It’s been four days since the Sketti Laxatives incident, and ever since Lady Bell has had a surprising turn in behaviour. The after math in the tub had left her looking like a harrowed, shivering shell. She hardly reacted outside of a wheezing sob in response to the cold shower used to clean her and the putrid mess she had filled the tub with.
For a while even the mere mention of ‘sketties’ sent her scurrying over to the litter box while crying. Bath times were unfortunately a bigger step backwards, due to Lady Bell’s traumatized panicking at the sight of one. Loretta got around it by bathing her in the sink instead.
Still, outside of that, Lady Bell hadn’t said a single mean thing and was as obedient as could be. She didn’t harass M&M or Oreo the one other time she’d been allowed to see them, even apologizing to them without Loretta telling her to. The only thing she ever asked for was to see her babbehs while being milked, but it wasn’t in a demanding way. Just a weak, almost broken plea. Seemed as though seeing her babbehs again was the only thing keeping her from going into the loop. Which is the only reason Loretta hesitated to outright refuse the bitch mare’s request.
During this time, her foals had grown considerably. Any day now the litter would be opening their eyes and peeping their first words. Trixie had been an excellent surrogate, ensuring as many valuable lessons and loving care as she could give to them. One babbeh, however, had been a growing concern. The pink pegasus, or as Loretta liked to call it ‘The Gastro Baby’.
Trixie had approached Loretta, considerably worried about it.
“Poow wittwe babbeh, keep makin’ sickie wawas aftew nummie miwkies. Twixie twy givin’ huggies an’ wuv, bu’ babbeh nu get bettah. Make wots o’ buwpies, an’ awways hungy.” The unicorn explained, holding the baby in her hooves as she rocked it gently. “Twixie weawned dat babbeh nu make as many sickies when Twixie help babbeh sittie-uppsies, bu’ Twixie nu can hewp babbehs shawe miwkies, if hewp sickie babbeh! Pwease, Mummah 'Wetta, hewp Twixie? Nu knu what du!”
Loretta was perplexed by the issue, and genuinely curious as to what condition the foal might have. Gastro-intestinal issues was obvious, but what exactly was the core problem causing it? It was clear the foal would die within a week or two if it wasn’t absorbing enough nutrition, and Loretta wasn’t too fussed about that, but she knew Trixie wouldn’t let it go.
Good Mummahs took care of All babbehs, and Trixie was one of her best. What good would the BMS rehabilitation do if Loretta didn’t keep up the examples and stick to it? Besides, it was probably a good idea to figure out the full extent of the foal’s health so she knew what sort of future litters to expect out of Lady Bell.
“Alright, I’ll schedule an appointment with the vet. They’ll have the human magic that I don’t have here to see what’s wrong with the babbeh. In the meantime, just try your hardest.”
“Thank 'ou, Mummah 'Wetta.”
Loretta continued about her daily routine, finally reaching her chores with Lady Bell. Upon opening the door to the solitary confinement room, she was pleasantly surprised to find Lady Bell sitting daintily on the towel ‘nest’, following along with the audio recordings. Her eyes were almost glazed over in a trance as she recited the rules.
“Good poopies go in the litter box.”
“Guud poopies gu in da wittew boxie”
“All babies are good babies.”
“Aww babbehs am guud babbehs.”
“Good fluffies are nice fluffies.”
“Guud fwuffies am nicie fwuffies.”
It was a considerable improvement Loretta had been observing over the past few days, though it sometimes felt that Lady Bell wasn’t exactly all there. Upon greeting the pegasus, Lady Bell seemed to snap out of her trance and looked at Loretta with a small smile.
“H-Hewwo, Mummah 'Wetta. How am 'ou today?” Loretta noted that’s she’s begun parroting her daily greeting.
“I’m fine. How are you?”
“Wady Beww am… Wonwey. Pwetty voicie onwy say wuwes, nu tawk tu Wady Beww…” She answers with a tired look in her eyes. Her body language is filled with exhaustion. She almost looks… Broken.
Loretta deliberates the mare’s condition. She’s undergone an extreme trauma at no fault but her own and then left in isolation with nothing but ten minutes to apologize to M&M and Oreo and the brainwashing tactics of a recorded voice constantly reciting rules for company over the span of 96 hours. For a fluffy that might as well have been an eternity in solitude.
