Aww Staw Supah Fwuff
A story in seven parts
By Oculus
Adapted from “All-Star Superman” by Grant Morrison, and based off “Supe’ Fwuff" by KMEB
Cover art by @WetFluff aka KilledbyCreatures
Part 5: Neverending
Deep within Antarctica, there is a cavern. It is not known what hands had hewn together the finely crafted bulwarks that guard the entrance of this cavern, nor what architecture constitutes the bizarre abode located at the nadir of the known world. What is known is that when Supah Fwuff found this bizarre locale, he sensed an odd familiarity about it. He wasn’t quite sure what it was, but the cavern felt like home. Over time, he came to call this cavern “Da Pawace ob Bigges’ Thinkies”, named after his own mind palace.
Within the halls of this cavern, there stands a crystal ball. The material the ball consists off is a strong glasslike polymer, forged together from different materials to augment its strength. For deep within this ball is a miniature cosmos.
~
Not too long after his return from the mirror world, Supah Fwuff paid a visit to Robot-Man. Apparently, the “dawkie ball thingy” he had brought to Earth for Robot-man was causing some trouble, as the machines that were hooked up to the black hole were reporting massive fluctuations in the energy output.
”Easy.”
Robot-man had deactivated the Dyson sphere and has allowed Supah Fwuff to enter the area. Supah Fwuff’s bio-electric field allows the miniature black hole to remain rooted, and not wander beyond the constraints of the controlled setting Robot-Man had set for this small yet lethal stellar body. Utilizing his immense strength, Supah Fwuff is able to “pull out” a mass of energy. It felt a lot like the one time he removed an entire bicycle that had been clogging up a drainage pipe.
“Interesting. A mixture of different primordial energies, clogging up the black hole.”
Robot-Man ascertained that a small glass ball the size of seer’s crystal ball would be needed to house this excess energy. Within moments, his replicator machines had 3D printed a ball matching the specifications and design needed to house these energies. Supah Fwuff slowly navigates the energies into the opened ball, which is promptly sealed by the machines of Robot-Man.
Supah Fwuffs stares deeply into the ball, looking at the immense beauty of the primordial energy house within it.
“Pwitty……”
Robot-Man had already analyzed the energy, and found that, while immense, was momentary at best, and would be extinguish if used as a fuel source for any of his machines.
“You can keep it Clark. I have no use for it.”
~
Supah Fwuff has been observing the ball. It was initially a mass of raw hot energy, chaotic and boiling. But over time, the energy started to spread out, each speck of energy no bigger than dust, glowing with immense radiation.
It reminds him of something his daddeh once told him, back when he was a little foal.
~
“What am a yoo-knee-werse?”
“The Universe. It’s the biggest housie. It has everything in it, and is larger than everything else.”
“Bigger than daddeh?”
“Bigger than that.”
“Bigga than biggest twee?”
“Bigger than that.”
“Bigger than…. A pwanet?”
“It has millions of planets!”
Clark’s mouth is agape, as he hears that.
“Miwwions of pwanets?
And Millions of Stars.
~
Millions, and millions of stars, stretched out into a forever, now housed within this glass ball.
And Supah Fwuff hugs it.
That’s the one thing he loves to do. Give hugs. Ever since he became Supah Fwuff, Clark had one belief – that every creature, big and small, all deserved a hug. Even a munstah, though terrible, deserved a hug if they could learn to be good fwuffs. Some munstahs were particularly bad and had to get the forever sweepies but, and even then, Clark always wanted to give them a hug.
The warmth from the first hug that Supah Fwuff gives adds a little energy to this miniature cosmos. While minimal to our senses, this warmth magnifies throughout this pocket existence, as it penetrates the universal walls, and slowly enters into the deep voids of the endless within. This expression of love makes its way to a very young stellar body, the size of a hydrogen atom, which is still developing. This little stellar body currently has attracted enough material for various planets to form around it. The first to be attracted was a failed star, followed by three other gas giants who could not match the size of this failed star. Following it were four rocky planets, two which was too near too the chief celestial body that they overheated, while a fourth was too far that it froze over. But the third, the third rock from the sun, was in a goldilocks position, the result of an immense butterfly effect from Supah Fwuff’s gentle embrace on this cosmos.
