You gave Sapphire some kibble in a small bowl while keeping her in her sorry box. She’s still being defiant and bullheaded, which is very unlike her. You gave Grape her own bowl of kibble and left them to eat. Once Grape finished her bowl, she moved it with her nose toward you.
“Gwape am stiww hungwy. Moaw pwease?” she asks politely.
You reach down and ruffle her mane a bit. “Okay, but only a tiny bit more. We can’t overfeed you, otherwise it might hurt the babies.”
She nods in understanding. “Otay. Gwape undastan’. Too many nummies bad fow tummeh babbehs.”
You fetch Grape a little more kibble, barely enough to cover the bottom of the bowl, before checking in on Sapphire. She finished her meal but is turned away from the view port. You frown a bit before taking her food bowl away and closing the box again.
“You know, nothing good ever came from things like this, Sapphire,” you start telling her. “Keeping it bottled up and not talking about your problems will only cause more problems.”
Still, she remained silent. You sigh softly and clean her bowl before Grape brings you her empty bowl in her mouth, tail wagging happily. You take it from her and wash it.
“Gwape am dun wif nummies! Fank 'oo fow nummies!”
You smile softly at her. Even though she’s had such a rough start to her life, she seems to be keeping her chipper personality.
“You’re welcome, Grape. Why don’t you go play with Sapphire’s toys? They’re in that room over there.” you tell her, pointing toward an open door just off of the kitchen.
Grape nods and wobbles off into Sapphire’s safe room. You fix yourself a meal and clean up before going into the living room and sitting on the couch. An hour goes by as you quietly read, occasionally looking toward the safe room door to check on Grape. Sapphire scratches at the cardboard walls of the box, but you pay her no mind. Eventually she begins whining some.
“Mummah? Pwease wet Saffiuh ou’ of sowwy bawx…”
Again, you say nothing to her. She tries again, practically begging this time.
“Pwease, mummah! Saffiuh nee’ ou’ of sowwy bawxie!”
You sigh and lower your book slightly to look at her. “Why should I let you out of your sorry box? You were a bad fluffy to Grape…”
She quietly humbles herself as she sits down from the front wall. “Saffiuh nee’ make gud poopies…”
You sigh softly. It could be a trick, as smarter fluffies have been seen to be able to think of such clever ruses, but she hasn’t gone in a while. Reluctantly, you set your book down and get up.
“Alright, but it’s straight back to the sorry box after.”
You pick up Grape, which catches her by surprise. “Scree! Pwease nu bad uppies!” she cries.
You pet her mane gently as you move her from the safe room and onto the couch. “Just stay here for a little bit. Sapphire needs to use the litterbox.”
Grape nods and plops herself down on the plush couch. You go over to the sorry box and open it up. A frantic Sapphire is running in a circle, trying to keep herself moving to hold it in. Gently, you pick her up and bring her into her safe room and place her into her litterbox. Almost immediately she begins to relieve herself. You watch her quietly so she can’t dash away, seeing the wave of relief over her face. Once finished she quietly looks at you.
“Good girl, letting momma know you needed the litterbox. But that doesn’t make up for your earlier outburst…” you tell her.
Her ears fold down quietly as you pick her back up and put her back into her sorry box. You sit down next to Grape as she snuggles up next to you.
“Saffiuh make gud poopies?” she asks you curiously.
You nod in response. “Yes, she made good poopies in her litterbox.”
“…Does dat mean meanie fwuffeh am comin’ ou’ of sowwy bawx soon?” She sounds nervous.
You shake your head some as you pick your book back up. “No, not for a while. She has to learn that what she did was wrong, and that she has to say sorry to you. A proper sorry.”
Grape nods some. As you read for a tiny bit, Grape begins to sing her mummah song again. Sapphire begins to get more and more agitated as the minutes go on, having to listen to the seemingly happy-go-lucky mare sing. Eventually she begins to ram the sides of the box, making it shift little by little.
"Enf… Stoopee… Enf… Mawe… Enf… Nu… Enf… Wan’… Enf… Wisten… Enf… Tu… Enf… Sawng… Enf!
You look over at the box before sighing and getting up. You look back at Grape for a moment.
“Grape, maybe it’s time to give the song a rest for a little while.”
Grape looks up at you, tilting her head some. “Why? Di’ fwuffeh du bad? Thought mummah song am gud fow tummeh babbehs…”
“It’s good for your tummy babies, it’s just that it seems to be making Sapphire feel worse. You didn’t do anything wrong.”
She nods and quiets down a bit. You pick up the sorry box and look at Sapphire, who is out of breath and still trying to weakly shove the box around. You see a Sapphire-sized dent in the side wall.
