Apologies for the haitus.
The normal Fluffmart insurance policy would have a fluffy placed in a long-term daycare kennel. Given that Elizabeth had established such a well-furnished saferoom, Anna assumed she had anxieties about leaving her fluffy with a stranger who might abuse it, or have it accidentally placed in a communal setting where it would get bullied. These weren’t impossible, but remained rare high-attention news stories. More than a few groomers had left pets in dryers until they cooked to death.
It was an irony that her effort to protect them had resulted into the month-long hell they endured. It would be a shame for them to suffer some freak kennel accident. Especially if the kennel employees found the bones in her litterbox. A fear manifested in her mind. How would the foals react if they saw bones? She began to work out a plan in her head.
As Anna guided Maybell to her living room she gave her the breakdown. “Now, I work most days, but I will feed you before I leave and after I get home. I will let you all play in my backyard if you behave, and I will let you have sgettis once a week if you don’t make bad poopies or break anything.” The carrier shook in her hands “Sgettis?” a chorus of foals chirped. They had never had them before; they probably never had a solid meal. The one plate sat a few feet away from them as they drank milk yesterday, but they didn’t even recognize it.
She set the carrier down and opened the door. The foals all spilled out and ran around with renewed energy from the constant formula they had been drinking and some vitamin shots from the vet. They noted the foals had underdeveloped jaws from a prolonged milk diet and some social deficiencies as well due to the isolation. The last one out was the grey colt; he was a little shakier on his legs but still healthy.
Fluffies were not natural animals so a proper transition from liquid to solid food wasn’t possible. It required human intervention for domestics. In the case of ferals, they lucked out by prechewing soft plants for their foals or digging through garbage for leftovers.
She let them all run around as she called Maybell over to the hallway on the other side of the gate. She shut the gate and kneeled down to be closer to eye level. “Hey Maybell…” she said in a low soft tone “…I…I uh know about your alicorn foal.” Maybells eyes widened in fear, and she immediately looked away in shame. She reached her hand down to catch her head, thinking for a moment that she might make a run for it. “Hey.” She felt tears drip down over her hand.
“Hey now. It’s ok. You were starving.” Maybell looked back at Anna but still hung her head down in shame. “Nuu am weason…” Maybell sniffed. “What do you mean?” Anna was concerned with that response. Desperation was understandable but now she wondered if she really had something wrong mentally. The tears of guilt still didn’t match up.
“Maybeww hab biggest hungwies an tummeh huwties buh nuu am weason… Maybeww wuz angwy at bestus bestus. Bestus wuz actin wike wowstest smawty, gibe mummah sowwy hoofsies, gibe tummeh bebbeh sowwy hoofsies. Maybeww onwy make bestus bebbeh bestus fow mummah. Mummah Wizbeff wuv awi- awi-” She sobbed and struggled to get words out. Anna nodded at her to continue.
“Wingy pointie bebbehs! Mummah wan keep bestes wingy pointy babbeh sawfe fow mummah buh bestes bebbeh am jus a meanie bebbeh dat steaw aww da miwkies fwom bwuddahs an sistahs. Maybeww angwy at mummah. Maybeww dink dat mummah fowget maybeww an nuu come bawk.” She sobbed and tried to hug Anna’s kneeling leg. “Wewe am mummah!? Wan mummah Wizbeff!” Anna wrapped her arms around the distraught mare, consoling her.
The foals had begun to watch the scene from the other side of the living room. Fortunately, they were too far away to hear the first half but were now fully transfixed on the scene. “Mummah nuu cwy!” “Gib huggies tuu feew bettah!” “Huggies make heawt huwties gu ‘way!” Maybell began to calm down and looked up at Anna again. “Nuu am angwy?” Anna smiled at the devastated mare. “No, I’m not.” She glanced over at the foals and then back. “Do they know?” Maybell looked over at her foals. “Nuu, dey wuz sweepin’, onwy Maybeww and bestus wuz wakies.”
“Nimbus doesn’t know either?” A worse look of shame washed over her. “Nuu, speciaw fwen nuu am knu… am speciaw fwen okeh?” Anna patted Maybell on the head, “we think he’s gonna pull through, but I need you to be strong for me, ok?” sniff “Okeh…”
“Now, one more thing.” Anna whispered “We can say that your bestest ran away but I don’t want them getting scared seeing bones or fluff in your poopies. Can you only make poopies when I’m around and call me to clean them up?” The image materialized inside Maybell’s mind of a dead fluffy in her poop, she felt sick at the thought. She swallowed a gag and nodded. Anna took Maybell outside to relieve herself and then returned. No bones or fluff, yet.
She set up FluffTV for them and heated up a can of foal formulated sgettis for them to all share. “Who’s ready for sgettis?” She asked. “Sgettis!? Weawy?” They all swarmed her legs trying to climb up to the sgettis in her hands but failing. “No sgettis if you can’t behave.” This but an immediate kibosh on their rambunctious jumping and they all stepped back and waited, they were antsy and the silver pegasus spun like a dog chasing its tail.
She scooped the sgettis into the food bowl and stepped back. “Remember to share.” They took that as permission to eat and all swarmed the bowl. “Dis am da nummies mummah wuz eatin’” “Bestes nummies” “Wuv nyu mummah Anna!” She walked over to Maybell who watched her foals with a sad look. She set the remaining sgettis in the original glass bowl she used to microwaved them in front of the mare “What’s wrong?” Maybell looked down at the food. “Am nuffin. Am jus’ dat speciaw fwen wuz ‘spose to eat fiwst sgettis with bebbehs.” She slowly forced down the food as tears dripped from her face.
“Well, he’ll get to have lots of sgettis with them when he gets better. For now, I need you eating too so he can meet all your tummy babbies and eat sgettis with them too.” These words of encouragement got Maybell to eat more quickly. She even started to hum mummah songs to herself intermittently.
Anna fell asleep with Maybell in her lap watching a rerun of Flufftastic Friends. The foals were completely enraptured. She woke to a paused TV screen and an “Are you still watching?” message. She turned off the TV and tried to move. The whole litter was on the couch now. They had made a step by piling up towels and blankets to scale a whole foot up to the seat and curled up against her legs. It was surprising that they had warmed up to humans almost immediately despite having an almost feral upbringing. She credit Maybell for teaching them. She decided to stay and went back to sleep under a makeshift fluff pile.
