(Gonna start Labeling Emporium stories with KFE in the title from now on.)
It was a quiet day today. Not a lot of customers, the fluffies are unusually quiet. If i hadn’t checked up on them myself, i’d have sworn they all either escaped or died. But most of them are sleeping and the rest are quietly playing with their blocks.
I look over to Anna and shes tinkering with some machine, all of that stuff goes over my head so i don’t even try to ask what she’s doing.
I let out a sigh and gently pet Football, whos sound asleep on my lap.
“Guess its just one of those days…”
I lean back in my seat and slowly drift off to sleep…
DING!
I jolt from my seat, almost knocking football to the floor. I notice someone at the counter, they have a smile on their face clearly amused that they startled me and woke me from my nap. I set football down and send him away while i do business.
“Ugh… sorry about that. Welcome to K’s Fluffy Emporium. We sell fluffies and fluffy accessories. What can i help you with today?”
“I’m here to return a Fluffy that was bought a while back.” The man responds. He sets a kennel down on the counter and opens it up. A brown alicorn steps out and sits down.
“Hewwo 'gain mistah!”
“Wait… is this the brown alicorn i sold 2 years ago? But he was sold to an older lady.”
“Yeah, that was my mom. She unfortunately passed away recently and trusted me with taking care of Coffee here. But i work outside the province and i can’t take him with me.”
Football returns to the room with a curious look on his face after hearing the voice of a new fluffy. His little eyes widen when he finally sees him.
“Bwudda!” Football excitedly yells.
Coffee looks towards Football, a smile forms on his face too. The two fluffies run to meet each other before embracing for the first time since they were foals.
“He has a brother? Nice to see they remember each other.” The man says.
“Fluffies almost always recognize their relatives. Only time they wont is if theyre seperated before their eyes open and the familiar smell of family is masked.” I explain.
The man simply nods as he takes in the new info.
“So is it ok if i drop him off here?”
“Yeah, we’ll take care of him. But please note the warranty on this fella is long expired. I can’t issue a refund.”
The man chuckles in response. He wasnt looking for a refund, just a new home for his buddy.
“Thats fine with me. Just as long as he’s safe, he’s a good fluffy.”
“If he’s related to football, he ought to be.”
We both look to the two fluffies, they haven’t let each other go yet. Theyre still locked in a big hug.
“If you want the chance to say goodbye, now’s it.”
The man walks over to Coffee and Football and pets them both, im out of earshot so i can’t make out what he’s saying but Coffee is nodding along. Seemingly understanding he has to stay at the emporium now. The man then leaves the emporium with a small wave, leaving the province and likely never coming back…
“So coffee, have you interacted with many fluffies before?”
“Nu, Coffee onwy hab’ mummah an’ Bwendan fo’ fwends.”
Poor fella is in for a rude awakening… Sure i always raise my fluffy stock to be kind and accepting but even they might have trouble accepting an alicorn… but its worth a shot. Mingling with other fluffies would be good for him.
“Well let me be upfront, fluffies like you are often feared because of your horn and wingies. It’ll take some time, but hopefully you can make some friends here besides football.”
Coffee looks a little taken aback that fluffies would be afraid of him. I pick up both him and football up and i take them to the main pens.
I set football down first and i hide coffee behind my back, not wanting to reveal him too quickly.
“Ok fluffs! Gather around, i have a new friend joining you!”
The fluffies all perk up and run excitedly towards me, eagerly awaiting the reveal of their new friend.
“Nyu fwend?” “Wuv nyu fwend!” “Gonna wun an’ pway and wuv nyu fwen!”
“Just be warned! Hes not gonna be what you expect…”
I slowly sit down so im on a more even level with the fluffies. I slowly reveal coffee while keeping my hand on his head, hiding his horn. The fluffies are delighted to meet him, i suppose his black mane compliments his brown fluff very well…
“Now i want you all to stay calm…”
I slowly take my hand off of coffee’s head and reveal his horn. The smile and love from the other fluffies almost immediately vanishes from their faces and is replaced by looks of uneasiness. Some even back off and create distance. But they mostly remained calm, just as i asked.
“Now this is coffee, he’s a pointy wingie fluffy and hes gonna be staying here in the emporium with us! I want all of you to treat him well ok?”
Football wastes no time hugging his brother again. I’m glad he did, Football hugging Coffee and not getting hurt seems to have put some of the fluffies unease at rest. Some even nervously approach and join the hug, creating a small fluffpile.
"Ok then! I want you all to make Coffee feel welcome ok? Football, i want you to show him around the Emporium ok? Where the litterboxes, beds and all that are. Can you manage that?
“Otay daddeh! Footbaww be bestest guide!”
With that, i head back to the counter and sit back down, keeping a close eye on the cameras to make sure no one tries hurting Coffee or Football.
“You sure it was a good idea introducing an Alicorn to them?” Anna asked, not even looking up from her project.
“Had to do so eventually. Might as well have done it asap. Besides, now that Coffee is here we have a chance to tap into the Alicorn market if he ever mates with one of the mares.”
“Not even having an Alicorn parent will guarantee one is born y’know.”
