“So, fwuffies get nice, safe housies, nummies evwy bwight time, an nice fwiends an aww fwuffy haf to do am gwow nummies?” Archibald was incredulous. He had every right to be. This kind of offer didn’t generally present itself to fluffies, especially in the city. If it weren’t for the cheap ribbon he had managed to tie around his neck he was sure he would have been given forever sleepies a long time ago. People weren’t the kindest to fluffies on the best of days. And now this old lady was offering to take in both him, AND his special friend, even if she was a no talkie fluffy.
Archibald had always been a smart fluffy, it was why his daddy picked him in the first place. His daddy had been the best in the world, even if he did give him a lot of poky metal owies. He taught Archibald a lot of things. But then one day, he stopped moving. Archibald was smart enough to know he had taken forever sleepies. Luckily, Archibald was able to get out of the house by jumping from the couch and grabbing the door handle, even if he did hurt his leggy pretty badly in the process.
He glanced over at his special friend. She had no name as far as he knew, not that she could really tell him anyways. He had managed to save her from being run over by a metal monster, taking her under his metaphorical wing, teaching her how to survive on the streets. He showed her where the best places to sleep during cold times were, how to protect yourself from meowie monsters by making weird rumbly noises, even where people were more likely to give good nummies if you asked nicely, not that she could. She made him less lonely, and the night she had initiated special huggies was the best in his life since his old daddy took him home.
The day he realized she had tummy babies was the scariest. While curled up together, head pressed against her tummy, he heard the sounds. Tiny, little sounds. Sounds he instinctively knew meant babies. He had nearly cried, the two of them were able to scrounge up enough nummies to sustain themselves, but with more mouths to feed and one less to forage he had no idea how they would manage.
And then this nice lady appeared, and she had given him nummies without even having to do the stupid ‘dancie fluffy’ routine. He used to enjoy dancing actually. But he felt the people who demanded he do it enjoyed it differently from how his old daddy did. And now, she was offering to be his new mommy, and all he would have to do is ‘work.’ It sounded to good to be true.
“How hawd am it to gwow nummies wady?” The old woman smiled and scratched behind his ears, which felt so good. “Don’t worry dear, it’s no where near as hard as finding the nummies on your own.” Archibald sat down and thought about the offer. This was a once in a lifetime opportunity, but he hadn’t lived through two cold times by jumping into things head first. “Awchibawld nee’ pwomise.” The lady appeared to think about things too before reaching down and slipping a grey circle off her finger. “Here, you can hold onto this. It’s a memento from the biggest promise I made in my life, and if you and your special friend aren’t totally happy living with me and my herd, I’ll bring you and your special friend right back here. Is that a good enough promise?”
Archibald thought for a second, looking over to check on his mate. “Spechul fwiend, do you wan go to nyu housie?” The mare smiled at him and gave a short nod. “Otay, Awchibawld an spechul fwiend assept!” The lady smiled, untying his ribbon and slipping the grey circle onto it, retying the ribbon in a neat bow. “Alright, before I take you home I need to take you to the vet.” The lady wrinkled her smell place. “God, hope they have an onsite groomer.”
The receptionist didn’t bat an eye when Margaret returned, a pregnant mare in her arms and a unicorn trotting at her feet. “Would you like me to schedule two more appointments ma’am?” Margaret smiled. “Yes, and do you have an onsite groomer or a place you can recommend for a basic shampoo and blow-dry?” The receptionist smiled. “I can take care of that, don’t worry.”
She led Margaret and the fluffies back to the grooming room, the bath a clear remodel of the old restaurants dishwashing station. Opening a cabinet the receptionist took out a selection of bottles. “So, what scent would you like to go for? We have lavender, honeysuckle, birthday cake, sweet cor-” “Do you have ivory soap scent?” The receptionist smiled, retrieving a bottle from near the back. “Ivory it is!”
Turning on the faucet, the receptionist turned the handles to a pre-marked position. Margaret felt the mare in her arms tense up at the sight of running water. Archibald clearly noticed too, nudging the receptionists leg. “Awchibawd wiww take baff fiwst.” The receptionist chuckled. “Such a gentleman. Alright, come here.”
She lifted him up, placing him under the faucet as he smiled at the mare, exaggerating how nice and warm the bath water felt. “Wawa am suuuuu nice, baff’s awe suuuuu much fun!” He giggled and cooed as the receptionist lathered him up, oohing and aahing as the filth rinsed out of his fluff. “WOW! Dat aww in Awchibawd’s fwuff? Fwuffy feew SUUUU much betta’ now!”
