Your name is Anne, and you’re taking the bus to work. Running a fluffy shelter doesn’t pay well, and your apartment doesn’t have good parking. It was easier this way. Even if you have to stand while the bus driver takes turns at breakneck speed. Just part of the life.
You step off the bus and start to walk up the hill towards your shelter. Midway shelter, a unique compromise between the abusers and fluffy lovers. An old brick building that used to be a daycare with two main doors. Between them was a large sign that read:
MIDWAY SHELTER
Good fluffies →
← Bad fluffies
It was a simple set up. The right half of the building held adoptable fluffies, well behaved creatures that were waiting for a new family to love. Some had disabilities or needed special care, but you kept them all the same. Someone would come along eventually that would love them, and if they didn’t they could live out their days playing with the rest of the herd.
On the other side of the building… was your compromise. You didn’t like it, but the “bad” fluffies had to go somewhere. Your sister Sarah ran that side of the building. She also sorted the intakes for you, which was a blessing. Smarties, bitch mares, cannibals, any fluffy with behavior that made it unable to be adopted out to the general public went to that side. From there, anyone could pay a fee and get to do what they wanted with it. No limits, other than a second fee for killing the fluffy. Sarah even provided them with, as she called it, a toybox. You shuddered at the thought. Fluffies were like people, and just like people they could be good or they could be bad. You didn’t deny that. What happened in those little side room just… put a sour taste in your mouth. But it funded the care of every one of your fluffies, and then some. So you sucked it up.
You unlocked the door on the right, and started your morning duties. The lights get turned on in the front office, which was split down the middle by a glass wall. You complained about it early on, the fluffies getting relinquished would occasionally see the “bad” fluffies on the other side and freak out. You didn’t exactly like seeing them either, but you couldn’t say that part. Your complaints were “acknowledged” but nothing ever came of it. When a particularly nasty customer came in you just found something to do in the back. Not that there was ever anything left undone in the back, you thought to yourself as you pushed open the door.
“Good morning fluffies!” You called softly into the dark safe room. No cages here, just piles and piles of blankets and pillows, with an equal amount of technicolor biotoys sleeping on them. The fluffies stirred, chirping “good morning” and greeting their friends. “Come with me into the kitchen, I’ll get breakfast going!” This side of the shelter was set up similar to the standard house, you wanted these fluffies to have surroundings they were familiar with. The kitchen was large, with an industrial dishwasher and a giant fridge. You started dishing up bowls of food, scooped from the giant tub of oats that had been soaking overnight. A sprinkling of a multivitamin, a handful of kale, and a spoonful of canned fruit cocktail went into each bowl and then was set in front of a waiting fluffy. Most of them thanked you, but you didn’t require them to. It warmed your heart to see them dig in, snorting like little pigs.
Once they were all eating you opened the door to the yard for the few that were finished to go play. You watched a pair of blue earthie stallions run over and kick a ball across the yard. They were street fluffies previously, a city fluffy control van brought them in, along with a few others. These two were all that were left of their herd, and you had high hopes that their adoption day was coming soon. You just hoped you could adopt them out together.
A chime knocked you out of your thoughts, someone was at the door. “You guys finish up and go play, okay? We might have some new friends today!” As you left the room a few of the fluffies were chattering excitedly about “nyu fwends!”.
In the office was a tired looking older man holding two fluffy carriers. “Hi, I hope I’m not too early…” he trailed off, setting a sobbing fluffy carrier on the counter.
“No, not at all, we just opened. What can I help you with?” It was a silly question, people only ever came here for one of two reasons.
The man sighed heavily. “My fluffy, Lucky, wanted a special friend, so I got him one and she… she…” he looked away. Everyone who came in with a fluffy had a story to tell, and it was your job to listen. “She stomped one of the foals to death. I can’t keep her around them, but I don’t have time to care for newborn fluffies. And Lucky won’t let me just give the foals up…” he looked at the carrier still in his hands, tears begging to well at the corners of his eyes.
“How many foals?” You shuffled through the files behind the desk looking for the right paperwork.
“Five. Well… four now.” He set the second, quieter carrier next to the first. “It’s just… a mess. I didn’t know it could go so horribly.”
You gently set your hand atop his. “It happens. Sometimes pregnancy can bring out behavior in a mare that you couldn’t have known about. It’s okay.” You smiled as reassuringly as possible at him and received a small smile back. “Can I speak to Lucky?”
He popped the silent carrier open, and a small green nose peeked out. “C’mon out boy, the nice lady wants to talk to you.”
Lucky was small for a fluffy, but not as small as the foals snuggled into the fluff on his back. “Hewwo nice wady…” he mumbled, golden mane flopped in front of his eyes.
“Hi buddy, I hear you’ve been through a lot.” He nodded silently. “You have some beautiful babies though!”
“Aww gud babbehs…” he sniffled, legs shaking. “Ebwy wun.”
You patted his head gently, “Every one of them, buddy. I’ll help you take care of them.” You looked back towards his owner. “How long has it been since they’ve eaten?”
“Maybe… two hours? I had to hold her down but they all ate.” He shot a glare at the other carrier. “I didn’t have any formula or bottles or anything. And it was the middle of the night.”
