Elysium Ch. 1 [By BFM101]

“There’s Fluffies in the garden.”

Aphrodite Washington looked up from her morning newspaper and glanced over at her husband Darius, a mug of coffee in his hands as he stared out of the window into their back garden.

“Sorry, what you say?”

“I said there’s Fluffies in the garden, whole buncha them.”

Aphrodite stood up and joined her husband at the window, sure enough there was a whole herd of Fluffies in their back garden, most of them seemed to be lazily chewing on the grass, a few of the larger ones were laying in the shade of the garden shed, Aphrodite reasoned that some of them might be pregnant. All in all they actually looked to be quite peaceful, if not for the fat red unicorn pointing at Aphrodite’s roses and demanding two brown Fluffies brave the pointy thorns so he could scoff at the pretty red petals.

Aphrodite chuckled. “Well there’s a good start to my holiday. How’d you think they got in?”

Darius pointed to the shed. “I think there’s a hole in the fence behind the shed, it’s probably how the neighbour’s dog kept getting in. I meant to check it out but never got round to it.”

“How many do you think there is?”

“About 12.” Darius answered with a sip of his coffee. “At least that’s what I counted, aside from that red one most of them have stayed still. If anything they seem a bit nervous.”

“Who can blame them, with how most folks treat them they’re probably scared out of their wits and wanting to leave. Poor things.”

Darius side-eyed his wife suspiciously. “You’re not thinking what I think you’re thinking, right?”

Aphrodite smirked and winked. “I think I might be.”

After getting showered and dressed into some comfortable old clothes, Aphrodite took a trip into the garden. Merely opening the door sent a frozen wave over the herd and each one of them suddenly stood dead still and stared at the open door. Through the soft summer breeze Aphrodite swore she heard the sound of fearful pissing.

She took a look over the herd, sure enough she counted 12 of them, no foals so far as she could make out. A colourful mixture of reds and yellows and greys amongst a few other shades, the only brown Fluffies she could see were the two being bullied by the fat unicorn.

Speaking of which, while the rest of the herd stood frozen stiff by Aphrodite’s appearance, the red unicorn stormed over to her and puffed out his cheeked.

“Dummeh hoomin, dis am Smawty wand nyo. Gib skettis ow git wowstesh huwties.”

“Bwudda nu.” An Alicorn stallion, one of the only Alicorns Aphrodite could see in the herd, suddenly rushed over, his grey Fluff seemed almost silver in the sunlight and his yellow mane shone just as bright.

The Alicorn stood in front of the red Unicorn. “Bwudda, hewd hab tawkies bout dis, am onwy hewe fow nummies, nu wan upset hoomins.”

The Smarty scoffed and smacked the Alicorn with a fat hoof. “Munstha bwudda am dummeh, if Smawty wan wand, den Smawty take wand, an dummeh hoomin nu gun stop da…AAAHHHHH!”

Aphrodite picked up the red Smarty by his scruff and lifted him high – for a Fluffy – off the ground, holding him at eye-level so she could stare into his frightened little eyes.

The grey Alicorn jumped out of the way before the Smarty’s scardie poopies could hit him.

“So? You want my garden? Why should I give it to you?”

“Uuuuhhhhhhhh… cos am bestesh Smawty?”

Aphrodite sucked in her teeth. “Tttssskkkk, wrong answer I’m afraid. See you’re not actually that smart, if you were smart you would’ve left here the moment I opened the door. Or at least apologised for eating my flowers.”

“Dat nu Fwuffy, dat wewe poopie Fwuffies, Fwuffy onwy num da gwassies.”

Aphrodite looked down at the grey Alicorn, he was still shivering with fear but he at least had the decency to look back up at her.

“Is that true?”

The Alicorn looked at his cowering Smarty brother, something seemed to wash over him, as though for the first time realising just how powerless his brother actually was, and he confidently looked back at Aphrodite and shook his head.

“Nu, bwudda num pwetty fwowas, make poopie Fwuffies hab huwties su he can num dem.”

“BWUDDA AM WOWSTESH DUMMEH, SMAWTY GIB YU SOWWY HOOFIES AN…”

Aphrodite flicked the Smarty on the nose. “I already knew you were lying, I watched you eating my roses earlier. I just wanted to see if your herd would screw you over. And I’m quite happy to see they did.”

