Daddy loves you, Blue

Chapters

Prologue: The Encounter
Chapter 1: Milk, and a name?
Chapter 1.5: Equestrian Intermission
Chapter 2: Goodbye Kiss records
Chapter 3: Getting Started
Chapter 4: Nightmares

Prologue: The Encounter

I sat in our favourite rocking chair, softly stroking her blue fur with my big, calloused hands in a mechanical manner as we rocked back and forth on the front porch of our house. A blank stare the only thing that greeted a stranger should they walk by, not that anyone did out here, all the same really.

Time seemed irrelevant as our past played back in my head like motion pictures, the heat in the air adding to the drowsy deliriousness creeping inside. Suddenly I’m a little boy again, eagerly watching the news channel on our big widescreen tv. The talk of the century the anchor’d called it, everyone felt excitement as the corporation’s promises to the world had been fulfilled.

The ultimate pet! Fuzzy, playful, smart! A pet with all the cuteness of a puppy or a kitten, but with higher learning capabilities and the cognition of a small child, bringing the happiness to your family. Well? What are you waiting for?!

The slogan clear as day in my mind is only interrupted by the flick of the remote and the gruff sound of my father’s voice, killing the elation in me. ‘And darn expensive to boot’, he added. ‘Son, don’t you get no ideas, you hear? Those multi-coloured freaks looks like they come from a different universe altogether, and I bet they are nothing but money dump for rich, gullible people. Ultimate pet my ass, a big middle finger towards our Lord more like it. Well, they ain’t getting a penny from the Simmons at least, pfhah!’ He slammed down the remote and turned to get his jacket, most likely to spend his ‘well-earned’ money on the things he thought more important. Beer.

I’d like to say that my father was a good man, that he provided for me and himself ever since mother felt the need to depart this world. I’d like to say that my dad truly cared for me at the end of the day when he came home from another sketchy deal from those he treated as his business partners. There’s a lot I’d like to say about my old man, but the fact of the matter was, I couldn’t, because mother taught me that lying your way through life turned into an easy ticket to him down under when your time came along. Also, I never came close to any of those adorable pets they showcased on television, that is, not until several years later.

You see, there are many organisations in the world that share a different opinion than the one you see in multinational corporations. That animals, brought here by the lord, evolution or whatever theory one chooses to believe in, should be able to roam the wilderness as animals tend to do, and the pets made by man? No different. So it didn’t come as a shock when P.E.T.A and other organisations - and I say ‘other’ organisations, because I darn well can’t separate them all, and their beliefs coincide with each other anyway, so who cares - demonstrated against the corporations. The shocker however, was how hardcore they went.

Apparently they managed to get people on the inside, heh, could you believe it? I certainly didn’t, but hey at that point in life I busied myself with trying to get into the pants of the girl I liked. Anyway, members of P.E.T.A and co. simply set a majority of the little creatures free in the wild. Obviously they got caught and darn, I’m not sure if some of them still doing the time, but hey, they fulfilled their utmost goal in life, am I right? Heh, don’t know if you should congratulate them or call them idiots. Definitely call them idiots in fact, and I’m not the only one, at least not after what consequences occurred with letting a new species into the ecosystem.

The company explained to the public after the incident, that the creatures were never meant to ever live in the wild, because of their excessively high copulation periods. In layman's terms, the fuzzy, adorable little pets that many of the richer household gotten used to, fucked and bred like rabbits. And since they were capable of learning, even when faced against their now natural predators like a wolf, they adapted and learned from others mishaps.

Two years and they’d already overpopulated the surrounding forests and parks, even going as far as appearing on the countryside and inside cities. A lot of effort went into capturing them, spaying and neutering many of the adults, but it wasn’t enough. Also, it became increasingly hard when they begged not to be hurt. Yes, that’s correct. They could communicate, something picked up from the originals and carried over through generations, told you they were smart. It never got past a sentence constructed by up to five words, but they got their meaning across.

Now, imagine how the populace reacted to a sudden inflation of adorable pets? Yeah, it became a riot alright. Now everyone could get the ultimate playmate! The company along with the government in the beginning issued that they were off limits and still considered the property of the corporation, however they soon budged, half because of what the people wanted, and the increase in the critters population made it impossible to control anyhow. Some people just didn’t care and a lot of offspring were ‘secured’ into the regular John Doe’s household.

The government adopted a different policy, one that every one of these creatures living within city walls and with their human host were to be either spayed or neutered for population control. Boy, that approach lasted no longer than my next paycheck I tell you, which went by awful quick since I had to pay for college tuition at that point.

Try balancing a part-time job along with becoming a teacher at the end of four years, while also supporting your newly unemployed father. Yeah, old man finally got the boot from whatever he occupied himself with during the days, I never dared ask in my younger years, a severe head trauma along with some cuts for show would do that to a boy. Surprisingly he still got the keep custody, funnily enough. I bet because I was as unnoticeable as the dirty beggars in the damp alleyways that no one batted an eyelid to look up at from their brand new smartphones. Hey, come on, you know it’s true.

Well, here I am talking like I was the odd one out, I possessed no smartphone though, but my mind and my body worried about the future instead, which is why, as many others chose to look away from the horrors that followed.

So people didn’t quite agree with the government’s so called PCP, population control policy - heh ain’t that a laugh for you druggies out there - and of course went out of their way to disobey it, because they wanted their adorable little fluffykins to produce litters, who doesn’t like even littler fuzzballs, right? And maybe they could make some money and become breeders, or trainers? The economy strikes you hard, bro. Let’s just say that mistakes were made.

