WARNING: For those of you who mostly read my stuff for Gerard the Smarty, THIS IS NOT THAT. THESE FLUFFIES ARE NOT GONNA HAVE A GOOD TIME. IT’S ALL DOWNHILL FROM HERE. You have been warned.
-=-
Nestor had been walking for almost a half hour carrying the unwieldy plastic crate in his arms, his backpack full of books, school supplies and a few other things on his back.
Walking as far as he did through the woods in the middle of autumn was not an easy task, but he knew about a place that would make this entire trek worth the walk.
As he finally managed to punch through the treeline, he once again took in the sight of the small pond in the clearing where his brother and him used to hang out when he…
Well, it didn’t matter, today and the days that followed were supposed to be a celebration and he bloody well intended to celebrate.
So, with a tired and renewed vigor, he hefted the box a to a more comfortable position, hearing the contents lightly bumping against the internal walls, and walked down toward the pond where they used to build play forts out of the rocks, mud and sticks near the edge.
He stopped just before the ponds edge and took in the sound of the water gently lapping against the rocks near the shore, pausing a moment to enjoy the sounds and the fresh air before setting down the plastic container and moving to sit in a dry spot of dirt.
Nestor placed his backpack down further from the water and took in the cartoonish logo on the top of the box for a moment.
A depiction of a bunch of vibrantly colored foals happily playing in a field of daisies under the massive lettering of ‘Foal-in-a-Box Eight Piece Playset’. Ironic imagery, on multiple levels if he understood how these things were packed.
He then pulled a small plastic key from his coat and with a heavy breath to calm himself, inserted it into the box and popped it open with an audible click. Hefting the plastic lid from the box and placing it down beside the main box.
The first thing that hit him was the smell, although he had kinda already expected that, the stink of fluffy waste that followed a post stasis voiding was something that stuck with you, especially when it was laced with the stink of stale milk that came with foals.
The second thing…
“Waaaah! Babbeh nu wike sowwy boxie!”
“Dummeh! Geh ahf babbeh!”
“Huu! Scawy!”
“Peep!” “Peep! Peep! Chirp!” “Peep!” “Huu, huu! Hun’gy! Wan miw’kies! “Chirp!”
…was the noise.
Nestor peered into the box to take stock of what he’d got, careful not to hang his nose or face to close to the now open box to avoid getting splattered if one of the foals inside turned out to be… defensive.
The box was spit into six plastic ‘cells’; five tall square cells each containing a chirpy foal in a narrow single cell with a small feeding nub for milk and a long narrow box containing three talkie foals and a long feeder for them.
He noted thin clinging clouds of remaining stasis gas in the bottom of the boxes along with several absorbent pads in each cell that acted like a makeshift litterbox that absolutely none of them had used on purpose.
There were eight foals stored in this case. The five chirpy foals were all earthies in a myriad of colors; a puke green filly, dark purple colt, purple filly, red filly and a dark brown colt, the last of which had apparently just started talking. Nothing to write home about.
He then turned his gaze over toward the larger box, the one that contained the talkie foals, his eyes slowly drifting over the three in the final box.
Two earthies, one lime green with a light brown mane, the other an orange colt with a near identical light brown mane and a…
“No way!”
“Peep! Bad upsies!”
Nestor reached down an picked up the last foal by the scruff before quickly nesting it into his hand, confident as he looked down into the box that the foal had voided itself of either everything or almost everything in its bowels.
It was an alicorn; it had an ugly green fluff color and lime green mane, tail and wig tips. It had a small band of twine lightly tied around holding a paper note neatly tucked underneath, which he pulled off, began to unfold and read as the tiny foal quaked in his off hand.
-=-
To my favorite nephew,
Hey bud!
You can’t comprehend how sorry that I won’t be able to make it out to see you on your birthday this year, the store has been unbelievably busy ever since some of the newer products have been coming out.
I hope my little surprise here for you is what you were looking for! Hopefully, he’ll be a good listener and provide you with endless hours of fun! And if not, well, myth busted I guess! : )
But, seeing as how this is the first ever birthday that I won’t be able to give you anything in person I decided to get you some other stuff that you didn’t ask for, but I hope brings you endless hours of fun just the same!
I pulled some strings with my suppliers to get you access to some of my newer toys and some supplies to help you make the most out of all my gifts here. I hope they bring you as much fun as I hope they bring the kids here.
Now, if you run out of foals, just send back the empty box and I’ll send you a refill! But don’t get too greedy and for gods sakes don’t let your mother find out, unless you want a half dozen new Angela’s running around the house!
Have an amazing thirteenth birthday, kiddo
Your uncle,
Eddy
-=-
Nestor placed the tiny quivering alicorn on the ground in front of him, adjusting his glasses as he finished reading his uncles message and brushed a bit of dew from under his eyes.
He missed having his uncle over on his birthday, he was the only reason his birthdays were fun.
But he was equally curious as to what else his uncle had sent him.
Reached over to his backpack and pulled out two shoebox sized boxes wrapped in colorful paper and ribbons out of his pack and a much thinner parcel wrapped in butcher paper and twine.
