“Hi there, can I help you?”
Theodore jumped slightly at the young woman’s voice, too lost in his own little world to notice her beside him. He saw her flinch slightly at his burn scars but to her credit it past quickly and her face showed no sign of disgust or fear. He quickly glanced at her nametag, it read Rebecca.
“Yeah, sorry, head was miles away. I’m looking for a stallion to be mates with my Fluffy Robin, she’s been a big help for me for so long and I think I’m finally in a good enough spot where I can look after her and a little family.”
“Aww, that’s so cute, I’m happy to hear she’s helped you, not many people understand the healing power of Fluffies. You mind if I ask you a few questions to help you find what you’re looking for?”
“Sure, go ahead.”
Rebecca grabbed a tablet from a nearby counter and fiddled about with it as she looked for the company questionnaire.
“Ok then Mr…?”
“Hudson, Theodore Hudson but most folk just call me Ted.”
“Ok then, Ted, will the stallion be for personal or business use? Basically are you a licensed breeder?”
“Um, personal I guess. I don’t have a breeding licence and I don’t plan to get one, Robin is an Alicorn but no way will I be taking her children from her.”
“Excellent, let me just fill that out. Now, how old is Robin and would you be looking for a Fluffy in the same age-range?”
“Ooh, let me think. She’d be about… 3, maybe even 4 years old at this point. And yeah I think similar ages would work well, no younger than 2 though, don’t want some newly matured boy-toy running circles around us.”
“That’s perfectly fine. And last question for the moment, but given what you’ve already said I can guess your answer, does colour or type matter to you?”
“Not at all, maybe another Alicorn simply so Robin can have someone who understands the stigma and can relate to her on that level, plus less likely to hurt any ‘monster’ foals. But otherwise no, any type, any colour will be fine, my main focus is temperament, I want a stallion who’s friendly and well-mannered, which I know is a lot to ask for in a Fluffy.”
Rebecca chuckled. “Not as much as you might think, about 90% of our stock is born here and through each new generation they pick something up from the last, it’s not 100% perfect but we’ve kept Smarty Syndrome to a minimum here. Now based on what you’ve told me, I have a few good candidates, however because this is for personal use I do have to run a background check on you.”
“Really? I never had to have a background check when I picked up Robin.”
“It’s a new policy, after the recent F.A.07 outbreak near the Chikahiro River management have decided to do check-ups on all potential customers to ensure that A) They’re not selling to any abusers and B) The customer is smart enough to handle themselves should any outbreak of F.A.07 occur. Between you and me though, whatever stallion you choose will be get the F.A.07 vaccine anyway, they’re just covering their butts so they don’t get sued. Honestly the whole thing will take less than a day, if you come back tomorrow then all should be sorted out. In the meantime, I’ll email you a catalogue of our available stallions and you and Robin can pick one out together.”
Sensing that he wasn’t getting a Fluffy today and not wanting to risk grabbing a feral or worse a Smarty from an unlicensed breeder, Theodore gave Rebecca his contact details and left the store. As he stepped out of the store he spotted a police car driving past the store, Theodore froze up but quickly hid his fear and walked back to his truck, he tried to look like he was paying no attention to the cops and soon enough they drove off without bothering him.
It had been three months since he helped Jonathan escape prison, no-one had contacted him, they had destroyed the van and any evidence linking the two of them to the breakout and none of it could be traced back to either of them anyway. He was safe, but the fear that he missed something always lingered, that he would be found out and lose everything because he tried to help a friend.
Theodore climbed into his truck, gripped the steering wheel with both hands, placed his head between them and took several deep breaths.
“323 Elm Parkway, I’m going to 323 Elm Parkway.”
After a few moments, the shiver of an episode passed and Theodore started the truck, looking forward to seeing Robin again and putting all of this behind him.
“Wobin hab wun shot, wun opp-ah-too-net-tee. Wobin can du dis.”
The now fully grown blue mare took a deep breath and tried to clear her mind of the task she had spent so long trying to complete, never making it. Yet today was different, she could feel it.
With her mind empty and her eyes closed, Robin bent her knees slightly and pushed herself off the ground, determined to a two-leggie dancing Fluffy and give her daddy the biggest heart-happies to see her dance.
Robin held her breath as she lifted herself up, then it happened. Time froze as she realised she could barely feel gravity pulling her down, she opened her eyes to gaze at the world from heights she never thought she could reach, she had done it, she was a two-leggie dancie Flufffy, she was…
Falling back to the floor.
CRACK
“HHHHHHUUUUUUUUU!!!” Robin wailed as she landed face first on the hard laminate flooring of the hallway, she tried to hug her nose better but it just made it hurt all the more. She looked down and saw boo-boo juice leaking out of her.
