Feral Friends Chapter 8 [Solidus]

Chapter 8:

You are Theo.

“Neapolitan……” you say, sternly.

She paws the ground, looking away from you.

“Look at me, Neo.” You say, snapping your fingers. “Why are you not eating your kibble, sweetie? You’re old enough to know you need food.”

She looks up at you with her large, bright green eyes. “Neapowitan dun wanna eat Kibbwe. Wanna have mummah’s miwkies fowevew.” She says.

You sigh. Fluffies were such picky eaters. You’d negotiate through this.

“I know you like Hazel’s milk, Neapolitan, but you’re growing up. You have teeth now! You don’t wanna give mommy’s milky places bites, do you?”

“No….wouwd nevew want to huwt mummah.” she says.

“And you want to be a big fluffy, right? Like momma?” you continue.

“Yes……but awso no……”

“Tell me why no, won’t you?”

“No wan have no more pwaying with bwudda and sissy, and no more having mummah’s wuv and huggies and lickies and stuffy toy and and and….” she trails off, tearing up.

Oh. That was it. She thought being a big fluffy meant no more fun and being away from her mom and siblings.

You lean down, boop her on the nose. “You dork!”

“EEE! Why boop Fwuffy!?”

“Because you think I’d make you give up your toys, and playing with your siblings, and snuggling with Hazel just because you can eat kibble!?” you say, shaking your head. “I would NEVER do that to you, Neapolitan. I want you to eat kibble because it’s GOOD FOR YOU, and will help you grow and be better food for you than milk now you have teeth!”

She stares at you, her tiny fluffy brain processing this new information.

“……Can….Can Neapowitan twy just……wittwe bit of kibbwe?” she asks, nervously.

“Of course you can. Tell you what……you don’t like it, we’ll find you something else to eat, alright?”

“Pwomise?”

“Promise.” you pick a piece of milk-flavored foal kibble from her bowl, and hold it out to her. She sniffs it.

“Smeww pwetty.” she says, biting it and crunching off a piece.

She chews, humming. She clearly enjoys it.

“So?”

“Can……can Kibbwe be softer? Wike taste, but no wike cwunchies, feews scwatchy in nummie pwace.” she says.

“I can soak it in a little bit of milk to make it mushy for you. It’ll be soft. I could also use water, if you’d rather.” You tell her. She was still a baby, crunchy kibble might be a bit harsh on her mouth yet.

Neapolitan nods. “Mush gud!”

Hazel has been watching this silently, and grabs her multi-colored foal in a big hug. “MUMMAH SO PWOUD!”

Mochi begins to dance, as she does. “Wook sissy, Mochi make bestest dancies for bestest big sissy!”

Chocolate looks on “Chocowate wan num kibbwe and be big fwuffy too……” he says. You pet him “Don’t worry, little man, you’ll have your chance soon.”

As the only other male animal in the house, you’ve taken a liking to the little brown colt. He rubs his head into your hand. “Wuv pettings. Chocowate’s teefies be hewe soon?” he asks.

“Sure will. You and Mochi have them coming in already, remember how I make your mouths not hurt? That hurt is your teeth growing in.”

Mochi and Chocolate look at you in wonder, then whisper to each other, loudly.

“Daddeh knows evewything.”

“Das what daddehs do.”

“But even mummah doesn’t know evewything.”

“Mummah’s not a hooman, they have hooman magic…”

“Dat twue! Wonder if daddeh know bout the time Mochi snuck out da safe woom!”

“……I’m sorry the time you did what?” you ask.

The white foal has a distinct appearance to her that can only be described as a child caught with the hand in the cookie jar.

“Uh…uhm……weww….Mochi was bowed……and hid in Mummah’s taiw fwuff……and weft da safe woom.” she says, eyes darting back and forth. She knew she was busted.

Hazel gasps, and bops Mochi with a hoof. “Naughty Mochi! No weave safe woom unwess daddeh say so! Is dangewous!” she scolds.

“Mochi, do you know why what you did was wrong?” you ask.

“Because Daddeh say not to?”

“Yes….but do you know WHY I say not to?”

“….No?”

“Because your daddy loves you, and doesn’t want you to get hurt. You and the other foals are still so little and the world is a big place. Ask your momma sometime, she’ll tell you.”

Hazel nods firmly, snorting. “Is big.”

“What you did was VERY dangerous. Neither your momma, nor I, knew you were there. What if she sat on you? What if I had to give her a bath? What if you fell off and couldn’t get back here? Did you even think about how worried that would make us? What if Chocolate or Neapolitan was sad and needed your dancing to make them happy again? Huh?”

Mochi is shocked, and then begins to tear up.

“MOCHI AM SOWWY!!!” she bawls. “DIDN’T MEAN TO BE BAD BABBEH!!!”

You pat her on the head. “Listen to me, Mochi. You’re not a bad baby, but you made a bad choice. Never do that again, okay? Look at me….” You say, firmly. She looks you in the eye. “Tell me, you will never disobey me again.”

“Mochi wiww nevew dis……diso……do what daddeh says not do again.” she struggles with the word, but understands it’s meaning.

“Good. Now….You still broke the rules, and you do need a punishment for that.” you say, looking at Hazel. Something passes, unspoken, between the two of you.

“Mochi, sit in Wittabocks and no pway with bwudda or sissy untiw mummah says you can weave.” Hazel fills in.

Mochi trudges to the litter box, and sits in it. “No smeww pwetty…” she whimpers. “Think about dat next time.” Hazel says, walking back to you.

You smirk. “Good work. 10 minutes should do it.” you tell her. “Didn’t want to have to use the sorry box on her.” you say.

Hazel nods. Neapolitan and Chocolate are utterly unaware of the goings on, playing huggie tag.

All things considered, it was going well. Mochi was out of the litterbox 10 minutes later, apologized to you all again, and then danced for her family.

Considering this was your first brush with discipline, it worked out better than it had any right to.

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