Marika had had one hell of a week. First, she finally got diagnosed with depression (about a decade or so late), then her mother came by to visit and pestered her about giving her grandchildren, and on top of it all, she was struggling to find the motivation to work on her latest illustrations.
Now, she was walking home from the pharmacy with her new prescription rattling in her bag. She stared down at the sidewalk as she walked, the occasional sound of a car rushing by barely registering to her ears while she was deep in thought. Her mother had been pestering her more and more the older she got, insisting that she needed a grandkid from each child. After all, her brother had already started a family, so why was she falling behind? She didn’t have the heart to tell her mother that asking her those things made her feel like shit. It wasn’t like she couldn’t feel her biological clock ticking. But honestly, her? Having kids? With her depressive struggles, Marika didn’t even trust herself to raise a cat. The only thing she could maybe try her hand at would be-
“Nuuu!” a voice suddenly cried, snapping Marika out of her thoughts. “Nu huwt speshow fwen! Meanie!”
Marika stopped and looked down the alleyway next to her, where a couple of stray fluffies seemed to be in an altercation.
“Gib nummies to fwuffy, nao!” demanded a hungry little stallion with a dull red coat and pale yellow mane. He stamped his hoof and puffed his cheeks at another stallion.
“Buh nummies awe fow speshow fwen,” the other stallion replied, referring to his mate laying in a dirty cardboard box behind him. Marika could barely see the mare, but the stallion was surprisingly nice looking for a stray. He was an earthy stallion with a dark blue coat and pale lavender mane, although he was too filthy for Marika to make out the details. Still, he caught her interest.
The red stallion stamped again and stepped forward with a snort, prompting the mare to shout again.
“Nu huwt speshow fwen! Gu way meanie fwuffy!”
The dark blue stallion moved to block the red stallion from reaching a half-eaten apple, presumably that he found in the trash, that apparently belonged to his mate in the box.
“Fwuffy sed gib nummies NAO!” the red stallion shouted back before rushing toward the dark blue one. He pushed the blue one over with his snout and proceeded to stamp his hooves on the other fluffy as many times as he could.
The dark blue stallion immediately started crying without putting up a fight at all. It was clear that he wasn’t a typical feral fluffy toughened from a life on the streets, and judging by his nice color, there was no way he hadn’t been someone’s toy. No, this was certainly a runaway. Marika couldn’t help but feel bad for him, and before she could stop herself, she stepped in.
“Hey! HEY! Leave him alone!” she scolded the red stallion, trying to gently push him away with the toe of her boot.
“SCREEE! Why meanie wady kick fwuffy?!” the red stallion cried in shock, “Am gud fwuffy!”
Marika scoffed. “Wha- You are not a good fluffy! Now go! I said leave him alone!”
The red stallion stood there staring up at her for a moment, so she kicked a pebble nearby to make her point, sending it clacking into the wall. The red stallion burst into tears and ran away further down the alley, leaving her alone with the dark blue stallion and his mate.
“Fank ou nice wady,” the dark blue stallion sniffled, sitting up and wiping his face with his dirty hooves, smearing grime into his face fluff.
Marika knelt down to get a better look at him. His eyes were a nice indigo color.
“You’re not just any strays, are you?” she asked, “You must have come from someone’s house, right?”
“Used to hab housie,” the mare answered her from the box, “Buh owd daddeh nu wub Mistie an Cawsmo nu mowe. Sed babbehs nebah pwetty nuff. Awways gib babbehs fowebah sweepies fow nu bein pwetty.”
Marika glanced into the box at the mare, and was surprised to see she was even fancier looking than the stallion, Cosmo. She was a pale unicorn with a multicolored mane, although it was hard to tell if she was pure white with all of the filth coating her. One thing was apparent - she was heavily pregnant, and looked like she could barely move with the way her belly pressed into the ground below her.
These two must have been designer fluffies, and it sounded like their old owner used them for breeding, but didn’t like the colors they produced. He sounded like an abuser too. Marika was no stranger to the concept. She knew how popular it was for people to use fluffies as so-called stress toys, but she personally didn’t like the idea of that. No, instead she felt empathy for the soon-to-be parents. Enough empathy that she made an impulsive decision right then and there.
“Well I don’t care what your babies look like,” she said to them, “I won’t hurt them. In fact, I could really use the company. How about you two come home with me?”
The question seemed to take a moment for the two fluffies to register. But once it did, their pupils seemed to grow ten times their original size, shining and sparkling with delight.
“WEAWY???”
“You know what?” Marika answered, “Yeah. Really.”
———
It was a little cumbersome to carry the mare, Misty, home in her foul-smelling box, and Marika made a mental note to get some more exercise in the future. At least she didn’t have to carry Cosmo, who trotted along beside her feet, huffing and puffing to keep up.
