Lunch is just as good as breakfast was, and is served the same way. Boss-Mummah makes Sundae a nice plate, with some of the really good kibble they have here, and some more apples, and some leafy-nummies, and boiled eggs, and cheese, and little tomatoes, and orange slices… She devours every bit of it, and then it’s time for something called ‘encounter therapy’. Which is just trying to play with the therapy mares and stallions and not get too scaredies. It helps that there are fluffies that live here who join in, and make everything less… Boss-Mummah might say ‘charged’, and Sundae doesn’t understand why, but at least the humans have a word for it.
It would help more if Boss-Mummah could stay right by her like she does at the fluffy park, but she has to sit back with the other humans. They’ve all got that awful nervous-and-being-brave-for-the-babbehs smell that Sundae knows far too much about. Boss-Mummah is pretty good at being brave, but she can’t help how she smells, and even though Sundae wants to stay in her arms forever, all the other mares from her group going into the big indoor play area before, the smell is awful, and finally Sundae snorts to get it out of her nose, and slides down from Boss-Mummah’s lap, scampering away.
When Sundae comes to a stop to forget her bearings, she almost forgets to worry. There are so many blockies and balls and stuffie-friends, and a whole playhousie! There are signs on it. Sundae isn’t smart enough to read human-wordies, that’s really advanced stuff, but next to the wordies is a sign with two fluffy-shapes on it: one mare-shape, one stallion-shape. And there’s a big red no-sign over the stallion, and a big green checkmark by the mare. No Boys Allowed.
“Sundae!” Valentina calls from the top level of the structure, wings fluttering, and Sundae runs to join her new friend. Terra is up here, too, and she smiles when Sundae comes climbing up, hugging her in greeting. “Wunnin’ out ob hidey-housie time,” she tells Valentina. Seeing Sundae’s confusion, Terra shows her a panel on the wall, where pretty lights are slowly turning from green to red.
“Supposed to pway wif nicie stawwions,” she says, “nu hide in housie all bwite-time. When aww wights wed, it time tu gu.”
Sundae nods. Even if it is pretty and cozy in here, there are no toys, really, just a few pillows that can be stuffie-friends, because they have smiles on them. “Otay!” she chirps. “Why am fwends hidies?”
Valentina sighs. “Oak am scawwies. Bawentina knu he nu mean to be. Jus’ wook wike, wike…” she shivers, and Sundae and Terra both go and give her huggies.
“Poow widdew babbeh,” Sundae says softly. “Poow Tewwa, tuu.”
When they leave the playhousie, pretty bells playing to let them know it’s time, Oak is way, way on the other side of the play area, and very, very peaceably rolling a ball back and forth with Marron and some big foals. Sundae can tell that he’s trying very, very hard not to be scary. Just like Arrokoth, lying on his belly with two fiesty babbehs wrestling between his front hoofsies. He smiles softly down at them, and for a moment it’s like Sundae is looking at Number 18, with some of the pretty babies they never got to keep.
She shakes her head to clear the thinkie-pictures, and trots over to where Lucky Star, Sparkle, and Candyfloss are playing huggie-tag with Hank, Marinus, Red Cloud, Cobalt, and some other mares and their big foals. It’s easy to join the game, and the chasing in huggie-tag is innocent enough for Terra and Valentina not to be scared, especially because none of the stallions involved is very rough-looking. And of course Terra feels safer with her sisters around, and that safe feeling helps Valentina to feel safe, too. Lucky Star is very pretty, with two shades of brown in her wings and mane, and five-pointed green stars in her see-places.
Huggie-tag is fun, but Sundae has short legs even for a fluffy, and she’s not as young as she once was. It’s hard work keeping up with Terra, let alone Valentina and the foals. Soon, Sundae is panting too hard to laugh, and has to wander away to flop down next to Sunshine, who is watching some of the mummahs feed their little talky babbehs, with a sad, soft, wondering kind of look on her face. Sundae can’t even imagine the awful things poor Sunshine has seen happen to babbehs. At least in the mill, babbehs meant moneys, and any human that let anything bad happen to a babbeh with ‘good colors’ was in Big Trouble. Even the gross, nasty, meanie-mistahs with their poky fingers and bad, bad touchies hadn’t done anything to the babbehs for fun. The poor little brown babbehs had all gotten forever-sleepies, but there hadn’t been very many of them and it had at least been quick. No sick games, and none of the bad stallions had ever had the chance to hurt any babbehs. And the mill had still been so terrible.
At least babbehs are so pretty and fun and full of questions that it’s hard to keep thinking about heart-hurties. All of the mummahs are pleased to tell Sunshine and Sundae all about their babbehs, some of whom have names, and some of whom do not. Some of the mummahs live here until they get a new human mummah or daddeh, some of them live here forever, some are here for help, like Sundae, and some of them have housies nearby, and this is where they stay when their human mummahs and daddehs are working.
A quiet earthie, a duller yellow than Sunshine, more like the mustard mummah keeps in the cold nummies-box at home, puts a nervous hoofsie in front of a little splorin’ babbeh who starts waddling toward Sunshine, and then looks embarrassed, hiding behind her dark red mane a little.
