Continuation of: Morning (Mis-)Adventures [by A-S]
Alright, two weeks, now the next step is doing it in one week. I swear, proofreading only makes me go over the whole chapter at least 4 times.
To anyone interested in this story, I deeply apologize for being slower than a pillowfluff.
Also, for those of you who read the other stories for the Mutagen’s Munchkins contest, you might recognize a couple fluffies. In this case, I thank @Karn for allowing me to give them a small part in this story. I will link his own take on Spike here for anyone who hasn’t read it already (please do, I surely enjoyed it. Don’t trust what a certain Owl might say about me enjoying it too much).
Here it is: We Are Not Toys! Part 1 by Karn
While Spike wasn’t exactly happy to be separated from the rest of his family, he had to admit the idea of meeting some new fluffies was thrilling. He hadn’t played with any other foals ever since they abandoned the herd. Tears welled up in the young fluffy’s eyes. He missed them all. His father, the Smarty. The brave Toughies. The poor babbehs, who never had a chance at living. Without realizing it, he started sobbing.
“Nyu fwend hab saddies?”
A shrill voice woke Spike up from his dark thoughts. He spun around, only to be greeted by two large orange eyes and a fluffy’s muzzle, belonging to a pastel pink earthie foal with an orange mane and tail. Her face was a mixture of curiosity, happiness and concern.
“Am Gee’gee! Wat am nyu fwend’s namesie?”
“sniff… Fwuffy namesie am… am Spike.”
“Wai Spike make saddie-wawas? Nee’ huggies? Huggies make aww bettew!”
Though some part of Spike was unsure his wounds would ever go away and most importantly, that his herd would ever come back, with a simple hug, he was still a fluffy. And as every fluffy knows, hugs make everything better.
“sniffle O…otay, Spike wan’ huggies…”
From the doorway, Veronica had been secretly spying on the two foals. She was happy Spike was opening to other fluffies so soon. The hardest part in the rehabilitation of an abused fluffy, after all, was to restore his ability to ever trust humans again. And the first step was to learn to trust fluffies who live with humans. Those who couldn’t bring themselves to do so would have an even harder time getting adopted and could get flippant or outright aggressive towards the still innocent members of their kind, guilty of being “dummehs” uncapable of seeing a human’s true nature.
Veronica herself had seen it happen before. Snowball, an off-white monocolour pegasus, had been rescued from an abusive mother who had taken his “wingies and special lumps” away with her bare hands over a minor offense. One fateful day, Snowball had snapped. Poor Frank, a purple pegasus with a black mane, had been trying for a few days to approach the abused fluffy. The pained screams had alerted Veronica, back then a simple trainee, but the scene had been so gruesome it had left her too shocked to intervene. Frank was on the ground screaming, blood flowing from his broken nose. His right eye was swollen and purple, his hind legs bent in an unnatural way. But the worst part was Snowball ripping off the poor thing’s wings with his teeth, yelling incoherent stuff about how he was in league with the “meanie hoomans who took his wingies”. Soon after completing his grisly work, the former white pegasus had collapsed on the ground next to his victim, loudly bawling and crying, begging Frank to forgive him and that he was sorry about everything.
Two fluffy deaths had been mourned that day. Poor Frank had died from blood loss and shock. His owners were traumatized when they saw his mangled body. Snowball himself had entered a catatonic state, a simple matter of time before he starved himself to death. A quick injection and he went peacefully to sleep, something Veronica herself couldn’t do for a few nights.
Laughter snapped her out of the horrible memories, still fresh in her mind despite the years. Gigi and Spike had begun playing huggie tag, with the larger gray foal chasing after the smaller pink one. Soon after being caught, the hunter and prey hugged it out, then swapped roles. With a smile, the young vet moved onto her more pressing duties.
Spike was having a wonderful time. He had regressed back to the days of the herd, when he played with the other foals “hide an’ peekies”, “huggie tag” and other whimsical games. For a human, the few days the fluffies had been on the run might feel like nothing, but for a fluffy, moreso for a baby one, that easily feels like an eternity and poor Spike clearly felt that way.
Just then, a small bell rang and the pink foal froze up.
“Spike come! Am nummie-time! Hab gud nummies wif uddah fwuffies!”
The gray foal whipped around, a bit scorned the fun had ended so soon, before a grumble in his tummy reminded him he hadn’t eaten since last night. Following his newfound friend over to another room, Spike spotted a human male with the same white not-fluff as Veronica filling some bowls with tiny brown pellets. A small group of foals was gathered around him, babbling aloud.
"Calm down guys, everyone gets their fill, don’t worry, we’ll make those tummy hurties go away in no time!"
A smaller, electric blue foal with a yellow mane and matching tail piped up immediately, his small wings fluttering with enthusiasm.
“Fank’ou Mistah Jake! Kibbwe nu taste as gud as miwkies, bu’ am gud fo’ big babbehs!”
A dull brown unicorn with a light tan mane spoke up next.
“Fwash am wight! Ada wubs Mistah Jake!”
Two foals, a unicorn and a pegasus with identical neon green fluff and white mane started dancing. Well, they plopped onto their poofy butts and swayed their upper bodies. Of course, they were out of sinc.
“Mistah Jake wook! Mawy an’ Jane du dancies fo’ ou!”
“Jane wubs nummie-time! Wub dancies! Am dancie-babbeh!”
For the briefest moment, Spike felt true happiness. He had found a place where he wouldn’t have to scavenge for food or fight with monsters. He could even form a fluffpile with the other foals! There were so many new friends to meet, of all varieties! Earthies like himself and Gigi! Pointy friends like Ada and Mary! Wingie friends like Jane and Flash…
The grey foal’s advance and musings were both interrupted as soon as the blue and yellow pegasus had turned around to greet the approaching fluffies. On his head rested a small but clearly defined horn. Instinct took over and Spike fell back into survival mode.
"M…MUNSTAH!"
The foal barely had time to enter the fluffy battle stance before he noticed something was off. The human had stopped pouring the food and was staring at him, frowning. The monster fluffy was looking at him with a mixture of sadness and pity, a weak smile on his face, while the other foals looked really angry. Lastly, a small, pink hoof that was coming right at him from the side.
By the time his brain had relayed the information to his body, it was too late to dodge it. No real damage was done, but it was enough to make him lose his balance and land on his side, the wind knocked out of him.
Looking for the source of the attack, he saw Gigi staring at him, a look of pure rage on her face, despite the tears in her eyes.
“W…wai Gee’gee gib Spike sowwie hoofsies?”
“Bee-cus Spike am biggest meanie! 'Ou say Fwash am munstah!”
Spike felt like the entire world had stopped.