AVOCADO
A tribute to Carpdime’s Avocado
Chapter Nine – Avocado Aww Gwow’d Up
As the glow of morning star graced upon the glassy, chromatic surface and illuminated the room, a little green fluffy pony reflected on the likeness before him. A forever ago, Avocado was but a little baby, a mere foal without a mane, not having all of his teeth, and possessing a thin layer of fluff. But now, his fluff was fully grown, especially around his chest area, where an extra amount was present. His tail had grown even longer, and to match it, he now had a mane that reminded him a lot of the special head fluff that the hummehs have, which they call “hair”. He was much bigger, and while not as big as the hummehs, he was tall enough to climb up the special blockies that the hummehs called “stairs”. Avocado knew that, right now, he was definitely “aww gwow’d up.”
“Avo, its time for your bath!”
“Coming, gwamma!” said Avo excitedly, as he galloped towards the bathroom. Prepared for the occasion, his grandmother was there, with shower handle in hand, standing beside a bath tub already filled with water up to the human ankle. Avocado eagerly climbed into the bath, as Grandma proceeded to slowly dowse our little green foal with water. On any other occasion, Avocado would be fidgety or excited, making splashes in the tub. But because of the significance of this special day, Avocado stood still, and let his grandmother work her magic on him. Smiling, grandma lathered the soap around Avo’s ears, face and mane, as she said, “Close your eyes.” Making sure that Avo was soaped up, she then took the showerhead, and thoroughly sprayed the soap off Avo’s body.
After the bath was finished, Grandma took Avo to a nearby room. Placing him on a table there, Grandma took a hairdryer. A warm but gentle rush of air blew against Avo’s fluff, as the elderly woman kept brushing his mane. Grandma beamed at her handiwork, marveling at how handsome Avocado was looking.
“You’re a big boy now, Avo!” she remarked.
Placing Avocado on the ground, Avocado quickly galloped towards his room. There, his grandfather was waiting for him, and on the floor was the special attire that he was going to wear today. Avocado remembered wearing these weird things that the hummeh’s called clothes, but these cloth-fluffs looked unlike any he had seen before. He remembered the one time a foal wore a large sheet of fluff in order to play-pretend being a ghostie, but this particular cloth was of a navy blue colour. And there was a funny sort of hat, one that had a large square on top of it. Grandpa placed it on his head, and noted, “Yes, it fits,” before taking it off.
Avocado, feeling a little puzzled, asked “Why fwuffy nu weaw nice hattie?”
Harold smiled, as he explained, “I don’t want this cap to fall off, dear Avo. You’ll be wearing it at the ceremony.”
~
Cewemonee. That was a very big human word. Even Candy struggled to explain this word in fluffspeak, and it was used to describe a special kind of party. Avocado remembered asking his grandpa what was so special about a ceremony that made it different from parties.
“Well Avo, there are many different kind of ceremonies. Like, your daddy, once he finishes his school, he will be having a similar ceremony.”
“Oh, wiww daddeh weaw da speshul fwuff and hab dat siwwy hat?”
“That’s right. He’ll be wearing that cloak and wearing the same silly hat.”
Avocado was a little bit sad that his daddeh couldn’t come today, but he knew that his daddeh was taking a very big and important test at his school today. Avo remembered how nervous he himself was for the big test, and imagined that his daddeh was going through the same trouble. Thus, and in his mind, he hoped that his daddeh would be able to pass the test that he was taking, and was looking forward to talk to him again on the speshul phone thingie that his Grandpa had.
~
The ceremony was being held in the middle of the daycare. The play areas, toys and other amenities had been cleared, as many white plastic chairs had been set up for the human owners to sit. In front of these chairs was a large red blockie called a ‘stage’. The stage was placed in the centre and had another another large wooden blockie placed on the left. According to grandpa, the wooden blockie was a place where humans would give a speech, which was the human term for “the biggest tawkies“.
The foals of Avocado’s batch were wearing the same special academic gown and Oxford cap that Avocado was wearing. Although these fluffies would still need further schooling, as most fluffy ponies need to keep taking lessons, it is generally known that adult fluffies are wiser and more learned than their foal counterparts. As such, this ‘graduation’ ceremony was more of a rite of passage. After all, the fluffies of Avocado’s class were no longer mere foals but were now fully adult.
