“Pwease! Babbehs am dew-uh-kit! Nu pway wuff!” You pleaded, patting your little hooves against the little mummah’s leg.
Your reply was a kick to the ribs.
Landing hard on the floor knocked the wind out of you, and it took you a moment to recover. When you did you saw the two young humans fighting over your little blue foal.
“Gimme!” Little Daddeh shouted.
“No! This one is mine!” Little Mummah shouted back.
Your foal chirped and screamed as they fought, you hurried to get your hooves under you. You needed to stop them before something bad happened!
You were too slow.
With a small crunch your goal went silent, a drop of bright red falling to the floor under him.
“Ugh, gross! You broke it!” Little Mummah said.
“Well, you should have just given it to me!” Little Daddeh replied, rolling his eyes.
She shook her hands off, and the twisted body of your perfect little foal landed in front of you.
“NU!” You shouted, startling yourself awake.
You were a pure white fluffy mare with bright pink eyes. An albino fluffy, very valuable and sought after. Not that you knew that. What you knew is that you were sent off as a soon mummah to a new house where they did horrible things to your foals within minutes of them being born. One by one they died at the hands of two young humans who played with them like toys. Didn’t they know they were alive? You watched each one of them suffer and bleed, and when they were all dead you were shoved into a paper bag and brought back to the place you came from. They called it a “return”. Another thing you didn’t understand.
Since then you have had lots of babies. You tried so hard to protect them, but the humans are always stronger, faster, smarter than you. Every time they take the foals away you have the same nightmare, of the first time. It hurts the same every time. It never got easier.
“Hey man, grab the albino!” One of the humans called, and you scrambled to the back of your dark little cage.
“The breeder?”
“Yeah man, it’s going out tonight.”
The cage door opened, and a gloved hand grabbed your front hoof.
“NU!! NU WAN NU WAN!!” you screamed, struggling with all your might.
A sharp blow to the side of your head sent you reeling, and you fell limp.
“Don’t know why anyone would want that thing, it’s properly broke.”
“Probably a breeder trying to get another albino out of her. Let ‘em try. Maybe they’ll have more luck than us.”
You were roughly thrown into another dark container. It jostled and you rolled around on the bottom, unsure of what was in store for you. You never left your cage, they only ever took your babies from you. Were you going to go be tortured and killed like all your little foals?
Maybe that was a good thing. You’d see them again, at least.
“Okay, so you have to promise not to be mad at me.” Your girlfriend said.
“Sheila, what did you do?”
She gave you a sheepish smile. “Nothing… bad. I promise. Remember how your therapist recommended you get that fluffy?”
“You didn’t.”
“I did!” She pulled you down the hall towards the spare bedroom. “So I found this really good deal on a-”
“Sheila, I don’t know about this.” You pulled your arm away from her. “I don’t know if I’m ready, it’s kinda a big thing to spring on me…”
She sighed. “I know. I paid extra for the return policy and everything. But then she got here and…” she trailed off looking at the closed door. “I think she needs you more than you do her.”
You raised an eyebrow at her, and she gestured towards the door. You opened it slowly, seeing a well furnished safe room. Interlocking colorful tiles on the floor, walls painted a soft blue, lit only by a small night light in the corner. You stepped over the baby gate and approached a pile of blankets against the wall where a white tail stuck out.
“Hi there, you okay?” You asked, in a friendly tone. The blanket pile began to quiver, and you crouched down next to it. “I’m just gonna pull this off…”
Lifting the blanket slightly revealed the terrified albino mare. She had a large bruise taking up one side of her face, visible under her nearly transparent fluff. Her pink eyes stared into his, wide and terrified, as she hyperventilated.
“Jeez. Alright. Blanket back on.” You gently lowered it back down.
“I don’t know what they did to her… she looked happy in the picture online.” Sheila said.
“Okay, so you did fuck up and I’m a little mad, but I’ll forgive you if you can make me coffee and breakfast and bring it in here for me.” You sat against the wall near the door.
“Got it. Sorry.”
“Nah, you had good intentions.” You pulled out your phone and started looking up music for fluffies. “We’ll get her calmed down and figure out what to do from there.”
You knew where you were. The blankets, the soft tiles, the toys, this was the place your babies died. Oh, it smelled different but you knew. They wanted to hurt you again. You were going to have to make more babies and watch them die this time, like the first time. Wasn’t it hard enough to know the fate they had? What had you done to deserve this??
