Brian sighed. He thought it would turn out this way. They’d have to get another bed and a food dish for her on the way home. “So, you cancel Lucky’s appointment and hold onto her until I come back, okay? Brian asked his boyfriend. Gavin nodded.
“Mr. Tillard and Cherry?” The vet assistant called. Brian gently lifted Cherry’s carrier (Which still emitted the tearful, pained cries of the alicorn) and made his way into the room. He closed the door behind him and sat down on a wall-mounted bench in a corner of the small room. He set the carrier beside him.
“So you’re saying that this alicorn broke his horn?” The assistant asked. Brian nodded.
“Right smack in the middle, yeah. I heard that horns are very sensitive in fluffies due to the highly porous material used to channel the ‘magic’ they have.” Brian sighed. Cherry must have been in so much pain. At the very least it felt like a broken bone.
Within the carrier, Cherry’s breathing was starting to pick up speed. This kind of pain was the exact pain his leg felt when it was crushed by the hoof of his biological mother. His eyes teared up again, but this time he was crying out of terror, not just physical hurt. He could have sworn he saw Berry looming over him just outside his carrier door, just as huge as she seemed when he was a child. He felt a shooting pain in his leg and gasped. He remembered this.
“NUUUUUUU!”
Brian jolted as an agonized wail came from the carrier. “Whoa, whoa, whoa!” Brian stammered. He opened the crate’s door and Cherry zoomed out of it, hyperventilating. He pressed himself into a corner, eyes wide and pupils dilated in intense fear. Brian slowly stood and made his way over to his little stallion.
“N-NU! STAY ‘WAY FWOM CHEWWY! NU WAN HUWTIES NU MOWE, PWEASE, HUUHUUUU!” Cherry yowled. Brian, stunned at the fact that Cherry was so terrified, reached forward anyway.
Cherry hissed and lashed out in fear. He snapped at Brian’s hand and the man stumbled back, shocked. Cherry never attempted to harm him like that, not since his outburst in the store almost a year ago. Cherry continued to sob, petrified.
Cherry didn’t hide his face this time; He was whipping his gaze around constantly, searching for an unseen threat. He continued to hyperventilate, and the vet grabbed a small stuffed animal that resembled a light purple rabbit. She knelt down, placing it in front of the fearful alicorn.
Cherry flinched, flattened his ears, growled and stayed still for a few minutes. After a while of keeping an eye on it, he slowly stretched his neck out and sniffed at the toy. He smelled nothing but fabric, and the soothing scent of lavender. He sniffled, finally starting to let go of the tension in his body.
He reached out and hugged it, hiding his bloodied face in it. He broke down, sobbing hard and nuzzling the stuffed toy. Brian knelt down and practically lay on the floor to be as non-threatening as possible to his fluffy.
“Hey, buddy, can you hear me?” Brian quietly asked. Cherry hiccupped and nodded. He turned his face away from the toy and gazed at Brian with sad eyes.
“B-Bwian…” He reached out to his owner, his voice croaky from crying and screaming. Brian gathered his fluffy up into his arms and sat down on the bench, rocking him back and forth. Cherry really was like a son to him.
After a while, Cherry had calmed down. His horn and nose had long since stopped bleeding, and Brian’s shirt was soaked with tears. Cherry felt awful.
“Huuhuuu, Chewy sowwy fow twy givin’ bities!” Cherry whined. His owner shushed him and pet his mane. Brian leaned down and softly spoke to Cherry.
“It’s alright, you weren’t exactly aware of what you were doing. I’m not mad. Okay buddy, you ready for the doctor now? We need to fix your horn.” Cherry nodded, shaking with anxiety.
Brian set Cherry down onto the table, and he had his temperature, blood pressure and pulse taken. The red stallion was still shaky the whole time, but Brian couldn’t take him home until his horn was better. He didn’t want a wound, especially one so close to Cherry’s brain, to get infected.
Brian found out that Cherry would have to stay the night in order for his wounds to be fixed. The black-haired man sighed. He was afraid this would happen, and he wasn’t keen on leaving the poor fluffy alone. But he had no choice.
After all the tests were done and Cherry’s head was now wrapped, Brian handed Cherry over to the vet. “Alright buddy, remember; Be good, okay? Be gentle on your head, be good for the vet and I’ll see you tomorrow.”
“Huu, bye-bye…” Cherry sniffled.
The vet sighed and unceremoniously carried the alicorn into the back area, where the kennels were. They were less like actual kennels and more like stacked cages. There were fluffies in most of them, cramped and uncomfortable. Cherry heard the sobbing of scared fluffies, smelled the scent of fear, blood and medicine.
“Here, this one is for you.” The vet said to him, as she stuffed him into an already cramped cage on the 3rd row, second from the top and she left. A rusty red fluffy with a day-glow mane and tail was in there, as well as a light yellow foal. The light yellow foal had a deep blue collar with a shiny tag that read “Sprinkles”.
The red fluffy glared at him, wrinkling his muzzle in a growl. He turned his body around to face Cherry, his sea green hooves clacked on the metal bars as the large fluffy loomed over the alicorn.
“Dummeh unicown get out of smawty’s pwace! An’ take stoopid babbeh wif yoo!” The rusty fluffy shoved Sprinkles towards him and stomped on the bars, shaking the whole cage. Cherry flinched back, gently pushing the baby behind himself. The foal chirped, distressed.
“N-Nyu fwuffy pwotecc Spwinkwes fwom big meanie fwuffy?” The foal asked. Cherry silently nodded. He didn’t have enough energy to have a conversation, but he could at least say a few words and be a meat shield for the poor thing.
“M-Meanie fwuffy weave babbeh awone. Am onwy babbeh!” Cherry quietly snarled. He had seen that the foal had a bloody nose, and was even missing a tooth.
The rusty fluffy’s dark brown eyes burned with hate. “Shaddup!” The big fluffy slammed his hoof into Cherry’s nose, making in wail as his injury worsened. But there was no way he was going to let the foal get hurt. The red fluffy, who Cherry could see was an earthie, snarled. “Eithew get out of smawty’s pwace ow yoo get huwties!”
Cherry shook his head, crying. He turned his back to the earthie and towards the door, keeping his front legs wrapped around the foal. Sprinkles snuggled into his fur, cooing. The foal’s cuddling soothed Cherry as he was repeatedly battered by the earthie’s hooves.
Eventually, he passed out from a hard blow to the head, which led to him being able to sleep through the night. Once Cherry had stopped reacting, the rusty fluffy got bored and fell asleep too.
Back at home, Lucky had enjoyed a nice big plate of spaghetti before settling down in her new bed. Lucky girl.
First chapter: Cherry And Brian, Chapter 0: Cherry's Backstory (Star-The-Alicorn)
Previous chapter: Cherry and Brian, Chapter 12: A Lucky Encounter (Star-The-Alicorn) (Art by Mlgbunnyiscool)
Optional bonus chapter: Cherry and Brian, Chapter 12.9: Reunited (Star-The-Alicorn)
Next chapter: Cherry and Brian, Chapter 13: Reprociated Feelings and Petrified Premonitions (Star-the-Alicorn)
