James Fuller stepped out of his home and into the dim light being given by a slowly rising sun. Despite not having many animals to take care of anymore, he just couldn’t shake the habit of waking up just after dawn. He took a deep stretch and overlooked his property, it was 35 acres of farmland, with roughly 15 of those acres dedicated entirely to pasture space, and another 15 being a heavily wooded area just beyond his fenceline, leaving him enough space for a rather large front yard containing a large, sheet metal barn, and a modest chicken coop, hosting only about thirteen chickens at this point, and two roosters. The land had been inheritance from his parents, who both died in a car accident when he was 19, three years ago. Over those years he slowly sold off the remaining livestock on the farm, seeing no point to keeping it all around. In his depressive state shortly after their deaths he got into cryptocurrency and stock trading, and through nothing but pure luck, he managed to make enough money to effectively “retire” at his young age.
After feeding the chickens and letting them out to roam the yard, James walked back inside and collapsed into bed. There wasn’t much going on in the man’s life, he had pushed most of his friends away in his desire for calm, he didn’t have any pets, just the chickens to keep him company, and he quietly regretted this.
Several hours went by, with James idly scrolling away on his phone before he thought he heard something outside that sounded… different than the the sounds he’d grown used to in his years living here, something he normally only heard on the sparse times he left his house to go shopping in town. The distinctive sounds of a fluffy singing to itself, it was a faint sound, but painfully obvious when contrasted with the general quiet of the countryside. Having nothing better to do (and not wanting a feral herd to ruin his yard) he left his room and stepped out onto the back porch to try and figure out where it was coming from.
As he stood outside he couldn’t hear much anymore, but right before he stepped back inside, deciding he had simply been hearing things, and perhaps needed some sort of socialization, he heard something else.
chirrrp! peep peep peep “gud babbehs no chiwpies pwease!!”
Great, there were fluffies, and better yet, she had babies. James quietly slipped off the porch following the source of the noise, finding it to be coming from inside an old doghouse that was around the back of the house, in the front yard. It had belonged to his childhood dog, and he had been neglecting getting rid of it, just in case he ever decided to get another dog. He considered just covering the door to the doghouse and funneling water into it, but he didn’t particularly want to dispose of shit covered fluffy corpses this morning.
“Hey, fluffy, I already know you’re in there, come out.”
“gu way munsta!! nu num mummah and babbehs!!”
James rubbed his temples, this thing was already annoying him, but he’d rather be annoyed than have to clean shit.
“I’m not gonna “num your babbehs”, I already had breakfast. Besides I’m not a monster.”
“weawwy? no num mummah and babbehs?”
“I promise, I won’t.”
The fluffy cautiously pokes her head out of the doghouse, and looks up at James, she was a unicorn mare, with green fluff, and what he assumed to be a white mane and tail, though it looked more like grey and brown considering how dirty the fluffy was.
“nice mista be nyu daddeh?”
"no. but I don’t want you in my doghouse either, so if you come to the backyard I’ll give you some food and water.
“weawwy!! nice mista gib nummies and dwinkies to mummah and babbehs?? tank yu nice mista!!”
“Yeah yeah, whatever. Get all your babies and lets go.”
The mare disappeared back into the doghouse for a moment and came back out with three foals on her back, a green unicorn like her, a red earthie, and a blue pegasus. They were all very young, must’ve just been born either yesterday or the day before, everyone’s eyes were still shut tightly.
“Is that everyone?”
The fluffy’s eyes darted left and right before shaking it’s head up and down.
“yus mista! aww babbehs aw wif mummah!”
James motioned for the fluffy to follow him and began walking around the house to the backyard, however within several steps he heard something still coming from the doghouse
chirp chirp chirp! chiirrrrrp!!
He looked over at the doghouse, and then down to the fluffy, who was noticeably nervous.
“Did you forget one?”
“N- Nu… fwuffy hab aww babbehs…”
Well it was obviously lying, as they’re prone to do, especially when they know they’re doing something people wouldn’t like. James walked over to the doghouse himself and looked inside while the mare tucked her tail between her legs. The smell inside the doghouse was bad, but not “vomit-all-over-yourself” bad. It seemed the fluffy was smart enough to not shit where she slept, but there was one pile, accompanied by a bit of blood, he assumed that’s where she gave birth. And over by the pile is where the peeping was coming. He reached towards the sound and plucked up a tiny, black, earthie foal, roughly the size of the others, but clearly upset and hungry.
“Why did you leave this one in there?”
“huhu, is poopie babbeh! mummah no wan’…”
“Well too bad, either feed him or you’re not getting any “nummies””
“m- mummah nu hab miwkies… nu nummies fo’ miwkies…”
“Fine, but you’re feeding him first as soon as you get done eating.”
