Warning: (Also slight spoilers in this warning) Brief homophobia from the fluffy store manager in this chapter. If you wanna skip that part, skip over from where it reads “Matheson grimaced” to “Cherry whimpered as he gazed up at Brian”.
Brian stared at the sorry box container in horror. The air holes were optional?! There was no food, water or places for litter in there either. He shoved the box back where it belonged in disgust, sighing. “Seriously, are all fluffy owners dicks to their pets?” Brian muttered. Cherry’s eyes widened and he clapped a hoof over his muzzle, shocked that his owner had said such a bad word. “Brian swore!” The small alicorn thought.
Brian made his way to another isle. He picked up a random container. This one was … A butt plug?! For fluffies?! The label read “Fun for all owners! Consensual? Nonconsensual? The fluffy’s age? How you use it is your business! No questions asked.” How was this allowed in a store?! He threw the box down on the dirty white tiled floor and stormed to the front desk, Cherry in arms. He couldn’t trust Cherry to be left alone in a horrible store like this.
He approached a woman filing her nails at the cash register. He cleared his throat and asked “May I see the manager, please, miss?” The woman sighed, rolling her eyes.
“Hey Matheson! Some guy wants to see you!” She yelled towards the door behind her.
Cherry covered his ears with a wince and whispered “Too woud!”.
The woman glared at the alicorn and said, “Oh shut up, shitrat.” Cherry stared at her sadly, hurt. Brian’s eyes widened. He stared after her glaring, as she left the chair to make room for the manager.
The manager, (His nametag read “Matheson”), flopped down in the seat and stared at Brian. “Firstly, your cashier’s behavior is unacceptable, you saw she insulted my pet. Second, I’d like to make a complaint. About the products in your store.” Matheson nodded slowly, looking bored.
“What on earth are abusive objects and sex toys doing in a pet store?! Animal abuse and bestiality are illegal for a reason. Are you aware that animals can’t consent to that?” Brian fumed. Matheson yawned and waved the comment off.
“Firstly, fluffy abuse is totally legal. They don’t count as real animals, so they have no protective laws over them. Secondly, everyone does this with their fluffies! It’s a fun way to de-stress, and it’s a hot new trend too. Check the tag ‘fluffyabuse’ on any social media site.” Brian shakily took out his phone and typed it in, bracing himself for what he was going to see. Instantly, he gasped in horror. Hundreds- no, thousands of pictures of people doing unspeakable things to fluffies popped up.
There was so much blood and gore. There was sexual abuse, especially of foals. There were videos. GIFs. How-to guides. There was goddamned fluffy abuse ASMR of all things. It was all too much. He snapped at Matheson. “What the hell is wrong with all of these people?! Why do they think that this is okay?!” He shook his phone, exiting out, clearing the history and shoving it back in his pocket in disgust. He felt sorry for his assigned FBI agent. He slammed his free hand on the desk angrily.
Cherry flinched and muttered “Bwian angwy…”.
“That’s right sweetie, I’m angry. But anyway Matheson, where can I find a store that doesn’t sell these damned disgusting products to fluffy owners?” Brian glared at the man sitting in front of him as he tapped the counter impatiently.
“Well, there’s a store a few blocks from here, that sells things for… vanilla owners.” Matheson gave him a judging look. “But I’d doubt you’d want to go there.”
Brian cocked his head, confused. “Why not?”
Matheson grimaced. “Because the cashier, Gavin, is uh… You know…” His voice dropped to a whisper. “…Gay.”
Brian shook his head in disbelief at the amount of disdain in Matheson’s voice. “Why would that be a bad thing? It happens all the time, it’s natural.” Brian responded. He gave Matheson a look that said ‘answer wisely’.
Matheson ignored his expression and shook his head gravely. “You really think so? That’s not good. How could you accept such a sin-” That was as far as he got before Brian slapped his hand down on the counter hard. Matheson fell out of his chair in shock. Cherry covered his face, wincing.
“Now listen here, you abusive, bigoted prick.” Brian snarled as Matheson stared up at him. “Just because someone’s different than you doesn’t mean they’re bad. You support bestiality, but not gay relationships? Wow. I don’t know what kind of upbringing you had, but if it made you like this? A zoophile-supporting homophobe? Then you weren’t raised well. But you’re old enough to know better than to do things like this.” Brian snapped, going out the main door quickly. “And that’s what I think of you and your store.”
Cherry whimpered as he gazed up at Brian, who was angrily but gently strapping him into his seat. “A-Am yoo otay?” He asked.
Brian grimaced gently at him and replied “Yeah, I’m okay. I’m just mad is all. That manager wasn’t very nice, was he?” Cherry shook his head, agreeing. That man was scary. But Brian had been scarier. Brian had yelled very loud at the bad man. He was glad Brian loved him.
“Bwian? What’s ‘gay’ mean?” Cherry asked. Brian buckled himself in and started down the road.
“Well, you know how stallions can fall in love with mares?” Brian asked the red alicorn. The fluffy nodded. “Well, sometimes stallions fall in love with stallions, and mares with mares. It’s perfectly natural, and is just like a stallion loving a mare.”
Cherry’s eyes lit up. “Oh! Chewwy nebah knew dat befowe! Su if Chewwy wuv anothah boy fwuffy, we can hab babbehs?” Brian chuckled at the awestruck fluffy and nodded.
“Sometimes! Although your anatomy might make it impossible, you can always adopt!” Brian would explain what being transgender was later. He didn’t want his fluffy to get too mixed up. Cherry was open minded but got confused easily, much like a small child.
