Written sober, edited high. I apologize for any fuckery I missed.
You stood in your back yard, staring slack jawed at the raging inferno where your barn once stood. A team of firefighters buzzed around it, barking orders and wrangling hoses. Cash had understood when you said there was an emergency, and you packed your fluffies back up and sped home to a pillar of smoke rising over your home.
“I’m really sorry son.” Officer Freedman set a hand on your shoulder.
“Did… did any of them make it out?”
“The fluffies? Just a few, I got three in the back of my cruiser, they’re unharmed other than a bit of smoke inhalation. There was a blue one I had my trainee bring to the nearest vet, she was pretty badly burnt but he said she’ll be okay.”
Three, only three. There were seventeen you left in the barn, plus foals. All gone up in smoke. “Can I see them?” The burnt one was likely Bluebell, she must have tried to get them out.
“I think you should deal with your house fluffy first.” He pointed over to your back window, where you could see Clover pressed against the glass.
You ran over and unlocked the door, and he took a flying leap into your arms, wailing. His hooves and nose were bleeding from banging on the window and covered your arms in bloody snot. “It’s okay bud, I’m here.” You held him tight as he sobbed.
“He’s the one who called us.” Officer Freedman said, standing behind you.
“…what?”
“Cwovew see fiya, du wat Biggest Birdy say to du.” He wiped his nose with his hoof. “It nu sabe fwuffies.”
“Hey bud, you saved a few. That’s better than none. You did an amazing thing.” The officer noticed your confused look and continued, “We got a call from what we thought was a toddler, when we got here he was sitting in the window with your phone in his mouth. I didn’t see any kids inside, so it had to be him.” Your landline that you hadn’t used in years was hanging off the hook by the couch. You had been setting up Sesame Street for Clover any time you left him home alone, he must have been learning from it more than you thought.
“Cwovew nu sabe Wiwac!” He wailed, and continued to sob in your arms.
“Lilac was with me, buddy, she’s okay!” You tried to soothe him, but he just continued crying. You adjusted him to one arm, and brought him out to your garage. “I’m going to bring her in here, along with everyone else, okay?” Clover sniffled, letting you set him on the concrete floor. You went back out and opened your trailer, stopping the first few fluffies trying to leave with your foot. “Something bad has happened, fluffies. I’m going to need you to follow me into the garage instead of the barn, okay? Everything is alright, it’s going to be okay, I just need you to follow me.” The fluffies inside murmured, unsure of what you meant.
“Twust daddeh! Wiwac wead fwuffies!” Lilac shouldered her way to the front, smiling up at you.
“I can always count on you, girl.” You leaned down and ruffled her curly mane. Lilac was the backbone of your business. She trusted you with her life, even when she was terrified she would follow your lead. You could see on her face she was nervous, but a strong smile from her was all the other fluffies needed to calm down and follow her to the garage. When you opened the side door, Lilac gasped and rushed to hug Clover.
“Cwovew! Why saddies?” She said into his neck as he held her tight. The other fluffies filed in around them.
“Cwovew thought… thought yu gone foebah!” At that some of the fluffies in the room gasped, and began to whisper among themselves.
Officer Freedman cleared his throat. “I hate to interrupt this, but I need to talk to the green one.”
“Clover? Why?” You looked back at the pair hugging, crying, smiling together.
“He might have seen something. I know fluffies aren’t usually good witnesses, but he was aware enough to call for help, maybe he can tell us how this happened.”
“Alright.” You crouched down to the pair. “The nice officer wants to talk to you about what you saw.” Clover looked up at you, tears and snot running down his face. “It will be quick, I promise, and Lilac can come with you.”
He looked to Lilac, who smiled and held her arms up to be picked up. With a deep breath, he nodded. “Otay. Wiww teww nice offishew what happen.”
You set them on your porch swing, with a chair across for the officer. “So, you saw the fire at the barn, right?” Clover nodded. “Where did it start?”
“Da doows. Cwovew thought… thought nu fwuffies could get out.” His voice broke as he spoke, and Lilac hugged him tighter.
“They did, though. Did you see anything before the fire? Anyone?”
Clover thought for a moment, then replied, “hoomans, twee of dem. Saw dem in the yawd, buh wen back to tee bee.”
“Hmm,” Freeman scribbled on a tiny notepad. “Did you see what they were wearing?”
“Bwack on top, bwue on bottom.”
“Black jackets, black shirts…?”
Clover shook his head. “Nu kno. Bwack.”
“That’s alright buddy, you’ve done more than enough.” Freeman closed his notebook. “Let me know if the blue one has any information, she’s at Bridgeview veterinary hospital.”
“Her name is Bluebell.” You replied.
“Bwuebeww huwt?!” Clover jumped to his feet.
“She got a few burns, the vets assured my guy that she was going to be okay.”
“Bwuebeww huwt! Cwovew do nuffing!” He fell to the ground, pressing his face into his hooves.
“Cwovew du gud!” Lilac insisted, wrapping him up in a hug once again.
“It seems you’ve got a lot on your hands, I’ll leave you to it.” Officer Freedman held out a business card to you. “I’ll call you if I get any more information, but it sounds like arson to me. If you don’t hear from me in a few days give me a call.”
You took the card from him. “Thanks…”
“I know it sucks son, but my boys will do their best to find whoever did this.” He didn’t sound hopeful. You didn’t feel hopeful. “Let me get the fluffies out from my patrol car and I’ll be out of your hair.”
In the back of his car, shivering and sooty, were three fluffies. Breezy, a blue and yellow pegasus was overjoyed to see you, running across the seats and leaping into your arms. Huddled against the far door was Parsnip, a white and green unicorn. The one who had been visiting his mates grave every day to bring her flowers and tell her about the news. Poor guy, he didn’t need more loss.
“C’mon out buddy, it’s all safe now.” You held out your arms for him. He stood revealing a pink and green mare. Strawberry, who just had her foals last week. She was curled up tightly on the floor carpets, singing mummah songs softly. “Oh… Strawberry…”
“Bwuebeww gu back fo babbehs…” Parsnip trailed off. Strawberry choked back a sob at the mention of her foals but continued her soft singing.
You handed Breezy off to the officer and picked up Parsnip. “C’mon Strawberry, let’s go inside.”
“…wif babbehs…?” She looked up at you hopefully.
Jeez. “Uh… c’mere, I’ll carry you.” You avoided her question. You didn’t have the emotional energy to tell a mother her foals were dead. She slowly shuffled towards you, looking behind you as if her foals would be there. You weren’t sure how you were going to tell her.
For that matter, how were you going to tell all the fluffies in the garage?
