If I’ve planned this out right, this chapter should mark the half-way point of the story, so things should start moving in a more forward motion. Or maybe I’m still stalling for time before I pull the rug out from under you all.
Who knows? I’m just making this up as I go along.
Katherine had known she was pregnant for a few days now.
At first she thought she was just getting worked up trying to find a mate for Lily, that the constant thought of foals was triggering her own maternal instincts. Then she missed her period, that alone wouldn’t have set her off but combined with her recent focus on infants and Katherine felt it best to take a test just in case.
If she had worked out the timings right, she was a little over 2 months.
It was Josef’s kid, of that she knew for definite. They hadn’t technically gotten back together but a few too many meals together leading to a few too many drinks at night meant that were unofficially official, although she had to wonder if their relationship was still going, or even if she wanted it to be.
Looking in the mirror, Katherine could see the very faintest bulge starting to form on her stomach, barely noticeable unless you knew to look and Katherine did know. As she gently ran a hand across her torso her mind flashed with The A Word, it had crossed her mind before, more so now she wasn’t certain how things were going with Josef. Despite her business requiring her to kill Fluffy foals on occasion, Katherine was pro-choice and had believed that if she was ever pregnant, she’d make the right choice for her child, now she was pregnant and she wasn’t sure what the right choice was.
Now that it was her own kid, that A Word felt a lot more dangerous than it did before.
Deciding to leave it for the moment, Katherine finished getting dressed and went back downstairs, finding Spike and Lily curled up together, both of them smiling after their ‘fun’ the night before. Katherine looked at them both, wondering if she should punish them, on the one hand she DID get Spike on the off-chance that he would become her special-friend and she hadn’t specifically said ‘No special-huggies’, on the other they hadn’t asked, if they had she would’ve said no since they didn’t know if Spike was safe from Josef, now they had think the same of Lily and her foals.
She decided not to, after the trauma of yesterday both of them deserved at least a short moment of happiness before she had to ruin it with reality. Kneeling down, Katherine softly shook them both awake.
“Rise and shine guys, it’s morning.”
Spike was up in a flash, his feral instincts kicked in and without even thinking, his hoof was over Lily, trying to protect her. He softened when he realised where he was, just as Lily slowly arose herself from her bed.
“Gud bwite-time mummah. Time fow bweakfas nummies?”
“It is Lily, I’ll get you some kibble poured in a moment, just need to attached your wheels first.”
Even without her arms, Lily still sat on her butt and put herself into the ‘Upsie’ pose as was instinct for all Fluffies. Katherine lifted her up and set her wheel harness onto her front, after almost a year of this they had both found a way to keep the harness secured yet comfortable, Lily did still occasional ask ‘How wong tiww weggies?’ but it was a rare occurrence.
Spike watched Katherine and Lily at work, seeing the bond between them as Lily truly and wholly trusted Katherine, even at her most vulnerable state. The only interaction Spike had with humans was Josef who still traumatised him, and the workers at The Farm who were nice but distant due to the F.A.07 influx. He’d never considered humans to ‘friends’ until recently, and seeing Lily so comfortable with her ‘mummah’, it made him sad that he never got the chance for that simple, happy lifestyle.
Maybe his children would fare better.
Once Lily was secured, Katherine led the two of them to the kitchen and set out two bowls for them, but before pouring the kibble, she paused and looked at Lily.
“Lily, I know you and Spike had special-huggies last night, I know you are a soon-mummah now.”
Lily’s face went from proud at the thought of being a soon-mummah, to worried about the serious look on Katherine’s face, to ashamed in a matter of seconds, Spike bit his cheek to keep from shouting out but Katherine could tell he was ready to jump in and save her if he had to.
“I’m not angry Lily, I did get Spike in the hopes one day you would become special-friends, and I am happy you’ve both taken to each other so quickly. But you should’ve asked me beforehand, Spike’s in danger if we can’t find his siblings, and I don’t want you or your babies to get hurt if Josef tries to take him.”
