The fluffies of Ms. Grey’s Fluffy Rescue were shockingly popular and expensive, with “litters” drawing long reservation lists as soon as they were announced as though they were designer foals.
Juniper was one such rescue, picked with a select few others from a local kill shelter. The filly had pale tan fluff, a white mane, medium green eyes, and a streak of attitude.
And Juniper was in trouble.
“Dummeh babbeh, Ju-nipah gets miwkies first!” she had proclaimed with her chest puffed, nudging a slightly older colt aside (it was a strong push for a fluffy) before latching. The scorned colt bit and pulled at her mane, and without looking she delivered a swift kick to his muzzle, causing him to reel back and cry.
“Mummah! Mummah!” the colt wailed, spinning itself in circles on its back as it clutched itself, trying desperately to self soothe with a hoof in its mouth. The nurse fluffies silently looked on at the screechy chaos unfolding before them, ears flattening.
“Hush, dummeh!” came a panicked whisper, from a brown fluffy, larger than the rest of the group. She tried in vain to right the yellow colt, only succeeding in making him huu louder and suckle harder. “Now! Pwease!” Her eyes darted back and forth as she heard a soft murmur from outside the safe room, shrinking back and sitting stiffly at the sound of measured steps coming down the hall.
“Hey!! Wet go! Ju-nipah not done dwinking!” Juniper protested as the nurse fluffy she was drinking from gently unlatched her, not even wincing despite the red marks left on her teat. Along with the other nurse fluffies she sat up, looking intently at the safe room door, her ears all the way back. She pressed gently on the base of Juniper’s tail, forcing her into a sitting position as well. Juniper chirped a protest, batting at the nurse’s hoof with her own.
“Hewwo, Miss Gwey.” the older fluffies said in unison, with the six new rescues in various states of confusion and decorum, being held down by their respective nurses. Ms. Grey darkened the doorway, a 40-something skeletal woman, her cheekbones high and sharp enough to cut the tension in the room. She stepped over the 2-foot safe room gate, stopping just inside to regard the circle of fluffies inside.
She withdrew a plastic key chain from her skirt pocket and clicked it, and all the nurses let go. The yellow colt continued to sob, mostly tired out, rocking and suckling on his tail. Juniper rolled her eyes and turned back to push at her stoic nurse’s belly, wanting to return to her milkies.
“Anabel, can you please tell me what is going on here?” Ms. Grey had turned her eyes on the older brown fluffy, who was now standing at attention.
Anabel looked back and forth nervously between Juniper, the yellow colt, and the rest of the new rescues. “M-ms. Gwey, J-j-ju-nipah–”
“Clearly now, Anabel. Use your big fluffy voice.”
Anabel gulped and gathered herself. “Ms. Gwey. Ju-nipah cut in wine fow miwkies. She gave Dandy-wion bad hoofsies for it.”
“Fwuffy no do dat!” Juniper retorted, turning only briefly to give Anabel a dirty look before returning to her impossible task of seeking her patient nurse mare’s teat.
Ms. Grey plucked Dandelion off the ground from his fetal position, ignoring his protests to sit him upright on the floor. “And what do you have to say about this, Dandelion?”
“Is twue! Ju-nipah push Dandy-wion and gib bad hoofsies while Dandy-wion dwinkie…” he let out another sob, pulling his tail from between his legs to suck it again. Ms. Grey quickly but gently flicked him between the eyes, pulling his tail out straight behind him.
“I see. It seems it’s time for the whipping foal to come out.” She pinched the bridge of her nose in dramatic anguish, and the nurse mares shifted uncomfortably. Anabel shuddered, a soft “nuu…” escaping her as she sunk low to the ground.
“Wat is a whipping foal?” a pink filly raised her hoof curiously.
“Hopefully something you will only have to see once.” Ms. Grey sighed. She quickly gave Juniper a once over before leaving the room. Though she returned swiftly, none of the older fluffies dared to move in her absence.
The woman returned with a light brown chirpy foal with a white barely sprouting mane who looked quite similar to Juniper. There were soft taps on the floor as some of the nurse mares recoiled.
Juniper stopped her quest to turn and cock her head. “Who dat?”
“I’m glad you asked, Juniper. Let’s get you a closer look.” Ms. Grey picked Juniper up by the scruff of her neck and dropped her roughly into a fish tank on a nearby table.
"Owwies! Dummeh wady, wai gib Juni-pah bad upsies?’
Ms. Grey ignored her, dropping the brown foal into the tank before moving it in between all the fluffies in the room, making sure they had a clear view of what was about to happen. Anabel’s hooves trembled as she consciously resisted covering her eyes.
Juniper was now circling near the side of the tank, looking for a way to get out while spitting (fluffy) curses at Ms. Grey. The chirpy foal blinked its pale eyes, crawling towards Juniper with friendly peeps.
“Watch now, Juniper.” Ms. Grey scruffed Juniper again and turned her towards the chirpy foal. She used the side of her finger to stroke the foal, who cooed happily at the touch, reaching out with its soft-boned arms to try and hug her hand. “Now, what did you do to Dandelion?”
