As Nico rode his bike through the dying light of the city, he was struck with a few thoughts. Fuck was his first. What the hell am I doing? I don’t know anything about these little shits. Anxiety and uncertainty swelled in his gut as he came to terms with the ramifications of his impulse decision. He’s never kept a pet in his life other than maybe a few hamsters. But they’re supposed to be designed to be easy to care for he thought. His apartment didn’t even allow pets. My landlord doesn’t give a shit. He never does inspections. He was so busy with work and school, where would he find the time to take care of them? There are 3 of them, they’ll keep eachother company.
He thought back to the scene in the alley, those baby creatures shivering and filthy with shit, Nico knew in his heart that he was the only hope for these fragile things. That was a grim thought, as he realized he was almost home and had spent the whole time worrying, completely ignoring the chirps of hunger from the brown and purple foals. The black foal still covered his face and was silent, except for a fearful squeak when Nico tried to pet it.
Nico stopped his bike, getting ready to head off in the direction of the only pet store he knew of. He stopped to try to comfort the little foals.
“Hey, it’s ok guys. I’m gonna get you some food and- oh hi!”
Nico was surprised to see the purple filly… smiling? She was looking up at him with one eye. The other was slightly veered off to the side. She chirped up at him, mouth wide open, signaling her hunger. But still she smiled.
“Can you… talk?” Nico asked.
The filly wiggled her legs a little and peeped happily. She seemed to like being spoken to. Then came another voice.
“P-poopies? Nummies? Poopies.”
Came the soft little voice of the brown colt. Nico turned his attention to the solo semi-verbal one of the trio.
“You need to go poop, little guy?”
Nico was met with squeaks of distress and flailing frail toothpick legs when he lifted the colt up and placed him on the grass nearby. He then sat down next to him and waited. The colt searched around, confused and nose wiggling. He crawled around awkwardly, stumbling and falling when he tried to stand. Stressed, the colt looked sadly up at Nico, chirping out short, barely formed words.
“Humgwy! Poopies! Dadde!”
The foal flinched at Nico’s hand as he took him and confusedly placed him back in the plastic basket on his bike.
“You can go poop in there, I guess, little guy. Shouldn’t be hard to clean up.”
He spoke to the foal, as he started peddling again in the direction of the pet store as the foals resumed their chirping.
As the bell from the pet shop door rang, Nico was immediately greeted with a “We’re closing soon.” He walked up to the counter anyway and saw the cashier, a large, pale, middle aged woman with tired eyes.
“I’ll make it quick” Nico said. “I just need some food and stuff for some fluffies I found.”
“Fluffy kibble is over in the corner by the baby fluffy foals.” The cashier said.
“Well that’s the thing. They’re young and I don’t think-”
“Are they chirping?” The cashier interjected.
“I…guess you could call it that-”
“Then you need formula for them. It’s over in the corner by the baby fluffy foals.”
After making his way to the corner of the store opposite the register, Nico saw a small section for fluffies. It was small but crammed with numerous products coated in a layer of dust that suggested nothing had been moved for at least a few weeks. Plush cat beds made of vinyl or coated in teflon, blocks that appeared to be made of a stiff memory foam, hollow rubber balls, and some black rubber… riding crops? Something that looked like it would be used by a very small dominatrix.
Everything was at least a quarter of the price you’d pay for similar products for a cat or dog. And then there were the foals. In a glass terrarium with no top 5 foals of varying colors with their manes almost grown in chased around a single ball. They stopped when Nico approached, and he was assaulted with a quiet, adorable cacophony of “Nyu daddeh?”
“Sorry, not today” Nico said to the foals, who promptly resumed chasing the little ball.
Nico briefly considered the cheaper “all in one” brand of formula. “Just add water and squeeze through the bag’s integrated nipple. Bend and snap the chemical capsule inside to automatically warm the nutritious slurry!” Something told him he shouldn’t treat food for a newborn animal (living toy?) with the same level of care as he chooses shampoo for the unkempt rat’s nest on his head. He opted for a couple of boxes of powder ever so slightly more expensive, with written instructions on the box. He then grabbed 3 very small baby bottles, a buck a piece, and some fluffy safe “Sensitive Baby” brand shampoo, and finally a few “easy clean” blankets, little more than colorful washcloths but exceedingly soft, like microfiber.
