Listen to Smarty 11

>You are Listen, a Smarty Friend
>You sit under the shade of a small tree, idly watching your herd graze in a small patch of grass; while the foals play and giggle like always, the older fluffies are strangely quiet: losing three herd mates so recently has the herd spooked, the dangers of this journey has begun to sink into the smarter fluffies, while the dimmer ones are simply worried about everyone else being worried
>A small part of you knows that your journey is going better then when you left the city: food is much more plentiful this time, and you've run into far less munstas; even after the metal munsta incident, your herd is still big and strong, despite all the babbehs you've had to ration nummies for
>You're still worried, though: you have more soon-mummas then you thought, which has made travel agonizingly slow; the long black thing still stretches before you, you don't know how long you'll have to go before it ends: you need to find a place far away from hoomans before the leaves change color, or you might not have enough time to store food for the Cold White Time
"Howiday! Nu gif wingie huggies!"
>You turn your head in the direction of the new noise and see Greenie chasing Holiday away from Peach, who is currently trying to calm down her sobbing foal, Licorice
>Looking at the tiny, crying filly fills you with guilt: when you grabbed Licorice out of the way of the metal munsta, you bit her hard on her left wing, causing it to not move right anymore and cause Licorice big owwies when anyone touches it
>Greenie's been running her self ragged trying to fix it, but you doubt she'll have much success: if she's lucky, Licorice's wing will end up like Sky's, not causing owwies but still not working; if not, then you'll have to tear off the wing so that it doesn't turn icky and grow tiny wormies
>One of Peach's other foals, Juice, tries to run up his momma and hug his injured sister, closely followed by one of Purple's foals, a caramel and white unicorn colt named Puff; Peach gently pushes the colts away, causing them to start fussing and hug each other instead
>The increased crying attracts the attention of Rock, Peach's third foal, who stops playing with Purple's other two foals and runs over to her family; she looks at her miserable siblings and frazzled momma, then turns around and blows a raspberry in your direction
>While you can understand her anger towards you, you are in no mood to take attitude from a filly; your angry glare causes Rock to try and hide behind her hooves
>Finally Greenie returns and scoops up Rock, Juice, and Puff, trying to give Peach some peace and quiet; she glances at you and gives a disappointed-looking frown, which causes you to avert your gaze
>You hate that look, it always makes you feel like when your momma scolded you for being a bad colt
>Grumbling to yourself, you stand up and make your rounds among the herd: have to make sure everyone's remember to stuff extra nummies into their fluff for when you start moving again
>First stop is Cinder and Holiday: you make sure to yell at Holiday for hurting Licorice, which seems to get through to her: she bows her head and apologizes for being a bad fluffy; Cinder even bops her on the head for causing trouble, though it just causes her to perk up again
>As you check on the other fluffies, you actually begin to feel better: you realize while the herd is being much more quiet then usual, they're still acting in their silly ways, which helps put your mind at ease
>Sparks is diligently stuffing Purple's fluff with nummies as she tries to beckon back her children for a nap
>Raindrop is fussing about how dirty he's getting while Moss keeps tripping and knocking nummies out of her fluff
>You see Trevor busily drawing in the dirt while Lucy, a green unicorn with a mustard mane, dances and hums around him; you interrupt the two of them and remind them both to eat before you have to leave
"Sowwy, Smawty Fwiend. Heawd Wucy pwetty hmm-hmms an' wan dwaw pwetty picha fo' hew."
>Lucy giggles at her special friend and boops him on the nose as you roll your eyes; the two waddle off towards Ice, who seems to be directing fluffies to a tasty patch of flowers Freddy found
>You pass Roxanne and Heartstrings but avoid talking to them, just making sure they're loading up on nummies before moving on; being around either of them is very difficult: Roxanne seems to only be able to deal with Steven's absence by attending to Heartstrings, while Heartstrings has only gotten more anxious about Shiny's disappearance as she gets closer to giving birth
>All in all, though, the herd seems to be doing better then you thought; Rover and Blackie are even playing with…
>Wait
>Who is that?
>An unknown mare, tan with a cyan mane, is currently chasing Rover in a game of tag; you feel your fluff stand on end as you begin to yell
"Wobew, Bwackie! Whu dat fwuffy?!"