The population once more spiraled out of control, and even worse the beginning of offspring abandonment. Like kittens, place the little ones in box somewhere and some kind soul will pick them up, simple. Free pets! Aside from that the creatures were sapient it felt like a great idea to easily get rid of a foal too many. Only the start, my friends, only the start.

On the government’s board lied a very heavy problem. The creatures literally infested cities at this point, infested as in they were a health hazard. No matter how adorable they got, they still ate, drank, shit and pissed. Everywhere, and it didn’t smell like roses and rainbows, I tell you that much.

Faced with this situations, the leaders on the board made a grim decision, they advanced their population control, but now labeled as pest control. The ‘fluffys’ like vermin, now on the extermination list. Obviously people protested at this horrendous announcement at first, but in due time many opened up their eyes to the situation at hand.

To throw an extra carrot to the populace, the leaders even encouraged civilians to ‘purge’ the vermins themselves as long as they took them to a pest control facility for further handling, for a small monetary exchange of course. And who jumped on that train first you think? Yeah, the dirty beggars in the alleyways of course, they’d practically lived with the little stinkers, cleaning up the streets seemed like a perfect way to earn that extra pancake over at Jenny’s on sundays, and they did the town a favour too. Seemed like with enough desperation, one could ignore the muffled cries of the mother and her babies when they bagged them and proceeded to slam their tiny bodies into the grey sidewalls.

This went on for an undeclared amount of years, it sort of just blended into itself, became a part of what had to be done to ensure favourable living standards for the people.

I finally graduated by the way, and looked forward to a life of teaching Little Rock’s future generations, it was a decision made after working as chaperone to a boy with autism. I don’t know somewhere along the way of him and I together as I helped him with his studies and observed his little quirks, I realized that I wanted to become a special ed. teacher, it just felt right I suppose. I got fascinated by how he viewed the world and they way he could focus like any other when we reached topics that interested him. Kid was really smart, I tell you, could have been a goddamn professor in english, and heh, airplanes. Yeah, he sure enjoyed airplanes.

Finally, the flat that dad and I lived in belonged solely to me now. My old man’s disgusting drinking habits finally caught up with him, and he now lives in a specialized home for people with alcohol induced dementia, never mind that his ‘worthless’ son pays for him to stay there, frankly it felt good to have the place for myself. The place never looked cleaner after he left, smelled better too.

The hardships never stopped coming though, however much one likes to glorify that working as a teacher for students with special needs is one of the best occupations out there, it’s really not, money-wise of course. Old debts my father kept laying around without telling me crept up on me, and since he technically weren’t deceased it fell on my lot to pay them off. Scummy guys started showing up demanding their money back, legally AND illegally I stood no real chance, so what’s a recently graduated teacher supposed to do? Bend over, mostly.

I think around this point I actually started opening my eyes to my surroundings, I had a period where I couldn’t sleep and would just walk outside to clear my head. Around the corner an autumn wind greeted me, but I shrugged it off. The place and distance mattered not, neither the potential mugging. My wallet reflected the streets anyway, empty with a chance of a quarter here and there if I looked close enough.

The light still on in a building drew my attention as I looked up from my wallet with a sigh, curios, I mosied over and read the sign. Peter’s Pet Store.

Huh, that’s quite straightforward, I thought to myself. Looking in I could see a man closing up shop for the evening. I tried the door handle, to my surprise it swung open with ease. Not late enough to be closed then I suppose. But why even go inside?

The brown-haired clerk at the counter turned to face me when the bell at the door alarmed him to my presence.

“Hey, bud. Sorry, but I’m just finishing up shop, I don’t think I can help you before I have to leave, think you can come back tomorrow instead?” He inquired.

I looked around the shop, scanning over the different shelves that contained various pet toys, cages and fodder, further in the back a couple of occupied cages stood, given away by faint scratching sounds.

“D-do you mind if I just take a quick look around?” I said hesitantly. What am I doing here?

The clerk furrowed his eyebrows for a second, which then turned into much too common eyeroll. “You got ten minutes, bud, and I don’t want any funny business from you. This store may look old, but we got a very nifty camera and alarm system, capiche?”

Not caring for his tone, I just nodded towards him as I made my way to the cages. They were as one would expect full with different assortments of animals, mostly birds and rats though. God were they noisy as I approached, I could feel a headache coming on, something I’d rather spare myself. I turned to leave to excuse myself and go back to my shitty little apartment to get an early night, but before I set my foot down, I heard a different kind of ‘chirping’ sound than what the birds made. Intrigued I listened carefully for the same cry, and my senses located me to a smaller box-like cage sticking out from the bottom of the shelf. I trembled a little as I dragged it out from there. A blue, fluffy little cloud of adorableness greeted my vision as it chirped louder, trying to reach for an artificial teat.

Now, it’s important to notice that the old corporation washed their hands of the “fluffly” project as it infamously became called, which inevitably opened up the doors for others who still believed in making the little critters good housepets. However, with much mixed result, not everyone held the now dubbed vermins in high regard anymore and less people wanted to be associated with pests. Causing their living standards to be dropped and handled horribly by many stores keeping them. This little cloud, most certainly a product of an offspring taken too soon from its mother.

I blinked, then I blinked again. My hands started visibly tremble and I had to let go off the box unless harming the little one. My breath came out in barely controlled fits, and I clenched my fists in before I tried to calm down as its weak chirps increased in volume. Which also became the point where the clerk opened his fat, ugly mouth.

“Hey, keep it down will you? You’re scaring the animals.”

