Seeing the body of her desiccated son was too much for the mother’s frail psyche, her body slumping to the floor of the bed. Her screams had quickly given way to sobbing, with the mare now tremoring against the padding of the fluff bed, her hooves clutched around her remaining foals. She had been sheltered, that was quite obvious to Seth based on how genuine her reaction was. Fluffies were emotional beings by design and felt everything in excess, for better or worse. The same spark within them that made them smile and sing when they were joyous could also crush them with grief. And there was nothing more honest than a fluffy like her, one that had never known true suffering until now.
Seth decided to give her a few minutes to recover, more for his sake than hers. He enjoyed tormenting the foals but it was her reaction, her mental anguish that he really wanted in the long run, and she’d be no good to him if she were to crack under the pressure too early. Placing the cadaver of the red colt out of sight, Seth made his way back to the crates, already able to hear Cuddles whimpering and the fear induced chirps of the older foals. Having heard the cries of the dying red colt as well as the horrified screams of the mare, it was no surprise that they were in a panic. Sitting on the floor just across from the carriers, Seth decided to indulge his curiosity about the pink stallion, wanting to know more about what had been done to the traumatized fluff. Rapping his hand lightly against the side of the crate, he was met with an audible yelp from the timorous fluff who backed away from the grated opening, huddling against the back of the carrier. “Cuddles? Come closer so I can see you…” Seth spoke softly but regardless of how much he tried to coax the stallion, it was met with nervous whimpering, the trembling mess unwilling to move even an inch towards him. Frustrated, Seth opened the cage door, which prompted Cuddles to start screaming immediately, the pink stallion pushing himself in vain against the plastic crate in the futile hope that he could somehow get further away.
“*SCREEEEEEE!!! NU WAN HUWTIES!!! NUUUUUUU!!!”
Grabbing the shrieking fluffy by his scruff, Seth pulled Cuddles out of the carrier. While his patience for the abused biotoy was already waning fast, morbid curiosity stayed his hand. Instead of something bloody and permanent, Seth decided that he wouldn’t allow the stallion to die until he had his answers. The neurotic fluff shook and flailed in his hand as Seth stood up and walked over to the neighboring wall. There had been a sink and small bathtub affixed to the wall to meet any would be customer’s sanitation needs. While it was far smaller than what he was used to working with, Seth carried Cuddles towards the sink, confident that it would suit his needs. While meticulously cleaned, like the rest of the faux saferoom, it had small imperfections that would go all but unnoticed by the average person. A few cracks here, the slight reddish tinge the drain had been stained, and even a small piece of a previous fluffy’s tooth that had fallen behind the pipes belied the dire intent of those that had been here before. He held the stallion up so that he faced towards the porcelain basin, wanting to make sure that Cuddles could see the faucet as he turned the tap on.
“WET GU!!! WET GU OF CUDDEWS!!! *SCREEEEEEE!!!”
As frightened of water as fluffies were, whatever had befallen Cuddles scared him far more, the stallion scarcely noticing the running water. Seth knew that would change, and fast if he had any say in it, turning the faucet back off and lifting the struggling fluff so they were eye to eye. “Calm down and tell me what your old owner did to you? Why are you so scared of people?” Met with only more struggles and screams, he pressed the stallion into the sink belly up, careful to hold his head just under the tap before turning the water back on. Cuddles thrashed wildly as the torrent fell, trying to shift his face away from the water but unable to break Seth’s grip. “Maybe you can hear me a little better now…What did your old owner do? What happened to you?” Waiting a few moments for the makeshift waterboarding to truly sink in, he then turned the faucet back off with his free hand. Sputtering up water, Cuddles began to shriek again, his bloodshot eyes staring upward towards the dripping metal spout.
“WAWA BA’!!! NU MOWE WAWA!!!”
