Freezing winds howled outside of Tim’s simple little house as snow continued blanketing everything in a thick mass of flakes and ice. Snow was never an issue for Tim, though. He anticipated extreme weather conditions while he was first constructing his house, building a home that could only be destroyed by the hands of the man who built it. He simply sipped his coffee as his thoughts played back the events of the previous day.
Just before the storm had reached peak conditions, Tim decided to take a quick look a what had fallen off his shed to figure out if the old thing was worth saving. Upon further investigation of his shed, he found a few boards that had rotted off the back wall facing the empty field behind his house. Inside the shed, however, he noticed something that quickly peaked his interest.
Inside his shed, Tim finds a rather small dirty grey fluffy passed out in a steaming puddle of blood and shit. Though it was softer than pin dropping, he could just barely make out the sound of panicked chirping over the soft rush of icy wind from the incoming storm. It would seem that a pregnant stray had found it’s way into his shed. Not only that, but it had somehow managed to ruin a few smaller boards that made up the base of the shed wall AND passed out after giving birth to it’s gaggle of crotch gremlins. (Though it was hard to tell against the puddle of bile and fluids, Tim managed to count 3 foals in total.)
The sudden stinging of icy flakes on the back of his neck snaps Tim back into reality as the weather around him begins to intensify. He didn’t have time to properly deal with these new problems now, he had to get inside and shelter away from the incoming storm. A smile builds on his face and a pep suddenly fills Tim’s step as he quickly grabs some extra nails and his hammer. Sure, he couldn’t properly deal with these things right away, but that just means he get’s to engage in his favorite life-long past time-
Observation.
Using some extra wood scraps he had on hand, Tim quickly patches over the holes left behind by the rotting boards and the apparent fluffy vandalism. It wasn’t any kind of permanent fix, but it would at least keep the shed covered and the inside dry until Tim had time to actually repair it properly. Rather than dispose of the rotting wood, Tim opted to neatly lean it up against the bottom of the shed instead. It would keep a small layer of snow from melting directly into the bottom of the shed, hopefully slowing any future water damage and keeping the inside a bit dryer.
Before retiring back to his cozy little home, Tim decides to add one more layer of protection to his shed. He grabs an old tarp sitting under his porch and quickly flips it out. It had a few smaller holes littering it’s surface, but it was still a good sized tarp that Tim was just going to throw out anyway. He stacks a few cinder blocks onto one edge of the tarp, throwing the rest of it over the shed in an almost tent like fashion. He places cinder blocks on the other loose edges of the tarp, anchoring it in place against the storm and adding a layer of protection to the shed.
After placing the final cinder block in place to ensure the tarp wouldn’t easily be blown away, Tim quickly tucks a small weatherproof security camera into a small hole just above the shed door, making sure to angle it’s view so that the entire interior of the shed was visible to it’s gaze. He uses one last nail to hold it in place before booking his ass back into his home, bolting his doors and windows shut just as the storm touches down.
Tim adds a small log to his cozy little fire place and changes into a comfy pair of sweats and a sweater. Through his kitchen window, he simply watches as the shed is quickly blanketed in snow until the automatic light above his back door flickers out. He quickly turns his attention to a security camera feed of the inside of his shed being streamed on his phone. There was a small noise coming from the camera feed, indicating that the fluffy was beginning to awaken. He was positively giddy with excitement, giggling like a school girl as he kicks back in his favorite comfy chair and tunes into his favorite show- Real Life.
A small grey tuft of fluff begins to lightly stir in it’s sleep. Wind loudly whistles through the tiny cracks and holes in the simple little shed as a small stream of water slowly drips from the ceiling into a nearby empty flowerpot. While the shelter isn’t perfect, it was more than enough to keep the tiny fluffy creature protected from the monstrous snow flurry that was currently raging just outside it’s walls.
The smell of fetid copper and feces wafts into the fluffy creature’s nostrils, slowly rousing her from it’s slumber. The shed creaks and moans against the raging winds outside, but holds firm against the stress. Soft, weakened chirps that are much to quiet to even bounce off the sheds cramped walls fill the cold air that currently surrounded the tiny creature, causing the grey fluff’s ruby red eyes gently flutter open.
chir…chirp…chir…
peep…p…peep…
ch…chir…
The fluffies eyes slowly open as the world shakily comes back into focus.
It… It’s so cold…
It… It’s too cold…
Her body begins to shiver uncontrollably in response to the freezing temperature, causing a sudden flash of white hot pain to shoot up her back left leg from the base of her hoofie all the way up her spine. The pain shot from down to the edges of her matted grey tail and all the way to the tip of her…
chirr…rrp…
Suddenly a tiny spark shoots from the tip of a tiny grey horn hidden behind the fluffies overgrown matted mane, burning some hair away as it lands on a tiny lone pile of shit soaked discarded wood shavings on the floor of the shed. The spark hits the shavings, causing them to brightly erupt into a small flame that lights up the interior of the shed.
The flames appearing from seemingly nowhere startles the fluffy into a panic. No doubt she would have immediately shit herself if she hadn’t already emptied herself during the birthing process.
PEEEEEP!
CHIRPchirCHIRP
CHIIIRP-chiir-
A sudden kind of instinct breaches through the mare’s dense layer of brain fog, stirring something within her tiny body as she lay on the cold soiled shed floor.
Something was in pain.
Something of hers was in pain.
It sounded like… Like a…
“B-b-b-babbeh…?”
