This is going to be super gross, fair warning.
Part of the Rainbow Acres continuity.
You are Gardenia, and you have never been outside a safe room.
Your hooves on the metal grate floor felt strange, very cold and if you looked through the holes your head would swim seeing the mess of pipes and wires you would fall into if the floor gave out. You almost just went back to the saferoom when you saw it, but the thought of your babies being without their mother pushed you on.
Maybe the monster had tricked Miss Tricia, convincing her that your foals were too sick to be with you so it could have all your milk to itself. Your thinkie place told you monsters were tricky like that, even you didnât know that the baby was a monster until the bandage fell off! You shook your head as you trotted down the corridor. You wouldnât be tricked again, not now that you knew what they were capable of.
Voices behind you made your fluff stand on end. There were lots of rules you were taught in the foal place, more than you had hooves! The most important one was that good fluffies stayed in the saferoom. Your trot turned into a full gallop, if the workers saw you you would be in BIG trouble!
Around a corner you saw a cart, the upper level containing a bin full of foals. This would take you to the foal place! You scrambled into the lower level of it, finding blankets to cover yourself with.
âI just donât know why sheâs so insistent on it being raised by a mare. Our studs are raised with milkbags and they turn out fine.â
âYou only see the ones that make it out to the production floor. Some of those fuckers are clingy!â
The cart started to rattle and shake, the foals in the upper compartment began to chirp in fear. You wished you could comfort them on the off chance that your foals were among them but then the workers would know you broke the rules!
âI still think it would be fine. Especially since I have to go deal with the cunt now. Iâm glad she didnât damage the foal at least.â
âGood luck man, Iâll keep an eye out for a replacement if you need one.â
The cart rattled along, you bit your lip to keep quiet. The worker didnât seem to mind the foals being out of the saferoom, maybe the rule didnât apply to chirpy babies? You pondered this as the cart came to a stop.
The worker sighed. âFuckers didnât clean the damn grinder again⌠gross.â
A loud growling noise started, making you jump. You stayed hidden under the blankets so this new monster wouldnât find you. It was too bad the babies were unprotected, but maybe it would just eat the worker and leave you all alone. After a few minutes of shaking on the bottom of the cart, the growling stopped.
âAlways leaving shit for me to doâŚâ
A loud hissing noise, then some splashing. Did the monster have water too? That was very scary, water was really bad for fluffies. You hoped the nice worker would deal with the monster so you would be safe.
Sounds of frantic footsteps came from behind you as the splashing and hissing stopped.
âDude! Sheâs gone!!â
âWhat??â
âThe mare with the alicorn! Sheâs not in there, I must have left the door open!!â
âShit, call Tricia.â
âNo, dude! Sheâll kill me!â
Another few steps.
âSheâll kill us both if she finds out we didnât tell her. Call her, now, Iâll start looking.â
You heard both workers run off and waited a moment before crawling out from the bottom of the cart. The workers talked about lots of things that didnât make any sense, you didnât know what an âalicornâ was but you hoped Miss Tricia would help them find whatever mare was missing!
The room you were in was brightly lit and sterile white, filled with things you didnât know the names of. Very different than the foal place you remembered, but there had been some forevers since youâd seen it, so maybe your thinkie place was being silly. A big silver thing filled up an entire corner with fat black sketti-looking stuff coiled on the wall next to it. The floor was wet but you resolved to be brave about the scary water. If your babies were near they would need protection!!
It dawned on you that you no longer heard the chirping of foals. Looking around for them, the light scent of milk and fluff tickled your noise. You took a big sniff and immediately gagged. The room smelled horrible! Like booboo juice and poopies and icky things you didnât know of until now. The sweet, milky scent of baby fluffies still stood under all that awfulness so foals must be nearby.
âHewwo? Babbehs?â You asked, poking around the room carefully.
No peeps replied to you, so you kept sniffing. The scent of both foals and the gross stuff was stronger near the silver thing for sure. You trotted around it, pressing on the shiny panels that covered it until one bent enough for you to peek into it. You saw lots of things you didnât recognize and one you did, a small tuft of orange fluff wedged in the teeth of a round thing.
