“-And then, with his wings returned to him, Charming flew up to the top of the tower, and rescued his special friend.” You daddy said passionately.
“An dey…?!” You asked, excited.
“And they both lived-”
“HAPPIWY EBAH AFTAH!” You cheered, throwing your hooves into the air.
“Yeah, you know your lines!” Daddy picked you up, hugging you tightly to his chest.
You loved your daddy. He told you the best stories! He gave the best huggies! He snuggled with you at night! You were the luckiest fluffy. Daddy rescued you from your meanie mummah, who said you were not pretty because of your silly leg. It doesn’t really do what you ask it to, and makes it very hard to walk but Daddy says that’s what makes you special! He named you Achillies, which was a very hard name for you to say but it meant someone who was very strong and special! And you loved it! You’re just a little colt right now, but one day you’ll be big and strong like your namesake!
“Ready for bed then, buddy?” Daddy asked.
“Yus!” You snuggled into his chest as he pulled the blankets over you. It was so cold outside, but Daddy always kept you nice and warm. You and Daddy lived in a little fabric room called a tent. It was blue and yellow, like you! You loved that it matched you!
You started drifting off to sleep, thinking of all the fun things you and Daddy would do in the morning. Maybe you would go look for shinies by the road! It was one of your favorite games, you had to be very careful not to get too close to the monsters as they roared by, but you were soooooo good at finding the shinies! And if you found enough shinies, Daddy would get you fries! Fries were the best, they were crunchy and salty, and Daddy would dip them in ketchup for you! And then daddy would ask for a water cup, and go and fill it up with the best water! The bubbly brown water! You asked him once why the water was brown but he said it was a secret and not to tell anyone about it. You love the secret water!
A noise made your daddy jump, a tapping on the side of the tent. “Hey, is anyone home?” It was a lady’s voice, one you didn’t recognize. You knew a few nice ladies, who would give you little sweet candies while your daddy went to do Aarons. You didn’t know who Aaron was, but Daddy likes him a whole lot!
“What do you want?” Daddy asked, sitting up. You stayed hidden in the blankets like he always told you to.
“You a kid?” The lady asked.
“What do you want?!” Daddy sounded scared. Why was Daddy scared?
“Relax kid. Cops are coming, the mayor is cracking down on the homeless. I’m with a shelter, we can give you a ride there.”
Daddy groaned. “No can do. Thanks for the warning though.” He started bundling up the blanket, dumping you on to the floor.
“Really, you should come with us. It’s gonna be cold tonight, below freezing.”
“We’re fine. Thanks.” Daddy unzipped the tent, and the nice lady leaned down to look in.
“We? Do you have friends in there?”
“Daddeh hab Achiwwes!” You waved at the nice lady.
“Oh.” She cleared her throat. “We, uh-”
“Yeah, don’t take fluffies. I know. Fuck off.” Daddy sounded mad. You didn’t like when he used words like that, but he said they were important words for when people were mad.
“Listen, kid, I know you don’t want to leave your pet. It’s going to be really, really cold, and if you would just-”
“What, come with you to the women’s shelter? Get all dolled up in a nice skirt for church tomorrow?” Daddy said, shoving the blanket in his backpack. “No thanks.”
The lady sighed. “Kid, is this really worth your life? We could call some family, I’m sure.”
“I said,” Daddy snapped, “no thanks.”
The nice lady threw her hands up and walked away. You stuck your tongue out at her as she walked through the trees.
“Hop out of there bud, we gotta get a move on.” Daddy picked you up and put you in your spot at the top of the backpack.
“Wewe we gu?” You asked.
Daddy sighed. “I know a place but…”
“It am nice pwace?” You pulled on the blanket to cover yourself while Daddy took apart the tent.
“…It’s somewhere we can stay.”
“Hooway!” You cheered. Anywhere with Daddy was a nice place!
“Can always count on you, Achilles.” He pinched your cheek, and you giggled. “Someone’s gotta be looking on the bright side.”
“Nu am bwite, am dawk tiem!”
“Yeah buddy, I know.” Daddy smiled at you, and you smiled back. “Let’s go before it gets much darker.”
“Daddeh, am cowd!” Your hooves were shaking in your little blanket bundle.
