“GUD FEEWS!”, Mustard exclaimed.
The stallion rolled off Paprika and cuddled next to her.
“Mustawd wub Papwika”, he told her.
“Papwika wub Mustawd!”, she replied.
The fluffy couple snuggled close, cooing to each other and rubbing their muzzles together.
Dee Dee, hearing that they were finished, entered the safe room.
“Well, that sounded… successful. Looks like Mustard here hasn’t lost his knack.”
“Mustawd gib bestest speciaw huggies!”, Paprika confirmed.
“I’ll be he does”, Dee Dee replied. Probably shouldn’t have started this conversation. Time to change tack.
“So, are you to excited to have babies again?”, she asked.
Paprika lit up. “Papwika wiww be gud mummah! Wub babbehs! Aww babbehs am gud babbehs, an’ Papwika wiww gib wub an’ hugs, an’ miwkies, an…”
“Mustawd wiww be gud daddeh! Hewp babbehs gwow big and stwong. Fin’ gud famiwies!”
“Paprika hab biggest heawt happies! Babbehs wiww hab bestest nuw mummahs an’ daddehs!”
Dee Dee smiled at her fluffies. They were excited to have the babies, and equally excited to see them go to new homes. It may just be conditioning from being a part of the shelter, seeing their foals, all strays and abandoned foals they helped raise, and the many fluffy families leaving Little Miracles. But it made her happy that they were excited that their babies would have a chance to see the world.
Cayenne coming to visit had done wonders for Paprika, seeing one of her babies grown up, big and strong, just like she hoped. Other babies had returned for visits after that encounter, and that seemed to set Paprika’s mind on babies being happiest when they got to have new families.
A few days later, and Dee Dee knew that the babies were officially on their way. “Dee Dee! Tummeh babbehs am hewe! Gud babbehs! Mummah wub babbehs!”
Mustard, on the other hand, was looking stressed.
“You OK buddy?”, Dee Dee asked him.
“Mustawn nu suwe. Special wumps am huwty. Bu’ nu wan’ gib enfies. Enfies am bad fow tummeh babbehs.”
“Hmm. Well, you let me know if it hurts too much. We’ll figure something out.”
That night at home, Dee Dee was asleep in her bed when she awoke to an unusual noise.
“ENF ENF ENF ENF ENF ENF ENF”
Getting out of bed, she made her way down the hall. Hunched over her shoe try was Mustard, working his hardest on one of her shoes.
“GUD FEEWS!”, he cried, and rolled on to his side.
Dee Dee looked down at him. He looked up at her, horror in his eyes.
“SU SOWWY! MUSTAWD WUMPS HAB WOWSTEST HUWTIES!”
“Dude. My shoe.”
“Mustawd sowwy, Dee Dee! Nu want huwt Papwika! Nu wan’ huwt tummeh babbehs!”
Rolling her eyes, Paprika picked up mustard in one arm, and her desecrated shoe in the other and carried both to her kitchen.
She set Mustard on the counter, and grabbed a paper towel, running it under water in the sink. Wiping out the inside of the shoe, she managed to get it clean to her satisfaction.
Then she turned to Mustard.
“Right. So. I’m not mad at you. I mean, I’d prefer you not hump my shoes, but I’d much rather you did that then hurt Paprika or the babies.”
“Nu am angwy wif Mustawd?”, he asked.
“No, really. I’m not angry. You did what you thought was best, you didn’t hurt anybody, and you are clearly sorry. You’re a good fluffy, Mustard. But we do need to solve this.”
“Nuw special wumps hab huwties aww da time. Mustawd nu hab special-wumps huwties befowe.”
“I was worried that the transplant wouldn’t be perfect. But still, we can fix this. For now, let’s get you cleaned up and back to bed. Tomorrow, we’ll talk to Nikki to see what we can do.”
Wetting another paper towel, Dee Dee cleaned the sticky out of Mustard’s belly fluff and carried him back to the safe room in her apartment.
The next day, Dee Dee sat in Paprika and Mustard’s private safe room at Little Miracles. Nikki stood in the door, watching the scene.
“OK, so Mustard has… let’s say needs that he can’t take care of while Paprika has tummy babies.”
