With thanks to @Biorb_Biorb
Clint stood outside of the large building in front of him, and he felt a strange nervousness wash over him. He was a long way from home, his business was on the line and he was alone.
Well… not completely alone, as he looked down at the carrier cage in his arms, his Fluffies Oingo and Mambo sitting patiently with Oingo enveloping Mambo in a large hug to calm the younger stallion down.
“Daddeh? Wai nu gu inside?” Oingo asked, his eyes glancing at the glass doors leading into the massive building.
“We will in a moment Oingo, just needed a moment to myself. This is a big day for us, so I need both you and Mambo to be on your best behaviour.”
“Wiww be daddeh.” Oingo said proudly, Mambo nodded in affirmation.
Happy that his two special guys were on the level, Clint took a deep breath and walked into the main office building of Carter’s Creature Comforts.
Almost immediately he was taken by surprise, having only seen pictures online of the place back when it was Frederick’s Farm, Clint had been expecting a dingy, rundown piece of shit. Instead the build was clean and bright, with colourful patterns running across the walls, soft carpets instead of the sterile laminate flooring he had envisioned and TVs in every corner playing Fluffy Friendly programming.
In short, it looked phenonmenal.
Stunned by the place, Clint didn’t even realise the young woman in front of him until he almost ran her over. He took a second to catch his brain up to his body before clearing his throat.
“Uh… yes I’m… sorry, I’m…”
“Mr O’Conner? Yes we’ve been expecting you. My name is Jennifer, I’m Mr Carter’s personal assistant, anything you need help with today, just ask me.”
“Right, thanks, yeah.” Clint stumbled over his words, still taking in his surroundings.
Jennifer seemed to catch onto his mild awkwardness and motioned towards the elevator. “Shall we go see if Mr Carter is ready for you?”
Clint nodded. “Yes, please. No offence but the sooner I’m home the better. My fiancé has a lot on her plate right now and I don’t want to leave her for too long.”
“Not a problem Mr O’Conner.” Jennifer beamed as she started for the lift. “Mr Carter’s meeting shouldn’t take too long, we’ll even arrange transport for you to return to the airport whenever you’re ready.”
Clint chuckled as he stepped into the lift with Jennifer. “Well you guys did pay for my travel costs, I guess I owe you a little of my time.”
“Mr Carter isn’t looking to take any time from you Mr O’Conner, this meeting is purely for the health and safety of the Fluffies. Like these two little guys here, hi there.”
“Hewwo nice wady.” Oingo waved to Jennifer. “Am Oingo, dis am bestesh fwiend Mambo.”
Mambo shakily waved a hoof, but kept himself locked in Oingo’s Fluff.
Jennifer turned back to Clint. “They’re adorable.”
“Thank you, I hope it’s ok, me taking them into the meeting. I just couldn’t leave them at home for too long.”
“Not a problem whatsoever Mr O’Conner, Mr Carter has Fluffies in his office for them to play with, if you’d like.”
“That be great, thank you. I must admit, I was expecting this place to look a little more… rundown, but you really seem to have it all figured it.”
“We’ve come a long way since the days of Frederick’s Farm, I was one of the first two workers hired directly under Mr Carter’s employ, my husband being the other. Back then I just called him Lewis, sometimes I still do.”
“Well you seem to be doing well for yourselves, I doubt any of this place was cheap.”
“We’ve made good profits over the last few years and we’ve put everything we can back into the company. Funnily enough, our highest profits comes from our R&D department, not Fluffy sales.”
Clint was about to ask why a breeding business would have an R&D department when the lift suddenly stopped and the doors opened. Jennifer stepped out and headed for a large pair of double doors at the end of a short hallway, she opened one of the doors and stood aside to let Clint pass her.
“Mr Carter will see you now.” She said with a glint in her eye. And as he stepped inside, Clint caught onto the joke.
