Warning: spoilers for the Auldryn Saga.
A couple of weeks after the Three-Way War, Dr. Erwin Stahlberg sits down in his examination room, awaiting his first patient.
The Faucheuse Foundation is protected from those who would harm the fluffies residing here by powerful forces: wards cast by Deston, and technology invented by Pierre. And, occasionally, violence dispensed by Victor. And that’s just to begin with. Nobody who bears hostility towards fluffies gets into the Foundation.
But during the Three-Way War, it was evacuated just in case. Legion was known for assimilating fluffies, and the Foundation is full of fluffies.
Legion was already far too big.
Glenn and Cyrus, the latter currently in human form, bring in an unconscious stallion, the two Hunters having very worried looks on their faces.
They also both have ChaotiX patches on their armor.
The fluffy is an earthie stallion: brown fluff, grey mane and tail, dark brown eyes.
And he has a large bite wound, looking like it came from a very big dog.
“This is sewious, Ewwin. Poow guy was bitten by a wewewowf.”
“Was it Garm? I know the Association has been looking for him for a long time. He’s the one who turned Rex, you know.”
Cyrus shakes his head.
“No, but we found an orphan Garm had bitten last week. After orphaning the poor kid. Rex and César are taking care of her now.”
“That’s good to hear. The regen vat can probably remove the actual bite, but… but there’s nothing I can do about lycanthropy, I’m afraid.”
“We called Des. He’s got a phone, y’know. He just prefers a magic mirror. He’s got a Moon Pearl ready, he’ll be bringing it later. The fluffy is unconscious and it’s not a full moon. It should be here before the poor little guy wakes up.”
“Here’s hoping that fluffies can’t become werewolves, gentlemen.”
Glenn contemplatively strokes the fluff on his chin, in the same way a man who hadn’t been cursed with a fluffy head would stroke his beard.
“Wex has been wondewing about that fow a whiwe, but he’s not cwuew enough to find out himsewf. We’ww wet him know about this too. He hates Gawm as weww.”
Erwin puts the stallion in a regen vat with a sad look on his face.
While Glenn and Cyrus stand guard over the possibly-lycanthropic fluffy’s regen vat, Erwin prepares the examination room for his next patient.
When that next patient is brought in, his owner glances at the regeneration room’s open door.
“Don’t mind them, sir. They’re just very concerned about that stallion. Bitten by, uh, a stray dog.”
Glenn and Cyrus wave at the owner, with reassuring smiles on their faces.
The owner frowns.
“Can’t stand dogs, to be honest. My neighbor had a pit bull that was put down for mauling the neighbors’ fluffies. He used to have a fluffy of his own, but he abandoned the poor thing for constantly asking for sketties.”
“Was the fluffy’s name Julius?”
“Yes! I thought it started with a J!”
“Julius is here, with his special friend Cleo. Their foals have all been adopted out, but they’re happy here. There’s lots of other foals to take care of, Cleo always fusses over them like a mother hen. You can ask any mare in the building, and they’ll tell you that Cleo can be trusted with your foals. Now, let’s take a look at… what’s his name?”
The owner places a foal carrier on the examination table, containing a tiny pure golden unicorn colt, just barely weaned.
“Midas.”
“Chirp! Midas wub nyu daddeh!”
The owner opens the carrier, stroking Midas with a finger.
“I love you too, little guy.”
As the foal coos, his owner turns to Erwin.
“I just bought him from a dwarf. Gilius, I think his name was? He said the foals were all healthy, but I wanna be sure. It’s not that I don’t trust him, but I paid a bundle.”
Erwin indicates the badge on his lab coat, of the ChaotiX logo.
The owner chuckles.
“Oh yeah, he had a patch like that, on his armor. I can’t believe dwarves wear armor all the time, the heat can be sweltering at times around here.”
“A lot of dwarves work as miners and smiths, they’re used to warmth. Don’t worry, Gilius is a friend of mine. I’ve been checking up on Glitter throughout her pregnancy, and on the litter after the birth. They’re all healthy, as Gilius promised. He would never swindle someone. But it’s always good to be sure.”
Erwin places Midas on the Stahlskanner.
ping!
“See? Vollkommen gesund.”
“Peep. Wut?”
“…I’m sorry, I don’t speak German.”
“It means perfectly healthy, sir. The only thing Midas here really needs is a generous amount of affection from a caring owner.”
“Well, don’t worry about that. Now that damn pit bull is gone, I can let Midas play in the yard.”
“I’d still wait for that, a yard can be a very dangerous place for a foal. Unless you set up a designated play area, and you can pick up everything you need for that at Flufftopia.”
“Welp, guess we’re going to Flufftopia, Midas.”
After Midas and his new owner leave, Erwin gets his examination room ready for the next patient.
Calvin and Marley bring in a mare who is barely alive, heavily bruised, and leaking blood and sticky white fluid from her no-nos.
Calvin and Marley are both so angry about the last one that their eyes are glowing red.
They don’t even notice Glenn and Cyrus in the regeneration room.
Erwin sees the looks on Calvin and Marley’s faces.
“This wasn’t done by a stallion, was it?”
