Part Twelve
Aqua proved to be more resistant to rehabilitation than Sam had hoped. True, after she spent the first half of the day in the sorry box, she’d be very sorry and would behave herself, but overnight each night she’d convince herself she was the bestest babbeh all over again. Eventually, Sam had moved on to keeping all of Aqua’s legs paralyzed, as it seemed to make her a little less bratty if she was convinced all her legs were angry and might run away at any moment. Still, any progress she made was quickly lost, and it seemed she’d never get anywhere.
Worse, Aqua’s punishment seemed to be worse to the other fluffies than to her. Constantly having to move her to and from the litterbox or the food and water was a nuisance for the other fluffies, as were her constant outburst. After what seemed like the ten thousandth cry of "Gib bestest babbeh [toy, or bed, or sketties on skettis day]," even Knight’s patience was wearing thin. Sam had already had to put Hope in the sorry box several times for kicking Aqua after these outbursts.
Sam knew that there wasn’t anything else she should be expecting. Bestest babbehs were notoriously hard to correct, and the short memories and slow learning ability of fluffies certainly didn’t help. At this rate Aqua might end up with serious issues from having her legs paralyzed for so long. Maybe she just wasn’t going to be able to be saved.
Sam was eating dinner one night when she had an epiphany. Maybe the reason why Aqua’s behavior wasn’t improving was because she wasn’t addressing the underlying issue. Aqua probably saw being the bestest babbeh as a simple reality, and was only willing to pretend otherwise to avoid punishment. Perhaps it was time to do a little digging into the bratty foal’s psyche.
One afternoon after taking Aqua out of the sorry box, when she was in her most cooperative state, Sam decided it was time to figure out the underlying problem. Maybe it would be something that could be fixed. It couldn’t hurt to try, anyway.
“Aqua, why do you think that you’re the bestest babbeh? I won’t punish you for answering, I just want to know.”
“Aqua am pwettiest babbeh! Nu am dummeh babbeh wike Victow, nu am poopie babbeh wike Smokey, an’ nu am munstah babbeh wike Sunbeam!”
So, it seemed she was quite willing to talk about being the bestest babbeh even after punishment if she thought she could get away with it. So much for progress being made. Still, Sam had to speed this up or Aqua would risk losing the use of her legs from atrophy. Fluffies lost muscle mass unbelievably quickly if they were inactive for too long.
“Why do you think you’re the prettiest babbeh?”
“Mummah awway towd babbehs dat dey am pwetty. Mummah am dummeh an’ say dat ugwy dummeh babbeh and poopie babbeh am pwetty tuu, bu’ Aqua nu Aqua am onwy pwetty babbeh!”
“What about Sunbeam? Do you think she’s ugly?”
“Sunbeam am munstah babbeh! Nu am ugwy, bu’ am munstah! Nu am gud babbeh!”
So, Aqua didn’t compare herself with Sunbeam. Whatever the excuse, that meant Aqua had insecurities about being the prettiest. Sam could use this.
Sam carried the foal to the saferoom, cautioning her not to talk that way while around the other fluffies. Hope might reacting to violently as when she saw Aqua’s behavior as a threat to her babbehs, but she still had very little tolerance for ill-behaved foals. Sam didn’t like having to intervene when the fluffy mummah got too heated.
After watching for a moment to make sure Aqua didn’t pick a fight with the other fluffies, Sam walked to the living room and picked up her phone. She had an idea, but she’d need a bit of help.
“Hey Mik. I need your help with something…do you have any really scarred pillowfluffs that are particularly cooperative?”
…
Aqua was not happy. She’d been dragged into the sorry box and put in the car for what seemed like forever, and now she was in a noisy place that smelled like lots of fluffies and all the byproducts that entailed. Worse, while she only got the carrier with no padding and no blanket, Hope got a nice, warm, padded carrier. Aqua didn’t know why her dummeh human mummah always sided with her dummeh fluffy mummah.
When she was finally taken out of the carrier, she and Hope were in a large room, with lots of nesties, all of them occupied by fluffies with ugly colors, some with big bald patches. Aqua lay on the floor, not having any choice in the matter, although she would have preferred to have one of the nesties. She wondered why none of the other fluffies got up to help her, but then she noticed none of them had any leggies.
“Hello everyone,” her dummeh human mummah said. “This is Aqua. She’s been such a bad fluffy that her leggies are going to run away, so I thought you might be able to tell her how to be a happy fluffy with no leggies.”
Aqua wasn’t fooled. She knew that her leggies weren’t going to run away. She was the bestest babbeh, and nothing bestest babbehs did was ever bad! She internally laughed, but pretended to be frightened so her dummeh human mummah wouldn’t put her back in the sorry box.
The no-leggie fluffies suddenly seemed to notice Aqua. Before, they’d been mostly fixated on the TV, which was showing some cartoon. But now all of their attention was on her.
