It is dark. The peach feels the presence of his fellow kin all around him, pressing against each other as the bag they are carried in to avoid bruises from the bumping as the unicorn who had bought them on the market walks home. He knows exactly which fate awaits them if he fails.
The others are oblivious. They have not seen how merciless the world treats innocent fruits like them. He however, had been prepared; he had trained hard for this chance to save his kind. Still, he remains silent. They will feel the terror soon enough and he doesn’t want to rob them of their false sense of security and destroy their hopes and dreams.
A slamming door tells him that they reached their destination and the bumping stops.
Purple magic engulfs the bag and shines through the meshes of the rough fabric as it is levitated from the pony’s back. Bright light blinds the peaches as they roll out of the suspended bag and fill a waiting fruit basket.
It takes them a while to reorient themselves and take a look at their new surroundings. As he expected and planned, they are now in what seems to be a library. Their basket stands on a small table in the middle of a large room which walls seem to consist entirely of bookshelves, each one filled to top with tome and magazines likewise.
The most prominent sight in this new environment though, is the unicorn that had bought and brought them here. The monster, the devourer of thousands upon thousands, the scourge of their race, death incarnate.
With large, lavender eyes, the beast stared at the frightened fruits, drool collecting at the corners of her mouth as a terrifying smile forms on it. No peach, except him, knows what is going to happen now.
A single peach is wrapped in a purple aura as the unicorn flares up her horn and floats towards the monster’s face. Agonizingly slow, its maw opens to reveal two rows of horrendously large teeth as the poor frightened fruit approaches its doom.
The collective of peaches in the basket screams with terror as the purple beast’s incisors dig deep into their friend’s body with a sound they will her forever in their dreams, haunting them, not giving them a single minute peace.
The other peaches in his fruit basket are scared, he can smell their fear, but how could he hold it against them? They hadn’t been prepared. They hadn’t seen the horrors of the world, yet they are forced to observe how the purple monster that had devoured so many of their kind feasting itself on another helpless peach.
Even he, who had trained three years for this moment, feels a chill run down his spine as the gargantuan beast’s teeth sink into the innocent peach’s body with a sickeningly crunch again. Yet, while everypeach else turns away to be spared of the cruel sight, he forces himself to watch to remind him why the genocidal unicorn has to be stopped.
Soon, all that is left of the poor peach is its gnawed off pit, carelessly dropped into a trash can. Ignorant to the wailing of the fruits in it, the unicorn takes the basket in its magical grip and levitated it to a high shelf and set the basket down on top of it. Then, the monster turns and leaves the peaches in their sorrow.
Memories flash through the mind of the peach, pictures of nightmares. His brethren, ripped from their tree while they screamed in agony just to be eaten by the purple beast. Half of his family died back then and if it weren’t for the other, sky blue monstrosity that had stopped the devourer, he would have died as well.
But he survived the merciless attack and swore revenge. He remembers how he learned the secrets of pea-chitsu and the exotic orangate from old masters on his tree and traveling seeds. For a long time he had done everything to stay hidden, had dulled his fuzz and hid behind leaves to have more time to train. Then, when he had been deemed ready to carry out the revenge of his whole species, he had dropped his cover, and had arranged to get picked and carried to the market where the purple beast would find him.
Now he sits on top of the shelf, in the monsters lair and waits for his chance. Minutes become hours as he remains patient and waits, praying for an opportunity to save his kin.
Then, it seems his prayers are answered. The beast returns to the shelf and looks at a drawer on its bottom. This was the opportunity the peach has waited for. He thanks his gods for giving him this chance a last time and rolls off the edge of the basket and the shelf.
Nothing but wrath fills the peach as gravity grips him and accelerates him downwards to his target, the bane of his existence, the purple unicorn. Now, he would become the savior of all the peaches in the world, even if it costs him his life.
The first impact almost robs him of his consciousness and he barely feels the second one on the ground. For seconds, he just lays there, trying to fight back the black mist that creeps into his vision. But even through the thick haze that veils his mind and senses, the peach hears an earthshaking grunt and rolls over, despite the mind-numbing pain that shoots through his body. The falls must have caused more damage than he anticipated.
During his attack, all he felt was determination and the knowledge that he does the right thing. Now he feels only fear. The monster stares directly at him with its purple eyes. There was no escape now. He would undoubtedly be its next victim.
The unearthly magic of his captor already takes him into their grasp and he sees the maw of the beast opening as he floats towards it. A hot, foul breath nearly knocks him out as he realizes that he had failed.
As he feels the monstrous teeth of the beast penetrate his skin, his last thoughts go towards his family. Forgive me, father, brother… I tried my best to avenge you… but I failed you and our kind. I’ so sorry…