I tell you, it took all my willpower not to cave in that sorry excuse of a puss he called face, instead I counted to ten before my breath returned to normal. Which led me to the next step.

“This blue fluffy over here,” I said without turning around. “What’s it doing here?”

“That little runt? Leftover from a sale we had earlier today, should have been here, had all kinds of colours, heh, one thing I tell you, they still sell okay if they are small and cute enough. Probably end up on the street later when they’re older though, but then again, that’s not my problem. Yeah no one wanted that little shitstain over there so I figured I’d keep it for another day before I got rid off it.”

I turned around just enough to see the look of greed in his eyes. “Why, you interested in buying it?”

For a moment, I wasn’t in the pet store. No, instead I became the boy from my past, looking at the widescreen tv in excitement. My dad, he wasn’t there, telling me no, to beat me for going against him. I mean I virtually possessed nothing but the flat, my clothes and ongoing debts left for me, but a pet? That shouldn’t be too impossible, right?

Back at the store, Peter Parker or whatever spider he had crawled out from awaited an answer.

“A-actually, you know what? I believe I do.” He smirked. Of course the bastard smirked. Judging by my face he could get a good deal out of me.

“Great!” he responded. “Bring that thing over to the counter, will you?”

I’d rather take it and run, ways and ways away from you, pig, I thought in my head, almost voiced it actually, however I judged that I wouldn’t look very good in orange. I complied and brought the box over with a surprisingly steady grip and placed it on the desk.

“Now, I’m going to be generous here, my friend. The box, along with the feeding teat are all included in the price, I’ll throw in the little blue darling as well,” he said as he let out a ‘professional’ fake laughter.

Gee, thanks. Easy to be charitable now, huh? My face never betrayed my thoughts though. “How much are we talking about, sir?” I added. God knows I’d rather hang myself than suck up to guy like that, but my inner child demanded that fluffball, and so I made an exception.

It seemed like it worked because his expression shifted a bit, to a more smug side.

“Hey now,” he said and laughed again. “No need for honorifics, just call me Peter!”

“Certainly, now, how much?” I asked again. He seemed a little thrown off balance but recovered shortly.

“Well, the store supporting the little one’s housing and teat, and this,” he said and pulled out a broschyr from under the counter, “little pamphlet where you can read up on the little critters.”

Various Facts and how to enforce a good behaviour in your fluffy. It read. Hmm, well, I guess that’s useful.

“Yeah, this thing will tell you all you need about keeping them little vermin in check, be sure to get it spayed or neutered whenever it reaches adulthood though, as you know it can quickly get out of head so to speak.”

It almost stunned me how he could elude the discussion of the price by just adding up more things, better stop him in his tracks.

“That’s fine, sir, Now the price of the transaction, would you kindly?” I could feel my patience wearing thin as my voice strained to pronounce the honorific.

“Twenty dollars,” he straightforwardly spewed out. I blinked a couple of times, gazed into his pig-like, little eyes, not daring to ask if he joked around, as I searched my pockets, finding a Jackson and handed it to him. He nodded in agreement and pulled out some papers. I quickly read them through and signed wherever I had to, took my copy and then the box with the little cloud inside.

“Just as heads up, the milk in the teat will run out due tomorrow probably, better go buy some more as soon as you can, these little freaks gets hungry often. Now, have a good evening and enjoy your new-!” he said, however I left the shop before he could finish his sentence.

I walked at a brisk pace, reaching my apartment in five minutes, I had tucked the box in between my jacket to protect the little one from the autumn cold. I heard it chirping loudly with every step I took, but I never stopped to look at it before I entered my flat.

Locking the door behind me I turned on the hall lamp, dim light soon filled the room. I didn’t take off my shoes, neither my jacket. I went straight to my bedroom, placed the box on the beige bed and peered into it.

For what felt like the longest time, I just peered into that box, not believing what my eyes saw. In there, a little, blue cloud squirmed around on some sloppily placed hay and paper, giving off a soft peep. I recognized it as a cry for help, a cry of needing. This little one figuratively reached out to me through my heart.

‘Help me', It said. ‘Protect me', It beckoned. I leaned in closer and gently put a finger on its back, stroking its soft and delicate blue fur. Responding to my touch it tried raising its head, blind to its surrounding, and gave out another little chirp.

‘Love me' , it pleaded feebly.

I gasped as its request vibrated through me, I tasted the salt on my lips as tears streamed down my face for the first time in forever.

“Yes, yes my little cloud,” I whispered softly, choking a bit in between sobs as I reached out to gently grab unto it. My old man wasn’t here to beat his so called ‘sense’ into me, there was no one, no one but the two of us. I caressed the little feller and felt its soft fur on my face. “I promise.” I sobbed. “I promise I will love you and care for you from here on out.”

Chapter 1: Milk, and a name?

I woke up in my bed at the crack of dawn. My head pounded like one of the jackhammers they used on one of the nearby construction sites.

“Early night, rising with the rooster, thank the lord it’s sunday,” I said to no one in general. Crazy dream as well for some reason, dreamt that I got a me one of those special-?

My inner monologue got interrupted by some stirring coming from the left side of my bed. I shifted over and laid my eyes on one of the cutest little fluffballs I’ve ever had the good fortune to meet.

I remember cuddling with its teeny-tiny hooves and wet little nose, tickling its cute stomach, until it started latching on to my finger and nurse it. I may not be a genius when it comes to little infant fluffyponies but that certainly looked like it could use some milk to me, so I had simply put it down next to the manmade teat and guided its mouth. Happy chirps came from the little thing, until it promptly released it and fell asleep, I had joined it shortly after.

