Night passes with some trepidation.
When you’re awake it’s early for once, somewhere around eight A.M.
This is abnormal, but you have business today.
You don’t get up out of bed when you wake up. Eyes transfix to the ceiling instead, like you’re drifting away on an acidic ocean.
The scent of iron is still thick in your home, it mixes with the scent of peanut oil wafting from your crotch.
You cringe at the scent, the memories flicker at the edges of your mind, push them back. Push them back, far away, until you can’t see them.
It’s closer to ten when you finally get up.
Hand knocks over a raped peanut butter jar and a bottle of booze, clattering both to the ground.
Heave, ho, heave, ho. Moving feels like trying to shake a boat off shore to the ocean. It may as well be.
Normally you’d just sleep in at this point.
But you remember what’s outside.
You remember.
With great effort you manage to clean off the filth on your body in the shower, then get dressed in some jean shorts and a wife beater.
“Alright…Alright. I can do this. Alright.”
Breathe out.
"Fuck. "
Outside, you clamber your way to the barn. The discordant sound of fluffies, distressed mistakes of science, blubbering…fuck you can’t even hear what all they’re saying.
Getting closer to the barn reveals nothing, makes nothing clearer, just makes the noises louder.
From what all you can tell, they’re oscillating wildly from angry, scared, sad.
“Suhh-”
You linger outside the barn, your hand placed on the outside of it.
“Sunnyshine wan’ go! Go RIGHT NOW!” Little leathery ‘hooves’ plop against the floor furiously.
“Wam go oud!” Anger, mixed with tears.
“OUD OUD OUD OUD!”
“Sawcks! Sunnyshine bein’ scawy!”
You push open the door suddenly.
“Fuck are you retards doing? Huh?”
You crack your neck.
“See none of you managed to die yet, good.”
“GO ‘WAY! SCAWY MUNSTA’ WEAVE SUNNYSHINE AWONE!”
A yellow earth Fluffy screams at you, tears rolling down it’s cheeks.
“SCAWY MUNSTA MAKE SUNNYSHINE SWEEP IN- IN SCAWY DAWK AWONE SOOOO MANY FOWEVEW TIMES AND. AND. AND SUNNYSHINE HADE YOU! HADE YOU! HADE YOU! HADE YOU!”
A black and white earth fluffy stamps up to you.
“SICKIES MAN SAY FWUFFY GET GOOD SKETTIES FOWEVEW”
“WHEWE FWUFFY NUMMIES!”
He narrows his eyes at you, puffing his cheeks and taing a defensive stance.
It occurs you could smash him under your foot like a grape.
You don’t.
You squat down, putting your hands on your knees. A smile etches into your face.
It’s the smile of a chimpanzee.
“What’s your name, huh?”
The black and white fluffy blows air out his nose, his small ears twitching.
“C’mon then, what’s your name? Did you hear me?”
He refuses to answer.
Did you? Huh? Did you NOT fucking hear me? Do you need help hearing me?
Your hands reach forward, then shakily retreat back, resting on your knees.
Take a deep breath, before you stand back up.
"Listen up faggots. You took something of mine… "
“Nuh!” The black-white one hollers back, “Fwuffy nod’ take anythin’!”
"Yes, you did. You took my oranges. "
“Wat am owanges?” Pipes up a pink pegasus.
“Dun tawk, Hawp!” Screams the black-white earth fluffy, “shushies!”
“Sowwy..” mewls Harp.
"You fuckers come into my farm and don’t know what..you know, never mind. Oranges are those fruits you little bastards took. "
“…Nummies…?” Says the black-white fluffy.
"Yes. My oranges. "
The fluffy puffs his cheeks again.
“OUW owangies! DIS AM FWUFFY WAND. you GO 'way!”
"Not yours, mine. All mine. Everything you see here is mine. This is my land, my oranges, my barn. I’m not goin’ anywhere, faggot. "
You stick out a finger to the multi-coloured crowd, sneering.
“You took what was mine, you owe me for that. All of you owe ME.”
“Sickies man gon’ getchu and give us nummies! Dis-”
You groan.
“Oh christ, would you just..”
You can feel your blood boiling, you. God, god, GOD. You could just..
"You took what was mine, you all need to pay for that. "
“Whad’ pay mean?!”
Yells a lime green earth fluffy.
“Nuuuuu! Stop talkies!!” Screeches the black-white fluffy.
“Sowwy Sowcks…”
“NUUUUUU!! FWUFFY DIDN’ WAN’ MUNSTAH TO KNOW NAMESIES!” Yowels the fluffy, he seems ready to lash out and attack the lime green fluffy.
"Stop. Yelling. "
You pinch the bridge of your nose.
They don’t really comply. Socks screams and yells at lime.
Sunshine yells at you.
