“M- Mummah?”
The red foal had his eyes fully open now and was staring at James. Wait- “mummah”? Was it because he had longer hair for a guy, or was it just a natural instinct of a foal when seeing something for the first time?
“No, I’m not you’re mommy, I’m uh… well I guess you could say I’m your daddy.”
“Daddeh? Wub!” the little foal grabbed ahold of James’ thumb with it’s forelegs and nuzzled it’s face against him. It was adorable. He plucked the guy up, causing an excited “upsies!” from the foal, before placing it back into the bowl with it’s siblings.
“Stay here with your brothers and sister. I’ve got to go get some things ready.”
peep?
James quickly ran out of the room before the foal could register that he was leaving and ran into a spare room next to his. Until yesterday it had been completely barren except the hardwood floor, but now it was (mostly) covered with soft carpets of varying sizes James had thrown sporadically throughout the room. On those carpets he had placed a majority of the things acquired at Fluffymart, an auto feeder, several soft beds, about eight fluffy-proofed blocks, a couple balls of various sizes, but all at least just big enough a fluffy can’t swallow them, and a rather large autofeeder, big enough two full sized fluffies could eat from the same bowl.
Everything was looked at closely to make sure nothing essential was missing, large tubes for foals and even smaller colts to crawl through, a litterbox tucked in the far corner of the room away from everything else, it had a ramp leading up to it and out of it for smaller foals. It seemed fine. He promptly returned to the room to find a cacophony of
peep!! peeeep chirrp!! “Daddeh!! Hewp!!” peep peep peep!!
The foal had crawled and stumbled his way to the side of the bowl and was lying on his stomach, pounding at the side with his front hooves. As James looked down into the bowl he noticed the other three had now opened their eyes as well, but were just crying and cheeping in the middle of the bowl where they were left.
“What’s wrong?” The foals immediately notice the sudden voice and look up at James. “Daddeh!! Daddeh back!!” The red foal looked up at him, and tried to stand, merely to succeed only in sitting on his rump, waving up at James, who in turn reached his hand into the foal and softly rubbed the colt’s chin, causing him too coo softly and mutter about “wuv”. After that James, pulled away from the foal and picked the bowl up, carrying it out of his room and into the thrown together saferoom he made. Placing the bowl down and slowly pulling the babies out of the bowl one by one, earning different reactions from the babies, with the red one he had already talked to being excited at the prospect for more “upsies!” and seeming a little upset when he was quickly set down. The blue pegasus was also excited at being picked up, with his little wings buzzing as quick as he could manage, “hehe, wuv upsies!” the green filly, that looked remarkably like a small Fern, seemed less happy. “huhu, nu wike…” James set her down next to her siblings and she quickly squirmed her way over to her brothers and quickly calmed down. The black foal however hardly reacted to being lifted, and just looked up at James, staring at him. He set the foal down and it looked at him for another moment, tilting it’s head slightly before turning towards it’s siblings and bumbling it’s way over to them.
“I’m not gonna be able to stay with you all day, so I’m gonna go get someone to take care of you, okay?”
The red foal looked up at James, “huhu, daddeh weav babbehs?”
“No, I’m just going to get your mother.”
All the foals’ ears perked up at this, “Mummah?” “Babbehs’ mummah?” “huhu babbeh wan’ mummah…”
The green foal was already crying about wanting her mother and she hadn’t even met her yet, nor even thought about her existing until she was mentioned. Fluffies are fuckin weird. With that, James left the sniveling foals in their pile in the middle of the room and walked out, shutting the door behind him, and headed towards the garage where Fern was still in the sorry box.
Small whimpers and the occasional quiet “huhuhu” were the only sounds in the garage as James opened the door and clicked the light on. James walked over to the sorry box and opened the top of it, letting light flow onto Fern for the first time in over twelve hours
“huhuhu!! su bwighties!! see-pwace huwties!”
“Fern, are you ready to come out of the sorry box and be a good fluffy?”
