Your nest is so comfy and warm. You have the best sleep you’ve had in ages, no need to share your bedding, no hard floor. Just your stuffy friend, your blankie, and you. You dream about playing with your poopie brother and stallion friend out in the yard of your new home. They’re laughing and having the best time ever and it’s perfect. You squeeze your stuffy in your sleep as you give your dream brother a tender hug. You miss him.
The chitter chatter of 49 other fluffies wakes you up from your slumber. You stand up and stretch out your leggies. “Gud bwight times, fwend” You drowsily say to your stuffy. Carefully tucking it back under your blanket you look around the room. So many fluffies! You almost can’t believe all of you were adopted by the same mummah but here you all are. You turn to your neighbor and… he’s not there.
You check under the blankie and ask his stuffie where 25 went. The stuffie refuses to answer. You peer at it and then look back to your stuffie. You hope it’d be more useful in a crisis. "Fwens, wewe ams tweeentee faif?
You get a lot of shrugs and even more, “who ams dat?”. You puff your cheeks. You shared part of the same name, he’s making you look bad disappearing like this! You trot up angrily to the nestie of the big fluffies. Smokey and Yogi were both asleep, snuggled up together in the biggest pile of fluff you’ve ever and likely will ever see.
Your anger disappears as you look up at the sleeping giants. Oh geez, you’d have to wake them up, wouldn’t you. Hopefully they’re not mad… You poke them with a hoof, then both hooves, then have resort to bucking them with your back hooves.
“Hmm? Oh, hewwo widdle fwuffy. Du uwe needs poopies?” Smokey smacked his lips as he looked down at you, “Ams sowwy, won fwuffy 'spossed tu be wakies.” He nipped at Yogi in playful annoyance.
Well, yes, but also no! “Yuh buh nuh wai tweentee seex ams hewe! Fwuffy neigh-bah ams nuh hewe! Ans nuh fwuffy knowses wewe.” You frantically point at the empty nest next to yours.
Smokey rubbed his chin in deep thought. “Dat ams pwobwem. Tankies foh tewwing Smokey, wiww wook into dis. Foh nao, finkin time foh good poopies.” The giant stood up and spoke to the room, “Fwuffies, fowwow Smokey foh poopies.”
Everyone followed behind the giant fluffy. You were almost certain he was a nice fluffy but you really didn’t want to learn if you were wrong or not. You waited in line for the poopie place and chatted about your sleepie time. Lots of good sleepies, which makes sense. You all had stuffies and a belly full of skettis. Hmm… skettis. Speaking of, you were getting hungry.
“Mistuh smokey, wen nommies?” You ask the giant supervising you.
“Nee wagaw Shannon foh dat. Many wuwes and talkies buh soons. Jus make good poopies and be good fwuffie.”
You nodded. Your tummy didn’t hurt too bad yet, just a little. It was your turn now. The poopie place did not smell pretty at all. You gagged and realized why you weren’t fed yet. If you had nommies they’d be sicky water on the ground. You did your business as quickly as possible just to get out of there.
“Wowstest smeww” you say to no one in particular as you gasp for fresh air.
You spot mummah Shannon and her mare descend the tower like the most majestic thing you’ve ever seen. The light frames her in a halo of golden radiance. So pretty. She walks past all of you and into the water house without a word. You play with a makeshift ball out of a pinecone, kicking and chasing it around the yard as you wait to eat. You saw mummah walk climb up her tower, you waved but she was too focused on something to notice you. You felt dejected but kept your head high, mummah must just be very busy. You still felt heart hurties, though.
Yogi takes you all back to the housie tent and you give your stuffie a good hug to work out the sads. Huggies made you feel a lot better.
Mummah walked into the tent and everyone’s eyes were drawn to her like… a fluffy to skettis. “Fluffies! Listen up.” she said with authority.
“Ams mummah!”
“Tummy hurties mummah!”
“Bestest mummah!”
“Wub uwe!”
“I’m sure many of you have tummy hurties, but first you’re all going to line up in the yard. Fluffies, follow me.”
You nuzzle your stuffy one last time and hop out of your nest. Nummies must be soon! You hum to yourself as you follow the herd outdoors. You do your best to remember what mummah meant by ‘line up’, and stand next to another fluffy who is in turn standing next to another. Another fluffy joins you on your flank.
“Fluffies! What did I ask you to do?” Mummah asks as she looks over the disorganized crowd. She’s clearly unhappy. “Fluffies. I asked you to line up. Do you know what happens to fluffies that don’t do what mummah asks?”
The rest of the herd remembers they’re supposed to be doing something but it’s clear to you that they can’t remember what. Some are crying in a panic, some are running around, a few collide and you smell the distinctly unpretty smell of scared poopies.
“I’m disappointed in most of you. Especially the ones who made bad poopies. You’ll be cleaning that up soon, by the way. Only five of you made mummah happy. 26, 37, 45, 56, and 69 please come here.”
Woah. Mummah said you made her happy? Incredible! You trot up to her with the biggest smile you’ve ever had, your tail is swaying happily behind you.
“These five will be your smarty friends. I will assign 9 of you bad fluffies to these good ones. You will listen to these smarty friends or be punished.”