>Your herd mates stop dead and look at the unknown fluffy, then at you, then back at the stranger, then finally at you again
>Rover looks completely confused, but a look of dread slowly appears on Blackie's face; she grabs Rover by the mane and begins dragging him behind you as fast as she can
>The intruder just looks at this with amusement, giggling at your antics; you flutter your wings and puff your cheeks in an attempt to look bigger and speak in your toughest Smarty voice
"Whu fwuffy?! Why fwuffy pway wif hewd?!"
>Some of your herd mates hear you yelling and run over, trying to look tough; the new fluffy just gives you the biggest, prettiest smile you've ever seen
"Am Twig!  Wan pway wit nice fwuffies! Woud fwuffy wan pway tuu?"
>You relax a little, she doesn't seem hostile, or even that smart; some of your herd mates look excited at the idea of playing, but a quick glare keeps them back
"Am Wissen, am Smawty Fwiend. Whewe Twig hewd?"
>Twig looks a bit sad
"Twig nu tab hewd nu mo'. Smawty twy take hooman peace, say dewe be wossa nummies. Buh hooman munsta gib Smawty an' hewd biggest owwies.
>You snort a little: sounds like her Smarty wasn't all that smart
"Twig wun, gu bak tu hidey-hole an' wait, buh hewd nu cum bak."
>A smile creeps onto your face: her herd's safe place! Maybe it'll be big enough for your herd and you'll all finally be safe
"Twig pwease shuw Wissen an' hewd hidey-hole? Hewd haf babbehs, nee' safe pwace fo' sweepies."
>Twig gets an excited look on her face when you mention babbehs, but manages to keep herself under control
"If Twig wead hewd tu hole, den Twig be hewd fwiend?"
>You pause, having not really thought about it: while you've lost several fluffies since you left the forest, your herd still feels big enough, and you're never thrilled with the idea of another mouth to feed; while a new member might make the herd happy, another mare might mean more babbehs, which is not good for travel
>Still, if her old herd's home is safe and has food, it would be more then worth it to take on a new member; it's too promising an opportunity to pass up
"Awight, if Twig wead hewd tu hole, den Twig can be hewd fwiend."
>Twig cheers and bounds forward, wrapping her front legs around your neck in a hug; you're surprised by gesture, but not as much as you are by the softness of her fluff
>She also smells really good…
>You extract yourself from her hug and gather the herd up
>Everyone's really excited about the idea of a new home, especially the mummas; Twig is bombarded with questions by various herd mates as she leads your herd
"Smawty fwiend?"
>You turn your head to see Heartstrings, being pushed along by Roxanne and Lady; its a bit funny to watch her head roll around as you talk, but she seems very concerned
"Yes, Heawtstwings?"
"If hewd fin' nuu safe pwace… mebbeh den Shiny fin' Heawtstwings an' babbehs?"
>You look at her sadly; you want to believe that Shiny will come back, that one day he'll just walk out from behind a bush and rejoin the herd, but you know it'll never happen
>You can't bring yourself to tell Heartstrings that, however; Shiny was one of the few friends you had left after leaving the city, the last thing you want to do is make his special friend sad
>So you do what you always do; you tell a not-truth
"Mebbeh, Heawtstwings, mebbeh. Buh hab mek suwe safe pwace weawwy safe fiwst."
>Lady pipes up
"Wady nu wike nuu fwuffy, nu wan in hewd."
>You roll your eyes
"Wady nebah wike nuu mawes. Nu be meanie tu Twig."
>Lady puffs her cheeks at this, but thankfully remains silent
>After walking a good ways through the trees, you arrive at what Twig seems to think is a safe place; it's a small clearing with some rocks and bushes lining it, the grass is a nice length for grazing and one of the bushes has black nummies growing out of it
>At the other end of the clearing is a large tree with a burrow dug out underneath it; you doubt Twig's herd could have dug through the hard soil, so it was probably abandoned by munstas, which raises the unpleasant possibility that they could come back
>You're also dubious about the location: you can hear metal munstas off in the distance, meaning you can't be too far from the long, black thing; you also can see something strange in the hills beyond the tree line, it reminds you of one of the hooman homes from the city, only shorter and with a pointier top
>The herd, on the other hand, loves it: fluffies begin immediately running around the grass, tackling each other and giggling with glee; Sparks and Greenie begin showing the foals around, specifically pointing out places to hide if munstas show up
>Twig runs up to the hole under the tree and points at it, looking very proud of herself
"Dis wewe owd hewd sweep an' keep nummies. Smawty wan Twig shuw awound?"
