As the Donkeys struggled to survive in the so called "re-education" camp in the Hundred Acre Wood, Winnie the Pooh the leader of the biggest apiary in the forest made plans to expand his territory.
Pooh's powers had grown in leaps and bounds. Using his innocent and harmless appearance, he had convinced the other animals to entrust him with the most valuable resource in the Hundred Acre Wood - Honey. They allowed Pooh to take control of over half of the beehives. In time, many of the animals became dependent on Pooh for their supply of honey.
And this is when Whinnie the Pooh began showing his true colours.
It started with Piglet.
He had been Winnie's friend almost his entire life. Piglet had thought nothing of it when Pooh began using his territory for keeping his bees. But when he brought his armed guards into Piglet's land, the latter had to question it. Pooh assured him that this was just for Piglet's protection. But before he knew it, Piglet was a refugee on his own land. Winnie the Pooh had taken full control of it and had reduced his former friend to the status of a second class citizen.
The other animals in the Hundred Acre Wood felt terrible, but said little more than a few words of compassion for Piglet.
This betrayal was soul crushing. Piglet was not only heartbroken by what the one he had considered to be his best friend had done, he was also disillusioned that the world didn't stand up for him.
He did have someone who looked out for him though. Tigger.
A long time ago, Tigger too had been friends with Winnie. But that friendship ended when Winnie set his eyes on Tigger's land. He did succeed in taking a small part of Tigger's territory after a hard faught battle, but the tiger had faught valiantly and Pooh couldn't take any more from him. Though his attempts to fully occupy Tigger's territory hadn't ended.
Winnie's mistreatment of Piglet paled in comparison to what he did to the Donkeys who lived on his land. He had stripped them of all rights and dignity, and was executing his malicious design to completely wipe out the Donkey way of life. He kept the poor Donkeys in camps where they would be forced to give up and even denounce their culture. "Re-education camps" he called them. Dark, bleak places where any hope that the Donkeys held in their hearts would die a cold death.
According to some unconfirmed reports, Pooh was even harvesting their organs and selling them.
And what did the other communities in the Hundred Acre Wood do about this? Nothing at all. Pooh's vast resources and stranglehold over honey production shielded him from all consequences. Many of them were indebted to Winnie and therefore wouldn't open their mouths against him.
Disgustingly enough, Eeyore had become Pooh's biggest sycophant. He would express outrage over Donkeys being mistreated in any other part of the world, but when questioned about his stance on Pooh's treatment of Donkeys, he would make the most pathetic excuses. He knew of no such thing, this was Pooh's business so he would not interfere, the Donkeys were actually quite happy in the re-education camps.... and so on.
Kanga was also bothered by Pooh's actions. Though he hadn't harmed her directly, she still didn't like the way he was influencing her young son, Roo. Winnie had bought the school where Roo was being educated and had changed the curriculum to fill his head with all sorts of problematic ideas. Ideas that would ensure that Roo grew up to be a Winnie the Pooh loyalist.
Both Kanga and Tigger agreed that Pooh needed to be stopped.
Rabbit agreed with them, but they both knew he had ulterior motives. He opposed Pooh only because he saw the bear as a threat to his dominion over the Hundred Acre Wood. What vexed him even more was the fact that, initially, he himself had aided Pooh's rise to power. Not knowing what kind of a monster he was creating.
Pooh's reign of terror would not last long, however. Tigger, though less powerful that him, firmly stood in his way. Piglet too was regaining his confidence. Many others wronged by Pooh were slowly finding their voice.
Winnie the Pooh was getting nervous. His power had begin to wane. The large stocks of honey were depleting. But he still maintained his appearance of grandeur and power. Fully aware that Tigger was growing ever stronger, ready to bear his fangs at any threat to his land.