“Wut da fwuff am dat?” an ugly green fluffy with only one eye and lots of bald spots asked.
“Dat am da ugwiest babbeh Chocowate eber seen. Chocowate seen poopies wess ugwy dan dat babbeh.”
“Wime nu nyo dat babbehs can ebah be dat ugwy. Wime hab sickies fwom see dat babbeh!”
Aqua was stunned. That couldn’t be right! All these ugly fluffies said she was ugly! It didn’t make sense. Her mummah always said she was pretty! But mummah am dummeh… The insidious thought crept into her mind. No, she was the prettiest babbeh! She had to be!
“Mummah! Meanie fwuffies caww Aqua ugwy! Wy am fwuffies su mean?” she asked.
“Huu huu huu!” her mummah started crying. “Hope am sowwy fow Aqua be suuuu ugwy! Nu wan Aqua hab heawt huwties, su teww aww babbehs dat dey am pwetty!”
No. NO NO NO! She couldn’t be an ugly babbeh! If she was an ugly babbeh then she couldn’t be the bestest babbeh! She knew her colors were pretty, she looked every day in the little mirror that the fluffies used to make sure they were clean!
“Oh, hey Sammy.” The doctor walked into the room. “What can I…HOLY SHIT, THAT’S THE UGLIEST FUCKING SHITRAT I’VE EVER SEEN!”
“Mik! Don’t be mean! It’s not her fault!”
But the commotion had attracted other humans, who began to gawk at Aqua and make comments about how bad she looked. About how she had the worst colors they’d ever seen on the fluffy. About how only a dummeh mare would even keep such an ugly babbeh.
But then, the worst thing she’d ever heard. “At least Sunbeam is pretty, Hope.”
In an instant, her worst fears and insecurities became manifest, and Aqua burst into tears. She was a dumb ugly babbeh! All these people hated her because she was ugly! Her own mummah had lied to her, told her she was pretty, and now she was being humiliated! She hated them all, but she hated herself more for being so ugly.
If Aqua am ugwy babeh, den nu can be bestest babbeh! Mebbe Aqua am dummeh babbeh fow tink she bestest babbeh. Aqua am dummeh ugwy babbeh. And soon her thoughts became a dreary chant, repeating over and over in her head. Aqua am dummeh babbeh. Aqua am ugwy babbeh.
She looked up at her human mummah with pleading eyes. “Pwease, mummah. Wuv Aqua eben dou she ugwy? PWEASE?”
…
“Thanks, Mik. That went a lot better than I expected.”
“I’ll be honest, I didn’t expect it to work.”
“I don’t think it would have if she’d been raised as bestest babbeh. I think she only partially believed it herself. The way she talked made me think she views Sunbeam as prettier. I figured it couldn’t hurt to try to use that insecurity.”
“So you had her be called hideous by the ugliest fluffies you could find, then drove the point home by having Hope apologize for Aqua being born ugly. That’s…well, it’s damn clever, but you have a real mean streak. Still, I don’t think it would work in most cases. Most best babbehs have it too drilled into their heads to have space for doubt. I’m glad it worked, though. I just hope she isn’t too messed up by the ordeal.”
“A lot better than The Tank, and much better than pillowing. I do have a question, though. How did you manage to get fluffies to lie while using their names?”
“I didn’t. I just gave them an exact quote and told them to say it. Fluffies are programmed to be able to do that so they can be used for TV and movies.”
“I guess I never thought of that.”
…
Aqua lay in the fluffpile. Even with Hope hugging her on the trip back, she’d cried all the way home. She was exhausted, but was too scared to sleep. She understood now that she’d just been lucky, that her leggies were bound to run away soon. After all, she’d hurt her brother, stolen sketties, and even called herself bestest babbeh, and now she knew that her justification was a lie. And as all fluffies knew, lying was a thing only bad fluffies did.
So Aqua lay there, unable to move, and stared into the darkness, struggling desperately to stay awake. Maybe if she was very, very sorry her leggies would understand. Aqua wiww be gud, Aqua wiww nebah huwt fwuffies ow steaw ow wie 'gain. Pwease weggies, nu wun 'way! But what leggies would stay on such a bad, ugly babbeh?
As Aqua finally drifted off to sleep, her wish changed. Now she wished that her family would forgive her enough to look after her after her leggies were gone. Maybe if she was very, very sorry, Smokey might be her friend again, one day.
Part Fourteen
24 Likes
Great chapter that can be boiled down to one simple thing…process. I hope it sticks.
3 Likes
A very novel idea for correcting bestes’ babbeh behaviour. It’s usually physical abuse, so this is a nice change!
2 Likes
This is an intense way of fixing a bestesh foal, but effective seems she finally humbled herself again which I hopenits permanent without triggering it again.
Nice chapter 
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Hmm, seems my doubt from the last one was wrong. Unless im wrong again in the next chapter. ~Chuckle~