James dragged himself out of bed, once again, just as the sun is rising over the horizon, dappling the farm with beams of sunlight. Today however, he felt different, normally his mornings were filled with a sense of malaise due to not having anything to look forward to, but now he did, Fern and her foals. Though, if James was being honest with himself, he still had more attachment to the foals than he did to Fern. Maybe it’s just because they couldn’t talk yet.
Another morning of feeding chickens and filling up feeders for them inside the coop and James was already free for the day, so he decided it was about time to head to the backyard to go check on the fluffies. Fern and the babies were still sleeping soundly in a cute pile in the middle of a mess of blankets that had been stuffed into the doghouse, everyone seemed comfortable, and even the black foal was sleeping with everyone else. Maybe Fern was listening to him after all? He softly scratched the mare’s chin to wake her up, and she slowly looked up at him, eyes still groggy with sleep.
“wha-? why mista wakies Fewn?? Fewn still sweepies…”
“Fern, I’ve got to go get some more food for you guys, so I’m gonna leave you this bowl filled with alfalfa for you to eat. I should only be gone an hour or so, so just stay near your doghouse.”
Fern stood, and walked out of the doghouse to James, leaving the babies curled up in the blanket. “Wha am aff… owfaffa?” she said, looking at the green pile in her bowl.
“It’s a kind of grass, it’s good for you, better than normal grass.”
Fern looked at it suspiciously, sniffing at it, before apprehensively taking a small bite and chewing it, quickly growing happy, her morning sleepiness all but forgotten. “dis am bestest gwassie nummie ebew!”
James bent down and softly pat her on the head as she ate. “Glad you like it, don’t forget to feed your babies. All of them.” James made sure to put emphasis on that last part, and he didn’t miss the fact that Fern stopped chewing for a moment as he said it. “If you’re good while I’m gone, I’ll give you a treat when I get back. But only if you’re good.”
This caught Fern’s attention more than anything else he had said so far. “Fewn wub tweat!! Wiww be gud fwuffy fo’ nice mista!! gib miwkies to awww babbehs!” Even if Fern was just doing it for the prospect of getting a treat, it didn’t matter to James, as long as she did as she was told.
With that, James turned around and walked towards his car to head to town. A part of him was still worried about leaving Fern alone, but he held out hope that his promise of a treat would hold her over until he could return.
About forty minutes later and after shopping for miscellaneous groceries he needed for the farm (and his pantry), James found himself outside his local “FluffyMart”. He took note of the logo on the sign, a happy fluffy smiling with a speech bubble that said “It’s got wha’ fwuffies wub!”
The inside of the store was rather generic, it was like a dollar store and a pet store had a disfigured technicolor child, which, ultimately, is fitting for a store for fluffies. There were walls lines with different brands of kibble all for different purposes. “Foal-Be-Gone” brand kibble, designed to induce miscarriages in dams or render a stallion infertile, “Litterpal Express!” which was formulated to look like normal kibble and hold the same nutritional value, while tasting like shit. There were dozens of single purpose foods just like that.
James decided to just grab a bag of generic fluffy kibble, similar to the kind Hasbio intended to release at launch, though you wouldn’t find Hasbio brand things in any store anymore, not after the company was effectively destroyed due to the massive ecological disaster that fluffies released into the wild caused. While he was there he decided to fill his cart with other things he might need. He haphazardly tossed balls, blocks, “huggy toys”, and upon seeing just how vast the selection of different objects are, basically just began throwing anything eye-catching into his cart. As he was getting ready to head to the checkout he noticed a corner of the store he hadn’t visited yet.
The sign near the aisle was in thick black lettering, and said “FLUFFY TEMPERMENT ADJUSTMENT TOOLS”. Seems like a fancy way to say that they’re things meant to torture fluffies when they act in an undesirable way. He scoffed and started to walk away, before pausing and thinking back to Fern at home. Sure, she had been relatively okay so far, aside from the “poopie baby” nonsense, but would she stay that way? He knew fluffies, had a problem with becoming arrogant, and neglecting rules they had previously been fine with obeying, maybe it would be safer to just grab some things, just in case… He started going through the items on the shelf, some of them seemed a little too extreme for his purposes, barbed sorry sticks intended to remove fluff and skin with each strike, “blackout” sorry boxes, with no holes to see from. Interesting, but definitely not what he needed, he tossed in a generic sorry stick, sorry box, (which was effectively a dark plastic box with a window to peek from, and a slideable piece of plastic to block the window.) as well as something called “Upsies Helpew!”, sort of elevated, adjustable-height stool with a hole in the center, designed to hold an adult fluffy in a position where it’s either standing on it’s back legs constantly, or sitting on it’s haunches.
Content with his selection of items, James made his way to the checkout, where a young black woman with dark red hair was running the register. As she was scanning his items she stopped when the sorry stick and box came up, and looked over at James. “So… are you an abuser?”
James was a bit taken aback by this, he never considered that he would come off like that, and began to formulate a response but found himself stumbling over his words, (James doesn’t interact with people too often) but the woman could see his shock and quickly interjected. “Hahaha, don’t worry if you aren’t, it was just a bit of small talk. It’s not illegal to kill the things, besides, without people like that, this store probably wouldn’t be here right now.”
