummy herd, then rest of the herd goes on a real raid and gets the mares and babbehs back!
>Before you tell your herd your smarty idea, you realize a problem with it: the not-raid will have to be small or else Twig's herd might just surround the mares and form a wall, which would ruin the real raid; and any fluffies in the small not-raid have a good chance of getting biggest owwies
>Looking over the herd, your choices are slim: Slugger has the best chance of not getting big owwies by the meanies, but you'll need more then just him
>You'd send Rover, but he won't remember the plan and he's not really all that good in a fight; he mostly flails around wildly, giving owwies to every fluffy near him, then tries to give them huggies once he's forgotten why he was hitting them
>Trevor and Cinder are your next best Toughies after Slugger, but they're not as big as him, which means they have a good chance of being overwhelmed by the meanie fluffies; they also have special friends that have been taken, you don't want to get your mares back only to have their special friends get big sleepies
>Which really only leaves...
"Hewd wissen tu Smawty. Swugga, Bawney an' Ugwy: yuu gu way fwom hewd an' den yeww at meanie Twig hewd, mek dem gu way fwom mawes an' babbehs. Den hewd ge' mawes an' babbehs an' den gif meanie hewd biggest owwies."
>Your herd quietly whispers its support of your plan; Slugger looks very determined, while Barney is a bit pale
>Ugly, on the other hand…
"Ugwy nu wan' yeww at dummy hewd, wan speshal huggies!"
>You glare at Ugly as the herd tries to keep him from being too loud, fearing the meanie herd hearing him
"Ugwy nee' yeww at Twig hewd, ow nu can hab speshal huggies. Nee' ge' mawes an' babbehs-"
"Ugwy nu cawe 'bout babbehs! Dummy Wissen say Ugwy hab speshal huggies fo' show dummy hewd, nu say hab yeww at dummy! Gif Ugwy speshal huggies, NOW!"
>You can barely keep yourself from lunging for Ugly's throat; your herd growls angrily at Ugly, who stares at you with puffed cheeks
>He didn't listen
"Bawney, Swugga. Gif dummy biggest owwies."
>Ugly smiles
"Dat wight! Gif dummy hewd biggest owwies, gif Ugwy special Twig huggies!"
>Barney waddles up to Ugly as Slugger circles behind him, a strange smile on his face
"Dun wowwy, Ugwy. Gun hab best speshal huggies."
>You watch as a Slugger rears up behind Ugly, still distracted by Barney's words
"Dey gunna be wegend-waid fow id-"
>Slugger's hooves slam down, crushing Ugly's skull underneath his great weight
"-dawy."
---
>You are Twig, a Smarty Friend
>You are currently sitting on top of your log, watching your herd eat and play, while your special friend, a green and light green pegasus named Leaf, grooms you
>It feels good to have mares and babbehs again, it makes you know you're being a good Smarty
>You weren't always a Smarty; a long time ago, your herd had a different Smarty, a real dummy who forced you to be his special friend
>Things weren't to good back then: there wasn't much food besides dummy grassies, your safe place was too small for all your fluffies, and the Dummy kept blaming you for not having babbehs when he gave you special huggies; he even started giving other fluffies' special friends special huggies, which they all got mad at YOU for
>You puff your cheeks at the thought: like it was your fault! You wanted babbehs, but the Dummy's special huggies were bad, never felt good ever!
>… Leaf's feel good, though, and you still haven't had babbehs
>Probably the Dummy's fault; you were glad when he and the meanie mares got biggest owwies
>Dummy tried to make the hooman living at the top of the hill give him the land and nummies, lost a lot of your herd that bright time
>But now you have mares again, you can make your herd big and strong again! Have lots of babbehs, make up for the fluffies you lost in the raids
>The mares are kind of dummy, though; they mostly cry, despite being in your better herd!
>You even gave them all new special friends, but they just whine and try not to have special huggies! How is your herd supposed to be big and strong if your mares are such selfish dummies?!
>Their babbehs aren't much better: always crying, despite all the stallions that are playing with them; some are real dummies too, always trying to get back to their mummas
>Probably want more nummies, the selfish little piggies; don't they know mummas need time to make more milkies?
