"How did it go Mr. General?" Asked Sally in her giant sand castle of the baby fur bear with his bowtie to match his wife's hair bow.
The baby bear walked away from a plastic toy radio with a colored headset whose wire was a piece of string.
Mr. General shook his head sadly. "I contacted my not-friends friends, and told them that they should befriend the baby furs, but since I couldn't give a really good reason without telling them about the imps, and they're a secret, they thought I was fibbing."
Sally gave him a hug, and so did Mrs. General. Bunnie, Cheetah, and Horsey gave him a hug too.
"It was a good idea." Bunnie said.
"Maybe we just need to figure out a way to tell them it's important without telling them about the imps?" Horsey suggested.
+
The discovery that all that was needed to stop the Baby Furs' innocent oblivious advance was a little note or sign that read 'please don't come this way' or the like had been a complete game changer. Even a polite formal request would prove enough, as long as it was done through 'official' channels like solider baby furs being told they were 'assigned' to somewhere else and were under orders to stay there.
Sammy would have been a lot more grateful for this twist, if he hadn't already found out that all the not-friends becoming friends was actually them getting their 'rooster shots' for an evil spell that turn everyone into little devils otherwise. Now that he knew what the alternative was, being turned into immortal baby animal people was decidedly the better thingie.
This made Sammy The Kitsume, and Jessy the Tanuki really really really sure they had to be special good with their new magic The First Fur had gifted them with.
"Charlotte," Bella asked, "If you serve 'All That Is Necessary' why don't those you serve defeat of cure the imps yourselves?"
The white spider casually waved its web. "As I said, Like it or not, the imps own universe is theirs to do with as they please. If the final state of that universe is a reality of savage kids running wild, that's their right. Maybe in its own way, it's their version of happiness for all. There's a universe where Earth is now inhabited by humanoid platypus people of different sexes, religions, and politics, who live in world peace due to their combined love of polka music. Then there's the universe where earth is now retroactively populated by naked humanoid animal pooltoy people, and they all get alone. The imps only crossed the line when they decided to alter OTHER universes as well to their liking. If they'd been happy with their own universe, none of this would be needed."
"No offense to my granddaughter or all her new friends, but what is to keep them from innocently spreads to other universes like the imps?"
"The rules of reality that cause those who interact with a baby fur to become one themselves do not function outside of this reality, this was explicitly invoked so they wouldn't have a second set of imp on their hands. The purpose of the baby furs is, after all, to keep the imps confined to their own universe.
"The irony is that the imps themselves aren't quite what the dark force that created them PLANNED them to be, now they're an independent force not slaved to anyone. That's why they're called the INNOCENT malice. They're not storm troopers of an ancient demonic overlord or something, they're a horde of brats who have the power to 'NO!' to a time-out. And have all the empathy of preschoolers. They're inherently dangerous, naturally destructive, and fundamentally selfish, but they're still just kids. And they embody the old truth: children can be cruel."
+
Teddy The Bear, Jamie The Rabbit, and Marion (called Mari) the Deer continued to drive along in Mari's transformed car to Free-Necks, to find Teddy's sister. It was the whole reason he'd come after all.
As the alert of the spreading infection hadn't reach official ears yet, there was yet no signs put up QUITE yet to ask Baby Furs to 'Please Don't Laugh' or 'Please Don't Pass This Sign' or 'Please Don't Make Any Jokes.' But now that they knew how, some military units had been taking two signs, and inching them close through Baby Fur territory, confining them ever so slightly. Still, the baby furs had befriended a large chunk of humanity before this realization had been made, but still enough that they could still form an organized resistance. Even if several capitals had to be moved.
In spite of it being a starry night and in the darkness, the baby fur had no trouble seeing in the dark... after all, the plastic toy car had headlights, even if they were just really stickers that to a camera would show nothing.
Then they passed a billboard, and came the flashing lights and colors of a motorcycle cop. The entire world was in the know of the baby furs by this except perhaps the most isolated places on earth. But it WAS dark, and that was an advantage.
"A police man!" Said Teddy.
"We outta pull over," Said Jamie.
"Okay," Mari said and did just that.
The motor cycle cop thought he'd caught some kids playing on the highway at night (not the most insane thing he'd seen in his career sadly, everyone remembered what happened to the poor 19-year old who had been playing laser-tag when a police officer saw him). And in the dark, it was a mistake easy to make.
The baby furs pulled over the toy car, as the police officer parked his motorcycle, and walked over to the little pack.
"Hello officer," Mari said looking up at the big man.
"Hello there little girl," said the officer. "Where are your parents?"
"Retired and living in Washing-Ton state."
"That's a long way away, what are you doing out here by yourself? Don't you know you and your friends could get hurt?" He asked.
