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“Oh you have got to be joking.” Reine was relaxing on her couch, little micro fluffy’s playing at her feet. Diamond was rolling around on top of a ball while Ruby and Jade were both warning him to be careful and speculating on the death-defying act he was pulling off. In their owner’s hand was an invitation. Thick card stock, pale coffee cream, embossed lettering.
‘You are cordially invited to Bella’s foal shower!’ it read. Reine crinkled her nose.
“What in the name of chicken-fried lower-middle class bullshit is this?” She queried to herself. Ruby puffed her cheeks out and pointed a hoof out.
“Mummah! Dat am nu-nu wowd!” Looking to the brilliant red micro, she smiled a bit. Of course it was, and she immediately felt regret. That’s how you talked when you were in the gutter.
A foal shower, though? Honestly a baby shower felt crass. Awhile ago she’d received an ‘Expecting!’ card in the post too, the dopey little pink shelter trash fluffy coerced into looking down at her quickly bloating stomach.
The mare’s mother was named Michelle. Some midwest nobody from a town where they likely tipped cows as a pastime. Married into money via one of her associates, a man named Ben. He owned an art gallery. She didn’t own a thing. The only thing Michelle did was try and get everyone to be her friend. It stank of desperation. Nobody wanted to be friends with a pudgy-cheeked yokel who still had a rustic accent despite trying to seem as if she was like everyone else.
“We’re attending a party, babies.” Reine announced with a small smile. The micros cheered!
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Two weeks later, she was standing in front of a townhouse festooned with pale pink and white balloons on the outside. Pink streamers were coiled around the picket fence framing in the expertly maintained lawn. This was outside her usual haunting grounds of the city and she could only hope the taxi fare it had cost to get here would be worth it. A handbag containing her precious micros was clutched in one hand, wrapped gift in the other. A sign on the door informed her to just ‘COME ON IN!’.
Walking into the townhouse, tastefully furnished though currently ruined by mountains of tacky decorations, Reine could only perform her best smile. Even those who knew her well weren’t aware that wasn’t her real sign of affection. Immediately, Bella trotted on over to her with a sunshiny expression. The mare looked like a pink bowling ball. Honestly, it was amazing she was able to stand at all. Looking down to her, Reine passed a hand across her head. Down, palm brushing at her mouth. Bella had a delighted expression after that, tail waggling excitedly.
“Hewwo fwend! Bewwa am habin’ babbehs soon! Am be bestest mummah! Teehee! Yew wub babbehs?” Reine just looked down to the rotund idiot, her micros popping out the top of the handbag and clinging to the edge.
“Babbehs am bestest!” Ruby exclaimed.
“Wub! Teehee!” Jade followed.
“Wewe babbehs come fwom?” Diamond asked curiously. Michelle looked over from a table set up with food, a few people mingling around. The young woman gave Reine a smile which was most certainly genuine, her chubby cheeks creasing with it. This only caused the haughty woman to increase her own. Honeyed lies spilled right out of her mouth.
“Michelle! What a wonderful little event you’ve cultivated. I love the decorations.” Honestly? A toddler with mental deficiencies could have pulled off something better. Walking over to the table set up with a spread of foods, she plucked up a cocktail wiener speared through with a toothpick. Set it to her mouth, dragged it away. It tasted vile. Greasy, fatty, cheap. Just like the hostess.
“I’m so happy you could make it, Reins!” Reine bit at the corner of her cheek. That insipid pet name. They didn’t know one another well enough to even come close to using pet names with one another, but there it was. To her credit? She wouldn’t even correct her aloud either. It wasn’t her responsibility to teach a bumpkin how to read the room. The pudgy woman in her far too yellow party dress got up to her, snagged her up in a friendly hug.
Revolting.
“I wouldn’t miss it for the world, darling.” Michelle offered her a wine glass filled with some no doubt rotgut Riesling, the woman accepting it and wandering over to sink down onto a couch and listen in on the other guests. The far too wide smile stayed on her lips the entire time.
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This ‘celebration’ proceeded as you would think. There were various games which Michelle had no doubt lifted from some magazine or the Internet. Reine declined, of course, and with the perfect excuse: She had to watch her micros. The trio were the only fluffy visitors here and they were goofing around with Bella. The soon-mummah was being super protective of the micros and would obviously never harm a single shred of fur on their heads.
“Yew am babbehs ‘an Bewwa am soon-mummah. Gib babbehs wicky-cweanies.” She licked the micros off, each of them seeming mystified by it but not saying no.
