This chapter contains a fluffy I recently adopted from @Mlgbunnyiscool! The art at the end belongs to them as well.
It was hot. A lot hotter than it had been a few days beforehand. Summer had finally began, and it had been almost a year since Cherry had been adopted. Brian was planning Cherry’s birthday party, and making a list of presents Cherry would like when he felt a gentle tap on his shin.
“Bwian?” Cherry asked. Brian looked down, and smiled at the purring stallion at his feet.
“Yeah, little guy?”
“Can Chewwy pway outsidies? In shiny wawa-thingy?” Brian knew Cherry meant the sprinkler. He smiled more and nodded, and Cherry grinned happily.
“Yaaaaay!! Fankyoo!”
“Wait buddy, remember the rules for playing outside without me or Gavin?”
Cherry sighed, but nodded. “Nu tawkies to hoomans an’ fwuffies dat Cherry nu knu. Awways keep cowwaw on. Stay ‘way fwom doggies an’ kitties, an’ watch out fow big biwdie munstahs. Come back insidies if stwangew hooman twy tawk to Chewwy.”
Brian ruffled Cherry’s mane. “Good boy! Go have fun.” Cherry slipped through Daphne’s old doggy door (Creatively named the “Pooch Portal”) and went to play in the water.
After a while, at about 1 pm, the temperature hit triple digits. It was getting too hot for a heavily furred animal like Cherry to be outside, so Brian shut off the sprinkler and called for him.
“Cherry! Time to come back inside, buddy!” Brian heard an exasperated groan from the alicorn outside.
“Bu’ nu wan’ come back insidies! Can Chewwy stay out hewe, pweeeeease?”
“No, Cherry. It’s too hot, and you could have a heat stroke. If you come back in now, I’ll get you and the other fluffies some ice cream!”
Cherry gasped, and Brian knew the bribe did the trick. He smirked. Fluffies really were just like kids. He heard Cherry zooming towards the doggy door.
And that’s when the faulty plastic cover to the Pooch Portal slipped down, covering the hole. Brian’s eyes widened, and he stood to run to the door. His heart plummeted into his stomach when he heard Cherry’s rapid hoofbeats approaching the porch.
“Cherry, wait! I have to re-open the-”
WHAM
Cherry hit the old doggy door so hard that the panel shook and bent with the impact. Cherry’s blue, sparkly horn shoved through the tough plastic and stayed there. Switchy gasped in horror and Brian nearly screamed.
“SCREEEEEeeeee, huu huu huuuu!” Cherry wailed from the other side. Brian, nearly panicking, raced straight out to the front porch. When he laid his eyes on Cherry, he nearly yanked his hair out by the roots.
Cherry lay there just outside the doggy door, sobbing hysterically. His nose was bloody and bent at an odd angle, signifying it was broken. His horn was poking through the plastic of the doggy door, but had broken off from Cherry’s head halfway down. What was left was a jagged stump. Cherry was in too much pain to get up or even look towards Brian.
Brian, his eyes tearing up, called out for Gavin. “HONEY! CHERRY’S HURT!”
Gavin sprinted outside, nearly tripping over the hose. “Shit-” He swore. He jogged over to Brian, car keys already in hand.
“We have to take Cherry to the vet! Now!” Brian spoke almost too fast for Gavin to understand. Gavin looked down and actually did scream, horrified at the grievous injuries to Cherry’s face and head.
The two of them hurriedly grabbed a carrier, lined it with a soft towel and set Cherry into it. They placed the broken horn into a plastic bag and sped off to the biotoy vet, leaving the other fluffies at home. Cherry howled the whole time, pawing at his bloody face and hiding in the towels.
When they pulled into the biotoy vet’s parking lot, they wasted no time in grabbing Cherry’s carrier and bringing the agonized alicorn inside. The other fluffies in the waiting room winced at Cherry’s screams in empathy. A few owners covered their ears at the high volume.
Brian checked in, and was told that the waiting time would be 30 minutes. Brian nodded, wishing that the wait time was nonexistent, then sat down next to another fluffy owner.
The owner was holding what seemed to be a perfectly healthy green unicorn mare in their lap. The large-ish mare sported a short tail, large eyes and long ears, clearly mostly rabbit DNA. She had darker green spots all over her, coloring the fur above her dainty hooves as well. The mare sobbed pitifully, not seeming to notice or care about Cherry’s wails. Brian gazed over at the owner, and he asked “So, what’s wrong with your fluffy?”
