“Okay, Peony. Go ahead and choose one.” Steve, a middle-aged guy, happened to be at the Fluffmart with his fluffy. A soft pink mare with a somewhat darker pink mane and tail who was incredibly decided about today. Marching into the Fluffmart with her head held high, it was time to pick out a new babbeh. This happened every so often: She’d never had babbehs of her own but was allowed to take care of one for awhile then daddeh found them a new home. Pushing her nose up against one of the glass display cases that showed off the newest batches of chirpies, she ooo’d and aah’d.
Selecting a babbeh wasn’t hard at all. It was always super easy because as soon as she saw one, she knew it was hers to cherish. Tapping her hoof against the glass, she looked up to Steve and gave a huge smile.
“Wook! Wittew poopie babbeh! Wub!” Yup, a brown chirpy in the pile of generally ‘unwanted’ colors. Unwanted by humans but still beloved by fluffies. Calling over an employee, he’d open up the display cabinet and bring out the round little ball of brown fluff.
“Peep! Cheep! Peepeepee!” Scared of course but Steve would assuage his fears by gently taking the chirpy from the employee and nestling it down into Peony’s voluminous fluff. Instinctively becoming comforted by Peony’s back fluff, he gave a simple coo.
Steve walked to the register in order to pay the paltry fee. Why, they were practically giving the little guy away. “Let her wear it out. Don’t worry: She’s as gentle as a kitten.”
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Peony was, too. To her babbehs were all that mattered in the whole wide world. She wasn’t allowed to have any of her own. Not technically anyways. Daddeh let her take chirpies from the store and love them though, and gave her meddysins so she could make miwkies for them.
When they were at home she’d proudly walk through the living room and make way for the safe room. Owing to her absolute obsession with everything babbehs, they decorated the walls in her room in the form of posters and there were even stuffed chirpy toys that she always coddled when there was downtime between getting a new foal to take care of.
Trotting over to a plush cushion bed on the floor, she laid down and stretched out. Her pretty poopie babbeh wriggled around through her fluff then went tumbling down along her belly.
“Bebbeh! Yew otay!?” Genuine concern in her eyes until the chirpy rolled over to one of her teats and latched on.
That was a good bebbeh. Giving content twitches of both ears, she let him suckle away. Wait! She had to think of a name for him. Well he was brown. What were brown things she liked? Thinking on it for a long moment, Peony finally came to a conclusion.
“Tetty!” He was brown just like one of her stuffy-friends which daddeh said was a ‘tetty bear’. The stuffy-friend was plenty cuddly and cute too, so it was the most perfectest name ever.
“Mummah wub Tetty suuu muchsies. Teehee…” Feeling relaxed and perfectly content to have her new foal feeding, she sang him a sweet song and felt her eyelids growing heavy. Sleep came soon after that for the both of them, the newly named Teddy nuzzling against the warmth of his adoptive mummah.
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When Peony woke up the next morning she’d found that her babbeh had made a mess, as they do. It was kind of an icky process but she gave him wicky-cweanies to get rid of the poopies & peepees that clung to his fluff, giving him small bops with her nose to move him around as needed.
It was time to show him around the room. Even though his eyes weren’t open yet, all babbehs needed to learn things. That’s what FluffTV said. Taking him up by the scruff of his fluff, he gave small peeps but wasn’t being hurt at all. She carried him over to the teebee first.
“Tetty, dis am bestest teebee. It am suuu fun!” To show off how fun it would be, she turned it on to display Cinnamummah’s Happy Babbehs. Teddy just laid there on the rug in front of the teebee and gave several cheeps. OK, that was enough of that. Up again, this time carrying him to the littertray. Chose a spot that didn’t have any yuckies in it. The chirpy tentatively attempted to crawl against the litter but was blocked by her watchful hoof.
“Otay, Tetty. Dis am wittaboxs. Gud poopies ‘n peepees gu hewe.” He was still too widdew to do that yet though. Maybe when his see-pwaces were opened. You had to make gud poopies here though. That was the rule and fluffies should follow rules.