>And their mummas just encourage them! Lucky your stallions are there to make them behave, or the babbehs might grow up to be bad fluffies
>Oh well, you'll just have to put up with these dummy babbehs until your herd's babbehs are born; they'll be so much better behaved, they'll always want to play and never be greedy about nummies
"HEY, DUMMY FWUFFIES!"
>You look over at the source of the noise: two fluffies, not of your herd, are at the far end of the ditch; one looks big, far bigger then any of your herd mates, the other is a normal size but has boo-boo juice on his fluff
>They don't look nice and they keep yelling meanie things at you
"Fwuffies ugwy, nu hab nice fwuff!" "Fwuffies nu smeww pwetty!" "Dey nu fwuffies, dey poopies dat wawk!"
>You look at your herd and point towards the dumb meanie fluffies
"Gif dem biggest owwies!"
---
>You are Barney, a fluffy pony
>You are standing next to Slugger, as a herd of meanie fluffies start making way towards you
>That is a lot of fluffies
>You're trying to be brave, reminding yourself this is for Peach and your ex-babbehs
>Yeah, that's still way too many fluffies
>You look at Slugger, his massive pink frame standing firm as he glares at the incoming horde
"Swugga?"
>He glances down at you
"Yes, Bawney?"
"Bawney sowwy fo' gib Sweetie speshal huggies."
>Slugger remains silent, you turn back to the incoming herd
>Still a lot of fluffies
"Swugga sowwy tu Bawney."
>You turn back to Slugger, confused by his apology
>The giant stallion gives you a big grin
"Swugga sowwy gif Sweetie betta speshal huggies."
>The two of you giggle loudly
"Hey Bawney?"
"Yes, Swugga?"
"Wha' Wegen-waidfowid-dawy mean?"
"Nu nuu. Hooman daddeh use wike Bawney say id, say id 'hiwawious'"
>The large fluffy mulls this over as the battle cries of the approaching fluffies grow louder
"Hoomans weiwd."
>You nod as you face your oncoming foes
"Yea', dey awe."
---
>You are Twig again
>As your herd rushes towards the two dummy fluffies, your ears pick up a different sound coming from behind you
>Stopping your charge, you turn to see a different herd of fluffies rising out of the trees towards your mares
>You're being raided!
>As the new fluffies begin mixing in with your mares, you start shouting at your herd about the mares; your herd slowly stops attacking and turns to meet the new threat
>The raiders are strange, they don't run or drag your mares off; they just stand there, teeth bared and hooves stomping; your herd charges them, desperate to reclaim their special friends
>You watch in horror as your stallions are crushed by the wall of raiders as they kick and gore them into forever sleep; you even see the mares joining the raiders, biting and bucking the fluffies that used to be their herd
>You try to rally your herd, telling them to stop charging individually and work as a herd, only to hear a familiar voice echo across the battlefield
"TWWWIIIGGGGG!"
>From out of the brawling fluffies, an orange and grey pegasus charges towards you; it's teeth bared and hate-filled eyes fixed on you
>You run
>You run as fast as you can: you don't think of the mares, or the herd, or anything; you simply want to get as far away from that fluffy as you possibly can
"Twig, Weaf cum hewp yuu! Dummy fwuffy nu-"
*CRACK*
>You look back and see your special friend Leaf lying on his back, boo-boo juice pouring from his nose; the orange pegasus is stands over him, then savagely tears out his throat, Leaf's screams quickly turning into bloody gurgles
>You run faster
>You run into the forest, still hearing the snarling orange pegasus chasing you
>Have to get away, have to get safe; you weave in-between trees and around rocks, trying to lose him, his screams still ringing in your ears
>You see a bush and sprint towards, hoping to hide from the meanie inside
>You trip
>A tree root you didn't notice caught on your hoof, you land hard on your front left hoof, causing a wave of owwies to shoot through it
"Owwies!"
>You try desperately to stand up, to get to the bush, but your meanie leg just gives you more owwies and collapses under you; you silently beg it to please be nice, please just carry you a little farther-
"NO ONE."
>You try to drag yourself across the ground with your good legs, just need to get a little closer
"HUWT."
>The voice is getting closer, you flip on to your back and start kicking, trying to fight off the meanie fluffy
>He stands before you, teeth bared with boo-boo juice still dripping from them, with his awful wings spread wide; his orange fluff looks red in the light from the sleepy glowy sky ball, and his eyes, his horrible eyes, stare at you filed with anger
>His hooves stomp hard on the grass as it gets ever closer to you
"WISSEN."
