“Hewwo nyu Daddeh! Fwuffy am Cwaiw!”
You are a fluffy pony, Clair, and you have just met your Daddeh! He’s a tall man with poofy hair! You always wished your mane could be that poofy. Or you think you did. You don’t actually remember anything before this moment, but that doesn’t matter! What matters is that your Daddeh is here, and he’s letting you out of your not-sorry-box!
His housie is sooooo big! You shuffle your hooves on the ground fluff and giggle to yourself. It’s so soft!
“Aw, you were supposed to be yellow.”
Your head shoots up as your Daddeh talks. Yellow? That’s a color! Are you yellow? You look down at your hooves, which don’t look yellow. They look a color your thinkie place says is green. “Cwaiw bad cowwah?” You ask, sitting down at his feet. You didn’t want to disappoint your Daddeh!
“Oh, it’s fine! I don’t really care.” He pulls out a little black thing and it makes a clicky noise. “They got your mane right at least.” You turn to look at it, your thinkie place says this color is blue! A pretty blue, blue like the sky! Sky? You didn’t know what that looked like. Maybe Daddeh would show you! “Let me send this to the guys at the lab and I’ll take you to the safe room.”
“Wab?” You didn’t know what a lab was, but you felt-
Your head twitched to the side. “Fwuffy nu unnastand.”
“Oh, I’ll explain later.” Your Daddeh waved his hand at you, putting the black thing back in his pocket. “Follow me Clair!” He turned and walked further into the housie. Explain what, you wondered? You didn’t know what he was talking about.
Daddeh’s house was bigger than you thought! He led you up some stairs and then past sooooo many doors, almost as many as you had hoofsies! He finally opened one, and your jaw dropped. Before you was the most beautiful safe room! You scampered in excitedly, more soft fluff under your hooves.
“Litter box is against the wall, all these toys are yours, don’t leave unless I give you permission. Got all that?” Daddeh asked.
“Yus, Fwuffy unnastand!”
“Okay, play with your toys until dinnertime!” Daddeh left, shutting the door behind him. It made you sad, but you quickly distracted yourself with one of your toys. It was rolly-polly and white! When you kicked it with your hoof it bounced all over! You had lots of other toys too, a long fluttery ribbon with little black squiggles on it, silver blocks that rolled around as well as they stacked, and a yellow squeaky quacky-friend! You loved that one the most. You tried asking it how it became yellow, but it wouldn’t tell you. You were sure you could figure it out though. It would make Daddeh happy if you were yellow!
After a long while, Daddeh opened the door again! He had a pretty lady with him, maybe your mummah? “Here she is! Fresh off the bio-lathe!”
Bio-what? It was something you sort of knew, a weird bad feeling deep in the back-
Your head twitched to the side. “Fwuffy nu unnastand.”
When did your Daddeh get here? And who was the pretty lady with him?
“Oh ew, what’s with the twitching?” The nice lady looked at you with disgust. What had you done? You slowly made you way over to them, smiling like a good fluffy.
“That’s what I was telling you about, she’s bio-programmed. Any time she thinks about something she’s not supposed to she does that. It resets her brain, watch!” Daddeh knelt down in front of you. “What do you think about babies, Clair?”
Babies?? You gasped with joy, opening your mouth to explain how perfect and wonderful babies were-
“Fwuffy nu unnastand.” Hm? You felt like you were just about to say something but nothing was coming to mind.
“She isn’t using her name, how do you know she means it?”
Daddeh waved his hand. “Programming, she’s still in alpha so there’s some kinks that need to be ironed out. I’m sure later models will use their names. She will follow any command given, if she’s working the way she’s supposed to.”
The lady chuckled. “Alright, let’s see it.”
Daddeh smiled at you. “Clair, dance.”
Before you could even comprehend his command you were balanced on your hind legs, shaking your hooves in the air. You loved dancies! So much that your body did them without you! Silly body!
“Is it just you or will she take commands from anyone?” The nice lady asked.
“Give it a try!”
“Alright.” The nice lady thought for a second, watching your dance. You hoped it was a good dance. “Clair, stop.”
You froze, hooves in the air, staring at the nice lady.
“Clair, lay down.” You dropped to the ground, hard enough to knock the wind out of you. You gasped, your body was very dedicated to being a good fluffy! You just wished it would warn you.
“Wow. Is there a limit to what she’ll do?” The nice lady looked impressed. You were a good fluffy!