~
Supah Fwuff caresses the globe, the bright yoo-knee-werse shining within it. Ever since his condition worsened a month ago, he started regularly hugging this little ball of everything. The warmth from it gave him a reassurance, as he noticed that his constant love and embraces had allowed the mere energies within the ball to become this cosmos, and not just remain a chaotic mess. And every time he sees his little pocket universe swirl about in its infinite brilliance within the protection of the crystal ball, Supah Fwuff cannot help but smile.
After he finished his routine universal hug, Supah Fwuff hovers towards one of the rooms of his Thinking Place. One of the rooms was a his favourite play area, which had immense blockies no ordinary creature could carry, and various toys he had accumulated over the years. But at the end of this room, across the toys strewn on the floor, is a little chest. Opening that chest, Supah Fwuff finds one of his most prized possessions – a book.
Supah Fwuff looks at the book. Scribbled on the cover with crayon, clearly held not by a human hand but rather, a fluffy pony’s mouth, is the crudely drawn fluffspeak word of “Scwapbuuk.” He remembered first getting this book from his daycare, after completing one full year at the school, and was officially recognized by the community as an “adult fluffy”. Opening this tome that marked his rite of passage, Supah Fwuff took in the smell of ageing photographs, old paper, some blotches of spaghetti and lots, lots of glue. A decade of smells, all in his little scrapbook.
The first photo he sees is of a woman with her cat. He remembers meeting this lady not too long ago.
~
“Hello Supah fwuff!”
“Hewwo nice whady!”
She was a college student, and was one of his daddeh’s neighbours. Supah Fwuff had seen her from time to time, but this was the first time in a long while that she actually called out to him. However, Supah Fwuff couldn’t remember why she seemed so familiar.
“I just wanted to say thank you, Supah Fwuff.”
A little puzzled, Supah Fwuff asks, “Wut nice whady mean?”
And then, Supah Fwuff remembers. Remembers a girl that looks just like this woman, but much younger. Wearing a ponytail, big glasses, and her teeth covered with braces, she was kneeling on the floor. Tears were flowing from eyes as she wailed loudly.
It was a few days after he had first received his powers. A little enthusiastic, he often ran ahead of Mark, but now had stopped. His daddeh gasping from breath after jogging to keep up with him, Clark asks Mark the big question.
“Why widdwe miss hab heawt huwties?”
As he asks this, the two hear a soft mew. Stuck in the branches high above was a little grey kitten, too afraid to come down and too fragile to risk the fall.
Without a second thought, Clark flies up, and slowly holds the kitten in his hooves. Though the kitten squirms, his strength allows him to firmly hold the kitten without being affected by it. He then returns to the ground, kitten in tow, as he slowly lands the misplaced feline on the ground. The baby feline, longing for its owner, leaps into the girls lap.
“Tobey! You came back!”
“You saved my Tobey, Supah Fwuff!”
“Fwuffy memba! How am meowy fwen?”
“He’s fine. He’s an old cat now, about your age. But he means everything to me. I always wanted to thank you for saving my cat, Supah Fwuff, but I never had the chance too. You’ve been busy saving the world, but I never forgot how you saved my cat all those years ago.”
Feeling a little shy, Supah Fwuff scratches the back of his head with a hoof, as he shyly admits, “Fwuffy onwy twy am bestest.”
“Say, Supah Fwuff. Would you like to take a picture with me?”
On a little planet, deep within the you-knee-werse, pockets of a fledgeling civilization appear throughout its continents. On a little island destined for greatness, a figure of white chalk is created around the hills of Uffington. A figure, of a white horse.
Supah Fwuff smiles as he sees that photo of the woman with her cat. He sometimes wished he had a photo of the very first good deed he did as Supah Fwuffy, but having someone else remember his first act of heroism was a reward in and of itself.
Supah Fwuff turns the page, and he sees a photo of himself with Mistah Adams.
Samuel Adams is known throughout the world as a fantastic responsible for the creation and development of the fluffy pony biotoy, its various iterations, and its spin-off species like the fluffalo, garden fluffies, cottonfluffies and, more recently, nanofluffies and the gigantic voyager fluffies. But when Clark first met Mistah Adams, he only knew one thing. When he spent all those years looking for his mother, he went up the ladder, finding out who was responsible for the factories, who made hundreds of mawes get bad speshul huggies and be responsible for the forced removal of so many from their mothers, as well as continuous seasonal culling of his kind.