“An babbehs aw shawe toysies.” Bella placed a few toys for them to play with out, stuff meant for foals considering what would soon be arriving. “Yew shawe ‘cuz awe babbehs am speciawest.” The mare fixed them with a big motherly smile. Diamond aggressively began eating a teddy bear’s ear.
Reine had no fear that the micros were in any danger, just an excuse to not play any of the moronic games which had been cooked up. Those festivities were over however, and she allowed herself to be given a cupcake frosted with pink icing and sparkles. Boxed cupcake mix. What a failure of a hostess. Yet she ate it with the same smile as always. “Delicious, Michelle. Thank you. I do have a sweet tooth.”
Then it was time for gifts, though nobody had been obligated to bring any. Bella scooted on over and with the help of Michelle, began to unwrap various goodies. A teensy-weensy little litterbox perfect for any foal. Various stuffed toys and educational games. Even cutesy costumes that you could dress a fluffy in to amuse all of two people on social media. Michelle seemed particularly touched by Reine’s gift though. The tasteful black & silver paper was torn away to reveal a small album labeled ‘Precious Memories’. Laminated pages, places to push your fluffy’s hoofprint in with ink, areas to mark every milestone a foal may have. Michelle teared up.
“Reine! You…wow. Sorry.” Sniffling a bit, she blotted at the corners of her eyes with a napkin. “Sorry if it seems silly, but I can’t have children. This album means more to me than you think. I know this whole thing seems somewhat odd but, I just wanted to…kind of experience what it would feel like.” The woman seemed genuinely touched. Moving out here had been difficult. People here were somewhat colder than they were back home.
“Think nothing of it.” Reine mentioned, and just like a miracle it happened. Life could not have aligned it better. There was a loud gurgling noise that cut through the room, Bella groaning and pitching forward beside her owner.
“Mummah…tummy owwies! Su many owwies!” Whining and wincing, the mare couldn’t even be assessed by Michelle before a flood of icing and sprinkle freckled vomit hit the floor in a stinking wave of bile.
“Oh my God! Bella, what’s wrong!?” Dropping down, Michelle tried to tend to the fluffy. Her belly writhed and quivered as if filled with an angry hornet nest.
“P-Poopies! Nuuuu!” Bella squeezed her eyes shut as diarrhea sprayed out all over the floor and an armchair. By now, Reine had scooped up her micros and safely deposited them in her handbag.
“B-Babbehs! Babbehs comin’! TU SOON BABBEHS! STAY WIF MUMMAH!” The mare helplessly begged her stomach, perhaps knowing from some kind of instinct what was coming next. It didn’t stop the mare from lifting her tail, spraying the living room with a cluster of chirpies and blood. Oh, so much blood. When Reine had first entered the home and pet the little fluffy, she’d passed a hand by her mouth. In her palm had been a few foal-b-gone pellets, sketti scented so of course the little moron had quickly gobbled them up. Perhaps she had given her too much? The force of the abortive measures had went chirpies flying across the room. One had even plopped right into one of the glasses of Riesling, a green little fat thing that bobbed in the wine like a blood-smeared olive.
The party guests were shocked, appalled, absolutely mortified. Bella laid on the floor attempting to meekly crawl toward one of the immobile chirpsters, cooing out the mummah song and refusing to believe anything was wrong. Michelle was on the phone with an emergency clinic, babbling through a veil of tears. Some people were leaving. Reine decided to go with them. Honestly, the smell of shit lingering in the air wasn’t all that pleasant.
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Two weeks later, Reine decided to pick up her phone and lazily scroll through her contacts. Michelle. There had been no word from her since the disastrous party. How was she doing? Clicking the call button, she waited for several moments until Michelle picked up.
“Hi, Michelle. I was just calling because I was worried about you and poor little Bella.”
There was silence at the other end, Michelle speaking up finally. “…It’s been super difficult. Ben and I, we had to put her down. The shock of it, you know. She wept constantly and refused to believe her babies were…were dead.” The woman, once so full of cheer and optimism, sounded dead inside.
“A tragedy.” Reine said, sounding tragic though she was doing something few people ever saw. Smiling for real. A secretive, catlike expression. “I cannot imagine how difficult it must be. If you ever need anything?” She offered. Michelle, by now, was crying. Trying to hide it but definitely crying. One of those tired sounds, definitely having been something she’d done a lot as of late.
“Thank you, Reins. You’re a true friend. Thank you for even coming to that stupid party. Just seeing you really made my day better.”
Reine smiled, poked an index finger out. Diamond hugged up against it, rubbed a furry white cheek on her and cooed.
“What else are friends for?”
