1 Year Later
Monday: 8:47am
Lewis Carter happily clocked into work at his usual earlier time and made his way to his office, along the way he passed Bay 1, waving to Frederick Peterson who was on the phone trying to buy some land for their new warehouse. He passed by Bay 4, now thankfully long shut and waiting for refurbishments, he passed Bay 7 and gave the nearest security camera a middle finger to mess with Jackson for bit, he passed by Bay 18, having been Josef-free for the last six months, he passed by Bay 30, seeing Katherine scolding a mare for neglecting her foals, until finally he arrived at Bay 45. The place where it all started.
Lewis Carter had done it, he’d turned Frederick’s Farm around.
Not that it had been easy, as the past year had proven. The incident with Patrick was a one-off but Lewis and the other handlers were on guard to make sure it never happened again, drilling into the parents the importance of equality training for their foals. Lewis even took to calling up several previous buyers to check up on them and their Fluffies, something Peterson was against as it sent a bad message, thankfully nothing came out it.
Lewis had noted that Kane and Janet weren’t the same after Patrick’s death, naturally considering the circumstances, but even still the depression between them hurt their relationship. It wasn’t until Jennifer suggested couples therapy to get the two of them talking that they finally broke through and cried together, each of them blaming themselves for Patrick’s smarty syndrome before realising that neither of them were to blame. They came through stronger than ever…
And naturally being Fluffies, they were making their next litter less than an hour later.
The only real issue that came about in the last year was when the city council tried to force Peterson to start taking in ferals again since The Farm was the only place large enough to house the sheer number of them. Peterson refused, saying he only took them in at first because it was beneficial to him, now it no longer was and the council had bided their time waiting for him to change his mind when he was never going to. It was a long stream of arguments back and forth that lasted for several months, even forcing Peterson and Lewis to go to the council chambers to argue their case several times.
In the end, the feral population sorted itself out. In an odd stroke of luck, the public conscious around Fluffies had improved since Carter’s Creature Comforts had come into effect and now more people were adopting ferals as friends or mates for their own designer Fluffies. It was joked that because Carter’s Fluffies were essentially supermodels, the ferals were more likely to behave for a chance to get closer to them.
That wasn’t to say that everyone took to the new way of thinking, there were still several abusers in the city and Lewis couldn’t leave the house without seeing at least one Fluffy corpse or a mother pining for her lost foals, but it was a start.
Back in the present, Lewis opened the door to Bay 45 and was greeted by an excited Martha.
“Woo-ish, Fewi-sitty hab babbehs wast dawk-time.”
“Excellent Martha, thank you. I’ll come see them once I’ve put everything away.”
Lewis headed for his desk, passing an exhausted looking Alan on the way, while there was now hundreds of Fluffies in The Farm, Lewis made sure that the original 6 and their first litter stayed in Bay 45 with him, they were the reason this whole thing had worked out and he wanted to keep them as close as possible, Martha too since she was the very first Fluffy recruited into the new system. Lewis did offer to adopt Martha at one point so she could relax at a real home, but she refused, saying the Fluffies needed her here and she was happy to help them.
That earned her a bowl of skettis and a celebratory Fluffpile with the new foals.
Lewis placed his coat and bag over his chair, logged onto his computer and went to check on Alan, the poor guy had taken on the night shifts as a favour and was starting to feel the effects, not just the time-frame but the boredom, most Fluffies were asleep during the night but there needed to be someone on shift just in case anything happened. Alan was bored ut of his mind most nights.
“Sorry again Al.” Lewis apologised to his exhausted friend. “I can’t thank you enough for covering the shifts though.”
“It’s fine Lou.” Alan said with a yawn. “It’s only till Jen gives birth, after that Flynn’s taking over. I still can’t believe those two are having a kid.”
“You didn’t work with them Al, the only thing I can’t believe is that it took them this long to have a kid. I swear those eejits fuck more than the Fluffies do.”
“Eejit? You picking up some bad habits from Danny?”
“Piss off Al, go home and get some sleep.”
“…That’s not a bad shout actually.”
Alan filled Lewis in on what happened during the night – nothing aside from Felicity’s birth – and went off, finally Lewis could check on the newborns.
He found the happy little family all cosy together inside their little home, Felicity laying on her side, sleepily singing her Mummah song, while her foals fed from her teats and Guano cuddled the ones who had already been fed. Lewis counted six foals in the little home, most of them Alicorns from his estimation.
“Hey guys, how is everyone?”
Guano looked up, tears in his little eyes. “Babbehs hewe Woo-ish, am daddeh gain.”
