Chapter 22: First Day Of Work
Travis was woken the next day by loud shouting and swearing, he looked through his cage door over to where the noise was coming from, seeing the man named Gus tossing the legless grey stallion about.
“Stupid horny fuck, couldn’t even keep your fucking heart right. Had seventeen fucking orders for your shit. Fuckin shitrat cockfuck.”
Gus tossed the dead stallion into a biowaste bin and started gathering up the sperm vials they’d managed to suck out of him over the last few weeks, hoping it would be enough to fill their orders. Gus could already tell that Vincent would be a smug prick about it, he’d warned Gus about being too harsh with the products and now their prized stallion was dead.
Not that Gus gave a shit, the dick-brained shitrat might have produced the shiniest foals in the store but he was a rapist prick and pillowing him was a blessing compared to what Gus wanted to do.
“Whewe… whewe am Twavis?”
Gus turned round, surprised at the voice behind him, when he saw Travis peering out through the bars of his cage, Gus put down the vials and walked over to him, smiling all the way. Although Travis didn’t exactly feel comforted by the sight.
“Well hey there, you must’ve been dog-tired, been out about 12 hours now.”
“Whewe am Twavis? Am yu nice mistah?” The waver in Travis’ voice gave away that he was already scared of Gus.
“Travis huh, odd name for a feral. You a runaway?”
“Wun-way?”
“Runaway, like did you have a human owner and did you run off to find some random mare to fuck or whatever?”
“Twavis hab mummah, Big Mummah, Twavis an famiwy wub Big Mummah, bu she hab big huwtie, no dewe to sabe Twavis an famiwy fwom meaie Cwowwey, Twavis taken fwom gud home, nyo nu hab famiwy, nu hab speciaw-fwiend, nu hab babbehs nu mowe.”
Travis trailed off into more tears, not that Gus was paying attention, as soon as Travis confirmed he had a human owner, Gus was setting up his computer for a chip-read.
“Alright Travis, I’m gonna take you out of the cage and check the back of your neck for something, this might hurt a little but I swear if you shit on me I will break your jaw and force you to drink shit through a fucking straw. Understood?”
Travis didn’t know what a straw was, but he understood drinking poopies and he didn’t want that, so he nodded and clenched his butthole tight, trying not to let out any scardie-poopies.
Luckily the little unicorn was still half-starved and had very little in his stomach to actually poop out. He shivered as Gus picked him up but didn’t piss or shit himself, even as Gus started to uncomfortably prod around his back and his neck.
“Twavis nu wike dis.”
“Yeah well tell that to someone who gives a shit. Hmm, no chip, hey, this ‘Big Mummah’, your last owner, how old was she?”
“Wha mistah mean?”
“I mean like… fuck how do I explain this right? What colour was her hair, the not-Fluff on top of her head?”
“Um… Twavis fink it gwey, maybe siwva. Nu can wememba tuu gud.”
“Alright, grey hair, old lady, either she forgot or never got round to it. Makes my fucking job a lot easier. Look, you’re clearly not in the right headspace, lost your mate, your kids, you’re fucking heartbroken I get it. I’m more than happy to chuck you out the fucking door and be done with you but Vincent thinks you’re worth keeping.”
At the reminder of his lost family, Travis burst into tears again, Gus seethed at the pathetic display but gritted his teeth and said nothing.
“Goddamn it, calm down, you’re making a fucking scene. Look you can stay here for the moment, but you gotta work for your keep, your help us, we give you a bed and food, that sound fair to you?”
“Wha… sniff… wha mistah wan Twavis tu du?”
“Hearing out the options first, you’re a smart cookie. Usually we’d have you fuck some of the mares, but I’d say that’s out for you, no offence but you’re colours aren’t spectacular and you seem the clingy type, too much fucking hassle. No, Vincent wants you as a babysitter, you keep an eye on the foals and make sure they don’t do anything stupid, got it?”
“Huu, Twavis nu can wook afta babbehs, Twavis babbehs aww gu foweba sweepies.”
“Fuck sake, it’s either that or you’re on your own, what’s the choice?”
Travis thought about it for a moment, it would’ve been so easy to say no, to be let free where he could wait for the sweet release of death to reunite him with Angel and their children. And yet… something inside him flickered, it was slight, almost invisible, but he could feel it, and without even realising he was saying it, Travis spoke three words.
“Twavis stay hewe.”
“There’s a good boy. Alright, let’s take you to see Vincent, he’ll get you set up.”
Gus stood up and carried Travis through to the main shop floor. The young stallion stayed silent in Gus’ arms, he didn’t know why but something was driving him to stay alive.
For the moment anyway.