Carter’s office, whilst being the fanciest room in the building so far, was a far cry from the ‘Mr Burns-esque’ city block sized office he had been expecting. The chairs looked comfy but not overly expensive, the artwork on the wall was tasteful rather than ostentatious and instead of a fireplace, there was a TV playing the news.
And in the corner of the room, just across from the desk by the large window looking outside, were two men, the smaller of the two looked over and beamed at Clint as he walked over.
“Mr O’Conner. Glad to finally meet you, Lewis Carter, it’s a pleasure to put a face to a name.”
Lewis put out his hand for Clint to shake, Clint did the same in kind. “Pleasure to meet you too Mr Carter.”
“Oh please, just Lewis is fine. This is my partner Daniel, don’t let his size scare you, he’s harmless. Mostly.”
“Glad tae see ya O’Conner, Lou says yer a gid yin and I trust whit Lou tells me.”
Clint had no idea what the broad accented beefcake just said but he smiled and nodded all the same. Lewis looked over at Jennifer.
“Thank you Jen, that’ll be all for now.”
“As you wish Mr Carter.”
“I thought I told you to stop…”
But Jennifer was already out the room before he could stop her. Lewis chuckled before his attention then turned to Oingo and Mambo.
“Hello there, who do we have here?”
“Oh right, this is Oingo, he’s the green one, and Mambo.”
“I see, father and son?”
“No, just friends. Oingo’s a little older but not by much. He’s just always been a big foal.”
“A foal? Christ he is a big one isn’t he? We have some foals in our care at the moment, they can keep your Fluffies entertained whilst we do business.”
“Please, yes, I’m sorry for bringing them but we’ve had some… issues at the house and I couldn’t bring myself to leave them.”
“Don’t worry about it Mr O’Conner, I understand completely.”
Lewis led Clint to the corner where he and Daniel had been standing when Clint entered, now with the right angle Lewis saw a small playpen with six foals inside, just a little younger than Mambo. The foals all seemed in high spirits as they ran and played with each other, occasionally stopping to give hugs and share toys.
“Most of these are the foals of my own pair, Spike and Lily, they’re all well-behaved and friendly, your two boys shouldn’t have any trouble.”
“I’m not worried about your Fluffies, Mambo is a little shy around new people, just so long as they give him some space he should be ok.”
Clint placed his cage on the floor beside the playpen and opened it, carefully taking Oingo and Mambo out together, holding the smaller Mambo against the larger Oingo for balance.
“Ok guys, I need to talk human stuff with these two nice misters, but I’m just going to be over there so you can still see me. I’m going to leave you with some Fluffy friends, play nice with them and they’ll play nice with you.”
“Ok daddeh.” Oingo nodded, trying and failing to hide the worry in his eyes. Clint gave them both a quick hug before placing them into the pen.
Lewis knelt down to speak to his foals. “Ok everyone, this is Oingo and Mambo, they’re good Fluffies but a little shy around new friends. Be good to them, ok?”
“Ok daddeh Woo-ish.” Came a chorus of young voices.
Satisfied that everyone knew the rules, Lewis, Daniel and Clint headed for the desk to talk, leaving the Fluffies to get to know each other. There was a little awkwardness at first as neither group moved closer, until two of the foals, a dark blue/black Alicorn filly and a lighter blue unicorn colt, trotted up to meet the newcomers.
“Hewwo.” The Alicorn waved at Oingo and Mambo. “Am Mid-nite, an dis am bwudda Cobawt.”
“Hewwo nyu fwiends.”
“Hewwo, am Oingo, dis am bestesh fwiend Mambo.”
“Hewwo.” Mambo peeped out from between Oingo’s legs.
“Mambo nu mean be meanie, he yoose be sensitibe babbeh, an stiww hab heawt-huwties fwom meanie mawe. Oingo pwomise nu wet Mambo hab huwties eba gain.”
