Starring:
Jessie – Mum
Ice – Dumbest Puppy
Willow – Smartest Puppy
Amber – Naïve Puppy
Dawn – Cutest Puppy
Napoleon – Stupid pig
Snowball – Epic pig
"I'm hungry!" Ice moaned.
"Me too!" Yelled Amber duskily. Willow scoffed loudly.
"I'm not." She said. Ice leapt on top of her and pinned her to the ground.
"I bet you wish you ate more now." She hissed into her sister's ear. Willow grunted and threw her sister off.
"Now you stop that! Mummie won't be very pleased!"
"Yeah? Who said?"
"I did!"
Ice blinked.
"Girls! I'm home!"
All four puppies' heads turned as they peered at their mother, who came walking into the barn holding four biscuits.
"Mummie!" squealed Amber, pouncing on their mother. Ice snuck in and clamped her jaws around a biscuit, rolling another one out with her paws. She placed one in front of shy-looking Dawn, who ate it gratefully.
"Will you play with us?" Willow asked, savouring her own biscuit.
"All right, dears. What do you want to play?" Jessie replied, watching her pups fondly.
"Hide-and-go-seek!" Squeaked Dawn.
"Alright. One. Two. Three…"
None of the puppies heard her other numbers as they scampered off in opposite directions. Willow scrambled into a trough, hiding in the soft oats. Ice backed against the wall and covered her eyes. Amber hid behind the door to the feed-keep. And Dawn snuggled under a pile of hay.
"Alright, here I come!" Said Jessie, opening her eyes and giving a woof of laughter. "Oh, Ice. Just because you can't see me doesn't mean I can't see you."
"No, you can't see me!" Ice said, stiffening as her Mum came closer. Lightly grabbing her scruff, she tugged her away from the barn wall.
"Oh dear!" said Jessie, turning away from Ice and peering into the room which held the food. "You know you shouldn't be in there, Amber!" she barked, a note of panic in her voice. "Come out, now!" Amber slunk out, looking innocent. Jessie smiled and tipped her nose to the air, suddenly dipping her head and nosing the pile of hay in front of her, unveiling Dawn, who looked up and smiled.
"Have I been caught?" She asked. Jessie giggled.
"Yes, honey. Go sit with your sisters while I look for Willow." A scrabbling from the trough met her words, and Jessie looked inside. Willow looked up.
"I never would have found you in there!" Jessie said appreciatively.
"But you did." Willow said blankly. She pounced out of the box and shook out her fur. Jessie shot her a
-_- look and turned towards the barn entrance, where a large boar was signaling to talk to her.
"Play for a moment, darlings." Jessie said. "Napoleon wants to speak to me."
Jessie left the barn.
Willow turned to her sisters, who were watching Willow.
"I was found last!" she exclaimed gleefully.
"I was found first!" Said Ice proudly.
"That's not a good thing!" Said Willow.
"You're not a good thing!"
"That makes no sense!"
"You make no sense!"
"At least I'm not so stupid!"
"At least I'm not so skinny!"
"At least I'm not so fat!"
"I am NOT!"
"ARE TOO!"
"YOU'RE SO MEAN!"
"Guys… Please don't fight..." moaned Dawn, looking back and forth at them.
"FAT PIG!"
"SMELLY KNOW-IT-ALL!"
"STUPID LOSER!"
"Girls." Their mum was back.
"RIDICULOUS RAT!"
"NAPOLEON!"
"TAKE THAT BACK!"
"NEVER!"
"Girls!"
"YOU'RE AN UGLY HUMAN!"
"THAT'S BETTER THAN WHAT YOU ARE!"
"YOU'RE A TREE-FACED BADGER!"
"TAKES ONE TO KNOW ONE!"
"WHAT DOES THAT EVEN MEAN?"
"GIRLS!" Roared their mother; they stopped abruptly and gazed at her, she looked fierce, with her lips peeled back at her fur on end.
"Listen to me!" She growled. "Napoleon thinks that you will be of better use to the farm if you went … went with him."
"NO!" squealed Amber, and three of four puppies scrambled around the barn. Dawn remained loyally at Jessie's side.
"Mummie, why?" she asked sadly.
"Because," said Jessie, picking her up, "Napoleon knows best." She dropped Dawn into a small pen, where she sat sadly.
"NO! Mummie! No! What if Napoleon hurts Dawn!? She's so tiny!"
"Come here, dear." Said Jessie, lifting Ice up. She gave an indignant squeal, exclaiming,
"Mummie, I thought you loved me!"
" I do love you. That's why I want what's best for – oh!"
"You can't do this!" howled Amber, who had latched herself onto Jessie's leg. "YOU don't know what's best for us, or else you wouldn't give us to smelly piggy!" she yelled. Jessie looked livid as she threw Ice into the pen, a little forcefully, and snatched Amber off the ground.
"You are being selfish." Snarled Jessie, dropping Amber into the pen, where Dawn was anxiously sniffing a seemingly unconscious Ice.
"This farm matters more than you do." She growled, turning away. Dawn whined.
"Really, Mommy? You love the farm more than us?" she whimpered.
Jessie ignored her.
She padded over to the trough, where Willow was hiding again.
"Come on out now, Willow."
"Why would I come out? Napoleon's gonna kill us! He's gonna kill us and then you'll be so sad because you're gonna spend the rest of your life banging your head against the wall saying, Nobody loves me anymore. And you know why? BECAUSE WE'LL BE DEAD!"
"Uh-huh... Join your sisters now, come on." Said Jessie, putting her in the pen.
"Good bye. I love you." And Jessie was gone. An instant uproar started, only to be silenced by Willow.
"Guys. Mummie doesn't love us anymore." Depressed, he pups collapsed in a small heap. Suddenly Willow's head shot up.