And then one day, he came face to face with Mistah Adams, seated on a park bench. He was an old man, his eyes and ears familiar with the difficulties of managing a vast financial empire that Hasbio had become. All his wealth and intelligence mattered little before the pink alicorn hovering above him, who could atomize him with a flash from his eyes or even pulverize him with a simple tap.
And yet, Supah Fwuff just wanted to ask one simple question.
“Can Mistah hewp fwuffy?”
Alexander of Macedonia is before a horse offered by Philonicus the Thessalian. His father tells him that the horse is not worth his time. Undeterred, Alexander approaches the wily and stubborn creature, with its sable coat with a large white star on his brow. Coaxing it towards the direction of the sun, the horse fails to see its shadow, and accepts Alexander as his rider.
Having successfully tamed Bucephalus, Alexander feels like he is Bellerophon, riding the Pegasus.
Although Supah Fwuff had been rescuing various fluffies from exterminators and the furnace, he had long come to accept that a mass of fluffies couldn’t be left on their own. He once brought them to an uninhabited island, but too many of their number did not survive due to the local wildlife. So instead, he opted for something better.
Supah Fwuff started working with Samuel Adams to set up shelters for the ferals. Whether it was by force, or gentle coercion, he managed to send most wayward members of his kin to a refuge where they could receive the focus and attention needed for their rehabilitation and training. In addition, and thanks to his raids on the industrial mills of Hasbio, the practice of force breeding was replaced by one of adoption and careful management. In addition, and thanks to his own nature as a neutered fluffy, Supah Fwuff was able to appeal to his brethren to the benefits of birth control. Over time, people started buying fluffies from more regulated shops, while fluffies and their families that didn’t want to be sold could live in relative security and happiness in large reservations like these.
A few years into his time as Supah Fwuff, he met a young little foal in one of these reservations, who once innocently asked him, “Babbeh wub Supah Fwuff! Can babbeh be a hewo just wike Supah Fwuff?”
Supah Fwuff smiles and says, “Shure, ou can. Babbeh jus need speshul powahs bu’, ib babbeh hab powahs, babbeh tuu can be a supah fwuff!”
A year passed. By the time he had returned to the home, the foal was already a full grown adult, and already had children of his own. And this time, he had something else to ask of Supah Fwuff.
“Supah Fwuff, fwuffy hab a babbeh dat am speshul.”
“Speshul how?”
He was a white foal, stuck in a corner, who was not playing with the other foals. But he seemed to be talking to another fluffy. The other fluffy he was talking to, however, was completely translucent. Supah Fwuff had seen ghosts before, but he never seen another fluffy talk to a ghost before.
“Hewwo, fwuffy am a fwen ob yore daddeh’s. Yore daddeh sez fwuffy hab speshul powahs?”
The other fluffy smile, as he politely said, “Fwuffy nu am speshul. Fwuffy onwy hab fwens udda nu can see.”
And that was the first time he met Joseph, also known as Spiritsmith. Eventually, he met other extraordinary fluffies such as Joseph and Mauve. But not all fluffies were good, a fact that Supah Fwuff had come to accept. Feeling a little distracted, as all fluffies do, he walks away from his scrapbook, and walks towards his gallery.
Cao Cao is pleased that one of Liu Bei’s fiercest and most powerful generals, Guan Yu, is now by his side. But Guan Yu is still fiercely loyal to Liu Bei, warlord of Shu Han and his oath brother. In an attempt to sway Guan Yu to his side, Cao Cao offers the gift of Red Hare to Guan Yu. After all, Red Hare was once the steed of Lu Bu, the mightiest warrior known in the waning days of the Han Dynasty. Lu Bu was however defeated, and no man seemed fit to sit upon Red Hare’s mighty saddle. No one, except Guan Yu.
Supah Fwuff’s gallery is filled with all sorts of items, a reflection of his various exploits and pursuits as a superhero. Some of these items include memorabilia from villains he had defeated, like the golden AK-47 of the Nigerian warlord who kidnapped all those girls. Or the shrink ray of Dr. Shrinker. But one of the items on display is a crystal. A clear, blue, crystal.
