This was the reason you knew you had to decommission synth Shaun. You knew deep down, you couldn’t be trusted with this kind of power over someone you loved in a familial sense and you just proved yourself right. True you probably wouldn’t do It for minor things but just knowing that you could say ‘no’ to a life choice you didn’t agree with and snip out memories/factory reset them to a previous point made you feel like a monster.
You didn’t even try to properly discipline daisy, perhaps deep down you only regarded these creatures as yet another collectible that required some level of interaction that didn’t make you feel (as) insane ; like the Garden gnomes. There were at least one hundred such good condition gnomes scattered about sanctuary hill around the exterior of buildings which you cleaned and touched up yearly. Only the most pristine and nostalgia inducing versions were kept in display cases so you didn’t have to risk constant weathering and maintenance but there were still more then two inside every building.
You forget if you wrote and hid a program in one of your robots to randomly relocate them around the settlement at least once a week but at this point you honestly were too lazy to look. You were probably drunk or on a chem bender thinking it would keep you on your toes or something. It mostly just made you (even more) paranoid. . . What was I thinking about again?
Oh right, you were a bad person and should feel bad or something…
“. . .Im sorry Durum. Lets try harder to be good fluffies so none of us have to feel this way again. Okay?” Oh man that came out wrong. You sounded like you were shifting the blame to them.
“O’tay~” came a less enthusiastic drone from those assembled.
“Daddeh. Peaches make decision on weggies. Peaches wan wheewie weggies tiww babbehs owd enough for huggies pwease. Den wan daddeh’s weggies if dat o’tay.” The way she said this made you think that seeing what had happened to peaches had made up her mind about going to the institute.
“Sure thing. I’ve got your measurements so I’ll have it ready for the morning.”
“Dank’ou daddeh.” Peaches adds with a forced smile.
“Daddeh, can Phanes hab own toy wike Duwum? No wike shawe dat toy…” It took you a moment to remember the giddyup buttercup sex toy. You exhale laughed while chuckling in your head.
“Sure thing buddy. It’ll be there in the morning.” Peaches was a little confused since she had never seen the toy they were talking about but decided not to bring it up. The group returned to the tree where you head on collided into a massive oversight.
“Diwectow Daddeh. Why babbeh’s smeww wike daisy?” Shit… As the voices debated whether to tell the truth or lie and felt deadlocked after a few seconds you took the coin from your pocket and flipped it. ‘Truth.’
“Because they are your foals Daisy. That’s why you have milk.” You add dismissively hoping not to have to reveal too much or be seen as a liar by the others.
“So daddeh adopt babbehs too!?” She added excitedly thinking back to the reset and the explanations she had received and how it had been explained that her foals had been taken by the institute. She thought she might never see them again as was sometimes the fate while in the institute. “So happy dey o’tay.” She added with a snuffle as she picked them up each in kind and refamiliarized herself with their scent and gave them licks to clean them and bond as she imprinted onto the foals now as ‘mother’ rather then caretaker. “Good babbehs.” She adds snuffling as she eventually stopped crying having been reunited with her brood.
“Duwum think Daisy be good mummah this time.” The wording was a little confusing to Daisy but she was too happy to dwell on it.
“Thank’ou fow waising Daisies babbehs with Daddeh Diwectow. Wan be nyu fwiend?” Afterall if it takes a village, or in this case ‘herd’ to raise a baby then there’s no reason not to be friends with the community that’d be helping you as a single mother.
‘Ooh man, friend zoned…’ She probably just assumed he was the surrogate parent and that she’d been bred in the lab.
Durum looked hurt but tried not to show it. “Duwum wike dat.” The fluffies began to mingle and introduce themselves again to their amnesiac friend.
“To celebrate peaches arrival, I think it’s about time we name the foals. We’ll start with the older foals first.”
The parents were excited and a lineup from tallest to smallest was formed. First up the fake alicorn filly. You catch a slight glint in the coat that reminds you of the night sky starting to come in. “Star.”
“Staw? Am staw!” She giggled as she started to trot and then run around her parents excitedly as they congratulated her.
Next the Smokey earthy filly with the electronic collar. You didn’t want the name to reference the collar in case they wanted the surgical procedure in the future to fix their voice. You also didn’t want to go with something obvious like ‘smokey’ since they were a girl. Perhaps a cloud. “Nimbostratus.”
“Nim~ Nimbo~stwat-us?” The collar crackled as the foal struggled between dealing with the collars delay and the difficulty of the name. “Lets go with Nimbo for short.” You added with a smile. “Nim-bo wike. Name fun-neh.” They casually walk over to their parents to celebrate with them and their newly named sibling. This started to feel like a graduation ceremony.
Now the blue unicorn colt with the yellow coming in… The blue reminded you of some of the model toys the officers used to play their war games with. You weren’t overly familiar with the game but you did vaguely remember a name. “Cato Sicarius. Feel free to just use Cato if it’s easier though.”
“Fwuffy am Cato Sicawius? Cato Sicawius wike!” They too ran off to celebrate. You were surprised at how sharp the unicorn seemed to be to pronounce its full name without difficulty considering they’d only been talking for a day or so. You’d have to keep an eye on their studies.
Next the Red unicorn filly… You felt terrible that the first thing your mind went to was the tomato themed pin cushion your wife used to use for sewing. After of minute of pushing yourself on you considered the wounds to the legs and head that reminded you of Stigmata. No way were you going with rose if you were going with a red flower with thorns. You then remembered the crown of thorns plant ; Euphorbia “Milii”.
“Miwi wike. Dank’ou daddeh. Mummah mummah, am Miwi!” The red de-unicorned filly rushed off to join in the congratulations as the foals shared names with one another and got a little rambunctious as they rushed around excitedly.
“Now for the younger baby’s.”
You kneel and pick up the orange foal gently and give it a few calming strokes as you examined them for anything new. Nothing new to inspire you save for some extra fat… You remember you had refused to name the orange earthy pumpkin due to the orange and green scheme. Carrot and squash were out as well, too well known… “Mango.” You add setting them back down.
You pick up the white alicorn and examine it. They were coming in nicely, hopefully they’d fill out more with their mother corrected. Considering the white horse vibes you knew you wanted to name this one something knight themed. You were leaning towards Gawain as that would be your ideal for a chivalrous fluffy. But Peredur was also very fitting considering he’d be raising a knight from youth but that could be tempting fate a bit. You flipped your coin. “I dub thee, Gawain.” You lean in and whisper. “I have high expectations of you.” You gib them a gentle kiss and the foal giggles as you pass them to Durum. “Teach him well.”
You pick up the green filly next and examine. Hmm, not much to go on… Oh hints of a mane. Purple? Green and purple!? Shame almost no flags used purple before the war. “Amaranth.” You added picturing the wing feathers as leaves.
And finally, the Dull red runt Filly. Nothing really came to mind at first but seeing the start of a black mane and dark hooves you pictured a red head in a trench coat. If she was still alive today you wondered where in the world she was… “Carmine.”
(Noticed the time and had to get to upcoming appointment so calling it short.)
