I’m gonna try something quite ambitious with this project, I’m gonna try to make this a multi-part series with several arcs and seasons, all centred around one Fluffy and the harsh journey of their life. I’ll be breaking up each arc into its own Part to separate out each stage of the story but all Parts will make up the full story.
Fair warning, I’ve already got plans for this story to get REAL dark so expect some Controversial chapters later on. In the meantime, enjoy these rare moments of happiness.
Chapter 1: And Here My Troubles Began
The first thing he remembered was his lungs bursting as he took his first breath, followed by a brief moment of airless nothingness, before landing in something soft and warm, not a Fluffy, but something similar.
Then he heard her voice.
“Babbehs? Dat am Mag-ee babbehs? Su pwetty, Mag-ee wub babbehs.”
He was briefly aware of other forms beside him, small like him, wriggling, shaking with cold or with fear he couldn’t tell, but he wasn’t shaking, his focus was on the voice.
The voice he knew to be his mother.
‘Cheep, peep peep, chrip.’ He called out to her, his world blackened by his heavy eyes, he couldn’t see her, but he could FEEL her, he knew his mother was out there, and he wanted her love.
Beside him he heard other forms doing the same. ‘Chirp chirp peep’. They sounded somewhat similar to him, his siblings? He had brothers and sisters, oh how he wanted to cuddle with them, to see them and play with them, he was certain they would love him.
Just then he heard another voice, a male. “Speciaw-fwiend make bestesh pwetty babbehs. Hab biggesh heawt happiest u be daddeh.”
Daddeh? That was his daddy, it wasn’t mother but he could still give him warmth and love, all he could think about was warmth and love…
And milkies.
He didn’t even know what milkies were, but his stomach screamed for it. He flailed his arms and stuck out his tongue, looking for his first meal when he felt something shift and a presence lean over him.
A presence he immediately knew to be his mother.
‘Peep peep, chirp peep chirp’. He shook and cried out for her, wanting desperately to hold her, to tell her he loved her in the only a foal could. As he chirped her heard her voice again, muffled, as though there was something in her mouth.
“Nu taste pwetty, bu mummah wub babbeh.”
There was a brief moment of silence that was broken by a sudden yet curious peep from one of his sisters followed by the faint sounds of suckling and cooing.
“Dwink up babbeh, gwow big an stwong.”
Then there was another voice, bigger, louder, but somehow not scary, he found it to be somewhat comforting.
“Ooh isn’t she adorable Maggie. I think we’ll call her Iris.”
“Wub Iwis, gud namesie fow babbeh mummah.”
The bigger voice was his mummah’s mummah. Another one to love him and share with him, he felt so happy, and yet so cold at the same time, his tiny nub arms still reaching out in vain for her.
His tiny cries were answered as he felt the presence over him again and two soft hoofs pick him off the ground and lift him to the warm, comforting breath of his mother as she licked him clean of the afterbirth.
“Mummah gib wickie-cweans tu babbehs, wub aww babbehs.”
He let out a happy little peep and smiled, minutes into this world and he had a reason to smile as his mother’s tongue tickled and warmed him, his thin fuzz of what would become his Fluff wasn’t enough to keep his temperature regulated, he didn’t just want to be close to her, he needed to be.
Once the last of the afterbirth was licked off of him, he felt himself lowered to the ground, the heat of his mother’s Fluff beckoned him, as did the smell of sweet, loving milk. His tiny blind nose nuzzled forward, seeking out the heavenly scent, until finally he knocked against one of his mother’s nipples with his cheek and instinctively latched on, his entire mouth filled with the soft flesh, his teeny stomach washed with his first of many drinks.
He was warm, he was happy, he was safe.
“Such a lovely little one.” The big voice returned, closer this time but no less comforting.
“I think we’ll call him Travis.”
Travis was born to Maggie and Glen, two former ferals who had been saved by the blind luck of a kind old woman. They were both part of a herd where Maggie – a moss green Pegasus with a light brown mane – was a nursery guard for the chirpies and the talkies and Glen – a dark blue earthie with a yellow mane – was one of the Toughies for the Smarty leader.
The Smarty was a vicious monster, a blood red unicorn with a pitch-black mane called Crowley before he took on the mantle Smarty. He ruled the herd with an iron fist, always being the first to feed, the first to enf the new mares, the first say in who lived and died, life under Crowley’s rule was safe, but dangerous.
