You sat in your truck, looking from the two fluffy ponies sitting on your passenger seat, trying to figure out the best way to carry them both at once. Lilac was now immobile, her abdomen so bloated that her hooves struggled to touch the ground. “How am I…” you glanced over towards the community center Cash directed you to, hoping to see a familiar face by the doors. “…I might have to do two trips.”
“Nu weab Wiwac awone!” Clover protested. Lilac nodded in agreement.
“Okay, I can’t carry her safely and you at the same time. It’ll only be a moment, you can stay in the car and I’ll leave Lilac with-”
“Nu! Cwobah can wawkies!”
“It’s… it’s a parking lot, I don’t know…” you saw the determination in his eyes and sighed. “Okay. You stay right beside me, you do not wander off, and if anything spooks you I need you to promise to run either straight to the doors or back to the truck”
“Cwobah pwomise.”
You carefully picked up Lilac, trying to keep as little weight on her belly as Clover hopped out the driver’s side door.
You kept your head on a swivel as you hurried across the parking lot, Clover trotting at your heels. All it took was one asshole to rev his engine at you and Clover could be a green smear on the pavement, but somehow you made it to the doors unscathed.
With a sigh of relief you pushed them open, letting you into a well lit but very dated space. The carpets were typical cheap office carpet and very well worn. A semicircle of folding chairs was arranged around a table against the wall, with one chair behind it.
“Sam!” Cash greeted you, with a dark haired woman following behind him.
“Hey Cash!”
He clapped his hand firmly on your shoulder. “Great that you made it, this is Tara, our resident lawyer.”
“Cash I’m hurt!” She said, clutching her chest dramatically. “We’ve known each other for years and you call me just the league lawyer?”
Cash flushed sharply. “Well- I mean- I didn’t mean it like that, I just…”
“Cash and I are old friends, he served with my brother for years. I did legal work for the military at the time, so we all met up for cards and drinks a few times a week. Still do, actually.”
“Ohhhh! You’re the sister under the table!” you said, remembering his missent text.
Tara cackled as Cash curled into himself in shame. “And you’re who he sent that to!” She flopped an arm over your shoulder. “Between you and me, I had him under the table by the end of the night.”
Cash plopped heavily onto one of the folding chairs, head in his hands while you laughed at his expense.
“So,” Tara leaned down to talk to Lilac, “who’s this little soon mummah?”
“Am Wiwac!” She chirped, waving her hooves.
“Lilac? What a pretty name!” she scratched Lilac under the chin, earning her a small coo.
“An dat-” she pointed to Clover hiding behind your leg, “-am spechow fwend Cwobah!”
“I’ve heard a lot about you, it’s nice to meet you!” Tara said, crouching down to speak to him.
“…Hewwo…” Clover muttered from behind your leg.
“You know, my girlfriend would love you two. Let me go get her!” Tara gave the fluffies a small wave as she walked away.
You turned to see Cash still curled on the chair. “You good, man?”
“…Yeah. I just, uh, need a minute.” He took a deep breath before rising, still red cheeked.
“All in good fun man, I promise.” You clapped your hand on his shoulder as Tara returned with a red haired woman in a wheelchair.
“Hello!! Oh Tara you were right, she’s beautiful!” The woman said, holding her hands out towards Lilac.
“Nice wady tink Wiwac am pwetty?!” Lilac squealed, wriggling happily.
“Yes, you’re one of the prettiest girls I’ve ever met!”
Tara rolled her eyes. “I should have known I’d always be second place in your eyes.”
“Hush.” She snapped at Tara. Turning to you and your fluffies, “I’m Chelsea, I run a fluffy shelter and do fluff-care during the meetings. I’m very excited to spend time with you two!”
“Clover is going to stay with us for the meeting, I think it’ll be good for him.” Cash interjected. “But Lilac should go have fun.”
You let Chelsea take Lilac, who snuggled into her lap. “Wiwac wike yu wheewy-ting, nice wady!”
“My wheelchair? It’s fun isn’t it? I’ll give you a ride over to the playpen, there’s tons of new friends for you to meet!”
“Cwobah cum too!” Clover interjected, scampering over to Chelsea.
“Clover, you promised to give us a chance.” said Cash.
Clover chewed his lip, looking between Cash and Lilac, a worried furrow between his brows.
“Spechow fwend, Wiwac be fine.” She waved a hoof at him. “Nice wady am nicey. Wiwac be otay.”
“… Otay. If Chew-see pwomise nuffin’ bad happen.”
“I will protect her with my life.” Chelsea said, her voice suddenly somber and serious.
Clover nodded, and turned to you. “Am weady.”