Out on the shop floor, Travis got a better look at the place now that he was out of a cage and out of his depressive funk, it was a small place, lots of wood panelling and other old-fashioned styling’s, but it looked comfortably enough. Having seen backroom Travis knew it was all a front but it was an effective one at least.
Gus took Travis over to one side of the room where a playpen of foals were all running and playing together, it wasn’t a large group, around 10-15 of varying ages, but they all more than enough room and the walled-off pen meant that there was little to no chance of any runaways. Travis did note that there weren’t any adult Fluffies nearby, in fact the playpen seemed to be on the opposite side of the store from where the older Fluffies were kept in cages. Even from here he could make out mares trying to reach out for their babbehs, but the foals were too far away and to distracted by friends to hear them.
Gus placed Travis down on the floor just outside the pen. “Right, here he is, physically he seems ok, couple scars but that’s naturally. Mentally… he’s a tad fuckered in the head but he knows the deal, he gets food and sleep for doing his job. Says his name’s Travis by the way.”
Vincent nodded and knelt down to look at Travis. “Travis, well nice to meet you Travis, I’m Vincent, and this is my friend Gus.”
“Hewwo Mistah Vin-sent, hewwo Mistah Gus. Twavis nu knyo wai am hewe, bu Mistah Gus say wan Twavis wook afta babbehs, Twavis hab heawt-huwties fwom aww babbehs guin foweba sweepies, bu wan nummies and bedsies, wiww twy wook afta dese babbehs fow nice mistahs.”
Vincent flashed a smile, and much like Gus’ it sent a shiver down Travis’ spine.
“Well I’m sorry to hear that Travis, but I’m glad to know you’re willing to help us.”
“You got this?” Gus interrupted. “I’m going out back for a smoke.”
“Mind and shut the door when you come back in this time.”
Gus was already walking away and waved off Vincent’s concerns. “Yeah, yeah, whatever.”
With his partner gone, Vincent turned back to Travis, noting that the unicorn was still nervous.
“Now Travis, Gus and I run what is known in human terms as a ‘business’, people come here with money to buy things and we provide what they need. Other shops do it with food or clothing or entertainment, our stores sell Fluffies.”
“Yu gib hoomins Fwuffies?”
“In a manner of speaking, yes. People who want Fluffies can come to our store and buy a Fluffy to make them happy. We try and sell all of our Fluffies when we can, but do you know what type of Fluffy is our most popular? I’ll give you a clue, they’re the best things ever.”
“Um… babbehs?”
“Correct.”
Vincent stroked Travis’ mane as a reward for answering correctly. It felt nice, but there was something off about his voice, it felt… insulting, like Vincent was deliberately talking down to him.
Travis stayed quiet though, not wanting to risk losing his new home so soon.
“Babbehs are our most popular Fluffy, humans love babbehs. But most of all, they love GOOD babbehs, ones who know how to behave, how to say please and thank you, how to use the litterbox. You know about the litterbox right?”
“Twavis use it wittew bit wen wiv Big Mummah, awways twy tu make gud poopies aftawawds.”
“Excellent, you’re already qualified. All we want you to do is stay in the playpen with the foals, keep them all playing nicely and if any of them start being mean or bad, just let us know so we can help turn them into good babbehs. Ok?”
Travis nodded, thinking he got the gist of what Vincent was asking him, he still remember some of what his mother taught him so he would certainly try to help the babbehs grow up good, all babbehs deserved to have a good, loving home. Even the mean ones.
Briefly he thought of Crow, and wondered if a loving owner might have made him into less of a monster.
Vincent lifted Travis up and into the pen, almost instantly every foal in the pen stopped what they were doing and looked over at him. Travis felt the uncommon and uncomfortable tinge of stage-fright for the first time in his life.
“Nyu fwiend?” A young green filly asked excitedly.
“Everyone this is Travis, he’s going to be looking after you all and making sure you all follow the rules, if any of you break a rule or are a bad Fluffy, he’ll tell us. Ok?”
“Yeh Mistah Vin-sent.” Came a chorus of young voices.
Satisfied that everything was set up and ready to go, Vincent left Travis to his new job and went back to his daily tasks. Travis waved to some of the foals, some waved back, some just kept on playing with their friends. Only one foal came over to greet Travis, a small orange unicorn colt.
“Citwus knyo yu.”
Travis looked at the colt confused, until it slowly came back to him, the grey stallion and the fat red mare, the ones that tried to hurt him for accidentally taking their food, this was one of their foals.
“Yu am munstah speciaw-fwiend, gib mummah an daddeh wowstesh scawdies.”
Travis scowled at the foal, Citrus his name might have been. “Babbeh’s mummah an daddeh twy tu gib Twavis an speciaw-fwiend huwties in own homesie, onwy wookin afta own famiwy. Whewe am babbeh famiwy aneeway?”