Other fluffies begin doing…who knows what.
You’re at your wits end here.
That’s when it dawned on you.
Claudius, your mail man. He left you something.
Something you’d never really seen before, only heard about.
He said you’d need it.
Need it bad.
You leave the barn- which causes a ruckus of demands to be let out of the ’ ‘tinky Housie’
And of course, for you to leave.
Eventually you slither back with it.
The ‘sorry stick’.
You’d heard about these a few times back when you were a kid.
Never really saw one. Normal stores didn’t carry them when you were a kid.
It’s a bright blue thing, covered in childish sticker-designs. The flat end of it is shaped like a star. The handle is made of leather, with multicoloured ribbons attached to it.
Effectively, a cutesy riding crop of sorts.
It’s also the gayest thing you have ever owned in your entire life.
Looking at the thing makes your stomach churn. It just…you don’t know. Something about it sets you off, you couldn’t say what though. It just felt weird to see. Felt weird to know what it would be for as well.
The moment you open up the door to the barn, you’re met with a barrage of NOISE.
You don’t want to use this.
You really don’t.
“Listen up, and listen good.”
You slap your hands together, the sorry stick in one.
That gets them all quiet, except for a few of the younger ones complaining about the scary noise.
"You asked me what pay means, yeah? "
The fluffies look confused.
They must have forgotten.
Time to retread your tracks
“Paying means…when you take something…like my oranges, you have to give something back. But none of you have anything, right?”
“Have wand.” Socks says defiantly.
“Not for meanie hooman-munstahs.”
"Yeah, but it’s my land. Just like those were my oranges. So you have nothing… What do you think that means? "
“Not gunna paysies!”
Several fluffies nod in agreement, the ones paying attention anyway.
"Means you all belong to me now. You’re my slaves. "
“waddam swaves?” Asks an orange earth colt.
“Yew nod’ our daddie!” Says socks, who only grasps the word ‘belong’.
“GO OUD’ OF 'TINKY HOUFF!”
Beige earth fluffy more so states, than he even does ask…or demand for that matter.
Then he just runs past you.
Straight into the yard.
Your anger is somewhere else.
“Tangelo gonna pwaysies!” there goes a creme coloured unicorn.
Out they go, one by one, toddling into your yard retardedly.
Rushing to your oranges.
You stand for a moment.
Watch it play out.
Claudius warned you this could happen.
You know what you need to do.
Fuck, you feel hot all over.
You take off your shirt, sweating. Your heart is pounding.
You wait.
Wait.
The beige earth fluffy tears down several oranges.
You wait for them all to be watching.
He bites into it.
When that happens, you rush over to the little dude and scoop him into your arms.
He begins screaming, demanding to be put down, biting you several times.
Thankfully fluffy teeth are real small and real soft.
Other fluffies are screaming now too, the begin rushing up to you, slapping at your legs.
Doesn’t do much. They all have the strength of a normal toddler just about.
This!
They ignore your yell, still trying to beat you into submission. Screaming something or other about ‘sowwy hoofsies’.
“This is a sorry stick!”
“We dun’ cawe about yew dumb stickie! Wed Jawn Madden go!”
…Did you…is he really named that..?
Put aside your shock.
“Do you all know what a sorry stick is?”
“PUD FWUFFY DOWN!”
"Guess not. "
With great difficulty, you turn the creature about so it’s rear is facing the audience.
The terrible sorry stick is brandished in your free hand. It’s an awkward angle, but you have enough arm room to do what you gotta do.
With as much regret as you have enjoyment, you bring down the sorry stick’s flat end with a terrible crack onto his ass.
“Ouchie! Nnnnh!”
John sniffles, in total shock.
“Wha’ Happen?!?! Wed fwuffy down! Pweese! Pweese righd’ Nao!”
You deliver another thwack, he howls out in pain this time.
“Nuuuu!”
“Stopp’id!” screams out Socks, puffing his cheeks. " Give mowe sowwy hoofsies if you don’!"
The other fluffies agree with the sentiment, of course.
You don’t stop.
You slam the stick on him again.
This earns retribution. Dozens of soft, calloused leathery appendages slapping at you. Demanding you halt. Each time they ask, you make sure to whip John a little harder.
The fluffies seem confused when they realize their punishment means nothing to you. Then they begin begging you to stop.
“Fwwuufffyyy ammm fow wuv an-an huggieessss…” John bawls “Am-am huwtiessss…”
You set him down.
He’s not bruised.
You could’ve done worse.
"This, "
You hold up your tool for all to see.
"Is a sorry stick. "
You rest the thing into the loop of your underwear, the end tucking out through your jean shorts.
Fluffies look in utter shock, except for John, who sat crying for his punished rear.
“Now, lets talk a little bit more about this ‘slavery’ thing…”