There it slept now, in its tiny box made of cheap cardboard and cut out pieces of styrofoam, resting peacefully on an assortment of hay. I took the chance while the baby still slumbered in the sandman’s realm - somewhere in another dimension an alicorn of the night sneezed outright - and read through the brief pamphlet provided.

According to the ‘Various Facts and how to enforce a good behaviour in your fluffy’ Fluffyponies primarily drank milk until reaching about a month of age. Well, guess I know what I have to stock up on for the coming weeks. After that time more solid food could be introduced in the baby’s diet, however it stated that the species were solely herbivores - well, no shit, didn’t have to be an egghead to figure that out, this time a purple unicorn somewhere far away had a similar sneeze attack - and over time adapted to a regular pony’s or horse’s dietary.

I skimmed through the disciplinary section only briefly and outright considered throwing the pamphlet out when I came across the items that were tested to punish them for bad behaviour. Beating sticks? A little timeout house I could understand if it had been naughty and refused to listen to reason, but in this apartment no more beatings would be carried out, ever.

When I came across the part that talked about foal toys, I heard the tell-tale cry of my little foal. Just as the night before its soft chirpings brought an understanding to my heart. I once again steered its tiny, little mouth towards the teat and the nursing commenced, however this time it let go much sooner, accompanied by weak crying.

My insides went cold, I checked the teat, sucked dry. I hastily got up and started having a slight panic attack, where I tried to put on clothes, read the diet section again regarding milk and comfort the little one. I got very torn about leaving it alone, but I certainly couldn’t bring it with me to the store for fear of crushing it, its body roughly the size of my palm.

I forced myself to accept that the baby must be left by itself for just a couple of minutes until I got back. One of my older toys, a stuffed bunny plushie would have to do for now as comfort. Before I left I controlled every window and possible exit, in hindsight this was of course completely unnecessary, but hey, I barely knew my left from my right at this point.

With the baby secure in its box - it couldn’t move anyway - I took whatever money I saved for groceries along with my jacket and carefully locked the door behind me. I checked the door several times to make sure that it indeed stayed shut, don’t know when I started developing OCD, but eventually I left the apartment building.

Think I set a new track record as I rushed to the grocery store, almost frantically sprinting with small basket in my hand towards the dairy products. I got some extra fat milk, thinking that it’d probably be for the best if milk’s going to be its only food for a month. I picked up some cutter shavings to replace the hay in the box, newspaper I got a lot of at home so I covered that base.

The cashier looked like she’d rather call the security when she glanced over in my directions. Well, I probably looked like a crook, or maybe a weirdo at this point. I skipped shower so I imagine my hair is standing out everywhere, while some still slicked to my shoulders. Skipped shaving as well for the weekend, I mean why not with the autumn holiday coming up.

That’s what was a little different with Little Rock, instead of having the traditional holiday week, the schools prolonged it to a week and a half, instead starting school earlier when the summer holidays ended. I didn’t exactly plan it out, usually I abhor taking more days off, but this time I say it worked out nicely for my intended purposes.

“A gallon of milk and some cutter shavings, your total is six ninety-nine.” I snapped out of my unintentional daydreaming as the cashier addressed me again. “six ninety-nine, sir, for your wares?”

I shook my head. “Y-yes, of course, you’ll have to excuse me,” I said as I quickly fished out seven dollars, telling her to keep the penny. She rolled her eyes at that of course, and I hastily grabbed the supplies.

Think I broke the record again on the way back, but at the cost of breathing air smoothly, Seriously Robert, you should get in shape. I scolded myself.

I paused outside my door to catch my breath as I turned the key, not wanting to scare the little one since I read they can react badly to loud noises, I stealthily tiptoed in with the groceries in hand. I rushed into the bedroom, the little one laid there peacefully, trying to snuggle up to the bunny. The whole ordeal must have taken at most fifteen minutes.

I undid the artificial teat and bottle, cleaned it out with some hot water and then refilled it with some cow-juice, but I didn’t reattached it to the side of the box.

Then I finally undid my jacket, kicked off my shoes at the shoe rack at the door and went into the bedroom again. The little fluffy stirred now as I plopped down at the bed beside it. It chirped weakly and I helped it nurse once again, but this time I picked it up and rested the little one on my arm, guiding the teat gently to its mouth. Gosh, this time it certainly ate until it became satisfied for sure, nursing the bottle like a hungry calf.

I cooed at the little fluffball as I took up a stand against my bedroom window, where I came to the revelation that I forgot to pick a name for it. Unsure of what gender it actually was I kind of pushed aside some of its blue fur, coming to the conclusion that it was female.

When it stopped nursing I put the bottle down, I’m not sure if you burp little ponies, but it couldn’t hurt, right? So I put her on my shoulder and gently stroked the fur on her backside. I was momentarily rewarded with a small belch. Well, that confirms that I believe, now what to name you, you little cutiepie?

I looked outside, the skies were particularly sunny, with just some mischievous clouds hanging around, kudos to whomever brought up such a fine day - in her Sun Court, one regal sun alicorn had to excuse herself in front of a noble bothering her with questions regarding personal wealth.

Well, you’re just the loveliest shade of blue, and I believe I spot some white in your mane and tail, you little cloudfluff…and I think we have a winner ladies and gentlemen

I smiled as I put the baby up to my face and kissed its tiny forehead. “Welcome to your new home, my little Blue Cloud, I think we’re going to be just fine you and I,” as by command the newly named filly let out a small burp, “Hehe, yeah, we’re going to be just fine.”