The receptionist pulled him out of the bath, wrapping him in a large, fluffy towel and laying him on a prep counter that had been modified with a railing to prevent any fluffies from falling off. Archibald crawled towards the edge so his special friend would be able to see him from inside the bath. Margaret handed the pregnant mare to the receptionist before turning to more thoroughly towel off Archibald.
The mare kept her eyes on Archibald the whole time she was in the bath. “Wow,” The receptionist smiled as she wrapped up the pregnant mare, “Usually soon mummahs kick and scream, but she didn’t even make a peep!” Margaret laughed. “She can’t talk either.” The receptionist instantly appeared horrified, turning around to check if she upset the mare, only to find her silently giggling as well. A look of relief washed over the receptionist, morphing into a smile as she picked the soggy mare from the sink. “You little stinker!”
After a quick blowdry and some trimming to remove excess fluff from around the eyes, the receptionist placed them down on a padded table, turning to talk to Margaret as Archibald began to hug his special friend, gushing about how pretty she was. Suddenly a bright, peppy voice spoke out from the hallway.
“Hey hey hey! How you all doing!” Dr. Vaughn, clad in his pink labcoat, strolled out from what Margaret assumed was the autopsy room. “I see you brought some more patients!” he strolled towards the two fluffies, giving them a bright smile and a friendly mane ruffling, the two fluffies wary but enjoying the human contact. “So! Whats the two of yous named!” Archibald smiled. “Fwuffy name am Awchibawd, bu’ spechul fwiend nu haf namesie yet.” The doctor turned to Margaret. “Wanna give her a name real quick? It helps to put something on the file.”
Margaret thought quietly for a moment. “Lets go with Victoria.” The steel blue fluffy appeared to mouth something, then smiled. Margaret could guess what she said. “You’re very welcome dear.” Dr. Vaughn gave her a grin. “Now, before I can legally allow you to register these two as your own fluffies, I gotta check them for chips.” Giving the two fluffies some ear scratches, he felt the ends of the soft ears, then gave the receptionist a thumbs up. The receptionist nodded, before briefly disappearing and returning with a clipboard with two fluffy registration sheets on them, handing them to her along with a pen.
Margaret filled out the forms as Dr. Vaughn gave the fluffies their quick physical, sunddenly startled by a yelp from Archibald. “Pwease wawn fwuffy befow touch spechul wumps!” the stallion huffed indignantly, his special friend silently shaking with giggles. Margaret was glad the lack of a voice hadn’t dulled her sense of humor.
Finishing the stallions exam, the vet turned to the mare, pulling out a tongue depressor. “Can you open your mouth REALLY wide sweetheart?” The mare smiled and complied, opening her mouth wide as the veterinarian looked down her throat. “Huh. Looks like she was born without vocal chords. Never seen that before.”
“Are birth defects rare?” Margaret asked inquisitively. “Ones that make it past ten minutes, yes.” Margaret was confused. “What do you mean ten minutes?” Pulling the depressor out of Victoria’s mouth and tossing it into a nearby garbage can, Dr. Vaughn slipped the two fluffies some sketti treats. “Fluffies are unique in that mothers are, through methods yet unknown to anyone outside of Hasbio, able to taste the difference between a ‘good’ baby and a ‘bad’ baby. That’s why the cleaning of the babies after birth is a crucial step. Usually, the mother simply rejects the baby and it dies. However,” He gave the rotund mare a gentle pat, “it looks like Vicky here was able to survive.”
Dr. Vaughn motioned the receptionist over. “Can you please take these two back to the playroom and introduce them to Grapenut, me and Margaret have some, er, boring human things to discuss.” The receptionist carried the two fluffies of sight as Dr. Vaughn retrieved another clipboard. “So, I got good news and I got bad news. Which do you want first?” Margaret sighed. “Give me the bad news first, hopefully the good will cheer me up.” the Doctor smiled sadly. “Bad news is its not curable by any know method.” Margaret felt her shoulders slump. “Good news?” The doctor gave a sad smile. “Its not contagious either.”
“Well what was it?” “Perhaps the first recorded instance of a malignant primary cardiac tumor ever seen in a fluffy, in other words, heart cancer. Honestly, if you don’t mind, I would love to keep her body for research.” The old woman smiled. “Go ahead, I doubt she will use it anymore.” The veterinarian smiled. “Thank you, I’ll deduct the price of the specimen from the autopsy cost and the check ups.”
