“There will be killing till the score is paid.”
-Home, The Odysseys
 
“There are wounds that never show on the body that are deeper and more hurtful than anything that bleeds.”
-Laurell K. Hamilton, Mistral’s Kiss
 
 
 
> You are Balder, smarty of the Aesir herd.
> It has been a few Brighttimes since you left The Shacks.
> And now, you prepare your herd members for the Owwie-Make: something that hasn’t been done since your Dada’s Dada’s Dada was a baby.
> You told them all why: a bad smarty, the worst smarty. One who hurts babies and good fluffies alike. One who will hurt many more unless all good fluffies help.
> Every stallion and mare who is to come with you on the Owwie-make gets special shapes drawn on them in muddy water and dirt.
> Shapes that mean different things. Shapes that mean the herd member will win, shapes to be strong, to be brave, to feel no hurties.
> You do this yourself, having already had shapes put on you by Rune.
> He put the one called ‘Tiwaz’ near your rump, so that every Aesir will follow you.
> You put the shape ‘Uruz’ on Gunnar’s back. This way, the All-Daddy will see the shape from above, and make him strong.
> “Nanna wan big stwong shape!” Nanna yells as she approaches you.
> “Nu. Nanna no hav shape. Nanna stay with babbehs.”
> “Nanna wan stwong shape. Nu stay with babbehs! Weave Gewda to be with babbehs.”
> “Nu!” you yell back, stomping your left hoof and puffing your cheeks abit. “Yoo nu come!”
> Nanna narrows her peepers at you. “Is cowt gun twy to stop Nanna? Ow is Nanna gun hav to put cowt down again?”
> You stare at her for a long while.
> By the All-Daddy, you love her. Best Bondfriend ever.
> “Otay. Nanna come. Nanna get stwong shape.” You say.
> She smiles, and you begin putting the shape under her right peeper.
> It isn’t a strong shape, but she doesn’t know that.
> It is ‘Algiz’- she will be protected.
> You couldn’t bear to think of her having big, or biggest, owwies.
> Besides, it’s not as if she needs to be even stronger…
> “Smawty!”
> Brand has arrived. You sent him into Dark Forest to find a very special type of nummy.
> In his fluff seems to be that nummy. You think.
> You notice the black balls in Brand’s peepers are big, and his teeth are chattering.
> “Bwand hav owwies?”
> “Nu! Nu…Bwand otay.”
> Rune trots over to you and Brand, and looks at the nummies stuck in Brand’s fluff.
> “Dem da wight nummies?” you ask Rune.
> “Yus. Dose awe da Shwooms.”
> You nod.
> “Bwand do guud.” You say before trotting back to finish putting shapes on the other Aesir.
> You hope none of them will have to eat the Shrooms. If they do, it means that they have a big owwy that won’t go away, and that they’ll sleep forever.
> When they eat the Shrooms, they will become like teddy monster. They will feel no hurties, and not know friend from meanie.
> You hope it won’t come to that.
> But that is for the All-Daddy to decide.
 
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> You are Scruffy.
> And you are preparing.
> Strong mares and stallions have been chosen.
> Huggies exchanged.
> And now, you plan.
> The Many Friends, as you’ve taken to calling the Aesir, Fluffytown and Dark Forest herds when they’re all together, will cross Little River.
> You will do this with The Board- the same thing your herd used to send Atlas over Little River.
> Kali trots back and forth. You are both outside Peppermint’s Shack.
> You know she’s thinking about Atlas. She has missed him ever since he left.
> You hope they will be together again soon.
> The Bright Sky Ball will be going to sleep soon, you think. It’s hard to tell in Dark Forest.
> The Home is where you will need to go first. A fluffy called ‘Stompy’ is there. And he is a big meanie.
> While Atlas is at The Home, you told him to go back to The Rink when the Many Friends come.
> He is to help the poor fluffies who are called ‘slaves’.
> He told you that Maroon put him that to make sure Stompy didn’t get into trouble. So, you told him to tell Maroon that Stompy would be coming to give him biggest owwies.
> That way, the Many Friends don’t have to go into The Rink.
> You were speaking with Sparks and Cuddles earlier.
> “If yoo need go into Wink, wet Spawks and Cuddles go fiwst.” Sparks said. “We know Wink. Nu wan get twapped.”
> You agreed.
> Your thoughts turn to Silky.
> And you get angry.
> You’ve never met Maroon, but from what Silky told you, he needs his no-nos kicked.
> And if you get the chance, you’ll do just that.
> And more.
 
