The Bloom of Anabelle
Austin has arrived at work and had already changed his clothes to a green t-shirt with a happy trio of fluffies and “Joyful Shelter - Home to all Fluffies” written on it. His morning coffee has been slowly kicking in along the way there, although not enough to make him feel fully awake, and, unfortunately for him, he was in such a rush that he couldn’t even have his cigarette at this time of the day, which already made him grumpy. However, this time he needed to set his bad mood aside, since there was a new rescue in the shelter.
The young man entered a hallway full of caged out safe rooms, where the recovering fluffies rested after their surgeries and troublesome pasts. Some of them jerked up with happy grateful smiles and welcomed him while cheerfully wagging their tails, some barely lifted their sleepy heads after being anesthetized, and the others remained curled up in their corners, not able to ever trust a human after what they’ve been through. Somewhere in the middle of the room Austin’s coworker Gina was crouching in front of one of the cages and closely observed a new addition to the shelter. When she heard him close the door behind him, she quickly turned her head towards him, as if she was caught doing something she’s not supposed to do, but then she sent him a weak half-smile and waved. He raised his hand in response and approached her with an energetic walk.
- Hey Gina! What do we have here? I heard there’s a new baby girl with us - he said and crouched right next to her. Despite this joyful facade, the bags under his eyes were breaking his cheerful disguise and showed how moody he really was deep inside.
Gina has moved a bit of annoying blonde hair away from her face and put it behind her ear, then she pointed at the sleeping fluffy she was just watching.
- There she is - she responded. - Because her mother treated her badly, she didn’t even have a name, so we called her Anabelle. Her foal’s name is Bloom, it’s her only child. It’s surprising that it survived and is doing so well.
Austin, a little intrigued, took a closer look at the yellow mare. Then he realised something special about her - she had both wings and a horn.
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She’s a legit alicorn? - he raised his eyebrows in disbelief.
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Indeed! Probably after some socializing she’ll be a perfect pet for someone - Gina grinned for a second, but then her smile quickly faded after Anabelle shivered and flinched in her sleep while making a quiet noise full of fear. - She needs lots of rest now… She’s been through a lot today.
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What happened to her?
The blonde sighed heavily.
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She… Has just miscarried 5 foals. None of her offspring survived. The babies… - Gina stopped for a second to take a hold on her tears. - … They all came out with broken bones, one of them had a popped belly… Someone must have kicked her or something must have hurt her belly during her pregnancy, otherwise I can’t imagine what else could have been the reason. It’s just… Terrible.
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Holy damn… - Austin covered his mouth in shock. Even though he heard a lot of stories either from vets, coworkers or fluffies themselves, some of it still made an impact on him, like this time. - What… What about her scar? And her leg?
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The scar was caused most pobably by some feral cat, at least that’s what we could understand from Anabelle’s mutters. She called the culprit a “furry monster” that made “scary meow-meows”, so that explains it. We’re waiting on blood test results in case she might carry rabies from that cat, but I think she’ll be just fine in that case. About the leg… Vets don’t know if they can save it. It’s all oozing, stinky and disgusting under that bandaid…
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So her wound got badly infected, huh? - he guessed, and the woman nodded sadly in response.
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Not gonna lie, Austin, but her story gets only worse… She told me how all of her other foals from Bloom’s litter got killed one by one either by humans or street animals including other fluffies, like for example the father of her now miscarried babies. How did she defend Bloom from all the dangers and tried her best to feed her appropriately, sometimes sacrificing her own meals for her… No idea, but it only tells me how much of a pure creature she truely is.
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And to think that her mother rejected her… It’s unbelievable how some fluffies can be real dickheads-
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Hey! Don’t you swear in front of fluffies! - Gina giggled and gave him a soft punch in the arm.
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Whoops! Sorry for that, haha… Still. I mean, look at her! How is this possible she’s still alive? Her and Bloom, too…
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She’s a real fighter, let me tell you - yet another deep sigh left her lungs. - It’s probably going to be really hard, if even possible, to seperate them both, though. Bloom seems to be the only reason for Anabelle to live at this point, and for us to take her away from her would be just… Just terrible.
Austin sighed and shook his head, then got up and straightened his wrinkled shirt.
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Alright, Gina. I have to check out who I’m taking care of today, I bet David is already mad at me for being late. Sorry to leave you like that…
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It’s okay, take care!
The young man quickly waved her goodbye and ran towards the exit on the other side of the hallway to meet their manager, leaving Gina alone with her new rescue. She followed him with a mellowed stare until he disappeared behind the closing door, and then turned back to Anabelle, who whimpered and brought her daughter closer with her weak arms, only capable of hugging at this point. The shelter worker couldn’t hold her tears anymore and finally let them stream down her cheek. However, she had to stop immediately. Someone had suddenly opened the entrance door…
CONTEST ANNOUNCEMENT!
So as you can see, the story seems to be unfinished… For a reason!
YOU will be the one to give it your own spin!
And you can either finish it, twist it, give it a dark turn or a happy ending, whatever you see fit!
It can be an illustration, a comic, or a written story of all categories (hugbox, sadbox, abuse, weirdbox, whatever pleases you most) including the characters I provided 
Basically, let your imagination run wild! The one with the best idea for it wins the price!
THE PRIZES
First place:
A free fully colored and detailed piece from me, including a background and basically whatever you please!
Second place:
A free black and white shaded piece from me with no background
Third place:
A nice and simple pencil artwork of your chosen character
REMEMBER! It is all fun and games and it doesn’t matter who gets the price or not - you’re all loved and valid, and all of you have great potential to create something great 
Keep your spirits up, we’re all here to support you in your journey ^^ So please guys, keep it nice and civil!
SUBMIT UNTIL THE 16TH 31ST OF MARCH
To submit, either tag me in your post or simply link it in this comment section 
After checking all the submissions out, I’ll create a poll with the best contestants and I’ll let you guys decide who deserves to win 
Love you guys so much and I hope you’ll have fun with this one!
Stay safe and keep on creating
Much love!
Nix UwU