“Mustawd am sowwy… am bad fwuffy… am bad daddeh…”, the yellow stallion looked distraught and guilty.
“Mustard, you didn’t do anything wrong. In fact, you did the best you could.”
“Wha’ happen?”, Paprika asked.
“Mustards new special lumps are giving him hurties. He needed to enf to make the hurties stop. But he didn’t want to hurt you or the babies, so he, uh, made do with a shoe.”
Paprika looked to her mate, and held her hooves to her mouth as she giggled. “Mustawd am gud speciaw fwiend. Mustawd wowwy abou’ Papwika an’ babbehs befowe make bad enfies!”
“Exactly. So, Paprika. I’m going to give him an enfie toy. You need to take care of the babies, and Mustard needs to not be in pain. Do you understand?”
“Papwika unna’stan’. Mustawd am gud stawwion. Bu’ stawwion need gib enfies. Papwika nu can gib special huggies wif babbehs!”
Nikki stepped in to the room, and set the blandest looking enfie toy available down on the floor. It was little more than a firm pillow with a hole in the back, and a drain plug on the bottom.
“So, Mustard, you can use this here, and I’ll have another back at the house for you. I hope you don’t mind it doesn’t look like a fluffy. We didn’t want Paprika to get jealous, though we both know she loves you a lot.”
“Pwain nu am pwobwem.”, Mustard replied. “Am bettew dan shoesies!”
“Right, I’m glad we got this settled. Nikki?”
“Mustard, I think in time your special lumps won’t hurt so much. I think your body is still getting used to them, and once they are completely a part of you, you’ll feel normal again.”
“Dat gud. Mustawd onwy wan’ gib Papwika speciaw huggies! Papwika am speciaw fwiend. Wub Papwika!”
Paprika snuggled up to her mate, and rubbed her muzzle against his. “Mustawd am bestest speciaw fwiend. Wub Mustawd.”
“OK you two, Nikki and I need to get back to work. You guys have fun. And Mustard, if you need to use your toy, do so. It’s OK.”
“Mustawd wiww gib toysie enfies. Nu wan gib Papwika bad enfies. Nebbah ebbah!”
Dee Dee and Nikki walked back to the medical bay to continue the discussion.
“Right, so. You know what sort of high quality see he puts out. Though with the new nuts we put on him, this is a unique research opportunity.”
“Well, you can drain his toy and take whatever samples you want.”
“Thank you. I mean, it’s weird to be excited about collecting fluffy semen. But here we are. And we can sell samples to universities and labs, as well. I mean, waste not want not.”
Dee Dee burst out laughing at the idea. “Ha! Yeah. We’ll work on ‘fluffy sample’ distribution when the time comes.”
Nikki snorted. “Comes…”
Dee Dee burst with laughter again. “STOP! You are making my sides hurt!”
“Ok, I’ll quit it.”, Nikki replied. “So, shoe shopping this weekend?”
“Yeah. I mean, he did the right thing, but man. I liked those shoes. It’s going to be a while before I stop thinking my foot is going to get all slimy every time I wear them.”
Dee Dee sat with Nikki in her office.
“The grant went through!”, Dee Dee told her friend, grinning ear to ear.
“For real? We get to build the ranch? How much did they give us?”
“Enough. More than enough. We’ll be bigger than an average farm. Which is definitely to our advantage.”
“What are you thinking?”
“At least 600 acres. At least 400 devoted to crop cultivation. We want to get producing our own feed, and that’s going to take a lot of space. At least 175 acres of open space for the fluffies. The rest will be devoted to buildings and facilities.”
Nikki nodded. “That sounds perfect. Do you have a location in mind?”
“I do. Midstate. West. Near the river.”
“You mean where Jolene lives?”, Nikki asked.
“Yes, and to be precise, I mean literally next door to her. The field where Jaime wandered on to her property is just a single portion of a massive plot for sale. I don’t know that we need the whole thing, but we can start with it. I’m calling the broker later today.”, Dee Dee replied.
“Won’t she be surprised.”, Nikki said with a smirk.