Chapter 1.5: Equestrian Intermission

Princess Celestia, Keeper Of The Day, The Undimmed, The Lightwarden, alicorn regent and diarch of Equestria sat and ate in peace by the dinner table along with her sister, Princess Luna, The Nightmother, The Dreamguardian, Starshaper and a couple of other titles lost to time.

Neither sister ate particularly much in general, their bonded celestial bodies sustaining them through any hardships of the passing days. Still, both alicorns thought it simply to be ‘nice’, as it was merely a reminder of times when things were less ‘complicated’, also they both had pretty big sweet tooth, alas even princesses can’t skip dinner for dessert, unless they’d meant to set a bad example. According to their stern stewart at least, bless the old stallion’s heart.

The dinner served as practice for Luna in a sense. For she returned not too long ago, from a thousand year banishment on the moon. Reasons for her exile? Well neither want to put blame on another, but rumours went around that they argued about who got to lick the bowl clean of chocolate dough from the kitchens, it were the princesses spreading the rumour though so one might wonder the credibility.

No, in all seriousness the matters stemmed more from jealousy, and one being blind to the other’s heartache.

“S-so,” Luna tried to speak. “D-did you have good day, Tia?” The sun diarch smiled back as she rose her head from the soup. It took much from her sister to not slip back into archaic equestrian.

“My day was as pleasant as the ones before, Lulu.”

“Oh,” The night princess pondered for a little while, “truly?”

Well, that’s her sister alright, Celestia might be able to fool their little ponies with her always calm demeanour and soothing words, but Luna could tell.

“No, I’m afraid not,” she said and sighed audibly, “the nobles, dear sisters, oh the nobles and their unceasing complaints, questions and plans.” She rose up in her seat, and comically distorted her voice, “‘Oh, please your most magnificent of suns, hear my plea as I try and vow you with honeyed words to fill my own pockets’.”

Luna giggled behind her hoof, “It never ends does it? Not thousands of years back, and not now.”

“Eeenoope, if I weren’t immortal already they’d probably made me jump Ghastly Gorge a long time ago.”

“Suicide is no laughing matter, dear sister. Even for us,” she scolded.

Celestia sighed. “I know, I know.” She perked up a second later, “Although I did manage to shut one noble up quite accidentally today.”

“Oh,” Luna said and scooted closer, “now this I have to hear.”

The sun princess smirked and leaned back comfortably in her chair “Well, it happened a little after dawn, you see one of the first petitioners, Gyllenhoof came with the usual proposal of using explosive runes in the caves of Stonesburrow for easier access to its vast gem supply.”

“Ugh, I dearly hope you shot him down on that account, the sheer force would destroy a lot of the delicate cave system, causing dozens of diamond dogs and other earth-dwellers to lose their homes.”

“I was getting to that, Lulu,” she said. “Now as he finished up, for some reason I got an overwhelming urge to sneeze.” The princess of the night furrowed her eyebrows while her sister continued.

“I don’t know what came over me but Count Gyllenhoof got more of the royal essence than he would have liked, and let’s leave it at that. You should have seen his face though, priceless! I tell you Luna, I haven’t had a good sneeze sinc-!”

“Since we were young,” the night princess interrupted. “I’ve had a similar feeling earlier today as well, sister.”

“You did?”

Luna nodded affirmatively towards her sister. “However I can’t recall having a single sneeze, cough or itch since we ascended.”

Celestia pondered for awhile and stuck her golden-clad hoof under her chin. “You’re correct, We’ve never been sick, not for a long time at least.”

“Is there reason to worry sister? What if we’re coming down with some rare alicorn disease?”

“You feeling okay right now Lulu?”

“Yes, I feel fine,” she said.

“Then it’s probably nothing,” Celestia reassured.

“However,” and Luna furrowed her eyebrows and looked at her sister.

“Yes? Go on,” she encouraged,

Her abdomen gargled out her answer. “I believe the royal stomach could use some of that dessert that were promised earlier. Stewart!” she shouted. “Thine royal princess of the night requires the grand strawberry swirl sunday that is her by right!”

An older-looking pony with grey coat walked into the royal dining hall, carrying with him a dentist’s worst nightmare. Before he set it down before the diarch however he inspected her plate.

“You finished your alfalfa I see, your majesty,” he said and smiled.

“Yes, Stewart, we finished that ghastly lucerne to utmost satisfaction.” Princess Luna looked longingly at her dessert, cursing silently that it wasn’t already meeting its fate against her royal taste buds.

“Now, please let us have our well-earned dessert.” If other ponies could see the princess of the night beg her stewart like a puppy would, then they would probably shut up about it, unless they wanted to be framed as slanderers, that’s right.

“Of course, princess, since you ask so nicely.” He gently put it down towards her, and almost lost his hoof in the process as the Nightmother gorged herself on strawberry ice-cream. He turned to the older sister and smiled warmly.

“Heh, it sure is refreshing to see the royal alicorn sisters act like anypony else in my opinion. If not for your striking features, your majesty, many would certainly never suspect the pony covered in strawberries for royalty." Which in turn made the midnight-blue puff her cheeks out and glare at him, before inevitably succumbing to the sugary treat again.

“Ponies as yourself are the ones that makes such occasions possible, Silver. Luna and I can’t possibly tell you how refreshing it is for us as well to act as a pair of normal mares from time to time.”

“All in a day’s work, your majesty. Now, would you care for your own dessert?”

A tell-tale rumble from the royal gut betrayed the princess. She looked away and blushed. “Yes, it seems that I do.”

