You ran until your legs ached. Until your hooves hurt. Until your vision wasn’t blurred from tears because you had none left to cry. Until breathing hurt and you could go no further.
Everything you knew was a lie. It didn’t matter if you were a good fluffy or not. Fluffies would get the worst pain from humans. You could have done everything right and those humans would have hurt you all the same. It didn’t matter what you did.
And Mister Nick… your breath caught in your throat as you thought about him. He wasn’t coming after you. You didn’t know if he was trying to save you or if leaving you alone in the cold outside was his way of causing you suffering. Either way, if you didn’t know where you were, he probably didn’t either.
Maybe that was a good thing.
The sun barely warmed your fluff as you slowly made your way down the sidewalk. It was midday but your breath was visible in the air in front of you. You were surrounded by red buildings, their windows closed tightly against the chill. The roads seemed to stretch on endlessly as you wandered. Cars blew past you, impossibly fast, their acrid breath making you cough.
What would you do? Where would you go? The only other place you had ever been was the FluffMart.
You nodded to yourself as you made your plan. You would find the FluffMart, someone there would help you. Pearl, the nice workers, someone. There was food and warmth there. Up ahead was a few humans sitting on a bench, you trotted over to them. Humans knew were things were.
You stopped in front of the humans, sitting down by their feet. Giving them your best smile, you spoke.
“Hewwo, am Hope! Hope am wookin’-”
Something slammed into your gut, knocking the wind out of you. White hot pain radiated into the space it left and you bounced as you hit the ground.
You groaned as you rolled over, getting your hooves under you. You heard… laughter.
Looking up, you saw the humans laughing at you. You were in pain, and they were laughing. They thought your pain was funny.
“Fuck off.” One of the humans said.
You slowly stood, the pain worse than anything you’d ever experienced. Tears pricked the corners of your eyes as you waddled across the street opposite of the humans that kicked you. You would have to find a nice human to help you find the FluffMart. Somewhere. You hoped.
Continuing wandering down the sidewalk you took in the city. The smells were still unfamiliar, acrid and foul scents mixing with pleasant, no rhyme or reason to them. Over the cars rumbling past you was the occasional voice, mostly human but if you strained your ears you could just make out the high pitched voices of other fluffies. Your heart lifted slightly, other fluffies meant good humans caring for them! They would be able to help you!
You heard rustling as you passed an alley and paused in the mouth of it. Squinting into the shadows you could faintly see a purple tail sticking out of a pile of trash bags.
“Ex-scooze me!” You said, trotting towards the fluffy. “Hope am nee’ hewp!”
Slowly a blue pegasus pulled himself from the garbage, eyeing you suspiciously. “Wha’ wan?”
“Hope am nee’ tawk to yu mummah ow daddeh.”
He stared at you blankly. “Wha’?”
“Uhm… yu ownah? Da hooman dat gib yu nummies?”
The fluffy snorted, then started laughing, falling back on his rump as he did.
“Wai am waff?!” You shouted, stomping your hoof. “It am ‘mergency, Hope am nee’ find FwuffMawt!”
“Yu am housie fwuffy!” The blue pegasus said, catching his breath. “Gu home, housie fwuffy. Nu mummahs ow daddehs hewe.”
“Wha’?” Now you were confused. “Who bwing fwuffy nummies?”
“Feddah get own nummies.” Feather said, turning back to the trash pile. “Feddah bwing nummies to spechow fwend an’ babbehs.”
Well that didn’t make any sense. Fluffies needed someone to bring them nummies, or they would be hungry. You watched him rip open the trash bags, lip curling at the filth that encrusted his hooves. He pulled a banana peel from the trash and, to your disgust, took a bite from it.
“Ewww…”
He glanced up at you, chewing. “Dis am guud nummies, wai gu eww?”
“Dat nu am guud nummies. Dat am twashies.”
Feather rolled his eyes, setting the banana peel aside before continuing to dig. “Gu eat yu hooman nummies den, weab Feddah awone.”
You snorted as you trotted down the alley. Were all the fluffies out here so dumb? Why didn’t he know where his owner was? You’d find one that knew something.
As the sun set behind you, you plopped down on your rear, a sob welling up in your chest. The only fluffy you found was dummy Feather, and every human you tried to speak to yelled or kicked you. Your bruises hurt more than anything you’d ever felt, but their rejection hurt even more. Worse still, you were not only filthy but hungry. You didn’t know how to get nummies by yourself. You didn’t know who would give them to you.
“Hope wan’ gu home…” you mumbled, getting back up. You even missed the foal place at this point. The bitter milk was unpleasant but it filled your stomach, something you’d be grateful for.
You shivered, the air around you was getting colder by the minute as you walked. You needed to find a door you could get into, a warm inside to rest in. The set was always uncomfortably hot, but right now you missed the spotlights warming your dark fluff.
A scent hit you, savory and rich. Sketti?! Your head turned towards the smell. Someone had sketti! Good nummies! You galloped towards the smell, following your nose blindly.
Between a pair of dumpsters was a large pink box, a dish at its base containing a pile of noodles and sauce. You could see it from the end of the alley and sprinted towards it, happy tears dripping down your cheeks. Sketti meant humans! Someone had set this out for you, maybe even Mister Nick!
Something slammed into your side, pinning you to the cold ground.
“Nu! Am bad nummies!”
You struggled, kicking wildly at a yellow and red stallion. “Wet gu! Wan’ sketties!!”
“It am nu guud! It gib huwties!!” He insisted, dodging your flailing hooves.