Soon, they pulled into the store. Brian read the metal sign on the door. “No fluffy abuse permitted on these premises at any time. Violators of this rule will be charged $100. If a mess is found as a result of the abuse, litter fines will be included.” Brian smiled. This was a sign that this store would be much better. Cherry was placed in a cart (Which had a much more comfortable child seat, thank god) and taken in.
They were greeted by a very tall, friendly cashier with red hair. “Hi, welcome!” He called. Brian read his name tag. Gavin. So that’s who Matheson was growling about. Brian waved at him. Gavin approached him. “Anything you need help with today, sir?” He asked.
“Actually, yes! I’m a new fluffy owner, and I came over here after I saw all the horrible things at the other store a few blocks away.” Brian answered smiling. Cherry waved his hoof, and giggled as Gavin waved back. This human named Gavin was much nicer than the other one!
“Ah, yes. I’ve seen that store. It’s… Sad, how many people enjoy that sort of thing.” Gavin nodded. “But if you’re looking to treat your fluffy right, this is the place to be, sir!”
Brian smiled. “Absolutely! I want my lil guy to have a happy, healthy life. And please, call me Brian.”
Gavin grinned happily. “Of course! Glad to hear you wanna treat him well. There are so many abusers these days, we hardly get any customers that aren’t looking for torture tools. It’s good to see that there are still people like you around. So, what would you like to see first?”
Brian felt his own mood lighten as Gavin grinned. His smile was contagious! He shook his head, getting back on track. “The punishment and boring stuff first, please. I wanna get the unpleasant part done and over with before everything else.”
Gavin nodded. “Right this way, Brian!” They turned down an isle which held sorry boxes, sorry sticks and anti-chew spray. “Here are the punishment items. None of the sorry stick brands in this store ever break the skin. All fluffy carriers have air holes and places for food, litter, and water. Anti-chew spray is nontoxic to all animals!”
Brian laughed with a “Good!” and entered the isle. He picked up a carrier. The air holes were large, but not enough to get a hoof through. Places for basic fluffy needs were included, and the inside was printed with flowers. He put it back. Sorry boxes were meant to be boring, a place for time-out. Like being sent to your room. He picked up another one, identical except without the floral pattern. Perfect! He placed it in the cart, hardly noticing Cherry’s irritated mutter of “Chewwy nu wan’ dummeh sowwy box.”
He picked up a sorry stick and looked it over. It had the brand name inscribed in the metal handle. “Fluffwuv” it said. Looked painful enough to make a lesson sink in, but gentle enough to not harm the punished fluffy. Comfortable for Brian to hold, and when he tested it on his palm he hissed through his teeth when it gave quite the sting. It was then that Cherry realized what his owner was holding. He’d had enough.
“Bwian, nu wan’ dummeh sowwy stick! Weave dat dewe!” Cherry whined, pointing at the space where the sorry stick had originally sat. He glared at his owner, annoyed. He didn’t want to be spanked with a sorry stick!
Brian simply chuckled and smiled at the irritated colt. “Sorry little buddy, but we need this! You can’t possibly behave all the time. Not to mention you really acted up a few weeks ago.”
He was about to place it in the cart before a small blue hoof knocked it out of his hand and onto the tile floor. It fell with a clatter. “NU! SMAWTY NU WAN’ STOOPI SOWWY STICK! PUT DAT BACK OW SMAWTY WIWW-” Cherry went off on a tirade of insults and threats. He banged on the cart with his hooves and his horn sparked. His wings flapped, banging against the cart loudly. His muzzle was wide open in a shrill scream of anger. It was a tantrum that would impress a toddler.
Gavin covered his mouth, having never seen such a tantrum. “Goodness! Does he always act this way, Brian?” He gasped.
“Not usually, no.” Brian sternly glared at Cherry and lifted him out of the seat. He looked the yelling fluffy right in his emerald eyes and said, “You’d better knock it off right now if you know what’s good for you. Are you sure you want to throw a fit when we’re buying you a sorry stick as we speak?”
Cherry growled in anger. “NU CAWE! PUT DUMMEH SOWWY STICK BACK WIGHT NAO OW SMAWTY GIF YOO SOWWY HOOFSIES!” He beat on Brian’s chest as hard as he could, almost hard enough to bruise. He held the colt away from him.
“Alright, that’s it. You’re going over my knee when we get home.” Brian grumbled, his mood soured. Cherry shrieked in rage and bit Brian’s hand. He yelped and almost dropped the fluffy. “Ow! Ok, we’re adding the sorry stick to that! No more ‘mister nice guy’!”
Gavin tapped him on the shoulder and said, “There’s a testing room for fluffy equipment in the back, if you’d like. It’s usually to see if a fluffy likes a toy, but people use it for punishments too.” Brian nodded and thanked him, placing Cherry in the cart and walking to the back of the store. Cherry screamed, threw profanities that nobody knew that he knew (Brian added a ‘bitter apple’ anti-chew spray to the cart for that one) and snarled the whole way.
He lifted Cherry out of the seat, carried him around the middle and strode into the room. Gavin asked him, “Would you like me to help you through the punishment?”
“Yes please, this is the first time I’ll be doing this myself.” Brian answered, speaking over the screaming alicorn. Gavin followed him in, closing the door and flipping the lock to say ‘Occupied’.
First chapter: Cherry And Brian, Chapter 0: Cherry's Backstory (Star-The-Alicorn)
Previous chapter: Cherry and Brian, Chapter 3: Danger and New Experiences (Star-The-Alicorn)
Next chapter: Cherry and Brian Chapter 5: ... And Punishment (Star-The-Alicorn)
