Marika parked her car in front of the local Fluffmart, a large, garish building with a neon sign in multiple colors shining down on her. A cartoon alicorn smiled and waved next to the sign, surrounded by big rainbow polka dots painted all over the front of the building. It was an oddly cheery sight compared to the bleak cloudy sky above and the dreary struggling plant life in the distance. Marika got out of her car and hugged her arms against the chilly breeze.
The inside of the building was even more overwhelmingly colorful. Happy kid-friendly music played through tinny speakers from the ceiling lined with even more neon, brightening up an elaborately patterned floor that reminded her of an arcade carpet. The same cartoon alicorn mascot stood as a cardboard cutout facing the entrance, proclaiming “Hewwo! Fwuffy wub you!” in a speech bubble. Next to it were stacks of shopping baskets, but Marika opted to use a cart instead considering she would be buying a lot.
“Hewwo, welcome to Fluffmart, where every day is the best day ever!” greeted a heavyset woman with a walkie-talkie on her hip and a heart-shaped name tag that read: ‘Sarah.’ She smiled ear-to-ear at Marika, though it didn’t reach her tired eyes. A customer service smile she’d almost perfected.
“How can I help you today?”
“Um…” Marika slowly processed everything she was seeing and hearing. The entire place was a little overwhelming. And did that woman just say ‘Hewwo’ instead of ‘Hello?’
“Hi…Hi, sorry, I’ve just never been here before,” Marika answered shyly, “I just adopted two stray fluffies, and one of them is pregnant. I’m looking for pretty much everything they’ll need.”
Sarah glanced down at the floor for a split second and inhaled, before spreading that wide grin across her face again.
“Oh wow, a first timer? I’ll be glad to show you around, just follow me!”
Sarah walked ahead of Marika, almost too quickly to keep up. Marika looked around at the rows and rows of products as they walked, a little surprised at the sheer volume of items available. Hasbio may have lost control of the fluffy population itself, but they had certainly taken every other advantage possible. Down the center of the store were several clear enclosures with their highest quality fluffies available for adoption. They each had bright colors and eagerly tapped on the glass as Marika walked past, repeating “Nyu mummah? Nyu mummah??” over and over. Marika felt bad for making eye contact with them, especially when she could hear them whimper in disappointment when she didn’t stop to talk to them. It made her feel guilty.
“Do you already have a dedicated safe room for your fluffies?” Sarah asked as she turned down an aisle.
“Hm? Oh, yeah I have a spare room. I moved some old things out of it, but I still need to decorate it and stuff. There’s nothing in it right now,” Marika answered.
“Okay, so I’d recommend using one of our safe room kits for first-time fluffy owners!” Sarah suggested cheerily, stopping in an area full of boxes, each one displaying different designs of fluffy pens.
“They each come with a handy fluff-pen to keep your little guys in one places, an easy-clean play mat, a soft beddie, food and water bowls, and a litter box. You’ll need to buy litter to fill it though,” Sarah explained, gesturing to different parts of the illustration on one of the boxes.
“Oh wow, it really has everything,” Marika commented, looking over the display.
Sarah let out a small huff of a laugh, but held it back.
“Not everything, but the basics, yeah. Since you have a pregnant mare, I recommend getting one of the fluffy family kits. It’s a little bigger and the litter box is accessible for foals.”
Marika took a few minutes to look through the different options. They were kind of expensive, but they did include a bunch of items that she would have to buy separately otherwise. Plus, she wasn’t experienced enough to refute Sarah’s suggestion. It was probably best to go with whatever was recommended. She ended up picking out a fluffy family kit with the least retina-scorching colors, in light blue, pink, and pale yellow.
“It’s a little big…”
“Not to worry,” Sarah waved a hand dismissively. “I’ll have it sent to the front, and when you’re ready to check out, an employee will help you take it to your car.”
She placed a sticker onto the box and then called on her walkie-talkie for another employee to wheel it away on a cart. When that was done, she gestured for Marika to follow her again.
“The next thing you’ll need is fluffy feed,” Sarah explained, “Kibble or pellets is the best option for daily meals, and they come in a wide variety. We also have all different colors and flavors of canned Sketti for when they’ve earned a treat.”
