It was ten in the morning by the time Duncan wandered down to the kitchen, dark circles highlighting his eyes as he did so. Violet looked up from her breakfast as her human-father entered the room.
“Guten morgen, pater. I took the liberty of getting the house to brew you something to wake you up.”
Duncan walked over to the coffee machine, wordlessly grabbing the mug and hammering back half of the contents in one sitting before growling in satisfaction as he walked to the kitchen window to check on the herd.
There were twelve adults, a small group of adolescents and a fair number of foals and chirpies, all of whom were divided between the tree remaining herds left in the pen.
The cannibals had spread themselves out through the remaining herds and were tending the survivors as best as they could.
It was raining, a light chilly autumn rain that dusted the fluff of all the creatures in the pen outside with a thin layer of moisture that made their fluff look like vibrant dew-covered grass.
“I also took the liberty of calling miss Harper once the numbers were more or less stable…”
Violet nervously walked across the counter as she noticed the distracted look on Duncan’s face, him barely hearing her as he looked out on the herds.
“…Pater? Are you alright?”
“…less than half…”
“I… I’m not sure I follow you?”
“Less than half of the fluffies we brought in living are still alive by morning… It’s getting worse Vi… Every month, more bright colors, less good personalities…”
“I doubt that it will matter for long. Winter is not kind to these creatures, NAC winters even less so. There numbers will be culled by the cold and next year they may fare better.
“Maybe…”
Duncan was lost in thought for a moment as he stared at the remaining fluffies, clearly lost in though as he idly sipped down the remainder of his drink. Violet watched in concerned silence as he drank, clearly seeing the troubles swirling in his eyes.
Setting his cup down on the counter, he grabbed his coat and hat off of the hanger and his gear and weapons off of the counter and stepped out into the pen.
His presence started some of the small herds, but none of them made any attempt to run away, electing instead to encircle their babies and stare at him.
The moment his boots hit the ground outside, Choppers brood all stood from where they were in the herds and walked over to greet him.
“Good morning everyone.”
“Gud mownin, Unca Duncan!”
“Gud mownin!”
“…Guuuh…”
“Anyone I need to put down before we load em’ up?”
Chopper looked up at Duncan before she puffed out her chest with a very proud smile on her face.
“Nup! Aww fwuffies hewe awe gud fwuffies! Choppew num aww da bad fwuffies fow yu!”
Duncan reached down and patted her head. He didn’t like how proud Chopper was at the wanton slaughter she had wrought, but he understood the reason for it and appreciated that she did it with his wishes in mind.
He walked over to the back of the van, collecting the detached chirpy and alicorn cages off of the ground near the van as he did so, and looked in the back of the van.
Spotlessly clean, vaguely smelling of coconuts, cream and notes of hand sanitizer. At least the cleaning drones Arthur rigged up were still doing their job.
“Okay everyone!” He announced, as he turned to the three masses of fluffies in his makeshift pen.
“If you have to make poopies or pee-pees, do it now. Any poopies made in the back of the van are bad poopies.”
As he finished saying that, about a half dozen fluffies got up and cautiously made their way over to the designated pooping spot to do their business. One fluffy from inside one of the smaller herds piped up a question.
“Wewe am we goin?”
“Glad you asked. I’m taking you all to a shelter in the city, where you all get to go to a bunch of nice new mamas and daddies who will take care of you! Now, every be sure to go to the bathroom before we go, got it?”
“Fwuffy am get nyu mama an daddeh?! Yay!”
The fluffies burst into a flurry of activity at the announcement, as Duncan looked over the herd and got ready to start loading them up with auto feeders and spaghetti in the back.
Until he felt a gentle tug on the knee of his jeans.
He looked down to see a familiar looking dark brown earthie mare with splotches of light brown dotting her fluff looking up at him with misty eyes as she used her hoof to tug on his pants.
“Am babbeh otay? Wewe am babbeh? Am… am babbeh gu fowevah sweepies?”
Duncan reached down a hand and gently stroked the top of the mare’s head, eliciting a gentle coo from the creature as he did, but not breaking her concentration on him.
He looked up to note the herd she came from, spotting a blue green unicorn who slowly approached him, an off pink unicorn filly and a yellow green alicorn filly, as well as a handful of chirpies, half of which were also alicorns.
“He’ll live, He’s going to need to spend a few days resting, but he’ll live.”
The brown earthie smiled at the news of the chance of the little alicorns survival, tears streaming down her face and pressing the fluff to her cheeks.
“Tank yu… nice mistah…”
“Tell you what, how bout we go to the shelter an find you a nice mama to take care of you and your babies?”
