You are Lilac, sitting in front of a muted TV late at night with your special friend by your side. He was away most of the day at a “courthouse”, for a “trial”. Words that you pretended to understand but… you don’t really get.
What you do know is that he’s working very hard to make the world a better place for you and your foals. You could tell he was exhausted when him and Daddeh came home, but insisted on staying up with you for at least a little while. He doesn’t even seem to have the energy to chat with you. That’s alright though. You can talk for the both of you.
“Pointy-wingie babbeh open see pwaces dis bwite time!” You said.
Clover made a small sigh. “Dat am… guud.”
“… Wha’ am wong?”
He sighed, heavily this time. “Cwobah nu am guud daddeh. Nu see babbehs.”
You leaned against his shoulder as he watched his children sleep. “Babbehs kno dat daddeh wub dem. Wiwac teww dem daddeh am doin’ ‘powtant tingies.”
“Nu am mowe ‘powtant dan dem.” He mumbled.
You sat in silence with him a moment longer. You could feel the sadness radiating off him, worming its way into your chest and breaking your heart to match his. Clover was selfless to a fault, everything he did, he did for others. He protected and cared for you often at the cost of his own comfort, and even though the old herd never shared with him he foraged for food alongside them. Clover was a good fluffy, possibly the best. You wished you could do something to cheer him up, but his sadness was so big and your hooves were so small.
And then an idea popped into your thinky place. A wonderful idea.
“Cwobah wan’ gib babbehs namesies?” You asked. “Eben tho’ babbehs sweepin’, Wiwac teww dem in bwite tiem. Den dey kno daddeh wub dem.”
“Das guud tinkie pwan.” Clover hopped down off the couch and you followed behind him, both of you sitting behind the fluffpile of sleeping foals. “But Wiwac hab tu name babbehs tuu, nu am faiw if nu.”
“Otay!” Your heart swelled, your foals would have names!
“Wha’ babbeh am fiwst?” Clover asked, gently stroking the brown foal with his hoof.
“Dat wun, dat am snuggwyest babbeh.” You smiled at him. “Wiwac tink see wittow bit of gween mane wast bwite tiem.”
“Hmm…” Clover pondered for a moment, examining his children in the soft light of the TV. “Wha’ bout Fowest? Babbeh am wike stwong twee.”
“Dat am pewfect!” You chirped, tail wagging.
“Mummah’s tuwn.” Clover pointed to the lime green foal. “Dat babbeh am next.”
You bit your lip, looking him over. He was smaller than the rest, and his green fluff reminded you of one of the fluffies lost in the barn fire… but that made you sad. Babies shouldn’t have sad names. If Forest’s mane really did grow in green, then they would match! So maybe a matching name?
“…Spwout?” You asked.
Clover nodded enthusiastically. “Dat am guud name, Fowest and Spwout!”
You grinned at him. “Den Cwobah name fiwstes babbeh.” You pointed at the purple pegasus, your first born.
“Babbeh wook wike mummah, babbeh should be Wiwac.” Clover chuckled.
“Nuuuuu! Am tuu confusin’!” You chided. “An’ den pointy-wingie babbeh hab be Cwobah!”
Clover grinned, resting his head on the edge of the bed to look at the splayed out alicorn foal. “Cwobah hab namesie fo’ pointy-wingie babbeh.”
“Oh?” You could see the love in his eyes, the adoration he had for his foals. You were careful not to favor any of your babies, but you knew this was not favoritism from your special friend. This was him making sure this baby would never feel the way he did.
“Babbeh am Noba. It am pwetty tingie in da sky. Aww pwetty cowwows, spawkwy.” He caught himself, clearing his throat uncomfortably. “If Wiwac wike dat namesie, Cwobah mean.”
You leaned against him, wrapping your hoof around him. “It am pewfect namesie.”
Clover suddenly sat up, shrugging off your hoof roughly.
“Wha’?” You asked, confused.