Lifting him up again she carried him out like a mother cat with it’s kitten, swooping out to the living room where Steve was. Just lounging around on the couch idly slurping from a mug of coffee and watching the news. Peony used a little ramp leading up to one of the cushions and comfortably got close to Steve, plopping Teddy down on his lap.
“Oh, hey Peony. You and your baby playing?” He asked this while poking a finger down to tap Teddy’s head with a stroking motion.
Peony smiled brightly. “Showin’ babbeh yew! Dis am bestest daddeh EBAH! WUB!” Steve of course brought a hand over to stroke over the top of her head, eliciting a cute giggle from the mare. Teddy, meanwhile, suckled on one of his fingers.
“Dat nu am miwky pwace, siwwy Tetty.” Scooping him up gingerly into her mouth once more, she hopped down from the couch and skittered back to the saferoom. Setting him next to the food dish and water, she pointed a hoof at it as if he could see.
“Dis am nummies ‘n wawa. Mummah nee’ nummies tu make bestest miwkies.” With that she stuffed her head down and filled her mouth with lots of kibble, eating as much of it as she could. It’s not even that she was seriously hungry but babbehs needed lots of miwkies to grow big and strong. That’s how the song went so it was true.
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This process was repeated every morning, more or less. It was important to tell her babbeh these things so he would learn!
All the miwkies and love would do something important, too. One day while talking about stuffy-friends and the importance of putting them away when they were done, Tetty stretched out and opened his see-places. Peony gasped. He had very spechaw see-pwaces! Well…they weren’t anything TOO special. They were brown just like his fur but they were HIS see-pwaces which meant it was super important!
“Daddeh! DADDEH! Wook!” Peony raced out of her saferoom and zipped in circles around the coffee table. Steve was there as usual, having his morning cup of coffee. Knowing what this meant as he’d already experienced this burst of energy many times over, he got up with a groan and went into the saferoom.
There was Teddy. Sitting on the floor, suckling on one hoof. Drool smacked out of his lips and he stared up with big adorable brown eyes. Hopping back into the safe room, Peony indicated the chirpy with her own hoof.
“Daddeh! Pwetty poopie babbeh open see-pwaces! Wub!” Flattening down on the floor and nuzzling her cutie-pies tummy with her nose, she caused the chirpy to release his hoof and gave several high pitched squeaks that could only be giggles. Steve just smiled at this.
“Good job, Peony. Make sure he sees lots of nice things.”
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Peony did make sure he saw lots of nice things! Just like what daddeh wanted. Getting up on her back legs, she danced for her babbeh’s amusement. Front hooves waggling around, tail bopping back and fourth.
“Wook, Tetty. It am Cinnymummah.” That was another good thing to show him. Cinnymummah’s Happy Babbehs was a good show for chirpies. It told them all about wub, saying no to meanies, making gud poopies, and how to be nice. Teddy rolled around while the program was on and made soft coos.
Also, even if he couldn’t walk yet he could crawl. Perhaps knowing that the littertray was where poopies went (due to the smell) or because she constantly lectured him, he’d go crawling toward it. Seeing this, she took him up in her mouth and placed him into the litter. It’s not like he always went to it but he was obviously trying and did an impressive job making poopies and peepees in it. Babbehs had accidents. That was OK.
What Teddy loved more than anything was to watch his mummah. She was the most important thing in his little world. Observing as she flitted about the safe room while singing, or rolling around with her toys. Mummah was the bestest thing ever, and not because she gave him miwkies. ‘Love’ was something his little brain got and she loved him more than anything.
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“Mummah!” Teddy suddenly said this one day while Peony was busy gobbling down kibbles to make more miwkies. This caused the mare to straighten up suddenly and look to her babbeh. Tears formed in her eyes.
“Peep….cheep….PEEP! MUMMAH!” Happy cooing, clapping his front hooves together cutely. Rocking in place, he tipped over and gave giggling coos.
This was very precious to Peony but…it meant that Teddy would have to go soon. To find a new home. That’s what daddeh said. When babbehs could talk, they weren’t babbehs anymore and they couldn’t be here. There was only room enough for one big fluffy. That was a rule that had been put down, and fluffies followed rules. Good fluffies anyways.