Maggie and Glen were always looking for a way out but were too scared to brave the cruel world on their own. That was until Maggie fell pregnant with Glen’s foals, at the same time as Crowley’s special-friend was killed by a wingie-munstah.
What should’ve been a joyous occasion for the pair was ruined when a frustrated and irate Crowley took his anger out on them, beating Glen to the ground and raping Maggie in front of him. Seeing the hurt in his beloved’s face, Glen kicked Crowley in the face hard enough to break something, he never found out what though as Glen gathered Maggie and the two of them escaped into the unknown, running for hours, even days until they were certain nobody was following them.
Once they were able to stop, they took the moment to grieve, Maggie had miscarried all her foals during Crowley’s attack. By the grace of a cruel God, it was her pregnancy that prevented Crowley from inseminating her further, not that that did anything to sooth the heartache of the parents.
They walked for days, weeks even, taking any small scrap of food they could find, eating dry grass and brown leafs in an effort to keep going, the cold-times were coming, and coming fast, both Maggie and Glen were careful not to bring babbehs into the cold-times, for all his many faults Crowley did at least drill that into their skulls. But that still left the question of how they were going to survive, if they would survive at all.
Eventually, exhausted and emancipated, they came across a quiet little cottage out in the middle of nowhere, an isolated little area surrounded by miles upon miles of open fields. Maggie and Glen knew that this was a human place, and humans were difficult to know if they were dangerous or not, but the two of them were desperate, and so together they knocked on the front door, hoping like Hell that someone would save them.
That someone opened the door moments later, Deidre Walton, a former school-teacher now retired widow running a small chicken farm. Upon seeing the two traumatised Fluffies on her doorstep she immediately took them in and set about making sure they were warmed and fed, then after hearing of their plight she immediately offered to take care of them until the end of the winter, then they could decide if they wanted to leave or not.
Naturally being Fluffies, Maggie and Glen opted to stay, slowly building a loving relationship with Deidre as she told them about her life, her late husband and her work with the chickens who were all cooped up for the winter.
By the time winter had thawed out, the trio were a regular family unit and Maggie was pregnant with her second litter, the litter that included Travis.
“Babbehs, am miwkies times.”
Travis and his siblings stopped playing with their stuffy-friends and gasped, milkie time was the best time. As quickly as their little legs could carry them, they made their way over to their mother who was sitting patiently for her foals.
There was four of them in total, all just under a week old, they could talk small sentences and waddle on their own but most of the time they required their parents help to move around which is why they spent the vast majority of their days playing with their stuffed toys or hugging the carpet.
Iris always got the first drink of milk, she was the first born of the litter and her pink coat – a recessive gene from Maggie’s late mother – white mane and Pegasus wings like Maggie made her easily the prettiest foal of the lot and so by right she got the first drink. Alongside her was usually Tom, a blue earthie with a green mane, he took after his father and was already showing a good bulk of muscles, he could run faster and for longer than any of the other foals and revelled in that fact.
Once those two were fed, next in line was either Travis or his other sister Betsy, Betsy was a shy little thing, her yellow fluff and brown mane weren’t the prettiest to look at and she often envied her better looking sister, but she was still loved and none of her siblings bullied or belittled her for her appearance.
Travis himself felt closest to Betsy, already at his young age he could tell that he and Betsy were outliers, never neglected or abused which was still good for a Fluffy, but clearly lower in the pecking order. For Betsy it was her less desirable colours, for Travis it was his horn.
Travis was a unicorn, the only one in the family brought on by another recessive gene from Glen’s father, but since Fluffies didn’t understand genetics to Maggie and Glen he was a reminder of Crowley and what he did to them. They both knew Travis wasn’t Crowley’s son, he had Maggie’s green Fluff and Glen’s blue mane - the inverse of his brother Tom, and he smelled exactly like his siblings, but the horn just brought back bad memories for the parents.
Still, they loved him all the same and didn’t deny him any of the love and comfort they gave his siblings. Once Iris and Tom had their fill, Travis and Betsy took their spot and guzzled down what they could, Travis felt Maggie stroke his head and he giggled at the touch.
“Keep dwinkin babbehs, need miwkies tu be big and stwong.”
Betsy let go on Maggie’s teat and swallowed her mouthful of milk. “Mummah? Wai nu hab miwkies tuu?”
Maggie smiled at her daughter. “Mummah an daddeh am big Fwuffies, nu dwink miwkies, hab big nummies wike kibbew, an sumtimes Skettis on Sketti Day.”
Iris’ eyes lit up. “Iwis wan skettis, wan be big Fwuffy.”