~
It was two weeks into the fight with the Herd from Another World. The Herd had already destroyed a few battallions and has issued a challenge to Supah Fwuff – either join with them, or see his world destroyed. And of course, Supah Fwuff refused.
“Cwark ob’ Tha. ‘ou am wowse den dummeh munstah.
‘ou am a twaitow!”
However, he knew he couldn’t fight them alone. And neither did Robot-Man, Brunhilde, Gargoyle, or any of the other superheroes. Together, they pooled their resources, and for the first time the Band of Heroes came together.
In the ensuing battle, Supah Fwuff came head to head with The Smartie. The unnamed leader of the herd, he was also the pilot of the massive machine that the Herd was using the terraform the planet.
However, as the fight went on, the smartie started to slow down.
“Whut am dis…. Fwuffy nu feew guud…. Hab head huwties….”
To their horror, the fluff of the alien fluffy pony herd was being covered in an unusual crystal formation. Stiffening their joints and overtaking their bones and organs, they were losing their powers as they writhed in agony from this sudden and toxic crystallization
“Daddeh hewp! Babbeh nu wan die!!”
The cries of the space fluffy foals were in vain as slowly and eventually, they fully crystallized. The bodies of the herd fell to the ground and shattered into millions of pieces. Out of the entire herd only one was left, the Smartie, who had now become half rock and half fluffy.
Supah Fwuff touched him, but his hand recoiled at the pain the crystal was causing him.
By this point, most of Robot-Man’s robots had been destroyed, so the only thing that remained was a hovering drone with minimal weaponry. And yet, Robot-man was still able to give some commentary near the conclusion of the battle.
“A yet undiscovered compound of krypton. Fascinating.”
The Smarty laid on the ground in a half solid, half crystal form, rendered immobile by his affliction. Brunhilde, riding on her massive fluffy steed, clutched her spear, and was ready to give a crushing final blow.
“I’d say it’s about time we finish him off!”
“Nuu.”
Supah Fwuff held his hoof up, signaling Brunhilde to back off. The Valkyrie was a bit taken aback. Supah Fwuff then goes up to the crystallizing Smarty, and gives him a hug. Despite the crystal paining him and burning through his skin, he embraces the Smartry. The Smarty confused by this unusual act of mercy and compassion, feebly asks, “Bu… bu why?”
“Hab happeh thinkies, fwen, and huwties nuu be so bad.”
“Huggies……”
The Smarty, reflecting on the loss of his entire herd, his upcoming death, and yet, experiencing the warmth and mercy of Supah Fwuff, feels greatly humbled.
“Fwuffy am sowwy, Cwark ob’ Tha. ‘ou am da bestest fwuffy ob’ aww.”
And with that, the Smarty fully crystalizes, then disintegrates into a fine powder, blown away by the evening wind. Out of that pile of effervescent dust, only one crystal remains, a shining blue crystal.
Supah Fwuff always wondered where the Herd came from. They looked so much like him, and they all spoke fluffspeak. And yet, they had the same powers as he did. The Band initially thought that they were like Clark and ad received their powers from the same enigmatic source, but analysis from Robot-man and Samuel Adams had determined that they indeed came from deep space. Which then begged the question as to how fluffy ponies managed to exist on another planet like Earth, let alone be advanced enough to create a foe as formidable as the Herd. And yet, while those were big questions for any superhero member of the Band, for Supah Fwuff, it was a chance to meet a superpowered fluffy who was much like him, but now, were completely gone.
In the waning days of the Third Crusade, Richard the Lionheart has repeatedly faced the armies of his nemesis, Saladin. During one of these battles, King Richard’s horse is slain, and he is toppled, forced to lead his troops on foot. Then, a surprise comes from Richard – a peaceful envoy arrives by the English King’s side, with the present of a fresh steed. Saladin, while fighting to preserve Palestine, saw it fit that his nemesis was at least fighting on horseback.
