The cage jostled, and Tyler cling tighter to his father, crying out for his mother to help them, and trying to ignore the vision of her bloodied corpse smashed against the tree.
Tyler’s father, a sandy coloured unicorn with a rich brown mane called Shortbreak was a former domesticate Fluffy who got into trouble when he knocked up a feral mare, a green earthie with a white mane called Mint who found Shortbread’s home looking for food and found huggies and warmth.
Sadly, Shortbread’s owners were not best pleased with the new arrival, Big Daddy and Big Mummy called Shortbread so many horrible things, like bad Fluffy and rule-breaker. Even though, as Shortbread was quick to remind them, there hadn’t been any rules about no special-friends or babbehs. That earned Shortbread a sorry-sticking and a kick out of the house.
But it was Shortbread’s other owner, Big Daddy and Big Mummy’s own babbeh Little Daddy, who saved the pair. He found the pair a safe little nest not far from the house, and brought them scraps of food and cloth whenever he could. Sadly this didn’t last too long, Little Daddy was caught and punished and the Fluffy couple chased away from the safety of their home. But Shortbread forgot the kindness shown to him by Little Daddy and chose to remember him by naming his first born son after Little Daddy’s real name.
His first born son, Tyler. Now, the only son he had left.
The cage jostled again, Tyler let out a yelp, as did the other two foals in the cage with him. His two sisters, Pineberry and Blossom. Pineberry was much like her mother, green Fluff and a grey mane instead of white, but she was an Alicorn, a frightening prospect at first for her parents but one they tried their best to ignore. Blossom was a Pegasus, but she had the shiniest pink Fluff with a soft, sandy brown mane, a little bit lighter than her father’s coat. Tyler himself was almost identical to his father, the same unicorn horn, the same sand coloured Fluff, the only difference being Tyler’s white mane.
The three of them were all that was left of a litter of 7, their siblings meeting the same gruesome end as their mother.
Shortbread pulled his surviving children in closer, trying to hug away their fears. “Nu cwy babbehs, daddeh pwotect yu.”
Blossom pulled in closer to her father’s warmth. “Huu, daddeh? Wai meanie gib mummah an bwuddas and sissies foweba sweepies? Dey gud Fwuffies.”
“Daddeh nu knyo babbeh, bu daddeh nu wet bad fings happen tu babbehs gain.”
Shortbread looked out of his cage, whilst he couldn’t make out much from the jerking movements, he knew they were still in the forest. But after a few moments the trees starting to thin out and the cage was brought into a clearing, where the family’s captor was given a warm welcome.
“You alright there Pete, thought you might have gotten lost.”
“Cut the shit Harkness, spent all morning chasing this lot down. Here, take a look.”
Pete Langford placed the cage on a table nearby to a tent and a campfire. Tyler peered out, trying to get a good look at his new surroundings, he could make out an array of other Fluffies, all of them in their own cages similar to his own, lined up in neat little rows along the ground, and all of them looking big and mean and scary.
There were also two other human men alongside the mean mister who had killed his mother and siblings, one of them was looking into a hole in the ground and writing something down. The other was coming straight for them.
Vincent Harkness gave the traumatised family a once over and nodded. “Father looks sturdy, horn’s impressive, maybe a little malnourished but nothing we can’t sort out. Alright Pete, I can see the appeal, he got a mate?”
“Had one. Broke the bitch against a tree when she tried to bite me.”
“Why’d she try to bite you?”
“Because I was trying to break her little brats against the tree.”
Vincent chuckled before looking back at Shortbread and his foals. “Why’d you keep those ones alive?”
“They had uses, the others were dull, weak, useless. No good to anyone and not worth the hassle of trying to bring back here. The green one’s an Alicorn, colours a bit shit but I figured you could use her in some way, either as stock or as a guardian. The pink one’s a prize, a pretty filly that’ll grown into a pretty mare and a pretty mare is the best way to get these fucking dogs doing what they need to do. The real prize is the colt, look at him, he’s broader, taller, stronger, he got the lions share of the milk feedings but has none of the superiority complex, a best baby who was never told he’s the best. Add in that he’s basically the mirror of his dad and we’ve got ourselves a potential champion right there.”
“Interesting theory, you just got the small issue that your champion is currently cowering away and pissing himself.”
Pete peeked into the cage, sure enough, Tyler, Pineberry and Blossom were all shivering and chirping into their father’s chest, the big Fluffy himself trying to hug his surviving children whilst weeping for his lost love.
Pete scoffed. “He can learn, they’ll all learn eventually learn. Alright fuck it, you make the introductions, I’ll talk to Gus.”
As Pete went off towards Gus, Vincent stayed behind and knelt down, opening the cage door and slowly placing his hand inside to stroke Shortbread’s mane. The unicorn shuddered for a moment at the touch before he slowly melted and started cooing.