“I’ll be right back, princess.” he said and trotted off to the kitchens. Meanwhile the sun princess looked on as her sister utterly devoured her treat. Halfway through however, Celestia felt a tingling sensation in her nasal cavities and like the sopran-!

“Ahchooo!” A full blown explosion blasted out from Princess Celestia’s nose and mouth, who in her shock forgot to shield it with her hoof, followed by broken glass. “Oh, dear, my sincerest apologies, are you alright Lu-?”

Her concern for her sister got cut short as the night princess stared dead ahead with a blank look. Celestia then noticed the shattered remains of what seemed to be a red and white ice-creamy substance further away on the dining hall’s wall.

“M-my Strawberry Ice-cream Sunday Deluxe,” the night princess painfully let out after a while of silence. To Celestia’s surprise she could almost feel the dark energies surround her sister as she wailed in agony.

Well, crap, she thought to herself. However her worries were quelled as Luna put her hooves to her head and sobbed.

“Nooo! It was too young to perish in such a way! The injustice here today will be spoken for eons to come and all will know my-”

“I’ll give you half of mine, sister,” Celestia quickly interrupted.

Luna’s wailing abruptly stopped and she adopted a business like manner. “Three quarters, for the psychological damages, Tia.”

“Three quarters? Tis an outrage, fifty-five percent and not a lick more!”

“Three quarters,” Luna stood fast with her demands.

“Sixty!” Celestia countered.

Luna got up to her and punctuated her every word with her hoof. “Three. Quarters. Sister.”

The sun princess rolled her eyes and gave in. “Fine, fine! Three quarters of my Chocolate Cake Supreme are yours for the taking.”

Luna smiled victoriously. “As Kindness would put it, ‘yay’!” The she walked back to her chair as a pair of servants already scraped of the leftovers of the dessert from the walls. Silver took this time to deliver the chocolate cake to the table and excused himself for the night after that.

“Oh, Tia?” Luna inquired. “That was one mighty sneeze, are you sure you’re feeling alright?” She said, her face stuffed with chocolaty goodness.

“Truthfully, Lulu? I have no idea,” she painfully glanced down at her diminished part took a bite Delicious. “How about yourself?”

“Aside from temporary sugar deficiency, I feel fine, I’m remedying this matter as we speak.”

“It doesn’t rule out the fact that we technically shouldn’t be able to sneeze though.”

“Seems to me some investigation in the matter is in place,” Luna said.

“Indeed,” her sister responded.

Luna, now halfway through her bargained treat, adopted a serious look as she met Celestia’s eyes. “So, lay it all on Twilight?”

“Lay it all on Twilight,” Celestia said and took a sip out of her tea cup.

In a library a day’s walk from Canterlot, a familiar purple unicorn sneezed out loud for the second time that day.

Chapter 2: Goodbye Kiss records

Robert Simmons e-diary

Evening of day 2

Today I’ve discovered that keeping a fluffy foal is not just about giving out milk and loveable hugs (even though Blue Cloud seems mostly content with such), it’s also about going some distance to make sure your little friend is well taken care of. It wasn’t all that bad though...really. Some things I could have definitely lived without though. *shudder*

Simmons out.

o.O.o

Day 2: earlier same day.

After finishing feeding little Blue and cuddling her to boot, she cozied up in my big palm and relaxed, followed by what I recognized as snoring. About to let her rest in her little cardboard home, I stopped and scrutinized it. Shit. Literally, and urine too. I scolded myself. I was so adamant in bringing her to my apartment that I forgot to check the state of the box. Damn, it smelled a little rank to be honest.

Well, no time like the present, right? Alright, how to do this? I rather not stir the little one, I thought.Babies needed their sleep after all.

Slowly, I made my way to grab a red terry cloth from the small bathroom, the filly still in my right palm. Carefully I placed her on the folded towel, with Mr. Bunny right beside for comfort on my bed. Alright, part one of the plan executed flawlessly, and we have accounted for potential accidents, initiating part two, the cleaning. Note to self: bathe filly after nap time.

I grabbed the brown box and took out a trash can from the kitchen, placing the old newspapers and the hay in there. Thankfully it seemed like they’d done a decent job of absorbing the filly’s droppings, however it struck me that I should probably invest in something better when I got the chance. A bigger pen of some sort probably, maybe a large rat cage with the top part taken off would suffice? Frankly I didn’t know, however the answers were never that far away.

Thank god for the internet, and for work to provide me with my own laptop. The broadband in this apartment could make regular people cry though but not me. Heh, patience’s a virtue, don’t you know?

Next I put in some fresh newspaper and opened the bag of cutter shavings, I poured some on there, not too little and not too much I figured. Little thing should be able to move around, but avoid swimming in it.

I went to the living room where I past my laptop resting on the black table, I turned it on and waited for it to start up, then I opened the door to the balcony a tad to let in some fresh air. Note to self: Never ever leave balcony door open whenever Blue is ready to explore the apartment.

My laptop played its little tune, alerting me to start googling for advice on how to better raise little Blue and what to expect in the future. Let’s see here, your Fluffy and you, sounds promising, I mused as some of the first hits popped up. An article appeared and my eyes darted back and forth for a while, then I quickly closed it down. Okay, creepy story about abducting fluffies and brutally molest them, check.

Now I know the internet could be scary almost always nine out of ten times, but I didn’t let it discourage me. Fluffyponies one-on-one. Creepypasta involving gory dismemberment, lovely. Fluffextra, website where people got together and talk about their favourite ways to off a fluffy. It even had a personal tally system, people checked it every time they murdered one of them. The hell people?

