You’re really not sure about any kind of rental stallion, but at this point, you don’t know what to do. Petal is desperate for babies, and while you think she’s cute as a button and are willing to help her be the bestest little mummah she can be, playdates with stallions have not been going well. Worst of all, it’s breaking the kid’s heart, too. You would do just about anything for your daughter anyway, but especially since the divorce. The actual ‘breaking up with Dinah’ part wasn’t so bad, because the two of you are grown adults and agree that Kay comes first, but then Dinah’s company had offered her basically The Best Position Ever, but it’s two states away. You’re willing to move, you’re an electrician, you can go wherever the fuck you want, but thirteen is a really delicate age for a girl, and Kay wants to finish junior high where it’s familiar.
So while the plan is to co-parent from closer, with two weeks on, two weeks off, with wiggle-room for holidays and trips and whatever, right now the poor kid is stuck with you. You love her to death and you know she knows it, but of course you’re only half of her parents, and you’re just not… girly. Like, at all. Obviously, you let her slap nail polish on you when she was little and you’d do it again in a minute if she wanted to, but she really needs more of that female bonding kinda shit. And weirdly enough, Petal has been a big help. Right before you and Dinah realized you really needed to call it quits, Kay had begged and begged for a fluffy, and while you and Dinah had been fighting about a lot of things, you had agreed that it had better be a rescue.
Knowing more about fluffies these days, you realize that a lot of brand-new designer ones turn into little bastards because their owners spoil them rotten and never shut up about how much they cost and how special they are, but at the time, you had wanted to be very, very sure of getting a critter that knows which side its bread is buttered on. You hadn’t been banking on what people, sick as it is, call a ‘pillow’ fluffy, all its legs lopped off for the convenience of some shithead. It’s done to breeders a lot, and you had winced as the nice rescue lady had given your little girl even a quick and sanitary version of the story.
You still remember Kay’s response, how her brown eyes had flashed amber fire and her ponytail had tossed with indignation. “So she couldn’t fight back?! Dad, we have to talk to her, the poor baby!”
Petal really had looked like a pillow. A ratty, fake-fur one from the sofa of someone with no taste. Her mane and tail had been clipped for hygiene, and she had just been a pile of sad, dull pink. Kay had crouched down to talk to her, and Petal’s big, sad eyes had pretty much sealed the deal as far as you were concerned. A little conversation, and Kay had absolutely loved her. To this day, you get a little choked up, remembering the way Petal had said, “Homsies? Wub? …Fo’… fo’ fwuffy?” like she couldn’t believe it.
You and Dinah had been the ones to get her set up with peg-legs in the front and a little wheely-cart for the back, so she can gallop around about as fast as a regular fluffy, but Kay had been the one to make all the rest of the difference, taking Petal from that sad, sorry little pillow to her present, pretty self. Really, Petal is just the type of designer-ass fluffy to get a big head, in the hands of people who care about that. She’s a pretty, petal-pink alicorn, (hence the name) with those lop-bunny ears and a shiny blue horn, with a lavender mane and tail with purple tips. Her wings are blue and shade through lavender to purple. Her coat is long, plush, and shiny, and Kay brushes it every day and somehow keeps Petal smelling like flowers without giving her some kind of rash. Basically, Petal looks just like the ideal pretty princess fluffy for prissy little brats, but has a wonderful temperment, calm, gentle, and grateful. She’s smart for a fluffy, too, and good company when you’re chilling with a podcast after work.
So, seeing how pretty Petal is, and knowing how sweet and smart she is makes it hard enough to watch these goddamn stallions act like they’re too good for a “dummeh” with no legs, or be scared of the “munstah.” She has male friends, but a lot of them are fixed, and those that aren’t have all been tried, and see her like a family member. Except for Peanut Butter, who had broken down in tears about his special friend, finally confessing a clandestine and torrid affair with a feral in the vacant lot down the street, and Seafoam, the youngest candidate, who had just seemed confused, and like he doesn’t get what all the fuss is about mare smell. Your pal Bob, whose fluffy he is, seems to think he’s too young, you’re pretty sure the little fella is gay. You’ve looked it up, fluffies can totally be gay.
Anyway, you could wait on dealing with a pregnant fluffy, personally, but Petal is really getting depressed, it’d be nice to have her bred soon, because it’s October now, and if you’re moving this summer, having the babies old enough to be trained up (and maybe even a few adopted out if it’s a big litter), can only be a plus. And while you do love Petal, what really matters is that Kay is starting to take it all personally. Petal is one of her best friends, and she spends so much time making her pretty and telling her she’s pretty… you’re no expert on female psychology or you probably wouldn’t be divorced right now, but you have to assume seeing poor Petal get constantly rejected is gonna leave some kind of mark. When that little purple bastard Bob’s cousin had brought over had actually hit Petal, you had thought her crying mixed with Kay’s was going to break you. At least Kay had also been crying because she was so mad, and had slapped him right in his purple snout, harder than he had hit Petal.
Still, it’s heartbreaking shit, and there’s kind of a pall over the house. You’ve made sure to be supportive, and to let them have ice cream and chocolate in amounts that won’t make either of them sick but let them eat at least some of their feelings, but you’re at the end of your rope. Which is why you’re even thinking of going rental, even though what that will do to the kid’s or the fluffy’s self-esteem, you don’t even want to think. Still, you got this tip-off from Dinah, who is the smartest person you know and the only one who can match how much you care about Kay and Petal, so… fuck it. Sunshine Feels Respectful Studs has to be worth a shot. At least a professional should be able to cope with disabled fluffies and alicorns.