The blue-green unicorn walked up beside the brown earthie and embraced her in a gentle hug, before looking up resolutely at Duncan.
“Pwease nu take Wivew an Mud an babbehs tu shewtew… Nu wan gu…”
Duncan raised an eyebrow. That was uncommon, normally the prospect of a new home with a loving mother and father was enough to convince any fluffy to board up, looking back at the mob of fluffies slowly making their way into the back of the van with the urging of the cannibals to guide them.
“Why not? Its nice at the shelter, there’s plenty of food, toys, other fluffies to play with…”
“Wivew nu wan weave babbehs…”
“You wont leave your babies, they’ll come with you.”
River looked up at the big human, frustrated tears welling in his eyes as he did. Without realizing it, he raised his voice to the human, trying desperately to make him understand.
“Wivew gu shewtew befowe… shewtew aways take babbehs, nubudy wan take wowe famiwy home… aways take babbehs… PWEASE NU TAKE WIVEWS BABBEHS GAIN!”
Duncan looked down at the little fluffy. It was brave of him to stand up to him, and he wasn’t exactly wrong, even at a good shelter like the one he worked with most families would get split up over time. It was easy to adopt one fluffy, much harder to adopt a whole family.
But this wasn’t an uncommon request…
“Take speciaw wumps way … huu huu… just wet Wivew take famiwy an gu way… huu…”
Duncan leaned down to the blue-green unicorn, causing both of them to recoil away ever so slightly from him, but still not breaking their firm hug with each other.
“Excuse me?”
River looked up at the big human, his bravery beginning to show a crack as he saw how angry his face looked. Mustering up what little courage he had, he repeated his request.
“H-hoomins say am tu many fwufies… hab tu many babbehs, Wivew nu wan mowe babbehs… jus wan nao babbehs… jus wan speciaw fwiend… c-can Wivew keep babbehs an speciaw fwiend if nice mistah take Wivew speciaw wumps away?”
“And what about her?” Duncan said, pointing his finger in the direction of Mud
“I’d have to make her special place not work anymore too, you think that she’d wan-”
“Yus! Take speciaw pwace! Mud wub babbehs! Mud keep babbehs if nice mistah take speciaw pwace?!”
Shocked at the energy and sincerity of the request from the two of them, Duncan was taken aback and stood away from the two fluffies. He cocked his head at the two.
“Its autumn right now, you know that right? Its almost what you two would call the ‘cold times’, even if I ‘fixed’ you and sent you off into the woods, there is a good chance that you and all of your babies would die when winter came!”
The two fluffies looked at each other, fear and sadness in equal measure crossing through their eyes, although it was Mud who spoke first.
“Mud no dat… Mud see one cowd time awweady… Mud an Wivew hab some nummies fow cowd times in owd nestie… but uddah fwuffies pwobaby num dem by nao…”
“Mud nu wan babbehs gu fowebah sweepies… Mud maybe wose babbehs wen cowd time happen…”
Muds eyes came back up after considering Duncans words.
“Buh Mud WIWW wose babbehs if Mud an Wivew gu tu shewtew…”
Duncan stared into Muds eyes, feeling a slight frustrated flush hit his face as he considered the little mares words and frown began to stretch across his expression.
-=-
Melody Harper idly sat on the bench outside of her shelter, large old style brick building that had a massive glass and steel half dome built onto the side of it. She flipped out her phone and checked the message that Duncan had sent her.
Running late, got held up at the wall. New guy. Be there ASAP! Sorry for the inconvenience.
She shrugged. She pretend to give him hell for being late later, but she knew that there was always a hold when traveling into the city from the outside. Especially since he was carrying a vanload of unsterilized fluffies into a containment zone.
Most of the CDF would just wave him through because they knew him, but if he got stuck with someone who didn’t he could be held up for hours.
“Peep! Peep!”
She heard a light whirring from her right arm and turned her attention turned down to the little chirpy foal she had been nursing in her hand while she waited. The actuators catching in her cybernetic right arm again and startled the poor little baby.
“Hey Biscuit, could you come and take this fussy baby back to her mom for me please?” She hollered to the open door to the shop.
“Comin miss Hawpew!”
Melody heard the sound of a set of soft hooves quickly trotting across the tile floor as a big light brown fluffy with two horns poking out of the side of its skull and a spotty brown pattern that almost looked like chocolate chips came running out from the office.
He walked up to her and she reached down and brushed his mane out of his eyes before placing the little green foal belly down in the middle of his back fluff and waiting for the foal to nestle in and grab a hold.
“It otay babbeh, Biz-kit take babbeh back tu mummah.”
Biscuit trotted back into the office, just in time for Melody to see a big white van come driving up the road and pull into the parking lot.
