(Currently making a playlist for Cherry and Brian’s dynamic and it’s making me cry)
The entire drive home, the foal was on an emotional rollercoaster. Sometimes he cried for his mummah, sometimes he was singing along to the radio, and sometimes he was babbling excitedly, looking out the window. He went from “Huu huuu, miss Mummah!” to “Ooo! Pwetty outsidies!” and vice versa constantly.
Brian glanced down at the emotionally conflicted foal. “…You know what, I think I’ll call you Cherry. How about it, little guy?” Brian asked. The red foal beamed up at his new owner.
“Babbeh’s nyu name am Chewwy? Chewwy wuv name!” He babbled. He continued to repeat his name to himself under his breath from time to time, pleased with his owner’s choice. Brain smiled, glad to finally have a new companion. Finally, he wouldn’t be alone.
Days came and went, Brain set up a small temporary enclosure for Cherry. It was a small dog pen with some newspapers in the corner, Daphne’s old bed near the newspaper, with her old dog dishes filled with fluffy kibble and water. There were some small, soft dog toys in there too, though those weren’t suited for a fluffy. Brain made a mental note to get new toys and a more elaborate enclosure.
He couldn’t afford to have an extra room added to the house for a saferoom, and all the rooms of his house were being used for something important. So he decided that once Cherry was old enough, he’d be allowed to roam the house on his own. He was a smart fluffy, even for his young age.
One day, Brain had left for work, giving Cherry the daily explanation of what he did all day. “I have to work for a long time almost every day so we can keep this house, buy food and afford water for all of us little buddy. Be back in a while! Love you, little guy. Bye!” Then Brian closed the door and Cherry was alone. Cherry sighed, bored, then curled up on the dog bed and went to sleep.
Eventually, Cherry awoke from his nap, disoriented. “… What yeaw am it? Bwian? Pway wif Chewwy? Pwease?” Cherry asked. He was met with silence. He looked around the pen, repeatedly calling, “Bwian?” But no answers came. He then remembered that Brian had left a few hours earlier, like he did every. Single. Day. He huffed irritatedly, puffing out his cheeks and pouting. He was sick of it! How dare his owner leave him all alone and bored so often? Then, for the very first time, he began to cook up a very mean idea in his little mind.
He decided he would escape his pen, go to the human bed his owner slept in, and make it smell absolutely unbearable! Then he’d track the brown substance everywhere and run out the weird flap that was by the front door. It was perfectly diabolical. He’d come home later to find a very regretful Brian grovelling for forgiveness and offering lots of sketties and toys! He giggled and began to wiggle his nose under the base of the pen.
It had worked! After a few hours, he had finally managed to squeeze out of his pen. One of his hooves had gotten caught for about an hour and that had sucked, but he was out now. He trotted to Brian’s bedroom and struggled up the side of the bed. He left a rather undesirable package on Brian’s pillow, and made sure to roll in it. He leapt off the bed and dragged his hooves all over the baby blue carpet. It took a while and a few more piles and yellow puddles but soon, the entire floor looked like a smelly, disgusting version of a Jackson Pollock painting. He puffed out his chest in pride of his gross work and ran out the dog flap to flee the smell.
Brian returned home from work not too long afterwards. He stepped out of his car and narrowed his eyes at the strangely familiar tracks outside the front door. Maybe some feral had shown up hoping to come in? He hoped they were alright, whoever the fluffy was. Then, he opened the front door and was nearly knocked back by a particularly foul, sour smell. He wrinkled his nose in disgust. It smelled like he had forgotten to clean Cherry’s newspaper for days.
He looked in the cage and his heart dropped into his stomach when he found that the foal wasn’t there. He raced around the house, dodging stinking brown piles and puddles (That would surely stain his nice carpet, god fucking dammit). He glared darkly when he found the especially large, disgusting one on his pillow.
