Unfinished Business Part 15: The (Somewhat) Daring Rescue
It was sketti day again so you made sure to stop by Costco and pick up the spaghetti-o cans. The checkout clerk gave you a strange look but who cares what she thought of you. As you were driving back your phone started ringing.
“What’s Up”
Hey your fluffies are making a lot of noise! I think something happened but I don’t know what ,you know I can’t talk to those things for shit.
“Gotcha. I’m maybe 10 minutes out, I’ll take care of it.”
What the hell happened over there? It’s not like you don’t leave and come back often, something was wrong.
You practically slid into the driveway, you may have burnt rubber with how quickly you jolted to a halt. Getting out and surveying the yard something was definitely off, you rushed over to Cyrus to ask him what was up. Before you were halfway there he was already trotting towards you and yelling.
“Snake nummed Ishta!!!”
“What! Where did it go?!”
Cyrus pointed towards the woods where Doppler was sitting. Doppler saw your gaze move towards him and began to yowl. He never yowls. It was obvious he was trying to get you to come to him so you obliged. As you approached he began to move deeper into the forest. Hopefully this meant Doppler knew where the snake was. Both of you ventured further into the kudzu-infested woods until Doppler stopped and started a low growl. His back arched and his tailed puffed out as his attention was directed on a patch of kudzu. Then you saw some movement, sure enough it was a black rat snake, a big one too. Finally the herpetology course you took in school is going to pay off. Identifying the head, you moved swiftly behind the kudzu patch, the snake was in a standoff with Doppler which gave you the moment you needed to grab the snake right behind the head. It had a huge bulge in the midsection which was certainly Ishtar, there was still movement so she wasn’t dead yet. You made a dead sprint back to the yard, as you appeared from the forest your herd cried out in terror.
“Snake munstaaaa!!!”
“It’s fine! I got him, he won’t hurt anybody anymore.”, and you meant it.
You knelt to the ground and switched hands so the snake was firmly in your left hand’s control. You brought out your pocket knife with your right hand and stabbed the snake right through the head. It writhed a little and then went still, now you had to pray that Ishtar hadn’t been damaged too much. Next you took the knife and cut right down the middle of the snake like you were filleting it. The cursed zipper. The knife finally got to where Ishtar was and you peeled back the rest of the flesh until she was free. She was shaking and still covered in digestion fluid but alive and would physically recover. Psychologically, well that was another story. You brought her over to the hose and gave her a spray-down to get all of the bile and guts off of her. Locusta was very anxious and tapping the ground with her front hooves, her only child had almost been taken from her, and even then the filly was very shook up. You gently handed Locusta Ishtar and watched as she tightly cradled the little earthy.
“Tank ou’ suuu much daddeh! Won knu what tu do witout babbeh Ishtar!”, she was in tears and just kept hugging her daughter.
“S-s-s-s-su s-s-scawy… dawk… tite spacie… Nu wike…nu wike…”
Thank God the snake swallowed her whole, Locusta’s stability seems to hinge and Ishtar the same way Ishtar relies on her mother. You needed to find a way to secure the yard or at least a way to stop predators. Doppler was fine when it came to birds, they were scared shitless of him, but when another threat, such as a snake comes what happens then? Well you just found out and you didn’t like it. The only way forward seemed to be teaching the herd to fight against threats as a group. One fluffy is nothing, a herd working in unison on the other hand could fend off something like a snake, if they’re good enough maybe something bigger.
Sketti-day AND boot-camp, these are some lucky fluffies.
You got the bowls out and began distributing the spaghetti, when you got around to the fillys, who were close to being young mares at this point, Ishtar couldn’t even look at the pasta. The red must have reminded her of the maw of the snake, it’s slightly slimy texture no doubt too similar to the belly of the beast. You moved the bowl away from her and went back inside. Shuffling around the pantry you found a can of fruit salad. This will have to do for Ishtar, no more sketties.
She responded very well to the fruit and her spirits lifted a little.
“D-d-daddeh? Can Ishtar hab upsies?”
“Sure my little angel, it’s been a hard day for you.”
You picked her up and put her over your shoulder, supporting her rear with your left hand and petting her with you’re right.
“cooo wub daddeh…”
“I love you too sweetheart, let’s take you over to mama. She’s still worried sick about you.”
You sat down next to Locusta and put Ishtar in your lap, Locusta was still very distressed and nuzzling her child while shaking. You put a hand on her head and she calmed down a little bit, human touch really does make a difference with these creatures. Now you had two older fillies who were traumatized. Not the best scenario for breeding the new fluffy but so it goes.
“Okay everybody, tomorrow I’m going to teach you all how to defend yourself. Daddeh isn’t always going to be around all the time, you need to learn how to fight as a herd”
They all looked confused except Hammurabi and Cyrus, both of them were stone cold. They at least understood how important this would be.