Glen walked over to his daughter and picked her up for a hug. “Yu grow up soona dan yu fink, tiww den jus be babbeh. Daddeh wub babbehs.”
Just then Deidre walked into the room. “I thought I heard voices.”
“BIG MUMMAH!”
Travis and Betsy took a final gulp of milk before joining Iris and Tom in their run over to see Deidre. Since none of the Fluffies could pronounced her name correctly – Travis had gotten closest with ‘Dee-daw’, they had all taken to calling her ‘Big Mummah’, a title she relished with enthusiasm.
“How are you all my little dearies?”
“Babbehs gud Big Mummah.” Iris spoke proudly. “Wook at wha Iwis du.”
The pink filly sat upright on the floor and started twisting her limbs in a form of dancing. It was off-rhythm even to the music in her own head, but it was still dancing.
Deidre clapped at the display. “Oh you’re gonna be such a good wee dancer Iris, I can tell. Keep it up and I’ll see about giving you a treat.”
The foals got all excited about treats, little spaghetti flavoured gummy sweets that Deidre handed out for good behaviour or outstanding tasks. Instantly the other three started looking around for what they could show off to their Big Mummah.
Tom knew what to start with. “Big Mummah, watch dis.”
And he sprinted around the room, faster than any Fluffy before… at least to his knowledge anyway. After about a minute Tom stopped right in front of Deidre, barely looking out of breath.
“Such a fast boy Tom, you’re the fastest Fluffy alive.”
Tom puffed his chest proudly as Deidre turned to Travis and Betsy. “Don’t feel pressured to show anything, I’ll still love you all the same.”
Betsy nervously stepped forward and picked up her stuffy friend, a fuzzy grey rabbit looking thing.
“Bet-see fink she gib bestesh huggies, wook.”
The little yellow girl held onto her toy as tight as she could manage, nuzzling the soft fuzzy fabric against her cheek.
“Well done Betsy, you are the kindest, sweetest Fluffy I’ve ever known, never let any meanies take away a heart that big, ok.”
Betsy shook a little at the thought of someone taking her heart, but she put on a brave face and nodded. “Ok Big Mummah.”
That just left Travis, and despite what Deidre had said, he still felt pressure to perform, to show off what made his special. There was one thing, it was silly, but he was sure none of his siblings could do it.
“Twavis can count numbas gud.”
Deidre’s eyes went wide. “Really? Ok, let’s see how high you can count.”
“Ok, um… wun, twu, thwee, fouw, fibe.”
Travis caught sight of his siblings, Betsy was watching him with glee, Tom looking on somewhat impressed since he could only count to four. Iris however could also count to five so she wasn’t as blown away.
So Travis played his trick card.
“Siks, seben, ea… eaht, eaht?”
Deidre leaned in and scratched the top of his head. “That’s right, it is eight. My my, you’re so young and can already count that high, you’re gonna be a little genius when you grow up.”
Deidre stood back up and look at the Fluffy family, four talented youngsters and two devoted parents, it was enough to make her heart soar.
“Well, since everyone has shown off their skills, I think it’s only fair everyone gets a treat.”
“YAY TWEATS!” The four foals cheered and hugged each other while Deidre headed for the kitchen to get the treats.
“How bwudda count gud?” Tom asked once the foals stopped hugging.
Travis shrugged his shoulders. “Nu knyo, just du.”
Iris looked over at Travis, and smiled at him. “Twavis am gud counta.”
“Iwis am gud dance-ah.”
The two sibling shuffled over for a when…
“AAAAHHHHH!”
There was a scream and a crash from the kitchen, Maggie and Glen rushed through, the four foals toddling behind as fast as their stumpy little legs could manage. When they reached the doorframe into the kitchen, they all felt something inside their hearts break.
Deidre was on laying on the floor, one hand holding onto her hip and a look of immense pain on her face, she was alive but quite badly hurt. Maggie was cuddling onto her shoulder while Glen tried to pick up her mobile phone with his teeth.
“Am huggies making Big Mummah feew betta?” Maggie asked hopefully.
Deidre winced. “Sorry Maggie, huggies can’t help here. Help Glen get the phone, I need an ambulance, fast.”
Maggie raced off to help Glen, leaving Deidre to sob on the floor, the pain and embarrassment was too much for her to take right now. Travis could only stare at his Big Mummah, looking so helpless on the floor, it broke his heart to see her like this.
What he couldn’t have known was the after effects of this events and how far it would take him.
Here, his troubles would begin.