“NUU! DABBEH, DABBEH HEWB, WOBIN HAB WOWBEST SMEBWW-PWABE HUWB…”
Robin stopped, remembering that she was alone, her daddy was out although he said he wouldn’t be long. How long was long? Robin didn’t know, she just wanted her daddy to give her huggies, huggies made everything better.
Seeing an errant dust-cloth on the floor, Robin softly pressed her face against the fabric, it hurt like hell but she didn’t want to look at the blood pooling at her nose anymore. As the pain starting to subside, all Robin was left with was the humiliation and the anger, emotions she wasn’t used to and she didn’t like them, she’d never be the best dancie Fluffy for her daddy, she’d never show him how much she loved him through her happiest dancie moves and now she had the worst hurties in her smell-place.
Robin was not happy, she was so upset that in her sulking she almost missed the murmuring from outside.
“Dis way dummehs, dis am bestesh pwace tu hab babbehs.”
Robin’s ear twitched as she made out a few words, curious she wandered over to the doggy-door – thankfully unlocking thanks to the electronics in her collar – and peeked outside. Gathering in the front garden, by the fence Theodore had explicitly told Robin not to go past, was a small herd of Fluffies, Robin counted four stallions and three mares, with one of the mares being so round with tummeh-babbehs that the other two mares had to roll her into the garden.
“CAWEFUW DUMMEHS!” The pregnant mare, a bright red unicorn with a lime-green mane, screeched to the other two. “Soon-mummah hab bestesh Smawty babbehs, need bestesh tummeh-sweepies.”
The other two mare shrunk back down and apologised, the fat red mare huffed at them and turned away, putting her attention back on her unborn foals as she started singing to them. Around them the four stallions did a quick perimeter search, one of them, a grey earthie with a white mane, stayed close to the mares while the other three looked around.
Robin kept herself low, trying to stay out of sight.
The three other stallions returned to the earthie.
“Dis pwace am gud.”
“Gud, need be weady fow babbehs comin soon, Smawty wiww wike dis pwace. Nu hoomin?”
Another of the stallions, a blue Pegasus with a red mane, shook his head. “Hoomin weave in metaw-munstah, nu bak yet.”
“Dat nu wowwy, bwing whowe hewd hewe soon, hoomin hab gib dis wand tu Smawty. Den hewd hab aww da nummies.”
The four stallions cheered and readied themselves for the imminent arrival of the red mare’s litter. Robin stayed and watched them for a bit, part of her was scared of the newcomers, worried that coming from the other side of the fence they couldn’t be trusted. Part of her thought that now they were on her side maybe they’d be ok, but hearing about Smarties and herds put her off meeting them, she remembered the Smarty herd that killed her Fluffy Father and she wanted nothing to do with them.
Moving slowly, Robin tried to slip back inside, but the movement of the doggy-door caught the attention of the grey stallion.
“WHO DEWE?!” He shouted.
Robin froe up, trying to think of what to do, she decided it safer to meet the Fluffies head-on, try and stall them until Theodore got home.
“Um, hewwo. Am yu fwiends?” Robin cautiously asked as she climbed out of doggy-door.”
A couple of the other stallion stepped forward, lecherous looks in their eyes, but the grey stallion lifted his hoof to stop them.
“Hewwo pwetty mawe, am Bwake, dese am Bwake fwiends. Am dis yuw homesie?”
Robin gulped, Blake was being friendly but she didn’t feel comforted by his staring. “Yeh, dis am Wobin an daddeh’s homesie. Daddeh say Wobin nu tu tawk tu ousside Fwuffies.”
Blake smirked. “Bu Wobin an ousside Fwuffy nyo tuu, dat make it ok tu tawkies.”
Robin shook her head. “Wobin heaw Bwake tawkies bout hewd an Smawty. Meanie Smawty gib Wobin Fwuffy daddeh foweba sweepies, Wobin nu wan tawkies tu yu.”
As Robin shook her head, the red mare eyed her up, there was something behind Robin that didn’t sit right with her, a pair of Pegasus wings. But Robin had a unicorn horn, she surely couldn’t have both of them.
Unles…
“Mu…Mun…MUNSTAH!!! HUUUUUUBIGGESTPOOPIES!”
Blake turned round to see the rest of his herd realise that Robin was a munstah Fluffy and scarper off, leaving just him and the red mare behind as she struggled to hold back her birthing litter.
“DUMMEHS GIT BAK! BABBEHS AM COMIN, NU WAN MUNSTAH FWUFFY TU NUM DEM!”
Blake turned back towards Robin, she was already racing back to the doggy-door. Not being as scared of Alicorns as his comrades, Blake chased off after her.
