Nothing is perfect in this world. Nobody’s perfect. No fluffy is perfect. And there’s no such thing as a completely happy ending.
But - for the most part, anyway - John and Rebekah’s life with their fluffies was positive. Sometimes a fluffy woke up on the wrong side of the nest and copped an attitude, and their daddy or mommy always set them straight again with the sorry stick. Over the years John could count maybe a dozen times he had to break the sorry stick out, and could count on one hand the number of times he had to resort to using the sorry box. Rosemary, Sparky, Rosie and Dahlia weren’t perfect fluffies. But as fluffies go they were pretty damned great.
They loved their daddy and their mommy, and told them repeatedly every day. When they did something wrong, or when they got pissy and made their humans angry, they always apologized. Actual, real apologies. They never said “fluffy sorry.” They used their names because they meant it. No matter what, deep down they wanted nothing more than to make their humans happy. They tried not to take anything for granted; not their toys, not the FluffTV they got to watch, not their warm safe room and the warm nests that daddy built out on the deck, not the fruity treats and spaghetti that they got. Well, sometimes they’d get grumpy and demand spaghetti. The punishment was always not getting spaghetti again for two months. They learned that one pretty fast because, well, goddamn. Spaghetti is delicious.
They loved water, and that summer John bought a plastic doggy pool that had a built-in drain. He hammered together a ramp so the fluffies could get in and out of it easily and set it up in the shade of an old oak tree. He’d let the grass grow a little tall - he finally had an excuse for his laziness - and he and Rebekah would hide treats in the grass. Grapes, orange segments, apple slices, and berries. The fluffies would all run around the yard, giggling and scavenging for hidden treats. They’d always shout triumphantly when they found a nummy treat, and they’d all run around the yard until they either found all the treats or until they were too exhausted to run anymore. John and Rebekah always had more treats for the fluffies who didn’t manage to find many, so everyone was always happy. Then the exhausted fluffies would waddle up the ramp, wade into the cold water, and sprawl out to cool down. John would refresh the water every so often to keep it cool, and once the fluffies had some energy again they’d run and slide around in the water, tumbling and giggling and splashing each other. The water level was always kept low enough that there was no danger of drowning, but John and Rebekah always kept watch over them at all times. Just in case.
John started letting them stay in the backyard when the weather was warm enough, even when he and Rebekah were at work. Sasha had always enjoyed being outside, and she seemed eager to be outside with the fluffies as often as possible. It quickly became obvious that she was going to be a very effective guardian when a smarty stallion dug his way under the fence. According to Rosie, the stallion had threatened her with bad special huggies, then moved to make good on his threat. A few hours later, John came home to recover the smarty’s mutilated corpse. Over the years Sasha managed to take down over twenty fluffies. She never attacked one until they threatened HER fluffies, but as soon as the threat was there she never hesitated to spring into action. The family felt safe around her, and they loved her very much. They told her often. John knew she didn’t understand their words, but he was pretty sure she understood nonetheless. Actions and whatnot.
Eventually they started getting older, and John built a ramp so that they could easily get down from the deck to the backyard. They slowed down, played a little less. They’d spend more time lounging in the water during the summer, or out in the deck nests when it was cool. They’d watch a little more FluffTV, spend more time snuggling with their humans. Their fur started to show hints of grey, then more than hints.
They say that a mother should never have to bury her child. Rosemary, unfortunately, had to bury all of hers. Earthies are a little bigger, a little tougher, and live a little longer than pegasi. John and Rebekah were prepared for it. Rosemary wasn’t.
The first to go was Sparky. He was five years old - getting old by fluffy standards anyway - when he started complaining that his legs hurt. Assuming it was some sort of arthritis, they took him to Dr. Jackson anyway for testing. The diagnosis was heartbreaking - aggressive bone cancer that had almost eaten entirely through his two back legs. He was maybe two days away from constant, excruciating pain and a slow death. John and Rebekah brought him home and explained everything to his family. All of them were shattered. Buckets of tears were shed, many hugs were given, and Sparky accepted that it was time to go forever-sleepies. He didn’t want to live in pain, and he didn’t want his family to have to see him suffering. They all climbed into John’s bed and Rebekah gave him the injection. He died in a fluff-and-human pile, surrounded by love.
John buried him beside the rosemary bush. Another tiny headstone for an ever-growing fluffy graveyard.
Rosie was six when she passed away in the middle of the night. John and Rebekah woke up to Rosemary and Dahlia’s plaintive wailing. They knew by now that, no matter what their programming said, huggies and love couldn’t reverse forever-sleepies. They dealt with her death a little better than they’d dealt with Sparky’s, but they were still heartbroken. The household grieved, and another tiny tombstone joined the others.
Dahlia and Rosemary spent even less time playing after that. All they wanted to do was hug and snuggle with each other and their humans. A lot of time was spent on the couch, sprawled out in John and Rebekah’s laps while they watched TV. Any TV would do. The fluffies weren’t picky at that point. FluffTV? Great. Nature documentary? Sure! Action movie? They’d stay quiet and let the humans enjoy it. Rebekah and John started spoiling them a little more, too. More treats. Spaghetti every week.
