Jacob stood over the little basket sitting on his table. Inside were two little foals that he brought back from Frank’s house. They were the only silver lining to the day’s events, Johnny was in jail awaiting trial, Cass was packing her things and getting ready to move out, while Jacob was thinking of doing the same. The house was rented from a guy who lived in Virginia and Jacob realized that Johnny might be in going to prison for a little while. He couldn’t afford the rent for a whole house all by himself, so he was now looking for a fluffy-friendly apartment to move into. But it’s been proving difficult to find one that was affordable, Jacob worked as a security guard for the local mall, but with the recent recession the mall was closing stores and laying off employees. To make matters worse, the COVID outbreak hit and made most of the stores go out of business before the mall could cancel their leasing agreements with them. Now Jacob was afraid of losing his job and having to find something else to do.
The orange unicorn foal with the shaggy white mane was Sherbet, the other foal with chocolate brown fluff and a brown-tinted cream white mane was Al-Puccino. He brought them home just yesterday after dropping down to the Fluff-Mart to get the basket, some formula, and a milk dispenser disguised as a fluffy mare. The basket sat on the living room table with the fake mummah inside, it had two little buds near the crotch to simulate nipples, the two foals would drink from them. Jacob decided to have them live in the basket until he could find a new place to live and set up a saferoom there. Until then, the foals would live in the basket, eat in it, sleep in it… and even shit in it, with which Jacob placed a towel in one part of the basket for the foals to relieve themselves on that he would replace with a fresh one while the old towel was washed.
Jacob, taking a break from looking for a new apartment… and a new job, sat on the couch and stared into the basket as the two little foals blindly began to learn to walk. Sherbet was walking along near the rim of the basket, while Al-Puccino was drinking from the fake mummah, cooing in content as his belly filled with highly nutritious formula.
Coo Coo
Jacob smiled at the sounds the brown foal made. It was adorable as the little brown ball of fluffy sucked away at the silicone teat. Sherbet peeped as he left a little turd behind him on the edge of the towel.
Peep
Luckily it hadn’t touched the fabric of the basket, otherwise, he would’ve needed to move them somewhere else while the basket was cleaned. As Sherbet crossed the basket to the bundle of small pillows on the other side that acted as their bed, Jacob watched over them. After watching Sherbet poop, Jacob gets the urge to do so himself, so he gets up and walks over to the bathroom. As the door shut, Sherbet flinches at the resulting noise and spurts a little poop out of fear.
peep!
Sherbet blindly runs toward the pillows, diving into them for cover. He pokes his head out and chirps.
chirp chirp!
After a moment, Sherbet starts opening his eyes. At first, the light nearly blinded him, but as his eyes started to adapt, he fully opened his lids, revealing water blue eyes. And the first thing he sees is the fake mummah.
*chirp chirp chirrrp! “…m…mu…mummah?”
Sherbet said his first word and smiles as he sees one of the mummah’s teats was unoccupied.
“Mummah!”
He gallops over to the other side of the basket and immediately claps onto the teat, sucking down the formula as quickly as he could. Not a mere two seconds later, Al-Puccino, while still suckling on his own teat, opens his eyes. He stops suckling and tries to speak.
“mum-…mummah?”
He waited a second to see if the mummah would respond. It doesn’t.
“Mummah?” He gently pushes his hoof against it to see if it would stir a response. None came.
“Babbeh wub mummah! Mummah wub babbeh?” Again, no response.
“Why mummah nu tawkie? Mummah nu wub babbeh? Am… am bad babbeh?”
The bathroom door suddenly opens, and Jacob walks out to the sound of the toilet flushing behind him.
“That’s the last time I have some of Johnny’s chipotle enchiladas.” Jacob sits back down on the couch and notices Al-Puccino staring at him with dark brown eyes.
“Oh my god.”
He bends down slowly to get a closer look at him.
“Mistah… mummah no tawkie.”
Al-Puccino pointed at the fake mummah with his hoof.