Supah Fwuff looks at the many photos he had compiled of the Band of Heroes. The band wasn’t always there. When Robot-man first started his heroics, slowly, other people started developing a name as a superhero. But, there seemed to be disagreement among them. After all, when he first approached Robot-man about working with the other heroes, Robot-man refused. So did Brunhilde and Meteor Man, who were the active superheroes he had seen around at the time.
Then one day, Supah Fwuff decided to fly around Smokestack City. He had heard about a superhero that worked here called Gargoyle, but he had no idea what he looked like. For a whole day, he spent his time looking around the city, putting out the occasional fire, stopping the odd shoplifter, and helping a stray fluffy come down a tree. Coming to night time, Supah Fwuff was going to leave the locale when he heard a cry pierce through the night.
Supah Fwuff, flew straight for the source, but his super hearing heard the terrible sound of burning wood, and his super smell sensed a fire nearby. Sensing a greater loss of life, he swooped to the source of the inferno, and spent a good half hour saving as many as he could from the fire.
Returning to looking for the woman who was being attacked, Supah Fwuff was instead surprised to see a man, dressed up in a weird black outfit, fighting off various thugs. Behind him, a scared woman, with her dress torn, was too hurt to move. The hero had managed to save her before any worse could be done, but he was heavily injured.
After beating up the thugs, the man walks up to the lady. She had gone into an epileptic fit, and clearly needed a doctor. However, the hospital was too far away from the alleyway she was in. Supah fwuff took this moment to lower himself down to offer help.
He says to the hero in black, ‘Wet fwuffy bwing poow whady to hospitaw.”
The hero in black is taken by surprise.
“You’re Supah Fwuff! I… I never thought you’d come here!”
Gargoyle was initially hesitant. However, his long-time admiration for Supah Fwuff won him over.
“Sure.”
The Incan Emperor, Manco Inca, has rebelled against the Spanish conquistadors who had installed him as a puppet emperor in an attempt to control the empire. From the many spoils that have been attained from the various skirmishes with the invaders, the one thing that the Emperor prizes most is the loyal horse. Having learnt how to tame it, Manco Inca rides the beast of war proudly, and is hoping to make the beast at home in his land.
Ever since that day, Supah Fwuff spent more time with Gargoyle. It was then that he learnt that, one reason why Gargoyle idolized him so much was because Gargoyle himself owned a fluffy.
“When I saw that orphan fluffy alone, the sole survivor of a culling, I remember the time my parents died, killed by muggers. So I adopted my little Thomas. He may not have superpowers, but he’s a hero in my heart.”
“Gargwe am a guud mistah an’ hewo.”
And, at that moment, Supah Fwuff suggested to him the idea.
“Whut if fwens come togedda an’ take on munstahs an baddies as fwens? Wike, wike, a band!”
“You want to form a partnership, huh?”
Gargoyle smiles, liking the thought of working with Supah Fwuff.
“Yes, yes I think that would be a nice idea.”
And that was how the Band of Heroes initially started, from a budding friendship between Supah Fwuff and Gargoyle. The band grew slowly, as it required having to convince people like Brunhilde and Pisces that working together as a group would be needed for big threats. Over time, they met newer superheroes, like Asteroid Cowboy, who lived along the Asteroid Belt, and the Neptunian, the last survivor of his Atlantis. However, and ever since the threat of the Herd from Another World was foiled by the combined efforts of Gargoyle, Brunhilde, Robot-man, Asteroid Cowboy and Supah Fwuff, even more people joined the Band.
All except for one.
~
Supah Fwuff has one photo he has with him and Robotman. This photo was taken after Robotman had to spend a week working with Supah Fwuff, as he had lost an arm wrestling match to a super-powered Mark Connors.
At first, Robotman was resentful. He always disliked Supah Fwuff for his seeming lack of intelligence, and how he always preached about love and hugs. But, as the days went by, Robotman saw Supah Fwuff visiting the various hospitals, and letting various children hug him.
“Whats the point of this, Clark? Your hugging is not going to cure these children of their cancer.”
But Supah Fwuff remains resolute, and lets another child hug him. This child, with a bald head, was one of many who enjoyed seeing Clark regularly.
“Nu hab heawt huwties, babbeh. Supah Fwuff am hewe, an’ huggies wiww gib you da bestest heawt happies!”
Robot-man is unmoved.