At last they came to Marika’s house, a narrow building wedged between the others in a tight row on her block, with just enough room for some steps leading up to her front door, and a small garage at ground level. Her sorry excuse for a car was parked in the short driveway.
“First things first, I need to clean you guys up,” she said aloud, more to herself than to the fluffies, “And then I think I’ll set you up in the garage for a little while, at least until I can clear out a safe room.”
She’d never owned a fluffy before, but the things were everywhere, so she had enough passing knowledge to know that they needed their own fluffy-proofed room. Luckily she had a spare room in mind.
The two fluffies gasped in disproportionate joy as they entered the house, Misty straining her neck to see over the edge of the box.
“Dis am new housie?” she smiled wide, wiggling her front legs happily. “Housie am wawm an pewfect fow soon-babbehs! Mush bettah dan smewwie boxie!”
“Oh,” Marika glanced around, a little surprised. “You like it? I guess it’s better than the street.”
She noticed the dirty hoof prints that Cosmo was tracking in and frowned. She would have to clean those up later. Honestly, with how depressed she had been, her whole house needed a good cleaning anyway.
But these two fluffies gave her a small spark of energy. It wasn’t much, but just the fact that they were something new that required change was oddly refreshing to her. She carried the box into the bathroom and set it down on the counter, sighing with relief now that her arms could get a break. She closed the door behind Cosmo, who sat down staring at the nearby tub with a sullen expression.
“Huuuu…” Misty cried from her box, “Misty nu wub baftime…”
That’s right, fluffies didn’t like water. Although the two seemed to be taking it strangely well.
“I know, but I can’t make you clean without giving you a bath. You want to be clean right?”
Misty sniffled and nodded, despite the tears in her eyes and a drop of snot dribbling down her upper lip. Marika tore off a piece of toilet paper to dab the gross snot away.
“Cosmo, do you want to go first? Maybe you can help her by being brave and showing her the water’s okay. How’s that sound?”
“Otay Mummah…” Cosmo answered, though he was anything but enthusiastic. He slowly stepped forward with his head down and tail between his legs, sniffling a little like his mate.
“Cawsmo am bwavest speshow fwen!” Misty cried as if he were going off to war. “Wub Cawsmo!”
Marika leaned over to turn the faucet, running the bath and checking the temperature with her hand. She made a face while her back was turned to them, a little taken aback by how dramatic they were. At least they were cooperating though. She supposed she had their previous owner to thank for that. Once the water felt warm, but not too warm, she turned to the little stallion.
“Alright Cosmo, you ready?”
Cosmo was shaking with his eyes squeezed shut and his hind legs positioned close together, clearly trying to keep himself from urinating in fear. She picked him up before he would have a chance to do that, and gently placed him on all fours in the shallow water. After a moment, he opened his eyes and found himself looking down only about an inch of water dancing lightly around his hooves, carrying tiny bits of dirt and grit away in swirls. He wiggled one hoof, then the other, and watched more dirt come away and swirl around until it trailed all the way over to the drain to go goodbye forever. He was so mesmerized that the roar of the running water muffled into background noise.
“Wawa am safesies!” he announced, his little voice echoing off the bathroom walls.
“Yaay,” Misty cheered halfheartedly from her box.
Marika couldn’t help but let out an amused snort as he picked up a cup to begin scooping water over him. He occasionally whined a little, but overall continued to cooperate. The more grime rinsed away, the more the true colors of his fluff began to show through. She was especially surprised when she moved down to his legs and discovered that he actually had white sock markings hidden underneath all that dirt. All she had for shampoo was her own regular human shampoo, so she went ahead and lathered him up with that. Digging her fingers in to remove as much grime as possible was unpleasant, but eventually he was squeaky clean at last. She looked him up and down, admiring his designer appearance. That dark blue coat of his looked even richer now, and his white socks were tipped with indigo hooves to match his eyes. His pale lavender mane and tail even had some white streaks in them.
“You are one pretty fluffy,” she told him.
Cosmo giggled and sat on his bottom in the water, smiling up at her with his stubby front legs raised in an uppies pose.
She couldn’t deny it. The sight melted her heart. She felt a surge of holy shit so cute hormones and cooed at him as she picked him up and wrapped him in a towel. He cooed back and leaned on her with a high-pitched “wub ou Mummah!” and she had to resist the urge to squeeze him. Squeeze him hard. It was so cute it almost hurt, and a strange hot sensation zipped up her spine and whispered the faintest urge into the back of her mind to hurt something.
Oh, this was cute aggression. The thought crossed her mind that maybe this feeling was why fluffy abusers did the things they did…but she shook the thought away. She didn’t want to think about that. Instead, she placed Cosmo down on the floor and gently booped his nose, earning another giggle, and then turned her attention to Misty.
“Ready for your turn?” she asked.
