It wasn’t all that big, and the walls were padded. The room was fluffy-proof. A clean litter box sat in the corner in case any fluffies in that room might need to go. There was also a very small first aid kit for both humans and fluffies. It was up where fluffies and young children couldn’t reach and get themselves hurt.
Brian thought of how Will had chastised Berry. He had been firm and stern. She had cried, but Will had comforted her after. He placed Cherry across his lap. He knew that Cherry hadn’t done anything like killing a foal, but he did remember that Cherry was currently unpunished for running away a while ago.
“Cherry, listen to me.” Brian firmly said. Cherry growled and started to kick, and Brian gripped Cherry by the scruff of the neck, immobilizing him. This didn’t stop Cherry from yelling insults, but it kept him still. Brian smacked Cherry firmly on the rear. That shut him up for a second.
“Cherry, I want you to think very hard about what I’m about to do. I’m about to punish you. Do you know why?” Brian asked. Cherry shook his head, angry tears welling in his green eyes. “I’m about to do this because you threw a tantrum in the store. Do you understand why that was a bad thing you did?”
Cherry nodded, whimpering in fear for what was to come, tears now running down his cheeks. “Good. Do you remember what you did a few days ago? When you ran away from home?” Cherry nodded. “I’m gonna punish you for that too, because that was worse than a tantrum. Do you understand why that’s bad?” Cherry nodded.
“I-It am bad b-because Chewwy couwda gone foweva sweepies, and dat scawed yoo…” Cherry whimpered.
“That’s right, you did scare me. Be brave for me, ok? This is gonna be your first big punishment. I hope I won’t have to do this again for a long, long time. I don’t like doing this.” Brian lifted Cherry’s tail out of the way and smacked him on the rear end again. Cherry yelped.
“This is for your own good. If you’re going to yell, throw a fit in public then hit and bite me, you’ll have to expect consequences.” He smacked him a third time, and Cherry sobbed.
“Pwease dun’ do this! Am a good fwuffy!” Cherry whined. Brian gave him a good, hard smack and raised a disappointed brow at him.
“Really? You haven’t been acting good. You made some bad decisions today, and this is your punishment. If you can’t pay the fine…” Brian raised his hand and let it come down with a loud, hard SMACK. Cherry broke into sobs.
“Don’t. Do. The. Crime.” Brian emphasized each word with a blow to Cherry’s rump, each harder than the last.
“What now, Gavin? Do I start with the sorry stick?” Brian looked up at Gavin, never stopping his smacks, which had fallen into a rhythm. Gavin had a grim, sad look on his face as he nodded. “…Are you ok?” he asked.
“Yeah, fluffy punishments kinda bum me out is all. I’m glad to help since they can’t behave all the time, but…” Gavin sniffled. “I have a real soft spot for these animals.”
Brian gave him a sad smile and nodded. “I get what you mean. I don’t like doing this either.” He replied. The whole time, he’d felt a lump in his throat. He swallowed it down, grabbing the sorry stick and steeling himself.
“Alright, you’re going to get the sorry stick now. Anything to say to me, Cherry?” Brian leaned over the sobbing fluffy.
“Sniff C-Chewwy sowwy Bwian!” He hiccuped. Brian smiled and nodded, petting Cherry’s mane for a second.
“That’s a good boy. Just get through these last three, okay?” Brian instructed. Cherry didn’t respond.
Brian let the sorry stick come down hard three times. Cherry yowled and tried to kick his legs. They only twitched, since he still was immobilized by Brian’s grip. Cherry let out a screech that echoed through the room. Brian chucked the stick aside and lifted the small alicorn into his arms.
He rocked him from side to side, shushing him and apologizing. Cherry sobbed his own apologies into Brian’s chest, thoroughly soaking his shirt. Gavin sighed and visibly relaxed, glad it was all over. “And that… Is how you punish a fluffy.” He shakily said. Brian smiled at him, a tear slipping out of his eye.