“Probably. But I’m not going to mention it until the sale is complete. If it’s complete. I’ll also need to contact a lot of people. I want to get as much done before the snow comes down. The most important thing will be the security fencing. We need to keep the fluffies in, and everything else out. That should go up pretty quick once we have the plot purchased and surveyed. Then I’m hoping to break ground on the foundations for the wind turbines. The buildings can start in the spring, but if we can get power generation going sooner than later, it’s going to save us a lot of headache. And we can sell back in to the grid to keep an income stream during construction.”
“You’ve put a lot of thought in to this.”
“I have. This has been my dream all along. I love this place, and I’ll be staying here running it day to day. But something this grand has always been the goal.”, Dee Dee said. She stared in to space for a moment, before shaking her head and returning to the conversation.
“Start putting out feelers. We’re going to need good vets and researchers. This grant comes with some strings attached. Some of which honestly give me the heebie jeebies. For some reason the feds want us to provide them with ‘bad smarties’ as a condition of the grand and ongoing funding.”
“What are they going to do with them?”, Nikki asked.
“Not specified. Just a statement that we’ll turn over able-bodied smarties on a quarterly basis. They don’t really specify a number. Just if we have them available, they’ll be taking them. It’s a headache saver, as I know we’re going to get a lot of bad smarties. But still weird that the government wants them.”, Dee Dee said.
“Well, I’m not going to look a gift fluffy in the mouth. If a smarty can’t be cured, then we’d likely be forced to put them down for the sake of the ranch regardless.”
“Well, I was going to pillow them and use them for shit production. But you bring up a good point. Maybe they get used for shit production until the men in black come for them.”
“Sounds like a plan to me. So yeah, I’ll start calling friends and colleagues. See who I can drum up.”
“Great!”, Dee Dee replied. “And I’m going to make the hardest call first. UK country code is plus four four, right?”
“Uh, no idea. Outside my realm of expertise.”, Nikki replied.
“Fair. OK, I won’t take up more of your time, and I do need to start making calls.”
With that, Dee Dee turned back to her PC and Nikki went to the medical bay.
“Ok, plus four four…”, Dee Dee said to herself as she dialed.
“Aye, hello?”, the man on the other end responded.
“Hello, this is Dee Dee Bixby, the executive director of Little Miracles; we’re a fluffy rescue. Is this Herman Mongola?”
“Yes, ma’am, this is he. How can I help you today?”
“Well, I was hoping to hire you for a project. You see, the US government has given me a grant, and you’re expertise is just what I need to make a dream come true…”
“BIGGEST POOPIES!”, Paprika cried.
Dee Dee heard the familiar familial call from her office and rushed to the safe room.
Nikki was already there with Florence at her side, a tub of hot water ready, and a big stack of towels.
Mustard was snuggled next to his special friend, cooing to help keep her calm. Paprika loved babies, but she always seems to forget how difficult this part ended up being. And how painful.
Cloudberry was at her side, giving her the best hugs she could to help the pain go away.
Dee Dee quickly sat on the floor with her fluffy family, and stroked Paprika’s mane. “You got this girl! You’re a pro and pushing out the babies.”
“Papwika wiww hab… OUCHIES! …gud babbems. Am gonna be mummah 'gain!”
Nikki sat behind Paprika, a double layer of clean towels on the floor and under her rear end.
“Right, here comes the first one!” she announced. She could see the small dark blue head crowning. She though she noticed a nub of horn as well.
A few moments later Paprika successfully pushed the first baby in to Nikki’s awaiting hands. The foal smeared blood and afterbirth on her gloves as she held it. Florence quickly trotted over with a clean towel held her her mouth. Nikki took it and wrapped the first foal in to a little fluffy burrito. She set the newborn in a waiting tray.
Grabbing a clean towel, Nikki soaked it in the hot water and wiped off Paprika’s rear, preparing for the next foal.
A few minutes later, and Paprika had worked the next foal free. Nikki held the tiny green pegasus in her hand, towel wrapped it like the first, and prepared for the next.
Two more foals followed in quick succession, both earthies. One gray, the other brown. They were quickly toweled and stashed.
Paprika seemed to really be struggling. She was shrieking in pain with every contraction.