“No. No, it wasn’t.”
“Mawwey wan-ed tu kiww da sun of a bitch hu did dis. But dat nu am how we du dis.”
“Mar, I wanted to kill him too, believe me. But he’s not worth it.”
Calvin places the mare on the Stahlskanner.
bzzz
Erwin looks at the screen.
“Yup, look at that, severe internal bleeding, we’ll have to–”
The mare goes limp, and is no more.
“Oh. Well, we can’t save everyone, gentlemen.”
“John was with us when we caught the asshole who was doing this. He told us if she dies of her injuries, the owner will be doing life in prison.”
“Su dewe am dat, daddeh. Da asshowe wiww haf fun in pwi-sun, wen dey fine owt wai he am dewe.”
“Yeah, they don’t like fluffy rapists in prison, for a lot of the same reasons they don’t like pedophiles in prison. So the asshole’s life sentence won’t be very long if he’s kept in gen pop. Erwin, we need to go tell John about this. Move the body, we’ll need a coroner to take a look at it.”
After Drew is called in to bring the mare’s body to the morgue, Calvin and Marley leave, and Erwin gets his room ready for the next patient.
Yes, there’s a morgue on the premises. As Erwin said, the Foundation can’t save everyone.
Rosa brings in Del and Phyllis, who, despite the feminine names, are both stallions. And special friends.
They’ve been living at the Foundation ever since Samuel the angel rescued them from a homophobic abuser.
The abandoned foals they had been given to raise have all grown up and have been adopted out, but, like Cleo and Julius, the happy gay fluffy couple has plenty of love for any other foals brought in and in need of parents, and can be trusted with foals.
“They just need a check-up, Doctor.”
“Yes, yes. How are the new foals doing, gentlemen?”
Just a few days ago, two foals, the sole survivors of their litter, were saved from meeting the same fate as their siblings by Amy, Buzz, Hank and Angus. The foals’ former owner was surprised when four individuals small enough for him to step on without even noticing them crawled up his pant leg and effortlessly subdued him.
Angus, true to form, headbutted the owner in the balls while cursing in Gaelic when the pictsie saw what the bastard had done to the other foals, and their parents, and had to be talked out of siccing his entire clan on the bastard by the others.
The surviving pair of foals are currently being looked after by Cleo and Julius while Del and Phyllis get their check-up. The two couples are close friends by now. Both couples chose to stay at the Foundation, knowing that there are foals here who need help and lots of wub.
“Babbehs am duin gud, doc-tow. Dey bof am hew-fee.”
“Fiwwis fink dey gun opun dey see-pwaces suun.”
“Ah, that’s good. Well then, who wants to go first?”
Del raises a hoof, so Erwin carefully places him on the Stahlskanner.
ping!
“Fit as a fiddle like always, Del.”
Then he places Phyllis on the scanner.
ping!
“Ah, no more anal injuries.”
“Dew am mowe cawe-fuw nao.”
It shouldn’t have to be explained how Del injured Phyllis’ anus. Rest assured that it wasn’t intentional.
Del smiles and nods. If Del and Phyllis were human, Del would instead be calling Phyllis out for bringing this up in public.
“Dey gave Dew and Fiwwus woob, it make da speciaw huggies ee-zee-yuw.”
But fluffies, unlike humans, have no taboo against discussing matters of a carnal nature in public.
And yes, Flufftopia sells that too. Along with a lube dispenser that can be operated by a fluffy, so Phyllis doesn’t have to ask the humans to lube him up every time the couple wants to… y’know.
As Rosa takes the couple to have a bath, Minerva, the Foundation’s resident AI, chimes in.
“Shall I play Car Wash again, Rosa?”
“¡Por favor, no! ¡Ya fue bastante malo la primera vez! I’ll donate you to an inner city school if you do it again!”
Rosa has made that threat several times, and Minerva knows it’s a bluff.
They actually enjoy bickering with each other.
Erwin decides to take a break, and, leaving the two Hunters standing guard over the possibly-lycanthropic fluffy, he makes his way out.
In the lobby, he sees a new hire manning the counter.
Or rather, womanning the counter.
“I’ll be right back, Gilda. I’m just going to Starbucks.”
“Yes, Dr. Stahlberg.”
After a generous serving of humble pie, Gilda finally realized that she had fucked up. So, at long last, she got a proper job. That is, one where she doesn’t have to spend all day on her back.
Because, of course, she does have a mouth to feed, a second mouth to feed soon to arrive, and her career as a streetwalker was short-lived and unsuccessful. Her attempts to find a new sugar daddy just weren’t working. Gilda Diggory has a reputation by now.
But she also realized that she wouldn’t be in this mess if she had treated people and fluffies better.
So she decided she needed to make some changes, if not for herself, then for her children.
The Foundation was happy to take her on, because the Faucheuse family is always happy to help people redeem themselves. Many people, they’re aware, don’t learn this lesson until after they die, and by then, it’s probably too late for them.
And they know that Gilda’s change of heart is sincere, because, not only has she stopped calling fluffies shitrats…
She’s also deleted her PornHub account.
And she’s deleted her Tinder account, too.