“Miwkie pwaces hab huwties…” Lady Bell continues, speaking much quieter this time. Her voice cracks as she tries to hold back hear heart ache. “H-…How… How wong tiww see babbehs, Mummah 'Wetta…?”
Loretta raises an eyebrow. “You still think you deserve to see your babbehs?”
Lady Bell squeezes her eyes shut, shaking her head as her breath shudders. “Nu… Nu desewb… Wady Beww… Wady Beww am Bad Mummah… Nu du guud fo’ see babbehs… Nu be guud fwuffy fo’ Mummah 'Wetta…”
It’s all true. Lady Bell hadn’t been good in the slightest, even with the threat of never seeing her babies again. After eating all those laxatives and having to deal with cleaning up the aftermath of the Shit-splosion, Loretta was determined to never let the bitch see her offspring. Yet the past four days were an interesting development, and she pondered if this recent good behaviour Lady Bell had developed ought to be rewarded. After all, similar experiences with Trixie proved fruitful. Punish bad behaviour, reward good behaviour.
“I see…” Loretta murmurs, weighing her options. “Why do you want to see your babbehs so badly, if you know you don’t deserve to?”
“Am jus’… Am scawed. Wady Beww nu see babbehs in foweba… Nu hab Mummah’s huggies, o’ miwkies, o’ wuv… Babbehs… Babbehs nu kno how muchies Mummah wuv dem… Am scawdies dat babbehs fowget Mummah…”
“Alright. If you manage to pass today’s training, and show me how good you can be, I’ll let you see your babbehs. But you have to behave, understand?”
Lady Bell’s eyes brighten, hopeful, but not too hopeful. " Yus, Mummah 'Wetta. Thank 'ou, Mummah 'Wetta."
Training ensues, and much to Loretta’s surprise, Lady Bell does exactly as told. She answers all questions given correctly, and keeps a polite tone. Despite her cautious and wary start with the physical tests, the ex-pageant fluff fulfills the commands given with no backtalk, and even has a little strut or movement of flair that, if she still had any fluff or feathers, would’ve looked impressive on a runway.
“Now, what do you say when you want to play with a toy that someone else is playing with?”
“Ex-coose fwen, may Wady Beww pway toysie wif 'ou?”
“Very good. And if they say ‘No’?”
“Wady Beww sai ‘Otay. Thank ‘ou anee-wai.’ an’ pway wif othew fwen o’ toysie.”
“Very good.” Loretta smiles, actually giving the mare a rare pet on her head. “I think you’re ready.”
“Weady fo’ what, Mummah 'Wetta?”
“To see your babbehs.” She answers, picking the pegasus up. Lady Bell gives an excited gasp and wiggles her hooves. Finally she could see her babbehs!
Lady Bell is placed down on the floor of Loretta’s bedroom, excitedly awaiting to see her fuzzy little bundles of joy. She so excited in fact, that she actually feels nervous. Not just nervous, but scared. What if her babbehs didn’t recognize her the last time she saw them? What if they didn’t love her anymore? She shook her head. No! She couldn’t think those meanie thoughts! Her babbehs had to remember!
Loretta came in, setting down all five foals for Lady Bell to see. She watched as the mare’s eyes marveled at how much they had grown.
“Babbehs hab gwown su big!”
“They sure have.” Loretta agreed, carefully observing the scene.
“H-Hewwo, babbehs, am Mummah! Am miss 'ou suuu muchies. Du babbehs miss Mummah?” Lady Bell asks, watching the foals squirm about and peep, their little noses sniffing around. She cautiously reaches to pick up the green foal, shushing as it squeaks in uncertainty from the contact. “Nu cwy, babbeh, am Mummah. Gib huggies, an wuv!”
“M-Mummah hab miwkies, if babbehs am hungy!” She offers, scooting a little closer to give them open access to her teats.
The foals continue to crawl about, peeping as they blindly investigate their surroundings. The blue pegasus foal is not as interested in exploring, choosing to curling up and nap with a big yawn. The purple unicorn is the first to make willing contact with Lady Bell after following her voice. He curiously peeps, sniffing at her teat before mouthing at it in hopes of finding the nipple. He latches, discovering the taste of milk and suckles, his little hooves pawing at her flesh. His siblings become aware of the loud sounds of his feeding, and quickly show interest in filling their tummies.