Still gripping the red Smarty by his scruff, Aphrodite looked out over the rest of the herd, they still seemed utterly terrified but her treatment of their mean Smarty seemed to be bringing most of them out of their shell.

“Everyone, raise your hoof if you want this Fluffy to remain as your Smarty, who will lead you out of this garden and into the frightening unknown.”

None of the herd raised their hoof, some of them even starting crying out of fear of what was out in the great wide world, fears they could only imagine and fears they knew all too well.

Aphrodite smirked. “Now raise your hoof if you want me to get rid of this dummy, and allow you all to stay here, where I will act as your new Smarty.”

Nothing happened at first, but Aphrodite could see the cogs turning in the Fluffies heads as they processed what she said. Eventually it was the grey Alicorn who raised his hoof first, no longer trembling and staring smugly at his trapped brother. One by one the rest of the herd raised their hoofs until they all unanimously decided to stay in their new home without their asshole leader.

Aphrodite smiled at the decision. “Very well then, I’ll shall rid us of this idiot and return to you shortly.”

“Whewe am nyu Smawty takin owd Smawty?” One of the mares, an orange Pegasus with a pink mane asked Aphrodite.

“I’ll be giving him to someone who deals with Smarties, They can either make him into a good Fluffy, or they’ll give him forever sleepies, either way he won’t be back here.”

The prospect of forever sleepies sent a murmur through the herd, none more shocked that the Smarty himself who, having given up all pretences of bravado, starting openly weeping.

“Huu, nu wan foweba sweepies, am gud Fwuffy, am gus Smawty.”

Aphrodite ignored his wailing and carried him inside, dropping him into a cardboard box Darius had set up earlier.

“Did you call her?” Aphrodite asked her husband.

Darius nodded. “She’ll be here soon enough, I told her it was a pick-up for one, maybe more but likely just the one.”

“Good, seems to be that way for now. None of them seemed upset to see him go. Even his own brother gave him up. Serves him right I’d say.”

Darius looked at the box, the red Smarty could be hear crying inside, then he looked back at his wife. “I did hear you right, you said you’re gonna be their new Smarty.”

Aphrodite shrugged. “Gives me a nice summer project to work on.”

“You do know they’re gonna be here a lot longer than just the summer.”

“I know, I just…”

Darius stood up and hugged his wife, softly stroking her back as she lay her head against his chest. “Hey, hey. Look I don’t mind that they’re here, and if you want to spend the summer with them then I’ll help you anyway I can. I just want to make sure you understand what this means.”

Aphrodite sighed into her husband’s chest and slowly nodded. “I know, this is gonna take a lot of work and it’s likely to go beyond just the summer. But I want to give them a chance to have a happy life, to feel safe for once. After mum…”

“You don’t need to explain, I get you. If you know what you’re doing then I’m behind you 100%.”

“Well that’s a shame cos I don’t have any sort of plan at all.”

The husband and wife chuckled in each other’s arms before sharing a kiss, both of them a excited and a little bit nervous about their new lives as Fluffy keepers.

Aphrodite stayed inside while she waited for the Smarty collector to arrive, she used that time to spy on the herd and watch their new dynamic. The grey Alicorn seemed to have taken charge, directing Fluffies towards good spots to eat and making sure all poopies were done in one far away corner of the garden.

There was still a level of fear within the herd, but for the most part they seemed happier than they did earlier.

At that moment the doorbell rang, with Darius upstairs in the bathroom Aphrodite took it upon herself to answer their visitor. As she opened the door, her smiling face was met with the disapproving scowl of Artemis Jackson in her work jumpsuit.

Fluffy exterminator, Smarty disposer, and Aphrodite’s older sister.

“Aph what the hell have you gotten yourself into this time?”

“Hi Art, thanks for coming on such short notice. I’m fine, thanks for asking how are you doing?”

Artemis rolled her eyes. “Aph this is serious. Darius said you had a herd invasion but I’m only picking up one Fluffy? What gives?”

“What gives is that I’m gonna look after them myself, give them some stability for once in their lives.”

Artemis scoffed. “Stability? Aph they’re little fucking monsters, giving them somewhere to sleep and shit isn’t going to change that.”

Aphrodite sighed. “Art, I understand that in your line of work you see the worst Fluffies have to offer, but these ones seem nice and I…”

Artemis scoffed. “Yeah they always SEEM nice at first.”