“Coo, fank yu fow gud scwatchie nice mistah. Yu wan be nyu daddeh fow Showtbwead an babbehs?”
Vincent’s comforting smile could’ve fooled a human with his faked sincerity, a Fluffy had no chance. “Oh I’m sorry bud. But that mean mister there, Mister Pete, he’s my boss, a human Smarty, and he says that I’m not allowed to take any Fluffies home with me, not even little babies. But hey, you listen to me and I’ll try to make things safe for you here, you call me Mister Vinny if you need anything, ok?.”
Shortbread demeanour visibly dropped at hearing this nice man couldn’t be his new daddy.
“Dat ok Mistah Vin-nee, Showtbwead jus wan babbehs be safe. Munstah hoomin gib speciaw-fwiend an babbehs foweba sweepies, Showtbwead nu wan wose mowe babbehs.”
“I know, he told me about that, what an absolute meanie. Do you know why he’d do such a thing?”
“NU! Showtbwead nu knyo wai meanie mistah Peet du aneefing. Famiwy jus hab gud bwite-time nummies wen meanie-mistah find Fwuffies, say bad wowdsies wen Showtbwead ask if he wan be Fwuffies nyu daddeh, den he twy take babbehs. Speciaw-fwiend twy stop him, say babbehs am tuu wittew fow upsies, an munstah mistah Peet gib hew wowstesh back huwties wiv twee-homesie tiww aww speciaw-fwiend boo-boo juice fwy out. Den he gib babbehs foweba sweepies wiv him nu-hooves, caww dem ‘dummehs’ an ‘yoose-wess’, befowe he take Showtbwead an udda babbeh into meanie sowwy-box an weave.”
Shortbread was crying even harder now as he described the violent death of his wife and children, Vincent kept stroking Shortbread through his traumatic recollection, even moving his hand lower to stroke the foals as well.
“That sounds awful Shortbread, but I’m glad you and your foals are ok. Do they have names yet?”
Shortbreak nodded and shuffled backwards so he could point to each foal in turn. “Yeh, dis am Pinebewwy, she hab same pwetty gween Fwuff as hew mummah, dis am Bwossom, she pwettiesh babbeh bu Showtbwead an speciaw-fwiend teech hew dat dat nu make hew betta dan udda babbehs. An dis am Tywuh, he fiwst babbeh Showtbwead eba hab, speciaw-fwiend gib him gud miwkies su he gwow big an stwong wike him daddeh.”
Vincent smiled at the fact that Pete had been right on the money, Tyler had been given more milk as a chirpie. Pete might have been a soulless prick but he was often right about these things.
“I see, Tyler’s an unusual name for an outside Fluffy, can I ask why you named him that?”
“Showtbwead owd daddeh hab own babbeh, wittew daddeh cawwed Tywuh tuu. Wittew daddeh was nice, twy hewp Showtbwead an speciaw-fwiend wen she soon-mummah, bu Big Daddeh nu wike Tywuh hewpin Fwuffies, su he stop. Showtbwead neba fowgit wittew daddeh biggesh hewpsies, gib fiwst babbeh same namesie tu wememba him.”
Vincent made a mental note before looking back up at Shortbread. “That’s very sweet of you Shortbread, thank you for telling me that story. Now look, I need to make sure that all of you are healthy and clean, and I can’t do that just by looking at you. There might be inside sickies that I’m not smart enough to see.”
“Inside sickies?” Blossom peeped up, still shivering.
“Yep, but the good news is, my friend Mister Gus over there, he is smart enough to see them. So if you trust me, I can take you over one at a time to him and he can look over you all. Once everything’s cleared up, you can see each other again.
Shortbread looked concerned about all of them going separately. “Can Showtbwead an babbehs nu gu togetha?”
“Sorry, but no. Mister Gus needs complete focus on only one Fluffy at a time, otherwise he might miss something. But I promise, nothing bad will happen to anyone while I’m with you. Do you trust me Shortbread?”
Shortbread thought for a moment before nodding, his programmed instincts telling him that Mister Vinny was a nice man.
Vincent couldn’t help but smirk at how easy Fluffies were to fool. “Ok then, how about I take Tyler first, since he’s so brave and strong he can see Mister Gus first and show his sisters there’s nothing to be afraid of.”
“O…ok Mistah Vin-nee. Tywuh babbeh gu wiv yu.”
“Nu, nu daddeh, babbeh nu wan gu.” Tyler wept as he clung of tightly to his father’s Fluff.
“It ok babbeh, Mistah Vin-nee am gud mistah, an babbeh see daddeh gain soon. Mistah Vin-nee jus wan see if babbeh nu hab sickies.”
Tyler peeped out again but slowly let go of Shortbread and allowed himself to be taken by Vincent.
“There we are, I promise you’ll see each other again before bedtime.”
With everyone in the family crying again, Vincent carried Tyler over to Gus’ makeshift lab set-up, filled with beakers and brews of all sorts of chemical components. Components necessary to their little set-up.