"But she loved me more."
A light filtered in on the sleeping puppies.
"Wake up. Come on. Now." Said an unfamiliar voice. Willow woke up, leaping into the corner as she caught sight of Napoleon. Dawn woke up, letting out a little squeak that awoke Amber and Ice. Ice leapt in front, growling.
"Don't be like that. Come on. We're going to do some training." He let them out of the pen, where they scrambled over one another trying to stay in the pen, as far away from the pig as possible.
"Come on, girls. If you want to make your mother proud." A deep voice met their ears, and the four pups positively leapt with excitement when they saw their great, strong father appear in the dawn light. "You should be proud. Napoleon himself is training you, not like Bluebell's puppies, they get Squealer."
"That's enough, Pincher. Leave." And he left.
"Now do you know how special you are?" Napoleon asked. They nodded. "Well, follow me." He lead them across the field to a low gate, like a small hurdle.
"I want you to jump this fence."
Dawn went up first, taking a flying leap and landing on top of the hurdle, knocking it on top of her.
"Why would you make her do that!?" Roared Ice angrily, "She could have been hurt!"
"You next." Said Napoleon lazily, fixing the hurdle. Grumbling, Ice ran up to the hurdle and cleared it, skimming the bar and misjudging her landing, her front paw buckling under her before her other paw hit the ground. She landed in an ungraceful heap, and trudged back, listening to her sisters' raucous laughter. Amber went up next, and slid under the bar.
"No, jump over it, foolish girl!" Napoleon snarled. And Willow came last, making it over with nothing but a backpaw skim.
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"Alright, now I shall test your speed. Run from here to the barn and back." The four puppies set off on command, stumbling clumsily over one another. Amber skidded and crashed heavily into the barn wall. Ice stopped when Dawn collapsed from exhaustion halfway back, sniffing her sister nervously, until she panted,
"I'm okay." Ice nudged her back to Napoleon, where Willow and Amber were panting and wagging their tails happily having finished the race. Napoleon bent down to Dawn's face and said,
"Pitiful little mouse."
Ice snarled and jumped in front of her sister.
"Leave her alone, she's little!"
"She is worthless until she gets better!" said Napoleon angrily, swiping his hoof into Dawn's belly and flinging her a good two meters away, blocking her anguished sisters from helping her up.
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"Combat." Said Napoleon, splitting the four pups into twos, Willow and Amber, and Dawn and Ice. "Fight." He commanded. The pups, unsure of what to do, taking random swipes at each other's bellies and heads. Dawn and Ice took identical head-swipes and knocked each other out cold. Willow pounced on Amber, knocking the breath out of her and clubbing her over the head until she stopped trying to batter her away. Willow leapt up.
"Congratulations," said Napoleon, to a thoroughly horrified Willow, "on being the last puppy standing."
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TWO WEEKS LATER
"Jump." Demanded Napoleon, taking the bigger, more mature puppies to the fence.
"I'm going first," announced Ice snottily.
"No, let me!" growled Dawn, who seemed to have grown bigger than all the others.
"I said me!" snarled Ice, leaping the fence with a growl and landing perfectly on all four paws. Amber followed, landing, straight-legged, beside Ice.
"Top that, Ice-heart." She said, looking into her sister's eyes until forced to jump back from Dawn, who gave a little stumble on the landing but making it all the same. Willow's shadow covered them all, and they jumped away from their meeting-circle as she landed primly.
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"Go." Said Napoleon, letting the dogs run their racetrack once again. Willow leapt off, keeping a first until Amber pounced and squished her to the dirt trail, leaping off of her and catching a steady lead. Ice shoved Dawn roughly with her shoulder, forcing her into last while Willow streaked ahead. With a snarl, all four puppies skidded as though on skis in a neat half circle to avoid crashing into the barn. They pelted back, ice in a good lead until Willow pounced over her to the finish line, and Amber shoved her aside for second. Determined to prove to Napoleon she would not come last, she grabbed Dawn by the shoulder fur and flung her to the ground, scoring a third while Dawn coughed up the dust of the trail she was on.
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"Fight." Demanded Napoleon, putting the puppies into their same pairs. Willow leapt on Amber, tearing her fur with her teeth until Amber flung her off with a well placed switch of gait. Turning, Amber ground her squirming sister into the trail and gnawing on her throat.
Ice wasted no time in swiping Dawn around the muzzle, throwing her sideways but not off her paws. Ice detected Dawn's weight on her left haunch, and ran around her left side to knock her off her paws. She began to dig her teeth into Dawn's neck when-
"Stop!" Napoleon stood before them. They straightened, sitting in a still-snarling row of angry dogs. "I have trained you well."
"Welcome, comrades, to this meeting of Animal Farm!" The four dogs lay restlessly under the barn, accompanied by their bigger, louder half-brothers and one half-sister, who kept giving loud growls. One ignored the other, Willow resisting the sharp urge to tell the stupid fools to shut their unnaturally huge mouths. And then the dogs heard Napoleon's alarm, and Snowball ask,
"Comrade Napoleon?" Before leaping from their hiding spot, ready to rip flesh off of the delicious pig that Napoleon and Squealer had promised them they could eat if they caught. Shoving each other roughly to either side, they pelted after Snowball, who squeezed under the fence and off the farm forever. Ice propped her paws up on the fence and watched the coward flee.
She dropped to all fours and nodded, and the three of the other sisters she trained with let out loud barks of celebration. The other five dogs just sat with their hind legs splayed, with 'I hate everything' looks in their dull eyes.
Ice, Dawn, Willow and Amber celebrated their triumph happily that night.
Celebrated their victory.
Celebrated their viciousness.
Celebrated what they'd become.