Chapter 18: Sensitive Babbeh
Erik practically hummed as he walked home, one hand stroking the sensitive babbeh in his pocket. The poor thing was chirping up a storm. “I know, little one, I know.” He tried to soothe the little fluffy colt. “I’ll get you to a mummah soon. You’re pretty, so you should be safe.” He told him. Sleet was doing so good…maybe if she had an eternal babbeh she could calm down. An enteral babbeh couldn’t be a brat or a bestest, could he? No. They couldn’t become a smarty. He couldn’t even open his eyes. So he’d be a perfect distraction for Sleet. Something to care for.
He opened the door, letting it close behind him. It closed rather hard, and Erik felt a warm jet of liquid against his hand. He screwed his face up in disgust. He looked down at his hand to see the sensitive babbeh had both peed and pooped on his hand. “Ugh! Gross!” He claimed. He grumbled as he took the foal to the bathroom. “I can’t hand you over like this!”
As he went into the bathroom, he heard Brownie be startled from the sound. He coughed from the smell in here. At least he got to hand her over to fluffy boot camp today. Once they arrived he could be free of her temporarily…and he should have a good fluffy back.
Brownie perked up. “Daddeh?” She asked, putting on the innocent act. “Pwease wet Brownie outies. Pwomise tu be gud!” She tapped at the walls of the tub, going up on her hind legs. When her daddeh looked at her, she went into the upsies pose. “Upsies?” She requested. Then she noticed her daddeh held a large purple babbeh. “Babbeh? Wai daddeh hab nyu babbeh?”
Erik sighed. Either Brownie was faking one he had a bipolar fluffy. She was…smart in a destructive way. “Brownie, some people are going to be here to pick you up.” He told her. “They’re going to make you be a good fluffy.” He said. “And this.” The foal. “Is going to be Sleet’s new babbeh. I found a sensitive babbeh not being taken care of.”
Brownie’s face fell. Like a mask being shed, she scowled. “Nu! Bwonie nu weave housie!” She claimed with a stomp.
“You have no choice. You’re not strong enough to stop anyone.” Erik said flatly.
Brownie let out a raspberry, then turned her rear towards Erik. “Take sowwy poopies!” She shouted.
Erik rolled his eyes, as hadn’t she learned already? Though she surprised him. Her volley of shit didn’t hit him…but she’d aimed high enough for some to escape the bathtub. Erik grit his teeth. “That’s it.” He set the babbeh in the sink and got the leg board. “You lost your leggie privileges.” Erik was fine with Brownie shitting in the tub, but now that she was aiming out of it? That was crossing the line.
“NUUUUU! WAN WEGGIES! SCREEEEE! SCREEE-“ she was cut off by a muzzle slipped over her snout, then set in the leggie board. She flailed her little leggies the best she could, but they did little more than twitch, unable to raise herself up from the leg board.
Erik cleaned up the floor, the outside of the tub…then rinsed the inside with cold water. He roughly dried Brownie. The only reason he bothered drying her was because she’d otherwise die of hypothermia.
Now for the new foal, who was shivering in the sink. Erik turned the water on warm, and began rinsing the foal. The foal began peeping in a panic, its fear of water evident.
“I know, I know.” Erik tried to soothe the little one. “Water is scary, especially when you can’t see. But I’ve got you. Daddeh has you.” He washed the foal’s backside and his hand. His hoodie went right into the dirty clothes. “Hm. I wonder if I should name you or let Sleet do it.” He said, patting the foal dry with a soft microfiber towel from FluffCo. He knew if he let Sleet name the babbeh, it’d be pretty uncreative. He thought about what to name a purple fluffy. Grape? No, that was about as creative a Sleet would call him. He was thinking about purple, and remembered a song about America. Purple Mountain Majesty.
“How about we call you Majesty?” He asked, petting the fluffy’s head. It was finally calming down, but peeped as it blindly searched around for milk. He realized he’d have to set up an auto feeder for the thing. Or…did he? He had to look up how to care for sensitive babbehs. He heard babbehs who didn’t wean off miwk ended up developing problems. It looked like sensitive babbehs had enough problems already.
After a feeding, Erik took Majesty into Sleet’s safe room with a grin. “Sleet~.” He practically sang, opening the saferoom door. Sleet was staring longingly at her leggies, hanging from a hook. Ah, right. He took them away because she couldn’t just listen to directions and not try to kill her babbehs. Horrible. He put the babbeh in front of her. “I got a babbeh for you.” He told her.