“…These ones seem nice and I want to show them that the world isn’t all hunger and fear. If I have to discipline them then I will but until then I’ll treat them with kindness. Maybe the reason Fluffies act like, as you said, little monsters is because the cruelty around them turns them into monsters. These are easily impressionable creatures Art, they pick up everything around them, even the horrible stuff, I mean if mum hadn’t…”

“Please don’t tell me you’re doing this to atone for mum’s mistake.”

“Why not? Isn’t that why you do your job?”

“I do my job because I’m good at it, because I make a difference by taking care of hundred of Fluffies a day, you have one handful off the street and think you’re Mother Fucking Teresa.”

Aphrodite sighed, knowing she wasn’t going to change her sisters mind, that she would always think this was a bad idea. “I know I’m not going to change your mind Art, but you’re not going to change mine either. If this blows up in my face then you have permission to say ‘I told you so’ for the rest of our lives.”

There was a beat of silence before Artemis burst out laughing. “Ha, yeah that sounds… hehehe, yeah sure whatever, that sounds good. Alright, where is this little asshole you called me for?”

Aphrodite turned and pointed to the cardboard box behind her. “In there, he’s not got much fight in him but watch yourself all the same.”

Artemis rolled her eyes. “Yeah, cos it’s not like it’s my job or anything.”

“Oh shut up you.”

The two sisters laughed as Artemis picked up the box, the red Smarty inside cried even harder at the sudden movement.

“What are you gonna do with him?”

Artemis shrugged. “Dunno, not likely to get rehomed, not with Smarty tendancies. Likely euthanasia.”

“Fair enough, not much you can do at this point is there?”

Artemis shook her head before looking over at her sister, a serious look in her eyes.

“Aph, you do know I was just looking out for you right? I’m sorry if I came off aggressive, but you’re right, I do see Fluffies at their worst and I didn’t want you to have to deal with that.”

“I know, and I’ll be fine. But thanks for thinking of me. Besides, shouldn’t I be looking out for you, Taylor told me you hired a Mongola? I thought that family was a bunch of abusive, racist assholes.”

“Ah John’s not that bad, he’s got issues sure but he’s actually quite nice and…”

Aphrodite saw her opportunity and pounced on it. “OOOOHHHH, JOHN is it now?”

Despite being an adult and despite being the older sister, Artemis couldn’t help but blush wildly at her sister’s insinuation.

“Oh is that the time, I must be getting back to work, I’ll call you later.”

Aphrodite chuckled as she watched her sister leave with the former Smarty. With him out of the way, all that was left now was to take in her new herd properly.

Unlike her first appearance, Aphrodite’s return was met with anticipation and elation.

“Am Smawty gun nyo?” A bright yellow stallion with a blinding white mane asked.

Aphrodite nodded. “He is gone, you’re all safe now.”

The herd let out a small cheer, some of them hugged each other as the grey Alicorn walked up to Aphrodite.

“Fank yu, bwudda was bwudda, bu bwudda was meanie. Awways wan take nummies fwom hoomins, awways wan fight udda Fwuffies. Hewd wose wots of fwiends wen he Smawty. Nu wike him as Smawty, bu he am daddeh’s bestesh babbeh an daddeh was owd Smawty su nu much can du.”

Aphrodite knelt down and scratched the Alicorns ear. “It’s ok, I understand.”

The Alicorn giggled at the touch. “Am hoomin Smawty nyo?”

“Yes, but I don’t ever want anyone to call me that, Smarties are mean, dumb and that’s not what I am. My name is Aphrodite, but if any of you want to talk to me, just call me ‘Miss Aphro’.

“Miss Ah-fwo.” The Alicorn rolled the name on his tongue for a moment before nodding. “Ok, Fwuffies du dat Miss Ah-fwo. Wha yu need Fwuffies tu du fow yu?”

“I’ll discuss the rules with you later but what’s most important is that I want you all the be kind, treat each other nicely and I will treat you nicely. This is a safe garden, so long as none of you do anything to upset either me, or your fellow Fluffies.”

Aphrodite watched the herd shiver with their fear of upsetting their friends, but it passed quickly and they all happily nodded in agreement to the first rule.

Happy that everyone was on board, Aphrodite looked out over the 11 Fluffies she was now in charge of.

“Now then, before I get some food, who wants a name?”