Soon enough, Cherry was given an ice pack to sit on, and off they went through the store again. Brian jogged him around, effectively cheering the three of them up. Cherry squealed and laughed as they sped down the isles. Gavin rolled his eyes at the immaturity but joined in the fun.
Brian and Cherry chose a harness, collar and leash. “Dat one, pwease!” Cherry cheerily asked, his tail wagging. His hoof pointed to a blue leash with white hoofprints and a matching harness. Brian nodded and placed it in the cart after choosing an orange collar.
They moved on to beds, litterboxes and toys. Brian chose a purple litterbox, a pink, faux fur-lined bed and a durable squeaky ball. Cherry chose a fake ball of yarn and some plastic, colorful rattly blocks.
“Hey, Gavin? Cherry seems to really like you. Do you have a fluffy of your own? Maybe they could meet up and Cherry could make some friends!” Brain asked.
“I do! He’s an alicorn too, coincidentally. His name is Switchy. He’s a bit shy around new people, but he’s surprisingly mature for a fluffy. Very well behaved, although he hates dancing.” Gavin answered.
“Oh? Usually fluffies love to dance, from what I’ve heard.” Brain asked.
“His old owner was actually a long-term relationship ex of mine. When Switchy was a foal, my ex forced him to dance for hours. And when he inevitably collapsed from exhaustion, my ex would beat him with a pretty thick stick from the backyard. When I found out he was doing that while I was visiting him, I snatched the lil guy right up and walked out the door while he was out of the room. As soon as I got home, I changed the locks and told him we were over.” Gavin explained. As Gavin spoke, Brian’s expression changed from angry, to sympathetic to worried.
“Sorry if this is too personal a question and you don’t have to answer if you don’t want to, but did that ex come back?” Brian asked, concerned.
“Oh, plenty of times. My god, you wouldn’t believe the shit he pulled to try and get into my house!” Gavin enthusiastically told his story, and Brian’s jaw dropped as Cherry listened in.
Cherry gawped as he listened. So Gavin’s special friend was a meanie to fluffies, and that’s why Gavin didn’t want to be his special friend anymore! Then Gavin’s now not-special-friend tried to force him to come back? Cherry thought Gavin was super brave for protecting that nice fluffy all on his own. He hoped that the other alicorn was okay.
“Of course, he stopped all of a sudden about six months ago. Maybe he got a new partner, or maybe he’s torturing fluffies to take his mind off the breakup. Maybe he finally got arrested. Eugh.” Gavin shook his head in disgust. Brian shook his head too. Stalker exes sounded terrifying, from the horror stories he’d heard.
Gavin got back on track. “Uhh, Where was I?” Gavin thought hard, snapping his fingers as he tried to remember. “Oh yeah! The playdate! That sounds really nice, yeah. When and where do you wanna meet up? Cherry’s seems like a pretty good lil guy usually, so I think Switchy will like him.”
Brain smiled at Gavin’s rambling. It’s been a while since he’d talked to someone this long. Maybe he’d be able to talk to him more at the playdate! “How does 2 pm on saturday sound? And at Jellen park? How’s that sound?” Brain asked.
“I got nothing going on that day, so yeah! That’s a good day, park sounds alright. You all done shopping Brian?” Gavin asked.
“Yep! I’m gonna head to the counter to check stuff out. See ya there!” Brian called. Cherry waved cheerily, then seemed surprised when he saw Gavin at the cash register.
“Hewwo again nice hooman!” Cherry called, waving his hoof enthusiastically. Gavin chuckled and waved back. Brain stepped up to the counter, placing the items up for checkout.
“Hey, I completely forgot, but we need a way to contact each other.” Brain reminded.
“Oh yeah! Here, I can write down my phone number so we can text.” They exchanged phone numbers, then Brian waved goodbye. Cherry and Brian headed home to spend the day setting up the new fluffy stuff.
First chapter: Cherry And Brian, Chapter 0: Cherry's Backstory (Star-The-Alicorn)
Previous chapter: Cherry and Brian, Chapter 4: Crime... (Star-The-Alicorn)
Next chapter: Cherry and Brian, Chapter 6: New Connections (Star-The-Alicorn)