The days passed by quickly, and soon it was the end of the week. Over that time, Supah Fwuff and Robot-man managed to put out a forest fire, and avert a catastrophic volcanic eruption caused by another mad scientist.
On the final day, with the trial concluded, Robot-man’s disposition seems to have changed.
“I was wrong about you, Clark. You’re more of a hero then I thought.”
And in his usual humbleness, Clark could only manage a simple, “Fwuffy twy am bestes.”
Remembering his scrapbook, he then asks, “Mistah Wobot wan take a picshuh?”
“A picture, huh?”
“Ye! Fwuffy can gu get a camewa from daddeh.”
“No need, Supah Fwuff.”
A drone flies from behind Robotman’s armour, and hovers in front of the duo. With his X-ray vision, Supah Fwuff can see that the hovering device holds a camera of sort.
“Smile for the camera, Supah Fwuff.”
Within moments, Mark received an email from Robotman, with a picture of the two, and a simple message.
“Had fun with your fluffy, Mark Connors.”
Not too long after this, Robot-man officially joined The Band of Heroes. He never publicly stated why.
...there is no religion without love, and people may talk as much as they like about their religion, but if it does not teach them to be good and kind to man and beast, it is all a sham...
— *Black Beauty, Anna Sewell, Chapter 13, last paragraph.*
As the desire to sleep falls upon Clark’s weary eyes, he flips through the scrapbook to find the photo of the fluffy most dearest to him. He had placed the photo at the very back at the book, partly because this fluffy was the most important to him, but also because the memory of this fluffy was painful. Painful because he never had the chance to spend enough time with her, and painful because of he had only one image to remember her by.
Staring at the photo of his mother lying down nicely beside him while posing the photo, Clark cast his mind to his first month he spent with his mother.
He was a weak little foal, only capable of making simple chirps. He could remember his mother nudging him to suckle on her teat, receiving the milk needed for his growth. After a week, and from constantly hearing the word, he uttered his first word.
“Mm…mm…. mah mah?”
“Babbeh!!!”
And from that day on, Oswald slowly taught new words to Clark, the last foal that survived, her only foal during the current batch.
For the first two years of his life, Clark had forgotten all about that time in the mill. Like other fluffies, it was a repressed memory, one that would easily be forgotten due to the natural fluffy inability to retain long term memories. But that changed ever since the incident happened. Upon gaining his powers, Clark slowly remembered that time in the mill. Even though it was a dark and smelly place, it was the place where he knew the warmth and love for his mother. Even though he came to love his owner Mark, Clark so badly wanted to see his mother again. And yet, he knew full well the eventual fate of breeder mares like his mother, and for the longest time he squashed that memory.
But then, and one day, his daddeh had a surprise for him. And it was his mummah.
It was the happiest day of his life. Carrying her so that she could experience flight, and letting her have her first sketties. And that evening, Clark told his mummah all about his many, many adventures. From the time he fought the Herd from another world to fighting the Flossians. To senator sand worm and the time he travelled to Alpha Centauri. And his mother listened, curious about a wider world that existed beyond the cramp and limited space of the mill.
“Babbeh Cwark am hab su many advenchas. Mummah wish mummah hab ben dewe to see dem.”
“Fwuffy want dat tuu! Fwuffy away wememba ‘ou, mummah. Weawwy wanted to show ‘ou spacies and wawafawws and da sea. And da pwanets!”
“But it am otay, babbeh. Mummah jus am happeh dat Cwark hab guud times and wotsa fun.”
“Fwuffy did, fwuffy did.
But fwuffy hab bestest happies wif ‘ou, mummah.”
“Babbeh…”
Mark smiles. His fluffy had come full circle from his time as a foal, and now spending his final momens with his mother, Mark wanted to take a photo to immortalize this moment.
“Oooh! Daddeh hab camewa!!”
“Camewa… wut am dat, babbeh?”
“Camewa make fotos. Fotos dat fwuffies can wememba foweba an eba!”
Clark hugs his mother, as both fluffies posed for the camera.
“Say sketties!”
“Sketties!”
And with a quick snap, the image comes out of the Polaroid camera. Oswald sees the photograph, the first time she ever sees one.