Marika looked over those options too. She had no idea there were so many different versions of fluffy food. A rainbow variety caught her eye, but it was more expensive than the blain brown kind, so she opted for plain, at least for the time being. She also placed a few cans of cute looking Confetti Sketti in the cart, and a package of Sketti-flavored treats that came in heart and flower shapes.
“What next?” she asked.
“Next is bathroom supplies!” Sarah answered, leading her to another part of the store once again, the plastic smile never leaving her face. Marika imagined her cheeks must have ached by now.
“You’ll need litter, preferably the softest kind for foals,” Sarah explained as they came to a stop. “You’ll also need fluffy-safe shampoo for bathtime.”
“Oh, I used regular shampoo when I brought them home. Is that bad for them?” Marika asked as she heaved a bag of litter into the cart.
“It can be harsh on their skin and make them itchy if you use it every time,” Sarah answered, “I’m sure they’ll be okay if it was just once, but it’s better for them to have special shampoo for sensitive fluffy skin.”
“Ah, got it.” Marika picked out some nice berry-scented shampoo and placed it in the cart next to the litter. All the items were adding up fast.
“What else? Toys?”
Sarah nodded. “Blocks, balls, and at least one stuffy friend is the usual go-to for safe rooms, but we have a huge section of fluffy toys to choose from. Make sure to get some for the parents and some for the foals.”
“Cool,” Marika nodded, getting ready to push her cart. “So should I go ahead and browse that on my own?”
“If you want to,” Sarah nodded, “The toy section is in the back. And…it’s also usually recommended to have at least one sorry box or sorry stick for discipline. Those things are in the back back of the store. That section is behind the red curtain. You’ll know it when you see it.”
Marika paused. “…Oh, um, okay then. I’ll give it a look. Thanks for all your help.”
“My pleasure!” Sarah grinned even wider, making a happy gesture with her hands as if imagining a rainbow. “And remember, every day in Fluffmart is the best day ever!”
With that, Sarah turned to walk back to the front of the store. Marika just barely caught sight of her face dropping into an exhausted expression before she left.
Marika rolled her cart to the back, where sure enough, there were aisles and aisles full of fluffy toys. Under the neon lights, some of them were so bright it hurt her eyes, and others seemed to glow. She strolled through the rows, occasionally stopping to rub her eyes. The store’s music was also starting to get mildly irritating. She could feel a headache coming on.
She ended up picking out only a couple of balls in the excessively bright colors, if only for the fluffys’ sake, and the rest she picked out in whatever softer shades she could find. With that done, she headed toward the ‘back back.’
Before she could reach it though, she came across more adoptable fluffies in enclosures covering the wall. The nicest colors were at eye-level, with just-okay colors above them, and dull colors on the bottom. As soon as they saw her, all of the fluffies immediately rushed to beg her for adoption, a discordant chorus of tapping and “Nyu mummah? Nyu mummah? NYU MUMMAH???”
Marika walked closer, that sense of guilt coming back as she knew she wouldn’t be taking any of them home. Most of them tapped on the glass, some of them sat with their front hooves raised in the uppies pose, and a couple of mares even held their foals up for her to see.
“Wook nyu mummah! Bestest babbeh wub ou! Bwing homesies?”
“Hewwo nice wady! Nyu mummah fow fwuffy an babbehs?”
“Wook, babbeh am dancey babbeh fow nyu mummah!”
Marika tore her eyes away and stared straight ahead at the red curtain in the middle, trying her best to pretend she didn’t notice them all desperately vying for her attention. She sighed as she pushed her cart through the curtain, hearing the hopeful chorus turn into a sour melody of huu-huu’s. She wondered how many times a day they went through that.
She was distracted, however, when she noticed the what the ‘back back’ of the store looked like. The light was dimmer in here, the speakers weren’t playing music, and things weren’t nearly as colorful. It was a welcome reprieve from the irritating overstimulation of the rest of the store.
A lone employee stood behind a desk, his smile calmer and less forced. He had a regular square name tag that read: “Marty.”
“Hey there, welcome to the sorry section. What can I do for you?”
The sorry section? Oh.
“Um, hi,” Marika stammered, “Sarah sent me back here? Uh, I’m a new owner. She said I’d need a sorry box and a sorry stick?”