“Huuuhuuuhuu~ Yus, babbeh! Das guud, babbeh! Num Mummah’s miwkies!”
Lady Bell beams happily, overjoyed at the feeling of her babbeh’s tiny mouth feeding on her milkies. No more meanie pump stealing her milk. No more rejection from her pretty little babbehs. It was the happiest she had felt in so, so long. Her eyes well up with tears as she softly cries from sheer joy at the little unicorn.
“Mummah wuv babbehs~
Babbehs wuv Mummah~
Dwink aww da miwkies~
Gwow big an’ stwong~”
She sings, watching as the pink pegasus and orange foal crawl forth to have their own taste of milkies. Loretta continues watching the sickeningly sweet encounter, narrowing her eyes at the pink pegasus foal. Part of her wondered how Lady Bell would handle it, and debating on intervening before anything even started until she was suddenly distracted by a loud sound coming from the primary safe room. Sparing one glance over to Lady Bell, she quietly curses under her breath.
“Stay here, and feed the babbehs. I’ll be right back.”
Lady Bell doesn’t even have time to respond before Loretta is out of the room, rushing down the hall. Faintly, she hears the woman shout. “TRIXIE! NO! You put that foal down RIGHT NOW!”
The foals fuss, the orange one trying to nudge her purple brother away for her turn.
“Sweet, wittwe babbehs…”
Lady Bell sets down the green one to scoot the pink pegasus off despite only having just latched to replace him with his orange sister.
“Mummah 'membah when ‘ou came ou’ of tummeh. Was suuu tiny. Mummah wuv 'ou aww suu muchies… Show 'ou tu Mummah 'Wetta tu gib hew biggest heawt happies, but 'ou nu guud ‘nuff fo’ get bestest nummies fo bestest miwkies…”
She glowers down at the pink pegasus. “'Ou was sickie babbeh. Make Mummah wook bad.”
She turns her attention to the blue pegasus, sneering at his lack of care to her return. “‘Ou was s’posed tu be bestest babbeh, bu’ Mummah 'Wetta sai Nu bestest babbeh. 'Ou nu 'membah Mummah. Nu wan Mummah’s miwkies. 'Ou dummeh babbeh.”
She sighs, shaking her head. “Wingie babbehs, s’posed tu be bestest babbehs, bu’ 'ou nu bettah than sweepie twashie babbehs… Aww bad babbehs… Dat’s otay tho… Mummah stiww wuv 'ou… Pwomise…”
She watches them for a moment longer, before looking at the doorway, checking to see if Loretta returns. She doesn’t. So Lady Bell pushes her babbehs away, only to pick up the purple unicorn, and place him aside. She lays down next to him, cupping her hooves to whisper a secret that only he was allowed to hear.
“Wady Beww hab big secwet for wittwe pointy babbeh. Am vewy impowtant. Babbeh nu can fowget!” She grins at the peeping foal. “'Ou am Secwet Bestest Babbeh~”
The unicorn chirped, his little mouth moving in an attempt to make new sounds.
“Chirp! Peep! Mm…peep! Mmwaa…Chirpchirp! Mwiwkieep! Peep! Mwiwkiee! Peep! Peep! Mmwah-W-Wahh Miwkie!!”
“Miwkie!! Babbeh sai fiwst wowdies! Babbeh am smawty babbeh!” Lady Bell’s smiled toothily. This truly was her bestest babbeh! She was so proud!
“Mummah wuv 'ou mostest of aww. 'Ou desewb aww Mummah’s miwkies! 'Ou gon be bestest stwongest, pwettiest fwuffy ebah! Mummah pwomise!”
With her secret pact uttered to her new found favorite foal, she returns him to his siblings, placing him back on her teat to continue having a bigger share of her milkies. She allows the pink foal to properly latch this time, if only to shut his obnoxious peeping up.
Once the unicorn had his fill, she scooped him up into her arms and began to gently rock him.
“Mummah wuv bestest babbeh~
Bestest babbeh wuv weaw mummah~
Dwink aww Mummah’s miwkies~
Gwow up big an’ stwong~”
She sings quietly, focusing her love an adoration to the unicorn. Not caring which foal fed next. It wasn’t until she felt the pink pegasus hiccup that she looked down in curiosity.