“Nuthin!” Juniper blew a raspberry. “Dandy-wion is dummeh wiar babbeh.”
Anabel physically recoiled at this. Ms. Grey sighed. “I see. Everyone, attention please.” The nurse fluffies turned any foals who had wandered off, scooting them towards the tank.
“Who can tell me what Juniper did wrong today? Juniper, you may answer as well. If you do, then we won’t have to use the whipping foal today.” Juniper hmphed and started playing with her tail.
Dandelion sniffed. “Ju-nipah gabe Dandy-wion bad hoofsies.”
“Good. That’s one rule. We do not hurt other fluffies here. Only Ms. Grey gives punishments. Does everyone understand?” Soft noises of assent wafted across the room, and Dandelion received a scritch behind his ear as a reward. He giggled.
Now Ms. Grey turned her wrist, rolling the chirpy baby’s hooves gently between her fingers as it clutched her affectionately. With her other hand, she smoothed back its newly growing mane.
Then she pinched.
A sharp shriek cut through the silence of the room, and the baby’s front hooves were twisted at odd angles. It chirped desperately, eyes wild and wide, knowing but not understanding betrayal in its undeveloped mind. It tried again to reach for Ms. Grey, sobbing and shrieking again when the gesture of trying to “gib huggies” resulted in cutting pain like it had never experienced.
Juniper recoiled instinctively, the sound of the innocent baby’s cries skyrocketing her heart rate. Dandelion had skittered back behind the nurse mare with a startled yelp, and some of the other foals had also begun crying. The nurse mares urged them quietly to stop, flat ears betraying their fear.
“Pwease don’t hurt babbeh any more, Ms. Grey.” an orange nurse mare begged quietly, raising a shaking hoof politely. “Is jus’ wittle babbeh… Pwease hurt Mawigowd instead…”
“Very sweet, Marigold. Have a treat.” the fluffy gingerly accepted the sketti treat, not daring to eat it until Ms. Grey gave her the signal. She ate it slowly, her programmed enjoyment stifled by the forming lump in her throat. “But we both know that this is the whipping foal, and this must be done when one of you misbehaves.” Marigold bit back tears and nodded, trying to focus on the taste of the treat in her mouth.
“Anyone else? What other things did Juniper do wrong? I am looking for two more answers.” Ms. Grey locked eyes with the shaking Juniper, whose pale tan legs were turning yellow. “Three.”
Anabel silently begged Juniper with her eyes, though the tan filly was petrified with fear. She nervously bounced on her front hooves. “Ju-nipah wied, was sewwfish, and did bad peepees!” She blurted out quickly, praying for a lighter punishment.
“Excellent, Anabel. Good job counting as well.” Anabel was offered a treat as well, which may as well have been sandpaper and poopies for how much she enjoyed it.
The foal had fallen on its back and was trying its best to wiggle away from Ms. Grey, raggedly chirping and crying as it pathetically dragged its limp forehooves across the ground. Ms. Grey impassively scooped it back up, taking Juniper in her other hand in a similar position.
“Nuu! Nuu! Nuu huwt Ju-nipah!” Juniper sobbed, struggling with all her strength against Ms. Grey’s firm but gentle grip. Ms. Grey brought her face to face with the baby. She began to squeeze.
The pressure made it hard for Juniper to breathe, and she gasped against Ms. Grey’s nails, scrabbling uselessly at the inside of her closed fist as she fought for air. The foal yelped and screamed, its voice getting higher and weaker as it was slowly, slowly denied oxygen. Ms. Grey pressed them together, the foal’s face shoved into Juniper’s, its eyes growing redder and redder as it wheezed and wheezed and
Crack! A sudden bright light flashed in Juniper’s eyes as she was released and dropped back against the bare bottom of the glass fish tank. Ms. Grey had snapped the chirpy foal’s neck with a practiced thumb flick. She tossed the dead foal on top of Juniper, who was paralyzed and wide-eyed, unable to push the cooling body off of her.
Ms. Grey stood. “Now. Good fluffies share, they do not lie, and they use the litter box.” she crossed the room in a few steps and placed a small tray of wood chips into the tank. “Do you understand, Juniper?”
Juniper nodded dumbly.
“I said, do you understand?”
She found her voice, soft and meek. One of the foal’s sparse mane hairs had found its way into her mouth, but she dared not move even if reddening foam was staining her belly. “Yes, Ms. Gwey…”
“Good.” Ms. Grey smiled. “It’s getting late now, fluffies. I trust you can all behave for the rest of the night?”
“Yes, Ms. Gwey.” the room sounded shakily.
Ms. Grey’s Fluffy Rescue was well known and popular for taking last-chance foals from local shelters and turning them into perfectly behaved little pets. Yes, the waitlist was long, and the price was high. But there was no better place to get a polite and friendly fluffy pony for your child, without the ethical concerns of going through a breeder-- in fact, buyers could feel good about saving multiple fluffies from the shelter with every purchase. Guaranteed with free retraining up to 1 year after adoption!
