This day could not get any worse, it was the seventh stick and the fifth different brand that lined the bathroom sink and they all said the same thing. Positive. Well Sara, guess it was possible after all she thought to herself but what she said out loud went more like…
-Fuck! Fuck! FUCK! Jesus Christ how the hell did this happen? What the hell is it even going to be?! How long is it gonna take?.. How the fuck many are they’re even gonna be?!- Clutching at her stomach with both hands -What if I shit out a whole litter? Could they even ever pass as humannnnnGAH FUCK!-
Her vision flashed and she found herself in another one of Earl’s childhood memories. A bumper button on his game controller stopped working and his mother was teaching him how to solder in a replacement. When her sight cleared she pulled up her pants and slowly made her way to the living room to figure out her next move and how to tell Phil, the father, he was going to be a dad to a human/fluffy mutant hybrid. Knowing him he’d probably be thrilled, of all the drunken one nighters she had to hook up with a fluffy-anthro fetishist. And it wasn’t like she had anywhere else to go other than his apartment over an old mom and pop general store where she now hid. A place small and cramped, barely big enough for one person let alone two with more on the way it was just… Too much at once. Gathering the evidence in a trash bag she tossed it out the window into the dumpster in the back alley below and headed to the living room. Plopping down onto the dirty, lumpy, broken old couch she picked up the controller to the refurbished Playstation 9 to stream something to watch. She soon noticed the red B button had stopped working and it was the only controller Phil had. With building frustration another memory flash hit and she lost it, screaming out her frustration, she tore through the drawer of the apartment frantically searching for something she couldn’t actively think of lost in the flashback. In the kitchen junk drawer she found an old beat up wood burner, its cord more electrical tape than cord and near empty spool of solder. Her finger tips morphed into screwdriver heads as they stretched and spun all the screws loose from the PS9 controller and when she snapped out of it she had re-soldered the broken button into place. Somehow it had made the flashback less intense, and some of the things she remembered started to stick, normally she had zero clues as to how to do anything she just did. It was starting to feel more than just technical know how being transferred, with every flashback she was also hit with a wave of crippling emotional pain that felt like a fresh wound each time. The wound a child feels when they loose a parent.
Gremlin sat by himself under the shade of the tree in Earl’s backyard, watching the rest of the herd play outside the corral save for Goblin who refused to leave Nugget’s side. She nursed two large foals, a sandy brown pegusus filly with yellow mane and a alicorn colt who was the spitting image of his father. The game was really just another training exercise made up by Earl but since it didn’t involve powers even Lemon could play yet he still found himself excluded from the fun. Shriek and Banshee we’re still too little to play the game so they played with each other chasing a ball around the yard under Gremlin’s watchful eye. They were still afraid of him so he kept his distance, but he watched them to make sure they didn’t get into anything they shouldn’t. It was nice a cozy in the shade of the tree save for the occasional squawk of the crows in the tree, but soon his eyes felt heavier and heavier and was soon lightly snoring.
Well it seems giving into that flashback sent Sara into a manically focused state. Before she knew it she had re-wired the shorted out microwave, fixed the volume button on the TV and was now using the last of the solder to re-attach the motherboard to an old PC. None of these things she had any conscious memory of and seemed to more more on instinct, it wasn’t until she burned to tip of her finger on the soldering iron that she snapped out of it. This was starting to worry her a lot more than it did before, she wanted to drown it out with a nice stiff drink but that wasn’t an option anymore.
-Booze am bad for tummy babies- She said in a dry sarcastic tone holding a bottle of rum at the kitchen table.
Oh the temptation was so great, just chug it down or better yet eat a few fistfuls of parsley and get rid of the little… whatever they are altogether. But the second she thought that she was hit with crippling guilt and sadness at the thought of such an act, maternal instinct is a bitch. The sound of the front door opening and closing told her it was time to put on her costume, Phil was home from his crappy job downstairs. Green fluff grew from her skin matching her floor length hair as her face morphed into a more fluffy like appearance and a long fluffy tail sprouted from her shorts. Her finger tips grew hoof-caps and her toes fused into a large hoof-cap tip finishing the transformation.
“Daddeh’s home beautiful. How was your day?”
God she hated when he called himself “daddeh” but she forced a smile and kept her tone as cheery as she could.
-Ohhh it was really… Productive. Fixed a bunch of stuff around the place! We can cook dinner tonight instead of takeout.-
“You fixed the oven? I thought it was junk?”
-Microwave. Ramen and pasta sauce tonight?-
“Sketties, eh?” He asked with a half laugh. “What’s the occasion? Something must be up.” Leaning in for a kiss.
She leaned back a bit but the affectionate smooch landed on her cheek but it was his hand slapping and grabbing her butt-cheek made her go “eep” and her body pressed into his.
“I’ll help clean up a bit then we can get started on dinner. What smells like hot metal?”
