You sat on the bottom of your box, wondering what was causing the weird rumbling noise you heard. It had been going for a long time, and your daddeh hadn’t said anything yet. You waited patiently. Good fluffies waited.
“You’re very quiet, is there a fluffy in there at all?” The low voice asked.
“Y-yus! Fwuffy am in hewe!”
He laughed. “No need to be nervous, just checking. If I open the top of that can you promise to stay inside the box? It can’t be fun to sit in the dark.”
“Yus! Am guud fwuffy!”
There was some fumbling above you and then light split through the cardboard. “There we go.”
You stretched up, peeking out of the box. You were in a small room with lots of seats and windows. You stared out, watching things fly past you outside. We’re you moving? How could you go so fast?!
“Heh, never been in a car?” The low voice asked.
You turned to see the largest man you’d ever seen before. Much bigger than any of the workers at the foal place. His not-mane was dark and covered part of his face.
“Nu, just in…” What did you call that place? The not foal place?
“The FluffMart?”
“Yus.” Your daddeh was so smart! He knew what all the things were!
“It’s a small place, huh?”
You nodded, looking back out the many windows. How did this place go so fast without feeling like it was moving at all? It didn’t feel like when you would run around the foal place at all.
“So, I’m Nick, we’re going to be working together for a while!” Your daddeh continued.
“Otay! Am…” you trailed off, realizing you didn’t have a name to give him. “Am fwuffy.”
“You’re Hope.”
Your eyes widened. Hope! What a beautiful name! A perfect name! “Am Hope! Tank’oo, Daddeh!”
“Oh.” He looked away from you. “I’m not your daddy, honey. Sorry.”
“…Oh. Den… Who am?”
Nick didn’t reply for a little while. “You’re… going to be working with lots of humans and lots of fluffies. It wouldn’t be fair to anyone, you know? We can’t have anyone being favorites.”
“Oh.”
No daddeh? No one at all? Were you not good enough?
“Hey, it’s okay, honey.” His hand scruffled your mane. “You’ll have lots of friends with us! Lots of fluffies and humans too! You’re going to be a star!”
You cocked your head in confusion. “Nu am Hope?”
Mister Nick laughed again. “No, you’re Hope! Sorry. You’re going to be on TV, kids and fluffies all around the world are going to see you!”
That did sound fun. Lots of friends everywhere, lots of human friends too! Maybe that would be better than a daddeh? You weren’t sure, but it didn’t seem like the worst thing.
“Otay, Hope be staw!”
“Eyyy, that’s a good girl.” He patted you again. “Do you like music? I have a few old CDs in here.”
After the long car ride Mister Nick boxed you back up. “We’ll go inside and get you prettied up before you meet everyone!”
“Otay!” You had just had a bath, but the last one was pretty fun so you didn’t mind too much.
Mister Nick carried you for a little while, the smells of outside fading away to be replaced with new ones. Some things you recognized, nummies, humans, and most excitingly other fluffies! You were so excited to meet your new friends!
“Got the replacement, needs a little dye job but we’ll be good to go in a moment here.” Mister Nick said.
“You’re a lifesaver, fuckin’ Adam man.” someone else replied. “Camera team went home though. We’ll pick up filming tomorrow.”
“Sounds good. I’ll get her introduced and everything.”
You were carried a little further before the box was set down and Mister Nick opened the top flap. “Let’s get you all pretty.”
“Otay!” You held up your hooves as he reached for you and set you on a counter. You turned to see another fluffy, an earthie filly with purple fluff and a yellow mane. “Hewwo, nyu fwend!”
“Ha! That’s you, sweetie!” Mister Nick waved at himself in the mirror.
You squinted at the fluffy, she squinted back. You waved, she waved. “Oh. Hewwo, Hope!”
“Let’s see here…” Mister Nick pulled out a bin of colored bottles. “Cyan should do, we need it pretty bright.”
