This has been the best day ever! Crystal is so nice, and so fun, and the GloBlox are just as good a toy as you had hoped they would be! And Mummah is here, too, playing the bestest music, and helping make pretty designs with the GloBlox, and asking Crystal questions about himself and his job that you’re too shy to. You’re so glad Mummah is here, so you know that Crystal’s best friend is Oak, that people do mistake him for a mare because he’s so pretty, but that he doesn’t mind, and that his favorite food (besides skettis, of course!) is fruit smoothies, like the big pink ones Big Mummah always used to get at the coffee shop. You’re not sure if that really counts as a food, but Crystal staunchly asserts that its his favorite.
Mummah also asks about Crystal’s past, before Sunshine Feels. It turns out that Crystal’s mummah belonged to good humans, who had a big, nice housie, and lots of nice things, and were good to their fluffies. But when they found forever-housies for the babies, they didn’t look hard enough, to be sure the new humans weren’t meanie-munstahs.
“Nyu mummah tweated fwuffy wike toysie. Onwy fow pway, onwy fow when nyu-mummah wanted.” He’s looking down at the blocks now, and you want to know, but you don’t want to know, because the story gives him heart-hurties. “Nyu-mummah wake Cwystaw up in middew ob nite-time fow pway, den fo’get to gib Cwystaw nummies, widdle mummah see?”
“I do see,” Mummah says, in that soft, gentle-angry voice she uses when she’s really angry, but wants you to know it’s not at you, at all. You first heard it that day in the fluffy shelter, when she came to speak to you, where most of the little mummahs looked at you, asked the nice shelter lady about you, listened, looked sick, and went away. Sometimes their daddehs and mummahs made shouties at the nice shelter lady, like your story was so bad it would hurt the little mummahs just hearing it, and like the shelter lady was bad to answer their questions. That had always given you worstest heart-hurties, you’re so glad you live with Daddeh and little mummah now, and that you’ll see big mummah again later, too. “I am so sorry, Crystal. That sucks!”
“Hew speshow-fwens wewe wowse,” Crystal says, sighing. “Dey hit fwuffy, caww fwuffy bad namesies…” he shakes his head, and looks up with a sudden smile. “So Cwystaw nu stay dewe nu mowe! Nyu-Mummah weab windu open, Cwystaw jump out. Cowd nite-times, twashy-nummies, but Cwystaw wook an’ Cwystaw fin’ hewp! Nicie hoomans take Cwystaw to safe pwace, den Sunshine Feews.”
“Cwystaw su bwabe,” you coo, nuzzling him, and he leans into you.
“T’ank 'ou, Petaw,” he says, nuzzling your mane.
“I’m so glad you’re better off now, Crystal,” Mummah says, and gives both of you huggies. And you love huggies, and these huggies are extra comforting, soft and strong and smelling like Mummah and like Crystal, but they do also remind you that the spots where your leggies attach are really starting to hurt. Not worstest hurties, not like when the meanie-munstahs cut them off, just dull, strong, achy-hurties. You’re about to say something, when Crystal’s stomach growls, and you smell the best smell in the whole world: skettis! Specifically, Daddeh’s skettis. Apparently some people think mummahs should be the ones to make food (which is silly, once the babies are done drinking milkies, mares can nummie-find just as well as stallions) but in your housie, Daddeh has always been the best at making food. And he did promise to make Special Sketti for today!
Your forget all about your leggies in favor of doing your happy little food-dance. You get sketti twice a week for being a good fluffy, a little bit on Wednesday and a full portion on Friday, and those are sooo tasty, but they’re already made, Daddeh just opens a wonderful-smelling can into a pot on the stove, and adds other, special nummies to it, to make it even better.
But Special Sketti… Special Sketti is the best food that could ever exist in the universe. Daddeh starts with raw ingredients, like icky bloody beef, and crunchy dry skettis, the worstest kind of skettis, and somehow makes Special Sketti, with human magic. He makes it for you for Christmas, and on your Gotcha Day, and whenever he just decides to make it for himself and just Little Mummah, now. You always get a little bit with your own food and the leftovers for the next time you get skettis. Skettis may be the tastiest, but they’re not the healthiest food, which Mummah assures you is the same way for humans. She says if it wouldn’t be so bad for you, they’d give you skettis every day, they love you that much. Hearing that had made you make sad-wawas, even though you had been so happy. It had been confusing, but Mummah had just hugged you tight, and made some sad-wawas too. But she had told you not to worry, and then had put on a fun movie and started braiding your tail, and so you hadn’t.
Right now, Crystal has his head up and is delicately sniffing the air (he’s so pretty!) and you smile at him. “Daddeh am makin’ Speshow Sketti, fwen’! Am bestest bestest nummies ebah.”
“Nummies am awways bettew when am made wif wub,” Crystal says, nodding. You nod in agreement. He’s so wise.
Daddeh has set out two nice dishes on the little short, cardboard table you use in the kitchen. Daddeh says it’s easier to just throw them away when they get too many crumbs on them than to constantly clean the kitchen floor. You’re glad this is a fresh one, sometimes they’re pretty nasty before Daddeh notices to throw them out. Nothing like the bad Before, of course, with the horrible buzzing flies and no way to brush them off, tail cut too short and leggies all gone. You shudder, and glance up to see Crystal’s bright pink eyes, watching you.
“Pwetty mawe am otays?” he asks, very gently.
You nod. “Jus’ 'memewing,” you say. “Meanie-munstahs in da Befowe.” You’ve mentioned the Before to other fluffies that have been through hard times, and they usually understand what you mean. You can tell Crystal does. He doesn’t say anything, just gives you huggies, and then follows you to the table. Once you’re both sitting nicely, Daddeh comes out with a big pot of Special Sketti, and puts a generous serving in each dish. You can smell the special fresh leaf-nummies he always adds, and all the other things you can’t remember, the little bit of deep red silly-wawa, that Daddeh says helps to make it extra-special. You had lunch at Sunshine Feels, and you know the food is very good there, but you can tell that Crystal is impressed.
Both of you are trying not to make a mess, both to be pretty for each other and to keep Daddeh’s floor nice and clean, but when the food is so good, it’s hard to slow down. Still, you only get a few spots of sauce on the table and yourselves, and Daddeh tells you that you did, ‘pretty good, for Fluffies’ as he gives you wipey-cleanies with a damp cloth. Crystal is very polite, and sits nicely for his wipey-cleanies, before going back to the living room with you. You play a little more with the Globlox, and are about to say something about your leggies, when Crystal needs to make good poopies, so Mummah has to show him the way to her room, where your litterbox is. Mummah has what she says is a big closet, that’s like a little room, and it’s your safe room when you really need to be safe, like when there’s sky-shouties and the whole big world is too scary.
With both of them gone, your leggies really hurt, and you have to go ask Daddy to help you take them off. Sometimes Daddy is scary, being so big and having such a big voice and everything, but he’s always really, really gentle when he helps you take your leggies and wheelies off, and he gives your stumpies creamy-rubs that make them feel better.