“And then you say…”
“Dat sound wike guud idea!” you said, standing tall as you said your lines.
Mister Nick nodded, crouched down next to you. “But…?”
“Buh’…” You paused, trying your best to remember what else there was. “Buh’… Nu shouwd gu ou’side wifout… big hoomans.”
“That’s it! Yeah!” He cheered, tossing you a treat. “That’s all you have to say today. Other than that, follow Tricia around and do what she does.”
“Otay, Mistah Nick!”
Being a star was hard. You had been “practicing” which meant you and Mister Nick sat in a little room and said the same things over and over again. It was very boring. You wished you were playing with the other fluffies.
“Alright, one more time. I’ll be Leon again.” Mister Nick cleared his throat before doing another very good impression of a fluffy. “Fwuffies shouwd gu pway ou’side today!”
“Dat sound wike guud idea! Buh’ nu shouwd gu ou’side wifout big hoomans!”
“Just like that! Perfect!” He dumped a small handful of the delicious treats in front of you. “I think you’re ready! Just wait for Leon to say that, and then give your line, and you’ll be good!”
Good! This is how you’re good! You nodded as you scarfed down the treats, happy to know what to do. Mister Nick was so nice, he made everything so easy to understand!
The door behind Mister Nick opened, and the yellow haired lady (who you knew now was called Harley) leaned in.
“Tyler’s back from the vet. We’re ready to go.”
“Really?” Mister Nick said, standing up. “He doesn’t need any warmups or anything?”
“What can I say, he’s a professional.” Harley said. “Cameras on in five.”
Mister Nick picked you up as Harley left. “Okay, you ready?”
“Yus! Wiww du guud!”
“That’s my girl.” He ruffled your mane as he carried you back to the set.
You didn’t know why it was called The Set, it looked like a weird saferoom to you. One side of it was like a house, with pretty paint on the walls, soft furniture, and windows that always had sunshine filtering through. It was cut right down the middle, the other side being cold concrete floors and tangled wires leading to big boxes on sticks that the humans called cameras. The humans wore all black and weird things on their heads and talked to no one, responding as if they could hear someone replying. None of them talked to you and you weren’t supposed to talk to them. Mister Nick was “in charge” of you and the other fluffies, and if he wasn’t around you were supposed to either ask Miss Harley or just stay where you were until one of them came to get you.
Mister Nick set you down in the little circle on the floor next to the set. “Follow Tricia, remember your lines, and don’t forget to smile, okay? No need to be nervous, you got this.”
“Otay!” You chirped, and he patted you on the head one last time before leaving the set.
“Hope!” Tricia said, hugging you tightly. “Tywew am back!”
Behind her, talking to Leon and Penny was a yellow pegasus with his back to you. The circle you and the other fluffies were supposed to stay in wasn’t very big, with Tricia and Frankie in the way you couldn’t see much more of him than his yellow fluff and orange mane.
“Cameras live.” One of the humans in black said.
That meant you were about to start. You would have to introduce yourself to Tyler later. You watched the lights adjust on the set, careful not to look directly into them. You’d already hurt your eyes once, leaving you partially blind for quite a while. Not something you wanted to do again.
“Action!”
As you were cued, the fluffies trotted onto the set, you following closely behind Tricia.
“Wha’ wan’ du today, fwends?” Tyler asked, turning to face you all in the middle of the set.
You froze in shock. Peeking out from his well trimmed mane was a small, stubby golden horn.
Tyler was a monster.
No, no, monsters didn’t like being called that. There was another word, lost to you in your panic. You couldn’t remember what Lavender wanted to be called, you could only remember her sinister grin as she crushed foals underfoot. Her horn shining with the blood of bad foals, her massive wings spread over you, impossibly large. Would Tyler be as vicious if you forgot the right word?
“Fwuffies shouwd gu pway ou’side today!” You could just barely hear Leon speaking over the ringing in your ears.
You shrank as Tyler’s eyes met yours. He didn’t look happy. He looked annoyed. You didn’t know what to do. Did you run? No, no, good fluffies didn’t run. Say something? What should you say? Maybe introduce yourself? But what if he didn’t want to talk to you, Lavender hated foals trying to talk to her.
“CUT!” one of the humans yelled, the harsh voice startling you.
“Dummeh!” Leon shouted, his hoof slamming into your shoulder and knocking you over. “Pay uh-ten-shin!”
You felt a warm wetness beneath you and Tricia gasped. “Bad peepees!”
“Nu… sowwy… sowwy…” you mumbled, curling away from Tyler. He continued staring at you blankly.
You yelped as your scruff was grabbed and you were hauled back into the practice room. Mister Nick set you down on the floor and stood over you.
“Am sowwy, am sowwy, nu du gain…” you huddled down on the floor, waiting for the beating. Maybe it wouldn’t be so bad if you closed your eyes. Not being able to see it made it better, right?
You jumped as something touched you. A gentle touch, you were being pet. You opened one eye to see Mister Nick looking down at you, concerned. “Just breathe. Take your time.”
You took a deep breath. You hooves were shaking so much that they hurt when they rattled against the hard floor.
“What happened, Hope?” Mister Nick asked.
“Uhm…” Your mouth was dry, but you licked your lips and tried your best to talk. “Nu knu dat Tywew am…”
“Oh…” Mister Nick sat down on the floor next to you. “The FluffMart people said you had grown up with an alicorn.”
Alicorn, that was the word. You nodded. “Yus, Wavendah. Am bewwy scawy.”