You huddled under the blankets, listening to the soft music the human was playing. It was soothing, it made you feel sleepy but you couldn’t bring yourself to relax. How long until their horrible games started? You didn’t have any babies in your tummy right now, would they give you some? Would they even wait for them to be born before harming them? A small squeak worked its way out of you at the thought.
“You okay, sweetie?” The human asked softly. You heard him step across the room towards you.
Oh no.
Slowly the blanket lifted again, just to uncover your eyes. You stared up at him, shaking, as he knelt down. “I’m not going to hurt you, I promise. I want to be friends.”
“NU WAN NU WAN NU WAN!” You screeched at the liar, scrambling out of the blankets and running to the wall. They always hurt you. Even when they said they wouldn’t.
“Do you want me to go away?”
“YUS GU WAY GU WAY GU WAY GU WAY!!!”
To your shock, the human stood and left. The door clicked softly behind him, and you were alone in your little room. The humans had never listened to you before, why now? What was different? You sat down, puzzling it over. Maybe… this wasn’t the same place as before?
“Hey sweetie, I’m coming in with food for you, okay?” The human’s voice called through the door, and you dropped the block you were stacking and darted behind the litter box to hide.
The human stepped in, closing the door behind him. “Oh, you played with the blocks! I’m glad!” He sat down, setting a dish down in front of him and scooting it towards you. “If you ask me to leave, I’ll leave. I’m sure you want to ask some questions, though. We can talk while you eat.”
You opened your mouth to demand he leave when the smell hit you. The rich tomato scent, peppered with herbs and garlic made a drip of drool flow from your open mouth. You’d never smelled anything like it, even the sketti you got at that horrible house didn’t smell this good. And it was there, in that dish… in front of the human.
You looked to him, then to the dish, then to him again.
“Just say the word and I’ll leave.” He said.
“Nu… um… hooman can stay…” You slowly crept towards the dish, keeping your eyes on his. He didn’t try anything as you got to the dish, and your hunger took over as you dove into the noodles. Tears pricked the corners of your eyes as you ate, having tasted nothing even close to this before. The sauce coated your tongue, the noodles had a springy bite to them, and there were small chunks of soft veggies that burst with flavor as you bit down on them.
“That good, huh? Sheila says I’m a good cook but I thought she was just being nice.”
Right. The human. In your bliss you sorta forgot about him. You pulled yourself away from the last few smears of sauce in the bowl and looked up at him. “Wh-Wha’ wan’ wif fwuffy? Nu hab babbehs.”
“Babies? No, I don’t want your babies.”
“Den… gib huwties tu fwuffy??”
“No, I’m not going to hurt you, sweetie.” The human looked sad. It made you feel kinda sad.
You quickly shook your head, dismissing the thought. Humans wanted to hurt you. That’s all they ever wanted. Humans could, and did, lie. “Wiaw. Onwy wan huwties.”
“What happened to you? What did the other humans do?”
“Hoomans… huwt babbehs.” You swallowed the lump in your throat. “Hab pwetty babbehs, wittow hoomans pway meanie gamesies wif. Gib… gib wowstest huwties. Squishies and cwunchies and twisties.” You sank to the floor, remembering the look frozen in their tiny eyes when their corpses hit the floor. “Nu mowe babbehs. Big hoomans nu wan fwuffy nu mo’, say am stinky an’ messy. Make gu ‘way.”
“That’s horrible…”
“Den… den am in babbeh pwace. Hab babbehs, den babbehs gu ‘way. Hab babbehs, den babbehs gu ‘way. Hab babbehs, den babbehs gu ‘way. Hab babbehs…” You trailed off, realizing you didn’t know how many times this had happened. You couldn’t really remember any of them, just that first litter you watched die. Oh your poor babies, with no one to even remember them.
You heard a small noise, and looked up. The human was crying as well. You’d never seen a human look anything like this. They made sad wawas too?
“…Du hooman nee’ huggies?” The words just fell out of you.
“Do I need huggies? Sweetie, do you? That’s horrible!” He wiped his eye with his sleeve. “I should be comforting you!”
You did want a hug. You’d wanted a hug for a very long time, actually. You took a careful step towards the human and he held out his arms. Another step, then another, and then you ran and launched yourself into his lap, wailing.
“I’m here, sweetie. I won’t let anyone hurt you ever again.” His arms wrapped tightly around you and you could feel all the broken parts inside you start to fit back together. “No more babies, no more hurties. We’re going to be okay, we’re going to feel better. I promise.” His hand ran through the fluff on your back, an affectionate touch you didn’t know you would ever feel. “Why don’t we call you Sweetie, hm? Is that a good name?”
You nodded into his chest, too choked up to reply. It was a wonderful name.