“Pwitty…”
“And that’s one photo for you, Clark, one for your scrapbook.”
“Thanks, daddeh.”
In 1923, three Polish-Jewish brothers start a company specializing in the sale of textiles. The name the company after their family, Hassenfeld.
Daddeh.
Even though his photo of his mother was the most important to him, and the most secret, his love for Mark, his owner, his “daddeh” was the thing he was most proud of. Clark flips the scrap back onto the cover, and looks at the first page, that’s filled with photos of him with his daddeh.
He remembers the first time he met daddeh. Back then he was a small little orange foal, forcibly removed from his mother, and placed within the scary world of the enclosures. He was not sure about Mark when he was placed in the pet carrier. So, when he was first let out of that cage, and placed on the table, with a saucer of milk and kibble beside him, Clark was silent.
“Well this is your new home, little buddy.”
Clark looked around. He was inside the kitchen of a very large house, a house that Mark had inherited from his parents upon their death. Still grieving from this loss, Mark decided to get himself a fluffy, to deal with a loneliness that overcome him with the sudden demise of his parents.
“Not much of a talker, eh? I understand. This is your first day at your new home, and I bet you miss your old home.
Now all we got to do is think of a name for you. How does Kyle, sound?”
The foal maintained his silence.
“Don’t like that? What about Bob or Nolan or Dan…”
“Cwark.”
“What’s that?”
“Cwark. Babbah name am Cwark, nice mistah.”
Mark smiles, as he gentle pets the head of Clark.
“I see. Clark, that’s a good name.
And you don’t have to call me mistah, you can call me Mark, or Daddy.”
~
And so their friendship began. Clark initially referred to his owner by his name, “Mawk”, but, as time went on, he became more comfortable with referring to him as his father, or daddeh. From the photos, he could see his continuous development throughout the first two years of his life. Every month, Mark had taken a picture of young Clark, tracking his every progress, from the time he lost a baby tooth and got a wish from the tooth fairy, to his first day at the daycare. Then, when Clarkr recieved the scrapbook from the daycare, marking his first full year of adulthood, he presented the book to Mark.
“Daddeh, wha’ am scrawpbuuk?”
“Oh, this? This is a book where you put various things in it. Special things, so that you can remember them later on.”
“Speshul tings?”
“Like photographs. And any of your favourite drawings. You can even put in a leaf. Anything that will be a memory for you in future.”
“Memowwy…. Wha’ am dat, daddeh?”
Mark thinks. Fluffies were known to have a short term memory, and while they are fairly sentient, fluffy intelligence is not sophisticated enough to pick up on certain concepts. Struggling to think how to simplify an explanation, Mark settles for the simplest definition of a memory he could reason out.
“Memories are something you remember. Like, you remember the time you first went to the daycare and you were so scared, do you remember that?”
“Fwuffy’ememba! Skuu’ am so scawedies at firs’…”
“That’s right! That’s a memory. And remember the time you got sick, and you went to see a doctor?”
“Ooooh…. Fwuffy wememba! Fwuffy feew so huwties aww ova, eben in heawt. Fwuffy wememba nuu feew guud!,” reminisces Clark, as he realizes, “Dat am a memowy?”
“That’s right, Clark!”
And beaming, Clark realizes, “Fwuffy hab WOTS of memowies! Bu… bu fwuffy dunno how to put memowies in scwapbuuk…”
Mark laughs, as he condescendingly notes, “Dear little Clark, I’ve been taking photos with you almost every month. And see, I have all these photos here. And I’ve made extra.”
And for the next hour, man and fluffy were busy applying glue on the back of each photo, and pasting all over the scrapbook. There was a misshap with one of the photos but, thankfully, Clark had a few extra copies of the same photo.
Clark beamed, as he saw the first few pages of his scrapbook, filled with memories.
~
And now, Supah Fwuff was looking as a scrapbook, filled with even more memories.
And now, there was one more memory he wants to add to this scrapbook.
In August 1981, a woman is spurred by childhood longing to own a horse of her own, with a brushable mane and tail. She submits a patent for "an ornamental design for a toy animal". The patent, U.S. #D269986, was granted in August 1983.