“HUUUUUU!” you wailed. “JUS’ WAN HUGGIES AN’ WUB AN’ GUUD NUMMIES!! WAI ONWY GET HUWTIES!” It wasn’t fair! You were a good fluffy, why did this all keep happening to you?
You realized that the stallion had adjusted his grip on you, hooves wrapped tightly around you in… a hug.
“Am sowwy, fwend. Aww Chip Bag hab am huggies.” he said, tightening his grip. “Pwease nu eat bad nummies.”
You wrapped your hooves back around him, sobbing into his fluff. Chip Bag helped you adjust into a sitting position without taking his hooves off you.
Eventually you’d cried yourself out and released him, sniffing. “Wai nu can hab nummies?”
“Am bad nummies.” He repeated. “Gib foebah sweepies wen fwuffies num.”
You looked back at the sketties sitting tantalizingly on their little plate. They didn’t look or smell bad. “How knu?”
Chip Bag sighed. “Fowwow.” He led you past the bowl, keeping himself between you and it and pointed further down the alley. “Dewe.”
In front of one of the dumpsters was a brown fluffy, hooves splayed out and face twisted in pain. From his mouth spilled partially chewed noodles and vomit.
You gasped, staring down at the bloated corpse. “Dat… dat am…”
“Howwibwe.” Chip Bag finished. “Nu twust guud nummies.”
You sniffled, wiping your cheek with a hoof. “Hope am nee’ fin’ FwuffMawt. Nee’ fin’ hooman to hewp.”
Chip Bag thought for a moment. “Nu knu hooman tu hewp, buh can hewp pwetty mawe fin’ FwuffMawt.”
“Weawwy?!”
Chip Bag nodded. “Buh hab to gu bak to head befow dawk tiem. Hope hab homesie?”
You shook your head. “Nu, Hope wun ‘way fwom meanies.”
“Otay. Cum wif Chip, hewd wet yu stay fo’ da dawk tiem.”
He led you away from the dead fluffy and the dangerous sketties, and into the cold night.
Chip explained lots of things to you on the walk to his herd. He lived with lots of fluffies in a building with no humans at all! They had something called a smarty, which was a very smart and strong fluffy who made all their decisions for them. He was one of the fluffies that was good at finding nummies, and was very good at it!
After lifting the loose board that let you into the abandoned building, you stood in shock at all the fluffies inside. Mares sat on one side of the room, tiny foals gathered around them. Larger foals scampered around, playing with the older fluffies. Atop a couch in the middle of the room was a green unicorn, laying next to an old teal mare.
“Smawty Beans!” Chip Bag called, trotting over to the couch.
“Fin’ nummies?” The green unicorn asked. “Oh, nu. Yu fin’ spechow fwend!”
Chip Bag made a choking noise, poorly disguising it as a cough as you trotted up next to him. “Uh, dis am Hope, she am inside fwuffy dat nee’ hewp. Chip wan’ wet hew stay dis dawk tiem, den hewp hew fin’ FwuffMawt.”
“Hm.” Smarty Beans gave him a smile you didn’t quite understand. “Dat am otay. Gu ge’ nummies, wemembah wules.” He waved you off with a hoof, curling back up on the couch.
“Dis way.” Chip Bag led you to a pile of garbage. “Get sum nummies, den Chip sho yuu nestie.”
You looked over the garbage pile, trying not to let your disgust show. You didn’t see anything that looked like food. There were leaves and twigs, mushy things with mold on them, and other things you had no name for. You saw a banana peel on the edge and grabbed it in your teeth, trying not to gag at the slimy feeling on your lips. You at least knew it was edible, unlike most of the pile.
Chip led you behind a shelf where there was a small pile of discarded clothing. “Dis am Chip’s nestie, if Hope nu mind shawing.” He coughed again, looking away. “Chip can find oddah pwace to sweep, wet pwetty mawe hab.”
“Hope nu mind shawing.” You said, setting down the banana peel.
“Oh! Otay!” His tail wagged as he lay down on one side. You settled in next to him, looking unhappily at the banana peel. If this is what counted for good food, you wanted to spend as little time with this herd as possible.
“Chip wub tu shawe nestie wife nyu fwend.” He said, taking a bite of the banana peel.
“Spechow fwend?” You asked.
Chip froze, swallowing the chunk of peel loudly. “If… pwetty mawe wan’ be…”
“Wha’ am?” you asked. “Hope nebah hewd befow.”
Chip stared for a moment. “It am… when two fwuffies wub each oddah… and wan’ make babbehs… dey be spechow fwends an’ hab spechow huggies.”
Your cheeks flushed. “Fwuffies can make babbehs?!”
Chip nodded. “Buh nu can nao. Nu babbehs duwing cowd tiems. Too wisky.”
“Hmm.” You didn’t quite understand that. What about babies could be risky? You couldn’t imagine a baby being dangerous to anyone.
Steeling yourself, you held your breath and took a bite of the banana peel. It was slimy and crunchy in an awful way but… sweet. It filled your tummy, at least.
After finishing your meager meal, Chip curled up against you. You settled your head on your hooves, letting the thoughts swirl around in your head. You would find the FluffMart in the morning and then… what? You didn’t really know. They would help you, though. That was where you came from! They had to!
And this whole special friend business… well, Chip Bag was a very nice fluffy. You could see yourself liking being his friend. Maybe even his special friend. You hoped the people at FluffMart would take him in with you.
That was something to think about in the morning. You let your eyes slide closed, the warmth of Chip Bag against you overwhelming the ache in your hooves.