âHuggy babbeh!!â You said, worming your way into the gap. You sniffed at the tuft deeply, trying your best to ignore all the nasty smells. It certainly was a foal, you were sure it was yours from the color alone! Who else could have possibly had a pretty orange baby here, you were the only mummah you had ever seen!
Plucking the tuft of orange fluff out of the machine you tucked it into your chest fluff and pushed forward. Your foals had been in this scary thing at some point, you needed to find them before they got hurt! Sharp corners tugged at your fluff, occasionally poking into your skin but you silenced your huu-huus. Your babies needed you to be a brave fluffy! If they saw how scared and hurt their mummah was they would be scared too!
The floor sloped down below you, it wasnât until your hooves lost purchase on the smooth, wet surface that you saw the hole in the middle. With a yelp you slid into it headfirst, eyes squished shut so you wouldnât have to look at the scary darkness in front of you.
With a splash you landed in gross water, yanking your head up with a gasp.
âWawa baâ foâ fwuffy!!â You yelled, giving the scary water sorry hoofsies.
The water didnât seem to care, pushing you further into the dark tunnel.
âHoofsies, pwease! Nu wanâ go in dawkies!!â You begged, scrambling on the slick, curved surface below you.
You hooves didnât obey, clearly focused on finding your missing foals. If your hooves could keep going, you decided, then so could you!
âBabbehs!!â You called, your voice echoing in the darkness. You were losing your ability to see quickly as the hole you dropped through got further and further away. âMake peepies foâ mummah pwease!!â
All you heard was the trickling water.
âBabbehs!! Whewe am?!â
More silence.
Maybe they were at the end of whatever this tunnel was? You hoped it was nice and dry at the end, the feeling of icky water soaking into your fluff was not pretty at all.
âOwwies!â
Something hit you on the nose! You pulled your head back, hoping to avoid any further sorry hoofsies.
âGawdenia am sowwy foâ whaebah du, nu du âgain!â You pleaded with your unknown assailant.
It was then that you noticed that you werenât moving anymore. Your hooves had hit a surface in front of you, smooth and slippery like everything else. The water had stopped almost entirely, you could still hear it trickling and feel it building up on your backside but nothing on your front hooves. Something pressed into your sides almost like a tight hug, and you tried to wriggle free to no avail.
After feeling around with your hooves in the darkness you realized that the tunnel took a turn to the side, you were pressed up against the back of it. With your hooves against the wall you pushed, trying to back up but they got no purchase here just like everywhere else.
A cold feeling washed over your back, the horrible hand of some monster trying to grab you.
âSCREEEEEEEE! NU NUM GAWDENIA!!!â you screeched, wriggling away as fast as you could.
Water washed over your shoulders and lubricated you somewhat, allowing you to push a small way into the turn before you were hugged even tighter by the walls. You sobbed into your hooves as you felt the cold fingers of water wriggle through your fluff in an attempt to pull you into what you were sure was its waiting maw.
âBABBEHS!! SABE MUMMAH!!â The tunnel echoed your cries, hopefully carrying them to wherever your foals waited for you.
If the monster baby you fed had its eyes open, you hoped your foals were even more grown. With the humanâs magic milk you were sure they were big and strong.
They would come to save you. They would. They loved you, theyâd hear you calling for them any moment now.
Any moment now.
âSo the snake hit a blockage somewhere around here.â
Tricia followed behind a plumber in an ill-fitting pink jumpsuit.
âThere should be pipe access just past the grinder, we get mats of fluff stuck in the bend sometimes.â
âThatâs probably it.â The man said as she led him into one of the access rooms.
Tricia dropped to her knees and unlatched a panel on the floor. The plumber dropped a toolbag next to her, wrapping a trash bag under the wide pipe before starting to cut into it with a small saw.
