BUTTERCUP
A tribute to Carpdime’s Buttercup
(continued from Chapter 5 of Avocado)
Cold.
That was the first thing that the yellow foal could remember. A harsh, unforgiving cold.
The yellow foal was a few months of age. Fluffy pony foals, like human babies, have rapidly developing brains in their first few months, and thus, like toddlers, do not retain proper memories until their second month after birth. However, and unlike human toddlers, fluffy foals are able to retain some basic memories, like speech, after they start developing proper memories.
So, when the yellow foal developed his first proper memory, the first thing he was aware of was being alone, inside a can. He could not remember how he ended up in the can.
~
Cold.
The yellow foal saw the apricot seed. For the first time, he recognized it as something that was constant: it had been there the night before, and the night before that. For the first time, he was able to make sense of how many nights he was with that apricot seed. But, as he thought of that, he had a vague memory of the many, many bad things that happened to him, that he couldn’t count.
He could feel the soreness on the back of his body. The day before, the day when he found the apricot kernel, he had found a white and orange thing on the ground. Not knowing any better, and thinking it to be a friend, the yellow foal proceeded to hug it.
A terrible pain ruptured throughout his body, as a bright monster or red devoured every remaining bit of his tailed, and gave the worst hurt to his rump. In a desperate attempt to flea the monster, Yellow jumped into a puddle. The monster ran away, but Yellow was dismayed to see his dear tail gone.
“Babbeh shud hav warm huggies, nu hav heawt huwties and be dummeh nu tail babbeh.”
~
Cold.
That was the only thing that the yellow foal could remember. A harsh, unforgiving cold.
It had happened so many times, that the young foal couldn’t count. Partly because he lacked an understanding of what a number is, but also because of the repetition of these little tragedies in his young life.
The only thing he ever knew was misery. Every time he woke up, a part of wish he would just return to sleep, where he would forget everything.
“Come on ewewy fwuffy, smiwe, smiwe, smiwe”
Yellow didn’t understand the speech he was hearing. Even though it was happy and joyous, our yellow foal had only known danger, sometimes masquerading as happiness. He instinctively ran back inside his can. Using the apricot pit as a rock, he tried his best to hide his face with it, peering to see what was making that noise.
“Wat dat?”
Yellow could see that it was another foal. A green foal. A foal much like the many others he had met before. As he looked, the yellow foal felt worried. He could vaguely remember the many times he had travelled with a friend, only to lose a friend to the cruel and harsh world.
“H-hewwo? Nyu fwen?”
Friend? What did that mean. Of all the foals he had met before, they never used that term, friend. The green foal kept using his smell-place to sniff the air. Then, he realized something.
“A fwen! Hewwo fwen!”
Yellow retreated a bit more behind the apricot pit. He knew this was a fellow foal, someone who was “onwy a widdwe babbeh”. But this time, Yellow didn’t feel like coming out. He was tired of everything, and for today, he just wanted to rest.
In most other cases when Yellow did this, the lost foal would just ignore him and run away, perhaps to fall victim to harshness of the world.
But our little green foal was not one of those foals.
Avocado went inside the can. It felt familiar, reminding him of the time he too was inside a similar can. Though the memory of the can grew more and more distant as the weeks passed, he could feel a sense of security as he entered a similar closed space. As he entered the aluminium interior of the can, he saw Yellow, hiding behind the apricot pit.
“Hewwo fwen! Nu be shy!”
Yellow’s face was mostly obscured by the pit, but Avocado could still see him. Avocado’s face was smiling, something that Yellow couldn’t trust. His vague memories reminded him of all those hapless smiles, moments before disaster.
CRACK! BOOM!
The sound of thunder was enough to make Yellow recoil further into the can, as he covered his hooves, shielding from the terrible sound he had heard. In an instance like this, the other foal too would have ran away, not understanding the nature of the situation.
But Avocado looked at the sky, and said, “Oh noes! Sky wawa am gunna faww.”
Avocado proceeded to go deeper into the can and sat himself beside Yellow. Yellow still had his eyes closed, his face covered, wishing for the terrible sound of thunder to go away, for the terrible wawa to just disappear.
“Nu be scaweies, fwen”, said Avo, “it jus’ am sky wawa.”
And then Avo placed his hoof on Yellow’s back. Yellow recoiled, not wanting to be hurt. However, the green foals touch was soft and non-threatening. Avocado brought his hooves around Yellow, and hugged him.