“I’m sure there is somewhere, I’m not supposed to test that until they get more data from her. For now though,” your Daddeh stood up, looking down at you. “Clair, go to sleep.” Sleep? Silly Daddeh, it’s not sleepy time yet, you haven’t even-
You awoke the next morning ravenously hungry and raced to your food bowl. The kibble was hard and bland, but filled your belly. You felt kinda weird, your leggy ached from sleeping on the floor. Why did you sleep there when you had a perfectly good bed? Maybe your body was silly. You’d have to have a talk with it about listening to you.
A few hours of playing with your rolly blocks later, Daddeh came in with your not-sorry-box. “Clair, you’re going to go play with Julie’s fluffy today!”
“Juwie?” You cocked your head.
“The nice lady you met yesterday, she’s got a fluffy named Dorio that I want you to play nice with, okay?”
“Otay Daddeh! Cwaiw bwing quacky-fwend?”
“Quacky friend… oh the rubber duck? Sure. Go ahead and grab it.” You scampered over to your bed and dug it out from the blankets where you had tucked it. “Clair, get in the carrier.”
You began to walk to the not-sorry-box, quacky-friend in your mouth. It was a scary box, you knew it wasn’t a sorry box but it didn’t make it any less scary. Maybe… Daddeh would understand if you asked to be carried. You looked up at him to ask but realized your leggings were still going! No leggies! Stop! They carried you into the not-sorry-box, while you watched in horror, helpless. Why were your leggies so mean? Why wouldn’t they listen? Reaching the back you suddenly regained control and spun around just in time to watch the door shut.
“Good girl Clair! Let’s go!” You stared out the mesh door of the not-sorry-box, hugging your quacky-friend to your chest. At least Daddeh thought you were a good fluffy. That made it a little less scary.
Daddeh carried you for a forever while you tried to figure out why your leggies wouldn’t listen to you. Maybe they were dummeh leggies? Or maybe they were good leggies, and you were a bad fluffy for trying to ignore them. You quietly asked your leggies to give you some warning next time, or at least listen to you for a moment. They didn’t respond, but you still felt that maybe they could be reasoned with.
The ride was scary, but that was all forgotten when Daddeh opened the not-sorry-box and let you out into another big housie, where you met the most beautiful white stallion! He had a long flowing mane and pretty wings!
“Hewwo! Am Dowio!”
You dropped your quacky-friend on the carpet. “Hewwo! Am Cwaiw!”
“Dat nice toysie! Want pway?”
Play? You love to play! You looked up at your Daddeh, who nodded. You grabbed your quacky-friend and ran after Dorio, leaving your Daddeh and the nice lady, Julie, to talk about “testing” and “field trials”.
Dorio’s safe room was the most amazing thing you’d ever seen! It looked like it went on forever at first, but when you got closer to one of the walls you could see it was grass and sky painted on the drywall. The floor was colorful tiles that made your hooves bounce as you walked, way more fun than the beige carpet of your saferoom. What made your jaw drop though was Dorio’s castle! It was massive, bigger than three fluffies and had flags and banners, places to lay and climb, and a tall tower at the very top!
“Safewoom suuuu pwetty!!” You chirped, tail wagging.
“Tankoo! Dowio gud fwuffy, so mummah says get gud safewoom!” Huh. You didn’t have as good a safe room as him. Were you a bad fluffy? Maybe. You’d have to ask Daddeh.
You and Dorio played for quite a while, he showed you all his toys. He had blocks with pictures of animal friends on the sides, a ball that lit up when you kicked it, and the softest of cuddle toys! You were snuggling the fuzzy bunny-friend when you heard your quacky-friend scream!
“Quacky-fwend gu quack!” Dorio cheered, lifting his hoof to give your friend another stomp.
“Nuuuu!” You ran to them, shouldering Dorio out of the way. “Nu gib bad stompies to quacky-fwend!”
Dorio began to cry from the floor while you stood protectively over your duck. You felt bad for making him cry, but he was hurting your quacky-friend!
“What’s going on in here?” Nice lady Julie stood in the doorway.
Before you could respond, Dorio ran to her sobbing. “Cwaiw be meanie! Nu shawe! Gib huwties!” She picked him up and cuddled him to her chest, giving him kisses and petting his back.
“Clair, that’s not very nice. We need to share, okay? You have to listen to other fluffies, like you listen to your daddy.”
“Buh-” your head twitched to the side, and words poured out of your mouth. “Otay nice wady! Fwuffy unnastand!” What? No! He was being a meanie to your ducky! You tried to protest, but your mouth just smiled at them.
“Good fluffy. Tell Dorio you’re sorry.”
“Am sowwy Dowio, nu du again!” You replied. You weren’t sorry though!!
“Good. Now play nice, your daddy will be back for you in a little bit.” She set the sniffling Dorio on the ground, who walked over to your quacky-friend.
