This is a follow-up to Coffee’s choice and another attempt by myself to give something more hugboxie + sadboxie to the community.
Enjoy.
Coffee had taken to her new role as a nurse mare at Deacon Farms rather well, she had only been holding down the position for no more than two weeks but she had already established herself as one of the best nurse mares in the facility, even with her privileges removed from the sensitive baby incident.
One of the things that she enjoyed the most about her role was the cute little uniform they gave her, that being a charming little nurse’s hat and a snazzy looking white collar.
Billie, one of the human staff in the east wing of the mill, had informed the newbie that her collar was made with “human magic” that made doors open for her in almost any room in the facility. This much free reign was a godly luxury for any fluffy, although its application was intended exclusively to allow nurse mares to move about the wings to feed the foals, check on expecting mothers and to sus out bad babies with undesirable personality traits.
Unlike the nurse mares, the typical fluffies had the ability to only move about between their personal sleeping quarters, the playpens and the main hall within the row. Those privileges were a reward for fluffies who behaved themselves to the fullest and were easily lost. The fuzzy little inmates were fully aware of this as much as they were also fully aware of the cameras that watched their every movement. They knew what disobedience would cost them and it could be a lot worse than time out in the sorry box.
Coffee began prepping for her morning milk round with a bowl full of “milky mare’s special brand kibble” in the nurse mare’s only pen, to keep her lactation up. As she lowered her head to take the first bite however, she noticed a new mare waddle up beside her, or at least one she hadn’t seen before, dressed in a matching uniform with the exception of a brass pin on her collar.
This older, off white mare with a long and shiny pale red mane had a very snooty look about her, but it was hidden, buried beneath an insincere smile. She carried herself as if she shat pure gold and pissed vintage bourbon. To say that Coffee was wary of her would be an understatement.
“hewwo dawin’, an yew awe? Nu seen awound befowe” she said with a shit eating grin.
“oh, umm, am Cowffie…” the nervous mare replied.
“Oh! Dat am wite! Cowffie, yus, Cweam hab heawed ob yew, dawin” The pompous pale nurse mare gasped dramatically. “yew am dummeh mawe dat neawy gabe aww hew bebbehs foweba sweepies… Vewy bad”, she continued before shaking her head and tutting.
“n-nu wan tawk bout dat, wus miss-tayk… Cowffie weawned wesson, d-dat wy am nuwse mawe noe!” she declared nervously.
The mare started to chuckle lightly at the insinuation. “Cweam nu thinkie so, Cweam heawed dat Cowffie nu gu tu towew onwy becawse am mista Dee-kan’s fav-ow-wit mawe. Dummeh got wucky, dat aww…” she added bitterly before reaching down, taking a bite of the special kibble and storming off.
A large, somewhat portly mare soon appeared behind the sobbing Coffee and gave her a hug, she was a candy pink mare with a charming silver mane tied up in a bun. Her round face was without malice and her eyes were warm to look into.
“shhhh it am otay nyew mawe, sugah am hewe. Cweam nu mean it, she jus weawy cawe bout aww da bebbehs, dat aww…” Sugar said reassuringly, trying her darndest to comfort the tearful younger mare.
“she am su meanie… Cowffie awready feww bad enuff, nu mean tu be bad mummah, stiww hab bad sweepie times pictews bout bein’ put in da towew an weft foweva!” Coffee cried between hyperventilations.
No fluffies actually knew what went on in the tower, they only understood that the worst fluffies were sent there and never seen again. The rumours played on the minds of all the fluffy’s present at Deacon Farms, as a way to keep them in place, to ensure loyalty and spotless behaviour. But for Coffee it was something more extreme, Cream’s words cut her to the core of her fluffy soul and she knew it, because whether she liked or not it was all true. If it wasn’t for her chance encounter with mister Deacon that one day, she’d be in the tower.
Sugar had taken on her assigned mentor role over the past week for Coffee and all the other new recruits. She was a soft hand but patient, her warmth kept the attention of the scared nurse mares in training just as Cream’s sharp tongue kept the lazy one’s on the move. As head nurse mare and assistant head nurse mare they were formidable.
Since Coffee had been doing this for about two weeks now she was nearly out of the boot camp phase, she was now permitted to feed and do checks herself. The feeding part brought her great joy on a scale that cannot be comprehended but pushing the red button when she noticed a bad foal always killed a bit of her inside. Nevertheless she had learned her lesson and the buttons were there to be used.
Usually the buttons were only pressed when a smarty in the making has been witnessed, a mother starts to develop bitch mare syndrome or the foal comes out with some form of disability, although typically it was usually the former.
Coffee did struggle one time during her second week though, She walked into a young mare’s pen and gave her beautiful newborn young a good feeding, since the young mare had a condition that rendered her milk production less than minimum. What Coffee remembered the most was that as she was feeding the supposed last two foals to completion, the young mare leaned close to her ear and whispered something that shook her to the bone.
“am hidin’ speshew bebbeh, pwease gib miwkies tu himb tu…” she begged.
As soon as the words hit her ears, Coffee’s pulse quickened.