Dahlia was pushing seven years old when she finally passed, and it broke Rosemary. She sank into a deep depression and didn’t want to do anything anymore. No playing, no giggling and flailing during bath time. All she wanted to do was curl up in her nest and sleep, or curl up in John’s lap and sleep. John gave her spaghetti almost every day. He knew that her days were dwindling. He never once heard her mutter “wan die,” but he knew deep down that she was feeling it. All of her babies were gone, and she didn’t have the strength to go on. She loved her humans, but her children meant the world to her.
Two months after Dahlia joined her family by the rosemary bush, John and Rebekah were sitting on the deck just reading and enjoying the nice weather. Rosemary was curled up on John’s lap, sleeping. Everything was nice and quiet for a while. Finally, Rosemary broke the silence. She didn’t lift her head or open her eyes. She just spoke.
“Daddeh.”
“Yes, sweetie?”
“Daddeh. Am Wosemawy been gud fwuffy?”
“Yes, sweetie. You’ve been a very good fluffy. One of the best fluffies ever.”
“Fankoo, daddeh. Wosemawy wuv daddeh. Wuv Webekuh-mummah. Been gud tu Wosemawy an’ babbehs. Buh Wosemawy su tiwed, daddeh. Weady fo fowevah-sweepies nao.”
John couldn’t help himself; he had to choke back tears. He didn’t want her to hear the sadness and pain in his voice. It didn’t work; she could hear his heartbreak. She could feel his tears falling on her fluff.
“Daddeh, nu be saddies. Wosemawy am weady tu be wif babbehs an mummah 'gain.”
“Can you hold on just a little longer, sweetie? Just a few more minutes.”
“Yus, daddeh. Buh so tiwed nao.”
He picked her up and cradled her in his arms. Rebekah, knowing exactly what was happening, walked ahead of him and opened the deck door, then rushed over to unlock and open the back gate. John gently carried Rosemary through the backyard, through the gate, and into the woods. All the way to the little cemetery by the rosemary bush. He set her down carefully and stroked her soft fluff, trying to soothe her.
“Here’s your family, Rosemary. You can take forever-sleepies now, and they’ll be with you while you do.” He tried to keep his voice as steady as possible, but it was hard. He’d never been with someone while they were dying. And while a fluffy wasn’t a person, it could speak. It could feel. And Rosemary was…well, she was family. He was losing the little foal he’d rescued all those years ago. The happy, sweet, loving little fluffy who had needed him more than anything else in the entire world.
“Fankoo, daddeh. Nu be saddies.” She lifted her head, opened her eyes, and smiled up at her daddy. “Wuv ou su much, daddeh. Wuv ou, Webekuh-mummah.”
“I love you too, Rosemary,” Rebekah said, fighting back tears of her own. “Thank you for letting me be your mother.”
“And thank you for letting me be your daddy,” John said. “I’ll miss you so goddamned much.”
Rosemary closed her eyes and laid her head on the ground, sighing. “Mummah? Babbehs? Wosemawy comin nao.” She took one deep breath, let it out slowly, and drifted off into darkness.
John and Rebekah held each other for a while, sobbing, until they had no tears left to cry. John buried Rosemary with her family, setting one final tombstone. One slightly larger than all the others. She was the one who’d started it all, after all. Each tombstone had a fluffy’s name carved into it. He’d ordered it online, knowing her time was drawing near, and had them carve an inscription, too:
“Beloved mother, beloved daughter, bestest fluffy.”
Every night for a month, John and Rebekah would drag camping chairs out to the rosemary bush. They’d reminisce about the good times, the crazy times, and all the love and joy Rosemary and her children had brought into their lives. They’d cry for a while, until the tears were gone for the night. Every night, over and over. Eventually the tears dried up, and they visited the graves less often.
But they never stopped visiting. And the pain of their loss never went away. Not completely.
You never really get over losing family.
===
Oh, lots of things happened in between. Lots of laughter, lots of awkwardness, plenty of little adventures. There are many stories to tell about the years in between. But those are stories for another time.
What happened to John and Rebekah? They stayed together, though they never got married. Neither of them really wanted to; they were happy just being together. Neither of them wanted children, either. The fluffies were enough of a handful.
John didn’t become rich or famous. Nothing amazing happened to him at work. He got a couple of promotions, made some more money, and was content to just keep living his life.
Rebekah did become a fluffy vet, about a year after she and John decided to keep the fluffies. She and Meredith left the shelter a few months after that and went to work for Steve Watson, who had decided to stop being the middleman and instead opted to open up a huge fluffy store. The store had a small shelter, and both the store and the shelter needed two on-site vets. Rebekah and Meredith were more than happy to work in a slightly happier environment while making what was, in comparison, a shitload more money. Rebekah was a very good vet and was very much loved by her fluffy clients.
John swore that he’d never have fluffies again. It was a promise that he kept.
Well, for a while, anyway. Sasha started spending all of her time in the safe room and making it very clear to John that while he wasn’t ready to have more fluffies, she wanted some goddamned company during the daytime, thank you very much.
So Rebekah brought home two identical twin pegasi runts, Brandi and Brandon, that nobody had wanted to buy. They were little, they were full of love, and they were very fond of their new mother and daddy. They favored their mother, though. After all, she was the one who rescued them.
At least, they favored her until their daddy surprised them one day and helped them achieve their dreams of being able to fly. Over and over and over again, for the rest of their lives. Then…well, they only favored him sometimes.
But again, that’s a story for another time.
===
THE END
nicely done and awesome finale 