“S-sowwy. Saffwon stiww gettin’ used to babbehs bein’ safe."
“It otay,” Sunshine says. “Sunshine undastan’. Pwetty babbeh!”
Of course Sunshine is all right with pointy-wingie fluffies, she has been nothing but nice to Sparkle, and Saffron must see it on her face, because she lets the babbeh go. He is pretty, black with all different colors starting to come in on his mane, tail, and wings, with little white hoofsies and pointy, like Domino has. One of his siblings pulls off of Saffron’s milkie-place to look over at Sundae, eyes going round.
“Mummah, wook!” she squeals, and Saffron smiles.
Sundae can see why the babbeh is so excited: they match! Another little alicorn, all white with pink mane and tail coming in, more colors on her wings, and it looks like more on her pointy, too. That’s rare, Sundae has only seen it a few times. The white babbeh comes over to her for huggies, and Sundae is very happy to give them. Maybe she’ll have a babbeh like this one, someday. She makes sure to stay close by, so Saffron won’t worry. Sundae would never steal a babbeh, and she’s sure all the humans and therapy fluffies wouldn’t let her get far, but it does happen, and Saffron seems nervous.
The babbeh is of course, oblivious, and when she hops out of Sundae’s hoofsies to squeak, “Eastew! Eastew!” she’s just as oblivious to the way Sunshine tenses up all over at the sight of a stallion approaching a happy, innocent babbeh. Her brother wiggles a little as Sunshine’s grip tightens, and she makes herself relax before she gives him hurties. She’ll be such a good mummah.
Easter smiles down at the babbeh. “Hi, babbeh! Whut ou so ecksited abou?”
“Me an’ pwetty nyw fwen am same cowows!”
Easter is as pleased to hear this amazing new information as any little foal could wish, and comes over so she and many of the others can jump on him and wrestle him to the ground, all of his strength perfectly controlled for them. Sundae can feel the sight doing Sunshine’s heart good, and nuzzles her before moving on to see how Raincloud, Domino, and Dawn are doing. It’s a habit she can’t shake, from trying to keep the younger mares at the mill as safe as possible. She meets Spike and Dapple coming the other direction, and knows that they’re making the same kind of circuit, checking on everyone.
“Waincwoud an’ Dawn an’ Domino am safsies,” Dapple assures her without being asked, and Sundae smiles.
“Sundae knu, but Sundae nee’ see,” she says, and Spike nods.
“Spike an’ Dappwe undastan,” she says, and they each give her huggies and let her be on her way.
Raincloud turns out to be sitting quietly with a small group of big foals in a relatively secluded corner, listening intently as Phaeton tells them a story in his quiet, gentle voice. It seems like an interesting story, but Sundae has already missed the beginning, and has other friends to look in on. Sundae had been too nervous to see when she had come in, and too busy from then on, but there are big, big blockies in the back, big enough for fluffies to climb on, with soft corners so falling off of them and onto the soft floor won’t hurt. Crystal is here, and seeing him still makes her heart beat fast and her belly feel like making sickie-wawas, but it’s not as bad, especially because he’s helping Domino climb up onto blockie, next to Dawn, already on top of one, giggling as her pretty wings buzz.
“Cawefuw,” Crystal says, bracing Domino’s back hoofsies with his front ones, and Sundae can tell that he means it.
“T’ank ou!” Domino chirps, scrambling up onto the big blockie.
They look like something on FluffTV, and only enhance the impression by starting to jump up and down on the slightly springy material and sing a song about blockies. Sundae claps her hoofsies in delight, and joins in. She pauses when she sees Crystal smiling at her, but he doesn’t approach, and it really is a nice smile. It’s not his fault he looks like Number 20. And it’s not even that much, really. Number 20 had been pink, and not as pretty.
With that in mind, when Dawn comes down from her block so Sundae can have a turn, Sundae lets Crystal help her up. It’s scary, right at first, to be close enough to smell him, but he’s very, very gentle with her, and right as she’s climbing onto the block, Sunkist comes galloping up and bellows, “Hewwo!” in a sudden, silly way that makes her get the giggles so badly she almost falls. Crystal giggles too, but catches her with his hoofsies on her backside, and shoves her the rest of the way up to safety.
“Sunkisk! Nu suddnen noisies in middul ob dewicate oppowayshun!” Crystal admonishes him, and that just makes Sundae giggle more, doing a tiny dance on her bouncy little stage.
“Sowwy pwetty mawe Sundae, fwen Crystal. Buh whew Sunwise?”
And Sundae hasn’t seen Sunrise this whole time, now that he mentions it. “Sunwise bisit fwuffy-mummah, wemembew?”
“Ohhh,” Sunkist says, a look of realization crossing his face. He looks up at Sundae. “Sunwise fwuffy-mummah am wowkies tuu.”
While Sundae and Domino gently bounce on the blocks, Crystal and Sunkist explain that Sunrise’s fluffy-mummah, helps babbehs with heart-hurties, and the humans are careful to make sure they get to spend time together. “Is gud time now,” Crystal says, as Sunkist pushes another block closer with his head, to make a group of three, “babbehs ams sweepies, mostwy.”