Fern, finally noticing James above her, looked up from her cramped position, lying on the floor of the box, with shit caked on her entire rear end, and immediately jumped to standing. “HUHUHU!! PWEASE WET FEWN OUT, FEWN BE GUD FWUFFY! AM SOWWIES FOW NU GIV BABBEH MIWKIES! HUHUHU”
James, without saying a word, pulled on some long rubber gloves, and lifted Fern from the box and carried her to a double walled sink on the other side of the garage as she sobbed. He quickly placed her on one side of the sink and began filling the other side with an amount of water that would be roughly chest high on an adult fluffy. And then he grabbed the sprayer attachment for the sink head and began spraying the back end of the mare.
“EEEEEEEE!! NUU, WAWA BAD FOW FWUFFIES!! NU WAN’ HUHU NU WAN WAWA!!”
He turned the water down for a moment before addressing the fluffy, “Fern, you’re covered in shit. You smell awful, I’m not taking you inside, or letting you near your babies, until you’ve had a bath.”
“huhu… am jus’ givin Fewn baffies? nu giv huwties? otay…”
James turned the water back on and continued washing the fluffy, scrubbing in some Fluff-Shampoo and conditioner just to mask the scent of shit as best as he could. By now Fern was thoroughly enjoying her bath and cooing to herself as she washed, seemingly forgetting the ordeal she was in just moments ago. As James was drying the mare off and carrying her from the sink, he set her on his workshop table, a few feet from the sorry box, which desperately needed a bath of it’s own.
As he set the fluffy down he looked at her face, she was (expectantly) happy to not be covered in her own feces anymore, and was beaming up at James.
“Tank yu fo’ nice baffies nice mistah! Fewn smeww suuu pwetty nao!!”
“You’re welcome Fern, now, are you gonna be a bad fluffy again?”
Fern’s ears pressed down against her head at the mention of a “bad fluffy”.
“huhu… no nice mistah!! Fewn be gud fwuffy!! be bestes’ fwuffy evah! nu wan’ sowwy-boxie nu mowe…”
“Good girl. Do you remember why I put you in the sorry box?”
“hu… Fewn 'sposed tu giv aww babbehs miwkies… buh nu giv bwack babbeh miwkies…”
“That’s right. Now, tell me, why do you think black fluffies are bad fluffies? Did you know that humans like having a black fluffy more than some other colors like green or orange? They’re very pretty fluffies.”
Fern seemed shocked to hear this, her eyes went wide with shock. “Buh- buh smawty teww Fewn dat bwack babbehs nu gud!! Smawty sai’ dat a nice mistah say dat aww bwack fwuffy bad! an’ smawty sai’ dat when tha hoomin see a bwack fwuffy, hoomin point biggg shiny stickie at fwuffy and tuwn dem into boo-boo juice!”
…Huh. Sounds like the checkout lady at the store was right. From what James could gather from that was that it seemed like a smarty made friends with some redneck racist who blew the heads off of black fluffies. Jackass, they’re the kind of people that give country folk a bad reputation, but it comes with living out here.
“Fern I don’t know how else to say this; that smarty, and that human the smarty met? Are both dummies. Idiots, morons, shitheads, whatever you wanna call them, the point is they were stupid, and wrong.”
Fern was in complete disbelief, it was as if you’d just turned her into worldview inside out. “Wha- buh… buh… dat am mean… HUHUHU!!” she immediately threw herself onto her stomach and covered her eyes with her hooves “FEWN AM WOWSTEST MUMMAH, AM SUU MEANIE TO BWACK BABBEH HUHUU!! FEWN AM SOWWYY!! NU KNO!! HUHUHUU!!!”
Everyday he’s with been around fluffies so far, James has thought they couldn’t be any stupider. But it seems like he was, once again, very wrong. He leaned down closer to Fern, who was bawling into her hooves.
“Does that mean if I let you see them again, you’d be good to all your babies?”
“huhuu… yus… mummah wuv aww babbehs… nu kno dat smawty wie tu fewn…”
“Okay, but this is your last chance, you have to be a good fluffy, AND a good mom, to all your babies, especially you’re black one. They all miss you very much, in fact they opened their eyes this morning.”
Fern stopped crying and uncovered her eyes, looking up at James.
“W- weawwy? Babbehs open see-pwaces?? Fewn can go see babbehs??” sniff
“Yes, Fern, I’ll take you to them. But first… what ever did happen to that smarty? I assume you were in a herd too?”