Yellow could not remember if he ever got a hug. He could not remember his mummah, or his daddeh. Or if he ever had those. For the many forevers that made up the many weeks earlier, he had only known running, and hiding, making use of burrows, and being quiet. But he was feeling a warmth, and something that he had not been accustomed to. For the first time, he was meeting a fellow foal who was not miserable.
CRACK! BOOM!
Yellow recoiled again, the tears streaming from his eyes, as he whimpered “Fwuffy hate sky munstah.”
“It nu am munstah,” said Avo, as he explained, “it just am sky daddeh pwaying mawbles.”
“Mawbles?”
“It am a toysie. Babbeh pway wif mawbles aww da time. Sky daddeh mu’ hab bigges’ mawbles!”
The thought of a giant fluffy in the sky playing with a toy seemed ridiculous to yellow. But it was also funny to think of.
“ Incee wincee spidah cwimb up da waterspow,
Dow’ feww da wawa
an’ wash da spidah ow’,
Ow came da sun
an’ da wawa am nu mowe,
and da incee wince spidah cwimb up da spow again,”
Avo was singing one of the songs he had learnt from the daycare. He wasn’t the best singer, but he kept hugging Yellow as he kept singing the song. Avo had done this Blueberry before, when the blue foal was afraid of thunder, it was a lesson he had learnt from Candy back at the daycare.
After a few minutes of singing, as the rain was pouring outside their can, Yellow had the courage to ask Avocado.a question.
“What am a spidah?”
“A spidah? A mustah wif many weggies. Wike, as many weggies as tuu babbehs!”
Yellow didn’t understand one of those concepts, as he asked Avo, “what am two?”
“It am a numbah. Wike, wun, tuu, thwee, fouw!”
As Avo said this, he showed each of his fluffy digits, waving each front leg, then wiggling each hind leg.
As Yellow tried to understand this concept, he turned his mind back to the description of the spider. As something with many legs.
“Babbeh hab seen spidahs befow.”
Avo nods, “Spidahs am munstahs, bu’, as wong as fwuffy nu huwties dem, munstah wiw nu come for yu!”
Yellow didn’t agree with that idea. He had been attacked by one too many monsters without being provoked.
~
After a while, the rain subsided. During this time, a fair amount of rainwater had been collated within the can. During a situation like this, Yellow wouldn’t come out of his can. He would stay in it, slowly drinking until the finished the water in it, or had to do his peepies (or poopies). For the current moment, the memory of thunder was still fresh in Yellow’s mind, and he felt like he could stay in that can for the entire day.
However, Avocado walked up, and got out of the can.
Yellow called out to Avo, and said “Nu go, pwease! Babbeh nu wun be awone!”
But Avo turned to Yellow and said, “Nu be afwaid fwen! Babbeh been hewe befow! Avo knu da wei!”
Yellow was not sure what Avo was saying. Although trust comes easily to fluffies, especially foals, the reticent memories in Yellow’s past made him afraid to go further than the rim of the aluminium can.
Avo, sensing Yellow’s fear, smiled. He went up to Yellow, turned his back to him, and wagged his tail, saying “Howd ma taiw.”
Yellow raised an eyebrow in confusion. Avo then explained, “Use mouf-pwace!” and mimicked the action by attempting to bite his own tail.
Yellow went up to Avo and, while initially hesitant, brought his teeth to Avo’s tail, and bit on it. Unlike his dirty fluff that had exposed to the elements, Avo’s tail was clean and smelled nice. The pleasantness of Avo’s tail felt reassuring.
Avo then said to Yellow, “Fowwow babbeh!”
~
For the next few hours, Avocado led Yellow across the pathway. Yellow had survived the wilderness for many a forever but, and while Avo had only been to this wilderness twice before in contrast, Avo was armed with one thing that Yellow didn’t have.
“Avo wememba! Dis am big cannie!”
And true enough, a giant trash bin towered over the two foals. The combined smell of thrown away items created a putrid aroma that even Yellow rejected, despite his familiarity with it. However, Avo, while disliking the smell, noticed something on the ground near the giant cannie.
It was a thing of crumpled paper. As Avo played around it like a ball, he used his hooves to unfurl it. Slowly, he could see two unfinished morsels of ‘something’. Whatever the something was, it definitely smelled good.
“Come fwen! Nummies!”
Yellow, having been used to eating dirt, grass and some really unsavoury things, took a bite off it. The taste of something so good invigorated him. It was a pleasant sensation in his tongue, and Yellow said a word he never realized he knew.