This is beyond fucked up, how can people get kicks out of this? Are we that desperate to show our dominans towards other sapient beings? Fluffies, especially feral fluffies can become annoying and bratty, but isn’t that the extent of their abilities anyway?

Anyway, that’s my lifetime’s quota of mindless slaughter and mayhem, time to put safesearch on. Even with the little box checked that allowed me to skip a lot of disgusting stories and pictures, it took me a while to get to a site that I could finally deem as giving out actual sound advice.

A fluffy breeder named Fiona had taken her time to construct a webpage that included everything from diet, exercise, health and much more. Categorising every step from infant to adult in every topic. I took my time reading through the infant steps, at least I believed Blue to be an infant still, her eyes remained closed, and according to the breeder they would remain so until the baby reached two to three weeks maturity.

I felt my insides get cold again as she stated in the text that little foals should be nursing from either a mother’s or an artificial teat once every three to four hour. How many hours went by in the night? five, maybe six? I never slept that long to be honest, I chided myself for my mistake and noted down feeding cycles on a document, and began setting alarms on my phone.

Once the little baby reached about three weeks of maturity, soft food could be introduced to wean the foal out of milk and into a more solid diet. Vegetarian kibble stood on the recommended list, softened up with some milk for easier consumption.

Toys I had already more or less covered at the moment it related in the text, however playpens for foals were important when they started to explore their surroundings. A lot of people posting comments on the site agreed that Fluffyponies hurt themselves regularly in homes not catered towards them, bumping into objects due to carelessness or excitement. Note to self: Nail down everything.

I came across the health section, and realized I should probably get Blue Cloud an insurance in case she got sick. Another cost digging deep in my pockets, perhaps I could sell some of dad’s old records stored in the basement? Should cash in enough money I presumed.

Also, another important section, bathtime. Apparently, fluffyponies loathed water for some obscure reason, one of the many other causes they never lived very long in the wild. ‘To remedy this, introduce the baby to water very early in its life, and make sure to keep it to body temperature, and to a minimum of an inch deep. The foals are prone to drowning even small bodies of water, due to exhausting themselves in unknown environment. Always, always assist your little one during bath time, do not leave it alone!’

Yes, ma'am! I shouted in my head after I finished reading. Well, not that I thought of abandoning my little cloud in the sink, but it felt good clarifying it either way.

Lastly I looked over some pet pens that showed promise, until I heard the familiar cry coming from my bedroom. Well, time to get lil stinky accustomed to the scawy wawa, the sooner the better. I headed over to my bed and carefully picked up the terry cloth with my little cloud in it. Gosh, it’s just so tiny and vulnerable, yet its cries for help squeezes my heart like it possessed an iron grip.

Far away from Earth, In a distant empire, frozen over apart from a safehaven guarded by a pink alicorn princess, said pony hummed contently to herself, earning a smirk and a quizzical look from her loving husband.

I moved the small filly over to the bathroom, and let the tap run until it reached body temperature, while cradling Blue against my chest. Small stains in her fur let me now that she let one go in the towel as well. Now less than an inch of water, I carefully placed Blue in my palm, her face aiming upwards as I wet my hand and exposed the filly to the first droplets. She shivered a bit at the first contact and started chirping. I cupped just slightly to make sure she didn’t wriggle out of my hand.

“I’m sorry, baby, but this is your alpha run, and there’s no opting out I’m afraid,” I cooed and started washing her blue fur. “Daddy will make you all clean and smell good, I promise.”

I continued pouring liquid into her fur, rubbing it gently back and forth to get the urine out of her hair. Then it hit me. Did I just refer to myself as her daddy? Guess it wasn’t that far-fetched, I’m the one who will feed her, play with her, make sure she’s safe and sound and never wanting for love. That kind of made me her dad, right? What made a father anyway?

Certainly not my old man, that’s for sure at least, I thought cynically as I finished washing my tender little filly, who was almost devastated at this point by the change of environment.

“Don’t worry, my darling Blue Cloud, daddy is finished now. I’m going to dry you and make you all warm and better. Then we’ll cuddle some before your next bottle.”

As she focused on the sound of my voice and the gentle touch I provided with another terry cloth, she visibly relaxed in my embrace and chirped contently. Soon Blue’s fur stood out in every direction, she definitely looked part cloud now. “Think I’ll cool it with the beauty part though for now. We’ll wait with the grooming until you’re older and sturdier, my little filly.” If Blue Cloud minded, her low-key chirps made it hard to tell.

I settled us down on the black living room sofa, stroking her now dry fur. She seemed to like it when I did that, shifting her head around my finger as to return the signs of affection. “I love you, Blue Cloud,” I said sincerely. She responded with a happy sounding ‘chirp’.

More than an hour must have gone by as we sat in the chair, since her happy tune turned a little more distressed and weakly flailed around. My phone alarm indicated that the next feeding was due. I got up and refilled her milk bottle, Blue’s tummy aches soon quelled by its sweetness.

I patted her back after she finished nursing, earning another small belch after a couple of tries. Yawning softly she promptly went back to sleep, smiling I let her rest on the cloth while it lay on my lap.

I reached for the computer on the table and continued searching for more information regarding my new, little fluffball.

Apparently, I’d purchased the cutter shavings on impulse really. The breeder wrote while wood chips were acceptable, little foals and fillies should rather rest on softer surfaces during their first weeks to avoid chafing their delicate skin. Soft cloth towels could be used and preferably covering the living area of the baby.

“Welp, glad I caught that at least, better replace the shavings with some more cloth then, it’s easy to wash anyway.”