The cashier quickly scanned all his items with the deftness of someone who’s prospered long in the charmed life of a minimum wage customer service worker. “You ain’t getting a sorry stick?” She said as she scanned the last item.
“Sorry wha-” Nico started before the woman slapped one of the thin riding crops onto the counter. "Here. On the house. " she said. “We’re supposed to give em out to anyone who buys a baby but ain’t no one taking those little shits” She shook her head with a slight smirk at Nico’s quizzical look.
“You’ve got no idea what you’re getting yourself into, kiddo.”
Nico’s eyebrows knitted and he grimaced slightly as he slid the midget BDSM tool off the counter.
“Uh… thanks.”
Back outside, Nico lifted his folded sweatshirt off the foals in the basket to find the foals asleep. At least he thought they were. The purple filly had her eyes closed again and she peeped cutely and quietly. The black colt snored softly, and in the cold xenon light of the parking lot Nico noticed the horn for the first time. Huh he thought. I didn’t know they could have both. I wonder if that’s-
“Nummies! chirp Poopies!”
Nico noticed the brown colt begging about something again. Nico was at a loss for what he wanted, or at least how to indulge him. As he threw his slightly dirtier jacket back on and finally made his way for home, he told it “Just make poopies in there little guy.” “make poopies?” Jesus fucking christ.
The ride back home through the semi-dark was uneventful, but Nico made sure he kept an eye on his surroundings and one hand in his jacket pocket the whole time to make it look as if he had a weapon. You could never be too careful around this time of night.
Back home, Nico brought the basket inside and couldn’t help but collapse on the sunken couch for a few minutes. 4 hours of school and then 10 hours of mind numbing work at the metal finishing shop was enough to make him fall asleep right there. But he had work to do. And in all honesty, he was kind of excited for it. Granted he wouldn’t have taken in these three little guys if he hadn’t felt obligated, and now after having processed all that happened since he left work, he wondered if he even should feel so. But those thoughts were pushed aside as he surmised he couldn’t just let them loose. Not if he wanted to keep his conscience. And Nico wasn’t keen on letting that go any time soon.
After a moment of rest, but not nearly long enough, he relented to the chirps coming from the blanketed basket and swung himself up onto his aching feet and made his way, pet store bag in tow, to the tiny stove and fridge. Reading the instructions, Nico opted to dilute the milky powder from the formula box with actual milk from a carton in his fridge, as opposed to tap water. They look like they could use all the calcium they can get he thought. He then heated and stirred the mixture in a saucepan before it started to steam. Swearing, he cut the heat and took it off the stove. He tested the temperature with his finger and pulled his hand out quickly, running his finger under the faucet. Guess they’ll have to wait a little bit longer He thought as he returned to the foals. All three were awake once again.
“Hungwy! Nummies! Poopies!” came the relatively vocal brown foal.
“Nummies? Food! Yes, food. Almost, little guy.” he said, reaching a finger out to stroke his filthy head. The colt looked alarmed and ducked under it.
“You two are really traumatized, huh. Poor little things.” he said to the two colts as he tickled the purple filly’s belly, the seemingly youngest and smallest of the bunch. Her tiny legs slapped his finger as she giggled in a way that was more squeaks and chirps than laughs.
“Huggies. Miwkies! …Daddeh?” she chirped, looking confused and a little bit sad when Nico stopped and left to check on the milk. It was a bit warmer than lukewarm now but he figured it was safe and they were hungry enough they wouldn’t mind. He poured it into the bottles and brought it back. By now, the alicorn had stopped hiding his face around Nico, but he avoided eye contact and looked down or into the wall of the basket, even when Nico wasn’t around. When he noticed the bottle that was placed on its side, he gave it a quick smell before immediately latching on, sucking down the milk with a pained expression on his face, tears welling in the corners of his eyes. The reaction was more or less the same with the purple filly. She chirped happily at the smell and greedily gulped down the milk.
The brown colt, however, was simply confused. He smelled the milk, looking almost longingly at it, before looking back at Nico. ”Daddeh. Poopies?” He said to Nico. ”It’s milk, little guy! Nummies! Food!” He responded. While the other two ate by themselves, Nico took initiative to lift up the startled foal and held the bottle nipple-first to his mouth. Upon the first gulp, the little colt’s eyes went wide before he too relaxed and sucked down the warm, comforting liquid. When it got low in the other foals’ bottles, Nico did the same for them to help them get the last drops. The feeding was over rather quicker than he thought it would take, and he let them rest happily for 10 minutes or so while they let out short, but rather loud burps for their size.