Seth sighed to himself, running the tap again as he held Cuddles down, the earthie tremoring under his hand. He let the water torture go on for just a few seconds longer than the first before turning the tap off again, the second session leaving the stallion gasping for air and far less vocal. His eyes were on Seth’s free hand, watching anxiously as it hovered just over the spigot, threatening to bring the hellish downpour once more. “I have your attention…good. Now, what did your old owner do to you? Why are you so frightened of people?” Seth knew that Cuddles could understand what he was asking by his reaction alone, the words seemingly causing the fluff more distress than the water. Still reeling from his near drowning only moments ago, it was as if the question took him somewhere far worse in his head, the earthie’s terrified expression twisting into mortal dread as he rocked and shook under Seth’s hand.
“NUUUUUUU!!! CUDDEWS NU WAN HUWTIES NU MOWE!!! CUDDEWS NU WAN DIE!!!”
And he knows the word die… Each moment with the frightened stallion was yielding more questions than answers for Seth, but he could tell that he was pushing the delicate fluff near it’s limits. Not wanting to break Cuddles until he’d gotten answers and had his fun, Seth scooped the stallion out of the sink, his fluff still dripping wet. Taking a hand towel, he dried off the pitiable creature, who had gone quiet save for the occasional whimper, made mute by whatever memories Seth had conjured by asking the stallion about his former owner. Once finished, he put Cuddles back into his crate and shut the metal grating, Seth’s attention now falling to the carrier resting above.
The weaned foals within were still chirping loudly, their previous dread from the green mare’s shrieking made only worse by how vocal Cuddles was during his torture. Two of the tiny fluffs were huddled tightly against the back of the plastic carrier, eyes firmly closed as they peeped and sobbed, hopeful that someone would hear and come to their rescue. But the third foal was standing beside them, seemingly guarding over them. She was a unicorn and the largest of the three by far, her small frame still being almost double that of her would be wards. Her fluff was mostly yellow, with a few splotches of a darker, unpleasant brown dotting her body, most likely the cause of her being put in the discount bin in the first place. Able to see Seth through the caged door of the crate, her cheeks puffed up as she wobbled on her hooves, clearly still unaccustomed to walking.
“*chirp…*chirp…meen’e da’deh! *chirp…*chirp…nu huwt ba’behs! fow wuv! fow wuv!”
It was amusing to see the rare, brazen foal that would talk back to their owner. Most would beg or plead if met with some kind of distress before quickly reverting into a peeping, chirping mess. But some would occasionally grow more frustrated than frightened, usually reciting the old fluffy mantra that had been engineered into their brain, namely that fluffies weren’t for hurting but were for love. All fluffies would say some variant of it when first facing some kind of physical punishment, warranted or not, but it was a habit that most owners would break them of quickly, especially abusers. The phrase spoke volumes on just how sensitive the biotoys truly were and more importantly, just how effective corporal punishment was at getting through to them. There was a reason that the two most common tools for disciplining a fluffy were the sorry-stick and the sorry-box, each preying on the fragile creatures delicate nature and their twin phobias of isolation and reprisal.
Seth felt he could garner some much needed amusement by playing along, at least for now. “Hurt you?! Who would ever hurt a fluffy? Let alone a baby fluffy, and such a cute one at that.” While some of the words slipped right over the yellow filly’s head, the mock sweetness that he said them with caused her to start cooing, unpuffing her cheeks as she took a few clumsy steps closer to the carrier’s grate. It wasn’t very hard for Seth to manipulate her, leaning down so she could better see his face, wearing his warmest and friendliest smile. Her concern slightly fading, the filly stopped just short of the caged door, looking up towards the seemingly sweet man.
“*chirp…*chirp…ba’beh heaw huwt’ees…wai heaw huwt’ees? …*chirp…*chirp…”
“Oh, you must have heard that bad old fluffy earlier. I thought he was nice like you but he started talking about being mean to all you babies. He even made a poor mummah cry earlier when he gave the worst hurties to one of her foals…Isn’t that awful?” It was almost adorable how even just the word hurties caused the filly to flinch, her delicate state almost overwhelmed just by the thought of it. “I just wanted to keep my new babies safe from such a bad fluffy. Now that he’s been dealt with, how about I give you a name sweetheart?”