“Wiwy knyo mummah, but fink dat Joesep say he nu wan gib huwties tu Wiwy, su babbehs am safe, an may-bee Spike as weww. Coz if Joesep huwt Spike he huwt Wiwy tuu, an say he nu du dat.”
The innocence of a Fluffy was as tragic as it was hilarious, in Katherine’s case it was the former, Lily still saw Josef as the strange sometime-daddeh who promised not to hurt her. Her logic was there but it was flawed, missing the intricate grey morality of human thinking. Katherine sighed and gave Lily a pat on the head.
“I hope you’re right.”
And with that, Katherine poured out the kibble, putting a little extra in Lily’s bowl for her foals.
“I am going to punish you though, just so you understand to ask next time. There will be no Fluff-TV today while I’m at work, you have Spike and you have your toys to keep you entertained, but no TV.”
Spike, who’d never seen Fluff-TV before, nor even really heard of it, was unsure why this was a punishment, but the sad look in Lily’s eye told him it was a harsh one.
“Wiwy undastan mummah, am sowwy fow habben enfies.”
“It’s ok Lily, just remember to ask next time.”
Katherine left the Fluffies and went to get ready for work, Lily dug into her kibble until she saw Spike looking apprehensive.
“Wha wong speciaw-fwiend?”
“Spike jus finkin. Stiww nu knyo wha fink of hoomin, Kat-A-Wine wub Wiwy, bu stiww gib heawt-huwties fow bein soon-mummah.”
“Dis am Mummah’s homesie. Wiwy nu be gud Fwuffy, mummah stiww wub Wiwy bu need tu pun-ess Wiwy su Wiwy knyo tu nu be bad Fwuffy.”
“Habben babbehs make Wiwy bad Fwuffy?”
Lily shook her head. “Habben babbehs wen mummah nu say tu make Wiwy bad Fwuffy. Mummah gib Wiwy heawt-huwties fow nu wettin Fwuffies watch Tee-Bee. Bu dat wittew pun-essmen, Wiwy heaw weawwy bad Fwuffies hab wowstesh huwties.”
Spike thought back to his time on the streets, the amount of domesticated Fluffies he saw roaming the streets, abandoned because they wanted a family, or even worse, mutilated THEN abandoned. He hadn’t understood why foals were so much more important than safety, now that he was a soon-daddeh, it made sense to him.
“If Kat-A-Wine thwow Fwuffies way, Spike wook afta babbehs an speciaw-fwiend.”
“Mummah nu huwt Fwuffies, bu Wiwy am happy tu heaw Spike say dat.”
The lover nuzzled against each other softly, Lily could feel Spike’s heartbeat going crazy but as she held him, she could feel it slowing down. She smiled as he calmed in her embrace.
Their children would be so lucky to have him as their father.
Katherine arrived at work a little after 9, she made her way to just outside Bay 45 where Lewis had gathered everyone, she was the last to arrive with Lewis, Alan, Flynn and Jennifer already inside.
“Sorry I’m late, had to have a talk with Lily. Her and Spike did the deed last night.”
Lewis winced, he had the same worry about Josef that she did. “Not to sound like a total shit, but did you give her anything or…?”
“No, Lily’s already lost one litter; I couldn’t take another from her. She’s going to be a mother, I’ll make sure of it.”
“So long as you know what you’re doing. Ok, well now that we’re all here I’ll go over the plan. Josef has given us a month to find Chilli and his siblings, in return he’s going to give us the cure to F.A.07. These foals are Crimson’s children, and I don’t know if anyone else met Crimson but he was the single most brutal Hellgremlin I ever met so expect his kids to be aggressive, violent, maybe even dangerous. Flynn and Jennifer have agreed to come in and look after the group while we’re busy.”
Jennifer gave a small wave. “My mum’s looking after Maria, I know given the circumstances that it isn’t as manic as it was before and Martha will be doing most of the work, but we still want to help as much as we can.”
Lewis smiled. “And we thank you for it. Alan and Katherine, you’ll both be heading through the Bays looking for the foals, if you can’t find them then look for someone who recognises the descriptions. You manage to get a visual from Spike Kat?”