Supah Fwuff is being led down the hallways of the Headquarters of the Band. Even though his X-ray vision allows him to peer through his eyelids and the bandana, he willingly lets the darkness clouds his sight. He knows what day it is today, but, and as the manner of the nicest pretense, he gleefully awaits the following moment.
“Open your eyes, Clark…”
“SURPRISE!!”
And in the Headquarters of the Band, all the members, Mr Adams and yes, even his father were there, all to celebrate his birthday, complete with a giant cake.
“Cakies and fwens!”
The Band of Heroes had grown attached to Supah Fwuff after their many escapades and exploits, which was why the news about his poisoning by solar radiation had him them all the hardest. And yet, knowing this may be the last time they could do something for him, the Band wanted to make this a special birthday.
And throughout the party, various members of the band, and the people closest to Clark, all went up to the podium to talk about Supah Fwuff. Some of their speeches were very boring, but, Supah Fwuff could remember a specific line from each person who went up to give a speech.
Gargoyle was the first to go up, and one the things he said was, “If there’s one thing that Clark has taught me, is that there is potential even in the most humblest of things. Clark is as much a hero to me as Thomas is. Even though Thomas cannot fly or have heat vision, he reminds me that there is something worth fighting for. And, I know that’s what Clark believes in too, that its worth fighting for love and hugs for all good people and fluffies.”
Later on, Brunhilde went up, and mentioned, “If it wasn’t for Supah Fwuff, I would never have met my steed, Grani.”
Another hero who stepped up to the podium was the Asteroid Cowboy. “Ah yes, Clark. Once in a while he keeps me company in the loneliness of space. When you come too close to Jupiter or Saturn, and when you’re hanging around the Kuiper Belt, hearing fluffspeak after the silence is actually a reassuring thing. Because, it reminds me that a friend is around.”
Samuel Adams was one of the few non-heroes to attend the party, but he was Clark’s friend all the same. “I developed a greater appreciation for fluffies after working with Clark. Prior to that, I only saw them as property, as mere toys. But, seeing the effort he put into making the shelters work, and keeping fluffy populations happy and manageable, is nothing short of astounding.”
Robot-Man only said one line, “He’s a good fluffy.”
And the last person to give a speech, was his daddeh, Mark.
“Well, we’re all here to celebrate Clark’s twelfth birthday.
Heh, 12 years. I remember he was two years old when he first received his superpowers. And managing them wasn’t easy. I sometimes wonder how I was able to survive his super strength. Mr Adams noted that I have greater endurance and immunity to certain levels of damage, but I don’t have the super strength or powers to go with it. But even with his greater powers, Supah Fwuff had a lot to learn. How to use his powers carefully, how to control his anger, and how to manage his strength.
And yet, deep down, I know that Clark is the hero he is, not because of his powers, but because he is a good fluffy. I still remember the time when he was just an ordinary fluffy, and he was the best fluffy a man can have as a pet. Its why, even though he’s always so busy, Clark takes the time to visit various orphanages, shelters and hospitals, to give a hug to the various children and foals who need a hug. And, once in a while, he comes back home to me, to give me a hug.
You mean everything to us, Clark.”
And with that, every man and woman that was there clapped. In addition, the fluffy members of the band clapped in their own way, whether it was bringing their front hooves together, and clacking their hooves upon the ground.
A recent phenomena has overtaken an anonymous English-language imageboard website. A cartoon introducing the latest incarnation of an equine-based toyline has captivated many of its visitors. Though the fandom that had grown out of this cartoon was originally ironic, many felt a nostalgia while watching the show, seeing elements from older cartoons they had enjoyed a decade or so ago. This fandom propagates its love for this show through memes and fan-generated content, through fiction and art.
Then, one day, someone suggests the idea of a babylike version of these ponies, kept as pets by loving humans. A language is created, with one of the first words being “Wan pway?”
And, one of the first images is drawn centered around this idea is that of a fluffy pony playing with building blocks.
Supah fwuff looks fondly and lovingly at the scrapbook, with its decade of memories. Upon closing it, he immediately gives a hug, feeling the joy of owning something that’s so precious and yet eternal to him.
But an uneasy thought comes over his mind. Clark has been Supah fwuff for over a decade, and he feel like it will never end.
But what if it did end?
~
TO BE CONCLUDED