Marty nodded and brought her attention to the nearby wall, where a number of small boxes and crates were stacked, with a variety of sorry sticks hanging on hooks above them.
“It’s rare for fluffies to fully respect their owners rules through positive reinforcement alone,” he told her calmly, “So some level of discipline is often required. The most basic disciplinary tools are the sorry box for time out, and the sorry stick for physical punishment.”
Marika glanced up at the packaged sticks hanging in front of her. Some had small paddle shapes at the end, some were long and narrow for a more whip-like use, and some even had prickly spikes sticking out like a morning star. They also came in different sizes, from thick ones for adult fluffies, to uber small ones for foals and microfluffies.
Marika gulped dryly. “Um, maybe just a sorry box will be enough. Just a normal, plain one for time outs, nothing crazy.”
Marty’s smile reached his eyes, giving them a crinkle in the corners as he looked up at her knowingly.
“You’re the sensitive type. I get it, nothing wrong with that.”
He picked up the simplest sorry box they had, essentially just a small crate with narrow breathing holes, and placed it in her cart for her. He moved back behind his desk and continued talking, his calm tone never changing. It seemed genuine.
“Are you sure you’re not even a little curious?” he asked, “Everyone has their frustrations. A fluffy can represent anything you want it to - a bad ex, an overbearing stepmother, a terrible boss. And then you just…let it out.”
He reached down and pulled drawers behind his desk, and Marika could suddenly hear frantic, fearful peeping as he opened one in particular. It quieted again once he closed it, save for one muddy green colored foal that he placed on the desk. He placed a package next to it that read: “My First Fluffy-Abuse Kit” next to a brown cartoon fluffy with big tears dripping from its eyes.
“We’re having a sale,” Marty explained simply, holding the foal down in place as it cried and shrieked. It looked up at Marika, its eyes wide and circular, its lower lip trembling, tears streaming down its fat cheeks. It was hyperventilating, and seemed to already have small scars across its back and rump.
“Consider it a free sample,” Marty said, offering a small sorry stick to her with his free hand. “You may be surprised how much you like it.”
Marika stared, her eyes shifting between the sorry stick and the foal. Unsure how to respond, she moved her hand up to take the stick, and as soon as she moved the foal shrieked again, wiggling as much as it could despite its legs being held down by Marty’s fingers. It peeped frantically, clearly traumatized from however many times it had been used like this before.
“Piiii piii pipipi piii!!!” it cried desperately, fat tears dropping onto the desk. “Pipipiii!! Piipiuu!! Piuuu!! P’niuuu!! Nuuu! NUUUU!!!”
Marika quickly retracted her hand close to her chest, staring down at the foal with a sick feeling in her stomach.
“No thank you!” she said, embarrassingly high-pitched. She cleared her throat.
“Um, No, no thank you. Sir. This isn’t for me I don’t think. Just, um, just the sorry box is fine.”
Marty didn’t press any further. He simply nodded and put the sorry stick and packet away. He picked up the foal again and it screamed and cried, flailing its little body around before it was placed back into the drawer with its fellow ‘free samples.’
“If you change your mind, you know to look behind the red curtain,” Marty waved goodbye to Marika as she hurried out of the sorry section with her heavy cart.
Her headache started to return as she wheeled it all the way back through the noisy, colorful store. She shook her head and took a deep breath, trying to push all of that out of her mind. She had a safe room she needed to focus on, not to mention she was worried about her fluffies waiting in the garage. She brought all her items through the checkout, quietly groaning to herself when she saw the total price. The employee at the register was much younger, clearly a teenager who was brand new. She smiled at him, and he offered a weak smile back as he handed her the receipt. He hadn’t had much practice nailing the unnerving customer service smile yet, but honestly she was thankful for it.
A different employee helped her get the safe room kit into the trunk of her car, and before she knew it, Marika was already driving home. Her head felt strange, fuzzy, like she wasn’t entirely there. The happy music still rang in her ears, and the dreary weather looked practically greyscale after having her retinas seared by a million different colors. She felt like she had done something horribly wrong, and yet everything was fine. It was confusing. It turned her stomach. She felt like her windshield was a TV screen she was watching the world through. She needed to take those new meds.