“w-wut?..” she asked, hoping to all that is sacred that her ears simply played a horrible trick on her. Unfortunately the mare repeated herself again and confirmed the horror.
The young mare got up and walked over to the litter box before brushing the absorbent litter aside to reveal her secret shame.
The child was horribly deformed, lightly squeaking from its oversized head as its three front legs and two and a half back legs reached out for any sort of comfort to ease its physical and mental anguish. Coffee was pretty sure that if she were any other nurse mare she would have immediately screamed “munstah!” and bucked that red button with the force of a thousand suns, yet as she looked down at this tragic creature, clumsily writhing in its mother’s urine and feces, she felt only pity.
“yew am bigges dummeh…” Coffee said to the young mare, “yew hab nu enfin thinkie-pictew wat gon happen ifv hoomin find out bout munsah bebbeh! DEY GON SEND YEW TU TOWE-” she tried to warn until the mare covered her mouth with a hoof, “shhhhhhh nu, pweas, himb onwy widdle bebbeh, himb nu du anyting wong…” she pleaded quietly.
Coffee didn’t bother trying to debate this, it was like looking at herself in the mirror and it made her feel sick.
“Cowffie gun pwess button an dummeh mawe gun gu tu towew ow mawe pwess button an bebbeh gu way… Choosie!” Coffee declared with a stomp before walking towards the crimson semisphere.
With every step towards it she silently prayed that the mare would stop her and press it herself, but it never came… Coffee pressed the ominous button and the lights above the pen turned red.
“HAYTCHU!” the mare verbally retaliated to Coffee as she cradled the deformed creature in her front legs.
“Cowffie hayt Cowffie tu… Noe shuddup… Gun sab mawe fwom towew” was the only reply.
Soon enough a human staff member came along and asked the nurse mare what the problem was.
“hewwo madam, Cowffee fin bwoken bebbeh, but mummah nu weawize bwoken untiw jus noe…” she lied with her best poker face.
“is that true?” Billie asked, not really caring but more going through the motions.
“Y-y-yus?..” the mare said in a state of fear and utter confusion.
Billie then stepped in and wrangled the foal from the snivelling mare’s hoofs before walking off without a word. Normally Billie would find herself being more involved but not today, today wasn’t good for her and if she heard the truth then Coffee was sure the idiot mare would be in the tower before lunchtime today.
“h-h-haytchu… Wan bebbeh… Haytchu…” the young mare cried softly as she cuddled her remaining foals.
“yew gun tank Coffee in da futuwe, dummeh…” she said sternly with a cracking voice that revealed the heartbreak below, before leaving the pen with her head hung low.
“Cweam saw dat…” the old mare said with a judgemental smile as her colleague entered the main hall of the row.
“yew gun teww hoomins, it am otay, Cowffie deserb towew… Jus wan tu gib secon chancie tu dummeh mawe… Wike cowffie hab… It jus nu faiw, just nu faiw at aww…” Coffee said in a defeated tone.
Cream simply looked her up and down and sighed loudly before sitting right next to her in the middle of the walkway.
“Cweam wus wike Cowffie vewy wong timsie gu… Wan tu sabe aww dah bebbehs, but dat nu how wowld wowk… Sum fwuffies jus am giben bad wuckies fwom da mow-ment dey weave mummah’s tummeh… Cweam nu hab wots ob timsie weft, wan mayk sure dat nyew nuwse mawes unastan dat it nu bout ifv it am faiw ow ifv am gud, jus dat it am” the old mare said as she played with her mane to ease her visible stress, brushing it aside to reveal a triplet set of three large and aggressive looking tumors clustered together behind her ear. Coffee didn’t know what they were and couldn’t possibly comprehend the complexities of cancer but she knew they meant death, just from a glance.
“C-c-cowfie pwomis tu mayk Cweam pwoud…” she assured, fighting back the urge to give her superior a hug.
“nu pwomise, jus du…” Cream said softly before getting up, “Nuwse mawe wife am hawd wife, but it am gud. Wen pwess da wed button da nuwse mawe du it fow da mummahs an da bebbehs. Ifv mummahs be saf fwom towew by woosin a bwoken bebbeh den it mean aww dah nex bebbehs hab a chancie. Dey need chancie tu… It nu am faiw, dawin’, but it am onwy chancie…” she added before walking off slowly. “Cweam gun be keepin see-pwace on newbie mawe, see yew wound, dawin’” she said with a voice of very mixed tones before vanishing into another pen to complete her rounds.
Coffee couldn’t explain it but after that talk things became a lot easier for her. She still thought the situation was horribly unfair and that every foal should be given a chance, but she had never considered the litters that were yet to be born and their missed chance should their mothers do something stupid and find themselves in the tower.
Coffee understood her situation now, it wasn’t simply to feed foals that couldn’t be fed by their mothers, or just suss out bad Smarties in the making, no, it was more grey than that, she was the last line of defense for these mares, she was a walking embodiment of their survival Instincts that so easily fell away when their maternal nature takes over. She was their conscience, their protector and their judge.
It was bitter work as much as it was sweet, it was rough as much as it was smooth… But coffee, suger and cream made it bearable for themselves and the mothers involved.
-the end-