Before she even has time to realize what’s going on, the tiny mare’s senses are overwhelmed by a sudden soft pained screeching quickly filled the air around her. One of the foals had been squirming around too close to the wood shavings when they lit up, causing a decent sized portion of it’s tiny face and head to burn and sizzle as whatever tiny trace amounts of fluff it had popped out with now slowly melted to it’s sensitive newborn flesh.
The newborn foal panicked and screeched even louder. Being just a few minutes old, it had no concept of the existence of pain or any idea of what the burning sensation now consuming it’s tiny little face and head could be. All it could comprehend was sensation of burning pain and an instinctual impulse to continue loudly chirping in alarm as it helplessly called out for some kind of rescue.
The mare’s eyes widen as the her view of the burning foal began to slowly come into focus. Adrenaline begins to flood her body, blocking out the pain of her broken back hoof as her body begins to act on it’s own. The mare plants one of her tiny hoofies onto the concrete floor of the shed, pushing her up-
-RIIIIIIIP-
A large clump of fluff and skin dangles from the right side of the mares face, small drops of blood slowly pooling and dripping down from the nearly frost bitten skin that the fluff once clung to. The fluff on one side of the mare’s body that she was passed out on had frozen to the ground. She was stuck in place, held captive by the chunk of fluff and skin that now dangled painfully from the side of her face all the way to the ground that it was frozen to.
The mare breathlessly cries out in pain as she reflexively tries to reach her tiny front hoofies up to her now bleeding face.
-SHHHRRRIIIIP-
A sound much like that of strong Velcro being ripped apart fills the air inside the shed as both fluff and small chunks of skin are painfully torn from away from the top of the mare’s shoulder, down her tiny front right leg all the way to her tiny little hoofie.
The mare silently screams in agony. Adrenaline once again floods her body as she reflexively pulls away from the pain now consuming her entire right side, causing her to rip the remaining flap of fluff and skin away from her face. The sudden force and momentum causes her to tumble forward, knocking over a nearby shovel that had been leaning against the wall. The shovel falls over, knocking an old bowl of stagnant water off a nearby shelf and hitting the floor with a violent clattering noise. The water from the bowl slowly spills onto the shelf before dripping over the edge to the floor, directly on top of the foal that had been burned by the fire.
A gentle hissing noise can be heard as the water extinguishes the embers threatening to consume the foal, stopping them before they can continue to spread across it’s entire face. While the foal may have been saved from the flames, the right side of it’s face from just above his nose, over it’s still closed eye, all the way passed it’s ear to the back of it’s head was now a lump of charred flesh and small melted patches of now hardening goo where tiny patches of fluff once sat.
The foal no longer chirps, it simply twitches on the ground in silence as the incomprehensible feeling of pain courses through it’s tiny body, blocking it from even the simplest of body functions.
The small fire continues to calmly burn. Light and shadows silently dance around the mare as she limps her way through the puddle of blood, shit, and soggy ash toward the injured foal. She makes sure to avoid the fire, limping a wide ark around it as she quickly approaches her twitching foal.
The air around the mare seems to drop to a dead silence as she quickly bends down in front of her foal, wincing from the sudden pain brought on by the motion.
“B-b-babbeh… Haf-f-f… Buwn-n-ie… Huwt-t-ties! P-p-pwease… Babb-b-beh… Mak’ wittew ch-ch-chewpies fow’ mummah…”
Saying anything feels nearly impossible as her teeth chatter from the cold and the pain that was now slowly seeping back into her body. She gently licks away the shit and ash from the foals injured body, being extra careful when she get’s to it’s head injuries. The taste of boo-boo juice and bad poopies causes her face to scrunch up before a sudden feeling of gagging erupts from deep within her tummy. The mare quickly turns away and dry heaves, causing a new surge of white hot pain to shoot through her entire body. Tears flood from her eyes and blood from her torn skin as she quickly returns her attention to her injured foal.
The foal’s entire body is wracked with unimaginable pain. What little brain power it had was being spent on trying to call out for help. Suddenly, just as quickly as the pain filled it’s body, a new feeling washed over it. A sound rings out from the screaming agony of darkness that filled the foals vision. A sound that suddenly calms it’s body and causes all of it’s pain to suddenly wash away if only for a brief moment. The mare’s voice sang out like an angelic choir through the ears of the burned foal, flooding it’s body with a sudden rush of energy and determination. It had to follow that sound. It had to get to the source. It NEEDED to find the voice. Using what little energy it could muster, the foal opens it’s mouth to chirp only to be met with silence passing it’s tiny toothless mouth.
Without another thought, the foal forces itself to turn over. It uses it’s tiny squishy newborn hoofies to push itself up, shakily balancing itself up on it’s four trembling paper like legs. The mare sees it’s infant moving, nearly choking as she gasps in surprise. She quickly hobbles back onto her haunches, waving her tiny front hooves toward her child. Before it can take it’s first step though, the injured foal begins violently shaking and collapses under it’s own weight, slamming it’s head on the ground as it falls and knocking itself unconscious.
The mare, unaware that it’s dumbass baby just knocked itself out cold, quickly leans forward and scoops it’s tiny body into her hoofies. The world slowly comes back into focus around her, the sound of soft desperate chirping finally grabbing her attention. She quickly finishes licking her burned babbeh clean, not stopping to question why it wasn’t moving, before carefully loading it onto her back as she limps back through the bile puddle to collect her remaining chirping offspring.
Tim simply smiles and takes another sip of his coffee, staring intently at his phone screen. Oh yes, this was definitely going to be an interesting story to watch unfold.