Sleet seemed to snap out of her despondent daze. “B…babbeh? Fo Seet?” She asked.
Erik nodded. “Yes. There was a mummah who couldn’t watch over her sensitive babbeh. So I saved him. I know you wanted a pretty babbeh and you’ve been so good lately.” He pet the babbeh’s head. “His name is Majesty.” He saw Sleet longing to get closer. “Oh, right. You need your leggies.”
Sleet nodded. “Wan weggies. Nee fo huggies!” She winced as the spikes dug into her, but she endured it so she could have leggies again. She gave the foal huggies. He was a big babbeh but he was her babbeh.
Erik smiled, seeing her bond with him. “I’ll have to feed him since your miwkie places aren’t full of miwk. That only happens when you have the babbeh.” he’d have to find a more permanent solution…but for now, they were having a cute moment. He pet Sleet’s head. It was like having his old fluffy back, the way she nuzzled the foal and cooed. This was how it was meant to be. How her having foals was supposed to go.
Speaking of foals…his new batch were about ready to go to new homes. He’d gotten attention after his last litter and seeing how well behaved they were. Even poor Cloudy had a lot of sympathy for her lost wing, several people wanting her, some even telling him they had a prosthetic wing they’d put on her to make her feel like she still had two wingies. Erik would choose one of those places, as Cloudy’s wingies were the most important thing to her. Maybe with mechanical wingies, they could allow Cloudy to glide! Or maybe they had these toys that let fluffies be elevated like they were flying.
Peppermint was pretty smart for a foal her age. Then again, Brownie ended up being pretty smart too. Perhaps it ran in the family, or maybe those books really worked. Either way, she would do best in a place that could stimulate her mind as well as patient owner to answer her seemingly endless questions.
Sunrise was a big boy, but he wasn’t lazy. Sunrise liked TV as much as the next fluffy, but he would not be content with it for the whole day. He wasn’t particularly good for a toughie either. He was a gentle giant who loved walkies and puppies. He especially loved dogs that were gentle giants like him. It was a surprise, but a pleasant one. It meant he could be adopted by a family with a dog, which was pretty rare for those with fluffies, especially so since Erik didn’t have a dog. Usually even those raised with dogs had some residual fear of them. He would do well with a family that liked to play and be outside.
Knight, on the other hand, was very lazy he liked nothing more than to lounge on a lap. He moved at his own pace, though wasn’t fat. He wasn’t very loud. He liked to watch TV or whatever was on a screen. Erik thought he’d be good with an older kid that liked to watch TV and game, but still liked fluffies. Knight would be a good lap warmer, yet still look cool enough for them.
He finished those little descriptions of them, smiling lightly. He was most worried about Cloudy, as there weren’t many who wanted a damaged fluffy, no matter how pretty and well tempered she was. He didn’t want any of them to become breeding stock. His fluffy foals were meant to go to loving homes and maybe even having a little mummah or daddeh!
With that settled, he decided he should go check on the micros. He remembered Apple was NOT happy about them having to take care of an ugly babbeh that Nymph rejected. Yet Butter was all too happy to have a babbeh to take care of that ‘survived’ Violet’s assault. He hummed as he headed to the spare room where the micros were kept.
Immediately he heard chirping. Thankfully the chirps were happy micro foals. He checked on Indigo first. Her foals were doing well, blue, sea foam green, silver, and white. They had nearly doubled in size, and he could see their tail nubs. He decided to also check if they were fillies or colts. He smiled at Indigo. “You’re such a good mummah, Indigo.” He told her.
Indigo puffed her cheeks. “Am bestest mummah!” She declared.
“You sure are.” Erik said. “Could I take a closer look at your babbehs?” He asked, and saw the hesitation. “I promise not to hurt them. I just want to see their tail color and write down if they’re a filly or a colt.” He said.
Indigo looked over Erik, but eventually agreed. “Otay. Nu huwt babbehs.” She told him. “Babbehs get namesies?” She asked hopefully.
“I would never.” Erik lied. Then he smiled. “When they open their eyes we’ll name them.” He told her.
He picked up the first born, blue. Looking closely at the tail and few bits of fluff at its neck, he could tell a bit of white. So blue. He could tell also that it was a unicorn by the teeny nub growing out of its head. A quick check told him this was a filly. “She’s a unicorn.” He told Indigo, setting her down.
