“Say ahhhhhhh.” Dr Mullen said to Willow who was sitting on the reflective metal table. He was a man of about 50 with a pot belly and thinning hair desperately styled to look fuller. If Blake were to guess the man probably frequently dyed it to keep its black sheen.
“Ahhhhhh!” she replied stretching out her mouth and tongue.
“Teeth fully grown, no sign of infection. You say this was a herd reject?” The older gentleman addressed the question to Blake.
“Yeah, but she was sneaking milk from her mother.” Dr. Mullen removed the tiny wood strip from Willow’s mouth.
“What kinds of food you eat Willow?” Dr. Mullen was looking at Willow now.
“Um… Dwink miwkies an’ sumtimes eat gwassies.”
Blake looked down to Vern. He was resting on his side. He seemed to be severely uncomfortable.
Earlier he’d said only he’d been eating the grass, but only when the other fluffies didn’t look. He had to eat from the ground next to the bathroom, or grass that had already been tainted with feces.
“Sowwy, fohgawt.”
“It’s not that uncommon for rejected ferals to lie to their new owners. From what I can tell, fluffy memory is unreliable and the lies they often tell to the herd become believed memories. There’s no malice behind it. We’re just lucky Willow here is too young to have learned the behavior.”
“Vewn nu am wie!” Willow said to the man with an angry glare.
“I know sweetie.” He gently pet her with his index and middle finger. “Me and your dad are talking about another fluffy.” She relaxed and nudged up against him.
Dr. Mullen had told Blake that Vern seemed to be about a Year or so in age. He was malnourished like all rejected fluffies, though he didn’t have all the signs of lifetime abuse. A little prodding and Vern had disclosed that he’d had a mother before he’d been taken in by the herd. Apparently he’d been on hard food for a long time before it happened.
Vern lacked any memories about his mother’s passing. This likely meant he did not see her die. Like most ferals, Vern had never known his father.
Further prompting had revealed that before Blake had taken the herd in, Vern had had a special friend in the form of another rejected fluffy. She had been a brown pegasus. Twice she had conceived and during the first, one of the herd had kicked her until she miscarried.
She’d never made it through the second attempt. One morning, Vern had simply discovered her cold body. Further prying had gotten no answers. Dr. Mullen had said they didn’t have enough information for an accurate guess.
Before that, Lemon had Willow and rejected her without a drop of milk. Vern’s special friend had let the foal nurse off her, as she had been doing with the other brown foal. Vern believed that the mother of said foal had been eaten by a “barky munstah.”
Apparently the herd had been much bigger before it’d gotten to Blake. Several pregnant mares and a few of the braver stallions had been taken.
The vet placed Willow on the ground next to Vern. Alright Mr. Williams, I’d like to speak with you in the other room where the f-l-u-f-f-s won’t hear us.
“Daddeh weabin?” Willow asked. She had a nervous look on her face as she eyed the room. As good as this place was with fluffies the room’s basic metallic layout probably didn’t seem very inviting to a fluffy.
“Yup, but I’ll be back in a just a bit. Be a good fluffy and wait with Vern.”
“Otay daddeh.”
Blake stepped out into the hall with the doctor.
“Bad news?” Blake asked.
“Mostly good news but yes. Starting with Willow, she’s perfectly healthy. She has some signs of poor nutrition but she will be fine with proper care. She’s also old enough for her shots if you want that taken care of today.” That only left…
“So Vern then?”
“Yes, well, the biggest problem is that he has a dead testicle.”
“A what now?”
“One of his testicles is shot. He has signs of having fought another fluffy recently and aside from having several bruises on his body, one of his testicles is definitely dead.”
“Does he need to be neutered?”
“That would be the cheapest solution. Surgery to retain the other testicle involves fixing a few complications. It’s about 3 times the price.”
“I don’t mind.”
“Are you sure? Because I’ll be frank, he has about as much psychological damage as physical. To whatever degree you may respect that he’s protected the foal he’s very likely to deteriorate down the line. Likely much sooner than even your average adopted feral. He could prove a danger to Willow or… your other stallion.”
“Is what it is.” Blake let out a sigh. “What do you mean by deteriorate? Like his body’ll break down or is this a brain problem?”
“The latter. Most fluffies in his position experience aggression and paranoia.”
“How long?”
“No way to tell.”
“Will there be warning signs?”
“Antisocial behavior is the most common. It’s rare that there’s nothing, but most owners have a problem with facing the reality of the situation.”
“Won’t be a problem for me.” ‘Sometimes the game’s just rigged from the start.’ It felt like a sick joke. Vern had proven himself yesterday. If any fluffy deserved a break it was him. Now it seemed he really was doomed. Blake could at least give Vern a few good days even if it wouldn’t make up for his rotten life.