James smiled, reassured. “No, I’m not an abuser, I recently came into possession of a small feral family that turned up in my doghouse, and I’m just getting some things that might come in handy.” The woman smiled at this and replied “Oh I see, well you be careful. Taking in ferals can be a bit of a handful, they don’t learn things from humans, most of them were born on the streets unlike ones you’ll get from a store, which can lead to them having some strange ideas, due to being raised by other fluffies.”
James paused for a moment, gears turning in his head. "Hey, that reminds me, the mare I picked up was trying to abandon her foal because it was a “poopie baby”, but the baby was black, I thought fluffies only considered brown or occasionally the puke greens ones as “poopie babies”?
The woman’s smile disappeared and she briefly even halted the scanning for a moment as she locked eyes with James, before quickly resuming what she was doing and replying, "Well. You’re right about that. Generally only those colors are considered shit babies, but keep in mind that fluffies are stupid, and easily convinced of something. Mix that with the fact that ferals are generally left to spread their own ideas about life… The most likely thing is that the mare, her parents, or someone in a former herd of hers, was told by someone that black isn’t a desirable color. James thought about that for a moment, someone could probably visibly see the gears turning inside of his head, until he finally came to his conclusion.
“Wait, so she basically just got taught to associate the color black with ugly?”
“Yeah, at least that’s the only idea I can come up with right now. I mean, generally in raised in captivity fluffs, and even in most feral herds, black is considered a rather desirable color. Depending on the mane color, a fair amount of black fluffies can be pretty valuable too.”
James thought about that last part for a moment, he hadn’t really considered fluffies to be something worth money, not that he needed it. Although the idea of having something to do with all the empty space in the barn was an interesting idea to say the least. He continued thinking about this as he finished paying and began driving home.
About two hours in total after he left, and James pulls into his driveway. After putting everything away in the house he walked into the backyard to check on Fern and the foals and immediately is greeted by; chirp chirp chirp!!
James just sighed as he walked toward the doghouse only to hear Fern whispering (badly) inside of it. “dummeh babbeh nu make chiwpies! make otha’ babbehs saddies!”
“Fern. Why is your baby crying?” James said looking into the doghouse
Fern jumped a bit at his voice, not having heard him walking towards her nest. “o- oh hewwo nice mista. mummah nu kno’ why bwack babbeh chiwpie”
“You did feed him, didn’t you?”
“yus.”
“Well then you wouldn’t mind if I watch you feed him again would you?”
Fern’s eyes grew wide and darted quickly between the foal and James. “Buh- babbeh jus’ had miwkies… wiww gib tummie huwties.”
“Well if he’s not hungry he won’t drink will he?” James reached into the doghouse as he said this and plucked up the chirping foal and placed it onto Fern’s teet, much to her very obvious displeasure. The baby however began gorging itself almost immediately upon smelling the milk nearby. Once it seemed content and had let go, James picked it up and placed it in a pile with it’s siblings, once again, getting an unhappy look from Fern. He didn’t want her to get too upset with him and risk her doing something to the baby, so he decided to distract her the easiest way he could think of.
“Well Fern, I did have to help you feed one of your babies… but I suppose since everyone I’ve been gone so long you do deserve a treat of some kind.”
The fluffy’s ears immediately perked up upon hearing mention of the treat she was promised. “Tweat? Yay!! Fewn wuv tweat!! Wha’ tweat am Fewn get?”
“Don’t worry Fern, it’s gonna be very yummy. But you have to come in my house with me to get it, we’ll leave your babies here so they can sleep. You can come back and see them when you’re done.”
There was a brief flash of caution on Fern’s face, but it was quickly overcome by her gluttony. “Otay! Babbehs wiww sweepies in nestie an’ Fewn get tweat fo’ bein’ gud mummah!”
And with that Fern quickly followed James into his house, and into the kitchen. Where James laid down a small blue tarp in the middle of the linoleum floor, and tossed three sugar cubes onto it. “There you go Fern, now sit here and eat your treats.”
Fern looked down at the little cubes and sniffed them, unsure what they were. “wha’ am tiny bwockies? nu wook wike nummies…”
“Trust me Fern, they’re fine. They’re sweet.”
Fern looked up at James, and back down at the cube, before cautiously picking one up and chewing it slowly, before looking back to James with excitement. “Dis am gud nummie!! Wub sweetie nummies!!” Quickly going back to the other cubes and chewing them up.
“Good girl” James bent down and rubbed her head softly, “Now, if you can help me and do something, I’ll give you another two treats. Can you do that?”
It was obvious how much brainpower it was taking for her to come to a decision, James assumed it was because she was trying to figure out how much “two” was. Eventually though she looked at him and nodded. “Yus! wiww hewp nice mista fo’ mowe tweaties!”
James simply smiled and walked into another room while motioning for the fluffy to wait. He came back in shortly with two things in his hands. He set them both on the tarp directly in front of Fern. It was the “Upsies Helper” from the store, along with a suction device to collect and store milk from a fluffy. He had gotten in just in case Fern got hurt and couldn’t feed the foals herself, or if she refused to feed the black foal. But this seemed like an appropriate use for it as well.