You pulled out a small tray lined with a colorful fleece pad. “Can you put your babies in here for me please? I promise I won’t take them away from you, you’ll stay with them the entire time.” Lucky looked to his owner, who nodded, and one by one pulled the foals off his back and on the tray. You began to fill out the paperwork, noting each ones colors and type. A blue earthy colt, two yellow unicorn fillies and a green pegasus filly. “Once I get them all taken care of I’ll move on to the mother.” Lucky watched you intently as you inspected his foals, but seemed to relax once it was clear that you were being gentle. “Okay, here’s the surrender form for the foals, if you can check that it’s all correct and sign on the bottom line that would be great.” You handed him a pen and started work on another form.
“Gun miss yu daddeh.” Lucky said quietly as his owner signed.
The man bit his lip. “Gonna miss you too buddy.” He said, choked up.
“Not so fast you two.” You slid the other form between them. “This is a boarding form, considering the circumstances I can give you a hefty discount on boarding Lucky here until the foals are weaned. Then you can come back for him and adopt some of the foals if you’d like!”
“Wucky… nu gu way foebah??” Lucky stared at the form, then his owner. The man read over the form, a smile growing on his face.
“Yeah buddy, I can afford that!” Lucky launched himself off the counter and into his daddy’s arms, and the pair cried into each other for a good long time. You prepped the form for the mare and scooted the restless foals into a fluffpile, giving them their space. Eventually the man set down a credit card and signed the form, still clutching his fluffy to his chest. “Can I come visit?”
“Yes, but you might have to wait for it to calm down if you come by during peak hours.” You put the finished paperwork into the inbox, to be scanned and filed later. “It can get hectic here, especially in the afternoons.”
“That’s fine.” He set Lucky down on the counter. “What do I need to do for…” he glanced at the other carrier.
“Oh, uh…” Your sister usually dealt with fluffies like this, but the other side of the shelter didn’t open for another two hours. “Let me take Lucky and the foals back and we’ll handle her.”
He nodded and ruffled his fluffy’s mane. “Daddy will see you soon, okay buddy?”
“Otay daddeh.” Lucky sniffled softly and hugged his daddy one more time.
You picked him up, and the tray of foals and carried them to the nursery. You didn’t have any nursemares at the moment, which was a shame, but perhaps it was good that Lucky get the room to himself. You set him and the tray of foals down in one of the small pens, the fence small enough that a grown fluffy could hop over it, but a foal would be stuck behind it. “Here you go bud, I’ll be back with food for you and the babies. You know how to use a litterbox, yeah?”
“Yus.” He picked each of the foals up gently and curled around them, covering them with his tail. He was oddly maternal, moreso than any stallion you’ve ever seen.
“Feel free to play with whatever you want, this room is all yours!” You softly shut the door behind you, headed back to the front desk just in time to see the man smack the side of the sobbing carrier.
“Shut up! This is all your fault!” The fluffy inside just wailed louder.
“Let’s get this over with.” You put on a pair of medical gloves and popped the carrier open.
The orange mare shot out like a bullet, and the man caught her just before she could fly off the counter. “Nuuuu! Nu shewtew! Where babbehs?!” She screamed. Her owner didn’t reply, just flattened her onto the counter with one hand.
“Just hold her there for a sec, I’ll be quick.” You jotted down her colors, an orange pegasus mare with a golden mane, like her mate. Her nose was bleeding, and her eye was swollen but she didn’t seem to have any critical injuries. “What happened to her?”
“Lucky roughed her up before I could intervene.” He sounded proud, pressing the sobbing mare further into the counter. “Not that I minded, she killed her own foal.”
“Was poopeh babbeh! Gib stompies! Am gud mummah!” The mare screamed, trying to twist her head around to bite the hand holding her down.
“Yikes…” you muttered.
“Yeah. I was told she was a fully trained breeding mare, but I’m pretty sure she was a feral.” He switched hands so he could sign the paperwork. “Goodbye Marigold, I can’t say I will be sad to see you go.” With his help you shove the fat, struggling mare back into the carrier. “Let’s hope none of your foals take after you.” He slammed the door, and the mare began to sob loudly once again. “Do I need to pay anything for her?”
“No, I put her in as a feral.” You set her paperwork on top of the others. “It means she gets a bit of extra time here to decide to be a good fluffy.”
He smirked. “Yeah, good luck with that.”
“All of them are worth a shot.” You said softly.
He shrugged. “Can I bring by some of Lucky’s things tomorrow morning?”
“Sure, but no toys. Just beds, bowls, that sort of thing. And if you want to get it back you should put his name on them.”
He nodded and turned to leave. “Thanks so much!” You watched him go, trying to ignore the screaming mare. She continued to insist she was a good mother, that her brown baby deserved it. You wanted to just toss her onto the other side of the shelter and wash your hands of her. It would be easy, and you could just forget she ever existed. She deserved it. But… you wanted to give her a chance. Maybe you could get through to her. You picked up her carrier and set in in the eval room. She cried as you left, begging you not to leave her. She could wait while you finished up with the other fluffies.
This is going to be a half hugbox, half abuse series. One more hugbox chapter and we’ll move over to the abuse side.