“Dat am su sadies.” Cobawt sympathised with the pair. “Cobawt an bwuddas an sissies pwomise nu tu be meanie tu nyu fwiends. Oingo an Mambo can pway if wan, hab wots of bwockies an bawws, but if nu, den hab tawkie bwanket tu west on.”
Oingo looked down at Mambo, the little yellow guy still unsure but clearly wanting to at least try and get along with the new Fluffies. Oingo made the call to start small.
“Tawkie bwanket sound gud, wan git knyo nyu fwiends.”
“Yay tawkie bwanket.” Midnight cheered as she led Oingo and Mambo over to a very soft, very colourful blanket in the corner of the room, everyone who wasn’t already on the blanket jogged over to join the group, everyone former a small circle on the comfortable fabric.
Midnight sat next to Oingo and Mambo and pointed to her brothers and sisters. “Dat am sissy Weaf.”
A green Alicorn filly waved at the pair. “Hewwo nyu fwiends.”
“Dat am bwudda Sha-did.”
A black Alicorn colt waved back. “Hewwo.”
“Dat am sissy Dan-dee-wion.”
A yellow Pegasus filly enthusiastically waved at the pair. “Hewwo, hab biggest heawt-happies tu meet nyu fwiends.”
“An dat am Pinkie Sissy.”
A very pretty peach Alicorn filly shyly waved at Oingo and Mambo. “Hewwo dewe.”
Oingo took a moment to look over Pinkie Sissy, aside from the fact that she was much prettier than her siblings, with iridescent silver in her glossy peach Fluffy and a calming sea-blue mane, she also looked noticeably older than the others, not by much but enough to see she wasn’t from the same litter.
“Wai du Pinkie Sissy nu hab namesie?” Oingo asked Midnight.
“Pinkie Sissy nu am weaw sissy, hab udda mummah an daddeh. Bu dey gu foweba sweepies. Nyo Mid-nite mummah an daddeh wook afta Pinkie Sissy, dat make hew weaw sissy nu matta wha.”
“Bu wai nu namesie?”
“Daddeh Woo-ish say dat Pinkie Sissy git namesies fwom hoomin mummah ow daddeh, dat gitten namesie fwom a hoomin is bestesh fing fow Fwuffy, an he nu wan take dat way fwom Pinkie Sissy.”
“Hope find mummah ow daddeh soon.” Pinkie Sissy peeped out, sighing deeply as Leaf and Dandelion snuggled up on either side of her.
“Mambo hope dat tuu.” The little guy spoke so quietly that barely anyone heard him, but Oingo did, and he smiled at his friends care for their new friend.
Across the room, Clint, Lewis and Daniel watched the Fluffies getting along, Lewis turned to Clint, a contented smile on his face.
“Your boys are good, you’ve raised them well.”
“Thank you, I’ve had Oingo and Mambo as long as I can remember, we’ve been through a lot together and I couldn’t bear parting with them for too long.”
“What’s happened? If you don’t mind me asking.”
Clint paused for a moment, wondering how much to say, but something about Lewis eased his worries and Clint felt like he deserved to know a little more.
“Mambo was… assaulted when he was still a foal, and not by a stallion before you ask. One of my fillies, one of Mambo’s friends, forced him to… well I’m sure you can guess.”
“Fooking Christ.” Daniel spat out. “I’ve heard a fooking stallions gitten fuck-crazy but nae many mares.”
“It’s rare but it does happen.” Lewis solemly added.
“Yeah well, it couldn’t have happened to a nicer guy. Mambo is, technically was a sensitive baby, took him a long time to talk and open up and the attack just knocked him back so far. He’s been getting better since then, still a little shy at times but he’s ok so long as he’s with Oingo. And I was not leaving Oingo alone for this trip. We had a break in at the house the other day, one of my neighbours’ psycho daughter broke in, butchered a bunch of my Fluffies, including Oingo’s mother and sister.”
Lewis winced. “Jesus, when you said ‘break in’ I expected a Smarty herd, but a human… We know too well about the damage a human can do.”