“They’re just going to talk, bud.” You said as Chelsea rolled off with Lilac. “We’re going to listen to them talk and hear their plans to make things better for fluffies.”
“Hm.” Clover hopped up onto one of the plastic chairs, taking a seat next to Cash. You sat on his other side, watching the members of the Hugbox League take their seats.
There wasn’t quite enough people to fill every chair, but the majority were taken by someone. You saw Dan off to one side, laughing loudly with a group of similar biker types. Near the front were some younger women, chatting among each other. A few seats down from you were an older couple, sitting quietly with their hands in their laps. A pretty wide array of people, far more diverse than you expected. Hugboxers had a reputation for being college girls and neck bearded basement dwellers, but this was a pretty fair slice of the local population.
“Alright, let’s get started!” A voice called from the front and a tall, blonde woman sat down at the front table. “Welcome to the meeting everyone, it’s great to see you all here again. For the new faces in the audience, welcome! I’m Jessie, sitting president. We have a bit of business to go over to start with…” She trailed off, pulling out a small notepad.
“First, the Hooves and Hearts shelter is overwhelmed as of late, which is partially our fault. They said they need around 10 foster homes capable of taking at least one fluffy off them to stay under capacity. Anyone have ideas?”
“I think my guys could take at least a few.” Dan said.
“How many is a few?”
“Uhh…” he looked to one of the men near him. “Let’s say five.”
“Can any of them take multiples?”
“Oh you know it.” Dan said. “I could take at least one, depending on how well they get along with my home crew.”
“Perfect.” Jessie scribbled down on her notepad. “Anyone else?”
“We could take as many as five.” The woman of the couple down the row from you said. “More if there’s foals.”
“Thank you, I will keep that in mind!” She noted that down as well. “Everyone else, keep an ear out for if I need more space. Up next…” she flipped the page and sighed softly.
“We helped remove fluffies from an illegal mill earlier this week. It was… not pretty to say the least. Multiple layers of incest, tiny cages, and at least one case of sexual abuse.”
You grimaced as the gathered hugboxers muttered their disgust. Clover pawed at your leg, head tilted in confusion.
“Uh… bad special huggies, I guess.” You whispered to him. “But a human doing that to a fluffy.”
“Das awfuw!” Clover hissed.
Cash nodded. “Horrible.”
“One of the victims is being housed by Cash in case his testimony is required, but we all know it won’t do much. The perpetrators go to trial next month, and short of a turnout to the courthouse to make our presence known there’s not much more we can do.”
A low murmur rippled through the crowd, folks shaking their heads slowly. It was a shame, but the cops didn’t even care about your barn fire. Getting a judge to give a shit about some biotoys was out of the question.
“Yu am wiaws!!” Clover shouted suddenly, standing on his seat.
“Clover-”
Cash cut you off. “No, let him speak.”
“Yu nu cawe about fwuffy!” He stomped his hoof for emphasis.
“…Would you like the floor?” Jessie asked.
“Nu wan yu stupi’ fwoow!”
“She means, do you want to go up and talk to everyone?” You explained quietly.
Clover huffed, jumping down from his chair and stomping to the front of the room. Jessie stood to pick him up but he ignored her, jumping onto her chair and then onto the table.
“Yu say yu wub fwuffies, buh when fwuffies nee’ hewp yu say nu!”
“We did lots-” she started.
“It nu enuff!” Clover snapped at her. “Yu nu am fwuffy, Yu nu knu’ wha’ it wike!” The room was silent as he continued. “Fwuffy am smaww, get huwty easiwy, nu hab hewp! Fwuffy nee’ hoomans fo’ ebwyting! It am scawy tu be fwuffy! Hoomans say wiww hewp fwuffy aww time, nu am twu! Gib huwties! Ow du nufin an wet fwuffy get huwties!” He pointed an accusing hoof at the gathered hugboxers. “Yu am big! Yu hab… hab powah! Du sumting wif it!!”
“What more can we do?” she asked.
The silence settled on the room heavily, broken only by Tara speaking up from the front row. “We could push the trial.”
“What do you mean?”
Tara stood, brushing off her lap. “The county is going to give them a slap on the wrist, but if we push for a state trial we might be able to build up some support to give her a real punishment.” She paused, looking to Clover. “Hell, we get it all the way to the Supreme Court we might change some laws.”
“But what about Surfer? There’s no way he’s okay enough for all that would entail.” Jessie said. “The poor fluffy has been through enough, I can’t imagine him wanting to stand trial.”
“Wai yu nu ask? Wai make choose fow fwuffy??” Clover retorted.
“No… you’re right.” Jessie leaned onto the table to address the room. “For far too long we have been treating these creatures as somewhat intelligent animals. They’re not, they’re something more. They should have the right to make their own choices. Decide their own destiny.”