“I know buddy, I’m going as fast as I can.” He said a few more meanie words at the tent, which was not behaving for him. If you weren’t so cold you would give it sorry hoofsies! Daddy had taken you to a place without many trees, with just dead grassies and a few concrete blocks. The wind was blowing hard, and you had to keep a tight grip on the blanket or the wind would take it away from you.
“Daddeh?”
“Yes bud?”
“Am meanie wady Daddeh’s famiwy?”
Daddy paused, tent pole in his gloved hands. “Uh… no. But she wanted to take me back to my family.”
“Daddeh nu wike famiwy?”
“…No. My family is like your mummah. They’re bad. They don’t like some… things about me.”
You gasped. How could someone be as meanie to your perfect, wonderful daddy that they were to you?? “An meanie wady wan taek Daddeh ‘way?!”
“Yup. But don’t worry, she’s not coming back. And I’m not going anywhere.” There was a loud snap, and Daddy said a few more meanie words. “Looks like we need a new tent. We’ll make do for tonight.” He picked you and your blanket up and crawled into the limp tent.
“Tent am saddie?” You pet the wall gently with your hoof.
“Yeah, it’s… hurt. We’ll fix it in the morning.” He pulled the zipper, cutting off the worst of the wind. “How about another story?”
“Yus pwease!” You said, but you could feel your heavy eyelids straining to shut as he cuddled you up to his chest.
“Alright. So once upon a time, there was a beautiful mare, with a shining rainbow mane…”
You awoke, somewhat chilly, still bundled in your blankets. “Mownin’ Daddeh!” You chirped, burrowing yourself out. “We gun go cowwect shinies dis bwite tiem??”
Daddy didn’t respond, laying curled against the side of the limp tent.
“Daddeh, am bwite time!” You said, pawing at his face. “Wakies!”
He stirred, groaning softly. His face felt so cold! Daddy had only wrapped himself up in one of the blankets, he left the other one wrapped around you. You poked his cheek again, starting to feel the worry build up in your belly.
“Daddeh?” You had seen some unfortunate fluffies, ones without daddies, sleeping by the side of the road. Daddy said that they were sleeping forever from the cold, and that’s why you needed to stay close to him. “Daddeh, wakies!!”
“Hm…” Daddy pushed your hoof away. “No… I…”
“Daddeh! Wakies!!!” You stepped up onto his chest, tapping your little hooves anxiously.
“Just… a little longer…” He curled up tighter, causing you to slide off his chest.
“Otay…” You knew you should listen to him, but something in you told you this wasn’t normal. Something was wrong. His skin was so cold, and you were starting to feel your teeth chatter in the cold but daddy was perfectly still. Something was very very wrong, and you were starting to worry that Daddy would sleep forever. You didn’t know how long forever was, but you knew it was a very long time. What would you do while Daddy slept? He gave you all your nummies, you didn’t know how to get fries or granola bars for yourself!
You waddled around the limp tent, trying to think. What could you do, what did humans do to wake up? Maybe… another human would know?
“Daddeh?” He didn’t reply, still sleeping curled around your blanket. “Achiwwes am gunna gu fin hewp, Daddeh stay hewe.” You carefully pulled the blanket over him as best as you could and nosed open the tent zipper.
The dead grass was coated in frost that crunched under your hooves. You did a quick scan of your location, you couldn’t see much when you arrived last night so you weren’t totally sure where you were. It was a wide, empty field scattered with garbage, on the far side you could see something that looked kinda like a house! You decided that was the best bet, maybe there was a nice human there! Daddy said that you couldn’t just knock on doors and beg to be let in, that it was something humans didn’t like. That was why you and him lived in the tent and not a house. Sometimes you wondered why Daddy didn’t have a house, but lots of fluffies didn’t have houses so maybe that was normal.
It was a long walk across the grass between the cold and your bum leg, but you finally dragged yourself up the steps to the front door and rapped on it with your little hoof.
“Hewwo? Nice hooman? Achiwwes nee hewp!”
There was some shuffling from inside, and a voice through the door. “Fuck off shitrat!”
“Nu am shitwat! Am fwuffy! An Daddeh nee hewp!”