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> You are Cassy, sister to Precious.
> And you can’t see.
> You haven’t been able to see since you were very, very little.
> You don’t know why.
> You’re laying down, trying to go nappies, but Precious’s yelling at other fluffies keeps you awake.
> This annoys you, but you love Precious.
> She always lets you have good nummies, and always lets you hold onto her tail when you need to find a place to make good poopies.
> And she always gives big owwies to any meanie who makes fun of you or tries to hurt you.
> Precious likes shinies too much, however, you think.
> If she could have the Bright Sky Ball for herself, she would try to take it.
> If there is anything shiny to be had, she wants it.
> You never understood that.
> Shinies cannot make you warm, or give huggies.
> And shinies aren’t for eating, Precious says.
> You do, however, like softies.
> Precious likes to bring you softies.
> You wonder if there are any softies in The Rink.
> This isn’t your reason for convincing her to go: you know that, given time, this big meanie Maroon would come for Fluffytown.
> And that you need Dark Forest herd and the Aesir to help.
> Sometimes Precious acts like a meanie smarty. Sometimes she doesn’t listen when something could hurt the herd.
> But you always find a way to make her do good things.
> “Pwecious!” you yell. “Pwecious!”
> There is a few moments silence, then the sound of some fluffy trotting towards you.
> “Pwecious hewe! Wat happen, Cassy?”
> “Too woud…” you whisper. “Too many woud noisies.”
> “Oh. Otay. Wiww nu make woud noisies.”
> You smile.
> “YOO DUMMIES SHUT UP!!!! CASSY TWYING TO HAV SWEEPIES!!!!!!! BE QUIET OW PWECIOUS PUT DA HUWTIES ON YOO!!!”
> You frown.
> Sometimes Precious doesn’t get it.
 
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> You are Maroon.
> And you are thirsty.
> You try to trot out of the Smarty Room, but your hurt leggie makes it hard.
> Stupid leggie.
> So you put most of your weight on your right leggie as you move.
> You are going to the Water Room, and take some drinkies.
> The dummies won’t shut up sometimes.
> Telling you to do things that you don’t want to do.
> Sometimes, at least. Othertimes, the dummies have good, smarty ideas.
> They said one fluffy was stealing nummies from the Nummy Room, and that he needed to sleep forever in the Hurty Place.
> You did just that. Those nummies are for the herd!
> And you. And Queenie. And Prince and Princess.
> “Princess is going to have a baby!” says one of the dummies.
> NO!
> You shake your head from side to side.
> “Dummies…dummies shut up!”
> Booboo juice comes out of your sniffer a little bit. Not much.
> You sniffle and continue walking to the Water Room.
> It’s a little dark. The Bright Sky Ball must be going to sleep.
> You’ll go have a drink, go to the Poopie Room, then go back and fluffpile with Queenie, who’s been crying a lot lately. You don’t know why.
> You thought she liked the Feel Good Hurty Game.
> As you walk, you see something shiny in the darkness.
> Shiny and…black.
> It looks very soft.
> “It’s Silky!” says the one of the dummies.
> Your head, and your happy thing, begin to throb.
> You remember all the good special hugs you had with her.
> She was so pretty, and her fluff so soft.
> And now she is here! Back!
> You missed her so much. You don’t even mind that she hurt your babies.
> You can’t hear the dummies, or anything, anymore, outside of the throbbing sound.
> You run towards her, ignoring the hurties in your leggie.
> You leap on top of her, holding her down. You can feel her struggling, but that’s okay.
> “Siwky…” you whisper, thrusting your hips and closing your peepers.
> “Mawoon miss yoo so much…wuv yoo, Siwky. Mawoon show yoo!” you continue before biting the back of her neck.
> You almost cry you’re so happy to see her.
> Finally, your happy thing finds her poopie place, and you thrust.
> Hard.
> You did this to her before, a long time ago. She really liked it, you think.
> You didn’t mind either.
> So you thrust, and thrust, and thrust, the throbbing in your head the only thing you can hear.
> She stops struggling after a while.
> You feel the good feel twice before you stop, panting. The throbbing sound starts to go away.
> “Yah, Siwky…Mawoon wuv yoo…” you say as you lick her ear.
> “Dada…uhwahhh…Why huwt Pwince!?!”
> Your peepers snap open, and you realize it wasn’t Silky.
> You begin to shake.
> Under you lies Prince.
> You get off of him, your happy thing trailing a long, thick line of no-no juice out of him.
> His poopie place looks so hurt- there’s booboo juice dripping from it.
> You taste booboo juice, and your eyes burn.
> “Pwince…Mawoon am soww-“
> “NU HUWT PWINCE! UUuuuuAAAHHH!!!!”
> Prince curls into a ball, crying. He looks at you with.
> You try to give him huggies, but he screams and cries when you touch him.
> “Pwease, Pwince, Mawoon nu mean-“
> “DADA IS BIG, BAD, MEANIE FWUFFY!!!!! Uuuuuhuuuwaaahhh!”
> Your chest hurts when he says that.
> You become dizzy.
> You didn’t mean for this to happen. You just wanted Silky.
> You never wanted to give bad special hugs to Prince.
> All you saw was his mane, not his dark purple fluff!
> You’re now a bad, stinky poopielover.
> This is too much for you, and you turn and run, ignoring the hurt in your leggie, which now feels like it has burnies.
> You don’t go back to the Smarty Room, you go to the Smarty Seat.
> “Bad fluffy! Bad fluffy! Bad fluffy!”
> You bury your face in your hoofs and tell the dummies to shut up.
> “What Dada hurts his baby? You are a bad a fluffy! You deserve to sleep forever!”
> You make sickies near the Smarty Seat before returning to it.
> All through Darktime, the dummies told you how bad you were.
> You pounded your head and screamed all through Darktime, and you didn’t have much sleepies.
> You’re not bad. You’re not bad. You’re not bad. You’re not bad. You’re not bad. You’re not bad.
> “Nu am bad fwuffy. Nu am bad smawty. Shut up dummies. Sowwy Pwince…wan…wan…wan…”
> You gulped, and pounded your head until you slept, not wanting to think anymore.