Stuffed Toys

Nightlight had bruises on his face. StitchedHeart had bruises on her hooves. Firefly had noticed that.

It had gotten to the point where Firefly got curious. Two missing ponies, and each of them she had as a plushie. At first, she thought it was a coincidence. She was sitting in her room, staring at the two dolls, and then smelt something horrid. It smelled like rotting bodies. Firefly glared at the plushies as she held her nose to block out the smell.

The toys can't be the source, can they? Surely it was her imagination. Deciding to ignore it, she threw her Fluttershy plushie (or Butterfly, as she's told.) under her pillow and then gently put the Applebloom plushie in the toy box. Firefly was very organised, and having one teddy in the box and another under her pillow made her feel more relaxed. She pushed aside the thought of the missing ponies and went downstairs for breakfast.

She noticed straight away that Nightlight had fallen ill. He was coughing a lot and he had a fever. The punch to the face must've done some big damage. She ignored it, and sat at the table waiting for her breakfast. StitchedHeart walked into the dining room and set some nicely cooked eggs and bacon on the table. As she saw Firefly, she smiled softly.

"Morning dear." StitchedHeart cooed. "How was your sleep?"

"It was okay." Firefly replied quietly.

"How are you?" Stitched asked. "You know, after that little quarrel?"

"I'm fine. Perfectly fine." Firefly lied. She began eating her bacon and eggs, and then went to grab a drink from the kitchen.

StitchedHeart saw the kitchen to the door close, and then she poked her husband. Nightlight looked over at her wearily and coughed, managing to concentrate properly.

"She's lying." Stitched whispered. "She's not okay. That kid scared the living life out of her!"

"So then ask her about it." Nightlight sipped some orange juice from his cup. "Let her know that she can talk to us."

Firefly walked back into the kitchen holding a cup of water. She gently set it down on the table, and then climbed back on her seat. She began eating the remainder of her breakfast, occasionally looking up at her parents. They sat in awkward silence, and the only noise present was the crunching of the bacon that Firefly had shoved in her mouth.

"So." Nightlight broke the silence. "Are you sure you're all right, kiddo?" He coughed. Firefly knew he was really ill, since he never calls her 'kiddo'.

"I'm fine." Firefly held another piece of egg to her mouth. "But you're not, dad. Shouldn't you go to a hospital?"

"Your father's fine." Stitched interrupted. "We're just worried about you."

"Why?"

"Ever since the incident where you got punched, you've been quiet."

"Yeah." Firefly coughed. "You would stay quiet if someone punched you 'cause of your family."

StitchedHeart and Nightlight remembered when Fluttershy fought back, and how she said that her friends will find them.

"I would..." Stitched sighed. "Wait, because of our family?"

"Mhm. Diamond said that you two were murderers, and I said that you weren't, but then she hit me."

"Murderers?" Nightlight shivered. "We're not murderers..."

"I know you're not." Firefly muttered, her eyes flicking between each parent. "She said you were."

"Don't believe brats, Firefly." Stitched spat. "They'll spread lies like the flu."

Firefly nodded, eating the rest of her breakfast and not leaving a single crumb on her plate. She flicked her hair out of her face and put her plate in the kitchen, then proceeded to sit back at the table to drink her water. Whilst she was drinking, she saw Stitched and Night whispering to each other. She wondered what about, but she decided not to get involved. Instead, she left the half-full glass of water on the table and went out to play. She was actually glad to get out of the house.

"Not murderers..?" She thought. "Yeah, right..."

Dusk had just started when Firefly got home. She snook in and overheard StitchedHeart complaining about her new 'project'. She was wailing at Nightlight, complaining about 'tactics'. Firefly decided not to eavesdrop. She might get in trouble. Hopping upstairs, she opened her door and flung herself on the bed. As her head hit the pillow, she heard a 'squishing' sound. Firefly sat up, and smelt the terrible scent again. Covering her nose, she poked the pillow, which made another squishy noise. She lifted up the pillow to see the Butterfly plushie moulding and de-attached. The smell was too much to bare as she covered her mouth and swallowed the puke. She screeched.

StitchedHeart kicked down the door of Firefly's room. She saw the small filly quivering in the corner. She threw up, drool rolling down her chin as she gasps for breath. Her mother asked her what's wrong, in which she just pointed to her pillow. StitchedHeart saw the decomposing body of Fluttershy, and stood there in shock. That wasn't supposed to happen... And then, Stitched realised what went wrong.

"I forgot to cast the decomposition spell..."

StitchedHeart called for Nightlight, telling him to take Firefly outside for fresh air. Nightlight ran in and grabbed the filly, covering her eyes so she wouldn't see the corpse again. When outside, Firefly threw up again, and then turned to her father who saw her in agony.

"What... Happened..?" She panted.

Nightlight didn't reply. He just hugged her, singing 'hush now quiet now' to her. It calmed her down... For a little bit. So many things were going through her mind, like the missing ponies and she asked herself if her teddy was a real pony. She didn't bother asking her dad, he might think that she was delirious. Instead, she panicked, breathing heavily. Nightlight told her to calm down, or she might throw up again. Firefly calmed down her breathing, trying not to think of why her doll was like that. Firefly thought of happy things, like that one time when she went to the park with her family. Or when she did community service out of the kindness of her heart. She remembered happy memories, and tried to wipe the image of the decaying body from her mind. But she can't hide the thought all the time...

StitchedHeart walked out of the house, looking drowsily at Firefly's crying face. She had taken care of the corpse by shoving it in a box in the basement. Everyone was tired, Nightlight especially. She hugged her daughter, and whispered lullabies to her so she would calm down a bit more. Once she had completely calmed down, the sun had gone down and the moon was up. The air was numbing and Stitched bit her lip, wiping an icy tear from Firefly's face and giving her a reassuring look.

"How about you sleep with mommy and daddy tonight, hmm?"