Mister Nick nodded slowly. “I see. You don’t need to be afraid of Tyler, he’s a very nice fluffy.”
“Hmm…” You weren’t sure how to describe your fear to him.
“Here, let me show you something.” He pulled out his little black rectangle that all the humans carried and tapped on it for a moment. “What do you think of this fluffy?”
You looked to see a pink and blue pegasus on the screen. “Am… pwetty fwuffy?”
“You think so?”
You nodded.
“How about now?” He moved his thumb, revealing the fluffy also had a horn.
It sent a jolt of terror into your belly. “Scawy.”
“But it’s the same fluffy you thought was pretty a moment ago!”
That made you think. The fluffy was pretty before you knew it was a monster. You were really looking forward to meeting Tyler, Tricia wouldn’t stop talking about how great he was. “…Oh.”
“You see? Just a fluffy like you but with some extra features.”
You stared down at your hooves. This was a bad thing. Being scared of alicorns was something bad fluffies did, and not even Lavender could break this of you.
“Am… bad fwuffy… huu….” You pressed your nose between your hooves.
“Hey, we all make mistakes.” Mister Nick said. “I know I have.”
“Nu, Hope am bad fwuffy.” You sat up. “Nee’ punish su can be guud fwuffy.”
“Honey…” Mister Nick set a hand on your back. “I’m not going to punish you. It was a mistake, and that’s okay. We’ll try again in a moment and you’ll do much better.”
“Buh’ Hope am bad!” You protested. “Oddah fwuffies nu wike!”
“They don’t like you?”
You shook your head. “Twicia am nice, buh Weon keep sayin’ Hope nu am Hope!”
“Oh…” Mister Nick made an odd noise, blowing air between his lips. “I… should have explained, I’m sorry.”
“Wha’?”
“There was another Hope, before you. She had fluff like yours and a green mane instead of your yellow. She got… sick, with Tyler, and they had to go to the vet.”
“Den… Owd Hope cum back?”
“…No. She’s… too sick. So we got you to replace her.”
“Oh.” That made some sense. Tricia greeted you like an old friend, and kept talking about things you didn’t know about.
“So I’ll tell them about all that after filming today. And…” He glanced down at you. “Can you promise to keep a secret?”
You nodded.
“I want to bring you home with me, when filming is done.”
It took a moment of blinking at him for that to sink in. “Mistah Nick… wan’ be daddeh?”
“Yup.” He scratched behind your ears as he spoke. “You’re the most well behaved fluffy I’ve ever met, and I’ve met a lot of fluffies. I don’t have a very big apartment, but I have some money set aside. When everything is done I’m going to ask if I can buy you from the studio, so you can be my fluffy.”
You just stared at him.
“Does that sound good?”
You couldn’t speak, nodding frantically with tears in your eyes. It sounded better than good! It sounded amazing!! Mister Nick was the nicest, kindest, goodest human you had ever met. You would do anything to be his fluffy.
Mister Nick scooped you up, hugging you tightly to his chest. “Don’t tell the other fluffies, okay? It’s not fair for me to have favorites. Until the filming is done we are all just friends.”
“Otay! So ‘cited!!”
Mister Nick laughed. “Yeah, me too! But let’s get you cleaned up so we can-”
The door flew open, making both you and your soon-daddeh jump.
“What the fuck is taking so long?!”
A small man stood in the doorway, his hair so pale it was almost white and a nasty look in his eye. “I don’t fucking pay you to cuddle the animals, don’t you have a fucking job to do?!”
Mister Nick set you down. “She freaked out on stage, I was comforting her.”
The man leaned down, and you tried your best not to cower away. His eyes were angry, his lip curled into a sneer. “Didn’t I kill that one?”
“…This is the replacement for the one you… had an accident with.” Mister Nick said quietly.
“Oh it was no accident.” He leaned back, giving you a sinister smile. “I kicked that shitrat far as hell. Maybe they’ll learn not to be in my sight. Disgusting creatures.”
You nodded, understanding what to do. He didn’t want to see you. With your tail between your legs you slowly stepped behind one of the boxes in the room, curling up so he couldn’t see any of you.
“Ha! This one gets it!” The mean man said. “Good replacement, where’d you find it?”
“The FluffMart on 3rd. They lied about her being alicorn friendly, which is why I needed to comfort her.” Mister Nick kept his tone level, but you could hear the anger in his voice.
“Ugh, I told you to go find a feral. I already spent enough on fixing the fancy shitrat.”
“I… I checked shelters first, but they didn’t have a match. She had to be the right colors.”
“Kids don’t give a shit, and neither do fluffies. We could draw a shitrat on some cardboard and none of the little retards would notice. Hurry it up and get back to filming. You’re wasting my money!”
The door slammed shut, and Mister Nick sighed. “You okay, Hope?”
“Yus…” You slowly crept out from your hiding spot. “Dat am…?”
“Oh, Adam. My boss. Uh, he tells me what to do.” Mister Nick held out his hands to you. “Let’s get you cleaned up so you can try again, okay? No one is mad, I promise.”
“Otay…” You let yourself get picked up and carried out of the room.
In the hallway Adam was yelling at someone else, one of the people in black. Mister Nick quickly brought you down the hall to the bathroom, keeping him from your sight.
You hoped that he could be your daddeh soon. Adam was scary, even more than Tyler. Leon and Penny were mean, and Tricia was nice but a little much some times. Mister Nick was nice though, you felt very comfortable against his chest, and you knew you’d feel safe in his home.