Katherine nodded and pulled a piece of paper out of her pocket. “Yeah, Chilli is a red Pegasus with a blue mane, Taffy is a pink unicorn with a purple mane and Moss is a green Alicorn with an orange mane. If we’re lucky they’re still together, should be easy for a Fluffy to remember a trio of those colours.”
“How old would they be by now?” Asked Alan.
“If Josef is right in his timeline then roughly a year old by now, we should probably stop calling them foals then I guess.”
Lewis smiled. “Maybe, but we’ll keep it for now since we know what we’re talking about. Now on the chance that we haven’t picked them up yet, I’ll be heading out with Daniel once he gets here to see a friend of his, someone who specialises in finding Fluffies. I know this is a lot of effort for getting very little in return, but the alternative is Fluffy genocide, and after everything we’ve done to help the little guys, we can’t let Josef ruin that.”
Flynn did a mock salute. “Aye aye Cap’in.”
“Get to work before I call your father down here. We’ll meet back here at the end of the day and see what progress we’ve made.”
With everyone set on their task, Lewis left them and went outside, finding Daniel waiting for him in the car park.
“Ya all set Lou?”
“As I’ll ever be, you sure your friend can help us?”
“No guarantee, but it’s better than no asking him.”
“Very well, lead the way.”
Daniel took the driver’s seat and drove the two of them out of the car park, along the outskirts of the city and through the forest on the other side of the river. It was a short drive to where they were going, but it was a town Lewis had very rarely been to, only passing through it when driving to his sisters, and since their relationship was still iffy he hadn’t felt the need to recently.
After a few minutes of driving, Daniel pulled up outside of a small shop, not quite as high-end as the rest of the upper-class town but better than most of the rundown places Lewis was used to in the city, and yet there was something familiar about it.
“I think Hannah got her Fluffy from this place.” Lewis said stepping out of the car.
“Some folks dae, it’s no a pet store or that but Sammy will help some rescues or abandoned foals find new homes. He’s good like that.”
Daniel lead Lewis inside and immediately Lewis felt… relaxed, like all the worries he was facing just weren’t as important anymore. There was a slight scent of lemon wafting through the small building, some gentle acoustic guitar music on the sound system, and just barely heard in the corner, a small group of Fluffies played in a play-pen, four adults and a handful of foals, all of them happy and contented.
Lewis noted that one of the older adults looked a lot like his sister’s Fluffy, having the same silver Fluff and unicorn horn.
The two of them approached the main desk, there was no-one around but Daniel went up anyway, approaching a fuzzy black pillow next to the cash register and stroking it. To Lewis’ surprise, the pillow moved.
“Hey Caesar, you mind getting Sammy out here for us.”
Lewis watched as the pillow – now he could see it was a perfectly round black Fluffy with a long silver tail – jumped off the table and waddled through to the back room. A moment later it returned to the shop’s owner, at first glance Lewis figured this guy was some middle-aged hugboxer thanks to his white hair and calm smile, but looking closer he saw the man had a more youthful face that he first expected, and his calm smile distracted Lewis from the obvious muscles pressed against his uniform top.
Daniel was lucky they were in a committed relationship, else he might have some competition.
Daniel smiled at the shop owner and gave out his hand to shake. “SAMMY! How are ya mate?”
The owner smiled at him. “I thought I told you not to call me that.”
“When dae I ever listen? Sorry, this is Lewis Carter, me boyfriend, he’s the one I told ya about.”
The owner gave Lewis his hand. “Carter? Yes I remember hearing about you on the news. Nice work changing Frederick’s Farm around, I offered to help beef up his security after one too many Smarties broke out, back then he wasn’t interested. Name’s Samuel Henzbergz, niceto meet you.”
Lewis shook Samuel’s hand. “You too, I must say this is a nice shop you have here.”
“Thank you, it’s not my main operation but I like to come in from time to time and make sure the Fluffies are same. Caesar here likes looking after the foals.”
Samuel stroked the black pillow, Caesar, and he purred at the touch. Samuel turned back to the two men.
“Now then, what can I do for you both?”
“I take it ye’ve heard about F.A.07?” Daniel asked with a solemn look on his face.