“Babbeh nu hungy nu mowe?”
He foal’s tummeh lurched again, causing it to suddenly vomit all over her teat.
The poor infant threw up everything he had just ingested, a tiny spray of poopies spurting out the other end. His body trembles as he uncontrollably heaves. He peeps and cries, upset from nausea and tummy hurties.
“BABBEH! Wai you gib Mummah sowwy sickies?!” She gasps, her ire rising. “'Ou make sowwy poopies tuu?! 'Ou BAD BABBEH!”
Lady Bell was beyond disgusted. All her hard earned milkies that should have been going tto her bestest babbeh were now being wasted by this stupid, wretched sickly excuse for a pegasus! Did this babbeh think this was funny? Did it like making her look bad?! She’ll show this stupid dummeh babbeh!
She kicks the foal away, causing it to screech in distress. His feeble body rolls off to the side from the momentum, leaving a smeared trail of vomit and shit. She doesn’t care. She has no love for this useless babbeh.
“Mummah hatechu, dummeh babbeh! Am stupi babbeh! ‘Ou nebah ge’ miwkies’gain!”
Her precious unicorn foal cries, startled by his brother’s anguished cries and his mother’s loud, angry voice. She quickly tries to soothe him, but his brother’s distressed squeaking makes him cry in tandem.
“Quiet Dummeh wingie babbeh! ‘Ou scawin’ guud babbeh!” Lady Bell orders.
The pink pegasus does not stop. Instead crying even louder as he flails his tiny limbs as he desperately tries to roll over. He screeches at the top of his tiny lungs, making all the other foals start to peep and cry with him and try to squirm away or crawl closer to give hugs and cuddles.
“Be Quiet… Mummah sai shush!… SHU’ UP, DUMMEH BABBEH!”
Lady Bell glares down at the pink pegasus, watching him peep and screech as he finally rolled over. Puke continued to drip from his mouth and his ass was smeared in stains of poop. She has had enough. If this disobedient little pegasus wasn’t going to listen, then she’d give it what all fluffies deserved when they broke the rules. She would punish him.
“GET SOWWY HOOFSIE!” She shouts after setting down her bestest babbeh. She raises her hoof as high as she can over the pink foal, ready to stomp him with the worstest of hurties.
Before she can, however, she feels a painful weight slam into her side, knocking her over and sending her tumbling across the room.
Her head feels dizzy, and she takes a moment to regain her bearings. What happened?! What hit her?! Her ribs ached. There’s a small puncture in her skin
Shaking her head, she looks up to see…
Trixie.
Loretta and the unicorn had entered the room just in time to hear Lady Bell scolding the sickly baby, and without a word Loretta had let her loose.
“NU HUWT BABBEHS!”
Trixie’s eyes bored into Lady Bell, filled with murderous rage. She doesn’t immediately go for the assault, instead rushing over to the foals to ensure they were okay. She quickly picks up the babies and hurriedly, yet carefully places them on her back before bringing them over to Loretta for safety. As soon as she was sure the foals were safe, she turned and charged Lady Bell.
The bitch mare didn’t even get a foot before Trixie jabbed her once again with her stubby horn. She brought the pegasus down by bull rushing her from the flank, sending Lady Bell tumbling to the floor once again. Lady Bell screeches, begging Loretta for help as she frantically thrashed in hopes of landing a hit.
Trixie stomps her in the gut, knocking the wind out of her and temporarily rendering her immobile as she coughs and wheezes for air. She continues her enraged attack. Biting down on one of Lady Bell’s flapping wings and yanking as hard as she could. Bones snap, and Lady Bell screams louder than ever before. It is the most excrutiating pain she has ever felt.
Trixie stomps hard. Again. and Again. She keeps stomping, putting her whole weigh into both front hooves as she slams down on Lady Bell’s defenseless body. Loretta could hear her ribs being cracked from across the room. Trixie breaks the pegasus’ front right leg when she squirms.
Lady Bell screams for help. Begging her babbehs to save her. Trixie stomps her in the mouth for daring to mention them. Teeth and blood are spat out onto the floor. She continues to stomp wherever she can. One of her hooves punch straight into Lady Bell’s eye.