“You sure are buddy, how you feeling Felicity?”
“Feew tiwed, bu gud tiwed, wub babbehs su mush.”
“That’s great. You ok if I look over your foals for a moment?”
Lewis had done this several times with each new litter and the Fluffies knew to trust him, but he still asked every time as a way of easing their minds. Guano handed the four fed foals over to Lewis and stayed close while he checked them over, Lewis’ assumption had been correct, all four of them were Alicorns, two male and two females. The males both had their father’s light blue coat with puffs of a brown mane peeking through while the females were both brown like Felicity but Lewis could see some rainbow coloured manes starting to come in, he was thankful for that since the rainbow colours would help sell them to the right buyer.
As Lewis picked up one of the females to check it over, Guano tapped on his leg.
“Woo-ish, dat babbeh nu smeww pwetty. Nu knyo wai.”
Lewis knew enough to figure this foal was probably a runt, and looking her over he could see that she was working a lot harder to try and breath than her siblings. Lewis held the filly’s chest to his ear and gently tickled her, sure enough her lungs sounded raspy and horrible, probably didn’t develop enough in the womb.
It wasn’t a death sentence, but it did mean a harder life for her growing up. Lewis gave her back to her father. “She’s got problems with her breathing, she should be ok but she’ll have trouble running and playing as much as her brothers and sisters, make sure she doesn’t do too much and if she gets sad about being too tired to play then give her all the huggies you can.”
“Ok Woo-ish, Gwan-o stiww wub wittew babbeh .”
Lewis gave Guano a pat on the head before checking over the last two, another male and female, the male was a brown Pegasus with a blue mane, the female was just like Guano, a light blue, rainbow mane colour but with her mother’s Alicorn genes. Lewis made a note to keep her breeding later but also let Felicity and Guano keep their runt daughter as well.
Lewis quickly checked in with the other Fluffies as well, 3 couples pregnant, 4 just having given birth earlier in the week and four with foals almost completely weaned. All in all, it was a good start to the day.
Flynn came in a couple hours later, much like Alan he looked beat to hell.
“Sorry Lewis, Jennifer was up and down all night throwing up, I could barely get a wink of sleep. I tried to go sleep on the couch and that just made her emotions go into overdrive and she felt guilty about keeping me up so I had to stay and calm her down. You know women right?”
“Well considering I’ve been out since college, no not really.”
There was a beat as Flynn realised that Lewis just said, and then he burst out laughing.
“Yeah I probably should’ve realised my audience there. Don’t get me wrong Lewis, if I never get another good night sleep again, it’ll be worth it to see the smile on our daughter’s face.”
“Daughter huh? You guys chicken out and get the scan?”
“Yeah, we probably shouldn’t have but first kid and all, we were too excited.”
“Too excited is what got you into this mess in the first place.”
Flynn had to laugh again, he had no comeback for that one.
As the day went on, Lewis spent most of his time checking out the other Bays, now that he was in charge of the whole Farm he wanted to keep a hands-on approach and made sure all the Fluffies knew his face and that he got to see the foals as well.
Lewis walked into Bay 48 where another Fluffy couple had just given birth, the attendant Susan shook his hand.
“Thanks for coming by Mr Carter.”
“Please, call me Lewis, and this is still part of the job description. Besides I like checking in on everyone, make sure everything’s working out.”
“Glad to hear it, if you just follow me.”
Susan led Lewis to the Fluffy home, inside the parents Udel – a white Pegasus with light blue swirl patterns and great grandson to Barry and Betty – and Uma – a purple unicorn with a silver mane – looked over their newborn foals happily, all curled up in a Fluffpile together with mum and dad on the outside and the chirpies on the inside.
Susan smiled at the sight. “There’s four foals inside, two male and two female, one of the males in an Alicorn.
“Makes sense, Udel is from Barry’s lineage so he’s got Alicorn genes in him.”
Carefully, Lewis reached in an stroked Udel’s mane, the Pegasus looked up and smiled at him.
“Hewwo Woo-ish, come tu see babbehs?”
“I have indeed Udel, are you ok with me looking them over.”
Udel nodded. “Babbehs awweady hab miwkies, nu be hungwy gain fow sum time.”
“Good boy.”
With Udel and Uma’s help, Lewis looked over the four foals, the Alicorn was pretty much immediately chosen as the keeper, not only for its type but the colours were amazing, cotton white Fluff with a swirl pattern of gradient blues and purples and the same colouration on its mane. The other male was a unicorn, purple fluff with a white mane, the two females were both Pegasi, one of them light blue with a silver mane, the other slightly pinkish with a red mane, seemed Barry’s red Fluff genes were still going strong.