“Tetty! Hab show daddeh.” Collecting him in her mouth she went out into the living room. Oh, daddeh wasn’t in here yet. She could hear him in the kitchen messing around with his coffee pot so she walked in there instead. As soon as Teddy saw Steve, he gave a shrill screech of happiness.
“Daddeh! Peep! Mummah! Daddeh! Mummah! CHEEP!” Bouncing up and down in Peony’s mouth, waggling his weggies around. He wanted to give huggies! He want to espowe!
Steve stopped fucking around with his coffee pot and turned to the two. Aw, Teddy was talking. “Well, Peony. I’m glad you showed me. It’s time to find Teddy a new home. We can’t have more than one of you running around.”
She knew that, and gently placed Teddy on the linoleum flooring. Getting close to him, she hugged up against the talky-babbeh.
“Mummah wub yew, Tetty. Hope yew hab bestest housie wif…toysies, ‘an skettis, nice daddeh ‘n mummah.” She smiled at him, tearing up again. Teddy of course didn’t know what was going on and attempted to get up into a crawling position so he could go espowin’. Steve got a hand around him before he could get anywhere though.
“Come on, lets go find you a new home.”
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Teddy was brought out to the garage. Immediately, he didn’t like the smell in here. It was dank, dark, molding. There were sounds that kind of scared him, and it wasn’t much of a place that he’d ever thought about before. Unlike the safe room it wasn’t bright and most of all, this was the first time he’d ever been separated from Peony.
“Daddeh?” He asked curiously as they got up to a big blue wheelie-bin. Lifting open the lid, Steve dropped the poopie babbeh down into the trash below. Old litter, a mound of lo mein noodles that had gone bad days ago, several rolls of bubble wrap.
“Peep…CHEEP! Daddeh!?” Teddy’s little hooves scrapped up against the plastic of the wheelie bin before the lid went slamming closed. He could hear daddeh’s footsteps as he walked away.
It was dawkies in here. Scary! Beating his hooves against the bin, he tried to get someone’s attention. The only two words he knew were ‘Mummah’ and ‘Daddeh’ though.
“Mummah! Daddeh! Mummahdaddeh! Daddehmummah! PEEP! CHEEEEE!” Daddeh forgot about him in here! It was dark, smelly, and not pretty.
“Mummah! MUMMMAHHHH!” Turning around in the wheelie-bin, he caused bubble wrap to pop under his hooves. This scared him even more and sent him around in rapid crawls, popping more and more as he went along. The noise and punctures of air caused him to make bad poopies, and this got all over his fur.
“EEEEEE!” Wanting a place to hide, he slipped under the mound of lo mein noodles. The oily mess slid down over him like a rotten blanket and he felt somewhat comforted by it. Tears slid down from his eyes. Where was mummah? Why did mummah not come here and save him? He was just a widdew babbeh. Didn’t she wub him anymore?
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Two days later, Steve opened the top of the wheelie bin. In one hand was the rainbow colored ‘adoption’ box that Fluffmart put all their foals into. The employee today had gone into a spiel about needing to send the chirpy home in a box. It was whatever.
Miserable brown eyes stared up to him. Despite not having any water, Teddy had been surviving off of the rotten lo mein. Strings of vomit and diarrhea was to show for the efforts.
“Tetty…daddeh…wub?” Awwhh, he’d learned a new word since being in there. That was just too bad. The babbeh waggled his front hooves up into the air pathetically.
“Mummah wub babbeh! Suuuuu cute babbeh!” Teddy could hear his mummah singing. Thinking that she was singing to him!
“Mummah! Mummah! WUB!” Looking down to him, Steve just gave a shake of his head and tossed the cardboard box into the trash. Gave a smile.
“She has a new baby. Sorry, but you’re yesterday’s news.” He lingered there for a moment to watch the last of hope flicker out from the foal’s eyes. Could actually watch the love and eternal longing just go out like a candle. Teddy wobbled, fell over sideways. No longer able to even afford tears because of dehydration. Steve closed the lid on him and went to listen to his mare gush over what a good, precious thing her new blue wingie-babbeh was.