Samuel nodded. “Yes, we’ve not been as affected by the city, I think the river is keeping most of them at bay, but I’ve been keeping an eye out for any sign of infection. Thought I had a herd at Mr Bennett’s farm but that was something else.”
“Yeah well, Lou’s got some personal stakes in this, you wanna tell him?”
Lewis nodded. “Do you know the name Josef Mongola?”
The smile on Samuel’s face dropped. “Only by reputation, I met his brother once and let’s just say that wasn’t the most pleasant of conversations.”
“Well Josef’s managed to find a cure for F.A.07, and he’s not sharing it. Says we have to find three Fluffies for him, the runaway children of his pet Crimson, or else he’ll infect the feral Fluffies of the city with a concentrated dose of F.A.07 and let them wreck havoc.”
“I see, that does sound like a problem. I take it you’d like my help in finding these lost Fluffies?”
Lewis nodded again. “Please, Josef is a danger to each and every Fluffy in the city, maybe even the country. He’s likely infected with F.A.07 himself and it’s making him act… psychotic, unhinged, whatever you want to call it, he’s not in the right mind set and we can’t risk him unleashing a bioweapon. I’ve seen what his toxin can do, I never want to see it again.”
Samuel sighed. “Daniel, Lewis, I appreciate you coming here but you need to understand something. If I agree to help you, then I may be altering a path that we’re not supposed to diverge from, the fact that the people above me haven’t asked for me to intervene against Josef yet means that there is more purpose to his actions that we’ve yet to see.”
Lewis felt crushed, he knew he still had time to find Chilli and the others but the first person they ask to help was already turning them down, it sunk his feelings more than a little bit.
Thankfully Samuel seemed to recognise the sullen look on Lewis’ face. “However, the people above me have also not told me that I shouldn’t help you, therefore I shall. I can’t promise results, nor can I interfere with the Fluffies once they are found. I shall simply tell you where they are and let nature take its course.”
Lewis smiled, it felt so long since he last had a reason to smile. “Thank you Samuel, this is the first boost we need to help these creatures.”
“Yer a good yin Sammy.”
Samuel let it slide as he pulled out a pen and paper. “Do you have a description of the Fluffies, anything that smells like them so Caesar can start looking?”
“We’ve got Spike, their half-brother, I can bring him in one day and see if that helps. Until then I’ve got their names and colours. We’ve got Chilli, likely he’s the one in charge, red Pegasus with blue mane, Taffy, the only girl, pink unicorn with a purple mane, and Moss, if he’s still alive, dark green Alicorn with an orange mane. Spike says he doesn’t know why Moss went with Chilli, apparently Chilli bullied him quite a bit, but if we’re lucky they’re still together.”
Lewis noticed Daniel tense up a little bit but thought nothing of it. Samuel finished writing down Lewis’ descriptions.
“It’s a start, the sooner you can bring Spike in here the better. I’ll keep an eye out in the meantime.”
“Thanks again Samuel, right now every little helps.”
To the side, both of them heard Daniel chuckling to himself. “I think I’ve found some more help. Remember that gay Fluffy I brought in the other day, Flint?”
Lewis thought for a moment until he remembered the story Daniel told him last night. “Yeah?”
“Guess who his special-friend was called? Moss.”
“Jesus. You think it’s the same one we’re looking for?”
“Tae likely no tae be. He’ll ken whit Moss smells like, we can give him tae Sammy and let him and Caesar sniff them oot.”
Samuel smiled. “Sounds like a plan, I’ll get Caesar ready, you bring Flint by tomorrow and we’ll start finding some Fluffies.”
Daniel dashed for the car, Lewis went to follow him until Samuel grabbed his hand.
“Lewis, I know these feel like dark times, and they’ll get darker before the end. Just remember you can always find help, even in the lowest of places.”
And with that, he let go of Lewis, leaving him confused. But the adrenaline of their first big step towards finding Chilli and the others took over and Lewis ran out, following Daniel back to his car.
They had something now, it wasn’t much, but it was something.
