Snowflake lay in her nestie, crying her little fluffy eyes out.
“Weggies…” cried the one-eyed Unicorn “Weggies gone… huuu huuu huuu… weggiieeesss…”
Mummah-Claire had taken her to the vets, for another “opawashun” after Jelly had broken her only remaining back leg by stomping on it repeatedly. After that, Mummah-Claire and the Claire-mummah and Claire-daddah had taken Jelly away, to a “shewtew” and told Snowflake that Jelly was never coming back.
Her back legs would never come back either.
Nutella was trying to comfort her adoptive mother by giving her bestest huggies. Part of Snowflake wanted to push her away and wallow in her own misery, but another part wanted to hold her close with her two remaining leggies and never let go. The little brown pegasus was the only good thing in Snowflake’s life, apart from mummah-Claire.
“Nu cwy mummah,” Nutella was saying, “Nuwtewwa stiww wuv mummah, an da meanie Jewwy hab gone fowevew.”
“Huuu huuu… fank you babbeh…” Snowflake managed to say, hugging her baby close, “Mummah jus wish cud hav weggies back is aww.”
The other babies looked over at her, as if they were unsure what to say. Blueberry and Nana looked guiltily at each other, then back at Snowflake. Strawberry just sat there, playing with her blockies and mumbling to herself.
Snowflake continued to cry. She managed to hold it together when mummah-Claire was there, but once she left and went to school, the heart-hurries would come back. How could Jelly have done this to her? Why did she do it? Snowflake had loved Jelly, and even though Jelly had become a smarty, she was still her sister.
“Jewwwwyyy… huuu hue huuu…” Snowflake continued crying, “Why yu huwt Snowflake so bad? Snowfwake onwy wanted wuv an huggies an babbehs… hhuuu huu huuu…”
“Mummah have Nutewwa babbeh,” said Nutella, clearly trying to comfort Snowflake, “an Nana, an Bwuebewwy and Stwawbewwy… Mummah-Cwaire say we aww Snowfwake babbehs naow…”
“We NU Snowfwake babbehs!” Yelled Strawberry, looking up from her blockies. “Aww Snowfwake babbehs gone fowevew sweepies. Snowfwake am onwy wuv Poo-tewwa cos Pow-tewwa am poopie-babbeh an weaw mummah-Jewwy nu wuv Poo-tewwa!” Then, she knocked over all her blockies in disgust.
Nutella started to cry.
Somehow, Nutella’s tears lifted something in Snowflake’s heart. Seeing her beloved wingie baby crying made her realise she had to snap out of it, and look after her and the other babies. Snowflake waved her front legs and shifted her painful rear stumps around, laying on her side, she turned to offer her teats to Nutella.
“Nu cwy wittew wingey babbeh, mummah wuv Nutewwa… wan huggies an wuv an miwkies? Gwow up big an stwong?”
Nutella managed to sniff a bit, and stopped crying, long enough to get Snowflake’s nipple in her mouth and start suckling. Snowflake knew that feeding her babies always made things feel better for everyone.
“Um… mummah…” Blueberry began, “can Bwueberry have miwkies?”
“Aww babbehs can hav miwkies,” said Snowflake, tears still running from her single eye, but this time the feels were joy. She had babbehs to look after, and she really loved them. Maybe she could be a good mummah, even though she had no back leggies. Blueberry toddled over and quickly started feeding, followed by Nana, a little more reluctantly. Nana snuggled but had to wait her turn, and eventually Snowflake gently pulled Nutella from her teat, and offered it to Nana.
“Mummah wuv babbehs…” Snowflake began to sing, choking back her tears and grief, “Babbehs wuv mummah… Mummah giv miwkies… babbehs gwow up big and stwong…” Snowflake smiled, and Nutella started to do a little dance. It wasn’t a begging dance, as her belly was already full of milk. It was a love mummah dance.
Strawberry just sat there, mumbling to herself, and kicking blockies.
Snowflake fed the other two babies for a bit, then called out to Strawberry, to find out if she wanted any milk.
“NU!” cried Strawberry, “Yu nu am weaw mummah! Yu am poopie-mummah, wiv poopie-babbeh! Yu make weaw mummah-Jewwy go away! It aww da fauwt of Poo-Fwake and Poo-Tewwa!”
When Nutella heard this, she stopped dancing and started to cry, but Snowflake had run out of tears, and felt anger instead. Holding the other two babies close, she covered their eyes and ears as best she could, snuggling them close to her bosoms, warm in her fluff. Then she spoke to Strawberry.
“Snowfwake wuv Jewwy, but Jewwy am bad-fwuffy. Jewwy huwt Snowfwake weawy badwy, an Nutewwa…” she said, but was cut-off mid sentance.
“PU-TEWWA AM A POOPIE-MUNSTAH BABBEH! POO-TEWWA HAV MUNSTAH WUMP GWOWING ON HEADY! YU AM STOOPID-DUMMEH-POOPIE-FAKE-MUMMAH! STWAWBEWWY HATE-CHU!!!” the little red fluffy screamed, puffing out her cheeks. Then, she turned to face Snowflake and pooped, right there on the carpet. She was too far away to poop on any of the other fluffies, but the intention was clear.