Citrus’ face dropped. “Daddeh in bakwoom, nu awwowed tu pway wiv Citwus. Mummah am downstaiws, nu see hew in su many fowebas. Fink bwudda an sissy gu foweba sweepies, am wastesh babbeh.”
Travis felt himself soften, recognising the pain of losing the only family you’ve ever known.
“Twavis am sowwy tu heaw dat, babbeh nu desewve wose famiwy.”
“Fank yu, Citwus hope Twavis hewp Citwus be gud Fwuffy, find gud mummah ow daddeh.”
“Pffth, he jus dummeh Fwuffy.”
Travis and Citrus looked over, seeing a plum purple Pegasus with silver mane strolling over to them, his face sneering at the pair, while Travis was definitely older than him the Pegasus colt still looked to be one of the oldest foals in the enclosure.
The Pegasus walked passed a ball, and deliberately kicked it towards a group of younger foals, hitting a yellow filly hard in the side of the head.
“HUUUUUU!!! WAI MEANIE GIB HUWTIES?! Am onwy wittew babbeh.”
Travis rushed forward, stepping in between the Pegasus and the other foals, the yellow filly still bawling her eyes out as her friends gather round to hug her.
“Meanie cowt stay bak, yu nu gib mowe huwties.”
“Eggpwant du wha Eggpwant wan, mummah say am bestesh babbeh an mummah neba wong. If Eggpwant say yu jus dummeh Fwuffy, den yu dummeh.”
“Nu, Twavis am tu wook afta babbeh, tuwn yu aww into gud babbehs, eben meanie Eggpwant.”
Eggplant snorted. “Wha dummeh Twavis gun du.”
Travis looked around, he had to think of something, something that would knock Eggplant down a peg or two, show that Travis wasn’t to be messed with. Then it hit him, he had the best idea and knew exactly how to deal with Eggplant.
“MISTAH VIN-SENT!”
Vincent looked up from his counter and jogged over to the pen. “What seems to be the problem Travis?”
“Eggpwant am bein bad babbeh, gib wittew fiwwy huwties an caww him bestesh babbeh.”
Vincent turned his head to Eggplant, the steely look in his eyes chilling the Pegasus to the bone.
“Really now, well we’ve talked about this before haven’t we Eggplant, your mummy isn’t here, so you can’t be the best anymore. I think you’ve earned some time in the sorry box.”
“NU! Nu, Eggpwant AM bestesh, am smawtesh, pwettiesh babbeh eba, yu aww am dummehs, yu nu knyo wha Eggpwant can… BAD UPSIES!”
Eggplant kept crying and hollering as Vincent took him over to a wooden box, big enough to fit Eggplant inside but small enough to be cramped and painful, and dropped him inside, locking the lid to muffle the colt’s whining. With the bad babbeh dealt with, Vincent returned to the pen and scratched Travis on the head.
“Good job Travis, you’ve got a knack for this job. Here, for a job well done.”
Vincent pulled a small sketti-treat from his pocket and fed it to Travis, the heavenly taste filled Travis mouth and for the first time in days, he felt himself smiling again.
A few hours later and it was time for the foals to be put to bed, since Travis and Citrus were neighbours, Vincent took the two of them back together, dropping off Citrus first into the cage with his father Leon.
“Daddeh, Citwus make nyu fwiend, it Twavis fwom ousside, he munstah speciaw-fwiend but he gud Fwuffy, pwotect udda fwiends fwom meanie Eggpwant.”
Leon looked out the cage towards Travis, and instantly he snarled at him, moving forward to protect Citrus.
“YU! Yu an munstah gib speciaw-fwiend an bestesh babbeh wowstesh scawdies, yu weave wastesh babbehs awone.”
“Twavis onwy twy tu…”
“Nu cawe! Weon nu wan yu ow munstah neaw wastesh babbeh, stay way.”
Travis felt his high of a good day slowly sink back down in nothingness as Vincent placed him into his cage.
“Hey Travis, don’t listen to that big ugly idiot. You did good work today and Citrus seems to have taken a liking to you, Leon isn’t leaving that cage anytime soon so he can’t do anything to you, if you want to be friends with Citrus then you be friends.”
“Ok, fank yu Mistah Vin-sent.”
“No problem sport.”
Another scratch and a top-up of his water bowl and Vincent locked Travis into his cage for the night, as he walked away he thought about what Leon had said, Travis had a ‘munstah’ mate on the outside, so clearly he was Alicorn friendly which would be a big help when it came to raising some of the Alicorn foals.
Plus Vincent figured that after Angel gave birth he could pair her with Travis, the little guy could use a reward and it might be worth seeing what his genes looked like. He chuckled, thinking how excited Travis would be to get the chance to fuck a mare as pretty as Angel.
It would be the best day of his shitrat life.