>You blubber apologies as sad wa-was run down your cheeks and nose-ickies pour from your nosie
"Fwuffysowwynuhuwtfwuffyfwuffynumeantunuwanowwies-"
>He rears up, his meanie hooves held high
"HEWD!!!"
>You scream
---
>You are Barney again
>You are currently laying in a patch of grass under a big tree, trying not to move too much
>After the giving all the meanie fluffies owwies, the Smarty took your herd back to the not-safe hidey hole; you were glad to see Slugger reunite with Sweetie again, they're both good fluffies
>It was a little hard to foliow the rest of the herd, the meanie herd gave your back right leg very bad owwies, making it painful to walk on; they also tore out large chunks of your fluff, chewed up both your ears pretty bad, and bit off most of your tail, leaving you with a short little stub
>Though you still had an easier time getting back then some fluffies
>Smarty says the herd can rest here until next bright time, then you'll have to resume your journey; that suits you just fine, you don't want to stay in a place that reminds you of those awful raiders
>Some of the herd is upset you're staying here, but no one dares argue with the Smarty right now; you've never seen a fluffy covered in boo-boo juice from head to tail before
>Everyone is still crying and hugging from their various ordeals; you spy Sparks tightly hugging Purple and his foals, bawling his eyes out as he tells them how much he loves them
>You spy Peach grooming her foals; your leggies ache as you stand and slowly make your way over to her
>Peach notices your approach and looks questioningly at you; Rock and Juice try to hide from you behind their hooves, no doubt afraid of how awful you look
"Hewwo, Peach."
"…hewwo Bawney."
>The two of you stare awkwardly at each other, neither knowing what to say; you haven't spoken since the fight, so much time has passed, but it still feels like you're back at the cave, arguing over such dummy things
>But you know what you want to say
"Bawney sowwy."
>Peach just stares at you, her face betraying no thoughts, as you continue saying your piece
"Bawney sowwy Bawney nu heap Peach nu be scawedy of bein' mumma, nu tink wha' babbehs mean tu Peach. Bawney sowwy onwy tink of Bawney, nu Peach an' babbehs. Bawney- Bawney sowwy of' bein' bad speshal fwiend."
>Peach just stares at you silently; you turn to leave
"Bawney, waid."
>You turn back to see Peach stand up and waddle towards you
"Peach sowwy tuu. Peach ge' su scawedy fo' babbehs, be meanie tu Bawney, nu wet Bawney hewp ow wuv babbehs. Peach sowwy nu wet Bawney be daddeh."
>Peach glances away a moment, then shakes her head and stares you straight in they eye
"An' Peach stiww wuv Bawney."
>You feel as if you chest-thumper jumped into your neck; you mumble dumbly for a little bit before finally spitting out what you want to say
"Bawney wuv Peach tuu."
>Peach presses her nose against yours; you suddenly remember the first time you hugged Peach, how you thought she was the nicest, prettiest, best smelling mare in the world
>After a moment, Peach pulls back and smiles softly at something behind you
>You turn to see Greenie walking up to the two of you, carrying Licorice gingerly in her mouth
>Greenie stops when she notices you, then looks sadly at Licorice; she then offers the little foal to you, who you carefully take into your front hooves
>You hold the foal daintily, fearful she may break if you breathe on her too hard; this is what a babbeh feels like? It feels like even your most careful hugs might be too rough for such a perfect, delicate fluffy
>Licorice looks up at you somewhat fearfully, trying to curl herself into a ball in case you're a meanie
"W-whu yuu?"
>You smile at her softly, fighting back sad wa-was
"Am youw daddeh."
