Abandoned Angel
Part 19: The Burden
Robert awoke with only a slight hangover. It was a sunny Saturday morning, or was that afternoon? He didn’t know, didn’t care, didn’t want to know. Any Saturday, hell, any morning that he didn’t get woken up with a fluffy shitting on his girlfriend was a good one. His routine didn’t change, 7am or 1pm, first thing was coffee and asprin. Never would he deal with his fluffies before coffee. It was bad form. Mental fortitude was a necessity.
In a spare food dish, which he now had several, he made up their meal. Kibble, leafy greens, and always a serving of fruit. Sure, fluffies were notorious for being fragile and easy to kill, but he’d be damned if his pets would die of starvation or malnutrition. He opened the door to the safe room to be greeted to the sight of the most adorable hugging and squealing fluff pile he had ever seen. It warmed the cockles of his heart. Suddenly, silence. All four fluffies turned their attention to their new daddeh holding a giant bowl of food.
He stood there, overwhelmed by shouts of “wub daddeh!” and “gib huggies!” and “best daddeh!” They latched onto his legs hugging as hard as they could with their little fluffy legs. He set the bowl down and laughed as he was promptly forgotten. The shouts now replaced with mumbling mouthfuls of “best nummies!” and “wub nummies!”
Robert continued his daily routine by refilling their water dish and cleaning the litter. He was pleased to see that there were no more accidents on the floor. Maybe Angel’s little temper tantrum did work. Angel ran up to her daddeh, “Wanna pway, daddeh!” Her little blue wings fluttering, her green tail swishing back and forth. The foals, only a week and a half old were finishing up their meal, ravenous disgusting eating sounds emanated from the group.
“Sure, let’s play!” Robert sat down cross legged on the floor and Angel trotted to the box of toys. She pulled out a neon green ball and pushed it, rolling it towards Robert. This got everyone’s attention, play time!
Brave, the monochrome red unicorn sniffed the air, his ears twitching. Slowly, cautiously, the foal made his way to Robert and climbed into his lap. Unable to see, Brave couldn’t play like the rest of them, and was content cuddling with Robert’s free hand. Bright, the yellow and blue earth type, and Robin, the pink and red unicorn, joined in the ball rolling. Not much is better to a fluffy than playing with a ball, Robert thought, except maybe hugs. Or spaghetti. Or a daddeh. Maybe it was in the top five, who was he to rank this stuff.
Twenty minutes went by, which felt like an eternity. He gave Brave a final pet and set him on the floor. Standing up he opened the door, things to see, people to do, all that jazz. “Okay, guys, today you’re all staying in here. Angel, be good. I’ll be back in a bit.”
“Yesh daddeh!” The game of ball continued, they didn’t care too much being down one player. He closed the door behind him, sealing the cute away. Another cup of coffee disappeared feeding his courage to check his phone. He hadn’t heard or seen Mary since she delivered the present of three broken fluffy ponies. As expected there were several text messages from Mary, each one a variation of “Miss you, love you, text me, call me.” Each one made Robert cringe harder than the last.
Robert did have a small group of friends, which Mary was part of. They also had a long history of being friends with benefits, but they had never made it to the relationship part. Maybe there was deeply rooted voice quietly screaming “RUN SHE IS CRAZY.” He never was good at listening. Instead of calling or texting Mary he dialed up Erin.
Erin was a wonderfully sweet woman. They worked together for years, never in the same department but in the same building on the same floor. A work friend that sometimes joined in on the weekend bar outings. She was always the voice of reason and a was quick to commiserate his lacking love life. “Erin, hey, it’s Robert. Got plans today?”
“Nope! Just me and the cats. What’s up?”
“Want to do me a favor?” Robert knew she had a hard time saying no.
“Not at all!” She laughed, “What’cha need?”
“Can you come over today?”
“Probably not. I’m hanging out with Susan today.”
Perfect, he thought! “Excellent, bring her too. How does three-ish sound? Is she the sister that is a vet?”
“No. Fine. Just no hitting on her.” Robert did enjoy the bit of banter.
“Is she still single?” Silence. Erin was always fun to tease. “Are you still single?”
“Fuck you.” As she stifled a laugh.
“You’re the best, I’ll see ya at three!” Robert spent the next hour and a half puttering around the house. Even though he was a bachelor he kept his place neat. Rarely did he even have dishes to clean due to eating out mostly. Grocery stores were a foreign mystery to him until he started buying real food for his fluffies. Sadly, he thought to himself, they eat healthier than himself.