Jacob took a slow breath, exhaled, and returned his gaze to the little brown foal looking at him.
“That’s not your mom, buddy.”
Al-Puccino looked at him with a confused look on his face.
“Wah? Wha mistah meen mummah nu weaw?”
Jacob ran his hand over his face.
“When I found you and your brother, your mom was long gone. This mom is just to feed you two until you’re old enough to eat sold food.” He points to the fake mummah as Sherbet was still drinking from its teat.
Al-Puccino couldn’t understand, his mom abandoned him. Why? Why would she do that?
“Am … am babbeh bad babbeh? Mummah weave cuz babbeh am bad?”
“I don’t know, buddy.”
Jacob watched as tears began to fall down Al-Puccino’s face.
“Mummah… nu wub babbeh… buh babbeh wub mummah! Hu hu huu…”
The little foal covered his face with his hooves as he cried. Jacob reached over and rubbed the little foal’s neck fluff.
“You don’t need to worry about that now. I’ll be taking care of you. And your brother.”
Al-Puccino cooed to Jacob’s touch and looks up at him.
“Be nyu daddeh?”
Jacob smiled.
“Buddy, I’m already your daddy. You live with me now.”
Al-Puccino smiled as tears of joy flowed down his face.
“Daddeh!” Al-Puccino wrapped his legs around Jacob’s hand.
coo
“Babbeh su happi!”
“You don’t get to call yourself that anymore, buddy.”
The foal looked up at him.
“Your name is Al-Puccino.”
Al-Puccino cheered again.
“Yay, Awl-Pawcheeno wub nu namsie!”
As Al-Puccino embraced Jacob’s hand, Sherbet stopped drinking the formula and noticed Al-Puccino and Jacob.
“Daddeh?”
Jacob notices Sherbet talk and looks at him. Sherbet stood facing the two of them as his brother wrapped his legs around Jacob’s thumb.
“Well, Sherbet. Looks like you just opened your eyes too.”
Sherbet flinched slightly as Jacob addressed him by his name.
“Babbeh nab namsie nao?”
Jacob nodded. “Sherbet is your name now, buddy.”
Jacob then heard what sounded like a tiny fart… and then noticed Al-Puccino shat a little in his hand.
“What the…?”
Al-Puccino looked down and saw the tiny mound of shit underneath him.
Chirp! “Al-Puccino sowwy… pwaese don be angwy at babbeh…. hu…”
Jacob put Al-Puccino down back in the basket.
“Don’t worry about now, Al. But I’ll have to teach you two how to use the litterbox soon. For now, you have the towel.”
He inspects the towel in the basket that acts as a makeshift litterbox.
“I have to wash my hands now, so I’ll be right back.”
He gets up and walks to the bathroom as the two foals watch.
Al-Puccino smiled, still slightly upset for pooping in Jacob’s hand, but grateful that Jacob didn’t punish him for bad poopies.
“Nu wan wike bad poopies. Wub daddeh. Neba makes bad poopie again.”
Sherbet on the other hand wasn’t so happy to find out he was living with a poopie babbeh like his brother. Al went over to the pillows to take a little nap, while Sherbet stared at him.
“Dummeh poopie bwudda.”
Sherbet walks over to his now sleeping brother and stood over him. Al, smiling in his sleep, his backside rose and fell in sync with his breathing. Sherbet was not happy to have a poopie babbeh as a brother. In fact, despite only being able to open his eyes just a minute ago, he vaguely remembered mummah’s words before she left a few bwight times ago.
“Yu am bestest babbeh. Nu am wike poopie babbeh. Yu wub mummah, hab pwetty cowas foa mummah. Poopie babbeh am bad babbeh. Nu hab pwetty cowas. Am dummeh poopie babbeh.”
Those last words echoed in Sherbets mind as he came closer to his sleeping brother, until he was standing right over him.
“Dummeh Poopie babbeh.”
He raises his one hoof.
“Gib poopie bwudda sowwy hoofsies”
Whatever happens to their mom kinda serve her right if she did died.