>The fear in Licorice's eyes turns to joy as she runs up your front leggies and hugs your chest; you feel your other foals run up and hug your lower body, while Peach rubs her fluff against yours
>You barely notice Greenie trot off sadly, unable to see as the happiest sad wa-was pour down your face
>You have a family
---
>You are Listen again
>You are currently sitting in the shade of the big tree that meanie Twig led you to, watching your herd
>Most of your herd is crying and hugging, trying to come to terms with the awful things that have happened this last bright time
>Stallions apologize to mares for not stopping the raiders, mares apologize to stallions for having bad speshal huggies with the meanie herd; many of your mares have the babbeh feeling now, meaning it won't be too long before most of your herd  will be immobile fluffy mummas, having babbehs perilously close to the cold, white time
>As you stare at the mint and lime green unicorn lying next to you, though, it's hard to worry about something that far off
>Heartstrings had her babbehs while she was with the meanie herd: according to Roxanne, the meanie stallions kept giving her belly owwies, trying to get her to give them her babbehs; apparently Hearstrings got so scared that she started to swell up like she was having a Scaredy Fit, only for the mares to get her calm enough to have her babbehs normally
>You turn your gaze to the crying foals resting on your outstretched front legs: both are fillies, one is a pegasus with brown fluff and a khaki tail, while the other is yellow unicorn with a grey tail with an orange stripe going through it
>You look sadly at the unicorn's back left leg, it's twisted in a way even you know leggies should go; the meanie herd didn't remove Heartstring's no-no fluff, so when the poor foal's leg got caught and broke during the birth
>The mares managed to get her out before the owwies got worse, but they were not as lucky with the third foal; the poor babbeh went to big sleepies without ever even opening its eyes
>You look back at Heartstrings, the sleeping mare is in terrible shape: she can barely stay awake, and when she does she mostly cries about terrible tummy owwies; she can't walk anywhere, it took two fluffies to carry her from the log to here, and when you tried letting her babbehs sleep in her fluff, she screamed in agony until you removed them
>Now you find yourself holding two scared and unhappy babbehs, both desperate for a mother who can't care for them; you've tried to clean yourself as best you can, but they seem to find your smell scary and refuse to settle down and sleep
>Desperate for ideas, you think back to when you were a foal, trying to remember what Momma used to do to make you sleep
>Hugs don't work, 'cause they think you're scary, and grooming just made them wet as well as crying; you rack your tiny mind for anything else
>Singing! Momma used to sing her pretty song when you or Look were scared, her song always made you feel safe and loved; maybe if you sang it to the babbehs, they'd calm down?
>Now how did it go…?
"Wis~"
>No, that's not right
"Mumma~"
>No, that sounds worse!
>You frown: Momma's song was always happy and light, but your voice keep sounding rough and grumpy; why can't you make it sound like you remember?
>You try to just hum the tune, but still doesn't work; the sounds lack Mumma's sing-song nature, they just sound weird and unhappy, each attempt worse comes out worse then the last
>The sound of someone giggling draws your attention away from your own musical failings and you notice that Lucy has waddled over to you, an amused look on her face
"Wha Smawty doin'?"
>You scowl at her a bit, but then let out a sigh
"Smawty twy sing tu Heawtstwings babbehs su dey sweep, buh nu can mek voice pwetty. Wucy pwease sing tu babbehs?"
>Lucy smiles and settles down next to you, smiling at the the still wailing foals
"Wucy sing speshal song of' babbehs. Sing song hooman daddeh tauwt Wucy when Wucy widdle fwuffy."

Hush widdle fwuffy, dun yuu cwy
Ow daddeh's gunna punch yuu in dee eye
An' if dat punch jus' mek yuu beg
Daddeh wiww chop off aww youw weggies
Buh if da knife isn' shawp enuff
Daddeh gonna shabe off aww youw fwuff
An if yuu du nut fweeze tu deff
Daddeh wiww choke yuu 'tiww yuu outta bweff
Buh if kiwwing is sum-ting Daddeh just can' du
Daddeh wiww wie an' seh he wuv yuu

>Lucy repeats her song many times, her voice so much lighter and nicer then anything you could
>You don't understand much of the song, but it definitely makes you feel sleepy; you look down and see Heartstrings foals have finally fallen asleep, hugging each other as they nestle into your leg fluff
>The rest of the herd, seemingly drawn by Lucy's enchanting song, begin to form a fluff pile around the three of you, though no one actually touches you or Heartstrings
>As you lay here, surrounded by your herd as they settle in for sleep, you can almost pretend everything is okay again, that nothing bad happened
>You know, though, that you can't sleep in the fluffplle tonight: you were a bad Smarty, one who's dummy decisions got the whole herd hurt very badly; and bad fluffies don't get to sleep in the fluffpile, not matter what
>But you'll wait until everyone else is asleep, just so you know the babbehs won't wake up when you move them
>You're sure that's okay
>Right?