Skootch waved to his daddy from the safe-room gate.
“Bai-bai daddeh!”
“Bye Skootch! I’ll see you after work!”
Lawrence smiled. It was always a little sad to say goodbye to his pink and blue alicorn, just like it was saying goodbye to his old German Shepherd Scottie. But Skootch was at least a little less sad that Scottie was. FluffTV probably helped, as did the toys scattered around the floor. The plump stallion waddled over to his blocks, nudging them over before sitting down in front of the toppled wooden cubes.
“Skootch gon’ make bwockies,” he started, sing-song and off key. “Show fwiends biggest bwockies… stack su high… stack su pwetteh…”
Lawrence headed out the door, listening to the stallion play by himself. The TV started playing music for “Fwuffy an’ Fwiends,” one of the early morning shows for foals.
“Show ebewy-fwuffy pwetteh bwockies… show fwens bestest bwockies…”
Lawrence groaned when he got home. It was already getting dark with the sound of a rumbling stomach informing him of a routine missed. When he opened the door only the sound of FluffTV could be heard.
“Good fluffies like to dance! Do you like to dance?”
“Yesh!”
“Let’s dance then! Take it away, Banana!”
“Fwuffy dance wiff Banana… shtep shtep shtep to da weft…”
As he closed the door behind him, the man could hear his pet giggling and cheering goodbye to the TV. Not that it was necessary, of course, but it was nice to know that Skootch was such a polite fluffy.
Opening the fridge he pulled out a beer and the fixings for a sandwich. Deli roast beef, lettuce, mayo, tomatoes and lettuce. Going up to the counter he pulled a knife from the drawer and put his hand on the loaf of bread.
“Hewwo daddeh!”
“Hello Skootch,” Lawrence said, pulling two slices of bread out. “Did you have a good day?”
“Yesh daddeh! Skootch show fwens biggest bwockie towah ebah an’ den make pwetteh puzzwe pictuwe!”
He grinned, listening to the fluff babble on about singing together and how good everyone sounded together. Alicorns sure were imaginative. Or maybe they didn’t realize the people and fluffies on the television weren’t really there?
“An’ den dancie an’ den hewe daddeh! So happehs! So happehs!”
“Glad to hear it! Did you eat yet?” Lawrence frowned at the breadcrumbs on the counter.
“Yes!, the alicorn sang, wings flapping happily. “Ding-ding foodie pwace gib Skootch nummies!”
That auto-feeder was a lifesaver with Scottie, Lawrence thought. He grabbed an apple, cutting out a small piece with a minuscule bite out of it. The rest got sliced up, some going into his sandwich, the rest on his plate. Walking to the safe room, he opened it up so Skootch could join him for TV and some chill time.
A laundry list of things to do came to mind while he fed apple slices to the fluff, stroking his blue mane.
“Daddeh! Daddeh! Weawwy goin’ tu Sketti-wand?”
“We are buddy!” he replied, putting the vacuum away. One of the downsides of having any pet was the amount of fur that had to be cleaned up. The clear vacuum chamber was filled with pink, blue fluff along with other random colors he was pretty sure were from the carpet, stuffed toys, blankets and more.
“Yaaaaay!” Skootch danced about, bouncing around the safe room.
“We’ll be there for three bright times! It’ll be a lot of fun!”
“Thwee bwite times?” Skootch asked, stopping. “Buh wha’ ‘bout Skootch’s fwens? Can fwens gu Sketti-wand tu?”
Lawrence cocked an eyebrow. “Sorry Skootch, they’ll have to stay at home. But don’t worry, they’ll have lots of fun and you can tell them all about it.”
“Otay! Otay!” Skootch cheered. “Heaw dat? Skootch goin’ Sketti-wand!”
The fluff cheered and sang while his daddy prepared a small suitcase filled with clothes for the weekend plus some of Skootch’s things. The auto-feeder was turned off, emptied of food, while all the fruit on counter was bagged and put into the fridge.
“Gon’ gu Sketti-Wand! Iz da bestest-bestest pwace!” he sang, repeating the TV commercial’s jingle. “Guuu Sketti-Wand wiff aww yu fwens, cauz da fun nebah ends!”
“Hello, Mr. Lawrence?” crackled the phone.
“Yeah, speaking.”
“Just to let you know we’re done tenting your house. You can go back anytime you’d like.”
“Great! Glad to hear it.”
Skootch nuzzled next to his daddeh. The past two days had been great! There were fast, zippy rides and food and parks and so much at Sketti-Land! The fluff yawned contentedly while Lawrence looked down. It was amusing how often he kept thinking of his “friends” on the TV and how much they would’ve loved Sketti-Land. Every picture taken was to show his friends. Every meal was eaten slowly so he could tell them what it was like. The weekend was hot, but at least finding out that fluffies could eat ice cream helped with that.
It was an expensive weekend overall, but worth it.
Morning came fast but the drive home took much longer. By the time they got home it was getting dark already. Thank goodness for gas station convenience stores and air conditioning. Skootch kept babbling about how he was going to tell his friends about Sketti-Land.
When the house door opened up, an awful stench hit Lawrence smack in the face. Looking down he could see the pink and blue Alicorn was taken aback, face contorted, tail between his legs.
“C’mon Skootch, lets go in.”
“No wanna,” he said, glaring into the house.
“I’ll find what’s making the bad smell, don’t worry. Probably a dead mouse or something.”
“Squeaky munstah go fowebah sweepies?”
I hope so, Lawrence thought. Or cockroaches. Always best to nip infestations in the bud.
The two entered the house, lights going on. Skootch ran for his safe-room while Lawrence put the bags down. Opening the fridge he grabbed a beer plus the fluffy kibble in a zip-lock bag.
Putting them on the counter, he noticed a small brown lump of fur on the floor between the fridge and the cabinets. Before he could get it a screech came from the safe-room.
“HUUU-HUUU-HUUU! FWENS!”
He ran over, turning the light on. Looking about, Skootch was in the middle of the room, sobbing. Around him were clumps of fur in a rainbow of colors. Kneeling down, Lawrence picked one up. Instead of seeing a mouse, it was a tiny little caricature of a horse with blue fluff. Tongue hanging out of its mouth, the micro-fluff’s eyes bulged, body rigid and smelling of poop mixed with urine.
Skootch sobbed, pushing the little bodies together.
“Gon’ gu Sketti-Wand… Iz da bestest-bestest pwace…” he sang between sobs. “Guuu Sketti-Wand wiff aww yu fwens… aww yu fwenz…”
Lawrence picked up the sobbing fluff, holding him tight. Skootch’s face was wet, voice beginning to rasp.
“Gu sketti-wand… sketti-wand…” he hiccoughed. “Wan gu sketti-wand wiff aww fwens…”
((I blame @mutagen’s Cost Of Living comic @I_might_be_weasel 's comments for inspiring this story. Maybe not sadbox enough for @OtherCoraline but they’re also quite an inspiration for this as well 
))
