Syrup gasped in horror as Rob set the brown foal in front of her. He watched, secretly gleeful, as horror turned to revulsion then to pity. Syrup raised a hoof, but Rob shook his head. “Not yet,” he said.
“Bu’…babbeh am gon’ gu fowebah-sweepies! Wai gib mowe huwties?” Syrup asked, an edge of panic to her voice.
“Don’t worry, I’ll make sure he doesn’t hurt,” Rob explained, as he gave the foal a miniscule amount of painkillers. Probably enough to kill the wretched creature, to be honest, but Rob didn’t want him broken. If he died, it wouldn’t waste too much of Rob’s time. If not, and he wasn’t an absolute wreck by the time he physically recovered…well, he had something planned for the foal.
“Babbeh nu gu fowebah-sweepies?”
“Well, I won’t lie to you. He’s probably going to anyway. All I did was make him hurt less, but it doesn’t mean the infection won’t get him. I’ll see what I can do, but it might be too late,” Rob scowled theatrically. “His family did what yours did. I don’t know if I got to him in time.”
Syrup didn’t ask what Rob had done to the others. He was a little disappointed about that, but at the same time relieved. It seemed she really didn’t care what happened to families that acted like hers had. That made things a little easier in a few ways. Realistically it was probably mostly denial on her part anyway, so he shouldn’t be too blatant.
“Just keep an eye on him. I’ll make a bottle if he’s up to eating, if not we’ll have to figure something else out.”
“Tank 'ou, daddeh,” Syrup sniffled, hugging his leg.
“Of course, sweety. No babbeh deserves to live like that.”
Well, take the “like that” off the sentence and he was being entirely honest.
Babbeh didn’t hurt. It was strange, but he didn’t hurt at all. He couldn’t understand it. The way he’d been rotting should hurt so much, but he felt almost nothing. He breathed laboriously, and smelled something in the air, even above his own reek of filth and decay. His heart dropped. Milkies meant the other babbehs would be getting fed, and that meant they’d soon demand licky-cleanies.
Then he remembered that the other babbehs were dead, and he felt a bit better. Why did he smell milkies, then? The only other fluffy in the room was practically an adult. Why would she be drinking milkies at her age? The idea of them being for him never crossed his mind.
It didn’t end up mattering, though, since he was in no shape to be able to drink any, especially not nursing from the bottle. He tried, he really did, but his body just wouldn’t respond. He would have cried if he could. His only chance to taste milkies before he died and he couldn’t even do that!
“Sorry about this, little guy,” the nice mistuh’s voice said, and he felt a sharp stinging in his neck. “Got to try to get that infection under control and get some nutrients in you somehow.”
He didn’t understand, and he was so, so tired. So he let himself drift off to sleep. At least when he went forever-sleepies it’d be in a warm place.
Babbeh woke up again, this time feeling even more strange. He still wasn’t hurting, but when he opened his eyes there wasn’t the dark fog hanging over his vision. He tried to move, and felt his leggies wiggle a little bit. He tried to talk and realized there was something stuck in his throat. He began to panic, steadily gaining strength.
“Daddeh!” he heard a voice call beside him. “Babbeh am awake!”
There was a loud, rapid thudding sound that he felt as much as heard, and he heard the nice mistuh once more. “Well, I’ll be. You actually woke up. I wasn’t sure you would.”
He felt a hand wrap around him gently and the tube was slowly but surely pulled free. He drew a long breath and chirped. He was alive! He somehow hadn’t gone forever-sleepies!
“Babbeh!” the voice of the other fluffy said, and he was lowered into her embrace. A fluffy was hugging him? Wasn’t he just a yicky poopy babbeh? Why would a fluffy want to hug him?
“Gentle, Syrup. He’s still in rough shape.”
“Otay!”
Babbeh chirped again, this time more happy than confused.
Time passed, and Babbeh grew stronger and stronger. He was still small, still withered compared to what he should have been, but it was leagues better than the barely-living, rasping husk he’d been when daddeh found him. Now, he was living instead of just waiting to die.
He settled into his new life, a life of milkies and playing and huggies. He learned to treat Syrup as his new mummah, and the other babbehs that daddeh brought home as his brothers and sisters. Even when the new, pretty babbehs had arrived and he’d been sure he’d be discarded like before, he was still loved.
He loved his new family with an intensity that matched his hatred for his old one. The other babbehs loved mummah and daddeh too, he knew, but he also knew that they didn’t understand what could have been. Their love was still love, but it wasn’t the deep, all-consuming devotion he felt. Nothing was more important than his new family.
So, the day came when he was finally a talkie-babbeh. He was a bit older than most, but that was okay. Mummah was so proud of him, but she seemed a little sad, too. Daddeh, too, seemed so happy to learn that he was growing so big and strong. Soon, he was showing daddeh how he could talk now, too!
“Since you can talk now, how about I give you a name?”
“Namesies!?” A ugly babbeh like him could have namesies? He felt a little ashamed at his surprise. Of course his mummah and daddeh loved him. Of course he’d get a name!
“How about Pine?”
“Pine wub nyu namesies!”
“Pine am big fwuffy nao,” mummah said. “Daddeh? Can Pine stay?”
“I’m sorry,” daddeh said. “He has to go to live with his new family now so he can have his own family and babbehs.”
Pine protested immediately. He didn’t want to leave! He had all he ever wanted right here! He didn’t care about having a new family or babbehs! He just wanted to stay with mummah and daddeh and the other babbehs!
“I’m sorry,” daddeh’s tone was somber. “I can’t let you stay. It not right for a fluffy to stay with their mummah and daddeh forever. I don’t want you to be less than you could be.”
He protested again, but daddeh’s word was final. So he snuggled up to mummah for the last time, sobbing. Mummah hugged him tight and cried too.
Well, that was just as annoying as Rob had expected it to be. He’d expected the foal to develop attachment issues, and he’d known the first time Syrup gave up a foal would be painful. Unfortunately, unlike the older alicorn Candy, the brown foal obviously couldn’t be a nurse mare. Well, unfortunately for Syrup and incredibly unfortunate for Pine, anyway. Rob was already giddy with delight.
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Souls are hard to come by … is this dude a grim reaper
No, the reason for his sequential reincarnation is that there’s only a few souls to go around so they just reincarnate over and over so every life is lived.