“You may just want to fix him anyway. The trauma of his past attempts at starting a family and the way he acts suggest that even if you don’t neuter him he probably won’t attempt to mate again. Neutering him probably wouldn’t bother him like it would the average stallion.”
“Probably true but I’d rather not risk it.”
“Very well, I won’t push the issue then.”
“How long will it take to heal?”
“4-7 days.” That would put something of a hold on Blake’s plans. That was fine though, He had two things he needed to get out of the way first. “I can set you up for an hour from now. Our 2 o clock cancelled.”
“That works. Wait, what about the whole “not eating before surgery thing…””
"Mr. Mullen medical science has come quite a long way since 20XX.”
“Ah, well that’s convenient.”
“Quite.”
“On a different subject, what about the other thing I asked you about?”
The doctor smiled.
———
Blake walked into the mare’s room of the Greenville’s pet shelter. It was a 40 minute drive from the vet and even longer from his house but he had the time while Vern went through his minor surgery. Willow sat comfortably in his chest pouch. She’d slept most of the way up.
He was greeted by a swarm of female fluffies. “Nyu daddeh?” and “Pwease pick fwuffie!” they shouted in a loud cacophony. There were a few bad colored fluffies in a sectioned off corner of the room. They were eyeing him from the edge of their territory but didn’t call out.
“Hey, can one of you help me with my baby fluffy?”
“Hoomin have babbeh!? Wub!” Blake felt a shaking in his pouch.
“Be brave Willow, I won’t let anything happen.”
Blake withdrew the foal from his pouch and showed her to the mares. Willow seemed happy to see the group of fluffies but several of them immediately had a look of disgust on their face. Willow winced.
“Nyu daddeh, dat am poopie fwuffie, nu am gud!” And similar things were said. Some of them were trying to grab her. She clung hard on Blake’s hand.
Blake had scared her in the parking lot to make sure she wouldn’t crap over any of the shelter fluffies.
Blake scanned the crowd. There were a few who seemed more timid and stuck to the back. Unfortunately Blake needed a fluffy who could both tolerate off color fluffies and be assertive. None of them looked like proper candidates.
He held Willow and stepped over the crowd of fluffies to the off color pen. He could always dye one of them.
“Nyu daddeh?” A blotchy gray fluffy asked him. Blake set Willow down wordlessly. All the mares immediately took interest. “Babbeh? Babbeh nee mummah? Am smeww su pwettie!” Willow instantly looked relieved
They all fawned over her and Blake left them to it. He stayed close to make sure they didn’t fight, or harm her. She seemed to love the attention. An attendant came up to him. She was a brown haired girl who looked to be in her late teens or early twenties. Her name tag read “Tammy.”
She spoke. “We rotate these ones out to litter train the foals. They don’t fight as much when we adopt them out.”
“I’m guessing they’re all pretty passive.”
“For the most part. Kind of what you get." She looked down to Willow. "Foal’s mother reject her?”
“Long story… Actually if you have a recommendation for a fluffy from this pen who can train some foals for me I would love to take her home.”
“Oh of course. Bad color fluffies don’t tend to move through here, especially at this age. We generally use them as nannies to lower the chances of rejection in mares when they grow up. Owners tend to hate their fluffies when they see them abandon a perfectly healthy baby.”
Blake thought back to Lemon. When he thought about how cruel she’d been he could see how a formerly loving owner might want to feel the catharsis of boot to fluffy ass. He shook the thought away.
“Fluffies live about 10 years in captivity right? How old are these ones?”
“Oldest is 3, we have a policy… It’s not very nice but given how many of these things we get we have to make room for more viable options.” The attendant pointed to the gray splotchy mare. “She’s been here since she was a foal, she’s used to this place. I was thinking of adopting her myself if she didn’t go out.”
“Wouldn’t want to deprive her from a loving home.” Blake said without thinking.
Tammy was giving him a look. “Oh no, I’m not an abuser or anything. I’m just keeping some field fluffies in a yard. It’s basically just a harmless hobby.”
“Pretty expensive for a hobby.” She said with a hint of disapproval.
“yeah, but if you don’t plan on letting that one go into the furnace-“
“We use a sedative and-“
“Wasn’t meant to offend, I’m just saying I don’t mind taking a slightly younger one. Do my part to make sure less good fluffies have to die, ya know?”
She crossed her arms. “Groups don’t take kindly to other fluffies bossing their kids around, especially not off colors.”
“Eh, I’d still like to try. I don’t intend to throw her to a herd or anything. I keep a few of em inside, mostly the better tempered ones, and it would be nice to have an extra pair of hooves around the house to keep things in order.”
After a moment Tammy relented. “We have a brown mare about a year and a half.”
“Pretty young.”