In an dilapidated alleyway behind an old Chinese restaurant, a Fluffy family searched the nearby bins for food.
“Huu, hab wowstesh tummeh-huwties. One of the three foals exclaimed.”
The mother soothed her daughter. “Sowwy babbeh, mummah an daddeh twy hawd find nummies, bu nu as many dese bwite-times.”
She looked up at her mate, too tired to cry anymore, they’d lost one foal to hunger two days ago and another one to a violent monster Fluffy with yellow eyes three days before that. Now they were desperate for even the slightest bit of hope.
Instead, they found two large stallions, both earthies, one orange with a blank mane, the other purple with a red mane.
“Wha Fwuffies duin in Smawty wand?” The orange one barked at the family.
The Father stepped forward, putting himself between the stallions and his family. “Fwuffies am sowwy, nu knyo dis Smawty wand. Onwy wun nummies, babbehs hab wowstesh tummeh-huwties.”
Purple leaned over and whispered to Orange, The Mother didn’t like the way Orange looked at her, or the lecherous look in his eyes. Eventually the two stallions stepped apart.
“Yu fowwow Tuffies.” Purple snapped. “Smawty wan see yu.”
Nervous but out of options, the family followed the toughies deeper into the alleyway, the three foals cuddling together on their mother’s back, hoping that whatever monsters were in the alley, they wouldn’t find them.
As they rounded a corner, the family felt a chill run down their spine, it was a small herd of Fluffies but something didn’t look right. Alongside the two toughie leading them into the alleyway, they could see a pregnant mare in the corner, sitting high and mighty, lording over the other Fluffies while a skinny brown mare licked her mistress’ pretty pink Fluff clean and a yellow stallion with a desperate look in his eyes brought her food and shiny objects.
To the side they saw a green unicorn crying on his own, his back covered in poopies, The Father swore he saw blood stains as well. When he tried to approach the weeping Fluffy, Orange stopped him.
“Dat am bad Fwuffy, nu gu neaw.”
Not wanting to upset his new hosts, The Father ignored the unicorn and kept moving forward. With his back turned he never saw the unicorn looking up at him with fear in his eyes.
And finally, in the centre of the alley, sitting on a throne of cardboard, there was a big red Pegasus, The Family froze at the sight of him, the sickeningly evil look in his eyes terrified them as he stepped off his throne and slowly approached them.
Suddenly the green unicorn charged into Orange, knocking him over and into purple.
“WUN!”
The Mother looked at the unicorn, with the force of the hit the poopies on his back had fallen off, and she could see his wings.
“MUNSTAH!”
“WUN WAY!” The green Alicorn cried again, hoping the sight of his wings would scare them into leaving, thankfully it did and the family turned tail and fled, leaving a streak of piss and shit in their wake.
The two toughies sneered at the Alicorn and made to follow the family, until their Smarty leader stopped them.
“Dummeh famiwy nu git faw, wet dem git tiwed fiwst, den fowwow. Chiwwi deaw wiv dummeh brudda.”
Chilli crouched down and looked at his pathetic brother. “Wha Moss fink gun happen? Dat Chiwwi jus wet dummeh famiwy gu? Need mowe nummie findas, need mowe enfie-mawes.”
“Moss… nu wet… Chiwwi huwt… mowe Fwuffies.”
“Den Moss am bigga dummeh dan Chiwwi fot. Chiwwi am Smawty, wike weaw daddeh. Smawty need biggesh hewd, hewd keep udda Fwuffies safe.”
“Yu nu keep Fwuffies safe, yu gib wowstesh huwties.”
Chilli smirked at Moss and kicked his brother in the face, the sharp pain in Moss’ nose was awful, but the familiar feel of Chilli’s hoofs on his back scared him even more.
“Chiwwi onwy gib huwties tu dummeh enfie bwudda.”
The alleyway was filled with the sounds of grunting and the tortured howls of a broken stallion.
Thanks to @FallenAngel007 for letting me use their character Samuel. He and Caesar will pop back up at some point.
forming your own heard of like minded psychos and roaming the City to loot and Pillage and to enf the weak and the poor Fluffys out there.”