“Now with the fluffmart insurance I’m required to report it. You do know their policy?” Despite hearing wild rumors about this very thing, Anna had in fact not seen this before. Maybell was a foal eating ‘munstah mummah’ and infanticide was immediate cause for euthanasia, pregnancy included. Although the rider in the policy specifically outlined foal rejection. “Umm, give me a minute.” Anna turned away. She felt disgusted from the sight.
Elizabeth spoke about how well her alicorn behaved. Surely this was just a case of starvation. Still, she was surprised that it was the alicorn that had gotten eaten, many breeder mares rejected alicorns but alicorns themselves were just smart enough to not kill their own kind. She thought of an excuse, “Umm, attempted infanticide with alicorns is normal with fluffies. They don’t always understand especially with the trauma of birth-”
“We both know that’s not a newborn foal. And both parents are alicorns.” Doctor Hoffman interrupted. “If you want me to lie on the insurance report… I’m not going to lose my license over this.” Anna looked down at Maybell, she was mumbling about her babies asking where they were. Maybell’s eye’s turned up towards her under the bright examination lights as she struggled to lift her head. “Wewe Wizbeff?”
“I’ll pay.” Anna blurted. “You can’t be serious.” The doctor replied. “My check up call was on the grey one. Put him on the company insurance. I’ll cover her and her foals.” Elizabeth had to have spent five grand on this Alicorn. It was a gross waste of money at the least to put Maybell down she rationalized to herself.
“You don’t have to mention the mare or foals in the insurance. Just an incapacitated owner and a lapse in care for the stallion.” The doctor stared at her but didn’t protest, “Fine. At least the foals will get to be born.” A regular source of income for him had been fluffy abortions. Owners didn’t want to fix their pets and then didn’t want to raise the litters. He was at least happy they weren’t dying by his hand today.
Jill led her to the front desk to collect payment information. Anna lived alone and had a sizeable savings from her assistant manager salary. Thanks to her attention given to litters in the store, they had very few behavioral issues and a low return rate. This made her year-end bonus checks a bit larger. If she absolutely needed to, she could always ask Elizabeth for the money back when she recovered. IF, if she recovered. More violations of company policy.
Jill collected the foal carrier and took it back so the surviving foals could be inspected. They at most would have some stunted development due to malnutrition. Willow was gone too; she must have been taken back to another room.
Anna left, the fluffies would have to stay overnight for observation. Nimbus would take longer to recover. She drove back to Elizabeth’s apartment, getting back in with the spare key. The smell hit as soon as she entered. The open windows helped a little, but it was still foul. She dug around for cleaning supplies and eventually managed to locate the litter and trash bags.
She dealt with the litterbox first, then the pile of accident pads. She vacuumed the shedding fluff that accumulated on the carpet of the safe room and then went about with a can of fluff safe fabric cleaner, spot cleaning where the foals had pee’d or poo’d on the carpet and fluff beds.
She found a bloodstain where Maybell had been laying. She wondered if it had been the foal. She rationalized that it must have been where Maybell gave birth even though there was an old accident pad soaked in birth fluids. She set the trash bags by the door and began collecting supplies. Food bowls, food, toys, the beds, and the gate. She poked into Elizabeth’s bedroom to make sure there wasn’t anything glaring she was missing. She saw the instructional video case sitting open by the tv inside and thought it a little out of place.
Then she made the repeated trips to bring everything down. First was the dumpster run. When she came back the smell was finally starting to clear. She sprayed some more air freshener. Then she moved the fluffy supplies to her car. She came back up one more time to close the windows and double check for any missing supplies.
She worked at a fluffmart; she could get anything she needed, and she knew everything actually needed to care for a litter of foals. Why was she stressing over a single litter? She drove back to her house and unloaded everything. It was dark now and after ordering some takeout began turning her living room into a safe room. Moving all the furniture in the guest room would be too much effort.
It was mostly a matter of walling off the room and vacuuming to make sure there was nothing sharp like a staple or thumbtack on the ground for a fluffy to swallow. She made sure all the wires for the TV console were tucked away and taped together. She laid out the fluff beds and set the bowls in the corner closest to the kitchen. A litterbox was set next to her sliding glass door. A little bland and colorless but it was better than their living situation as recently.
The next day at work she picked up a few more cans of wet food. “Not feeding the strays I hope?” Her manager John joked. “Ah, no! My neighbor Misses Jones’s car is in the shop and her stallion is too old for hard food!” She lied. “Just being a good neighbor.”
She drove to the vet just before it closed for normal hours to grab the foals. Dr. Hoffman cleared Maybell for release but left a handwritten note with her paperwork: “Her experience was traumatic. She may relapse and injure another foal. Consider euthanasia after she delivers.” Anna tucked that away and signed consent forms for final payment. She loaded them all into her car. “Allright, let’s all go home!”
She pulled into her driveway. “Nu am mummah’s howse?” Maybell asked. Anna wasn’t sure what the vet had explained but she was still lethargic and dejected. How was she going to explain this all to the Fluffy. They were mentally like children, a bit smarter than the average dog but equally more helpless.
“Your momma misses you very much, but she can’t see you right now. So, miss Anna is going to take care of you until she can.” Maybell’s brain was obviously getting twisted with mental effort.
“Mummah nuu come get Maybeww?” the dejected mare asked.
“No, she can’t, but she really wants to.” Anna assured her.
“Den? Dis am miss Anna’s howse?” Maybell meekly asked.
“Yes, you’re going to stay with me. You won’t run away will you?”
“Nuu, Maybeww am gud fwuffy.” She chirped out defensively.
She let Maybell down to the ground and grabbed the carrier. She walked to the front door with Maybell in tow. A quick juggle of her keys and it was open. “Nyu mummah?” “Nyu home?” and other questions chirped from the crowded carrier.
“Yes, I need you all on your best behavior!” She looked down at who just stared through the gauntlet. “After you.” Maybell looked up at Anna and then back, then stepped through.
.