“Old lady’s pet. Niece got her all set up and it turned out to be a bad fit. She has a nasty scar on her flank from it. She’s sweet but she’s spayed. She wants kids even though she knows she can’t make them. She hasn’t complained since we’ve put her on nanny duty. We’d keep her but she’s monopolizing the position.”
“And she can give them up?”
“So long as she has kids to take care of she doesn’t give us any problems. She can go a few months without babies to take care of if she has company.”
“hmmm, I suppose that’s fine. Get her ready and I’ll take her home. Actually I do need a mare for one of my fluffies but it needs to be neutral toward bad colored foals and have a good color. Have an inside fluffy who needs a mate.”
“You try the pillow room?”
“Wouldn’t that be worse? I’ve seen how fluffies treat pillowfluffs.”
“Hit or miss, a lot of fluffies, especially males who’ve gone without tend to pair bond with the first mare they meet. Only spoiled fluffies seem picky.”
“And if I bring a prettier mare home?”
“Weird thing is, even smarties don’t tend to change mates.”
“Oh?”
“Yeah, they’ll impregnate more than one mate if they run a herd, but they’ll stick with their first special friend a solid 90% of the time.” That would explain Lily.
“I guess that’d be fine. Mind showing me the room?”
“Sure.”
———
Blake surveyed the room. 8 completely immobile pillowfluffs sat on the floor. All of them were beautifully colored. The odds of that seemed pretty low.
“How do you get these ones?”
“Usually they’re returned because they’re depressing.”
Most of them were looking at the TV but a deep purple fluffy with brilliant red mane and wings looked over to him. To Blake’s surprise she was moving toward him. He looked closer and noticed she had its front hooves. Her stirrings got the attention of the other fluffies in the room. The same familiar cries came after.
Blake stopped. The purple fluffy kept advancing. It stopped and heaved a few breaths but continued right after.
Tammy tried to speak to her. “Now Nova, you’ll hurt your-“ Blake interjected
“No, let her go.”
“What? No, if she gets hurt we’re the ones who have to deal with that.”
“I’ll buy her regardless of how things go. 40$ right?”
She was giving him that look again, but she didn’t move to grab Nova. After another minute Nova finally made her way to just at the foot of Blake’s shoe. She was panting heavily.
“N-nyu daddeh. Hewp… Wan…” She was trying desperately to huff out the words. Blake let her rest and catch her breath before she tried again. “Nyu daddeh? Wan’ be mummah an’ make bestest babbehs.”
Very direct, this one. Most fluffies worked in stages. Most mares wanted to be mothers but they wouldn’t really hound you until they got into your house. It was a bit refreshing.
“Yeah sure.” Blake said simply. Her tail swished back and forth and she was giving him a teary smile. If the attendant had been on the fence about him before she was definitely weary of him now.
Blake tried to reassure her. “I’m serious, she’s not gonna get tortured or anything.” He reached into his pouch and retrieved Willow.
“Daddeh? nee’ Wiwwow ‘gain?” Blake held her out in front of Nova. Willow stared at the new fluffy with a worried expression.
“What do you think of this baby?” He asked her.
Nova leaned forward and sniffed her. “Nice babeh nee’ huggies? Nu hab miwk bu’ can gib huggies!”
Willow squirmed in excitement. Nova reached forward and grabbed Willow by the scruff. Blake didn’t stop her. She lowered herself to the ground so she could safely hug the baby.
Willow was returning the hug. “Big fwuffie wan pway wid Wiwwow?”
“Wiwwow? Dat am su pwettie, Noba name am Noba!” She let go of Willow and rolled to her stomach. “Noba nu wun so weww, but can pway baww.” She looked over to the ball near where she’d come from. She looked exasperated but looked back to Tammy. “Gwab baww foh Noba an’ Wiwwow pwease?”
“Wiwwow am get!” Willow took off running. The other fluffies looked jealous.
Tammy smiled at the scene. “Nova’s nuts about kids. We used to let her play with them before but she always sulked after so we stopped.”
“Think she’ll make a good mother?”
“You can never tell. Some soon-mothers go “bitchy mare” the second they get kids. Fluffy gratitude has a short shelf life.”
“Eh, I’ll take a risk on her. Get her ready and I’ll take her and the other one.”
“Hoomin wan’ be nyu daddeh? Wet Noba hab speshaw fwen’ an’ babehs!?”
“Yep. I’ve got a very nice fluffy back home who would love to give you some babies.” She looked absolutely delighted.
“But first we’re gonna have to do something about your weggie situation.”
“H-hoomin gib back weggies?” The tears were coming. Shit.
Tammy sighed. “Smooth, gonna be bawling for the next few hours.”
“No I can work with this.” He responded. “Can’t get your old legs back, but how about you win some new weggies off a vwoom vwoom munstah?”
Tammy gave him a completely original look. Blake only smiled.