Daniel nodded, his fists clenching in memory of what happened to Bay 45.
Clint continued. “I’m sure you can understand then that I couldn’t leave Oingo behind, for a short time he’d be fine with my fiancé but for as long as this trip’s going to be, he needed to have some semblance of normality, even if that just meant looking after Mambo for a trip.”
“So you took Mambo not to protect him because he needs Oingo, but because Oingo needs him?”
“Exactly, the two of them are among the ones I care for the most in my herd and I failed them both. I’m trying not to let that happen again.”
Lewis turned to Daniel, neither of them said a word but they knew each other well enough to communicate through facial expressions and body language. After a moment, Lewis turned back to Clint.
“Well I hope we can ensure that happens here, I trust you’re wondering why we called you all the way over to our part of the country.”
Clint nodded. “A little bit yeah, your email said something about a vaccine?”
“The F.A.07 vaccine, have you heard of it?”
“Some in the news but not much, some kind of Psycho Fluffy Disease?”
“It was a neural degradation virus, attacked the logic and reasoning part of Stallion’s brains, turned them into violent, sex-crazed, cannibalistic monsters. It’s been mostly eradicated now but we’re not taking any chances, any new store we hear popping up gets put on our mailing list, no matter how far they are from our city.”
Clint thought for a moment, wondering if this whole trip had been necessary for such a seemingly insignificant offer. “Uh… thanks? I’m sorry but I never got to worry much about F.A.07 so I’m not sure how dangerous it was. As far as I knew it never left this city, but I appreciate the concern and I’m happy to take the vaccines. But why do I get the feeling you have more to offer me?”
“He’s ontae ya Lou, smart yin ain’t he?”
“Indeed he is, you are correct Mr O’Conner, e did have more to offer you, vaccines could’ve been an email order but we wanted to meet you personally, get a sense for who you are as a person and see if you were suitable for out second offer.”
“And what offer is that.”
“A partnership, a business arrangement. If you have any need for supplies, be they toys, tools, food or even medicine, then you buy directly for our suppliers, and at discounted price of course, and in return, we will take any unwanted Fluffies off your hand; any unfavourable colours, types, problems with fertility, even Smarties if you have any.”
Clint was dubious. “Why does that sound like a much better deal for me than for you?”
“Because it is Mr O’Conner, but we’re not making mistakes here. Our R&D department which designed most of our non-biological items, our blocks, our talking books, our milk bottles, our sorry-sticks, our Fluffy vitamins, anything under the name of our sub-company; Triple C, has made just as much, if not more profit than our regular Fluffy sales, and having a consistent partner works just as much in our favour as yours. As for the Fluffies you can’t sell, we’re a much larger and more scientifically astute company, we can examine Fluffy genealogy better and find a use for even the useless, you’d be given them a second chance with us that you couldn’t give them yourself.”
Clint sat back in his chair, taking everything Lewis had told him t heart. “Can I think about it, I’ll need to talk to my fiancée about all of this.”
“Of course Mr O’Conner, I wouldn’t take such drastic measures without Daniel’s approval either. Take all the time you need, you have my number if you make a decision.”
“Thank you, I’m just getting started on the professional side so I’ve still got a lot to figure out, but I’ll call you either way.”
Lewis stood up and shook Clint’s hand. “Either way, it’s been a pleasure to meet you Mr O’Conner, Jennifer will arrange transport back to your hotel for you, and she’ll finalise everything you need for vaccine delivery, just talk to her on the way out.”
“Will do, thank you again Mr Carter.”
“Please, just Lewis.”
Clint shook Daniels hand as well before stepping over to the playpen, he was pleasantly surprised to see Oingo and Mambo getting along well with the other foals, Mambo was playing Huggy-Tug with Shade and Cobalt whilst Oingo was passing a ball between himself and Pinkie Sissy, the two of them giggling away
“Your Oingo seems to have hit it off with Pink Sister.” Lewis smiled at the sight.
