“Mummah! Mummah!!” You blinked the sleep from your eyes as your now grown foal shook you awake. “It am bestest day! Wakies!”
“…Hm?” You lifted your head, hearing the excited chatter of the fluffies around you. “Wha’?”
“Mummah!” Your daughter pounced on you, wrapping you up in a tight hug. “No mowe cagie, mummah! No mowe huwties!”
You frowned at her, trying to make sense of her excited chatter. You were an unnamed unicorn mare with white fluff and a green mane, and you had only ever known cages. You had been raised in one mill, where you and your siblings grew up in a tiny wire cage with your weepy, legless mummah and then sold to another that kept you in a very similar cage. You felt lucky that you got to keep your legs, it made it easier to care for your many foals. You had been pregnant many, many times, all of your foals were taken from you like you were taken from your mother. It was sad, yes, but you counted your blessings. Like your daughter, a beautiful pale blue mare that you were told you needed to teach how to raise foals as well as you. You were less lonely with her around, it was so nice to have someone to cuddle with on cold nights.
“Mistah Jim say fwuffies nu hab cagie nu moah!!” She cheered, nuzzling into your fluff. “Say aww fwuffies gu to nice pwace!!”
Somewhere… with no cages? It baffled you. Fluffies lived in cages, that was just how it was. “Whewe fwuffies gu?”
“Skettiwand!!” She cheered, rolling back onto the floor of the cage and wiggling her hooves in the air. “Mistah Jim say he taek aww fwuffies to Skettiwand, and hab guud nummies and nu cagies!”
Skettiland… it triggered something in your mind. You’d heard that before. Somewhere. It took a moment of thinking before the memory became clear.
Your littlest brother, small and blue like your daughter, had started coughing one night. He just kept getting sicker and sicker, your mummah tried everything she could but she just couldn’t hug him better without her legs. Eventually he wheezed one last time and fell silent.
“Bwuddah… am in Skettiwand, babbehs. Am sowwy, nu cum bak.” Your mother had said.
Skettiland… that meant…
“Skettiwand nu guud, babbeh.” You stood quickly. “Nee’ ‘scape, befow Mistah Jim cum back.”
“Wha’? Wai Mummah nu wan gu to Skettiwand???” She stared at you, wide eyed.
“Nu mean guud tings. Mean sweep foebah.” You pressed experimentally on the door at the back of the cage, it bent ever so slightly. You had never tried to escape before, you’d heard of other fluffies doing it but youd also seen what happened to the fluffies that got caught. If it could save your daughter’s life, however, it was worth the risk.
“Hmm… Dat sound nicey!” She cheered.
You huffed in frustration. “Nu am nice! Gu sweepies, nebah wake up! Nebah ebah!”
“Su am sweepy pictuwe pwace?”
You groaned. “Nu! Am bad pwace!!” You pressed the door a little harder and it bent open, wide enough for you to wiggle out. It was a long jump to the filthy floor, but you think you could make it. “Babbeh cum wif’ Mummah, nee’ ‘scape!”
“Nu! Wan gu Skettiwand!” She replied, turning her nose up at you.
“Babbeh wisten to Mummah!” You held the cage door open for her. “Gu nao, befow Mistah Jim cum bak!”
“Wai Mummah nu wan’ fwuffy be happeh?” She whined. “Fwuffy wub Mummah, wan’ Mummah be happeh! Wan’ gu to Skettiwand wif’ Mummah!”
“Skettiwand am-”
You were cut off by a very familiar voice. “Whooooooo’s ready for Skettiland?!”
You were out of time. As the fluffies around you cheered you took one last look at your daughter. “Mummah wub yu. Nebah fowget yu.” Before she could reply you wriggled out of the gap and landed roughly on the concrete floor. It was further than you thought, and knocked the wind out of you, and you lay stunned in the accumulated muck for a moment.
“MUMMAH AM ‘SCAPIN’!” your daughter cried from the cage. “MUMMAH AM WUN ‘WAY!”
You heard the heavy footsteps approaching, and scrambled to your hooves. You needed to run, you had no idea what was beyond this place but you knew it was better than whatever Mister Jim had in mind.
Sadly for you, fluffies are not fast.
A hand grasped your scruff firmly, and you were yanked into the air. “Someone is excited to go to Skettiland!”
“Nu! Nu wan-” A rubber band was wound painfully tight around your mouth.
“Silly girl!” Mister Jim said, tucking you tightly under his arm. “If you’re in such a rush, let’s get you and your friend down to Skettiland first!” He opened the cage with your daughter in it and she leapt into his arms, wiggling excitedly.
“Mummah gu to Skettiwand wif Fwuffy! So ‘cited!” She cheered.
You struggled in his grasp, but it was no use. You were held too tight, the rubber band on your muzzle was too tight for your hooves to grasp as you were carried down the rows of cages. The fluffies watched you go by with excitement and jealousy, you wished you could warn them. It would probably be no use, you realized. None of them knew what you knew. It was no use. You let yourself go limp in Mister Jim’s grasp. You couldn’t save even yourself.
“Alright, how about you first, girlie?” Mister Jim handed you off to another mister, and your daughter watched excitedly as you were set in a metal contraption. “Say bye-bye, she’s off to Skettiland!” A metal bar pinned your neck to the base, holding you down.
“Bye-bye, Mummah! See yu in Skettiwand!!” She waved a hoof at you, and you returned it weakly.
CAH-CHUNK
There was a sharp pain in your neck, and then you were falling, looking at your daughter upside down. As everything faded away, you saw her face shift to a look of confusion, and then horror.