John looked over at the pathetic looking creature sleeping in his passenger seat, contemplating what he was getting himself into. It wasn’t technically against the rules of his company to keep fluffies as pets, but it was heavily frowned upon. The company moto was that these were toys, not living animals, created for the consumer, not the employees. He had never really bought into it, but convincing himself of it certainly made his job easier. There was the other issue, the fact that he had broken some big rules with Soda. He had thought it had been harmless, but someone had obviously noticed, and with the way he had left, it didn’t look good. Well, what is done is done, he will deal with the consequences as they come.
He checked to make sure the brown foal was still sleeping comfortably in his passenger seat before quietly exiting his car. He looked over at the pink storefront of Fluffmart, and sighed. It didn’t seem very busy this afternoon, which was a plus. As he walked in, he became a little overwhelmed. He knew that fluffies had become a huge market, with multiple businesses appearing to cater to the needs of the new fad, but this was insane. He saw multiple aisles of supplies, from foal rearing, discipline, treats, toys, and so much more. On the other half of the store were pens, cages, and display cases of all manor of different fluffies. The prices were staggering for some. Hundreds of dollars for alicorns, and not even the ‘good’ colors. He wasn’t really sure where to start, so he decided to ask.
There was a gangly looking teenage boy at the checkout counter, and a raven haired lady with a pixie cut closer to his age moving about the sale floor. She had multiple facial piercings, and tattoos covering both arms. He approached her as she finished talking to an older gentleman. He noticed her name tag read ‘Letty’ before he introduced himself.
“Excuse me, Ms. Letty, I was hoping you might be able to help me?”
“Oh yeah, what’s up?” She looked him up and down, and her eyebrow cocked upwards. John wasn’t surprised, he assumed most guys his age didn’t come in here with the best of intentions.
“I just rescued a foal, very young. I’ve never owned a fluffy, so I’m a little clueless. I was hoping you could point me in the right direction?”
Her demeanor softened slightly, and she nodded. “Yeah I can help you. Come on with me.” She led him over to the supply aisles.
“Peep Peep! Mummah nuuuu! Nu am poopie! Am babbeh! Babbeh wub 'ou!” Brown’s pleading fell on deaf ears as his monster momma dropped him into the poopie corner. The rancid feces made it hard to breath as he panicked, trying desperately to claw his way out…
Brown awoke with a fright, not remembering where he was. He had made scaredy poopies and peepees from his nightmare, and was currently wallowing in it. His brown fluff was caked with it, and he had smeared it all into the seat.
“Peep…nu smew pwetty…huu huu…” He as he rolled onto his back, tail tucked up and suckling on a front hoof, trying to calm himself. He had messed up some how, and his new daddy had already abandoned him here. He cried and suckled, his little tummy rumbling heavily.
“…and last you’ll need to keep an eye on when his teeth start coming in. When that happens, you’ll want to start him on milk soaked foal kibble, and introduce him to some leafy greens as well. This will help with pickiness and give some variety to his diet.” Letty had turned out to be a fountain of knowledge for John. Apparently, she had owned many fluffies before, and did her best to give him advice to avoid some of the pitfalls that new owners often fall into.
John wasn’t sure if she worked on commission, but if she did she was making a killing off of him. His cart was loaded with things. A bag of foal kibble, foal formula, adult kibble, skettie treats, and that was just the food. He also had a foal bed, blanket, a stuffed kitty sized for a foal, some blocks and a ball sized for foals, a small litter tray and a bigger litter box, and finally a bag of litter. She also had convinced him to get two sorry sticks, a foal and adult size, and a sorry box that could be resized to fit all the way up to adult hood.
“Yep, that should about do it. It is a good thing you are doing. Don’t get me wrong, the feral problem is real, but it isn’t their fault.” She shrugged as they wheeled over to the checkout counter. “Some last things to look out for. Be definitive and consistent with punishments, it is for their own good in the long run. When he gets a bit older, you’ll want to get him fixed, unless you intend to breed him.”
John ran a hand through his hair and let out a sigh. “Still not sure what I’m getting myself into, but I appreciate all the help.”
“No problem. Listen, if anything comes up, hit me up, I’d be happy to help.” She smiled slightly and took a scrap of paper and wrote a phone number down on it. “Good luck John.”
“Thanks, I think I’ll need it.” John gave her a small wave before turning to the guy at the checkout counter. His nametag read Derrick.
“This it for you sir?”
“I think so.” John began putting everything up on the counter as the kid started scanning it.
“Hey listen, I’ve got some fun things I sell on the side if you’re interested. Things that really get these shit rats worked up. I’ll give you a discount as a first time customer.” He gave a cruel smile that gave John the creeps.
“No…I think I’m good. Good luck with all that though.”
Derrick just shrugged and finished ringing him up. With John’s arms full of bags and bank account significantly lighter, he headed for the door. A red headed woman with a face full of freckles was walking in as he got to the door. ‘Damn, she is gorgeous.’ He gave her a smile, which she actually warmly returned as they passed each other. He needed to focus right now though, and put her out of his mind. He put everything away in the trunk and hoped that the foal was still fast asleep.
His hopes were quickly dashed as he got in the car. The smell hit him as soon as he opened the door, and his heart sank. His passenger seat was filthy with shit, and the thing had been rolling in it from the looks of it. He was currently crying and sucking his hoof.