“*chirp…*chirp…nam’sees fow ba’beh? *chirp…*chirp…ba’beh wuv nam’sees! *chirp…*chirp…da’deh gib nam’sees p’we?”
Her excitement was clear from her sudden inability to remain still at the mere mention of getting a name. His eyes falling to the off colored splotches that ruined her almost perfect yellow coat, it came quickly to Seth what he should call her. “How about…Spot ?”
*chirp…*chirp…ba’beh am spot!!! ba’beh am spot!!! *chirp…*chirp… spot wuv nam’sees!!! tank yu nyu da’deh!!!
The filly preened as she took in her new name, oblivious to the cruel sarcasm behind it. Slightly dancing in place, she shifted her front nubs in the air as she sat on her haunches, giggling at her own silly antics. It was almost endearing. But as cute as it was to see Spot being a dancie baby, Seth had come here with an itch to scratch, and no amount of saccharine behavior was going to quell that need. Maintaining his sweet facade, Seth smiled as he opened the grating, waving his hand towards the filly. “I’m so glad you like it, Spot. It’s a special name for a special little fluffy. Oh…but the other babies still seem so scared…Spot, could you be a brave fluffy and get them to come out?” Her smile was quickly replaced with a look of sullen shock, the filly gasping slightly as she turned around to her still cowering companions.
“nuuuuuu!!! *chirp…*chirp…*chirp…spot fow’get oda’ ba’behs!!!”
It was an adorable sight as the concerned filly waddle galloped towards the prone foals, nuzzling against the frightened fluffs as she tried to console them. The pair slowly responded to her, rising up as they wiped the tears from their eyes. The scrawnier of the two, a dark red earthie, still whimpered as he looked towards the carrier’s exit, not yet over the trauma of all that he’d heard.
“*chirp…*chirp…*chirp…tu scaw’e…nu wike”
Unlike the meek red colt, Spot’s infectious excitement seemed to rub off on the other foal, a dark blue pegasus. Her wings weren’t fully formed, likely some sort of birth defect and as such they were almost featherless and fleshy. Hearing all about how their new owner wasn’t scary at all and had even saved them, she became elated, prancing about awkwardly on her nubs as she imagined her new life.
“yay!!! *chirp…*chirp…ba’beh hab nyu da’deh!!! an’ da’deh gib ba’beh wots of wuv!!! *chirp…*chirp…”
Seth could only chuckle to himself as he overheard the talkative foals, pulling a piece of gum from his pocket and popping it in his mouth as he waited patiently for Spot and the pegasus to convince the red earthie that it was safe and their new daddy loved them. It wasn’t long before the trio approached the carrier’s exit, the once fearful pair following their hero, Spot.
“wook da’deh!!! *chirp…*chirp… spot git oda’ ba’behs!!! jus’ wike da’deh ask! *chirp…*chirp…”
The filly beamed with pride as her adoptive siblings trotted up beside her. The red earthie sat squat on his rear, one of his nubs in his mouth as he stared upwards at Seth.
“nyu da’deh nices’? *chirp…*chirp…*chirp…”
Despite trusting Spot, it was clear that the earthie was still anxious from what he’d heard, making him far smarter than the other two in Seth’s opinion. While the colt suckled his hoof for comfort, the pegasus was already walking even closer to her new owner, occasionally dancing in place from sheer elation.
"*chirp…*chirp…ba’beh wuv nyu da’deh!!! nyu da’deh gib ba’behs nyu how’see!!! *chirp…*chirp…an’ toys!!! an’ skett’ees!!! an’…*screeeeeee!!! "
“*screeeeeee!!! *chirp…*chirp…hewp!!!”