“NU! HUWT! BABBEHS!” She roars, punctuating each of her words with a stomp.
“NEVAH! EVAH! HUWT! BABBEHS!!”
Loretta watches and waits, letting Trixie’s assault continue for another few minutes before intervening. If this was anything to show, she has fully confirmed that Trixie is plenty capable of killing other fluffies. Also, her programming for Trixie’s protectiveness over foals far exceded her expectations.
She wraps her arms around Trixie tightly, scooping her up and away from Lady Bell. Trixie thrashes, her teeth catching onto one of Lady Bell’s hooves. Loretta orders her to ‘Drop It’, but the unicorn refuses. Instead she shakes her head the same way she did when tearing up Jitter’s pants. Like a dog with a chew toy. Lady Bell shrieks in agony as she’s partially lifted off the ground.
“BA’ UPPSHIES!!! WOSHESH UPPSHIES!!!” She howls through broken teeth and bleeding gums.
There’s a moment of struggle before a sudden give. Lady Bell drops to the floor, screeing in a burst of pain. She rolls only to regret the motion. Trixie spits, causing a yellow mass to bounce agaisnt the floor with a wet clatter. Upon closer inspection, Loretta realized that Lady Bell’s hoof was degloved.
Trixie is heaving in heavy breaths as she tries to claw her way back to Lady Bell to continue her mutilation.
“NU!! WET GU! AM GIB WOSTEST HUWTIES!!! MEANIE MAWE HUWT BABBEHS! NU HUWT BABBEHS!”
“Trixie. Enough.” Loretta speaks in a calm, yet firm, tone. “Trixie. The babbehs need you. Help the babbehs.”
Trixie freezes, breathing heavily as she glares down at Lady Bell. If looks could kill, the bitch mare would have been annihalated a thousand fold. Loretta quickly carries Trixie into the solitary confinement room, where the foals rested on a soft pillow, crying in fear. Setting the unicorn down, Trixie scrambles over to the foals, tearfully curling around them all and hushing them with comforting coos.
“Dewe, dewe, babbehs, nu cwy. Mummah hewe. Mummah keep babbehs safe.”
Loretta turns off the audio recordings to allow them some calmer privacy and shuts the door. Once Trixie and the foals are contained, she steps back over to the mess remains of Lady Bell.
The pegasus coughs, hiccuping sobs as she twitches and cringes in pain. Loretta is unimpressed.
“For a moment there, I actually thought we were getting somewhere…” She picks up the discarded hoof and examines it. It’s coated in blood and looks nasty. “But I guess a good fluffy doesn’t always make for a good mummah…”
She clicks her tongue and shakes her head. “Shame…”
Lady Bell was carried into the prep room. Her wounds were felt around, much to the mare’s agony. Two missing teeth, three broken. Broken leg, likely multiple fractures. Broken ribs, hard to tell how many without an x-ray. Broken wing. Minor punctures. Black eye swollen shut, unsure if damage is permanent. Massive amounts of bruising, and… Degloved hoof.
All in all, it’s about what Loretta expected from what she witnessed. She couldn’t tell if there was any internal bleeding thanks to the sheer amount of bloody spit Lady Bell had oozing from her mouth, but she made a mental not to keep a very close eye on her. She set the bones to the best of her ability, and wrapped up with she could, making sure to stitch and disinfect any necessary areas beforehand. No need to waste painkillers on this case.
Looks like her anatomy classes for her veternarian dream job are already paying off.
Once Lady Bell is properly taken care of, she’s placed in a bare kennel. No towel bedding, just cold, hard metal under her bruised and battered bare skin.
“You are officially on my last chance list. If you fuck up one more time, consider your babbehs gone for good, and worse…”
Loretta watches as Lady Bell begins to cry anew before walking away and turning the light out as she leaves the room. Looks like she’ll need to schedule two vet appointments.
Lady Bell lies in the dark, sobbing and wheezing in pain. Mentally cursing her Bad Babbeh and mourning her loss of her Secret Bestest.
How could she possibly have deserved this?
Sweet stars above this chapter felt so cathartic to write!
She may be in critical condition but don’t you worry! Our fun with Lady Bell isn’t over yet!
Loretta and her fluffies belong to @UndercoverPallasCat