He called Cherry’s name in an increasingly aggravated tone and searched the house from top to bottom, but no answer came. He tried coaxing and promised spaghetti (He was lying about the spaghetti of course, there’s no way in hell he would reward this god-awful behavior.) but dead silence met his ears in return. An iron ball fell into his stomach. Cherry was gone, within the first few days of Brian owning him. FUCK. He frantically ran out the front door, locked it and left the dog flap open in case Cherry came back. He sped off in his car, fearing the worst.
He stopped a few times to ask both humans and feral fluffies alike if they had seen a red alicorn around. The humans turned up their noses at the thought of someone having a pet fluffy. The ferals sadly shook their heads, promising to keep an eye out for him. He ignored sympathetic comments like “Fwuffy hope hooman find Chewwy soon!” and “Huu, pwease be safe pointy wingie fwuffy!” and continued his search.
Not too long into his panicked drive through the city, Brian heard the terrified squeal of a fluffy from the inside of an alleyway. He leapt out of his car and ran in, hoping he would find the missing alicorn. His hunch was correct, but he found an awful sight. A man, about 20, was brandishing a large piece of broken glass at an injured Cherry. The poor alicorn had a large, sluggishly-bleeding gash running down his left side. The stranger kicked at the stallion, and thankfully Cherry dodged in time. “Yeah, how do you like that, shitrat?!” the man sadistically screamed.
Cherry trembled and whimpered, “Huu huuu, pwease nu gif foweva sweepies to Chewwy, scawy hooman! Am a good fwuffy!” The man sneered and raised the piece of glass to give a final stab. Just then, Brian yanked the man backwards by the back of his coat. He reared back, punching the stranger in the face hard. Blood flew from the stranger’s mouth and he was knocked to the ground. A tooth landed next to his head.
“And just what in the absolute fuck do you think you’re doing to my pet?!” Brian roared. His chest burned with hatred and he wished he could legally do more to hurt the bastard lying on the ground in front of him.
The man didn’t try to get up as he glared at Brian. He just rubbed his face where he was hit, yelping “The hell did you do that for?!”
Brian stared intensely into his eyes. “I told you, you asshole. That’s my pet. And a sentient animal that talks, no less! What do you think you’re doing to it?” Brian snapped, his hands clenching in rage as his face twisted in anger. Brain saw red. The stranger on the ground laughed sarcastically.
“You’re kidding right? You can get those damned biotoys anywhere.” He pointed at Cherry, who flinched. “Just gimme that one and you can easily find another one from a pet store or off the street!” The man snarled as he narrowed his eyes at Cherry. The fluffy hid behind Brian and covered his eyes with his hooves, sobbing hysterically.
Brian stepped forward, snatching the large, jagged shard of glass the man had dropped off of the ground. He pointed the sharp thing at the stranger. “I’d watch what I say if I were you. Just because fluffies are common doesn’t mean they deserve to be tortured and killed. Humans are common too, you know. Would you like to be cut open like you did to my fluffy?” He said, his eerily calm tone hiding deep boiling rage. There’s no way he would actually harm another person, but he was too pissed to mind what he was saying. This complete stranger just cornered a defenseless animal (His defenseless animal) and was tormenting it for no reason.
The stranger’s eyes widened in horror as he realized Brian was serious. He shook his head violently and scrambled off the ground. He sped out of the alleyway, tripping a few times. “And don’t let me catch you hurting animals again, you sick fuck!” Brian screamed after him.
Brian scooped Cherry up into his arms, muttering curses at the man angrily as he inspected the wound. Cherry was still bleeding from the gash, he was bruised all over and crying hard. Brian secretly thanked whatever deity there was that fluffies had a weak cardiovascular system, or this pet he loved so much would have bled out by now.
Cherry was covered in mud, dust, and other substances Brian didn’t want to think about. Brian stomped out of the alley and threw the piece of glass in a nearby trash can with far more force than necessary. He was far more pissed than he’d ever been in his life. He strode over to his car, strapped Cherry in and sped off, heading for home.
The ride home was silent and awkward. No radio, no conversation, no jokes. Cherry shrunk down in his seat. He knew he was in trouble. When they got to the driveway, Cherry finally spoke up. “A-Am sowwy fow wunnin’ away, Bwian.”