He could see the excitement caused by her foals drain away as Fern looked down at the table, “huu… hewd… smawty… huhu… speshuw fwiend… HUHU!! DEY AWW GU FOWEBA SWEEPIES HUHUU!! MEANIE BAWKIE MUNSTAS NUMMED HEWD HUHUU”
Must’ve been coyotes, he’d see them out in the pasture every now and again. They’re not exactly apex predators, but considering how a fairly mean chihuahua could maim or kill a fluffy if it was angry enough, it wasn’t hard to imagine just how devastating a whole group of coyotes could be.
“huhuhu… soon mummah Fewn wun and hidies wiwe munstas num hewd… den aftew many fowebas, mummah nu heaw dem anymowe, an’ wan away! an’ den… an’ den Fewn foun’ nice housie tu hab babbehs… and den nice mistah foun’ Fewn.” She looks up at you as she says the last part.
“That sounds scary. I’m sorry about your herd Fern, but at least you’re here now, and you protected your babies.”
“huhu… tank yu nice mistah… can Fewn see babbehs nao?”
“Sure girl, let’s go see them.”
James scooped Fern into his arms and left the garage, heading towards the saferoom where he could hear the babies peeping, he had taken awhile longer than intended. He opened the door and was greeted, once again, by peep peep!! chirrp!! chirrp!!! “huhu wan’ mummah!!” “wan daddeh!! babbeh scawdies!”
The blue and green foal were both crying, with the green foal still wanting her mother, while the red and black foals were hugging their siblings, trying to comfort them as best they could. James walked up to them and looked down to the foals.
“Hey guys, I’m back! And I brought someone who wants to see you all.”
James set Fern on the ground and she rushed towards her babies, who seemed scared at first of this large fluffy lumbering over them, before they recognized the scent.
“Mummah!! Wuv!!” “Babbeh wuv!!” They all began attempting to stand and wobble over to her, falling onto their rears multiple times in the process before eventually reaching her and doing what they could roughly equate to a hug.
Fern was elated and began picking up each foal and hugging it before telling it how pretty it is, to James’ shock, even the black one.
“Babbehs weawwy open see-pwaces!! babbehs am suuuu pwetty!! Fewn hav bestes babbehs evuh!!”
“hehe wuv mummah!!” the red foal said as it was squeezed by a gentle hug from it’s mother.
James looked down at the happy little family, he hoped Fern would stay this sweet forever and he wouldn’t have to discipline her anymore, but he had heard fluffies can be terrible at letting lessons “stick” so to speak. So he decided to interrupt the happiness to make sure she remember there were still rules.
“Fern, look at me.” He said, crouching down to be closer to the fluffy. “I’m gonna let you stay in the saferoom from now on with the foals. But you have to listen to what I say, if you don’t do what I say then you’ll be a bad fluffy.”
Fern shuddered at that word, she knew being a bad fluffy meant more time in the sorry box, she put down the baby she was holding, letting it nurse on her teet with another foal. And looked at James intently, waiting for him to speak.
“Good fluffies poop and pee in the litterbox.” James pointed towards the automated litterbox in the corner of the room. "Good fluffies also make sure their babies make good poopies and peepees in the litterbox. If they don’t, then you’re a bad mom.
The fluffy’s lip quivered everytime James said “bad”, she didn’t want to be bad!
“Otay nice mistah! Fewn make gud poopies in wittabawks. Make babbehs do gud poopies and peepees tuu!”
“Good girl, you’re also not allowed to leave the room, and there is gonna be no “best baby” nonsense. All your babies are good, and none are more special than any others.”
This confused Fern a little bit, but she didn’t say anything, she just looked down to the foals. Of course all her babies are good! They’re her babies after all! But if the nice mister says there are no bestest babies… well she would just have to believe in him. Her eyes glanced to the green hornie-baby that looked like her. Well, there are no bestest babies, but mister didn’t say anything about prettiest babies, right?
“Otay mistah! Fewn wuv all babbehs!” She said, turning back to look at James.
“Good girl. Now, I’m gonna go clean your doghouse out and bring it inside so you can still have a nice place to go sleep and hide if you want. You stay here and make sure everyone is happy and fed.”
“Otay!! tank yuu nice mistah! Wuv babbehs!”