>You nod and follow Twig, telling Ice and Cinder to keep watch while you're inside
>The entrance of the burrow isn't very big, but it opens up a little as you go deeper; you'd be worried about fluffy mommas living here, there's a good chance they'd get stuck and block the entrance
>It's also very dark past the entrance, you and Twig have to wait a few moments for your eyes to get used to the dark; you waddle through the tunnel, Twig gesturing towards dark side tunnels and telling you what the old her use to do with them
>At the very end is a much larger space, one where you can actually move comfortably
"Dis were owd Smawty sweep, made hewd keep nummies hewe."
>Twig fumbles around in the dark and you hear a click: a dim light illuminates her, emitted by a round, cylindrical object
"Dis gwowy stick, hewd find neaw wong bwack ting. Smawty say nu use tuu much, ow gwowy stick take big sweep."
>Twig turns the light so that it points at the back of the burrow, revealing a small pile of nummies; it's mostly grass and bush nummies, but there's also a few bag nummies like you used to find in the city
>It's not a lot, but it'd be a good start for saving up during the Cold White Time
>Twig looks at you expectantly
"Twig guud hewd fwiend?"
>You nod
>In truth, it's a little too small for your herd as it is, and far too close to hoomans for your liking; it might be good to stay for a short bit and recuperate, but it's not a permanent solution
>Still, Twig's been helpful and deserves a little praise
"Twig du guud, wead hewd tu guud pwace."
>Twig squeals with joy and hugs you again, the wagging of her tail knocking the glowy stick's light all over the room
>Her scent fills your nostrils once again and you feel a tingling in your no-nos; you squirm as she rubs her soft fluff against you, unable to loosen her firm grip on you
>You see her smile widen as she notices your predicament
"Smawty wan gif guud Twig speshal huggies?"
>You can feel your face flush and your jaw tighten as you hastily free yourself from Twig's clutches, refusing to submit yourself to her ridicule a moment longer
>You may be acting like a colt in his first heat, but you won't be treated like one, especially not by some new-
>Oh
>You find yourself staring at Twig's raised hindquarters, her no-nos fully exposed
>OH
>She was offering
>She gives her rear a seductive little shake
"Pwease, Smawty Fwiend, Twig wan feew guud!"
>The tingling in your no-nos becomes a full blown burning as the last of your reason melts away, your mind only filled with your needs and her scent
>You move into position to mount her
---
"Sowwy, Wissen, buh Pipes Mac'ntosh speshal fwiend now."
"BIG WED NU CAWE IF YUU MUMMA, AWW HEWD NEE' NUMMIES!"
"Pwease babbeh, nu big sweepies! *hic* Mum- Gweenie wuv babbeh…"
"Wissen, Wissen! Shiny gunna be Heawtstwings speshal fwiend!"
"Dummy hewd mawes nu gib Shawp speshal huggies, su Shawp MAKE Chewwy gib speshal huggies!"
---
>You back away from her
>Twig looks at you questioningly
"Why Smawty nu gib speshal huggies? Twig mek smawty feew su guud!"
>You turn back towards the entrance and growl back at her
"Smawty nu wan feew guud."
>You stomp off back towards the cave, leaving Twig behind, grinding your teeth and cursing inwardly
>Stupid!
>Dumb!
>Fool!
>All that time, all that effort, trying to keep your herd from having speshal huggies, and you go and forget all about when some stupid mare shows even the faintest interest!
>Oh sure, you can ignore Lady when she's offering special huggies for whatever dummy thing she wants, but if TWIG wants it, suddenly special huggies don't cause babbehs!
>YOU STUPID SMARTY!
>You're jerked out of your self-loathing by a scream coming from outside the burrow
>Running as fast as you can, you exit the den and are greeted by sheer chaos
>Your herd is being attacked by fluffies you've never seen before: the clearing is filled with a cacophony of screams as fluffies kick, stab and bite each other in a huge battle royale
>In the distance, you see a pair of stallions rolling a wailing Heartstrings into the forest; you're being RAIDED!
>You're about to alert your distracted herd when something hits you from behind, causing to stumble forward; you turn to see Twig glaring at you
"Smawty should hab jus' had guud feews. Much easiew."
>Before you can figure out what's going on, the wind is knocked out of you by a powerful blow to the side; you roll across the grass and lie prone, trying desperately to breathe
>Twig walks up, a green pegasus stallion with a light green mane at her side
>She raises her hoof
"Wooks wike Smawty nu su smawt aftew aww."
>The hoof comes down
>Everything goes black