“I’m telling you, this is a mistake.”
Liam Kennedy ignored the advice of his friends Kathy and Jacob and bought the costume wings anyway.
“Come on, there’s are a perfect size and colour for Icarus, he’ll look so good for the Halloween contest. What’s the worst that could happen?”
Kathy stepped in front of Liam, trying to block his path to the cashier. “I work with these things Liam, they don’t understand the concept of pretending. You put those wings on Icarus and he’s going to think he can fly, and if he tries to fly he’ll end up hurting himself.”
“You’re just generalising, Icarus isn’t that dumb, and I’ll make sure he understands the wings aren’t real.”
“You’re not listening Liam, Fluffies ARE that dumb, and you can tell Icarus all you like about how his wings aren’t real, the moment he convinced himself they are, it doesn’t matter what you say, he’ll just think you’re wrong.”
Jacob nodded. “She’s right man, you can’t try and figure out what they’re thinking because the mental gymnastics they take to reach whatever conclusion they want is as absurd as it is impressive. Christ I spent three days trying to console Daniels after he thought the washing machine was drowning his stuffed-toy, even cried that it had died because it wasn’t talking to him. It never did, but in his mind it had, and now that it had ‘drowned’, it would never talk again.”
Liam chuckled and kept on walking. “Look, I appreciate the concern, but I’ve got a handle on this, I’ve had Icarus, what, a year, maybe two now? In that time I’ve never had any instances of bad-poopies, no demands for sketti, he’s not even asked me for a special-friend yet. I have faith in my little guy, maybe you two should as well.”
Kathy sighed but lay off, maybe Liam had a point, her work made her see a constant stream of idiotic cruel, and selfish Fluffies so she did have a skewed opinion of them. “Ok, all I’m saying is be careful, make sure he knows not to try and fly without you being near him, and for god sake don’t take your eyes off him for too long.”
“I’ll keep him safe Kathy, don’t worry. Will I see you two at the fair tonight?”
Jacob shook his head. “Can’t, I’m helping Daniels babysit tonight, but I’ll give you a call once he’s asleep.”
Kathy’s expression said ‘Maybe’. “I’ll need to close up the store tonight but if I can get it done quickly I’ll try and stop by, I know my parents will be taking Sparkles and Archie out for the costume contest.”
“Well give me a text when you’re leaving, I’ll save you a piece of pumpkin pie.”
“Only if it’s Mrs Hendricks, I don’t know what the old biddy does to her pies but there’s nothing else like it.”
“Alright, I’m just gonna buy these, I’ll catch you outside.”
As Kathy and Jacob left the store, Liam took the Fluffy costumed wings over to the cashier till, chuckling as he imagined Icarus wearing them. They were too obviously big, too obviously plastic, no-one, not even a Fluffy would believe they were real.
Surely Fluffies weren’t THAT dumb.
“ICARUS? DADDY’S HOME!”
“DADDEH!”
The sound of pattering hoofs on the hardwood floor got progressively louder and louder as Liam’s fluffy Icarus bounded out of the safe-room and towards his owner. Icarus was a powder-blue stallion with a bright yellow mane, original a feral, his family was picked up by Fluffy-Catchers and taken to Kathy’s Fluff-Mart store, though not before Icarus found himself disfigured.
A Pegasus by birth, his inquisitive nature as a colt had led to a nasty accident with the sharp edges of a tin can. Thankfully he was still quite young so he had no memory of losing his wings and had lived life as an Earthie, but every so often he would see or feel the two strange lumps on his back and wonder aloud what they were.
Now that Icarus was old enough and big enough, Liam decided to treat him to what he had lost and allow him to be a true Pegasus for a day, of course he hadn’t told him that yet, he wanted to see the surprise on his face.
“Hey Icarus, you have a good day while daddy was out.”
“Uh-huh, Icawus make gud-poopies, den hab yummee kibbew, den pway wiv bwockie and make towa FOUW bwockies taww.”