———
“Huu huu…” Boris cried as he attempted to drag himself around. He was now missing his 2 back legs. Blake had played his new favorite game. The roulette wheel.
The set up was basically a full table with a clay spinning table mounted in the center at one end. The fluffy could push a nub to spin it with its hoof and Blake could pump the peddle to make it spin faster. On the spinning table was a crudely constructed roulette, and fixed to the regular table was a bright red arrow.
Blake had also rigged it so he could fix the results. That wasn’t something he was intending to do often, but it was doing wonders here. Boris thought they were playing but Blake was actually preparing him for his gift.
Blake had let him play the game honestly before so he could get used to it. Blake had been concerned about how Boris would react to a game based on luck rather than skill, but he didn’t seem to care about the difference.
This was Boris’s third loss. His punishment was doing a lap around the circle after Blake “took” one of his legs. Unlike true amputation he could still use his nubs to make movement easier. Boris was finally making the last inches of the agonizing trip.
“Okay Boris. This time spin it real good.”
“Daddeh, Bawis nu can pway nu mowe.” Tears stained his cheeks.
Willow and Cedar approached the crying fluffy. Cedar spoke first. “Dewe dewe, Cedaw nu it difficawt, bu’ ou can win.”
“Dat wite, Bawis am gweat smawtie. Can win back weggie.” Willow added.
Blake was really liking the arrangement. Cedar was an amazing motivational speaker and she had a very good understanding of balance when it came to encouragement. Blake had watched her a few minutes at the shop just to see how she acted.
She seemed to have an extended list of phrases for keeping a fluffy going.
Boris let out a deep sigh, stifled a cry and nudged forward. “Wan’ twy ‘gain. Bawis can du.”
Blake ran the game again. He gave Boris the win. Blake told Boris to spin again to save time. He allowed Boris another victory. Once he’d gotten his last leg, back Boris started dancing wildly in celebration. Though, his legs must have still been partially numb because he ended up falling on his back several times.
“Now Boris, do you remember what we were playing for originally?”
Boris tapped his chin for several agonizing seconds. “Speshaw fwen!”
Boris had originally attempted to court Cedar when Blake revealed her. Blake had only distracted him from that by showing Boris a picture of Nova before he could get too close. Lucky, Boris was shallow.
“One more game buddy. If you lose, no special friend ever, but if you win…”
“Bawis hab pwetty pahpew mawe!”
“Yup.”
Boris spun the wheel again and Blake slowed the wheel on the winning wedge.
“Yay! Bawis win Bawis win!” He was full-on leaping now. Blake was glad he’d built walls around the edge of the table.
“Alright, I’m gonna get her but there’s a little problem…”
Blake pulled out a newer picture of Nova. her back was being propped up by a specially designed fluffy wheel attachment Blake had purchased from the vet.
“Speshaw fwen’ lost a few games to a vroom vroom munstah. Vroom vroom munstah ate her legs but she won another game and took its legs instead.” Blake had walked her through the cup game and made her play it. In truth, she sucked. At least those first few games she did terrible. (N5) Eventually she’d guessed the right cup, but it was completely by chance.
Blake pulled out the glamour shot from the pet shelter. “She’s very pretty and very good at games, just like you Boris. Is that okay?”
Boris took a moment to think it over but he stared longingly at the photos of her while he did it.
“Beat vwoom vwoom munstah at game am amazin’! Bawis wan’ meet Noba!”
Blake smiled and put all three fluffies on the ground. He motioned for Willow and Cedar to follow him out of the game room.
Vern was there to greet them and all 3 fluffies wandered back to the safe room. Vern had a bit of a limp to his walk but he seemed to be taking the recovery in stride. Blake knew animals had a very high tolerance for pain. Ferals did as well, and rejected ones especially.
Blake turned his attention to the pet carrier.
Nova who was resting inside (open lidded to avoid triggering sorry box reaction) looked up at him.
“Time to meet your new special friend. Remember, his name’s Boris and it’s very pretty.”
She nodded.
Blake lifted the cage making sure to keep it level.
Blake returned to the room. He set the cage down and opened the door.
Nova waddled out and looked at Boris. “Bawis.” She said quietly. She approached him as he did her. They sniffed at each other.
Boris broke the silence. “Nova am… bewy pwettie.”
“Bawis am smeww su nice. Wan’ be speshaw fwen’? Gib speshaw huggies an’ bestest babbehs?” She really did have a one track mind.
“Bawis gib bestest special huggies!” ‘Said every stallion ever.’
And just like that he maneuvered to her backside and-
Blake turned and closed the door to leave them to it. He really didn’t need to see the miracle of un-nature today. He’d left them food, water and a litterbox. They would be fine until he returned.
(Sorry for those looking forward to Boris vs the herd. Gotta wrap up a few things on the ole “to do” list before getting to that story. Thanks for reading.)