With that, James placed the foal onto the mare’s back, and continued leading her into the backyard. She followed close behind, quietly “huhu-ing” about nonsense saying things like “nu wan’ poopie dummeh babbeh…”, “poopie babbeh steaw miwkies fwum gud babbehs…”
James was already fed up with this mare, but the babies hadn’t done anything wrong, and without her they would probably die, and James didn’t want that to happen. So once they got to the yard he shut the gate and addressed the mare.
“I’m going to get you some food and water. You are only allowed to shit in the corner of the yard.” James pointed over towards his compost pile which sat in the corner. He didn’t really garden but he had always planned on getting into it at some point.
James came back out shortly with some canned ravioli he threw into a bowl and microwaved. The mare upon smelling it was elated, singing to herself and bouncing as much as she could with the babies on her back.
“SKETTIES!! NICE MISTA BWING MUMMAH SKETTIES??”
“No, it’s not spaghetti, it’s ravioli. Now eat.” He said, placing the bowl in front of the mare who noticed that it indeed was not spaghetti, but chowed down anyway because she really couldn’t tell a difference.
“Tank yu nice mista!! rab… rabiowi is bestest nummies!! make bestest miwkies fo’ babbehs!!”
“Yeah, glad you enjoy it.”
While the fluffy ate James decided to go grab the doghouse and carry it into the yard so they would have somewhere to sleep, as he got back into the yard he could see the mare lapping up the remaining juices in the bowl, he placed the doghouse near the compost pile and decided he would just buy a better doghouse if he ever got a dog, it’s not like he wasn’t able to buy one. As he walked back over to check on the mare he noticed she had placed the blue and the green babies on her teets to feed.
“Hey, I told you to feed the black one first.” James said as he bent down and plucked the two babies off of her and on the ground causing a myriad of sad peeps and chirps
“wha- huh? what doin!! bestest babbehs need bestest miwkies!!”
“They’ll get there’s, you need to feed him, now.” James placed the black one onto her to feed, and he began greedily sucking away, desperate for a meal.
“nu!! nu wan’ gib miwkies to poopie babbeh!!”
“Too bad, either he gets fed, or I won’t give you anymore nummies.”
“nu faiw!! nu faiw!! huhuu…”
As the mare threw her little temper tantrum the black baby let go of her and burped, his little tummy filled.
“There, see? You have plenty left for everyone else” James picked up the other three and placed them nearby for her to feed at her leisure. The mare huffed but quickly hurried to allowing her other babies to feed.
The rest of the day went by uneventfully, the mare mostly sat around singing to her babies and occasionally chomping on the grass growing in the backyard. While James went about spraying the outside and inside of the doghouse down and making it somewhat presentable. After it had mostly dried off he tossed an older blanket and a couple smaller pillows in it for them to nest in. Before he knew it the day was over. And the sun had begun to get low in the sky.
“sky baww gu ‘way! mummah nee’ go to nestie.”
James watched as she loaded all the babies onto her back, even the black one, which he had a feeling she only did because he was watching her, and scurried into the doghouse. He began to walk over to the doghouse to make sure they were comfortable
“Hey, fluffy” he called standing directly outside the doghouse, and the mare poked her head out. “wha’ nice mista nee’?”
“Well I just figured if you’re gonna be staying in my yard, I should give you a name besides just “fluffy”.”
The prospect of a name excited the mare immediately and she began smiling happily.
“fwuffy get new namesie?! tank yu mista!!”
“You will be… Fern, because you’re green.” James was amused at how bad he was at coming up with names, but a fluffy likely wouldn’t care either way, and of course, Fern was no different.
“Fwuffy name is Fewn?! Fewn wub namesie!! so pwetty!! nice mista gib babbehs namesies too??”
“Not yet, I’ll name them when they can talk and walk on their own.”
“Otay nice mista, babbehs wiw wait fow pwetty namesies”
He bent down and scratched her on the chin, causing her to coo softly.
“I’ll come out and check on you all tomorrow, do you think you’ll be okay in your house until then?”
The fluffy thought to herself for a moment, and then began shaking her head.
“Yus nice mista, Fewn and babbehs be otay in nestie.”
James smiled to himself, and walked back into his house as Fern walked into the doghouse and curled up with her foals. He would have to make a trip to town tomorrow and check the fluffmart to see if there’s anything he would need that he doesn’t have here, including some kibble, because there’s no way he’s gonna feed them ravioli for every meal, he had heard how easy it was to spoil a fluffy by giving them human foods.
As James laid in bed, he was content, more so than he was when he discovered how much money he had made, more than he had been ever since his parents died. He felt like he a had a real reason to wake up in the morning beyond just feeding chickens. He drifted to sleep, hoping this would last.
Hope it turns out well and you continue to enjoy!
Thanks for your support!