Brian sighed as they pulled in. “Cherry, what you pulled today was the fault of both of us. Me for leaving that old dog door unlocked and leaving you without many toys, and you for running off in the first place. I feel bad for my mistake, and I’m paying for it by having to sew you up and deal with the guilt. You, however, need to learn to not run off.” Brain pointed and squinted at the downtrodden alicorn in his back seat. “You’re in deep trouble, mister.” He seethed.
Cherry hung his fuzzy head in shame as he was picked up out of the baby seat. Brian turned his car off and made his way into the house.
The bath was awkward and quiet too. No toys, no bath songs, no bubbles, no water colors. The water was just the right temperature still, but it was so, so boring. Cherry spoke up again. “Bwian, can Chewwy have toys an’ bubbwes fow bath?”
Brian shook his head and gave Cherry a stern look. “No, Cherry. You’re in trouble, remember? Once I clean you up and you’re done healing, I’ll have to punish you. What you did scared the hell out of me.” Cherry whimpered and lowered his ears in a frightened pout. He didn’t want to be punished!
Brian scrubbed away the dirt, grime, and chunks of undesirable substance. The gash started to bleed a bit again, but Brian knew Cherry would be alright. The gash was clean now.
Cherry soon forgot his troubles when his owner’s hands massaged his fur. His skin began to feel clear again, and the water was warm. The bubbles from the soap cascaded down his fur as he was rinsed off. He felt safe. He purred and relaxed his muscles, almost falling asleep.
Brian sighed, feeling disappointment, anger and love for his little pet at the same time. What on earth was he going to do with this creature? The alicorn was so cute, but had caused so much trouble today. Well, there was certainly no way he’d be returning him. Misbehaving or not, this fluffy needed him and he needed it.
He rinsed the now-clean fur out and dried him with a soft towel. Cherry was sound asleep, snoring quietly. He set Cherry in his temporary bed and got to cleaning the carpet and his own bed.
A few days later, Cherry was all better and the house was almost like new, save for a small carpet stain here and there. He was a happy, healthy colt again. He had forgotten all about how he was going to be punished. He frolicked in the pen all day while being watched over like a hawk by Brian.
One morning, he was abruptly awoken from a splendid dream of pasta-flavored grass. He felt a hand ruffle his mane and a voice said, “C’mon Cherry, time to get up. You’re all healed. We’re getting you proper fluffy equipment today! That means toys, your own bed, and a real litterbox!”
Cherry stretched and yawned. “Chewwy sweep mowe, pwease? Chewwy wike toys, but wan’ sweepies.” He asked groggily. Brian chuckled and shook his head.
“No can do, kiddo. We gotta bathe you and get you all clean for the pet store! We’re gonna be out for a while, so be sure to use the newspaper before we go.” Brian said.
Cherry blinked his eyes and slowly stood up. He shook himself out and made his way over to the newspaper. After his business was done, he was picked up and brought into the bathroom. He was scrubbed clean, blow-dried and brushed. He looked and smelled fresh and clean. Cherry hummed, content as he breathed in the sweet fruity smell of his fur. “Chewwy smeww su pwetty. Wike Chewwies!” He purred. Brian smiled at the extra-fluffy fluffy in front of him.
This time, the car ride was just as fun as usual. The radio was on, Brian was (rather badly) belting out the lyrics, and Cherry was trying to learn the words. “We buiwt dis city fwom wock an’ woww!” He wiggled and danced in his pet booster seat the best he could. Soon, they were at the pet store.
Brian undid the restraints on the seat and lifted Cherry out of the car. They made their way over to a cart and Brian plonked Cherry down in the child seat. “Owwies! Chewwy hab buwnie huwties, Bwian!” Cherry yelped. Brian unstrapped him and lifted him out of the seat. The cart had been sitting in the sun, and the metal was hard and hot. Brian sighed at himself for not checking the temperature of the metal before from the shade. This one was way better. They strolled into the store, excited to see what equipment they could find.
First chapter: Cherry And Brian, Chapter 0: Cherry's Backstory (Star-The-Alicorn)
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That genuinely means a lot.