Chapter 10: Bathtime
Erik was pissed off. One thing. Sleet couldn’t even do one thing and that was not hurt the foals. After punishing Sleet, he went back to check on Knight. The bleeding stopped, and now it was just a bald patch he was self conscious about as well as a blow to his ego.
“Daddeh? Am Nite munsta?” He asked, waddling over to Erik and going into the ‘upsies’ pose.
Erik picked up Knight and held him close, hugging him. “No. Of course not. You’re like Goldenrod and Midnight. They’re not munstas.” He said. “That big fluffy Sleet was just a bad fluffy.” He sighed. “I thought she could be nice to you guys because I love you all so much. But she can’t.” He pet Knight, and heard a slight whimper when he accidentally passed over the bald patch. “Your fur will grow back, boy. Don’t worry about that.” He told him. “Some fluffies are afraid of alicorns. Those are fluffies that you, Midnight, and Goldenrod are. Wingie horni fluffies. Don’t be too mad about it, okay?” He felt sorry for his alicorns. They might have a harder time with other fluffies being scared of them. Even the lessons about alicorns didn’t get through to fluffies like Sleet. He set Knight back down in the nestie, his favorite place. He played ball with the older fluffies, rolling it to each in turn. They just had to roll it back to him.
Peppermint was being a splorin babbeh, crawling around her environment. Cloudy followed along, giggling and babbling. It was like Peppermint was leading and Cloudy narrated everything they saw. She got side tracked quite a lot, crawling towards the play structures.
Sunrise was close to where the game of ball was being played, seemingly entranced by it. Each had a different way of passing the ball back.
Spot liked to turn and buck the ball with a whinny. He would toss his mane as he turned.
Camo had a habit of hiding, covering her face until the ball gently touched her arms. She gave it a quick push, and stayed low the ground.
Brownie alternated which leg she pushed with. She had named them ‘weggie’ and ‘odda weggie’. Whatever made them happy. She giggled happily.
Goldenrod liked to ‘catch’ the ball by stopping it with his two front hooves while up on his back. He pushed it back that way.
Midnight preferred to back up and kick the ball back while it was still rolling towards her.
Erik loved each unique way. It helped him get a better feel for their personalities. The little foals were still developing, but he updated their growing on a blog made just for the little foals. He wondered if he should have gone for micro fluffies. Apparently they were easier to deal with. He’d consider it once he had less fluffies. He was keeping Goldenrod for sure. Maybe Brownie.
Eventually he had to check on Sleet to feed her. The fluffy was sulking of all things. Erik asked why she was upset.
“Seet du nuffin wong. Dummeh munsta fwuffy twy to eat Seet.” Sleet said, looking up at her dummeh daddeh angrily.
Erik growled. “You did do several things wrong. You hurt a foal. Your own babbeh. You were terrible to your other foals too!” He snapped. Good thing he anticipated her being a bitch. He’d gotten sorry kibble for her. It was nutritious as any other kibble, but chemically designed to taste horrible. Erik put it into the food bowl attached to her bowl. Sleet went to scarf it down, and got about two mouthfuls down before the taste hit.
“Yikkies! Food nu taste pwetty. Bad nummies!” Sleet exclaimed.
“It’s all you’re getting today.” Erik said.
“Nu wike!” Sleet used her nose to flip over the food bowl, scattering the kibble.
“You’re only getting what you can reach.” Erik said, leaving. He’d check on her in a while and see if her attitude changed.
A few hours later and Sleet was crying about being hungry. She’d eaten a little bit of the kibble she could reach, but she was being stubborn due to the taste. Erik didn’t want to have to force feed her, so he had an idea. “You still don’t want to eat, hm?” he asked darkly.
“Nu! Nummies nu taste pwetty!” Sleet exclaimed.
“Eat the nummies or I’ll keep touching your stumps.” He threatened. Apparently Sleet was too dim to follow, because Erik sat down nearby, running his hands over the still bald stumps.