Just after 3pm Erin arrived with her sister Susan in tow. Pleasantries were exchanged, small talk made. Two women sat at the dinner table, a round of beers already polished off.
“So, what’s going on, Rob? You only invite me out if there is drinking involved. Or women trouble.” A sly grin crossed Erin’s face, “Or is it both this time?”
Robert feigned shock, his hand on his chest, “I never!” A moment passed and he grabbed the bottle of whiskey. “Seriously, though, we’ll need this.”
Susan spoke up, “Isn’t it a bit early for whiskey?”
Robert sighed, “It’s five o’clock somewhere.” He poured each a shot. “And I’m gonna need this, you both will.” He downed the shot while Susan and Erin shared a look and followed suit. Robert then shared the story of his abandoned fluffy. How he nursed Angel back to life. How he started dating Mary and rounded it out with the ‘gift.’
Susan was quiet for a moment, “So that’s why you asked Erin about me.” Susan, Robert knew from conversations with Erin, was a veterinary doctor. He also knew that most vets wouldn’t touch fluffies. “I want to see them.”
Robert led the two to the safe room. They were greeted by happy playful fluffy noises. Shouts of “Daddeh!” rang out as Angel ran up and tackled his leg. “Hugs!” She stood up, reaching for him. He picked up his blue and green Pegasus, petting her mane. “Fwends?”
“Yes, Angel, friends. They want to meet you and the foals.” Robert sat down, his back to the wall, Angel cuddling in his arms. “Brave,” Robert called out, “C’mere.”
Susan and Erin sat next to Robert. They watched with a morbid interest as Brave, the monochrome red Pegasus detached himself from the stuffed animal. His tiny ears and wings twitching as he sniffed the air. Slowly he padded over to Robert. “Yesh, daddeh?”
Robet picked up Brave and handed him to Susan. She held the blind unicorn foal in her hands, Brave staring at her with unopened eyes. She squinted and looked the foal over, feeling under the fluff and looking in every nook and cranny. He remained quiet and offered no resistance. “Brave, you’re such a pretty and nice fluffy!” Susan gave him a hug and handed the fluffy to Erin.
“Bwave wub fwends!” And he curled up in Erin’s lap as she Erin petted him.
“Brave seems to be pretty mellow for a fluffy foal, especially compared to his brothers.” Robert mused out loud.
“Well,” Erin interjected, “he can’t see so he can’t run. Makes sense.”
Susan nodded, “He’ll be very docile because of the sight loss, but otherwise he’s in fine health. Who is next?”
“Robin, c’mere.” Robin, the pink and red Pegasus trotted over and hugged Robert’s knee. “Robin, these friends want to make sure you are healthy. Robin remained quiet and trotted over to Erin and hugged her leg and moved on to Susan.
Susan picked up Robin, inspecting him, spending extra time peering into his mouth. “You’re such a good fluffy!” She set him down and he ran back to play with Bright. “He’ll never talk. He probably can’t taste any food, eating is just a bodily function now. He probably can’t even smell things correctly since taste and smell are strongly linked. Otherwise he’ll be like Brave, with a healthy diet he’ll live a long fluffy life.”
“Angel, can you bring Bright over to Susan?” Robert asked of his fluffy. She bounded from his lap and ran up to Bright. It was comical as she stood in front of the yellow and blue earth pony waving her hooves towards Susan. Bright looked at Susan. Then to Robert. Then to Angel. Back to Susan. Back to Angel. Back to Robert. Back again to Susan. Tilted his head in a confused manner and trotted over to Susan. Angel was somehow managing to communicate with the foal, which made Robert very glad.
Susan picked up Bright, who started yelling, “WAN HUGGIES! WAN WUB! WUB FWEND!” Susan looked him over, peering into his ears. “HUGGIES!” His demands increasing, Susan gave in, hugging him and letting him down to play with Robin and Angel.
“He’ll never hear again. His speech center must’ve developed enough before the incident which allows him to speak, but he’ll never know just how loud he’s yelling. Simply put,” Susan looked sadly at Robert, “They’re healthy but would never survive outside this house. I wouldn’t even let them outside. That bitch ruined them.” Susan bolted up and walked out of the safe room leaving Robert, Erin and the fluffies.