“Oh, nothing at all, at least not physically. I just want her legs removed. I’m pillowing her.” The person holding the mare stated very matter-of-factly. They grabbed the mare by both ears hard enough to make her cry out in pain, and yanked the mare’s head to make her look at them.
“Isn’t that right, you little bitch?” The owner snarled, grinning cruelly at the terrified fluffy. The fluffy wet herself in fear, and the owner’s grin twisted to a teeth-baring of anger. “Now you’ve done it…” The person yanked the mare up by her tail and carried her by it to the front door. They were clearly carrying the mare outside to punish her severely for an accident.
Gavin looked on in horror. Brian seethed silently, but he had to stay with his own injured alicorn. He knew he couldn’t possibly save every tortured fluffy he met, even though that fact hurt him deeply. Cherry, who had been watching the whole time, albeit having to deal with his own severe pain, spoke up.
“G-Gavin- Huuhuuu! Pwease sabe gween fwuffy!” Cherry sobbed. He knew what it was like to be dragged around and abused. By both his own birth mother and the human who’d cornered him in an alleyway in his adolescence. If he weren’t so weak from the pain, he’d go save her himself. But the carrier was fluffy-proof, and he couldn’t even stand up on his own. So he had to rely on his owners for help.
“O-Okay, I’ll try.” Gavin sighed. He wasn’t too good around other people besides Brian. He was used to talking to fluffies. He stood and walked briskly out of the building, to the front lawn where the owner was abusing the poor green mare.
Gavin stopped in his tracks when he saw the owner laughing sadistically and shoving the mare’s face into a pile of solid fluffy waste. The green unicorn was bawling and apologizing rapidly, clearly in a panic attack. Tears soaked the poor fluffy’s face as she was forced to start gobbling down the disgusting waste in the grass or suffocate.
Gavin’s anxiety diminished. He. Was. Pissed. “HEY!” He snapped. The owner immediately whipped their gaze up at him and he swallowed nervously. “Y-You stop that. Right now. You’re being cruel.”
The owner sneered. “Me, cruel? I’m just teaching this little CUNT a lesson. Isn’t that right, Lucky?” They gazed down at the wailing fluffy below them.
“Huu, huu huuuuu!” The mare, named Lucky, sobbed. “Pwease nu huwt Wucky nu mowe! Nu mean to be bad fwuffeeEEE!” Lucky was interrupted by a hard punch to the top of her head from her owner.
“What did I teach you? You NEVER beg for me to stop! Never!”
“THAT’S FUCKING ENOUGH!” Gavin exploded. He was sick of this. He hated seeing living things tortured, and that included fluffies. There was no way in hell he was going to put up with this for one more second. He stomped over to the owner and yanked out his wallet.
“I’ll buy her off you. Just… Fucking stop. It’s sick.”
The owner stood, still sneering. They held Lucky by the scruff of her neck, staring at Gavin’s wallet. “100.” They answered.
“Holy shit, rob me blind, why don’t you?” Gavin growled.
“200.” The owner grinned. They were clearly enjoying making Gavin upset.
“FINE, 100!” Gavin snapped, shoving a 100 dollar bill into their open hand. He gently took Lucky from the owner and walked back into the clinic. It was too hot to leave her in the car. He’d have to cancel the quadruple amputation when he got inside.
The bell over the clinic’s door jingled as he stepped back in, still-crying fluffy in hand. “So, how did it go?” Asked Brian. Cherry gazed up at Gavin through red tear-soaked eyes, still hiding his injured muzzle in the towel.
“We have a new fluffy.” Gavin gently took a wet wipe to the mare’s muzzle, cleaning her of the waste she’d been forced to ingest.
“Meet Lucky.”
First chapter: Cherry And Brian, Chapter 0: Cherry's Backstory (Star-The-Alicorn)
Previous chapter: Cherry and Brian, Chapter 11: Unwanted Acquaintance (Star-The-Alicorn)
Optional bonus chapter: Cherry and Brian, Chapter 12.5: PTSD and Pain (Star-The-Alicorn)
Next chapter: Cherry and Brian, Chapter 13: Reprociated Feelings and Petrified Premonitions (Star-the-Alicorn)