“Four? My, my that is tall. Listen buddy, I got you something for the party tonight, but I want it to be a surprise. Can you go back into the safe-room and close your eyes?”
“Suwpwise? Icawus wub suwpwise, ok daddeh, Icawus cwose see-pwaces.”
Icarus immediately shut his eyes and dashed to the safe-room, bouncing off the wall he couldn’t see. Liam laughed.
“Shut your eyes once you’re IN the safe-room bud.”
“OH! Ok daddeh, Icawus undastan nyo.”
With his eyes now open, Icarus went straight through the door and into the safe-room, Liam just chuckled at the sight as he brought out the costume wings and unwrapped them from their packaging.
“Icarus? Are your eyes closed?”
“Yeh daddeh.”
“Ok then, keep them closed until I say so.”
Liam walked into the room, he could see Icarus dancing on his hoofs, excited for what the surprise was going to be. Very carefully, Liam placed the costume wings onto Icarus’ back, holding them in place with a hair-band type device, then he lifted the little Fluffy up and carried up to a nearby mirror.
“Ok bud, open your eyes.”
Icarus opened his eyes, and gasped in amazement, he was looking at himself… but he had wings, big beautiful white wings, almost the length of his back. Suddenly it all came back to him, he was a wingie-friend, he always had been but now his daddy had returned his wings to him.
“Daddeh, Icawus hab wingies nyo, am wingie-fwiend.”
“Yes you are Icarus, but it’s only for tonight, this is a special-night where Fluffies can become anything they want to be, we’ll see more special-Fluffies at the party tonight. Before that though, you want to take a quick fly around the room?”
Icarus’ eyes grew wide. “Icawus can fwy?”
“Yep, but only when I’m with you, I have human magic to help you fly so don’t go trying without me.”
“Ok daddeh, Icawus wan fwy nyo.”
“Ok, here we go.”
Liam picked Icarus up by his torso, the little stallion stuck out his arms and legs and giggled, he was actually flying. Liam flew him around the room, ducking and diving and turning as he bobbed and weaved over the furniture. He would likely have to clean the footprints off his sofa but it was a small price to pay for seeing Icarus so happy
After a few minutes, Liam brought Icarus in for a landing and put him back down on the floor, the energetic little bugger kept jumping around trying to flap his wings.
“Gain daddeh, Icawus wan gu gain.”
“Hold on there dude, the magic’s run out, we’ll have to give it a moment to recharge. But don’t worry, I’ll let you know when it’s back. Alright I’m gonna get washed up, you have some kibble and we’ll get ready to go.”
“Ok daddeh.”
As Liam ran off to the bathroom, Icarus admired his wings some more, he felt sad that he only had them for tonight, and that he had to be close to his daddy so they would work. He’d heard other wingie-friends on Fluff-TV having the same problem, it seemed that human magic was key to helping winged Fluffies fly.
Then again, he thought, his wings were much larger and far more impressive than other winged Fluffies. Maybe they could hold onto more human magic than regular wings. Maybe Icarus didn’t need his daddeh with him at all times to be able to fly.
A few hours later, the pair were heading out to the Halloween fair, it was a simple affair, a small gathering near the town square with games and bake-sales aplenty, plus a contest for best costumes for both humans and Fluffies.
Liam knew he wouldn’t win, his costume was just an arrow through his skull and Icarus just had a pair of plastic wings, but it was nice to take part.
Making their way towards the town square, both Liam and Icarus marvelled at some of the costumes they were seeing, they saw vampires, frankensteins, more than a couple fairy princesses, some superheroes. What’s more was that these weren’t limited by species, humans and Fluffies alike shared in the spirit of Halloween, with several vampire Fluffies proclaiming ‘Wan num boo-boo juice.’
Liam thought back to what Kathy had said, it seemed she was wrong about Fluffies not understanding how to pretend.