Crows and ravens, they can be such assholes. Smart as a ten year old human kid with the temperament of a spoiled brat, picking on and teasing other animals for its own amusement amongst other asshole-ish behavior. Gremlin woke with a start after he slid off side of the tree he was leaning on, looking around groggily he was shocked to full alertness when he couldn’t spot Shriek or Banshee. He just knew deep down if anything happened to them he get the blame, from the other side of the house he heard the faint cries of the chicks and loud squawks of crows. Gremlin could have probably out ran Odin that day as he bolted to the front yard to see a small murder of crows harassing the chicks. Tugging at any part of a chick they could get their beaks on they cawed in a mocking manner as they swiftly flew away when the chick turned to swipe at them. Then the ones behind them would take a nip at them, one tried to fly off with Banshee’s tail in its beak, hefting her hind end in the air up over her head and then dropped her when she flipped over. The whole murder quickly flew off when Gremlin came charging in standing over the chicks using his body to separate the chicks from the birds. One crow got a nasty surprise when he snuck up behind Gremlin to nip at his tail and got mule kicked in the head and he staggered and flopped a hasty retreat. Well this seemed to set off the rest of the crows who were now circling overhead squawking angerly at him and soon were dive-bombing him. Some pecked, others thought it was better to shit on him. One splattered right in his eye, the one that had just healed, it stung and stank, now he was really pissed off and his horn lit up. The next crow to come diving in froze mid-air then its whole body imploded inward with blood and guts squirting out both ends. The body dropped and the murder went into panic mode, they had no idea what just happened and retreated to the tree Gremlin had been sleeping under. But he wasn’t going to let them get away and he chased them all the way there crushing a few more along the way.
-Biwdy munstahs get out hewe so Gwemwin can give foweva sweepies!- Launching a psychic punch into the tree.
A circular hole blew open in the tree for a moment before swaying back into place but he managed to hit another crow. Shriek and Banshee were too afraid to be left alone and were quick to keep behind Gremlin and he kept launching psychic blasts through the tree.
Sara stared at the cup of ramen noodles minus the flavor packet with pasta sauce and diced sausage as meatballs, absentmindedly twirling the noodles with her fork. How the hell did I sink so low? She thought to herself.
“Sara? Something wrong with the Sketties? Sssarrrraaaa?”
-Hm? Oh no, its fine.- Setting the cup aside -Ummmm, I have something to tell you.-
“I knew this was a celebratory dinner! So what’s the good news?” Setting his own cup aside.
Sara’s eyes looked around the shoddy apartment and the junk that cluttered it then the man who the more she got to know, realized what a pathetic looser he was. She was only here to hide from Earl as the last human she knew and was on good terms with, playing housewife and nursemaid to this weirdo. Did she really want to be stuck with this guy, catering to his perverted fetishes, taking this form, growing a dick and pegging him.
-Well the thing is…- Pausing to think really hard looking into Phil’s overly eager eyes. -I… Found a job! As a… um, telemarketer. Selling timeshares in Aspen.- Thinking a new escape plan would be needed soon.
“That’s great with a second income means we can get a better place.” Leaning in for another kiss.
All the noise Gremlin had been making, yelling at the crows while hurling balls of psychic force at the tree they had long since fled from out the other side. Certainly enough to get the rest of the herds attention in the back yard and they came running to the side yard. Truly a confusing sight to see the chicks, once terrified of Gremlin, now hiding under him as he was apparently trying to kill a tree.
-Whats aww this noisies!? Babbehs awe twying to sweep!- Goblin yelled stepping out the corral doorway.
The group didn’t make a noise, even Gremlin stopped blasting at the tree to watch Gremlin stomp his way over. Gremlin already knew all of Goblin’s faces when trying to be a commanding leader but this was different, it was… Cold and menacing.
-What Gwemwin do now?- Staring down Gremlin now inches from his face.
-Unca Gwemwin save babbehs fwom biwdy munstahs!- Shouted Banshee crawling out from under Gremlin.
-Dummeh biwdies give bitie owwies to wingies and bad poopies to Shwiek and unca Gwemwin!-
Goblin looked down at the two chicks, covered in bird shit looking haggard with fluff and feathers ruffled. Goblin looked back at Gremlin, ruffled up and covered in white splotches of bird shit with one good eye again, he took in a deep breath and his face relaxed.
-Awight. Just be quiet. Bad biwdies gone now.- The malice gone but tone still slightly chilly. -Go wash poopies off. You thwee stinky.- Walking back to the corral.
Imp lead the three to the garden hose and giggled to himself a little as he hosed off Gremlin first, squirting him right in the face when he wasn’t ready. Shaking off as much water as he could he was surprised when Lemon nuzzled into his neck fluff and cooed.
-Gwemwin su bwave. Do good job wike a good daddeh.-
That last part got his attention but before he could get any more info she ran off to resume playing with the others. He was even invited to play this time but he opted to play with the chicks to keep an eye on them and Lemon quickly joined them bringing a small rubber ball with her. When it was bedtime lemon invited him into her bed and the chicks joined them nestling together like a family.
Sara laid in bed feeling restless with Phil wrapped in her arms. The pegging was one thing but now tentacles? If she was going to be stuck with this weirdo she’d like to at least have normal sex and for her to be on the receiving end. But that wasn’t what was really bothering her, she didn’t want to sleep. Her dreams were nothing but one long stream of Earl’s childhood memories and the gut wrenching pain that came with it. Her fingers itched to do something, build or fix whatever she could get her hands on, to loose herself in the work to block out the feelings. Her arm flattened out and slid it out from under Phil’s head and headed into the kitchen taking her human form. Digging the soldering iron out and whatever other tools she could find and got to work on the nearest broken thing that caught her eye.