“Dowio pway wif quacky-fwend?” He lifted a hoof over it.
“Yus!” No! You wanted to shout no, but what came out of you was yes! You watched helplessly as he stomped your pretty toy over and over, it making a high pitched scream every time. Your leggies wouldn’t let you move, your mouth just smiled at him. Why couldn’t you stop him??
The games were less fun after that. If Dorio wanted to do something you did it, no matter what you wanted. He wanted to play huggy tag, you never got to do the chasing. He wanted to stack blocks, you just watched, smiling pleasantly. He wanted to climb the castle, your tired legs dragged you after him.
“Cwaiw wan gu outside?”
No, you did not want to go outside. You were tired, you wanted a nap. “Yus!”
“Dowio gu ask mummah!” He squeezed out the cracked saferoom door, and your leggies allowed you to go to your quacky-friend. He seemed okay, you hugged him and told him you were sorry. You didn’t know why you couldn’t protect him.
Julie came back with Dorio and led you out into her yard. Dorio was chattering about the toys in the yard but you were enamored with the sky. So blue! So wide! Bigger than you could ever imagine, the most beautiful thing youd ever seen! You wish you had wingies like Dorio, so you could fly!
“Wha Cwaiw wookin at?”
You sighed heavily, knowing it wasn’t your choice to reply. “Sky! So pwetty!”
Dorio’s wings buzzed. “Mummah take Dowio to fwy sometimes! Mabbeh mummah show Cwaiw!” He turned and ran back inside, leaving you alone in the yard. Good, a little time to think. Maybe if you had wings you could fly away, far from bossy Dorio. You wished your leggies would listen, that your mouth would say the things you wanted it to.
“Hewwo pwetty mawe!” A fluffy voice startled you. On the other side of the fence a red stallion stood. “Yu hab speciaw fwend?”
“Nu.” You replied, truthfully for once. You didn’t like this fluffy. His cracked hooves sticking through the chain link fence, filthy fluff matted to his body, brown mane patchy and tangled.
He smiled at you, crooked, broken teeth. “Yu wan be Bwick’s speciaw fwend?”
“Yus!” No! You didn’t want to listen to this fluffy! You wanted to go home, to your Daddeh and your not so good toys!
“Otay!” Brick pulled at the bottom of the fence, creating a small gap. “Go thwough fencie, befowe dummeh cum back!”
Your legs pulled you, against your will, to the gap in the fence. You fought as hard as you could against it, to stop, to cry out at the sharp ends of the wire digging through your skin, to tell Brick you didn’t want to be his special friend! But your leggies pulled you onwards, through the gap and to the sidewalk on the other side.
“Yus! Nu fwend hab namsies?” Brick began to walk away quickly. You followed closely behind, unsure if it was your leggies doing their own thing again or your fear of being alone in the world. The road was very scary!
“Am Cwaiw.”
“Cwaiw am pwetty name fow pwetty mawe! Hab pwetty babbehs!”
Babies? Brick would give you babies?? Maybe this wasn’t so-
“Fwuffy nu unnastand.”
Brick tilted his head. “Das what speciaw fwend is fow! Makin babbehs!”
Babies?? Babies were the best thing-
“Fwuffy nu unnastand.”
He frowned. “Bwick expwain watew. Nee get back to hewd.”
Brick spent the long walk back to his herd explaining how his smarty told him he could have a special friend if he went and found one, and how happy he was that he finally did! You weren’t really listening. You were thinking about your quacky-friend left behind with meanie Dorio, your Daddeh who wouldn’t know what happened, and that you were for sure a bad fluffy. A really bad fluffy. Your leggies must know you didn’t deserve a good housie, not even the not so good saferoom your Daddeh made for you. You silently apologized to him, maybe if you figured out how to be yellow you could go home.
Months later you sat alone in the trees. Brick and his herd had abandoned you, saying you were a bad mummah. That didn’t make any sense! You weren’t a mummah! And if you were you would be a good one, because babies were-
“Fwuffy nu unnastand.”
You didn’t know why they left you. You didn’t really remember much of your time with them. You surveyed the trees around you, which felt somewhat familiar. They called it a “Pawk”, but you didn’t know what that was, or where your Daddeh was. Down at your hooves, a small shape caught your eye. Bright yellow, fluffy shaped, but far too small. It looked like a babbeh! You loved-
“Fwuffy nu unnastand.”
The little yellow thing didn’t move. It almost looked like a-
“Fwuffy nu unnastand.”
So many of them, you loved them so-
“Fwuffy nu unnastand.”
“Fwuffy nu unnastand.”
“Fwuffy nu unnastand.”
“Wan die.”
“Fwuffy nu unnastand.”