All of them seemed healthy and cooed at Lewis’s touch, he made sure to tickle the noses of each newborn, making sure they could smell him and associate his scent with friendliness, he wasn’t sure if he worked or not but it was worth it to keep going just in case. Once all four were checked he handed them back to Udel and Uma who took two of her young and started feeding them.
“Thank you both, your babies seem very healthy, I know you’ll both be great parents.”
Udel smiled again. “Fank yu Woo-ish, come see babbehs gain anee-time.”
“Will do Udel, thank you.”
Giving both parents a final scratch, Lewis and Susan walked away.
“They seem good for a first litter.”
Susan nodded. “We’re very happy with them both. I take it you want to keep the Alicorn?”
Lewis nodded. “Don’t tell them right away, we’re trying to avoid another Patrick incident.”
“I heard about that, awful thing.”
“It’s unfortunate but it’s our only incident in two years, I say our batting average is still going strong.”
Susan chuckled. “Well I’ll let you know if anything comes up. Thanks again for stopping by.”
“Anytime.”
Lewis went to turn and leave when he heard a small voice crying out to him.
“Woo-ish! Woo-ish come hewp.”
Lewis looked down at one of the Fluffy homes, he saw a very pregnant Teri – Adam and Alley’s great granddaughter – waddling over to him.
“Woo-ish, speciaw-fwiend nu feew gud, can yu hewp pwease.”
Lewis motioned for Susan to come over, toether they looked inside the home, finding Teri’s mate Trevor curled up with his hoofs on his head.
“Oooh, finkie-pwace hab wowstesh huwties, Tweva nu feew wight.”
“How long has he been like this?” Lewis asked the room.
“Speciaw-fwiend hab finkie-pwace huwties fow twu bwite-times nyo, bu neba wike dis befow. Is Tweva gun be ok?”
Susan reached into his coat pocket and pulled out a small tub of Fluffy safe aspirin, she crushed it and mixed it in with the water bowl.
“Here, get him to drink this, it won’t taste as nice as usual but it’ll help him feel better.”
Lewis and Susan stayed until Trevor made his way over to the water bowl and started lapping complaining about the taste but not stopping. Once he was finished Susan cleaned out the bowl and refilled it for Teri.
“What can you tell me about Trevor?” Lewis asked once the Fluffy couple were back inside.
“He’s one of the ferals brought in from the shelters, but we’ve had him a couple months now with no issue. He complained about a sore head before, but after a good night’s sleep he seemed fine so I never followed up on it.”
“Keep an eye on him, if he gets any worse call me and I’ll take him to the medical bay.”
“Ok.”
Lewis gave Trevor one final look over before leaving, his mind racing with ideas of what was wrong with the poor guy.
“Hey, you remember a Fluffy called Trevor?” Lewis called Daniel over lunch, trying to work out the stallions history.”
“Vaguely, black unicorn with a red mane?”
“That’s the one.”
“Aye I got him at the usual place just on the edge of toon, he passed all the health checks, nothing wrong wae him far as they said. Why?”
“He’s got headaches, bad ones, just wanted to know if this was a pre-existing condition or if it’s new.”
“Alright, well I’ll see whit documents I can find in the cab and I’ll have them ready fir ye when ya get home.”
“Thanks Danny, love you.”
“Love ya too dummy.”
The two men shared a laugh just before the hung up, just in time too as Lewis’ elevator reached the top floor and Jackson’s office. He stepped out to find the old bastard running amok.
“You alright Jackson.”
“Hey Lou, be with ya in just a second, got a fucking fly in here and it keep buzzing in my fucking ear. Can’t see the bugger though.”
“Leave it for the moment, come have some lunch, it’ll fly off eventually.”
Jackson grumbled for a moment before taking Lewis’ advice and wheeling himself over the lunch table.
“Sorry bout that Lou, been cranky all day.”
“You’re always cranky Jackson.”
“Ha ha, fuck off. I’ve got enough troubles with my idiot son and his kid without adding you to my shit-list.”
“Please, soon as that kid comes you and Sarah are gonna dote on the wee thing.”
“Well yeah, but that doesn’t mean that Flynn’s not an idiot.”
“True.”
“Ah you’re lucky Lou, you’re not gonna have to worry about your kids growing up and getting knocked up, I envy that about you.”
“Jackson, I work in a Fluffy mill. ALL I do is worry about my kids growing up and getting knocked up, most of them do it intentionally cause they can’t help themselves.”
“Did you just compare my son to a Fluffy?”
