You take Grape and Sapphire out back before prepping a small basket to use for cleaning Sapphire and Grape. You set down the shampoo and use a stand with your hose to create a make-shift shower. Sapphire continues to sulk in the shade of the table.
You pick up Sapphire from the shade and boop her nose gently. “What’s got my little girl so grumpy?”
Sapphire refuses to speak. Instead she just folds her hooves and puffs her cheeks out. It partially looks adorable, but also isn’t a very good sign… Her stubborn refusal to speak forces you to shrug it off for the moment before bringing her over to the make-shift bath.
“Alright Grape, I know it’s been a while since you’ve had a bath from me, so I’ll show you how I do it with Sapphire.”
The pregnant mare nods, sitting nearby the make-shift basin basket. “Otay… Gwape wiww watch.”
You set Sapphire down in the basket and grab the hose. You rotate the head so it is set to “shower” and let it spray on the lawn for a few seconds to adjust the temperature. Once appropriately warmed up, you begin to rinse down Sapphire. The little unicorn just sits there quietly and takes it as some water builds up in the bottom. Grape looks nervous as you wash her down with water and shampoo, being sure to scoop out some of the water before it got too high for her.
Once Sapphire was squeaky clean, you rinsed her down and plucked her out of the basket. You take a nearby towel and give her a light drying off before letting her bask in the sun to finish. The day was hot enough to provide the heat required, so you had no problems with her sauntering off to her own spot. You turn back toward Grape, who’s still nervous and unsure about the bath…
“Huu huu… Wawa am bad fow fwuffeh an’ babbehs… Nu no…” she says.
You hold your hand out to her for her to take. “I promise, you’ll be okay. You and your babies will be just fine.”
Grape looks at your hand, then back to the basket, then back to your hand, then back at her tummy.
“If you don’t do this, Grape, I can’t help you…” you say in a low tone.
Sapphire raised her head and listened into your conversation attentively.
“Buh… Buh wawa… Wawa am bad…”
“Grape, did your daddy ever bath you?”
She nods. “Shumtimes… Buh wawa nu am gud fow fwuffeh ou’ babbehs…”
Grape seems to be too concerned over whether or not the water would be good for her and her babies. Fluffy mothers, especially those who weren’t exposed to good bath times when they were younger, would be difficult to convince.
You sigh heavily. “Grape, this is the last time I’ll say it,” you start with a stern tone. “You can either take my hand and get in the bath, or I’ll have to chase you off and you won’t get nummies for your babies.”
Grape sobs lightly. She very much didn’t seem to want to have the bath, but knew that she needed to do what she could for her soon-babies. Reaching out with her hoof, she takes your hand as you gently set her into the basket. She takes up most of the room inside of it, but you can work with it.
“Alright, because your daddy seems to have not done a very good job with you, I’m going to go slow, okay?” you tell her. You partially wanted to go slow for her own comfort, but you really wanted to be able to give her a physical check on her belly to see how far along she was.
Grape nods, still shaking and sobbing some. “O-Otay… Gwape be a gud fwuffeh…”
Sapphire merely gives a defiant “Hmph!” and turns her head away.
You turn on the hose again and douse the purple unicorn, making sure to go slow and get as much of her fluff wet as possible. She’s very upset at this, and continues to say that the water is bad for her. You pause for a moment before turning her toward you.
“Grape, I have an idea.” you say.
Grape looks at you with a questioning expression.
“Why don’t we take your mind off the bath with something else?”
“Whu’ 'oo mean?”
“Remember how you’re a soon-momma?”
“Yus… Gwape wemembuh.”
“Why not sing the “Mummah wub babbeh” song to your babies? I’m sure they’re listening to you from inside your belly.”
Grape’s eyes went from fearful to sparkling with hope. “Weawwy!? Tummeh babbehs am wisten tu mummah!? Dey can heaws mummah tawkies and singies!?”
You nod some. It wasn’t necessarily scientifically proven, but sometimes newborns that were spoken to in the womb, be it humans or fluffies, came out a bit more bonded to their mothers than otherwise. It was purely coincidence, though… Probably something related to personalities. You spin Grape back around as she holds her pregnant belly and sings to her internal babies.
“Mummah wub babbehs~ Babbehs wub mummah~
”
You continue to douse her down and pick out any stray bits of grass, twigs, leaves, or trash in her coat. Surprisingly, she was fairly clean… Must’ve stayed around the alleyways or out of the brush. You pour some shampoo on her while complimenting her singing to keep her distracted. Gently, you massage the shampoo in so she gets used to the feeling of it as you work your way down her body. Once you reach her belly, she stops singing and looks back at you.