“Babbeh… SCREEE! Babbeh nu wan’ weabe tummeh! SCREE! Pwease… hewp babbeh! Wowstest huwties!”
Finally, the foal crowned. Again, the nub of a horn on it’s tiny head, and a rich purple fuzz covered its slick body. Nikki helped work the foal free.
The Paprika absolutely shuddered with pain.
“SCREE! SCREE! PWEASE BABBEH! NU HUWT MUMMAH!”
Nikki was gently trying to work the baby free, but it seemed… stuck. That didn’t make any sense. Getting close, Nikki tried to examine what was stopping the foal from coming free. The foal was three quarters of the way out. It’s head, most of it’s body, and three legs were free. Just the final rear right leg was left, and it’s almost like it was hooking on the inside of Paprika.
“Something isn’t right…”, Nikki whispered to herself. The stuck leg looked like it was halfway up the foals right flank. Nikki worked to carefully angle the foal down, to curve the caught leg around Paprika’s opening.
“Oh no…” she said, louder than she’d intended. Paprika shrieked again.
Dee Dee looked at her. “Oh no, what?”, she asked.
“There’s not one baby. There’s two…”
“Are they, like, tangled? Are the umbilicals not breaking free?”
“Uh, worse. But I got it. Trust me.”
Continuing to angle and rotate the foal, Nikki was able to pop it’s rear out from Paprika. Then, continuing her rotating motion, she extract the conjoined twin. The foal was attached to its twin halfway down its right side. There were four full front legs, two complete heads, but their spines seemed to merge in to a shared pelvis. She realized that the second twin was a pegasus! Nikki quickly bundled them, and moved to check on Paprika.
The contractions were subsiding quickly, and the fluffy momma was calming down.
“Am… am babbehs hewe? Gud babbehs?”, she asked the doctor.
“…yes. You have six good babies. Let me get them washed and you can give them licky cleanies.”
Nikki took the tray, and carefully wiped down each foal with the now warm water and clean towels. She set each one on another towel in front of Paprika. Mustard and Cloudberry looked on in amazement at each baby as it was placed down.
Finally, Nikki cleaned and set down the conjoined twins. Paprika’s eyes went wide. Dee Dee stared down at the newborns. Cloudberry and Mustard looked confused and a little afraid.
Nikki started, “I… I got them free, but you can see…”
Paprika looked at her conjoined twins, looked at her other four babies, and then went ahead and started to lick the twins clean.
Once done, she looked up at Dee Dee and Nikki.
“Aww babbehs am gud babbehs.”, she said. She was clearly worried about her born-different babies, but she loved them all the same. They were her babies. She was going to take care of them.
“That’s right!”, Dee Dee piped up. “All babies are good babbies. And you got a double-baby!”
“Papwika wub dubbew babbeh. Dubbew babbew wiww need ekstwa huggies!”, Paprika confirmed.
Mustard sniffed and nuzzled each of his new children. “Am aww gud babbehs. Aww smeww pwetty. Dubbew babbeh smeww pwetty. Nu hab heawt huwties… Mustawd wub babbehs!” With that he carefully stroked each newborn with his hoof. He didn’t hesitate at all when he got to the twins.
Cloudyberry moved to each newborn and carefully hugged them. She hugged each half the the twins one at a time. “Cwoudbewwy wiww be bestest sissy fow aww da babbehs!” she declared.
Dee Dee wiped tears from her eyes. “I know you three are confused. But I’m proud of all of you. One of your babies is different, and that hasn’t stopped any of you from loving them. You… you’re… you’re all just so good!”, and then Dee Dee started bawling and hugging her fluffies.
After Dee Dee calmed down, Nikki helped Florence up to sit on her rump. She then carefully helped each baby feed from their mother. The twins fed last, and drank together.
Nikki touched a hand to Dee Dee’s arm. “So, this may not be the best time, but I need to study the twins. One is a unicorn, and the other is a pegasus. That seems like it shouldn’t be possible. I want to monitor them very carefully.”
“No, I get it. I noticed that and it stuck me as odd, too. You do what you need to. I want them to be happy and healthy.”, Dee Dee told her friend.
“Top priority!”, Nikki responded.