The two walked to the playroom, Margaret overjoyed to see Grapenut, Victoria and Archibald playing blockies together. After watching the new friends play together for a while, Grapenut noticed her. “MUMMAH!” He ran over to Margaret, smiling. “Hello dearie, are you having fun with your new friends?” Grapenut bounced up and down excitedly. “Awe dese fwuffies comin home wif mummah? Dey am suuuuuuuu nice!”
Margaret bent down and stroked his mane. “Yes dear, we will be going home with them.” Grapenut did a little dance of happines, trotting over to hug the two new friends. “Fwiends gonna wuv new housies, mummah give bestest nummies!” The friendly, bubbly personality of Grapenut seemed to put Archibald at ease.
“Shit,” Margaret muttered under her breath, “I’m going to need more carriers.” She jumped a little as Dr. Vaughn spoke from behind her. “Thats not a problem, we have a load of carriers left over from previous patients. Some people just leave them behind after some… particularly bad prognoses.”
“Ah.” Margaret understood. “Well I will be glad to take them off your hands, how much?” Dr. Vaughn waved her off. “Just take them. Like you said, I doubt the fluffies will be using them anymore.” Margaret stood up, smoothing out her clothes. “Well I will take you up on your offer. I very much appreciate it.”
Margaret looked down to check her watch. An hour behind schedule, she really needed to be going. “Alright, I really must be going. Thank you very much, you’ve been incredibly helpful!” The veterinarian smiled. “No worries, it makes me very happy to see fluffies as well kept as yours are.” He walked to a closet from which he retrieved two carriers, one being a specialized “soon mummah” carrier, furthermore it was a deluxe option with extra padding. Why anyone would shell out hundreds of dollars on a fluffy only to abandon it at the vet if it got sick was beyond Margaret.
After retrieving the cooler from the receptionist, Margaret and Dr. Vaughn carried the fluffies out to her car. “Thank you for helping me out Doctor.” The veterinarian smiled. “No problem, just keep me in mind next time a fluffy falls sick.”
Looping the seatbelts through the carriers built in areas, Margaret said her goodbyes to Dr. Vaughn and began the long drive home. “Archibald dear, if you or Victoria need to make good poopies or peepees just tell me and I’ll pull off to let you out.” Archibald nodded, not the Margaret could see it. “Otay miss Mawgawet.” She looked forwards to when she earned enough trust to become ‘Mummah.’
Grapenut and Archibald talked to each constantly, their senseless babbling forming a soothing background noise for the drive, the two giving each other a run down of their lives. Margaret almost swerved off the road when Archibald suddenly made a harsh growling noise, but it was apparently only a demonstration, of what Margaret had no idea but it was at least not a threat.
They made pretty good time homewards, but it was still pitch dark out by the time she reached the town, the fluffies falling asleep as soon as the sky went dark. She nearly crashed into some asshole in a truck who for some god forsaken reason was driving around with his lights off. Before she could give him a piece of her mind he had driven off. “Some people.” Margaret grumbled.
Trundling up the driveway to her home, she was surprised to see Thomas’s truck still in the driveway. “Hold on dearies, I will take you all one at a time into the garden.” The still asleep fluffies didn’t respond, each of them still tired from the days events. Hefting Victoria’s carrier from the backseat, she waddled it over to the garden, opening the gate to see Thomas sleeping sat up against the fence, the herd having formed a fluffpile around his legs. It was times like these Margaret wished she had a camera phone.
Walking over to the young man, she shook him slightly, rousing him from slumber. “Hey Thomas, how did the day go?” Thomas stirred, jolting to wake, disturbing a few fluffies who complained sleepily. “Christ Margaret I’m sorry, I-” Margaret held up a finger. “Careful, you might disturb the fluffies. You want me to bring you a blanket or a pillow?” Thomas smiled sleepily with relief. “Honestly, a pillow might be nice. I have plenty of blankets as you see.” Margaret smiled, opening the carrier and placing Victoria into the fluffpile, Bullet snuggling up to the still sleeping mare. “I have two more ‘blankets’ in the car.” Thomas smiled groggily. “That’s nice…” After placing Grapenut and Archibald into the fluffpile and retrieving a pillow for Thomas, Margaret went back into her house to prepare herself for bed. She had a feeling the morning might be chaotic.