“That’s enough of that, little missy.” you tell her sternly. “You’re only going to hurt yourself.”
Between pants she huffs at you. “Nu cawe… Dummeh mummah sawng… Dummeh fwuffeh… Dummeh mummah…” She sounds very disgruntled.
You sigh as you set her box down. “Sapphire, what am I going to do with you?” you ask yourself, scratching the back of your head some.
You grab one of Sapphire’s cat toys and bring it over to Grape. You dangle it in front of her as she tries to pounce on it and catch it… Well, as best she can being an oversized water balloon of fluff and foals. Sapphire watches from her box and whines to herself quietly before transferring her sad energy into anger, pouting and blaming Grape.
You played with Grape for a little bit then let her nap until dinner while you read your book. You look up from your book to check the clock and nod to yourself. Putting the book down, you stand up, which causes the purple unicorn that was resting against you to fall over.
“Wah! Fwuffeh fall obah! Why 'ou move?” she asks, wiggling her legs to try and upright herself… Which goes about as poorly as one could think, given she was on a soft couch instead of a hard surface.
You giggle a little and sit her up right. “It’s just about dinner time. I have to go start preparing food for us.”
Grape claps a bit and gives you a soft “Fank 'oo” for helping her up. She remains on the couch as you go into the kitchen and begin preparing the meal. After a short while, you shared a spaghetti dinner with Grape, while Sapphire was left with her kibble and water. Grape happily munched and slurped away while Sapphire fussed.
“Why fwuffeh get sketties and Saffiuh get none!?”
You finish the bit of food that was in your mouth before addressing her. “Because you’re in your sorry box for misbehaving, and Grape has babies in her tummy. She needs the nutrition to help them.”
Sapphire sulked in her box. She quietly munched on her kibble very slowly, clearly very upset. You watch as Grape scoots her plate of spaghetti over to the box. Sapphire looks out of the view port and down at her.
“Wha’ ‘oo wan’? Make fun o’ Saffiuh fow bein’ in sowwy bawxie?” she asks, trying to hold back her tears.
Grape shakes her head a little. “Nu. Gwape nu wan’ huwt Saffiuh. Gwape jus’ wan’ shawe sketties wif Saffiuh.”
You quietly watched this unfold. Normally, you’d intervene with good fluffies sharing their good food with bad fluffies… But you wanted to see how this little event would play out.
Sapphire sniffed the air some. “It du smeww pwetty nummeh… Buh why shawe wif bad fwuffeh?”
Grape sits on her rump, looking up at the small Sapphire snoot poking out of the box. “‘Cuz it nu faiw to hab aww da gud fings and ‘ou get nuffin’. Gwape am jus’ visituh, dis am Saffiuh housie.”
You quietly finish your meal, surprised at how well behaved Grape was being toward Sapphire in spite of Sapphire spitting such acid toward her during the day. Was Grape’s maternal instinct kicking in?
Sapphire remained quiet. She moved herself out of the view of the view port and into one of the deeper corners. You could almost hear her sobbing, even though she was doing her best to use the walls and her fluff to muffle it. Grape looks back toward you with her ears folded.
“Di’ Gwape du bad? Nu mean tu gib fwuffeh saddies…”
You sigh and walk over to her, gently petting her mane. “No, you didn’t do bad. She’s just a little upset.”
Grape nods and nuzzles your leg softly. “Pwease gib Saffiuh sum sketties.”
You smile some. It seems your efforts with Grape didn’t go to waste after all. You pick up her plate and open Sapphire’s sorry box. Sapphire looks back at you as you give her a small bit of spaghetti in her bowl before mixing it up some, and closing her box once more. You take Grape and her plate of food back into the kitchen.
Both Grape and Sapphire finished their meals quietly. Grape sat on the kitchen floor quietly as you washed the dishes. She’s definitely much less upbeat than before…
“Are you okay, Grape? Did you eat too much?”
She shakes her head in response. “Nu… Fwuffeh am confoozed. Why fwuffeh in sowwy bawxie hab saddies?”
You sigh softly as you retell Sapphire’s story. Grape begins to cry part way through as you console her a bit. Once you finished the dishes, you sat down on the step and hold Grape gently.
“Dat am su saddies. Wowstest heawt huwties… Saffiuh nu no mummah? Nu am haf famiwy?”
“Nope, not until I took her in. I’m her only family now.”
Grape continued to sob some. “Gwape undastan’ nao. Pow fwuffeh mus’ be su saddies. Must hab bigges’ heawt huwties…”
You nod a bit, stroking her mane softly. “Let’s go and see if she’s willing to play nice now that you’ve shared your sketties with her.”