“Why nices’ Ewin touchie babbeh-tummeh? Huwt fwuffeh? Nu wan’ fwuffeh tu be mummah?”
It seems she’s very defensive about her stomach and her babies. You give her a soft smile in response.
“Nope, I’m not going to hurt you or your babies. I’m cleaning your tummy and milky places so that they’ll be clean when the babies arrive.”
She pauses for a moment before nodding in understanding. After all, newborn babies wouldn’t want a smelly, yucky mother! As she goes back to singing, you massage her belly as Sapphire begins to get worked up. Sapphire shakes herself off and moves further away, trying to drown out the song with something… anything.
As you massage her pregnant stomach, you feel around. The foals inside of her are very big, indeed… It seems that they were around the right size, which meant that any day now she’d pop. A new herd would come into the world. You continue to clean her as you smile to yourself, remembering all the different litters you had to help bring into the world. Some of them were smooth as clear ice, and some… Were not as good.
You pick up the hose again and douse Grape. The top of her darker purple mane covers her eyes.
“Hey! Why it gu dawkies suddenwy? Nu can see!”
You giggle a bit and help her move the hair out of her eyes so she can see. She smiles and gives you a soft “Fank 'oo” before going back to her activity. You finish rinsing her off before picking the hefty chonker of a mare out of the tub and setting her on the porch. You tip the basket over, letting the water within rush out and over the lawn before spraying down Grape’s lower body so it was clean of shampoo. You gently dry her off.
“Okay Grape, you and Sapphire can lay here on the porch while I clean this mess up. The sun will dry you out.”
Grape nods. “Otay. Wiww dwy off.” she says before wobbling her way toward Sapphire.
Sapphire snootily tips her nose into the sky, trying to defiantly refuse to acknowledge Grape’s presence. But her sheer size makes her impossible to miss. You wash out the bucket and rinse down the porch before putting your used things away. Grape lays down on the porch, belly-side up as if trying to sunbathe.
“Do ‘ou mind? Saffiuh am twyin’ tu dwy off.” Sapphire snaps.
Grape turns her head toward her sadly. “Why fwuffeh am bein’ su meanie? Nu am bad fwuffeh…”
Sapphire huffs. “Nu cawe. Saffiuh was gud untew fatteh fwuffeh show up…”
Grape’s eyes water a bit. “Gwape nu wan’ du bad… Gwape am sowwy… Nu am fatteh fwuffeh…”
Sapphire gets up and proudly saunters away from the overturned mare. She didn’t care about what she did or didn’t want… She only wanted her home to be her’s and her’s alone.
As you come back outside, you see the overturned Grape, now crying, and Sapphire sauntering away. …Did something happen? You walk over to the purple unicorn and help her upright.
“What happened, Grape? Are you okay?” you ask.
She shakes her head a bit. “Nu… Meanie fwuffeh nu wike Gwape… Sai’ Gwape am fatteh fwuffeh…”
You exhale heavily, rubbing the bridge of your nose in frustration. “It’s okay, you aren’t a fat fluffy. Sapphire’s just very upset.”
Grape hics as she sobs. You stand up and go over to Sapphire who is on the opposite end of the porch, continuing her sunbathing. You stand over her with an angry expression, hands on your hips and your foot tapping.
“And what, little missy, do you think you’re doing?” you ask in a scolding tone.
Sapphire yawns a bit. “Saffiuh am jus’ dwyin’ off.”
You weren’t buying that one bit. “Okay, and if you’re just drying off, why is Grape over there crying and saying you called her a fat fluffy?”
“Gwape am wyin’. Saffiuh nu am du dat.”
Your foot taps harder. It’s enough force to make Sapphire really feel the intense vibrations. Your frustration grows bit by bit.
“Sapphire, we talked about this. This is bad fluffy behaviour.” You move your hands to cross your arms. “You know what this means, don’t you?”
Sapphire just puts her nose into the air defiantly. She’s not backing down from this, and you’re not fully sure where this attitude came from… You heavily sigh and pick her up by the scruff of her neck, causing her to wiggle a tiny bit in protest.
“Scree! Nuu! Bad upsies! Bad! Wet fwuffeh down!” she screams.
Grape watches you as you bring Sapphire inside, the little unicorn kicking and screaming the whole way. Grape is worried as you set Sapphire into the sorry box and bring her back outside. Seeing Sapphire scream and cry over the sorry box you’re bringing back outside, Grape begins to panic.