Once they reached the town-square, Liam took a minute to take it all in, this wasn’t a huge town, but it seemed everyone was out tonight, the park just in front of town hall had been swept up by witches selling cakes and warlocks offering children the chance to bob for apples. There was a small stage being set up for the costume contest with rows of bleachers overlooking it, and a small pen of Fluffies being watches over by Dave and Hannah Parker, Kathy’s parents.
Liam went over to them first. “Hey Mr Parker, Mrs Parker, nice night for it.”
The Parkers were dressed as Gomez and Morticia Adams, and both too lost in their guarding of the Fluffies to notice Liam until he spoke. Dave jokingly clutched a hand to his chest.
“Jesus Kennedy, give us some warning next time.”
“Sorry My Parker.”
“It’s Dave son, none of this Mr crap. How you been anyway?”
“Been good, figured I’d treat Icarus here to his first Halloween fair.”
“Am wingie-Fwuffy nyo.”
Hannah looked down at the Fluffy in Liam’s arms and tickled his chin. “Indeed you are, and what lovely wings they are.”
Icarus giggled at the touch, Liam smiled at the happy look on his pet’s face.
“I take it you two drew the short straw then.”
Dave shook his head. “Actually no, we volunteer every year to watch the Fluffy pen, gives Sparkles and Archie a chance to get out of the house.”
Dave pointed to two Fluffies who seemed to be leading the others inside, Sparkles had all the foals around her, telling them stories to distract them from the ‘monsters’ while Archie oversaw a game of huggy-tag with the older Fluffies.
One Fluffy looked over and bounded over when they saw Icarus. “Icawus, hewwo fwiend.”
Liam put Icarus onto the ground and let him run over to his friend, an orange Alicorn mare with a purple mane and one missing eye. Her name was Clem, another ex-feral picked up by Kathy’s store, Clem hadn’t been able to find an owner yet, with only one eye the only people interested in her were breeders and Kathy refused to let a sweet little thing like her be subjected to that.
Icarus had met Clem several times whenever Liam took him over to the Fluff-Mart and the two of them were good friends, Icarus even considered asking if she wanted to be more than friends but he didn’t know how to talk to her about it, or how to talk to his daddy about it.
The two Fluffies hugged each other through the fence when Clem noticed the wings on his back. “Icawus hab wingies nyo?”
Icarus nodded. “Yeh, onwy tiww neks bwite-time, daddhe say dis am speciaw-day fow Fwuffies., Be wha-eba Fwuffies wan.”
Clem’s face dropped. “Dat nu twue, Cwem wan be twu-see-pwace Fwuffy.”
Icarus frowned, it was unfair that his friend didn’t get the same joy he did. “Maybe it sumfing tu du wiv hoomin maj-ek. Dat wha daddeh yoose tu hewp Icawus fwy.”
“Yu wie.”
A voice from behind Clem took their attention; the two friends looked over and saw Barney, a tubby blue unicorn and known bully of the store. Barney scoffed at Icarus’ claims again.
“Yu wie, yu nu can fwy.”
“Can tuu, did su wiv daddeh dis bwite-time.”
“Gu den show Bawnee how yu fwy.”
Icarus looked around, Liam had his back to him, talking to the Parkers. “Nu can du it wivout hoomin maj-ek.”
Barney laughed. “If nu can fwy wivout hoomin, den, dummeh nu cna fwy.”
Clem stepped up. “Cwem bewiebe Icawus, he say he can fwy, den he can fwy.”
Barney shook his head. “Yu just enfie-munstah, Bawnee nu cawe wha yu say. Dummeh nu can fwy, yu wie.”
Icarus puffed out his chest. “Nu wie, Icawus show yu, gun fwy nyo.”
Clem gasped, Barney rolled his eyes, Icarus tried not to show how scared he was. He was going to fly without his daddy’s help, but he had faith in his wings, they were the most impressive wings any Fluffy had ever seen, he could do this without human magic.
“Icawus gun fwy, show Bawnee dat HE da dummeh, an den…”
Icarus looked towards Clem and winked.