Misty let out another huuu but nodded anyway. “Otay Mummah. Mistie nee cweanies fow be gud mummah fow tummeh babbehs.”
It took Marika a moment to understand the fluffspeak, but she got it after a moment.
“Yeah, you want to be nice and clean for when the babies come. Let me help.”
She gently lifted Misty’s rotund body out of the box, trying her hardest not to gag at how foul the mare had become in her inability to move. It seemed bizarre to her that a creature could become so heavily pregnant that it became immobile, but then again everything about fluffies was bizarre. They weren’t even true creatures really, at least according to law.
She carefully placed Misty down in the water, but the mare wasn’t quite as brave as her mate. She squealed loudly, flailing her legs around fruitlessly as her eyes widened in panic.
“WAWA BAD FOW BABBEHS!” she screamed loud enough to make Marika cringe away. She frantically puffed for breath in between squeals, her eyes darting around and legs continuing to kick as she let out a fearful trickle of pee into the water that washed down the drain.
Marika did her best to shush her, feeling her eardrums ache.
“It’s okay, it’s okay! It’s just a bath, remember? It’s not gonna hurt you. I’m just going to get you clean.”
Little indigo hooves tapped against the porcelain next to Marika as Cosmo propped himself up, straining his neck to look at Misty over the rim of the tub.
“It otay Mistie! Cawsmo got baff and nu had any huwties! Mummah am gud at gibin baffies!”
“Yeah! Yeah, remember?” Marika nodded down to the mare. “Cosmo already got nice and clean and told you the water was safe. It’s all okay.”
Misty panted, trying to catch her breath and fight the panic. She looked up and could just barely see Cosmo’s ears over the edge of the tub, and his reassurance helped calm her down. That’s right, how could she forget? Cosmo went first and told her the bath was safe. Now she just felt embarrassed by how silly she was.
“Huuu, sowwy Mummah…” the mare whined, her lower lip sticking out as she drooped her head. “Mistie had scawdies fow tummeh babbehs and fowgot.”
“That’s okay Misty, just…god, maybe just try not to scream so loud next time, okay? Now let’s get you clean.”
Marika finally started to rinse the mare off, doing much the same thing as she did for Cosmo. Misty, however, was much more thoroughly caked in dirt, grime, and…well she didn’t want to think about what other substances were mixed in. The poor fluffy had clearly been laying in that box unable to move for ages.
Once most of the mare was finally scrubbed free of grime, Marika carefully moved her so that she was sitting up on her bottom with her back supported against the side of the tub in order to clean her belly. Marika hissed quietly in sympathy when she saw how the mare’s belly and teats had been rubbed sore and raw from touching the ground so much. There were even small bald patches where the fluff had been rubbed away on her belly, leaving irritated red skin. Poor Misty cried some more as Marika washed and disinfected it, but then Marika paused. She hesitated, holding the washcloth a few inches away from Misty’s teats. They…made her a little uncomfortable. They sort of reminded her of a dairy goat’s udders, but the skin on them looked so strangely human.
She glanced up at Misty’s face, who sniffled and offered her her bravest smile. It should have been cute, but in this moment, Marika was distracted by how strangely human that was too. She wondered if any animals other than humans ever smiled, and then remembered that some other primates do - but it didn’t mean the same thing. She thought back to a photo she had seen once of a chimpanzee grinning ear to ear at the camera, beady eyes staring intensely. The caption under the photo had explained that when chimps smile, it’s a threat.
Something turned in Marika’s gut, but she buried the feeling as deep as it could go. She was washing a scared little fluffy for crying out loud. There was nothing to be scared of here. She swallowed her discomfort and resumed the task at hand, washing and disinfecting Misty’s teats the same as she had done for her belly.
At last, Marika could finally get a good look at the impressive little unicorn. Her coat was white, her mane and tail cream colored with not one, but two colored streaks in soft shades of peach and aqua blue. Her hooves were peach colored too, and her eyes aqua. Truly a designer fluffy.
Marika picked the unicorn up and wrapped her in a towel, placing her down next to Cosmo who immediately gave her hugs and told her how brave she was. The two of them were so sweet it hurt.
————
After a lot of rummaging and shuffling around in the garage, Marika had finally managed to scrounge together a temporary setup for the fluffy pair. An old kiddie pool lined with towels, wedged into the corner and surrounded by stacked wood and boxes to keep Cosmo from wandering out if he got too curious. Misty was laying in the center of the towels humming to her unborn babies, a water dish within reach and a spread of newspapers under her bottom.
Marika briefly wondered if they would get too cold in the garage, but shook her head. No, it hadn’t been cold this time of year since she was a kid, something she never seemed to get used to. At least the fluffies would be fine.
In the meantime, she quickly checked her bank account balance on her phone and took a deep breath. She was about to spend a lot of money on her very first trip to FluffMart.