“Cwobah hewe sumtin’, gun gu check. Stay wif’ babbehs.” He scampered off into the kitchen before you could ask anything else.
You shook your head, Clover was such a nervous fluffy. “It am awwight babbehs.” You gave each one a kiss on their tiny heads, careful not to wake them. “Daddeh cum back, den puwpwe babbeh get namesie.”
You heard the back door open, and wondered what Clover could be doing. It was very late and quite dark out, what could he need from the garage?
The footsteps on the kitchen tile were heavy and distinctly human, putting an uneasy feeling in the pit of your stomach. Your daddeh was sleeping in the bedroom, so you didn’t think it could be him. You slowly stepped over the bed, tucking your foals securely under you.
A figure stepped into sight, broad shouldered and somewhat familiar. You squinted in the darkness, trying to identify this intruder. As he got closer, the pit in your stomach grew.
Dave stopped in the living room, one hand on his hip and the other holding a wire cage. “Hiya, shitrat. Long time no see.”
You stared, frozen for a moment. His eyes were hungry, grin wide and sinister. He wasn’t supposed to be here, Daddeh had said he wouldn’t be back again.
He took a step towards you, and you were snapped from your stupor. You inhaled sharply to call for help but Dave was faster, quickly grabbing your muzzle and squeezing it closed. “Oh, none of that.”
You struggled in his grasp, but with your hooves splayed out across your foals you had no leverage. Dave pulled out a rubber band and wound it painfully tight around your muzzle, snapping it onto your nose.
“There we go, no more problems.” He chuckled quietly as he stepped back, watching you struggle to get the rubber band off your face.
“Now where is your spechow fwend?” he said, his lip curling into a sneer as he mimicked fluffy speech.
You glared at him in silence, shaking your head.
“Yeah, I thought so.” He crouched down, setting the wire cage down next to him. His breath stank of beer and greasy food, his scruffy facial hair filled with stains and crumbs. “Don’t worry though, I know how to grease your fluffy wheels.”
His hand shot out, shoving you back and plucking one of your foals from under you. You pounced forward but were far too slow to stop him from yanking Nova into the air by her hind leg.
“So here’s the deal, your special friend or your baby?” He dangled her over your head, her frantic peeping sending your heart pounding as you tried your best to reach up for her. “Ooh, you had a little monster foal! How nice!” He said, flicking one of her flapping wings.
Tears pricked the corners of your eyes as you tried to figure out how to get out of this. You didn’t know where Clover was! He would have seen Dave come in, right? You sat back on your rump, looking wildly around the room for something, anything, that would help you.
A green hoof caught your attention, waving from behind the couch. Clover peeked out and pointed down the hall, towards Daddeh’s room. You looked that way, peering into the darkness for whatever your special friend was trying to direct you to.
Dave followed your gaze, nodding to himself. “In the bedroom with his daddeh, huh? Knew he was a faggot, but didn’t think he was into that.”
Dave opened the wire cage and roughly tossed little Nova into it, slamming it firmly shut and standing up with it. “Thanks, shitrat. I’ll keep this one, so as a reward you get to live. Enjoy your last few minutes of being a house fluffy.”
He pulled something from his waist and as he turned towards the hallway, Clover told you about these. A gun. Your blood ran cold as you realized what he meant. He was going to hurt your daddeh!
You struggled with the band on your mouth with renewed vigor, you had to warn him!
It was then that you saw Clover dart forward and jam his horn into Dave’s ankle.
“OW FUCK!” he screeched, stumbling and dropping both the gun and the wire cage as he fell backward. You flattened yourself over your foals as they chirped in distress, trying to soothe them. Clover darted between his legs, galloping for the hall.
“You FUCKING RAT!” Dave’s fist connected with Clover, sending him flying back behind the couch and out of sight.
“Dave?!” You looked up to see Daddeh standing in the hallway, his big gun on his shoulder. “What the fuck, man?”
“Fuck you!” Dave replied, reaching for his gun. “Your fucking shitrats-”
“You touch that and I’ll shoot.” Daddeh said cooly.