James put his hands out to Fern, causing her to sit on her haunches with her arms up, wanting to be picked up, a natural response in fluffies. He scooped her up in one arm and scratched her with his spare hand, earning him soft coos from the fluffy. Once she seemed relaxed he slowly lowered her into the Upsies Helper.
“Huh? Wha- Fewn am stuckies!! Hewp!” She began squirming in it, but it held her firm just below her shoulders. James pat her on her head softly while hushing her quietly. “Fern calm, you’re only gonna be in there for a moment.” his other hand was reaching over to pull the milk device underneath Fern where she can’t see it.
“Huhuhu… Why nice mista make Fewn stuckies? Am gud fwuffy!! nu wike meanie stuckies!!” James ignored this outburst and attached the suction device to both of Fern’s crotchtits and flipped the “on” button. “Wha’ am touch Fewn? Nu wike- EEEEE!! MIWKY PWACE HUWTIES!! OWCHIES!! HUHU NU HUWT!! NEE’ GIB BABBEHS MIWKIES”
Oops. Looks like the device was turned to maximum by default, abusers must use this thing too. Someone probably turned the dial to max while it was on the shelves so this exact thing would happen. Oh well, James turned it down to the normal setting.
“huhuhu… wowstest miwkie pwace huwties… whewe miwkies goin…??” Fern finally noticed that something seemed to be taking her milk, and this set her off once again. “HUHU NU! MUMMAH NEE’ MIWKIES FO’ BABBEHS! NU TAKE MIWKIES!! MIWKIE FEEF!! MISTA HEWP FEWN PWEASE!!” Fern shook around as best as she could in her confines, and looked up at James expectantly, only to be met with a face of mild amusement.
“Calm down Fern. It’s not a thief. I’m taking your milk so I can feed the babies tonight and tomorrow morning. You’re gonna go in the sorry box for tonight. I know you didn’t feed your black baby while I was gone.”
Fern’s expression quickly changed to shock, and then a mixture of sadness and anger. “Huhuhu!! Nu wan’ gib miwkies tu dummeh stupi’ poopie babbeh!! Nu wuv!! Nu wan’!!! HUHUHU!!”
James used two fingers and flicked her directly in the nose, to a human it’d be mildly annoying, but to a fluffy that was awfully close to getting hoofed in the face. “Bad fluffy. You’re being very bad Fern. If you want to keep sleeping in my backyard and getting fed my food everyday instead of looking for your own, you better start behaving more.” Fern silently huhu’ed more, tears staining her light green fluff as the milk device beeped, signifying that it was filled. James pulled it off of Fern and placed the milk into bottles, and then into the fridge as he plugged in the bottle warmer he bought next to his coffeemaker.
He then left the room, leaving the fluffy alone for a brief moment to sob to herself, before returning, sorry box under one arm. James softly lifted Fern out of the Upsies Helper, giving the fluffy momentary hope. “huhu… mista make Fewn nu stuckies… wuv Fewn? giv huggies?”
“No.” And with that James placed her into the sorry box, dumped two handfuls in front of her, and shut the top of it. It was a completely black box, even the airholes in the back had black fabric covering them to allow as little light as possible in.
“HUHUHU SU DAWKIES. PWEASE WET FEWN OU’ FEWN NEE’ SEE BABBEHS AND GIB MIWKIES, PWEASE NICE MISTA” James said nothing and began to carry the box to his garage on the other side of the house, where he left it on his workshop table, and left the room, closing the door behind him.
He returned to the kitchen, ignoring the very faint cries coming from the other room as he filled a large metal mixing bowl with soft towels and a stuffy friend. James then took a bottle of milk from the fridge, warmed it, and squirted droplets from the bottle onto the stuffy to give it a scent similar to Fern, before heading outside.
James headed to the doghouse and promptly plucked all the sleeping babies from their pile, getting many scaredie peeps and chirps in the process until they were all in the bowl and near the stuffy. He then carried them inside the house, and into his room, proceeding to take time feeding all of them until they were full. He then placed the the bowl with the foals near a lamp on his dresser to allow some light nearby them, despite the foals still having their eyes closed. He spent the remainder of the day just observing the foals in between scrolling through his phone, and once returning to the garage to dump more kibble on top of Fern and ignoring whatever pleas she made. He made sure to pet and scratch them plenty to try and familiarize them with his scent, at first getting nothing but scared peeps when he touched them, to getting light coos and happy chirps later into the day. Night came quickly and James fell right into bed, exhausted from a day more eventful than he’s used to.
He awoke in the morning, early as usual, and upon hearing the chirps and peeps coming from the bowl, decided the foals must be hungry. He returned from the kitchen with another two bottles of milk and took to feeding the foals. He was nearly finished with the last foal, the red earthie, when it finished drinking, sputtered a bit of milk, and with what seemed to be great exertion on his part, slowly opened his eyes and looked directly up at James.
“M- Mummah?”
Hope this chapter was alright! Thanks for the warm welcome on my first post!