Walking up towards the wooden podium, Amber announced, “For the class of 206X, I would like to present the winner of this year’s Miss Maize Contest, the lovely Miss Daisy Meadows and her fluffy, Maisy!”
As Amber stepped down from the podium, Avocado saw a blonde woman walk up towards the stage. Wearing a very bright and provocative red dress, Daisy was carrying a large yellow fluffy mare with pigtails in her arms. Avocado noticed that Daisy had noticeably large milkie places, as did her fluffy. Avocado remembered that Gwanma told him that the milkie places that hummeh ladies had was on their chest, unlike in the case of fluffies.
“Well good morning y’all. I’m Daisy and I’m pleased to make your acquaintance here.”
As is customary for speeches where both humans and fluffies spoke, Maisey introduced herself, and roughly translated what her owner said.
“Hewwo fwens! Fwuffy am Maisee, an am happeh to meet aww ‘ou nyu fwens!”
“Now y’all are big fluffies now, bu’ that don’t mean that y’all gonna stop learnin’. Plus some of y’all are gonna have some big responsibilities. Some y’all are gonna get a job. Some y’all are gonna be parents and have kids. Or some of y’all are just gonna live with your human owners. But as adults, y’all have some shoes ta fill.”
“Fwens nu am babbehs nu moaw, fwens now am big fwuffies! As big fwuffies, sponsitiwities am im-pow-tant. Some fwuffies wiww do wowk for monies, some fwuffies wiww hab babbehs, an’ some fwuffies wiww just be gibbing dewe hummehs da biggest happies. But aww fwuffies am im-pow-tant.”
The speech went on for a few minutes longer as the blonde described how grateful she was to be there, and she talked about how fluffies like Maisey had been a great help on her farm. As the blonde kept talking, Avocado’s mind shifted to thoughts of his daddeh, taking a test like he did. The then thoughts morphed to those of high adventure, as he thought about some of the cartoons he had been watching lately.
Before he knew it, the blonde had stopped talking, and was now standing in the center of the stage. Amber got back on the stage, with Candy in tow, and the two made the most important announcement.
“And now, we would like to present the class of 206X with their certificates, to mark the completion of the current school year, as well as their status as adults!”
“Awwite babbehs! Babbehs wiww now git da pappew dat sez ‘ou aww am big fwuffies!”
One by one, Avocado’s friends went up to receive their certificates. As each foal went up to receive their certificate, they would stand on the two back hooves, and receive a handshake from Miss Daisy. The VIP would then pass the rolled up certificate to the foal, which the foal would hold up for a quick camera shot. After this is done, Miss Daisy would help place the certificate on a pouch located on the back of the fluffy, to ensure that the certificate would not fall off.
Buttercup quickly jumped up the stairs with his natural grace, nearly running. Amber had to bluntly say, “Not so fast, Buttercup!” so that this yellow fluffy wouldn’t move “too” fast. Blueberry, was walking a bit slow, and was a bit shy. After encouragement from his owner Jimmy, and some of his friends, Blueberry finally got up, and received the certificate. When Chilly got up, she tried to do a little dance, but Auburn slightly scolded her, telling her “Not now, Chilli!” And the audience had a little laugh.
After a while, it came to be Avocado’s turn to receive the certificate. Our little green foal sprang up, and carefully walked towards the side of stage, and made sure he got up the big blockie that was the stage carefully. Standing before Miss Daisy, he smiled, and shook his hoof with her.
“Congratulations, Avo.”
As she said this, the blonde also took a gold medal in the shape of a light bulb, and pinned it on the collar of Avocado’s vest. Avocado was a bit surprised by this, as Missy Daisy softly noted, “They all said you’re a real smart fluffy. This is supposed to represent that.”
From the stage, Avocado could see his grandparents smiling at him and clapping.
~
After the certificates had been handed out to all his classmates, Avocado noticed that Amber was going back up to the podium.