“NUUUHUUHUU! Nu touwch dere, daddeh! Bad touchies!” Sleet cried, wiggling for all she was worth.
“Then eat and I’ll stop.” Erik said, giving the stumps a nice little massage as well as her belly to ensure she didn’t get bed sores. All what a loving owner would do for their pillow fluff. He had taken away toys from her. He even put on horror movies at times for her.
It took an hour, most of it Sleet crying and screaming, but she ate the food. Erik had to admit, he enjoyed it a little. He’d asked around for a good way to punish her. Most just suggested to kill Sleet, but someone gave a good idea. Play mind games and edit photos to make it look like she never had legs. If he had any experience with video editing, he was suggested to find a video of a pillow fluff and edit it to Sleet’s color and face. Pretend she never had legs in the first place. Erik liked it. He had to set things up first, though.
He could edit photos, at least. He had a way to make money in high school, editing things in photos. Erik had like to use photoshop. It was mostly hot girls or crushes beside a person or their dream celebrities beside them. Others had odd requests, but he got a lot of experience. The point was, he could edit a photo. He brought up several photos of Sleet, and began. It was easy enough to reposition her image on the ground, take away the legs, and correct the background. It wasn’t like it had to be perfect for a fluffy anyways. He took a few photos, even from back when she was a foal. There. Now it looked like she’d been a pillow fluff all her life. He didn’t take photos of when she was playing with toys. Some should be events she remembered. Holidays or birthdays. Enough to make her doubt her memory. Now he just had to wait for her to mention it her legs.
It happened the very next day.
“Daddeh! Wen weggies cum back?” Sleet whined when Erik came in.
“Sleet…you never HAD legs.” He said, setting down the kibble in front of her.
Sleet was shook. “Wha? Nu! Seet had weggies! Meanie dockta took dem!” Sleet protested.
“No…you were born without legs.” Erik took out the photos, setting them in font of her. Ones when she was a foal. “See? These were when you were a little foal. You never had leggies.”
“Nu…dat nu am twue! Am wies!” Sleet yelled, throwing a tantrum.
“Sleet.” Erik said warningly. He was ignored.
“WIES! WIES WIES WIES!” Sleet screamed, wiggling her stumps.
Erik smirked inwardly, but outwardly he gathered the photos and grabbed the sorry stick. Sleet was too wrapped up in her screaming to notice until Erik struck on one of the stumps.
“SCREEEEEE! OWIES!” Sleet screamed, actually managing to roll off her bed. Erik reached for her, but instead of helping, he knocked her into the litter box. A complete accident…but a happy one. She was upside down in her own poopies and pee.
“NU SMEWW PWETTY!” Sleet cried.
“I’ll give you a bath.” Erik said.
“Nu! Nu baf! Wawa bad fo fwuffy!” the fluffy screamed, wiggling harder.
Erik smirked. “Fine. Then you’ll keep smelling not pretty.” He carefully put her back into the bed, and left her, covered in her own poop, pee, and litter. He washed his hands thoroughly after, feeling some tension had been released from deep within.
Erik had to give the foals baths. He’d been able to too do fine with wet wipes until now, but the older ones were about ready for a proper bath. He filled the sink partway for them with warm water and some bubbles. The little ones could watch from the side, and maybe get a proper bath themselves. They had liked the wet wipes because it felt like ‘wickie cweanies’.
Bath time did not go as well as he hoped. When the foals saw the sink partway full of water, they looked nervous. All fluffies had a fear of water, even if told it was okay. It was probably instinctual since they drowned so easily. They were programmed to avoid it unless they had to drink. Even then they managed to get themselves killed if the owner didn’t choose the right dish. Erik chose the shallow dish with the auto refilled. It was promised to be very difficult to drown in. He’d gotten the foal version as well and had that in currently just to be safe.
He tried to explain it to them. “This water is okay. It’s warm and I’m here. You won’t be hurt in it.” He wanted to let the fluffies get in the water themselves. Camo was cowering and had made scaredy peepees under her. Spot was snorting and stamping anxiously. Brownie looked at the water with wide eyes, backed up to the edge. Goldenrod and Midnight were both near the edge, but neither dared to go in, their ears, tails, and wings low. The younger foals were cowering in the corner where the sink met the walls. They looked as though they were cornered by something.