“How we looking Gus?” Vincent asked as he turned the corner.
Gus Kemper side-eyed Vincent but didn’t turn away from his notes. “Battler is slowing down, I think his dosages are wearing off and he’s starting to get emotional about what he’s doing. Choices are either try to up the dosage without killing him, or just kill him and start over.”
Pete shook his head. “We’re not killing Battler, he’s the best goddamn fighter we’ve had since Stryker and I’m not giving him up that easily.”
Gus rolled his eyes. “You might have to Pete, unless your new champion can prove his worth. What you make of him anyway Vinny?”
Vincent eyed Tyler in his hands, the little colt too busy crying and shaking to hear what they were saying. It’ll be tough, he seems weak, coddled too much by his parents. Dad’s an ex-domestic, likely the mother was too, can’t say for definite just yet but it might be worth checking out the father for a chip. From what I can gather he’s been out of home since he impregnated his mate so we’re looking at two to three months, not likely they’ll want him back but just in case we should cover all bases. Physically though, little guy is solid, quite literally in fact, if we can teach him to kill then Pete might be onto something.”
Gus thought about it for a moment, before putting down his equipment and turning fully to Vincent.
“Alright then, let me have a look at him.”
Vincent stepped closer to Gus, angling himself to keep Tyler from seeing Pete, and gently passed the little sandy colt to his friend.
“Hey Tyler, this is my friend Mister Gus, he’ll be checking to make sure you’re healthy.”
Gus scowled at Vincent for his fake concern, but said nothing, knowing how important the charade was for the Fluffies.
“Yes, I’ll make you sure you have no… inside sickies.” Gus visibly shuddered at the baby talk, hating the necessity of its use.
Tyler sniffled. “Mistah Gus wook afta babbeh?”
“Yeah sure, let’s go with that.”
With a quick hand, Gus placed his two fingers onto Tyler’s head, running them over his neck and his back, all the while his second hand gripped a pair of heated scissors behind the colt.
“Hmm, I think you might have something. Don’t worry, it’s not dangerous, but I’ll give you some medicine to make sure.”
“Wha am med-eh-sin?”
Vincent smiled and answered. “He means stuff to make your inside not have sickies. However in order for give you the medicine, Mister Gus needs to give you a pointy hurties.”
Tyler whimpered. “Nu wan mowe huwties, pwease.”
“Oh, I’m so sorry Tyler, but it’s the only way. I promise it’ll just be for one moment, then it’s all over. You can be brave and strong for us, can’t you Tyler?”
Tyler wrestled with the idea, he didn’t want to get hurt, but he didn’t want his insides to have sickie either.
“Ok, if Mistah Gus need gib pointy huwties, den Tywuh hab pointy huwtie.”
“Good boy Tyler, try to close your eyes so you don’t see it coming and get too scared.”
Tyler nodded and clenched his eyes shut. With one hand, Gus picked up a syringe with his own personal cocktail inside, with the other he reached the heated scissors towards Tyler’s testicles.
“Ok Tyler, this will all be over in three, two, one…”
At the exact same time, Gus pricked Tyler with the syringe and neutered him, the pain from both the needle and the scissors shot through his body together, overloading Tyler’s little mind to the point where he couldn’t tell where the pain was coming from.
YYYOOOOWWWWWGGGGHHH!!! Dat was WOWSTESH huwties, Tywuh hab huwties aww oba.”
Vincent frowned and picked Tyler up, holding him softly against his shirt. “Oh I know Tyler, and I’m sorry that had to happen. But you’re safe now, no more inside sickies. Come on, let’s get you back to your family so we can tell them how brave you were.”
Pete and Gus watched as Vincent left, Pete chuckling at Vincent’s acting.
“He sure knows how to sell it, don’t he?”
“He has to.” Gus replied wiping Tyler’s severed testicles onto the grass. “Your business model wouldn’t work without him.”
“Don’t sell yourself too short Kemper, your little syringe trick’s always been a nice touch.”
“Yeah, well. When you need the stock nutless you learn how to do it sneaky or you don’t have any stock left to use. The father might be more difficult, more in-tune with his body to fool, but we can give it a try all the same. Main thing is we got the little one right where we need him.”
“Same timeframe as usual, couple day?”
“If that, the drugs will hit him slowly, then all at once, you’ll want him isolated from the family before then.”
Pete smirked. “Don’t worry, I’ll be keeping a close eye on our little Tyler. As soon as the drugs take him, I have the perfect little runt cage for him to take over. It’s like I’ve told you before Kemper, the hardest part about this isn’t training Fluffies to fight, it’s trying them to kill, as soon as they realise they can take a life they’ll be willing to do it again. And I promise you, Tyler will be taking many lives before we’re done with him.”
no wumps and slowly turning into a monster. Be strong lil fella.