“Fuck you.” Dave seethed. “Fuck your shitrats, fuck your faggot friends, and fuck. You.”
“What the fuck are you doing here?” Daddeh asked, not lowering his shotgun. “Is that one of Lilac’s foals??”
“I’m not gonna let you get your stupid law passed.” Dave snarled. “You’re gonna ruin everything.”
“How… how do-”
“How do I know?!” He hissed. “I can’t fucking go online without someone bringing it up.”
“Dave…” Daddeh trailed off.
“Don’t you fucking talk to me like that!” You saw Dave’s hand scoot towards the gun lying on the floor. “I don’t need your fucking pity!”
“Are you drunk??” Daddeh asked.
“Why fucking wouldn’t I be? You’re ruining my fucking life!”
“What the fuck are you talking about?!”
“You and your FAGGOT friends and your STUPID fluff rights BULLSHIT!” He jabbed his finger towards daddeh. “You’re gonna make it so no one can lay a fucking finger on a shitrat without the cops getting called!”
“Yeah! Because it’s fucked up!” Daddeh shouted back.
Dave’s hand felt around blindly for the gun. If he got ahold of it, he would give your daddeh forever sleepies! Where was Clover? Someone had to stop him!
“God, this! They’re not worth SHIT!” Dave replied. “They’re worthless fucking creatures, why do you care more about them than real fucking people?!”
“This isn’t fucking normal man!” Daddeh said. “Normal people don’t spend their time looking for weaker creatures to make suffer!”
“There’s nothing fucking wrong with me!” Dave’s fingers grazed the grips of his gun, your breath caught in your throat.
Clover always saved you. Even now, he got hurt trying to protect you. You didn’t know where he was, or if he was okay. You looked down at your foals, then to Nova peeping in the wire cage. You always let Clover take care of you, get hurt for you, protect you. That wasn’t fair, was it? It was always him, never you.
You lowered your head, taking a slow step off the plush bed. You would protect him and the rest of your family. You said a silent apology to Clover for not realizing sooner.
“There is man! You broke into my fucking house!” Daddeh gestured around. “Fucking look at you, drunk all the time, spending your evenings in the dumpsters behind restaurants looking for ferals! This isn’t normal!”
“Better than a faggot like you, scooping shit all day!” You crept forward as Dave’s fingers wrapped around the grip of the gun.
“Listen man.” Daddeh lowered the shotgun slightly. “This isn’t right. You have to know that. Just… leave. Go home. I won’t call the cops or anything. You… you need help.”
You saw his fingers tighten around the grip and darted forward. “I DON’T NEED ANY FUCKING HELP!”
As Dave lifted the gun towards your daddeh you wrapped your hooves tightly around his wrist, pulling it down with all your might. Your hind legs left the ground for a moment as Dave struggled to shake you off. Your head rattled around but you held on as tight as you could, ignoring all the yelling around you and focusing on saving your family.
Dave grabbed you by the mane and ripped you off his arm, throwing you against the wall. Dazed from the impact, you looked up to see the gun pointed squarely at you.
BLAM!
A hard impact hit your chest, knocking the wind out of you and the world became hazy colors and loud ringing noises. You looked up to see Clover crawling towards you, front leg twisted into an unnatural position. He was hurt! You tried to reach for him but could only move your hooves slightly. When did they become so heavy?
Clover made it to you, his lips moving but no sound coming out of them. He bit down on the rubber band around your mouth, pulling it off. You tried to tell him you were sorry you let him get hurt but your voice wasn’t working either, the only sound in the room was the ringing noise getting more and more muffled by the second.
Clover looked so scared, you rested a hoof on his and smiled at him. You could feel something very warm and comfortable wrapping around you, you didn’t have anything to worry about. Your family, your foals, your special friend, they were all safe now. You could rest. He continued opening and closing his mouth as your eyes slid shut, the ringing finally fading away.
There was another very loud noise, then the faint smell of sketti before you let sleep take you.
…