Okay…so this would not go as well as he thought. He decided to start with the bravest.
“Goldenrod. Midnight. You two are the bravest foals here.” He started. “Don’t you want to show your brothers and sisters that you two aren’t afraid of anything? You know I won’t let any harm come to you all.” He coaxed them. “Midnight, you’ll go first.” He got the fluffy.
“Nuuu! Nu wan wawa, daddeh!” Midnite scawdies!” Midnight screamed, trying to escape.
Erik knew this wasn’t going to get better, so into the water she went. It didn’t even go up to her nose. Maybe her belly. She still thrashed and squirmed, trying to get out. “Midnight, hold still. I will get the immobilization board if I have to.” He said. Midnight either didn’t hear him, or didn’t care. He sighed, and got the board. Her legs were put in, which just made the foal cry harder about her weggies not working. “Your leggies want you to be clean.” Erik said, feeling rotten about scaring Midnight so much. It would probably scare the other foals just as much to get clean. He’d been hoping to make bath time fun for them. Or at least not scary. Instead Midnight was whimpering in fear while her siblings looked on in fear. Erik dribbled some water over Midnight’s back. Poor Midnight started to wiggle, and tried to buck. She was about to scree, but then seemed to realize she wasn’t getting hurt. “W…wawa nu huwties?” She asked, looking at her daddeh.
“No hurties.” Erik confirmed. “The leggie board is to keep you from hurting yourself. If I take you out of it, you have to promise not to try to run away or buck. Promise?” He asked.
“Midnite pwomise!” The alicorn quickly agreed.
Erik was pretty sure she’d promise just about anything to get out of the board. He carefully lifted her out of it as well as setting the board to the side. The alicorn was calmer in the bath, but still got nervous. Erik could at least finish the bath, and set her on the towel. Unfortunately he had to change the water since she’d shit in it out of fear.
Goldenrod was next. He looked apprehensive, but the silent warning of the visible immobilization board was enough for him to not protest. He’d squeezed his eyes shut, as if he expected acid. Instead…he was surprised by warm water. “Feews nicey.” Goldenrod said in surprise.
“See? Wawa can be really nice. As long as a human is watching you.” Erik knew he had to be far more careful about fluffies and what they took in. Apparently even FluffTV was terrible for them. And he’d practically raised Sleet on FluffTV.
Goldenrod’s bath went easier. There was a reason Goldenrod was his favorite. His bath was quicker and he didn’t even have to change the water. He set him on the towel so he could dry. They liked to roll around like dogs to get dry, and shake their little manes out.
He took Spot next. The fluffy was still nervously pawing at the ground. He acted the most like an actual horse. He put the fluffy in the water, and Spot whinnied in fear, shaking all his hooves.
“Calm yourself or you get the board.” Erik warned.
Spot managed to, but stood stock still, wincing at every touch as if it were to harm him. He also pooped in fear. Erik winced, but at least it was in the bath. He had to drain the water, and the sound scared Spot. He ended up rinsing him off of his shampoo, and put him on the towel.
Brownie was next. The foal backed up, then tried to flee!
“Brownie!” Erik managed to catch her before she ran off the edge. “What in the world is wrong with you!? You could have gone forever sleepies!” He said, angry and worried.
“Fwuffy sowwy, daddeh! Weggie made fwuffy wun!” Brownie claimed.
Her leg made her run? Despite how impossible that was, Erik noticed how Brownie didn’t use her name. “Is that right?” He asked. “Well, we’ll use the board so that leg doesn’t cause us any more trouble.” Erik feigned concern. He saw Brownie look nervous.
“Nu…dats otay, daddeh! Weggie aww bettaw nao.” She claimed, shaking the leg.
“No. We have to make sure that leggie doesn’t act up.” He put her in the board.