Woah. You get to be a smarty friend? It’s been a day of the most incredible things, things you never believed would happen. A mummah, skettis, a housie, toysies, and now you get to be a smarty-friend? Your mind was blown.
Mummah turns to the five of you, “If I catch you abusing your authority I’ll give you to Sunshine as a playtoy to do as she pleases. Do you understand?”
You very much did not want that to happen. You saw the way she looked at you regular fluffies, like a predator waiting for her chance to strike. You gulped nervously. All you had to do was be a good fluffy, right?
“I’ll begin assigning fluffies now.”
Mummah was picking fluffies seemingly at random and assigning them to the other smarties and you. You had a mix with slightly more Mares, 5 to 3. You looked at the other lines and got a smidge confused. “Mummah, Tweeeenties seex haff questhton?”
“Your last member is currently missing, don’t worry, you didn’t do anything wrong.” She said as if she read your mind. You look up at her in astonishment, craning your head waaaay back to look at her smiling face. “If everything works out you’ll get them soon.”
“Otay, thankies!” You smile and bob your head happily.
Mummah ruffles your fluff and turns to face the gathered fluffies, “Before we begin our day, these fluffs get the honor of eating first. Eat the bad poopies, fluffies.”
You wince. Nobody wants to nom poopies, that’s like, one of the worst things to eat. But they did break the rules and it’s not like you can do anything either way. You watch in horror as Sunshine ‘helps’ the bad fluffies by shoving their faces into the poopies. You’re glad you just went not too long ago.
“Fluffies, remember your groups. These are your squads and are your new families. You are part of my herd, and part of your families, do you understand?”
You look at your new family in amazement. You have a new family, and you get to be the mummah? If you were a more paranoid fluffy you might think this is all going to be the wind up for a cruel joke. Thankfully, you are full of fluff and love. Your family is so good!
“I heard someone wanting food. Well, look around you.” Mummah pulls a green kudzu leaf from her pocket, “Your job is to eat this leaf wherever you find it. I’m sure it won’t be yummy, it might even taste like poopies. I don’t care. You will eat it or you will eat real poopies.”
Cries came from the crowd, “Nuh wan greenie nummies, wans kibbles and skettis…”
“Wai fwuwwy wun away… had skettis and nummies…”
“I will remind you that you get sketties every 3 days for eating the greenies. 26, I want you to head over there and have your family eat.” She point to the north of your camp, “Now go.”
“Yus mummah! Tweentee seex wiww num aww dah gweenies foh bestest mummah. Fambwy! Fowwoh!” You march off with your new family in tow. It’s not going to be hard to find nummies, they’re everywhere.
“Fammwy! Nom da gweenies!” you yell as you charge in and chomp at the leaves. It’s… not bad actually. In terms of food, it’s up there. Much better than the shelter kibble and at least 3 forevers away from the sewer food. It’s no skettis but if your job is to nom this all day? Life’s incredible.
You turn to your family who are holding back out of fear, “Fwens, ams gud nommies!” you say, your mouth full of leaves, “Twust big sistah tweentee seex!” They’re still not convinced but one of your fluffies moves next to you and takes an exploratory bite.
“…hmm…” the stallion says as it considers the kudzu, “ams… ams… goodeh!” He enthusiastically bites into the leaves.
“Fwens, bruddahs, sistahs. Biggeh mummah wans us tuh nommies. Ans is goodeh nommies. Be goodeh fwuffies and noms da greenies!”
The rest of your family decides to take a risk and take a bite. They all agree, it’s the best greenie food they’ve ever had. Your team moves like a well oiled machine, consuming the plant with wild fervor. You hadn’t eaten in hours and you had a limitless buffet in front of you. You chomped and chomped for what felt like 3 forevers, maybe even more than 3!
“Hewwo fwuffies, ams bweak times.” greeted your family cordially, “Yogi ams bwing uwe aww tu poopies pwace an tu wawas.”
Oh, you were actually pretty thirsty. You were having so much fun eating that you forgot! “Fank ewe mistuh smokies. Ams fwuffies do goodeh?” you ask him
Yogi looked around and considered the scenery carefully. He sat and pondered carefully, stroking his chin. “Yogi habs nuh cwue. Bweakies times.”
You followed him back to the camp. Apparently you were taking turns for breaks and yours was the first. Mummah waved to you and you ran over, “Mummah! Ams nomms aww daw greenie weaves!” You’re bouncing around excitedly, “Weaves ams goodie nummies!”
Mummah blinks a few times and mutters to herself, “I probably should have looked into how they taste. Glad that worked out.”
She smiles at you, “That’s good to hear, 26! And I have good news, we found your missing teammate. He has to wait in the sorry box until his collar’s tummy fills up but he’ll be joining you after.”
You stop hopping and give mummah a pensive look. Sorry box? Is your missing member a bad fluffy?
“If 25 messes acts up I won’t take it out on you, 26. I’m giving him to you because I like you and I know he’ll be a problem. Just do your best to make him a good fluffy, ok?”
Your jaw drops for so many reasons. How did she know what you were thinking? And your missing fluffy is that awful 25? He was part of your new family? The gears in your head were spinning as you paced in a circle trying to figure things out. But mummah said she wouldn’t punish you so long as you did your best… maybe it’ll work out?
New set up’s letting me draw and color a lot faster than I was able to before which has been fun, now I just have to improve my art quality.