“Speshul pointie babbeh?” Indigo asked and hugged her close. Violet puffed up with pride to know he helped make a unicorn. He’d come over to investigate why daddeh was picking up one of his babbehs.
The second born which was a soft sea foam green. Looking at the tail, it was a darker blue. Beautiful. An Earthie, but the colors themselves were fantastic. He turned the foal over to check, and this one was a colt. “A colt earthie.” He told them. “And very pretty.” With a little stroke to the peeping foal’s head, he set him next to his sister.
Third he checked…and was a mono color. Silver coat, silver tail. Erik grinned. Though he felt his grin fade a little to see the nub at the top of the head. Damn. Unicorns tended to get smarty syndrome. Checking below, he tried not to wince. A colt. Dammit. Of course it’d be a colt…he’d have to make sure this one didn’t try to take over too early. “A pretty little unicorn colt.” He told the parents with false cheer. Now he had to check the last one, which was white. To his surprise…it was another damn unicorn! Three unicorns and one earthie…he wondered if that’d cause favoritism down the line. The tail was black, to Erik’s surprise. White and black…that could be pretty. He checked to find that this one was another colt. So more colts than mares. “Another unicorn colt.” He said. He patted Violet’s head. “You made a lot of unicorns, Violet.” Erik told the stallion micro.
Violet puffed up. “Make bestest babbehs wif bestest mummah!” He claimed.
“They really are. I have to check on the other micros.” He told them.
A step over and he could see Nymph was eager to have her own babbehs evaluated.
“Babbehs am gud! Am Nyf babbeh!” Nymph exclaimed. Erik glanced over to see Piggy was at the food. Unsurprisingly. He was fatter than a pregnant mare. Nymph was more than eager to make up for it, ever the doting mother.
Erik picked up the first born, a purple one much like their mother. This one, surprisingly, had little wingies. Erik felt them flutter against his fingers so he readjusted his grip to look over the tail and mane. It was green, like their father’s body. Erik checked…and it was a male. Uh oh. Usually purple or pink stallions had problems with self esteem. “You have a colt.” He said, setting the little one beside his mother. Maybe they could at least go with an eggplant theme. Or a grape one. The purple color wasn’t too light.
The second was a pastel purple, lighter than their mother and sibling. The little tail nub was orange. Ugh. That wasn’t the best combo… At least the orange was muted instead of bright. Turning the little earthie over, Erik found it was a girl. “You’ve got a little filly.” He said. He was starting to wonder if he should just let the parents name it, as there were only so many creative names he could come up with. He set the filly down with them and picked up their fourth born, as their true third born had been rejected, then given to Apple and Butter. The red one was a little bit lively, peeping and moving their little head around. “We’ve got an active one here.” He said, and thought it was mono colored at first, but upon closer inspection, the tail was a few shades darker than the main color. It was a pegasus and…a filly.
Finally…the jet black one. One he was excited about as well. It was so dark, like the light was sucked out from around the little one. Erik was excited to feel a little nub…a unicorn! He peeked at the tail, and it was gold. Damn…Erik was dazzled. Checking the sex…it was a filly.
He’d already picked favorites that he’d make sure at least made it to the next generation. He’d keep pretty ones safe but beyond that….everyone was fair game.
Now he just had one left. He went over to the couple…but found Butter crying. Typical. Though the foal…wasn’t moving. He raised an eyebrow to see it breathing, but barely. It had some marks on it. “Now who did this?” He asked, looking over to see Apple’s cheeks puffed.
“Babbeh ugwy! Nu wan!” He said.
Butter was sobbing, trying to hold the babbeh close. “B-babbeh! Huuhuuuhuuu!”
Erik hid a smirk. “How terrible. Apple, how could you hurt your babbeh like that?” He asked.
Apple turned towards Erik. “Nu Appwe’s babbeh!” He said, and stomped over, crushing the little foal’s skull.
Well…that’d probably sour the couple. “Apple, you can’t stress Butter like that or she’ll lose her babbehs. Your babbehs.” He said.
Apple suddenly looked horrified. “Nu! Babbehs otay?” He asked.
Butter screed and tried to move away from Apple.
Since Erik wanted Butter to carry to term, he lifted her up. “Don’t worry, Butter. I’ll take you to a place that’s safe until you give birth.” He said. Butter pathetically nuzzled into his hand. Erik had an idea how to deal with her and her over-milk production… He just happened to have a babbeh that needed milk…
