“Thatch, lunchtime.”
Jacqueline ‘Jackie’ Rackham waited as she heard the excited patter of hoofs across her carpet from the other room, it wasn’t long before her fluffy Thatch, a chestnut brown Alicorn stallion with a glossy black mane, came bounding into the living room, his body unable to hold back the excitement of eating with his mummah.
“Yay, Fatch wub wunch-nummies.”
Jackie chuckled as she placed Thatch’s bowl down on the floor, it wasn’t anything special, just some kibble with some added chewy vitamin pills, but Thatch loved the stuff, almost as much as he loved spending time with Jackie.
Thatch looked up at his mother with his one good eye, he had lost his right eye a little over a year ago but the one that remained held all the love and admiration he had to give Jackie.
“Fank yu fow nummies mummah, Fatch wub yu.”
“I love you too buddy.”
Jackie gave Thatch a quick scritch on the head before sitting down on the sofa and tucking into her lunch, a tuna mayo sandwich. With nothing else to do today she lazily chewed on her lunch, taking her time to savour each bite, Thatch had the opposite idea, and was wolfing down his kibble like a Fluffy possessed.
“Whoa, easy there sailor. You’ll give yourself a tummy-ache if you eat too fast.”
“Sowwy mu… buwp… mummah. Fatch jus wan hab nummies fast su can hab tee-vee huggies wiv mummah.”
Jackie giggled, Thatch wasn’t allowed to eat on the sofa since he often made a mess and digging kibble out of the couch cushions wasn’t a fun task. However he took that as an invitation to eat quickly so he could join Jackie on the sofa that much sooner.
“Take your time, we’re not going anywhere today. They’ll be plenty of time for TV time later on.”
Thatch looked a little disappointed at being denied hugs at that exact moment, but hearing the promise of more later cheered him up.
“Ok mummah, Fatch num swowa nyo.”
The brown stallion returned to his meal, still eating it a little too fast for Jackie’s liking, but slow enough that there wasn’t any immediate concern. Satisfied that their day wasn’t about to be ruined by sore bellies, Jackie went to take another bite of her sandwich…
When there was a light thudding at her front door.
Jackie paused, waiting for another sound, praying that it was just her imagination, because if there was indeed a knock on her door, there was only one thing that could be making that sound. When a second, more frantic thudding came, Jackie let out a long groan.
“Wha wong mummah?”
“It’s nothing Thatch, just… someone’s at the door, Fluffies from the sound of the knocking.”
“Mummah fink it nyu fwiends ow… du mummah fink dey meanies?”
“I can’t tell from here. You stay in the living room, I’ll go check them out.”
“Okay mummah, Fatch stay vewy qwiet.”
Covering his mouth with his hoofs to signify his vow of silence, Thatch hunkered down in wait while Jackie headed for the front door. Expecting the worst, she slowly opened the door, peeking her out until she saw two Fluffies waiting on her door step, a lime-green Pegasus stallion with a white mane, and a lilac unicorn mare with a pink mane. Both of them were sitting and smiling as they looked up towards the opening door.
“Hewwo.” The stallion waved at Jackie. “Am Moe-hee-toe, dis am speciaw-fwiend Joo-nah-peh, she am soon-mummah.”
“Hewwo nice wady.” The mare, Juniper, waved at Jackie, with her front exposed Jackie could see the slight swell of a pregnant belly on her.
“Fwuffies need nyu homesie.” Mojito continued. “Can Fwuffies stay wiv nice wady?”
Not opening the door anymore than she had to, Jackie put on her best neutral face and stared down at the pair. “What happened to your old home?”
Mojito looked down with a frown. “It am wowstehs fing, Moe-hee-toe’s owd daddeh see dat Moe-hee-toe am wonewy wen daddeh at wowk, su daddeh get Joo-nah-peh tu be bestesh fwiend. Moe-hee-toe hab biggesh heawt-happies tu hab bestesh fwiend, and cos Joo-nah-peh am su pwetty, Moe-hee-toe wan hew be speciaw-fwiend. Dat make daddeh hab biggesh angwies, he say dat Joo-nah-peh nu am pose tu be speciaw-fwiend, bu daddeh neba say dat befowe she am soon-mummah.”
So a dumbass owner got his stallion a girl to be a friend and ended up with a girlfriend. Not the first time Jackie had heard that tale.
“Daddeh gib Moe-hee-toe an speciaw-fwiend wowstesh choosies.” Mojito continues. “Fwuffies can hab babbehs bu nu can wive wiv daddeh nu mowe, ow Fwuffies can keep homesie, bu daddeh make tummeh-babbehs gu foweba sweepies, an take way Moe-hee-toe’s speciaw-wumps su nu can be daddeh eba gain. Fwuffies hav biggesh heawt-huwties, bu choosie tu weave, babbehs am bestesh fing eba, nu can be famiwy wivout babbehs.”
Jackie held back a smile, these pairs were idiots, well-meaning idiots, but still idiots. Which was better than what she usually dealt with, to be fair. She had already made up her mind before opening the door that they weren’t coming inside, she didn’t have the room or the money to look after one other Fluffy, let alone a whole family extra, but she had one last test for them to see how they’re conversation ended.
Jackie opened the door a little more, not enough for them to bum-rush her and get inside, but enough that they could see more of her hallway, and turned back to call for Thatch.
“Thatch, can you come here a moment please?”
Turning back to the pair, Jackie put on a sad face and sighed. “Well I’m awfully sorry but I don’t have any room for you here, I have my own Fluffy here already. Here he is now, say hello Thatch.”