She stood up and dusted some of the dirt and fluffy fur off of her apron and the van spun around slowly and parked in front of the office doors with the rear doors facing her.
She walked around the drivers side put her hands on her hips, put on a look of mock indignation and waited for Duncan to exit the van.
As he stepped out, she looked over the exterminator. Duncan was a tall man with curly dirty blonde hair that he had trimmed down almost to the scalp, although he wore a full goatee on his face.
Standing almost 6’2” in height and ‘build like a brick shit house’, as the other townies would describe, with short curly brown hair and a rough goatee.
He wore his usual business getup; A long grey leather coat with a number of patches sewn up the left arm, jeans, t-shirt, heavy outdoor boots and his ridiculous leather cowboy hat that he decorated with a massive maroon feather.
He’d forgone carrying his ‘tools’ into the building when he showed up here, but she could still see a few bits of carbon plating under the coat and covering his chest.
As he walked over to greet her, his puffy griffin Violet hopped out onto the ground behind him.
“Yeah… sorry… I…”
“WELL, IT’S ABOUT DAMN TIME YOU GOT HERE!”
She tapped him lightly on the chest with her cyberneic arm, hearing an audible click from inside of it, having to look up to look him in the eye due to the height differential between them. She managed to hold her mock indignation for a few moments before the façade cracked.
“Ha! I’m just messin’ with you man, what did you bring me today?”
“A bakers dozen of the little creatures, Miss Harper, and about double that in foals.”
Melody looked down at the griffin as Duncan slowly walked back to the driver’s seat and leaned in to retrieve a small shoebox.
“Ahem! Plenty of chirpies too… we even have a designer for you today.”
“Oooh, what do we got!”
She walked over to the shoe box as Duncan tilted the box toward her, showing the chirpies contained within.
As she looked over the contents, noting a brown earthie, a nicely colored blue unicorn and a brown pegasus with a neat spiral pattern among the contents, and raising her eye at the presence of an orange alicorn.
Then she noticed the tiny white and purple alicorn in the corner nursing at the feeder taped in the corner. She took a step back in shock.
“Jesus! That’s…”
“All yours, I don’t want it.” Duncan replied without missing a beat.
“Duncan… I can’t accept her… like, I can foster her for a while if you want but you should be selling her… or breeding her… Jesus, do you know how much she’s worth?!”
“He does, der idiot… I looked up similar sales for others like her, he still wants to give it to you, in SPITE of my protests!”
Violet responded, shooting a withering glare at Duncan, which he acknowledged with a shrug.
“I don’t like fluffies, especially not designers. She’s a designer. You know what they get like if they aren’t raised properly, you think a guy like me can raise her not to be a total prick?”
Melody looked in his eyes, trying to find some sign that he was lying or playing a trick.
“I’m splitting the profits with you if I sell her, and don’t bother trying to tell me to keep it all, I’ll stuff your mailbox with twenties if I have to!”
She said, snatching the box gently out of his hands and making her way around to the rear of the vehicle. Duncan cracked a smile, realizing the futility of arguing with Melody and Violet as the latter looked at him and rolled her eyes.
“Penny! Biscuit! We have some new guests; can you guys come here and help me herd them please!”
“Yus miss Hawpew!”
“Otay, comin!”
Two familiar fluffaloes wandered out of the waiting area, waved to Duncan and Violet as they saw them. Violet gave an exasperated sigh in the direction of the two big fluffy offshoots as she took a position across from them to help with the herding.
Duncan followed Melody into the waiting area, pressing the gate deploy button on his keys and hearing the sound of over a dozen fluffies slowly waddling out of the back of the truck and being redirected to the atrium by the two fluffaloes.
“Wait here, I’m going to make a receipt for her before you go.” Melody said, pointing toward a chair across from the main reception as she took the box of foals behind the counter.
“Cool. By the way, I’ve gotta get some supplies from you while I’m here. More spaghetti for the traps, new bag of kibble… and a few others. I‘ve got a list.”
Duncan pulled small paper note from his coat and laid it down on the desk in front of Melody, she reached over to take the note while using her neural uplink to get the printer to begin printing a receipt.
She quickly read the list, her face remaining neutral as she took in the first couple of items on the list, but got a progressively more surprised look on her face as she read closer to the bottom. She looked up to Duncan with an eyebrow raised.
“Did you-”
“NO! Of course not!”
She looked back down at the list, before looking back up at him a wry smile crossing her face. Duncan leaned back in his chair, deliberately not making eye contact as he half mumbled his answer.
“…They’re just staying the winter.”
you let them stay for the winter I see 
. That’s how it starts and they end up there for the rest of their lives taking care of the alicorns that are brought in.