“Oh i know, but the chances certainly increase. And thats good enough for me. Alicorns are rare enough that the market has barely been touched. I’d have kept coffee here when he was a foal, but the risk of him getting found out and stomped was too high. But now he’s grown and can’t die as easily. Hes a big payday waiting to happen.”
Anna just nods and continues working on her project. I continue watching the cameras and see Football, Coffee and a few others all playing. But quite a few other fluffies are giving them plenty of space, not wanting to be around a “Munstah Fwuffy”.
“So far so good… hope it stays this way.”
------------------------some time later------------------------
A little bit of time has passed since coffee arrived. He’s fared well and made a few friends. Mainly with Football’s little group. The others treat him with caution and maintain their distance, even refusing to eat at the same time as it involves huddling up to get access to the kibble trough.
“At least theyre not attacking him at all. Thats a plus.” Anna notes.
“Sure is. But i can’t help but notice tension whenever i enter the pens. Its clear the fluffies outside Football and Coffee’s group don’t want him around.”
“I noticed it too. We can only hope that they warm up to him as time passes and this doesn’t end up becoming a fuckin’ fluffy civil war.”
I simply nod and chuckle as i continue to watch the cameras. Coffee and a little mare friend he made are playing with blocks. Looks like football is sharing the magnet blocks i bought him as the two are building small statues resembling amateur pixel art.
“Seems he shares, even surpasses football’s smarts. Impressive.”
I eventually see some other fluffy’s playing with a ball, i mainly notice a green one. A known troublemaker named Roscoe.
“I’m getting a little nervous with Roscoe so close. Especially with that ball…” Anna says as she pulls up a chair to join me watching the cameras.
As if on cue, Roscoe recklessly punts the ball off in the direction of Coffee and his friend, knocking down the statues and landing directly onto the small mare.
“Nyu fwend!” Coffee cries as he checks on the mare and gives her a hug.
Roscoe and the fluffies he was playing with however, charge at Coffee and attack him. Idiotically believing he was the one who knocked down the statues.
“Mustah fwuffy huwt fwend! Woscoe gib wowstest owies!”
As an adult Alicorn, Coffee has the capabilities to win a confrontation with just about any fluffy in a one on one fight. But this is a three on one beatdown, he stands no chance.
“Nu huwt bwudda!” Football cries as he joins the fight.
“Dammit! Anna come with me!”
Anna and i both barge into the pens and break up the fight. I grab Football and Coffee and Anna, rather roughly. Grabs roscoe and his two goons.
“Thats enough! Theres to be NO FIGHTING in the emporium!! Anna, take those three to the backroom and then show the rest of the fluffies the security footage. Im gonna deal with them myself…”
Anna walks off with the three instigators and i set down Football and Coffee. Both are a little banged up, but not seriously hurt.
“Now as for you two… Coffee, your the victim here and you did nothing wrong. But Football, instead of coming to get help you joined the fight. Breaking an important rule. You had noble intentions, so i’m gonna let you choose. Option A: Spend the rest of the afternoon in the Sorry Box or option B: No sketties for a week.”
A small tear runs down football’s face. He would prefer neither, but he understands that despite being my pet, he’s not exempt from the rules. He composes himself and makes a choice.
“Footbaww choose… Sowwy Box…”
I nod and take him to the punishment corner. The box is full of different, passive punishment options from Sorry Boxes, Temporary Pillow racks and other forms of non-violent discipline.
I open up a more comfy sorry box and Football sadly walks inside and sits down. Waiting for his punishment to end. I then stand back up and address the rest of the fluffies.
“Sorry you all had to witness that. Miss Anna will be back shortly to explain what happened, listen to her and you can go back to playing.”
With that i leave the pens and head back to the main floor where i see Anna taking the tape from the monitors.
“They’re all prepped for ya boss. Have fun.” Anna says with a devious smile on her face.
Without a word i walk into the backroom and see that Anna had restrained all three of the fluffies she brought in. I grab a sorry stick from the corner, twirling and flourishing it in view of my targets.
“All you had to do was play nice”
I crack the stick across the ass of one fluffy. Causing it to screech.
“All you had to do was tolerate him.”
I do the same for another.
“But you couldn’t even manage that.”
I then get to Roscoe, the one who started it all. I give him three good whacks on the ass. Causing to screech and cry like a bitch.
“Don’t worry, i’m not gonna do any permanent damage. But this is gonna fuckin’ hurt.”
I continue whacking all three fluffies on the ass with my sorry stick. 3 whacks for one, 3 for the other, 3 for Roscoe, rinse and repeat until i see faint blood stains on their fluff. After noticing this i walk to one of the tables and grab a bottle of lemon juice, i pour the contents over the fluffies wounds. The stinging causes them to wail in pain. After a minute or so of watching them squirm i douse them all in cold water. Rinsing them off and chilling them to their core.
“Woscoe s-s-so cowd… so huwtie… nee huggies…”
“Wont be getting those for a while yet you little bastard.”
I free the fluffies from their restraints and bring them back to the pens and into the punishment corner where i stuff them each into the darkest, most cramped sorry boxes we have before marching out of the room. Still rather angry.
Football looks at them from his comparatively comfy sorry box. He’s able to hear the soft sobbing coming from the others.
“Ou’ weawwy fucked up…”