John looked at him speechless for a second, which the little thing must have taken as anger, because he had a breakdown. “HUU HUU! Babbeh am su sowwy…nu mean tu make scawedy poopies…peep…babbeh was aww awone and got scawedies…pwease nu weabe babbeh…babbeh nu wan be awone…”
John shook his head and got in the driver seat, gently stroking the top of the foal’s head, which was the only part not covered in shit. The little foal began to calm down slowly, and stopped crying and even started cooing. John would have to work hard to save that seat, but that could come later. “Come on, lets get you to your new home and get you cleaned up.”
John spent the whole car ride home think of a name for the foal. He thought about Chocolate or Hershey, but he didn’t love either of those, seemed to cliché. His thoughts strayed to the only animal he had been close with as a child, a barn cat name Rudy that had killed mice for his parents. He liked the sound of it. Soon he was guiding his car down the rough driveway up to the dilapidated farmhouse. He really couldn’t afford to be spending like this on a pet, he was barely keeping up with the payments for this place since his mom had finally kicked the bucket.
After parking he picked up the foal and took him inside, straight to the bathroom. He set him down in the sink after pulling the stopper closed. “Alright, I have to go get some things from the car, I won’t be gone long. Just hang out here till I get back, okay?”
“Sniff. Otay…babbeh be gud fow nyu daddeh…peep…”
God he sounded miserable, thought John as he grabbed the bags from the car and set them down on the kitchen table. He grabbed the fluffy shampoo he had gotten and brought it to the bathroom. The brown colt had been rolling around trying to find purchase in the smooth sink, smearing feces all over. John mentally steeled himself for the task ahead, knowing all too well from work how fluffies felt about water.
“Alright, I have to get you clean, so I’m going to give you a bath and…”
“NUUUUU! PEEEP! Wawa bad fow fwuffies daddeh! NU WAN!” He started scrabbling at the prosocline, trying to climb out with no success.
“Hey hey, none of that now. Listen, if you are good for your bath, I’ll give you your new name. Sound good?”
“Sniff…otay…babbeh be gud…peep…” He stopped panicking but still looked terrified. John picked him up out of the sink, and turned the water on. He got it to a lukewarm temperature before setting him down in the sink. Lucky for John, whatever had been left in the foal’s system had been evacuated in his car, so instead of pooping all the brown thing did was fart a lot in fear. To his credit, he stayed pretty still. Once John had washed most of the feces from his fluff, he drained the water and filled it up to the foals belly and turned the water off. Brown seemed to calm down quite a bit after that, actually seeming to enjoy the warm water a bit. John used the fluffy soap liberally, getting him so sudsy that only his little face was visible. It took a lot of scrubbing, but eventually his fluff was damp but clean.
“Teehee, babbeh smeww pwetty nao! Tank 'ou daddeh!” The foal sat on his rump and held his hooves up to John after he set him down on the counter, though he was shivering badly.
“Hold up, let me get you dry then you can have hugs, okay? You are doing great. This is going to make a loud noise, but it will be warm and will get you dry okay?”
Brown nodded and closed his eyes. John plugged in his mom’s hair dryer and turned it on low. The foal flinched as the rush of warm air washed over him, but then relaxed and smiled, enjoying the feeling. When John was done, he turned the foal towards the mirror and smiled. “Now, don’t you look like a whole lot better.”
The foal looked at his reflection and beamed. “Chirp! Aw donsie wiff baff?”
“Yep, all done. You did great.” John picked him up and Brown cuddled into his hand, letting out soft coos. “I think I owe you a name now. How does…Rudy sound?”
“Wudy am nyu namsie? Wudy WUB nyu namsie fwom bestest daddeh eba!” Rudy hugged John’s hand as tight as he could.
“I’m glad you like it, how about some food now?” John took him into the kitchen and set him on the table so that he would still be able to see John while he got the formula ready. After warming it up, he filled up a dropper and picked Rudy up.
Rudy latched on to the dropper immediately, drinking the warm, sweet formula greedily. SMEK SMEK SMEK went the foal. John had to fill up three more eye droppers before he finally seemed full, his little belly rounded out and hanging heavily.
“Feel better now?” John asked with a smile at how content Rudy looked now.
“Nu mowe…BURRRRRRRP!…nu mowe tummeh huwties Chirp!” His lips flapped cutely with the belch, and the man chuckled.
John got an old delivery box and set it up on the table, placing the foal bed, stuffed toy, and blanket inside. He also took Letty’s advice and wrapped a heating pad in a towel and put it under the bed. He placed Rudy down in it, and it was obvious from the way he bounced around inside that he was happy with it.
“Dat nestie aww fow Wudy?”
John nodded as he set the litter tray down inside and scattered the clay litter inside. “That is right. Now, make sure you go poop and pee inside the litterbox here.” He pointed to it and made sure the foal was looking at it.
“Wudy wiw make gud poopies fow daddeh!” He layed down on the bed and snuggled up, and notice the stuffed cat. “Wa?! Stuffy fwiend fow Wudy? Tank 'ou daddeh! Wudy wub 'ou!”
“I love you too Rudy. Now get some sleep, and I’ll see you in the morning.”
“Wa…nu sweep wit daddeh? Wudy hab wostes scawedies being aww awone…pwease can Wudy sweepy wit Daddeh?”
John cocked an eye brow but figured it was probably a good idea. He took the box into the bedroom and set him on the nightstand next to his alarm clock. Rudy was already asleep, hoof firmly in his mouth, and John left him to it. He rummaged around the broom closet for cleaning supplies, and set to work on salvaging his poor passenger seat.
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