Suddenly 11 high-pitched and very exciteable voices starting crying out, all of them pushing forward to receive a name. Aphrodite laughed and softly pushed them back.

“Ok, ok, one at a time. You’ll all get a name. Now, let’s start with you.”

Aphrodite pointed to the bright yellow stallion from earlier, he seemed to be an Earthie as far as she could tell, a properly strong Fluffy, likely a Toughie.

“You can be Apollo.”

“Apowwo wub nyu namesie, fank yu Mis Ah-fwo.”

Aphrodite looked over to the stallion beside Apollo, a Pegasus with a white body and yellow mane, given the similarities in shades and a few similar looks, Aphrodite guessed this was Apollo’s brother.

“You can be Hermes.”

Hermes immediately lived up to his namesake and ran in a circle. “YAY, fank yu Miss Ah-fwo, dis am bestesh bwite-time eba.”

Aphrodite’s gaze turned to one of the mares, the orange Pegasus with a pink mane. She looked up at Aphrodite shyly but smiling all the same.

“Let’s call you, Hestia.”

“Fank yu Miss Ah-fwo, Hes-tee-ah wub namesies.”

Aphrodite then turned to one of the brown Fluffies, a unicorn stallion, dark brown Fluff with a dark green mane and one milky white eye. He looked old and beaten up but not beaten down, even now he stood bravely in the face of a human.

“You can be Hephaestus, but we’ll call you Hep for short.”

Hephaestus nodded at her. “Fank yu Miss Ah-fwo, Heh-phis-tus am happy tu hab gud name.”

Aphrodite was impressed at Hep’s ability to sound out his complicated name, even if he did have to strain his jaw with each syllable. Her eyes then moved onto the other brown Fluffy, a beige mare with a light green mane, and if the bulge in her stomach was anything to go by, she was in the early stages of pregnancy.

“You, who’s your special-friend?”

The beige mare started shaking uncontrollably as a small puddle of piss formed around her, likely her fears for her unborn foals were rendering her useless. She kept silently shaking until the grey Alicorn stepped up and placed a comforting hoof over her back.

“Am Fwuffy’s speciaw-fwiend, dese am Fwuffies babbehs. Bwudda wan gib mawe bad speciaw-huggies cos ‘poopies mawes am onwy gud fow enfies’. Fwuffy twick bwudda, make him fink dat munstah habben enfies wiv poopie mawe am pun-ess-ment. It nu gud, bu Fwuffy wub speciaw-fwiend, an wan be gud daddeh tu tummeh-babbehs.”

The beige mare nodded and nuzzled the Alicorns neck. “Speciaw-fwiend nu am munstah, Smawty am munstah, speciaw-fwiend pwotek Fwuffy.”

“That he did, although in future don’t call her ‘poopie’, we use the word ‘brown’ to describe Fluffies like her and Hep.

“Am Miss Ah-fwo a bwown hoomin?” Hestia asked, pointing at Aphrodite’s dark complexion.

“Sort of, it’s a long story. Let’s focus on naming for the moment, I think our little soon-mummah should be called Hera.”

Hera gasped. “Hewa wub nyu namesie, fank yu Miss Ah-fwo.”

Two mares and four stallions left, including the grey Alicorn. Aphrodite looked over at one of the stallions, another Earthie, a darkened red with a silver mane and a mean look in his eyes. Not maliciously mean, but clearly he was ready to strike should Aphrodite do anything to harm his friends.

This Fluffy had seen battle, and he was ready to see it again.

“You. You shall be Ares.”

“Awes am stwong namesie, fank yu Miss Ah-fwo.”

Aphrodite turned to the mare next to him, she was a unicorn, yellow Fluff although a much softer yellow than Apollo’, and a blue mane. She seemed quite reserved compared to the rest of the herd.

“You can be Athena.”

“Ah-thee-nah, dat am gud namesie fow Fwuffy. Fank yu Miss Ah-fwo.”

Aphrodite then looked at two stallion standing side-by-side, one of the was another Unicorn, his Fluff a vibrant turquoise and his mane a deep blue, the other a Pegasus, pitch-black Fluff with a bright red mane.

Aphrodite looked at the turquoise unicorn first. “You can be Poseidon, and you can be Hades.”

“Poh-sy-dun hab bestesh namesie, fank yu Miss Ah-fwo.”