“Git bak dummeh munstah, Bwake gun gib yu wowstesh sowwy-enfies.”
Robin’s mind flashed with visions of pain and humiliation and it spurred her on faster, she could almost feel Blake’s breath on her as she climbed through the doggy-door and skidded along the hardwood floor.
She got away just in time as the door locked mere moments before Blake crashed into it.
“DUMMEH MUNSTAH, BWAKE GUN GIB YU WOWSTESH ENFIES, BWAKE NU SCAWED OF MUNSTAH, GUN TAKE DIS WAND AN TUWN YU INTU ENFIE MUNSTAH!”
Robin hid under the couch in the living room, shut her eyes tight and covered her ears, wishing for her daddy to return and save her.
She hadn’t been this scared since she was a foal, she’d almost forgotten how painful fear could be.
“Robin? Robin you ok?”
Robin opened her eyes, she didn’t know how long it had been but that wasn’t what was important, what was what that Theodore was back and looking under the couch, a look of utter worry and fear mirroring her own.
“Daddeh. Wobin hab wowtesh scawies.”
“Hey, hey it’s ok. Come on out of there.”
Theodore gentle cupped his hand around Robin and pulled her out, he felt some cold urine on the carpet but he ignored that, putting her comfort first. Softly he placed her against his chest and stroked her back.
“I saw the other Fluffies outside, you want to tell me what happened?”
“Huu, Wobin heaw Fwuffies ousside, gu wook tu see if dey meanie ow nu. Heaw dem tawk bout Smawty an hewd, nu wike dem, Wobin twy gu bak bu Fwuffies see hew. Meanie Fwuffy Bwake twy twick Wobin, he wye an say he fwiend, bu Wobin nu wike him. Den soon-mummah see Wobin am wingie-pointy an make wots of noises, fink she hab babbehs. Udda Fwuffies wun way cos fink Wobin am munstah, bu Bwake nu scawed of wingie-pointies, he fowwow Wobin, say he wan gib wowstesh enfies. Wittew doow-wock keep him ousside, but he say wowstesh meanie fings Wobin hide unda sit-pwace tiww daddeh come bak.”
Theodore felt like shit, he wasn’t even gone that long but it was still long enough for Robin to be threatened and likely traumatised by a goddamn Smarty herd. A herd that now knew where he lived and would likely try to take his home again.
It was the last fucking thing he needed right now.
With a deep sigh and a heavy heart, Theodore put Robin back on the floor.
“Robin, daddy scared off the mean Fluffies earlier, but I’m going to go look outside and make sure none of them came back. I’ll just be a moment, ok?”
Robin nodded. “Ok daddeh.”
Theodore gave her a quick pet and headed back to the front garden. Looking out he couldn’t see any signs of Fluffies, but the streak of shit and patch of blood from their first arrival still lay like insults to his safety. When he’d arrived home he assumed the red mare and the grey stallion – this Blake guy – were a feral couple trying to steal food, but hearing there was a whole herd of them made his stomach turn.
Theodore wasn’t so much a pacifist, he knew violence was often unavoidable, but since the war he’d made great strides trying to keep himself as level-headed as possible and avoid violence in as many forms as he could. Fluffies, for was tyrannical and monstrous as they could be, were still living creatures and Theodore didn’t want to have to butcher an entire herd and risk his own mental health, plus whatever that sight would do to Robin.
Theodore strolled over to the blood stain, it had leaked out of the red mare as she was giving birth, it wasn’t a large stain, she had been able to run off with her foals once Theodore returned, but it was still a massive pain to deal with. As he examined the blood, he caught something in the grass, the tiniest hint of movement, Theodore got in for a closer look and was shocked at what he found.
Foals, three of them, hidden by the grass and the blood, just born chirpies blindly looking for their mother’s love and milk. Theodore felt his heart break at them being forgotten about, but then he looked closer and realised the more horrifying truth, that all three of them had physical deformities.
A unicorn colt with an undeveloped back leg, a unicorn filly with a missing eye and an Alicorn colt with a busted spine.
They hadn’t been forgotten, they have been abandoned.
Ignoring the blood and the afterbirth, Theodore reached over and stroked the foals, trying to give them some form of comfort before the end. They all peeped and reached out to their massive saviour, the filly even making a suckling motion with her mouth as she tried to seek out the teat that wasn’t there. Without their mother’s milk Theodore knew they would starve before the end of the day, and as much as he wanted to save them, they were all runts, destined for a life of hardships and ostracising, he couldn’t force that onto anyone, not even a Fluffy.
Could he? Perhaps if he…
“Babbehs?”
Theodore spun round and saw Robin jogging over to him, alerted by the chirps of the distressed foals. Her jaw dropped in horror when she saw them.