“No one cares about your shitrat father. Go die on someone else’s porch.” The lady’s voice from behind the door said.
“Daddeh nu am shitwat ethiew! Daddeh am hooman!” You turned to hop off the porch. You’d need to find someone who wasn’t a dummy to help, someone who knew what a fluffy was!
The door clicked, and you spun around. “A human?” A lady stood in the doorway, in soft fuzzy not-fluff.
“Yus! Daddeh am bewwy cowd!” You told her.
She chewed her lip for a moment. “Where is he?”
“Obah dewe!” You pointed with your hoof to the blue and yellow tent.
“Alright. Let me get my boots on and I’ll come take a look.” She shut the door again. After a moment of shuffling she came back out, wearing brown boots on her not-hooves.
“Gib upsies?” You held out your hooves to her as she walked past.
“Ew, no.” She stomped through the crunchy grass at a pace that you struggled to follow. “I don’t know where you’ve been.”
“Achiwwes hab been wif Daddeh! We been wibben by da big woad an-”
“Oh my god you’re a talker.” The lady cut you off. “And what kind of a name is Achilles?”
“Daddeh gib bestest name!” You snapped at the lady, who you were starting to worry was not a nice lady at all. “Daddeh say it fo speciaw weggie.”
“Ah. Fucked leg, makes sense. Sounds like the kind of shit my kid sister would come up with.”
You made it back to the tent, puffing and panting, throat hurting from the cold air. “Daddeh! Achiwwes being hewp!”
“Anyone in there?” The lady knelt down and pulled up the flap of the tent. “You alright? Your fluffy came and… Maya?!”
Who was Maya? You didn’t know. The lady pulled the tent off your daddy frantically.
“Oh my god, uh, uh,” She looked around frantically. “You! Achilles! Keep her warm!” She shoved you into your daddy’s cold arms. “I need to get my phone, stay here!”
“…Hm…?” Daddy didn’t lift his head, but he put a hand on your back, and you hugged him with all your might as the lady ran back to her house. You didn’t have any idea what was going on, why the nice lady was talking about your daddy so weird.
Everything next was a whirlwind, there was a flashy loud monster, and the lady took you away from Daddy while some misters put him in the monster. You screamed and bit her but she wouldn’t bring you back, eventually locking you in a little room in her house. You waited in there for many forevers, crying and attempting to get out. Though it was warm inside, you were very hungry and very scared. You ended up pulling some white stuff off a roll and making a little nest to rest in and wait for the meanie lady to come back.
When she did you tried to hit her, to make her give you your daddy back but she just… hugged you. She said you saved your daddy, which made you feel very proud! She was Daddy’s sister and he wanted to see you at the hospital, which was a place for sick humans to get better. You were very worried hearing Daddy was sick but she said he would be feeling better soon.
When you got to the hospital, the lady had an argument with one of the doctors. They were saying you couldn’t be here but she said you were a “Hero” and that her brother needed you, and that she would “shove a boot up their ass” if they got in her way. You didn’t know humans did that with boots!
Finally you were let inside and she walked you into a small room where your daddy lay on the bed. He was wrapped up in cloth and wires, there were lots of beepy things next to him.
“…Achilles…?” Daddy croaked. You jumped out of the lady’s bag and hugged his chest. “You’re… such a good boy…”
“May- sorry, I mean Wes, I’m so sorry. I… I didn’t know, Mom just said you ran away…” The lady said. “I should have known, should have called you…”
“It’s… alright.” Daddy pet your back as best he could with all the things on his hands.
“You can stay with me as soon as you’re out. No question. Achilles too.” She sat down on the end of the bed. “I won’t tell Mom and Dad, they don’t have to know about any of this.”
“Thanks… Can you… fix my gender with… the nurse?” Daddy spoke slowly, as if it hurt him. “They keep… calling me miss.”
“Of course.” The lady left the room and Daddy sat you up on his chest.
“You’re… a brave boy.” He patted your head, and you leaned into it.
“Achiwwes du whaebah Daddeh nee!”
He chuckled softly. “I don’t deserve you.”
“Yus Daddeh du.” You wrapped your hooves around his arm. “Daddeh desewb bestest.”