“Nu, Hay-dees hab bestesh namesie, fank yu Miss Ah-fwo.”

Leaving the pair to the squabbling, Aphrodite turned to the last two Fluffies, the silver Alicorn stallion, and the last a monochrome grey Alicorn mare. Even just looking at her Aphrodite could tell she was old, her eyes looked tired and her posture looked weak, but there was pride in her expression, she had likely spent a long time living as a feral, longer than Fluffies usually did, and she relished in that fact.

“I’ll call you Demeter.”

Demeter nodded. “De-meh-teh wike nyu namesie, neba hab namesei befowe. Fank yu.”

With just the silver stallion left, Aphrodite looked down at him and stroked his back.

“You… I want to talk to you by yourself for a moment.”

There was a momentary flash of worry across the Alicorn’s face as he wondered what he did wrong, but it passed quickly and he nodded. “Ok Miss Ah-fwo, Fwuffy tawkies tu yu awone.”

Heading to a quiet corner of the garden, Aphrodite knelt down in front of the Alicorn so she could talk to him directly.

“Wha am wong Miss Ah-fwo, am Fwuffy nu gitten namesie?”

“No, you’re getting a name too. A very important name that comes with responsibilities. Dp you know what responsibilities are?”

The Alicorn nodded. “Wesponsibiwitees am wha Fwuffies hab tu du su dat hewd am kept safe.”

“Well done, now while you all live in my garden you should all be kept safe, but in case anything does happen, I’m going to need you to tell me what’s gone wrong so I can fix it. You are going to be my second in command, I tell you what rules the herd has to follow, you tell me if the herd has any problems. Do you think you’re up for the challenge, Zeus?”

Zeus’ face beamed at his new name, before he quickly got serious and nodded. “Yeh Miss Ah-fwo, Zoos wook afta hewd fow Miss Ah-fwo, wet knyo if Fwuffies am bad.”

“This is important Zeus, I’m still in charge, I chose you because you seem clever enough to do this job properly. If you start bossing your friends around or telling them to do things that I don’t want them to, then I will throw you out of this garden and send you to the same place I sent your brother.”

Zeus gulped but nodded all the same. “Zoos undastan, wiww be gud Fwuffy, pwomise.”

“Good boy, now go join your friends, I’ll get lunch sorted.”

Zeus happily ran off rejoin his herd and tell them of his new name, Aphrodite took a minute to watch them all happily hugging and cheering for their new home. Artemis might be right, there may be little monsters out there, but here in her garden, there was only happiness, and hope for the future.

“Welcome my friends.” Aphrodite sighed out to herself. “Welcome to Elysium.”

If you’ve been reading the BFM-Verse for a while then you’ll know that it’s a cruel, violent universe filled with trauma, depression and conflict. So I wanted to challenge myself, I wanted to write a garden invasion story from a kinder perspective, a story with minimal conflict beyond the Fluffies lack of understanding.

Hopefully this turns out a little softer than my usual works but I hope you enjoy it all the same, it’ll be interesting to work outside my comfort zone for a little bit.

Chapter 2

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A good start. Can’t wait for more.

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Super cool so far, love the naming scheme, super interested to see how well Zeus does at maintaining his “pantheon”'s health. Great work :slight_smile:

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Well I’ve enjoyed damn near everything else you posted and you hooked me again so let’s see this kinder, gentler side of @BMF101. Also I love the name scheme! I’ve been trying to come up with something as an excuse to name a fluffy Spartacus.

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Very much onboard with the softer side, let’s see how it goes.

Darius better patch that fucking fence before the neighbor’s dog or more ferals come wandering in.

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Josef: “No such thing as a good fluffy.”
Jonathan: “The only good fluffy’s a dead fluffy.”
Ricky: “Or one that’s profitable.”
Izzy: “Or cooked into a delicious meal.”

Aphrodite: “Have you all considered that maybe you’re just terrible people?”

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Josef: “Yes.”
Jonathan: “I blame my father.”
Ricky: “I’m just a businessman, doing business.”
Izzy: “Who are you calling ‘People’?”

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Ohh she an Artemis are siblings and…she seems close to John??? Interesting :thinking::blush:

Will see where this goes.

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Interesting beginning, very Greek, everything, in my head the music of the knights of the zoodiac (the one from the 80s) sounded while I named one by one. I look forward to where your challenge will lead and thank you for being so hardworking.

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