“Scree! Nu wike! Nu can move weggies! Awe weggies dewe? Weggies!?” Brownie continued to try to get her legs to converse while Erik washed her. Brownie cried the whole time, thinking her legs left. Erik felt somewhat bad since she’d been down a leg before…but she’d also flat out lied to him. He finally rinsed her off, and took out out of the board, setting her on the drying towel.
Now…for Camo. She’d been sitting in a little puddle of her own scaredy pees. Erik decided to keep the warm water running for her little bath. She was a shaking ball of fear. Luckily that fear worked for him, as she was too scared to struggle. She’d squeaked something about bad wawa, but did not protest. Other than Goldenrod, she was easiest.
Erik sighed. “Little ones, you need baths too.” He said. They were too little for shampoo, so a rinse off would do fine. They also needed their rears cleaned more thoroughly. The older foals knew to lift their tails when they pooped and peed so it got as little as possible on them.
He chose Sunrise, his biggest first. The foal whimpered, and was still small enough to be held by one hand. He rinsed the foal off, careful to keep his face out of the stream, and angled up. Though he had to turn him horizontal to clean off the poop below his tail nub. Not much, but a little bit of dried poopies.
“Eek! Nu touch poopie pwace! Nu am mawe!” Sunrise protested, wiggling his little legs.
“I’m just cleaning you, Sunrise. Like licky cleanies. But humans use water, not our tongues.” Erik explained. It calmed Sunrise, but unsurprisingly he didn’t like his ass to be touched.
His bath was mercifully quick, so he took Cloudy next.
Cloudy was hyper, and mostly wiggled, but when the water hit, she started to make squeaks of fear, similar to a hamster. He tried to soothe her unsuccessfully. Well, hers was quick. She protested quite powerfully when Erik cleaned her poopie place and special place. Erik was over with it quick enough, setting her on the towel. She made little squeaks of fear. Luckily since they couldn’t dry off easily, the folder foals were giving them licky cleanies to try to help dry them. Led by Spot. As long as they didn’t drown…
Peppermint was next as the splorin babbeh. She looked uneasy about this, but she endured the bath. “Nu wike baf. Nu wike…” she whimpered, but stayed still, at least. She made her opinion of the bath very well known.
“I know you don’t like it. But it keeps your fur pretty. Everyone likes pretty fur, right?” He asked. That got her attention at least.
“Yus. Wan pwetty fwuff.”
“Well, baths help you look and smell pretty.” Erik said. It at least made her stay quiet. Though she protested like all the rest when it came to her rear being cleaned. Erik read it was programmed to keep kids from exploring their toy’s reproductive system too closely. Most kid’s toys weren’t anatomically correct, after all.
Knight was last. He’d been low, but saw no reason to run. He actually giggled.
“Nite wike wawa.” He decided. He relaxed in the warm stream, letting his body go mostly limp in Erik’s hand. Though he tensed to have his poopie place looked at. “Pwease Nu touwch poopie pwace, daddeh!” Knight looked back with pitiful black eyes.
“I have to clean it, Knight. You don’t want poopies stuck to your fluff.” He said. Other than that moment of unpleasantness, he finished the bath, and set them on the towel.
Now that it was done, he could focus on drying off the fluffs. All of them. They were not adept at drying themselves due to their chubby bodies. Erik smiled a bit to look at the foals, who looked even smaller with their fluff all wet. It added a good inch or so to them. Other than the little foals, where it added a good amount of centimeters.
After a thorough drying, the little ones were taken to the safe room. It gave him time to think after…about Brownie. She’d lied to him. And used the new leg as an excuse. He was hoping this would not become an issue. He’d hate to have to have a naughty foal on his hands…
Time to go to the forums. He asked ‘My fluffy recently got a leg transplant. When I gave her a bath she tried to run away and blame it on the new leg. What should I do?
Note: Please do not suggest amputation. It was expensive and I’d like to keep my fluffy whole.’
(Please leave comments below on what he should do about Brownie.)
Nothing to worry about.