“Om-om-om-om-om-om-om-om-OM!” Nutella said, “Dat am bad poopies! Stwawbewwy get sowwy stick naow!”
“NU get sowwee stick!” Strawberry yelled back, “Poo-tewwa get sowwee stick for Poo-tewwa bad poopies, when Stwawbewwy teww mummah-Cwaire!”
“Dat vewy bad Stwawbewwy!” said Snowflake, “Mummah-Cwaire no beweeve bad fwuffy. Snowfwake an babbehs teww twufe an teww Mummah-Cwaire dat Stwawbewwy tewwing WIES. Den Stwawbewwy get sowwee stick.”
“NU FAIR!” yelled Strawberry, as loud as she could, before running off behind Claire’s bed to hide. The other babies started crying again, but Snowflake held them and rocked them and sang to them, and eventually they settled and slept in a fluff-pile. Snowflake loved her babies.
Claire arrived home to find the fluffies asleep in a fluff-pile. She knew it was best not to disturb them, especially as the babies and Snowflake were bonding. Claire’s parents and the vets had said that the best thing for the fluffies was if Snowflake was able to adopt the babies, as this would help them all to deal with the shock of what Jelly had done. Claire agreed, and was relieved to see that they were all getting on well. Then she noticed some poop on the carpet. Oh well, she thought, one baby having an accident was to be expected, so she got a paper towel and started to clean it up. The whole carpet needed a deep clean anyway.
Leaving the fluffies to sleep, Claire went to lie down on her bed, and got out her phone to see what her friends were up to. Then she heard the crying fluffy. Looking to her left, she saw that Strawberry was curled up in a ball and weeping pitifully.
“Oh Strawberry, what’s the matter?” Claire asked, gently picking up the little baby and snuggling her close to her chest, feeling the baby’s warm fluff against her flesh.
“Huuu huu huuu… Stwawbewwy wan mummah!” the fluffy cried.
“Do you need some milkies?” Claire asked, “Won’t Snowflake let you have any?”
“Nuuuu… huu huu… Snowfwake nu weaw mummah… nu wan poopie-miwk… Wan WEAW mummah… huu huu huuuu… Wan Jewwy! Why Jewwy gone way?”
Claire sighed, she thought things had been going a bit too well, and finding out that at least one of the fluffies was a little traumatised by what had happened was not really surprising. But how could she explain to a little baby fluffy that her mother had to be sent away?
“I’m sorry Strawberry,” Claire began, “Jelly was very bad. She hurt Snowflake very badly, and Nutella too…”
“Nutewwa am gwow wump on heady,” Strawberry started telling her, “She am gwow hown, it mean Nutewwa am Pointy-Wingeh Munstah!”
“Noooo,” Claire said, with her best cooing voice, “She’s not a monster. If she really is growing a horn, that means she’s an Alicorn. They are very rare you know…”
“Nu wan Awicorn munstah sissie… Wan Jewwy! Wan miwkies an huggies an wuv!” the red foal started crying again.
“I can give you some huggies and milkies if you want?” Asked Claire.
“Weawy? Mummah-Cwaire can giv miwkies? For Stwawbewwy? Can be Stwawbewwy-mummah?” the baby squeaked back, adorably.
“Yes, if you want, I can go get you some milk from the kitchen.”
“Nuuuuu! hhhuuu huu huu huu huuu… Nu wan kit-chen miwk, nu wike yukky Cow-miwk, wan Mummah-Cwaire miwk.” the baby fluffy kicked her legs in a tantrum, but was so tiny that she couldn’t possibly hurt Claire.
“Mummah-Claire milk?” Claire asked, almost laughing, “I’m sorry Strawberry, I can’t feed you any milk, I can’t make any.”
“Buh? But mummah-Cwaire have miwky-pwaces?” the confused fluffy asked.
Claire looked down at the baby fluffy, who was cuddled up against her “milk-places” to be fair. She nearly laughed again, but didn’t want to hurt the baby’s feelings.
“Human milk places are for human babies, and I won’t have any babies for a long time. You can have cow milk or Snowflake milk, that’s the only milk there is I’m afraid…” Claire explained calmly.
“Nuuuu! Wan Jewwy! Wan mummahhhhhh ahahh huuu huuu huuu… huuu huuu huuu… huu huu huuu…”
Claire eventually took the baby fluffy into the kitchen, so as not to disturb the other fluffies. She set her down on a scrunched up t-shirt on the counter top and heated some milk for her. When it was nice and warm, she slowly fed Strawberry with a dropper, and eventually Strawberry started suckling on it.
“Fanku mummah, Stwawbewwy tummeh-huwties go way naow. Stwawbewwy wuw mummah-Cwaire.”
“Mummah-Claire loves you too,” Claire replied.
In no time at all, Strawberry was fast asleep. Claire quietly carried her back into the bedroom, and carefully placed her next to her sisters in the fluff-pile. Hopefully a good sleep and plenty of snuggles should make everything better.