“There’s no way we’re getting anywhere!” A man in the second row yelled. “We’re already nutjobs to most people, they never listen to us!”
“Wai nu twy?!” Clover snapped back.
“Yeah, what do we have to lose then?” Jessie said. “Our reputation really can’t get worse. If Tara is willing to take the case pro bono-”
“I am.”
“-then it’s just canvassing, getting the word out and showing up. We already do all that! It’s a long shot, but if this works we could have proper fluffy rights!” She lifted her fist in the air triumphantly.
A low mutter rippled around the room, you looked to Cash, who seemed as shocked as you.
“We vote on it. All in favor of pushing this trial as far as we can get it?”
Hands shot up around the room.
“All opposed?”
A much smaller number of hands went up.
“All abstaining?”
You slowly raised your hand, unsure if you really got a vote.
“Then the motion passes. We will shelve all non-essential tasks to focus on this. Tara, are you willing to take charge of the legal aspect?”
“Already started.” She didn’t look up from her phone as she replied, furiously tapping away.
“Perfect. Cash, I assume you’re still willing to house him but do you need any help with transportation?”
“Not at the moment, I will let you know if that changes.”
“Perfect. The next item on our docket was going to be organizing protests at a fluffy mill getting set up downtown but… I think we can agree that can be put off. If there is no further business, meeting adjourned.” She slapped her hand down on the table to imitate a gavel.
You turned to Cash as the room exploded into discussion, somewhat in shock. “Is this…”
“Normal? Hell no. Usually we just shuffle around fosters and plan the next ‘stand with signs and yell’ protest. This is…” he trailed off.
“Huh.” Up at the head table, Jessie and Clover were in deep conversation. She was nodding along with what he was saying, you couldn’t quite make it out over the discussion of the crowd. “I should go talk to Clover.”
“Yeah, I’ll catch you on the way out.”
You made your way to the front of the room, where Jessie was writing furiously as Clover spoke. “-and that would help?”
Clover nodded. “It am hawd to twust hoomans, fwuffy nu can teww wha’ am wie ow twuth.”
“Hey, uh…”
“Ah, you’re Clover’s-” she paused, looking to him.
“Daddeh.”
“Daddeh, nice to meet you.” She held out your hand for you to shake. “Jessie Engleman, president of the Hugboxer’s League.”
“It’s, uh, nice to meet you.”
“You have quite the fluffy here.” She put her hands on her hips, looking down at Clover. “I’ve met a lot of fluffies, few have given me such a thorough dressing down.”
“He can be… opinionated, sorry.”
“No, no! We needed to hear it.” She held her hand out to Clover. “I want to do better by your kind, and I’m happy to call you a partner in this fight.”
Clover hesitantly put his hoof in her hand, she grinned as she shook it.
“So… what do you need from us?” You asked.
“Well, I’d love to have more time to pick your brain, Clover. If you’ll have me.”
“Yu mean tawkies? Suwe.”
“Awesome. Let me give your Daddeh my number and we’ll be in touch.” She pulled a card out of her wallet and handed it to you. “And of course you two are full members, don’t worry about any dues or anything.”
“Oh, thanks.” You tucked the card away. “You ready to go, bud? Is there anyone else you want to talk to?”
Clover shook his head, reaching his hooves up to be picked up.
“It was wonderful meeting you, please don’t be a stranger!” Jessie called as you made your way across the room to where Cash and Tara were chatting by the door.
“Cwobah!” Lilac called from Tara’s arms.
“Wiwac hab fun?” Clover asked.
“YUS! Miss Chew-see am suuuu nice! She teach Wiwac aww about babbehs and pwetty songs fo’ dem!” She wiggled her hooves for emphasis.
“Dat am guud. Yu show Cwobah songs on way home?”
“Yus!”
“Hey Clover,” Cash interjected, “do you remember our deal?”
Clover chewed his lip for a moment before replying. “Cwobah du.”
“And…?”
“Wait, what deal?” You asked.
“Cwobah… du feew bettah.” He continued, ignoring the question.
“That’s great!” Cash ruffled his mane, smiling wide. “These are good folks, they want good things for you.”
Clover nodded, you tried not to laugh at the very serious look on his face.
“And I couldn’t find a range that would let you come. Well, not as a shooter that is.”
“Wait, range?!” You asked, baffled.
“You don’t have to worry about that.” Cash clapped a hand on your shoulder. “My gamble paid off.”
“Gamble?!”
“C’mon, I’ll help you get these two to the car.” Tara said, linking her arm in yours and pulling you out the door.
“Wait, what do you mean, gamble?!” You called back to Cash.
He just smiled and waved from the doorway.