“Some of you all had known me for the past few years, and I’ve been very pleased to have been a teacher at this daycare.”
After saying this, the Auburn took in a deep breath. Avocado noticed that she was no longer smiling.
“This is why it is sad for me to announce that this will be my last class at this daycare for the foreseeable future.”
There was an audible gasp among the many fluffies and even some of their owners. Many people had gotten used to Amber being a teacher at the daycare, and the fluffies themselves had anticipated seeing Amber at the daycare as adults.
“I know this comes as a shock for some of you, but I had only told a few people about it. This is not to say I won’t be coming back. However, and in order to better myself as a teacher of these beautiful creatures, I need to further my training. As some of you all know, I am still pursuing a degree in veterinary science, especially in the field of biotoys.”
The news flew over most of the fluffies heads, but some understood it as mummah Amber was leaving. They just couldn’t comprehend why. It was then Mummah Candy’s turn to speak, as this situation called for a fluffy to simplfy a big human speech into simpler fluffspeak terms.
“Babbehs, mummah Amba hab to gu to a nyu skuul. Wike fwuffies, hummeh hab tu weawn nyu ‘tings. Bu’ mummah wiww nu be go foweva. Mummah Amba wiww come back some bwight time.”
~
Like any other party, the ceremony had its own spread of food and activities for all the attendees. After Amber had made her speech, the crowd had dispersed towards the tables where a spread of catered food had been prepared. For the humans, there was a lovely choice of various finger foods such as chicken wings, prawns, rice and the like. And for the fluffies, each fluffy was allowed one plate of spaghetti, as this was a special occasion when they would deserve the dish.
Avocado’s class had been eating their spaghetti in a special area where the fluffies could dine, but Avocado didn’t feel like eating his dish. Bonnie, who was next to him, noticed Avocado’s spaghetti was still untouched.
“Wuts wong, Avo?”
Feeling a curiosity that had to be sated, he muttered, “Avo wiww be back.”
Avocado waddled towards the area where the humans were, and noticed that Amber was chatting with Miss Daisy. Standing on his two back hooves, he slowly tapped the legs of the woman who had been his teacher for almost a year.
Taken by surprise, the Auburn turned around, and say Avo’s big doeful eyes looking up to her. Sensing a slight sadness to him, she turned back to the beauty queen.
“I got to tend to this little one, I’ll get back to you.”
The Auburn lowered herself until she was in a somewhat squatting position. Resting her hands on her thighs, she addressed Avo asking, “Whats wrong, Avo?”
“Mummah Amber,” said Avocado, trying his best to mask his disappointment, “it am twue ‘ou am going away?”
“Yes Avo. I got to another school.”
Avocado didn’t want to cry. Holding back his sadness, he gave best the compliment he could.
“Avo wiww miss yiw”
The Auburn smiled, as she said “Hey. Avo. Come here,” beckoning our little green foal to come closer. Obliging her, Avocado moved up, as the Auburn whispered in his ear.
“You will see me real soon, Avocado. That’s my promise to you.”
“Pwomise?”
“It’s a promise.“
A few seconds later, Avocado was back with his friends, eating his plate of spaghetti very, very happily.
~
Two weeks had passed. The Auburn had already left East Side Daycare, following on her plan to continue her studies by taking a different job related to fluffy education in another daycare on the East Coast. Although it was the beginning of the summer break, some fluffies still attended the daycare, despite the lack of classes, as it was a palce for fluffies to socialize and mingle.
A young man with brown hair and a bit of a tan entered the daycare. It was Mark, our young man, who had purchased that can from a vending machine in a seedy area over a year ago. He remembered looking after his little green friend for many months, but had to part with him due to academic obligations. However, and through miracle of technology, he had been watching and waiting.
And there, playing nicely in the playpen was Avocado. Now fully grown, he was playing pattycake with another female fluffy with a bow in her head.
“Avo!” says Mark, cheerfully.
The sound of his master alerted our little green fluffy. In a moment of jubilation, he exclaimed.
“Daddeh! Awocado miss daddeh wots an wots! Wan pway upsies wif an’ hav daddeh’s bestest sketties!!”