He squeezed out a dark blue goo into a small bowl and mixed it with a brush. You sniffed at it, lip curling at the strong chemical scent.
“I’m sorry, this is gonna be kinda stinky and gross. I promise it will be quick though.” He set the bowl down next to you. “Hold really still for me, okay?”
“Otay.” You stiffened as he spread the mixture down your mane. It was cold and the smell burned your nose, but he asked you to be still. You would not be a bad fluffy, even if he wasn’t your daddeh. He painted it along your tail as well, spreading it across a thin shiny bit of metal.
“There we go, that should do. We’ll let that sit for a moment and then we’ll wash it out.”
“Wha’ am?” You asked, moving your jaw as little as you could.
“It’s dye, it’s how humans change the color of our hair.” Mister Nick said as he rinsed the bowl and brush in the nearby sink. “The show needs you to have a green mane, not yellow.”
Humans could change thing’s colors? First the moving room and now this, what other magic did they have?
After a few more moments of sitting with the cold goo on your mane and tail Mister Nick lowered you into the sink.
“I know water is scary, but I promise it won’t hurt you. I’ll be right here the whole time-”
“Baff nu am scawy!” You chirped. “Baff am fun!”
“Huh.” He smiled at you. “You’re an odd one, aren’t you?”
You didn’t know what that meant, but agreeing was good, right? “Yus!”
He laughed as he turned on the water. “Well then, let’s get you rinsed.”
He ran the warm water down your back, scratching under your chin as he scrubbed out your mane. It felt amazing, even better than the first time. Mister Nick seemed to know exactly where fluffies liked to be pet. You didn’t even notice he was done washing you until he scooped you up in a fluffy towel.
“All done! Look at your new mane!” He pointed at you in the mirror, and you gawked at the brilliant green of your mane.
“Suuuu pwetty!”
“Glad you think so! And it’s good that you like baths so much, we’ll have to keep dying it ever week or so.”
He carried you off, gently rubbing you with the towel to remove the last of the water in your fluff. You took in the sights of your new home, brightly colored walls, lots of windows looking into odd rooms, and people moving around everywhere. It seemed just as busy as the FluffMart!
“Ready to meet your new friends?” Mister Nick asked.
“Yus!” You wiggled with excitement. You missed your many siblings back at the foal place, but new friends were so fun! And they might even have toys to play with, you’d never played with toys before!
“Hey Nick, did you get those cables unpacked?” A lady with a yellow not-mane asked, sticking her head around the corner.
“No, I was running all over town looking for the replacement.” Mister Nick replied.
“Can you check them real quick? If they’re not the right kind I’ll have to go replace them before the warehouse closes, Adam will be pissed if there’s any more delays.”
Mister Nick sighed. “Okay, Hope. Go meet the new fluffies, I’ll be back to put you all to bed in a little while.”
“Otay!”
He opened the door, revealing the most beautiful and colorful space you’d ever seen. The walls and ceiling were bright blue, the floor was made of squares of every color you could even think of. Most excitingly, you saw toys! Balls and blocks and things you had no name for!
“Have fun, girl!” Mister Nick set you down on the padded floor and shut the door behind you.
“Who am nyu fwuffy?!” A green unicorn scampered up to you, her blue mane in ringlets that wrapped around her shoulders.
“Am Hope!” You chirped.
“Nu am Hope.” Another unicorn, this one a deep blue, snorted.
“Wha’?” You were confused. How could you not be Hope? That’s what Mister Nick named you!
“Yu nu am Hope. Yu wyin’” the unicorn said, turning back to his blocks.
“Nu am wyin’! Am Hope!” You protested.
“Twicia miss Hope!” The green unicorn cheered, hugging you tightly. “Whewe Hope gu?”
“Uh, Hope am at foaw pwace.” You didn’t know how you could miss someone you hadn’t met before.