“Pink Sister? Does she not have a name?”
“Not yet, she’s the only one there who isn’t part of the family, not biologically anyway. Remember when I told you about being aware of human damage? That was what I was talking about, mad doctor called Josef Mongola broke into our breeding labs, he had experimented on F.A.07 and concentrated it, made a bad disease even worse and set it loose on our enclosure. Specifically MY enclosure, the Fluffies I started this business with, Fluffies I’d raised from birth and guided through several births together. I had 10 mares and just over 40 foals before Mongola arrived, when he left I had 5 mares and only 3 foals, Pink Sister being one of them, her mother one of the victims.”
“Jesus.”
“You don’t know the half of it. She still had her father but when I told him that his special-friend and most of his children had died and died in the most brutal way imaginable, he lost himself and committed suicide before I could tell him she was still alive. I had to separate the families to keep F.A.07 at bay but I promised them they would see each other again, I broke that promise, and because of me, Pink there is now an orphan. I don’t know how much she remembers from the attack but… she has nightmares, sounds of the monstrous things done to her family and friends. Ever since then I’ve had her raised by my Fluffies Spike and Lily, I’ve given her everything I could except a name, her name must be given to her by her new owner, something to immediately bond her to her new life and give her the future I almost took from her.”
Lewis looked at Clint, seeing a comforting smile grew on his face as he watched Oingo happily at play with his new pink friend, a reprieve from the pain of losing his family, and likely a distraction for her as well.
“You want her?”
Clint turned in shock. “Sorry what?”
“Pink, you want her? I’ve been trying to find the perfect owner for her, I think you’re the best candidate so far.”
“Mr Carter, I can’t just take one of your Fluffies…”
“Sure you can, call it a gift. Pink needs a loving home and based on what you’ve told me, your home seems to be full of that love she needs. Plus she seems to have bonded well with Oingo, I’d rather not split her up from her new friends. And don’t worry, this isn’t a bribe, whatever you say about our business partnership won’t change a thing, you can keep her no matter what.”
Clint looked over at the peach Alicorn, from a business perspective she was a gold mine, but from a personal look, having someone who knew what Oingo was going through having lost Brandy and Gwen would help with the healing process.
“Yeah, yeah I think I will take her.”
“I’m glad to hear that Mr O’Conner, I have no doubts that you’ll be exactly what she needs.”
The two men shook hands before Lewis knelt down to talk to the foals again.
“Everyone, Mr Clint here has agreed to take Pink Sister home with him, he’s going to be her new daddy.”
Pink Sister gasped. “Nyu daddeh? Pinkie Sissy git homesie, be wiv nyu fwiends foweba?”
Clint smile and knelt down to stroke her mane. “That’s right, you’ll be coming home with me.”
“YAY NYU DADDEH, HAB BIGGESH HEAWT HAPPIES!”
Pink Sister ran and danced, hugging her adopting siblings, most of whom were sad to see her go but also happy she had a permanent owner now. Pink Sister stopped in front of Mambo and Oingo, smiling wide at both of them.
“Pinkie Sissy gu homesie wib nyu fwiends, dis bestesh bwite-time eba.”
Mambo jumped up and hugged Pink Sister. “Wub nyu pinkie fwiend.”
“Oingo happies Pinkie Fwiend come homesie, need gud fings fow famiwy.”
Clint waited until all the hugs and goodbyes were done before picking up Oingo, Mambo and their new pink friend and placing them into the cage, it was a tighter fit with three of them now, but they made themselves comfortable.
Clint then waved a final goodbye to Lewis and Daniel and made for the elevator, his mind already swimming with names for his new friend.
So this was my first adoption, the unnamed Peach Alicorn now belongs to @Biorb_Biorb and they are now in control of her fate.
I do have another adoption in the works, but I need to get that story finished up and I promise to focus on that next now that I’ve got this story out.
