“Lady Luck”
By Solidus.
Snow had come, and heavily.
Dozens of fluffies lay dead and many more lay freezing.
Carter surveyed the scene. Frankly, it was unqualified slaughter. Between hungry dogs and the freezing cold, none remained alive, it seemed.
He felt a tug at his leg. “Pwease…….” it was a stallion, near death by the look of it. He knelt. “I can’t do anything for you…. you’re pretty much dead already.” He said.
“Fluffy know dat……” it croaked, rolling slightly. There was a sleeping foal beneath it, a talkie by the look of it. “Wastest babbeh……pwease…… No wan babbeh to go foweba sweepies…” it begged. Pitiful. Frankly, Carter didn’t like this things, and was apathetic to it at best.
Carter looked at it. “Would it even matter if I do? It probably won’t survive either, and it won’t have a family anyways.”
A hand fell on his shoulder. He looked back, it was a woman, with short cropped blonde hair.
“Take the foal.”
He blinked.
“Piss off! You take it!”
“Can’t. Has to be you.”
“Why?”
“He asked you.” She said, gesturing to the dying stallion.
“So. What?”
“You’d do well to honor the requests of the dying. It’s the right thing to do.”
“……Why does it even MATTER?”
She pointed at the foal “It matters to her.”
Carter looked back, scowling. “Fine……I’ll take care of your foal. I promise.”
“Thank……you…….” The fluffy managed, smiling as it closed it’s eyes. He took off his scarf and wrapped the foal in it, holding her close. “You got some nerve coming up to a stranger and-“
The woman was gone.
There were no footprints in the snow.
Carter felt a shiver run up his spine. Something told him he had better keep his word. He looked down at the foal, a tiny, barely alive thing.
“I promised to take care of you, and I will. I’ll name you……”
He thought for a moment, reaching for something that seemed proper. Given her survival, and the strange woman…
“Roulette. You’re a lucky little girl, after all….”