“Twicia am dummeh. Nu am Hope.” A red pegasus said, trotting over to sit next to the blue unicorn.
“Twicia nu am dummeh, Penny dummeh!” Tricia retorted.
The red pegasus, Penny, rolled her eyes before helping the unicorn stack the blocks.
“Wai fwuffies su meanie? Hope jus’ wan’ make fwends…” you sniffled.
“Twicia am fwend!” She hugged you tightly again. “Twicia here!”
It did feel nice to have at least one friend, even if you didn’t quite understand how she knew you.
You played with Tricia for a while, learning the names of the rest of the fluffies in the room. The mean unicorn was Leon, Tricia said he was the meanest of the bunch. Penny stayed pretty close to him but could be nice when he wasn’t around. You didn’t even notice the other earthie when you first came in, a quiet brown colt named Frankie that played with his toy cars alone in the corner. There was one more fluffy that wasn’t here, someone named Tyler.
“Twicia miss Tywew tuu! Hope see Tywew at foaw pwace?” Tricia asked as she kicked the ball to you.
You shook your head. “Nu, fwuffy nu hab namesies at foaw pwace.”
“Dat am suu sad!”
The door opened suddenly, and the yellow not-mane lady entered. “Alright fluffies, time for dinner and bed.”
“Nuuuuu… wan pwaaaayyy…” Leon whined.
You winced, anticipating the sorry stick coming down on him. Bad fluffies got punished. Bad fluffies got hurties.
But nothing happened.
“Well, you can play until I’m done getting everyone else their food.” The lady said. She didn’t even sound mad. She started opening containers while the other fluffies crowded around her legs, chattering about nummies. You just kept looking from her to Leon, still stacking his blocks. It didn’t make sense.
“Hope, come get dinner.” The lady said.
“…Yus, Nice Wady.” You trotted over to her and she picked you up.
“Here’s your kennel, there’s your dinner.”
“Tank’oo, Nice Wady.” You said, but she had already turned away after shutting the door of the kennel.
You took a bite of the kibble, expecting to feel the pain of it digging into the space between your newly erupted teeth. It, instead, was soft and somehow juicy, and your tail began to wag as you ate. Such nice nummies! Even though you didn’t have a daddeh, you seemed to have everything that came along with one. Friends, good food, nice humans, and all the toys you could dream of!
Through the wire mesh you watched her pick up Leon by the scruff.
“Nuuuuu! Wan pway!” He screamed.
“Yeah, I don’t care. It’s bedtime.” She tossed him into a kennel opposite you and shut the door. “Lights out, goodnight, fluffies.”
“Goodnight, Nice Wady!” You chirped. No one said it with you.
The lights dimmed as she flicked a switch, you marveled at the stars projected around the room. How pretty! You lived in such a pretty place!
As the door clicked shut behind the lady you realized that Mister Nick never came back for you. You wanted to call out for him but… that was not something that good fluffies did. That was begging. Bad.
Though, nothing happened to Leon when he was bad. Maybe you were a good enough fluffy that bad things didn’t happen to you? Mister Nick said something about being a star, did bad things not happen to stars? Maybe you were allowed to be bad now.
“Nu, am bad bad tingie.” You remembered Pearl’s words and the faraway look in her eye. “Wowstest huwties.”
…You wouldn’t risk it. Especially because you promised her you’d be good. You didn’t have a daddeh, like her, but this was a very nice place compared to the foal place. You would be good.
At the back of the kennel was a pile of blankets, formed into a nice little nest. You lay down into it, resting your head on your hooves. Your body was tired, you yawned heavily. Hopefully Mister Nick wasn’t mad at you or anything. If you saw him when you woke up you’d ask to be sure. You had lots of questions, in fact. Why the fluffies kept saying you weren’t Hope, who Tyler was, what being a star meant.
As you fell asleep you could smell another fluffy. Someone you didn’t recognize, their smell embedded in the blankets you were curled in.