Theodore Hudson was in the kitchen when he heard his phone go off, he quickly pulled it out of his pocket but was surprised to see there was no notification. Then it went off again and he realised it wasn’t his phone.
Well… technically it was, but not the phone he should have.
Taking the pot off the burner, he dashed through to his cupboard under the stairs and answered the encrypted call.
“Timing is impeccable once again Jonathan, I was just in the kitchen.”
“Bit early for dinner ain’t it Ted?”
“I wasn’t… I’ll explain later, what can I do you for?”
“I’ve sent you a dead-drop of my last experiment; saw how Fluffies reacted to selfishness. Wasn’t perfect but the details are in there if you wanna take it on yourself, since you’re more… forgiven than I am I figured it might be something you’re interested in.”
Ted sighed, recognising the telltale signs of Jonathan post-extermination tone. “I’ll take a look at it, might be interesting. You not putting this one up onto the website?”
“I did, took me some goddamn time too, I swear cyber security has beefed up quite a bit since I was inside. But you know what I got from it, a bunch of fucking numbskulls calling me a Nazi edgelord.”
“Those fucking pricks.”
“No, no, they had a point. I did kinda turn a decent experiment into a snuff film once it was over. Turns out the people prefer the slow burn, which I why I’m giving you the notes, you might be able to do some good with it.”
“Like I said John, I’ll take a look, but it might have to wait a while.”
“Why, what’s up?”
“The house got hit by a feral herd yesterday, some Smarty fuck broke in, wrecked the garden and tried to break into the house to rape Robin.”
“Jesus, they still there?”
“They’re off the property but I can still see them, they’ve made a little nest in the trees, I think they’re planning something.”
“I’ve seen Fluffies planning things, it never ends well.”
“See though that’s the thing. When they ran off they left behind three foals, still just chirpies, each of them has some kind of physical disability, broken leg, bad back, shit like that. And Robin’s… Robin’s taken them all without question, adopted them as they were hew own. Now I don’t know if the herd is waiting for their foals to come back and if they are, should I break Robin’ heart and give them back.”
“The foals not given off a runt smell?”
“She’s not mentioned it.”
Jonathan thought for a moment. “Alright, I’ve got a couple things to work out on my end, I’ll try and make my way down to yours as soon as I can. Since I still owe you one for the jailbreak it’s the least I can do.”
“Cheers John, I’ll keep an eye on the herd and let you know what I’ve got when you get here. See you soon.”
“See ya Ted.”
Ted heard the quick sound of a snap as Jonathan disposed of his burner phone followed by a sustained beep before he hung up. Putting away his own equipment, Ted made a quick stop to the safe-room where he saw his Fluffy Robin, a powder-blue Alicorn with a yellow mane, looking over the three chirpies left behind by the heard.
There was an orange Pegasus colt with a green mane and an undeveloped back right leg, a light green unicorn filly with a blue mane and a blank space where her left eye should be, and a purple Alicorn colt with a red mane and an obvious kink in his spine making it damn near impossible for him to keep himself steady.
And Robin was looking after them all, hugging and loving them like nothing was wrong. Sensing Ted in the room, Robin looked up an smiled.
“Hewwo daddeh, am miwkies weady yet?”
“Not yet hun, I just needed to call a friend quickly, they’ll be ready shortly.”
“Ok, Wobin keep babbehs safe tiww den.”
Leaving her to her adopted children, Ted returned to the kitchen and put the pot of water back onto the burner while he continued mixing up the formula for the foals. From his kitchen window he could see the faint shapes of the herd moving about in the tree-lines.
Silently he prayed that Jonathan would arrive sooner, rather than later.
Jonathan Mongola Will Return In Scorched Earth.