"Helping a new friend of mine see his sister so he can be a good Un-Kul in Free-Necks."
The officer giggled at the childish way of speaking.
He never noticed himself getting smaller, or that his view getting lower and lower. He acknowledge the breeze his body was feeling as his uniform vanished along with his boots, and most of his equipment. His ears became tiny and moved to the top of his head. His mouth became squarish and pushed forward along his nose as the whole thing darkened. Golden brown covered his body as he shrank through the years.
His fingers and toes became all black and stubby, lookg like stunted off tree branches almost.
He may have noticed, but didn't really care when he felt his underwear turned into a police blue diaper, or that his badge was now on that front of that diaper.
"Well, I hope you have a safe trip." He said.
"We will." Teddy said. "I'm Teddy The Bear."
"I'm Abe The Capybara!" The new baby fur giggled.
"Nice to meet you friend!"
"Same here friend!"
Abe toddled back to his motor cycle, as he touched it, it shrank down, becoming plastic, the wheel widened, and lost most of its moving parts, looking looke a Hot-Wheels Tricycle almost.
Abe still had his elbow and knee pads, and put his helmet back on (safety first). He made engine noises, and the plastic tricycle came to life, showing blue and red flashing colors, and zoomed along faster than it should have with how Abe was pedaling. He had a patrol to follow after all and Teddy and his friends seem to be okay.
-
Jo'lith, the dullahan like imp, and Boo'Lith, Princess' blind seers, were the closest to friends that Princess had, even though she now had billions of playmates and subjects to do with as he pleased.
But 'Family was family' remained Princess' one law she enforced on her subjects.
Princess' well, not really her mother now, but rather the mother of the human who had BEEN Princess was a better way to put it, had taken to creating any number of outlandish, illogical, to down strange white dresses and outfit for Princess' subjects, and had several floors of the atmosphere piercing tower dedicated to her work. She could always find new imps to model for her.
Not that clothes were really needed, they were all as featureless as dolls in all places that mattered, and their skin was shinny and almost rubbery. They were not succubi after all, what used did they have for such things? Given their complete lack of manners except when facing a tougher imps, they actually found the act of procreation now rather boorish yet bland.
They were immortal: how many imps there were would be the number of imps there would always be unless they found more to add to their little family of trouble makers.
And Princess herself after now ruling the world found herself in a rather uncomfortable existential crisis, what was the point of being princess of an entire planet of trouble makers if there was no one to make trouble FOR exist each other? 'Find new planet to cause trouble on,' her royal seer had told her so. Spread the childish chaos on, to add to the innocent malice. ... But building spaceships sounded so hard! It would be so much easier to just punch through realities and infect other Earths with themselves! Her seer had warned her this course of action may lead to trouble for the imps themselves, but Princess ignored her. They were all imps now, they were the definition of trouble.
"Oooh! Look at the pretty fireworks!" Pointed Mari.
"Let's go see it!" Said Jamie.
Teddy wanted to get right to his sister, but he didn't want to hurt his friends feeling, and it would just be a little view.
They drove off the road, and saw a lot of pretty horses! They slowed down at once not to scare them.
They also saw on the other side of the herd... what could have been a little girl with red skin, white hair and yellow eyes... If not for the pair of pointed black horns shape like chisels stick out of her head at a backwards angle. And the fact her mouth was fully of fangs. Her fingers and toes ended with claws, not nails. And those yellow eyes were yellow spirals in blackness. She also had a large red tail... that ended in a red cobra that spread out its hood and hissed. Her skin looked like a plastic doll's almost. She was wearing a set of white leg and arm warmers, she had on a pair of swim trunks, and an exercise shirt scaled to her size that looked positivity ridiculous on her.
The bare foot girl crept up to one of the horses, a beautiful reddish brown stallion... and her tail struck and bit in the leg.
The horse cried out, scaring away the rest of the herd. The horse tries to run, but its motions became slower and slower, stiffer, the it stood at attention, his muscles shaking like it was moving against his will. The horse stared straight ahead as its eyes turned to glass, and the spot where the snake had bitten showed fluff, not blood. Its mane became like doll's hair. And the rest of its fur became like a stuffed animal.
A white saddle docorated a skull playfully sticking out its tongue appeared on the oversized toy's back, and the little girl climbed up.
"There's a good horsy! You belong to Jill'Lith now! MINE!" The horse sprang to life at her worse and began to move, the girl hadn't noticed the baby furs.
Jamie The Rabbit felt his soldier's training kick in and defensively raised his water gun in case the monster girl came their way. Because there was no life in the horse's eyes, AT ALL. Its motions were completely mechanical, like a puppet. It was 'asleep and not going to ever wake up again.'