“Yummy!”
But the celebration was short lived. Avo’s smile dissipated as it became one of concern. Seeing an empty cup near the giant bin, Avo quickly grabbed Yellow’s tail, and beckoned him, quietly, to follow him, whispering “Fwen! We gotta go!”
Yellow, having experienced a situation like this before, instinctively followed Avo. As the two of them hid under the cup, they could see the creature that passed by them.
“Meowy munstah,” whispered Avo, as a large black cat walked past the bin. The cat, clearly a feral, looked left and right. Sniffing the air, the cat sensed the presence of the two foals. Avo and Yellow looked on in fear as the cat came closer to their cup.
Suddenly, the cat stopped. With a quick turn of its head, it saw a presence coming near it. The feline then quickly darted and was not seen by either foal in a very long time.
Her red hair glistened against the sunlight. Dressed in a comfortable combination of running shorts and shirt, the scarlet haired woman was jogging on the spot. She brought her left arm up to her chest level and was looking at some thingamajig on her wrist. She then slowly walked up to the bench beside the trash bin. Upon sitting down, she removed a water bottle that was placed in a pouch around her waist and proceeded to hydrate herself.
Yellow was wary of any foreign presence, both human and monster alike. However, he was caught by surprise when he saw Avocado’s immediate action upon seeing the redhead.
“Mummah Scawwet!”
The redhead looked around. She was a bit shocked, sensing that she had heard a familiar voice. As her mind started processing the nature of the voice, she looked down, where she saw our little green foal.
“Why hello there Avo! What are you doing here?” asked Scarlet, as she kneeled down to talk to our young green foal. Scarlet had volunteered at East Side Daycare a few times, and her met Avocado before.
“Avo am wif mummah Amber and mummah Candee, mummah Scawwet. Bu’ den Avo wememba dat dewe was a big fwuffy dat Avo wanted ta see again!”
Statue of a big fluffy, thought Scarlet. Avocado must have been referring to the statue of the soldier on horseback.
“That statue is quite far from here, Avo. Are you lost?”
“Avo nu am wost! Avo onwy had tu hidies from sky wawa. Sky wawa nuu guud fow fwuffy, can gib sickies!”
Scarlet nods, but asked the important question, “But Avo, you said you were with Amber and Candy. I believe that trip was this morning!”
And then Avocado realized that he was gone for too long.
“Oh no! Avo am in big twabbo!”
Scarlet laughed, as she proceeded to carry Avo in her palm, as she reassured him, “Don’t you worry Avo – I’ll get you to the daycare. Amber would be worried sick about you, as well as your grandad!”
“Mummah Scawwet! Babbeh met a nyu fwen!”
Scarlet smiled, wondering if Avo had made friends with some random insect or immobile thing.
“Oh, and whose your friend?”
Avo suddenly jumped off of Scarlet’s palm. It was not a very great height, and Avo managed to land on the soft grass. He then ran towards the cup.
“Come on, fwen! Nu be scawedies!”
The yellow foal remained quiet. He had been watching the exchange but had remained distrustful of the situation. Scarlet had been following and Avo and slowly lifted the plastic cup. She then saw the other little foal, with yellow fluff that matched the colour of the Buttercup flower.
“Well, hello there you most precious thing! Is this your classmate, Avo?”
Yellow remained silent. He had a continuously sad expression on his face.
Scarlet, trying to understand if the foal was lost like Avo, then asked, “Do you have a mum or dad?”
Yellow shook his head. And looked away. As he did so, the Scarlet noticed the burn marks on the tail section. Feeling worried, she picked him.
“You’re hurt! You poor thing, you need to see a doctor!”
~
Amber was at the Security Kiosk of the park. She had dismissed the class earlier but was now working with the park officials to find one missing green foal. This wasn’t the first time that Avocado had gone missing, as he had disappeared on a previous excursion before. Amber was feeling nervous as, despite his antics, Avocado was her best student. Candy was by her side and was worried too, though not as much as Amber.
“Mummah, nu hab wowwies. Fwens wiww find Avo!”
“Its easy for you to say that Candy,” said Amber, as she held her fluffy quite tightly, “I’ve seen cases like this too often. It’s a dangerous world for fluffies out there.”
Just as she said this, she saw a red-haired woman jogging towards the kiosk. Amber recognized it as her close friend, Scarlet.
“Oh hey there Scarlet. Training for a marathon?”
“The Marathon was last month, Amber. No, I take it you’re missing someone?” grinned Scarlet, as she presented our young green foal to her.