“… gun hab speciaw-huggies wiv pwetty mawe.”
Clem blushed but the coy look in her eyes showed she was happy with that idea. With his new found confidence, Icarus ran over to the bleachers, the only place he could reach a high-enough vantage point to use his wings properly. For a human, the bleachers weren’t very high, the top row only reaching about 7-8 feet off the ground, but for a Fluffy, it might as well have been Everest.
Taking great effort to climb each step, Icarus pushed himself forward, fuelled by confidence, by spite, by a little bit of lust, he’d show them all, he’d show every Fluffy there that he could fly, that his wings returned to him for a reason, that he was going to use this one night to get everything he could out of them before he never had the chance again.
Eventually he made it to the top, the very highest step, he looked down at the pen, seeing the faces of Clem – who truly believed in him – and Barney – who looked like he was waiting for Icarus to chicken out. But Icarus wasn’t going to chicken out, he was going to fly.
“ICAWUS AM DA BESTESH WINGIE-FWUFFY EBA!”
His victory cry stole everyone’s attention, Liam turned round and felt his blood chill as he saw Icarus running towards the end of the row.
“ICARUS NO!”
But it was too late, Icarus closed his eyes, took a flying leap off the edge, and spread his wings ready to fly across the grass and up into the night sky.
“Hey buddy, time to wake up, I’ve got breakfast sorted.
“Bweakbuss?”
“That’s right, breakfast.”
“YAY, Ibawus wub bweakbuss.”
The awkward stallion clumsily jumped out of bed and waddled towards the kitchen, his crossed-eyes sending his body into a strange zig-zag motion, but he was mostly walking forward.
Icarus didn’t fly, he didn’t even fall with style, he immediately plummeted from the step and slammed his face into the ground. He broken bones in his nose and jaw healed easily but his brain… there was no saving that.
Still though, it wasn’t all bad, as Liam heard giggling coming from the kitchen.
“HUBBIES! EMF EMF EMF”
“Heh, nu speciaw-fwiend, huggies bad fow tummeh-babbehs.”
“Tummeb-bahhabs? YAY, Ibawus wub spebiaw-fbwend bahhabs.”
Liam went through to check on his Fluffies, Icarus gobbled down his kibble, getting most of it down his chin with more than a little bit of drool, while Clem stayed seated in her bed, carefully lapping up some water. At two weeks pregnant she was almost hitting beach-ball level but she was still able to walk around somewhat.
“You ok Clem?”
“Yeh daddeh, hab nummies awweady, tummeh-babbehs am gud.”
“I’m glad to hear it.”
Liam looked over at his pet and his friend, permanently brain damaged from his attempts to fly. Liam had felt so guilty since he was the one who gave Icarus his wings, he spend the entire time during Icarus’ healing trying to figure out how to make it up to him, then Clem came by to visit and one loud enfing later he found an unorthodox way to repay Icarus for his injury.
He had questioned the consent Icarus could give, but according to Clem all it took was a simple yes or no question and Icarus was happy to fulfil his part. Once everything was sorted he adopted her as soon as he could.
Liam took a glass of water and refilled Clem’s bowl. “Let me know when you start to feel the babies coming, I’ll make sure Icarus doesn’t accidently hurt them.”
“It ok daddeh, Cwem knyo dat Icawus be gud-daddeh tu babbehs.”
“You sure? I love him but he’s… he’s not all there right now.”
Clem looked over at Icarus and smiled. “Icawus maybe dummeh, bu he Cwem dummeh, stiww wub him.”
Icarus zig-zagged over, curious as to what his friends were talking about. “Wha dubin?”
“Jus tawkin bout tummeh-babbehs speciaw-fwiend, say yu be gud daddeh fow dem.”
“Dabbeh? IBAWUS WAN BE DABBEH!”
The silly stallion wrapped his hoofs around Clem and hugged her tightly as she laughed at the affection.
“HUBBIES!”
over confident idiot!