“Nu, babbehs aww hab wowstesh huwties, need gib dem wickie-cweanies and miwkies soon.”
Before he could stop her, Robin picked up the unicorn colt and started licking him clean of blood and birthing fluids. Theodore was momentarily taken back by Robin’s complete disregard for the fabled Runt Smell, his cousin Anthony had a severe issue with his Fluffy Bumble and one of her runts many years ago and the story had stuck with him. And yet Robin didn’t even seem to notice it.
Eventually Theodore found his voice again. “Robin, honey we can’t help them.”
“Wha, wai nu?”
“Because they’re runts, because they all have hurties from being tummy-babbies and we can’t fix that. They’ll be bullied and hurt because they’re not like other Fluffies, because they’ve been hurt.”
“Bu… daddeh hab huwties tuu, daddeh am cawwed meanie fings bu dummeh hoomins cos dey nu wike buwnie scaws. Daddeh am bestesh daddeh, wook afta Wobin, wai daddeh nu gib babbehs chance be gud babbehs tuu?”
Theodore briefly consider arguing that the circumstances were different, but he realised that that didn’t matter, the end-result was the same, human or Fluffy, being treated different for being obviously scared or disfigured was sadly commonplace, Theodore struggled with it everyday but he at least had the opportunity to struggle, if he took that opportunity away from these foals…
No, he wouldn’t give up like that, he’d give them a fighting chance.
Theodore picked the three foals up and held them in his hands. “Come on Robin, let’s get these little guys inside and try to keep them safe.”
“YAY, Wobin an daddeh sabe babbehs.”
With Robin leading the way back inside, Theodore looked over the foals, given the colours he figured that the grey coloured Blake wasn’t the father, which begged the question where was he during this whole ordeal.
And more importantly, if neither Blake himself not Robin had referred to him as ‘Smarty’, where was he as well?
Deep in the forest surrounding Theodore’s farmland, a large feral herd congregated after the failure of their scouting party. Blake was brought forth to the Smarty, who was seeing to his red mare mate and their surviving two children, a bright red earthie colt with a yellow mane and a lime green unicorn filly with a black mane.
“Dewe dewe babbehs, mummah gab dummeh babbehs tu munstah and sabe yu bov, be bestesh mummah tu bestesh babbehs. Mummah wub babbehs, babbehs wub mummah.”
As the mare sang to her two remaining children, the Smarty approached Blake, what the Smarty lacked in appearance with an ugly piss yellow coat, a mangy black mane, and a series of cuts and scars running throughout his body, he made up for in sheer mass. The Smarty was the largest Fluffy in the herd by far, taller, broader and stronger than any other stallion, he ruled through fear and had brutally killed many a challenger to preserve his place.
Blake was not about to piss him off.
“Wai Bwake gib up Smawty wand tu hoomin?” The Smarty demanded.
“Am so… sowwy Smawty, Bwake nu knyo munstah wive on wand, udda Fwuffies wun way, scawed of munstah. Bu…bu…bu Bwake nu scawed, twy tu gib munstah enfies, wike Smawty teech.”
“An yu weave speciaw-fwiend awone, wen she habben Smawty babbehs? Smawty put Bwake in chawge of Tuffies cos Bwake am smawt Fwuffy, bu afta dis, Smawty fink maybe yu jus dummeh.”
“NU! Smawty pwease, Bwake git wand bak fwom munstah an dummeh hoomin, aww dis be Smawty wand soon.”
“Gud, bu knyo dat Smawty wan munstah mawe bwought hewe awive. She take Smawty babbehs, eben if dey bad, dey stiww Smawty babbehs, need make hew pay.”
Blake shivered at the thought. “Wha… wha Smawty gun du?”
The Smarty leaned in close and growled in Blake’s ear. “Gun gib mawe babbehs, den Woawke gun make hew num dem aww. Nu GU!”
Blake farted in terror and ran off to prepare. Roarke turned back and looked over his herd, they had the numbers, they had the strength and more importantly, they had him. He had dealt with monster Fluffies in his last herd, he didn’t like them then and he didn’t like them now, but at least he wasn’t scared of them like some of the other idiots in his herd, he’d have to see to that before the attack.
Because this was Roarke’s land, and he wasn’t about to give it up for anyone, not for another Smarty, not for a dumb human and certainly not for a fucking monster mare.
Roarke looked through the trees and toward the farmhouse and took a deep breath, he could taste war on the air. And it excited him.
Apologises for the seemingly abrupt ending, but Theodore and Robin’s storyline has gone as far as it could and this needed to finish up here so it could lead into Scorched Earth (Coming Soon)
For those of you who don’t know Roarke, he’s had a part to play in Another Story so rest assured he’ll make a great villain for the future.