After that, he took the tired foals to the bathroom sink, where he started the faucet, keeping his hand under it to make sure it was a comfortable temperature. After that, he lifted the alicorn first, softly screeing, into the sink. He lathered it with bubbles from the foal shampoo and rinsed it, the already brown water turned considerably darker when the foal shat out some of its recent meal. Nico tried to be gentle, but quick. He knew this one didn’t trust him but he couldn’t just leave the guy covered in shit, at the mercy of whatever diseases might be in there.
Next was the purple filly. She chirped happily when Nico picked her up, one eye on him and the other pointed somewhere to the side as she reached her front legs towards his face. Her expression changed and she screeched when the water hit her. She screeched and smushed her face into his hand, gripping with her arms the best she could. The water ran brown, then more brown as she too voided her bowels. When the water drained, he gave her a quick rub down and left her with the alicorn on a washcloth. She cried quietly but seemed to enjoy the sensation of the soft cloth she was on, rubbing her face into it. Next was the brown colt, and nothing could’ve prepared Nico for his response…
When the water touched the little colt, he screamed bloody murder, causing Nico to jump and run to close the door, stuffing a towel in the space underneath to try to soundproof the room the best he could. He turned the water off and held the little guy close, shushing him and stroking his head as he let out screeching peeps of distress, tears pouring from his closed eyes. The commotion had caused the purple pegasus filly to start crying while the black alicorn simply stared at the source of the noise, looking concerned. ”It’s ok, little guy it’s ok! It’s just water! We’re getting you clean, ok? It can’t hurt you! Here, just bite my finger, ok? Can you understand me?” Nico got his attention with some soft head pets, which he could tell the little guy was getting used to, flinching less at being touched. He then pantomimed biting his finger several times. The colt looked confused before finally biting down softly, gumming his finger. ”Ok just keep doing that. I don’t know how well you can understand me but I’m putting you back in the water.” He felt the little body start shaking after “water” and his mouth bit down a bit harder, and Nico took that to mean the little thing at least had a conceptual understanding of what was going on. During the bath, the colt still screamed, but it was somewhat muffled in his finger. His little legs flailed and beat against his palm, and a few times he actually felt a slight pinch where his little toothless jaws clutched his finger. Finally it was over and he joined his siblings on the washcloth, crying while the purple filly awkwardly tried to hug him.
After that traumatic experience for all parties involved, he dried them a little better and left them in the blanketed basket in the main room. He flicked on a hair dryer and left it pointed at a washcloth to warm it up. He closed the bathroom door and took the time to bond a little bit with his new little friends. He pet them all and got different reactions from all of them. The alicorn almost didn’t respond, still avoiding eye contact, and Nico decided to not push the relationship just yet, opting to just lightly stroke his back as he kept his head low and sulked. The brown colt took some time to calm down but some gentle pets and encouraging language got him there. He still never laughed or smiled, but his ever-learning little mind made him squeak out some contextual new words he’d never said before. ”Huggies? Wub? Nummies… Nu mo’ poopies…?”
In contrast, the little purple filly was nothing but squeaky giggles. She chirped out a few fluffy buzzwords, and Nico wondered when she would start grasping the meaning of the words. “Daddeh! Miwkies! Wub!” Nico thought she looked a little odd compared to the other two. Her fur was a very unsaturated, dull purple, but it was still purple nonetheless. It looked strange on a living animal while her siblings looked more or less like just odd little mammals vaguely resembling horses. He never saw the appeal of the eyesore colored neon fluffies; after all he wasn’t a five year old girl. But seeing her act so cute he started to see the general appeal of these little things, oddly colored or not. After some pets, he left and returned quickly with the now warm and cozy washcloth which he draped over the three, all of them cooing contentedly at the warm embrace of the soft rag.
”Alright you three, it’s almost bedtime. But first, how about we give you some names?” Nico got all of their full collective attention at that last word.
“…namesies?” came the alicorn
”Nummies? NAMESIES??” came the brown colt.
”Daddeh!” came the purple filly.
The end of this chapter. I’m happy to receive any criticism, as usual. Please let me know what you think of the format. Is the emboldened dialogue weird looking? I was considering changing the colors for them, but a dark color for the black foal would just be hard to read. Idk. Lemme know.
Thanks for reading.