You took Grape over to Sapphire’s box and sat down outside of it. Sapphire was sitting in the deep back once more until you beckoned her forward.
“Sapphire, come here please.”
The upset little unicorn trotted her way to the front of the box before sitting down. She looked at you and Grape quietly.
“Now Sapphire, it’s past dinner time. If you’re willing to play nice and properly apologize to Grape, you can come out of the sorry box and play. Can you do that?”
Sapphire looks hesitant. She quietly stares down at the floor of the box, not even making a peep.
You raise your voice a little to your stern tone. “Sapphire, momma is asking you a question. She wants an answer.”
Grape watches the back and forth between you two, unsure of what may happen next. Sapphire stands up and looks out of the view port.
“Huu… Yus… Saffiuh pway nice nao…”
You nod some before reaching forward and opening the box. You reach in and grab the distressed fluffy and sit her down on the floor.
“Now, what do you say to Grape?”
Sapphire tried to collect herself a little, sniffling some. “Saffiuh am… am sowwy fow bein’ meanie…”
Grape stands up and wobbles over to Sapphire. Sapphire averts her gaze until Grape gently nuzzles her.
“It am otay… Gwape undastan’… Gwape fowgib Saffiuh.”
Sapphire looked up at the large, blimp of a mare in surprise. “'Ou… 'Ou fowgib Saffiuh? Buh Saffiuh am bad fwuffeh!”
Grape shushes her with a hoof. “Nu am bad fwuffeh… Jus’ am hab heawt huwties.” she says before hugging the much smaller foal.
You stand up and move the sorry box away into the corner of Sapphire’s safe space. You tower over them before kneeing down and holding up a finger.
“Now I expect you two to play nice, alright?”
Grape nods in agreement as Sapphire still seems hesitant. You decide to not push the issue for now…
A few hours pass as you watch some TV and listen to Sapphire and Grape play a bit. Grape seems to be having the time of her life while Sapphire… Is much less so enjoying it. Eventually it rolls around to bed time and you get up to start the bed time routine. As you walk toward the door you hear a rather violent bonk sound before Grape starts to cry. You look in the room and you see Sapphire’s indoor ball bouncing away from Grape as she holds her face.
“Huu huu huu! Why huwt fwuffeh? Fwuffeh nu am bad!” she cries out.
Sapphire defiantly turns her nose up to the air. “Nu am cawe… Am Saffiuh’s toysies… Nawt fow obah fwuffehs.”
You grab Sapphire by the scruff again and hold her up to your face. She wriggles and screams at you.
“I told you to play nice with Grape. You’re being such a bad fluffy today, Sapphire! What’s gotten into you!?” you practically scream at her.
Sapphire screams back. “Nu wan soon-mummah fwuffeh hewe! Am Saffiuh homesie! Nu am fow bad fwuffeh!”
You growl a bit before fixing up Sapphire’s pen, removing all of her toys and setting her inside of it. All that was left was her bed, her feeder, her water bowl, and her litterbox.
“Just for that, you can stay in here alone tonight. If you were good, I’d might have let you sleep with Grape… But clearly you don’t deserve that.”
Sapphire sticks her tongue out at you as you take Grape out of the room. You turn off the light and fully close the door behind you before checking on Grape. Her has a minor red spot on her forehead, but no visible damage. You gently stroke her mane to settle her down.
“There, there. You’re okay.” you tell her. “Sapphire won’t hurt you now.”
Grape just clings onto you. Seeing how distressed she is, you sigh. You really didn’t want to have her in your room, but it seems like she will need to sleep with you for the night. You scritch her chin to get her attention.
“Okay Grape, here’s the deal. You’re going to sleep with me tonight, but you gotta make good poopies outside first. Okay?”
She nods, wiping her tears some. You take her outside and let her do her business before bringing her back in. You put Grape up onto your bed before walking over to the door leading into Sapphire’s room. You hear soft sobbing and angry fluffy words.
“Sapphire, what if your momma could see you now? What would Gemstone think if she knew her last living foal was being such a bad, mean fluffy?” you ask her through the door. This only agitates her more and causes her to bawl.
You’ll have to leave her to wallow with her own thoughts. You close the bathroom door and the main door to your room before preparing for bed. You’ll need the silence if you want to sleep tonight.
You sit down on the bed before looking at Grape. She’s curled up like a cat, fast asleep. For someone so easily distressed, she sure falls asleep quick. You toss the covers over before swinging your legs and feet into the bed. Covering yourself again, you pick up your book and read a bit more before turning out the light and sleeping. Hopefully Sapphire settles down tomorrow.