“Oh… that reminds me, Fern. You don’t have to call me “nice mister” anymore, you can just call me daddy. It’s not like I’m getting rid of you guys at this point, so you might as well treat me like your owner rather than just some guy.”
Her eyes grew wide as he said this, and she wrapped her front hooves around his leg. “Huhuhu!! tank yuu nic-… daddeh!! Fewn wuv daddeh!! huu…”
James smiled as he bent down and patted her on the head before pulling his leg free and leaving the fluffies to bond as he went outside to clean their doghouse before bringing it in.
He got distracted while outside and ended up… modifying it a bit, so that there was a window cut into the side, high enough up that an adult fluffy like Fern could see through it, but not climb out of it. Intended to let light in from a nightlight plugged in adjacent to the doghouse.
By the time he came back into the saferoom with the doghouse it was dusk, and he noticed Fern over by the autofeeder eating kibble as he was putting the doghouse down against a wall on the other side of the room from the litterbox.
Fern walked up to him as he was pushing more blankets inside of it. “Tank yu fo’ bwing nestie fo’ Fewn and babbehs! wiww hav bestest sweepies wif babbehs! wuv daddeh!” She hugged his leg again, maybe that sorry boxing had made her more affectionate? Oh well, who cares, as long as she isn’t racist anymore.
James stood up and plugged one nightlight in next to the window he had cut into the doghouse, and then he walked across the room and placed the last one next to the litterbox, so it would be visible even in the darkness.
“Alright. It’s almost bedtime fluffies,” James said, looking down at his happy family of fluffies. “But, before that. How about I name you guys?”
Fern chimed in, excited, “Babbehs get namesies wike Fewn?! Yay!!! Giv pwetty namesies fo’ babbehs!!”
He picked up the red foal, who giggled in his hands and cooed as he scratched his chin. “You’ll be… Pepper!”
“Babbeh namesie Peppew? Peppew wuv namesie!! hehe wuv daddeh!”
James handed the foal to his mother who began hugging him while muttering something about “pwetty namesie”, and he picked up the blue pegasus.
“You can be… Cloud!” He put the baby back down as it fluttered it’s little wings with excitement. “Cwoud wuv namesies! Pwetty!!” It ran back to it’s mother, but became distracted by the smell of milk, and began suckling as James grabbed the final colt, the black one.
It looked up at him in his hands quietly, with an expecting look on it’s face. James thought quietly, realizing how hard it is to name a black fluffy and not have the name sound edgy. After a moment he came to a decision.
“You can be Crow!” Well, it’s still a little edgy. But better than most other things he thought of.
“Tank yuu daddeh. Cwow wuv namesie.” coo It laid on his hand and tried to hug it, he plucked it off and set it next to it’s brothers before looking to the green filly who was shaking, sitting close to it’s mother.
He grabbed the foal, who immediately began protesting about “bad upsies”.
“huu… nu wan’ upsies… wet babbeh downsies!! huhu…”
“Calm down little girl, don’t you want a pretty name? Hm… you can be Emerald!”
The foal looked up at James and blinked tears away. “huhu… babbeh name am Emaw-… Emew-… Emee-… HUHU!! Babbeh namesie am tuu hawd!! tuu big wordsie!! huhuhuuu!!!” It buried it’s face in James’ hand and began sobbing.
“Hey, calm down. If that’s too long how about you call you Emma for short? Is that easier to say?”
The foal calmed down and looked back to James again. hic peep "Babbeh namesie am… Emmuh? hic “Emma wike namesie… tank yuu daddeh fo’ pwetty namesies.”
He set her down and she scurried back to her mother as quickly as she could, who scooped her up and began singing to her, you thought you heard her say “pwetties’ namesie fo’ pwetties’ babbeh” in a whisper, but you just assumed it was generic fluffy mom bullshit.
After the naming was done, he sat down in there and played with the babies for a while, not that they can play much yet, they’re still struggling to walk a few steps at a time. But foals develop remarkably fast, by tomorrow they should be walking around on their own.
Awhile later and the fluffies were all tuckered out, James helped Fern get them all onto her back and she they went into the doghouse where they promptly curled up and fell asleep. He quietly left the saferoom and returned to his bed, curious to see how things play out from here.