Thatch saddled up beside Jackie and waved at the Fluffy pair. “Hewwo nyo fwiends.”
Juniper’s eyes went wide at the sight of the one-eyed brown Alicorn, and she shrieked. “EEEEEEKKKKK!!! POOPIE MUNSTAH, STAY WAY FWOM TUMMEH-BABBEHS!”
Mojito jumped in front of his mate, puffing his cheeks out at Thatch. “Moe-hee-toe pwotek speciaw-fwiend fwom poopie-munstah, gib poopie-munstah wowstesh huwties.”
Wordlessly, Thatch and Jackie looked at each other, Thatch rolled his eye and turned around to head back to the living room. Mojito took the gesture quite personally.
“Git bak hewe poopie munstah, Moe-hee-toe gun gib yu wowstesh sowwy hoofies an…
FLICK
Jackie flicked Mojito on the nose, sending the green stallion tumbling backwards and landing on his ass. He took a second to register what just happened before grabbing his sore muzzle with his hoofs.
“Owwies, wai meanie wady gib Moe-hee-toe smeww-pwace huwties?”
“Why? Because you insulted my Fluffy, that’s why.”
“Bu am poopie munstah, poopie munstah nu desewve homesie, onwy huwties.”
“Says who?”
“…wha?”
“Who says Thatch doesn’t deserve a home? More importantly, who are you to come to MY home and say who can and can’t live here?”
Mojito was quiet for a long time, his tiny brain trying to work out what Jackie was telling him.
“Wady… WIKE poopie munstah?”
“That’s right?”
“Wai?”
“Because he’s sweet and he’s friendly, he’s always happy to see me, and unlike some folk, he doesn’t go around calling other Fluffies monsters because of how they look.
Juniper was the first of the pair to have the penny drop, she choked back a sob as she looked up at Jackie.
“Am Joo-nah-peh an speciaw-fwiend bad Fwuffies?”
Jackie paused for a moment, considering what she had seen. “No, I don’t think you are, I think you’re both misguided and…”
“Wha mis-guy-ded mean?”
“It means you were both meanies but you didn’t know you were being meanies. Mojito, you were just trying to protect your family from what you thought was a monster, but Thatch isn’t a monster, he’s my Fluffy. You hurt his feelings because you insulted him before you even got to know him.”
“Bu he am…” Mojito glances towards the open door, Thatch had long since gone inside and was nowhere in sight, but the green stallion wasn’t taking any chances. “He wook scawy.”
“Maybe to you, but that’s just because you were taught wrong. You’re going to meet a lot of Fluffies, some that look like Thatch and are friendly, some that look like you and are mean. The point is you can’t judge other Fluffies just on how they look, that’s just mean.”
Both Fluffies lay down on the concrete, both covering their eyes and crying. “Huu, am bad Fwuffies, am su sowwy.”
“Are you sorry that you hurt Thatch’s feelings or are you sorry you don’t get a new home?”
“Moe-hee-toe am sowwy fow cawwin Fatch a poopie munstah, wan be gud daddeh tu babbehs, nu wan babbehs tu be meanies.”
“Joo-neh-peh sowwy bout habben scawdies tuu, nu fink can be fwiends wiv mun… wiv wingie-pointy Fwuffy, bu wiww twy nu tu fink dey munstahs.”
Jackie watched the pair for a moment, judging if their apology had any merit to it, after a moment she figured there was genuine sorry in their voices.
“Ok, you two wait here, I’ll be back in a moment.”
Jackie shut the door and rushed through to the living room, finding Thatch nibbling on her forgotton sandwich.
“Oi, that’s mine.”
“Oops, sowwy mummah, toonah nummies jus smeww gu, Fatch jus wan twy sum.”
Jackie smiled at her Fluffy friend. “Well finish it off, mummy’s gotta run out for a little bit.”
“Am it da ousside Fwuffies?”
“Yep. I had a little talk with them, they seem to be sorry about what they said to you, I figured the least I could do is take them to a shelter, maybe they could get better training around Alicorns there.”
“Du mummah fink dey can be gud Fwuffies, ow wiww dey be wike mummah?”
Jackie saw as Thatch’s body tensed up at the mention of his mother, she reached over and stroked his back.
“I think with some time and care, they could be good Fluffies, just like you.”
Thatch giggled at being called a good Fluffy and nuzzled into his mother’s arm. The pair shared a quick hug before Jackie put on her shoes and then carried Thatch and her sandwich to the safe-room.
“Alright, you stay right here while mummy takes our two new friends to a safe-place. I promise once I’m back, it’ll be nothing but TV and huggies.”
“Can Fatch watch Da Wittew Meh-maid gain pwease mummah?”
“Really? Even though Ursula scares you?”
“Fwuffy nu am dat scawdies of hew.”
Jackie chuckled again and kissed Thatch on his head. “We’ll see. Alright, I’m off, won’t be too long.”
“Bye mummah, Fatch wub yu.”
“Love you too.”
Jackie closed the safe-room door and rushed to grab Mojito and Juniper. She knew most people would’ve just decimated the pair for their perceived prejudices, hell she knew OF people that would do just that. But she wasn’t a fan of that line of thinking, she wasn’t opposed to violence, but she’d rather save that for the true monsters, rather than just obliterating any Fluffy that showed even the most minor of discriminations.
After what she’d done for Thatch, she was happy to never raise a hand against a Fluffy ever again.
This is a quick little introduction to Jackie and Thatch, I’ll be telling the story of how they met in the near future, look out for Gimme Shelter when that drops.
Currently I have no plans to take them any further after that, but if the mood strikes I’d like to have them in my back pocket just in case.