You set the sorry box down by the door as you go and pick up Grape. She’s visibly shaking in fear as you turn a chair around to face the sun. You set her in it and sit into the chair next to her.
“Huu… Nices’ Ewin… Why am bwingie fwuffeh sowwy bawxie outside? Am Gwape gun be in sowwy bawxie?”
You shake your head before petting her gently. “No, Grape. The sorry box is for bad fluffies who misbehave.” you say, making sure Sapphire can hear. She sobs harder from inside the box. “Sapphire was a bad fluffy, so she has to stay in the sorry box for a little bit while you get to enjoy the sun.”
Grape looked at the box before back at you. “Wiww fwuffeh be otay?”
You nod as you scritch her chin a little bit, her mood lifting slightly. “Yes, she’ll be okay. She just needs to learn that what she is doing is wrong.”
You left Sapphire in the box for a good twenty minutes as you sat in the sun with Grape. She took to snoozing after a few minutes as you continued your book. When your watch went off to remind to you check on your little unicorn, you set your bookmark on your page and went back to the sorry box.
Inside was a grumpy, fussy Sapphire. You sat in front of it. You crossed your arms before addressing Sapphire.
“Now Sapphire, do you know why you were put into the sorry box?”
She huffs in response. “'Cuz mummah am meanie. Nu wuv Saffiuh nu moaw. Wub onwy dummeh fwuffeh.”
You can tell this is going to be a long and difficult time. You close your eyes to think for a moment.
“Can you try to get along with Grape, please? I know she isn’t Dusty, but she is a fluffy that your momma cared for, and she needs our help right now.”
Sapphire turned her nose up in protest. “Nu! Meanie momma onwy wub dummeh fwuffeh! Dummeh fwuffeh gon’ take homesie an’ mummah an’ nummies.”
…Was this what it was about? She thinks this new fluffy was going to take you and your home away from her?
“Sapphire…” you say, leaning down so your face was in front of the view port. Sapphire continued to refuse to look at you. “Grape isn’t going to take me away, or your home.”
Sapphire’s ear twitched a bit, but she remained steadfast.
You grumble a tiny bit. “She’s not going to be a forever fluffy here, honey. You gotta understand that your momma has a responsibility with her training. If a nice fluffy like Grape comes around and asks for help, your momma needs to help if she can.”
“An’ wha’ 'bout dem fewal fwuffehs? 'Ou twy tu gib fowebah sweepies!”
“That’s different. They were mean ferals that were looking to hurt you, sweet pea. Momma only did what she did then because she wanted to protect you. Grape doesn’t want to hurt you or momma. She’s a good fluffy.”
Sapphire grumbled in response.
“Look, I know I’m not going to get through to you… So if you apologize to Grape for hurting her feelings, I’ll let you out of your sorry box. Deal?”
She grumbles a bit more, but knows that if she doesn’t take the deal, she won’t get out of the sorry box. She sighs softly.
“Otay… Deaw.”
You know she’s not going to mean her apology… But you have to try and rein her in anyway. You open up the box and set her down on the porch. You walk with her over to the sleeping Grape before gently nudging the lala-land unicorn.
“Grape, wake up. Sapphire has something to say to you.”
Grape unfurls herself from her curled up, sleepy state before yawning and looking at Sapphire. You gently nudge Sapphire as she looks down at the ground in frustration.
“Well, what do you have to say, Sapphire?”
She sighs softly. “Saffiuh am sowwy…” she pauses.
Grape looks at you, then back at Sapphire. “It am otay… Gwape sowta undastan’—”
Sapphire cuts her off. “Am sowwy 'ou am bad, fatteh fwuffeh! Bad mummah! Wowstest mummah!” she explodes.
Grape begins to bawl at the hurling of insults as you take Sapphire away, holding her muzzle shut with one hand before putting her back into the sorry box.
“Mummah am wowstest mummah! Hatchu! Hatchu!” she screams at you.
You know she doesn’t mean what she’s saying and she’s too emotionally immature to handle this situation… But you can’t help but feel deeply hurt by it. Your own little fluffy, who was like a daughter to you, saying she hates you. Could there ever be a knife that cuts so deep?
“Sapphire, for that little outburst, you’re staying in the sorry box until dinner time.” you tell her.
Sapphire continued to kick and scream as you bring her box inside. You set her box down in the living room before coming back outside and consoling Grape. Once she settled down, you fixed up the chairs and brought her inside for some food. This is certainly going to be one interesting time…