“Mummah Amba!”
“Avo!”
Upon receiving Avocado in the palm of her hand, she brought the little foal to her face, to let Avo hug her. She then gave him to Candy, who too promptly hugged him.
“Babbeh Avo am back! Mummah Candee hah heawt happies!”
Candy’s face then turned from one of gratitude, to a serious demeanour.
“Avo, babbeh mus’ stay wiff hewd! Nu wunnies away from wesson! Avo hab been a bad fwuff!”
Avocado looked down on the ground. His curiosity had gotten the better of him, as he apologised to both Amber and Candy.
“Babbeh am sowwy, mummahs.”
Amber sighed, as she gave her judgement.
“You know you’ll have to go into the sorry box on Monday, right?”
Avocado nodded, as he accepted his punishment. “Babbeh undah-stan.”
“I hate to disturb this moment,” interrupted Scarlet, as she faced Amber, “but Avocado found a lost foal.”
” Oh?”
Scarlet then presented the yellow foal to Amber. Amber noticed the burn marks on the tail section, as well as his emaciated figure.
“Oh dear. This poor foal is clearly lacking in nourishment, and those burn marks look fresh. Where did you find him?”
“In the middle of the park. Apparently, Avocado found him.”
“Well, he’s definitely not one of mine,” said Amber, a bit to Scarlet’s shock.
“Then this must have been an abandoned foal! The poor thing!!”
Amber quickly knew what she had to do. She procced to take out her phone, as she called one of her friends, a veterinarian.
“Hey doc! Yeah its me, Amber. I’m afraid we got another case.”
~
As Amber had a car, she was able to deliver Avocado back to his home, then quickly drove to the nearest vet to have the Yellow foal checked out. While on the trip, the yellow foal was in the presence of Candy.
“Babbeh hab a name?”
Yellow shook his head, saying “Fwuffy dunno wat dat is.”
Candy could sense that the Yellow was frightened, being in a pet carrier, and travelling in a metaw munstah, the sights and sounds were too foreign to him. Candy then proceeded to wrap herself around the yellow foal, as she coo’ed gently.
“Nu be scawedies, Babbeh. Mummah am hewe. Huggies wiww make heawt huwties gu’ way.”
As she hugged Yellow in the pet carrier, Candy then softly sang.
“Mummah wuvs babbeh,
Babbeh wuvs mummah
Babbeh gets huggies
Nu hab heawt huwties”
For the first time in his life, Yellow felt ease. He felt a warmth and care similar to the one Avo gave when he hugged him earlier. But this big fluffy reminded him of something that he always longed for, but never received. Feeling at peace, Yellow fell asleep.
~
“He’s fine. He’s clearly malnourished, but, I’m a little surprised.”
It was night. Amber was in the waiting room with Candy, hoping to hear from the doctor about the yellow foal’s condition.
“What’s so surprising?”
“Judging from his musculature, and his reflexes, he’s actually a bit more nimble and faster than other fluffies of his breed.”
Feeling a bit annoyed, Amber then asked, “That’s not really important! He had those burn marks on his tail area!”
“Ah yes. Fresh burns, most likely from a cigarette. Whoever did that must have been a terrible person. Its not permanent damage, but he does have third degree burns on his rump area.”
“Third degree! Isn’t that serious?”
“A little bit, but its only damage on the follicles on his rump. It does mean that he’s not going to grow a proper tail though, even as an adult.”
Just as he said that, Amber was surprised to see someone walk into the clinic.
“Scarlet! Why are you here?”
Scarlet still dressed in her sports attire, panted “I ran here. I wanted to know how the foal was doing.”
Amber was a bit confused by this interest that Scarlet had in the foal, wondering why she would make the distance to find out how the foal was.
“That foal reminded me a lot of the fluffy I had a while back. My dear Buttercup, one I adopted as an adult. She died not too long ago though.”
“I’m sorry to hear.”
“But anyway, I was wondering if it was possible for me to adopt him.”
Both Amber and the vet looked at Scarlet with incredulity. The vet, trying his best to be diplomatic, stated formally, “We’ll have to see how his condition is. Once we can check if he’s healthy, and then process some paperwork, I’m sure that you’ll be adopt him soon.”
~
And that was how the Scarlet met Buttercup. Within a few days, Buttercup recovered and, after settling the necessary paperwork, Scarlet took Buttercup home.
As for Avocado, he got into the sorry box twice. First by grandpa, then by Amber.
…