Seth cut the pegasus’ list short as he lunged out and grabbed both her and the colt, leaving Spot dazed at how quickly things had turned, the filly staring up and blinking, still unsure what had just happened. It wasn’t until she heard the other foals scream did the stupor break, with Spot nervously waddling all the way to the edge of the carrier, trying her best to see why her owner had taken her friends.
“ba’behs scaw’d da’deh!!! *chirp…*chirp…*chirp…p’we nu up’sees!!!”
It hasn’t sunk in yet… Seth had done too good a job gaining Spot’s trust, the filly clearly scared but still assured of her daddy’s good nature. It was more than he could have hoped for, causing him to slightly alter his plans for the pair of foals and to involve Spot, who had clearly taken a shine to them. He ignored her for the moment, wanting her unsure and for the dread to build up as he decided who should die first. While she liked both of her adopted siblings, there was little doubt that she had clicked more with the pegasus, the pair both having a bubbly, cheerful disposition. Grinning ear to ear, Seth walked over to the sink and placed the blue pegasus within, not wanting her to accidently injure herself and rob him of his fun. Once she was secure, he spat his gum into his free hand, walking back to the carrier and leaning back over. By this point, Spot was sobbing, her tiny voice shouting as loudly as she could muster for Seth to return the foals to her.
“*chirp…*chirp…*chirp…meen’e da’deh!!! gib ba’behs back nao!!! *chirp…*chirp…*chirp…ba’behs am scaw’d!!! tu wid’ew!!! *chirp…*chirp…*chirp…”
Rearing up as best she could, Spot awkwardly reached her nubs upward towards the colt dangling by his scruff, his hoof still in his mouth. His eyes were as wide as dinnerplates, bloodshot and glancing around in a frenzy, hopeful that someone would come and save him from the monster. Seeing his brave friend, the colt found his voice again, calling out for succor as he pulled his hoof from his mouth and outstretched his nubs towards Spot.
“siss’e!!! *chirp…*chirp…*chirp…sab’ ba’beh!!! p’we!!! *chirp…*chirp…*chirp…”
Screaming as her tiny frame failed to reach, Spot watched in horror as Seth slammed the wad of gum against the inside of the carrier before using it to hold the colt in place. While only halfway up, it was still far beyond the filly’s reach, her eyes unable to look away as her adopted brother screeched and struggled against his unyielding sticky prison. Unable to escape, the colt peered down, seeing the only brave and loving being he had ever known, reaching out her to somehow save him.
“*chirp…*chirp…*chirp…hewp!!! ba’beh nee’ siss’e!!! *chirp…*chirp…*chirp…siss’e!!! sab’ ba’be…*screeeeeee!!!”
Tears running down his dark red fluff, hoofs outstretched and pleading with Spot, the colt was cut off by the sound of Seth’s lighter clicking to life, the earthie now shrieking incoherently as the flame was held directly up to his face. His body tremored from the raw agony as he spilled his bowels, his hooves kicking and flailing wildly. When the fluff of his face was scorched away, revealing the blackening, charred flesh underneath, Seth could almost hear Spot’s hellish scream over the anarchy of noise that the colt was making. His skin all but gone, the earthie’s face had quickly become a ghastly sight, from his bulbous, lidless eyes that rolled in the back of his head from the pain, to the almost skeletal appearance of his maw, the gelatinous ruin of blood, flesh, and fur running down his small frame and blistering his body. Unable to fathom how what had been her friend moments ago was now a screeching nightmare, Spot fell to the carrier’s bottom, shaking as she sobbed and covering her shut eyes with her hooves.
“*screeeeeee…”
At just under a minute, the colt’s body seized it’s last, the only sound left being a gristly death rattle before going limp. Now quiet, Seth could hear Spot whimpering as she refused to look towards her former friend, the filly laying in a puddle of her own waste and reduced to chirps and peeps. It was a fantastic start to say the least, but Seth had far more in store for the unlucky yellow foal.