“Of course not. Fluffies are much smarter than Flynn.”
Jackson gave out a hearty laugh. “Ok, I’ll give you that one. Anyway enough about my family, how’s you and Danny?”
“We’re fine, finally got the last of his stuff moved into the house, can’t believe how many CDs the man has.”
“What, no streaming sites?”
“Nah, for as long as he’s on the road he can’t afford the date costs, but I’ve started getting him into podcast that he can download at home so that’s something at least.”
“You both doing ok? Moving in together is a big step.”
“We’re fine, we’re over a year into our relationship, this is the next step and we’re both happy to take it. But I appreciate the concern all the same.”
“Ah you’re a decent guy Lou, someone’s gotta look out for you. And if it ain’t me then…”
Jackson was cut off by Lewis’ phone ringing, he looked at the caller ID and saw Susan’s name, he felt his stomach turn thinking about Trevor.
“Susan?”
Immeditely Lewis knew something was wrong, he could hear the panic in Susan’s voice. “Lewis, it’s Trevor he’s… I don’t know what happens he’s gone crazy it’s… it’s a Code 4.”
“I’ll be right there.”
Lewis hung up and grabbed his coat, scaring Jackson with his sudden exit.
“What was it?”
“One of the Fluffies in Bay 48 had headaches, Susan says he’s snapped. It’s a Code 4.”
“Fuck, alright go, I’ll tidy everything up.”
Lewis gave a quick thanks and raced off, it had only been a couple of hours since he left them, the aspirin seemed to have done the trick, how could Trevor have turned so quickly. WHAT was making him turn?
He didn’t have time to worry about that now, Code 4 was one of the most serious offences; Rape of a Pregnant Mare. And Teri was very pregnant right now.
Lewis hoped it was not too late.
As he burst into the bay, Lewis was met with a disjointed chorus of crying and screaming, all the Fluffies families were huddled together, the stallions covering the faces of their mates and foals to hide them from the horrific sight outside, the stench of scardie-poopies filled the air. In the corner Lewis saw the blood and fluids of Teri’s forced miscarriage, her undeveloped foals still laying wet and still on the floor, Teri herself was wailing into Susan’s arms, Lewis could see patched of her Fluff and skin had been bitten off of her back where Trevor had attacked her during his rape, her front right leg was also badly broken with the bone sticking out of her skin.
Lewis could also see blood still dripping out of her special-places, clearly Trevor had done some awful work on her.
Susan saw Lewis and rushed over to him. “Lewis I’ve no idea what happened, he seemed fine, happy even, but I turned to clean out some of the litterboxes and her was already on Teri before I could stop him.”
“It’s ok Susan, it’s not your fault. You couldn’t have got there any sooner than you did.”
“That’s the thing Lewis, I got there just as he started, I could’ve easily pulled him off Teri except… I don’t even know how to explain it, he FOUGHT me, I couldn’t pull hard enough to get him away.”
“What are you saying, that Trevor has super Fluffy strength.”
“Maybe, I don’t even know what happened.”
“Where is he now?”
“In the sorry box, back room.”
“Ok, look after Teri, take her to medical if you want, I’ll keep an eye on things here.”
“Ok, thanks Lewis.”
Susan raced off to get help for Teri’s injuries while Lewis went to the back office. As he opened the door he suddenly understood what Susan had said, Trevor was pounding his head off of the wooden walls of the sorry-box and Lewis could hear him making some intense hits and he didn’t seem to be slowing down.
Cautiosly, Lewis opened the lid of the sorry-box, the sudden light jolted Trevor but he remained as pissed off as ever.
“DUMMEH HOOMIN GIB BAK ENFIE-MAWE, TWEVA WUMPS HAB HUWTIES.”
“What the hell did you do Trevor, that was your special-friend, your babies you killed, how could you…”
“TWEVA NU CAWE BOUT DUMMEH BABBEHS, MAWE ONWY GUD FOW NUMMIES AN ENFIES. GIB TWEVA BAK MAWE WIGHT FUKIN NYO!”
Trevor stared at Lewis with such a fury that Lewis immediately shit the box lid and stepped away, he heard the enraged stallion shoot a blast of sorry-poopies on the lid and continue pounding the box.
Lewis could only stare dumbfounded at what he just witnessed, his mind swimming with questions; What happened to Trevor? What made him turn out this way?
And what were those yellow rings on his eyes?”
Friendship with hugbox is over, now abuse is my best friend.
We’re a few months off the main timeline now, and Lewis just had his first brush with F.A.07.
Suffice to say, it does not get any better from here on out.
so the mystery of FA07 now appeared