âYouâll be able to patch it back up today, yeah? We have far too many shitrats to be without a sewer line.â
The plumber grunted with effort as the saw sliced the pvc. âI can get it patched today but the sealant is supposed to cure for 24 hours.â
âFuuuuuuuckâŚâ Tricia groaned. âWould overnight be safe enough?â
âProbably. Iâll throw another bag underneath it when weâre done, keep an eye on it and turn off the water if you see any leak.â
The pair grimaced as the saw broke through the bottom of the pipe, a splash of foul smelling black liquid landing in the bag.
âWhat do we have here?â The plumber reached a gloved hand into the pipe, pulling out a fistful of green fluff. âLooks like a fluff mat, yeah.â
Tricia frowned. âJust the one color?â
The plumber reached in again, brow furrowing as he felt around. âNo, thereâs something else.â
His hand returned with another mass of stained green fluff. The pair stared at it for a moment in silence before one of them spoke.
âIs that⌠a bone?â
Tricia brushed some of the loose fluff off the side of it, revealing peeling black flesh wrapped around a stained yellow femur.
âYes. I donât think this is a fluff mat.â
The plumber went in again, feeling around blindly for something solid to hold onto. Once he found a part of the mass that didnât immediately turn to mush in his hand he pulled slowly, wiggling it back and forth to free it from the pipe.
With a wet SHLORP! a ball of stained fluff came free. The pair stared at the fluffy in his hand for a long moment.
âJesus Christ!!â he yelped, dropping the fluffy into the black ooze contained below it.
What remained of Gardenia lay in front of them. Her head was mostly intact although covered in bald patches revealing inflamed red patches of skin where fluff should be. Her muzzle was stained black with the evidence of the desperate things she must have done to survive. The rest of her intact skin was quite loose, as if she was wearing a tattered costume of herself, maggots pouring out of festering wounds and dropping into the plastic below her. Her front hooves seemed to be peeling away as the leathery hoof coverings rippled and bubbled, bloated from constant contact with water.
Around her midsection a clear line showed where the pipe had formed a seal, everything behind it was barely recognizable as flesh. The mixture of fluffy shit, liquified foals, and other things flushed away had marinated her body until what little skin that remained hung in tatters, too rotted even for the larvae that feasted on the rest of her. Along her back knobs of bone poked out from the stained greenish fluff, vertebrae trailing down to where the clear shape of her pelvis could be seen under the muck. No tail remained to be seen, though a few small vertebrae stuck to the mass of black ooze that may have been her remaining hind leg. The other, yanked off by the plumber in an attempt to free the mass, left behind a socket of soft greyish-pink tissue.
âHoly shit, I know this one! We lost her⌠what, a week ago??â Tricia poked the limp ball of fluff with a gloved finger. âI wonder how she got inâŚâ
The mass stirred slightly, startling both humans. Milky, yellowed eyes lifted and tried to focus on the figures in the room.
âA-a week?! And itâs still alive?!?!â The plumber scrambled backwards, filthy handprints marking his path. âWhat the fuck is it made out of?!â
âHoly shit. Hey girl, you still in there?â Tricia knelt down next to the rotting fluffy, watching her eyes wander around the room.
The skin along the suffering fluffyâs lips cracked as she opened her mouth to croak out, ââŚbaaahhhâŚbaaaayhhâŚ.â
Before she could say anything else the plumber swung a large pipe wrench down, smashing into her skull and sending shards of teeth and bone in every direction. Gardenia released a wet croaking noise as phlegm and blood-tinged spittle bubbling out her mouth before finally falling silent.
âThatâs not fucking right.â The plumber gasped, furiously signing the cross on himself over and over again. âThat thing isnât right.â
âLetâŚ. Let me get a biowaste bag.â Tricia said, snapping a picture with her phone before standing. âIf you need a minute while I clean up, the breakroom is to the left.â
âTh-thank you.â The man ripped off his gloves, tossing them aside as he hurried out of the room.
âThe lab boys will want to see thisâŚâ Tricia mumbled to herself, typing up a message to send alongside the picture she took.