‘Consider turning a small unwanted space into a so-called ‘safe room’ for your new little friend. A safe room is a secure, padded area at least a nine by nine feet square or greater where the fluffy can play without hurting itself. It should be high enough to deter escape from a naughty fluffy and heavy enough to make them unable to move the area.’

“Sounds like a glorified play pen if you ask me,” I said out loud. The idea behind it made sense though, fluffies were more fragile than other pets due to almost bird-like skeletal structure. “Guess I’ll have to visit another pet store that carries more specialized items, not going back to Peter’s place at least,” I grumbled under my breath.

My wallet would be feeling it soon I could tell. “Well, there goes dad’s records I guess, too bad, I really liked Kiss.” My old man kept on playing them for Christine - my mother - when she still lived. One of my earliest and probably fondest memories of them consisted of the two dancing in the livingroom to Detroit Rock City, yeah they were a little weird like that. Dad never played his old records after she passed away, but I dug up them up a while after he moved to the institution, and reminisced about better times.

I shook my head. “Alright enough trips down memory lane, what else is on here that I’m totally not prepared to deal with it,” I said and scrolled through the website. What? I wasn’t trying to be sarcastic, I knew I was in over my head, but the fluffy little cloud in my lap made me hold no regrets.

I read over the diet section again. 'The mare’s milk contains a substantial amount of antibodies and nutrition important for the foal’s growth, babies raised on regular milk have a higher chance to suffer from illnesses and diseases. Specialised foal formula sold in various designated pet stores are especially made to supply foals their needed nourishment as substitute.' I’m relieved to see a list of stores that carry the formula in Little Rock.

Blue Cloud’s peeps out little snoring chirps as her chest calmly rose up and down peacefully. “Well, guess I have an hour and two to kill while you’re resting, baby, might as well go and get what we need for the coming days.” I deposited my little bundle of joy in her makeshift cardboard home, making sure she’s warm and snuggly. I locked the door, the balcony, checked the windows, pulled on my jacket and headed out.

Chapter 3: Getting Started

I’ve always wondered if dad changed his last name at a point in his life to copy Kiss’s co-founder, Gene Simmons. Probably, but my grandparents died before my mother gave birth to me, so I never found out, got another slap from my old man though for asking.

Before going off buying my fluffy an absurd amount of wallet-thinners, I scurried down to the basement area of the apartment. I unlocked my storage, rummaged through some boxes and dug out two Kiss LP:s.

An acquaintance that owned one of the only remaining record stores still in Little Rock, begged me in the past to let him buy these off me when we were just talking about old vinyls in general. I never thought much of it back then other than I didn’t want to get rid of some kickass records.

“It’s strange how something so small and helpless can change a person in a heartbeat,” I said to myself as I put the lock back on the storage. My biggest concern now was to make sure she got everything she need. “And that’ll take some sacrifices,” I mumbled to myself.

Leaving the area, I walked the across the blocks for about twenty minutes until I came across the record store.

I believed that Percy, the guy ‘owning’ and working in the record store lied about being just a normal dude with interest in classic rock. I bet his parents were loaded actually, how else could you afford running a music store without going into the reds every month? Just a hunch though since he never made it transparent, and frankly I didn’t care if he was secretly rich.

The door played cringe-worthy guitar solo when I entered. I groaned inaudibly. Even I thought it was a bit nerdy, as I greeted Percy where he stood behind the red mahogany counter. Everywhere in the store, a music collector’s dream neatly adorned the shelves and tables. If you were looking for classical rock, you had come to the right place, but you don’t really care for in real life music, do ya?

Percy smiled, flashing a set of bleached teeth. Yeah, ‘normal’ dude my ass. “Good day, Percival,” I said, as I knew the usual reaction.

Indeed, Percy’s smiled turned upside down and he frowned slightly. “Dude, seriously. Every freaking time, did I upset you in an earlier life time for you to be teasing me like this?” He crossed his arms.

“You’re not intimidating in the slightest, Percy.” He sighed and returned to his previous posture.

“Whatever man, now what can I do for my oh-so-called friend that has come to grace my presence in my humble store?”

“I,” I said solemnly, “have come to offer you a deal, Perc, I believe you know what.” I brandished the two Kiss vinyls I ‘stealthily’ carried under my arms, “these are, hmm—?”

Percy’s whites went as wide as a five-year old’s during Christmas morning. “Those are,” he started to say, then he rubbed his eyes in disbelief and looked again, “are those the South African Kiss LP’s you told me about?” Funny, I think I saw him drooling a bit.

“No, they’re freaking One Direction albums you dolt, of course it’s the fucking Kiss vinyls.” I think we both shivered visibly a little me mentioning that horrifying boyband.

Percy recovered first. “So, erm, I take it that you’re not just here to taunt me with them, right?” He looked a little nervous to be honest, I could spot the childlike light in his eyes as they were transfixed on the records. “It would be a very cruel thing to do, you know?”

“I am not here to disappoint you, Percy, in fact these little babies need a good, new home, think you could provide them with that?” I moved them from side to side, Percy’s head following their movement, hungrily. Finally he snapped out of it as I cleared my throat.

“Huh? Y-yeah man, I’ll gladly take them off your back,” he started reaching for the vinyls, but I pulled back in time, making him whine a bit in dejection.

“They are yours, Percy, for a price.” I stated.

He assumed a business-like attitude “O-of course, dear friend, how silly of me to think you would relinquish these old vinyls for free. Well then, how much are we talking?”

I smirked as I had compared prices on different sites earlier in the month. “One hundred and fifty each, my friend.” Noted I could probably have gotten more selling them on ebay, but there’s always the risk of people backing out, and I needed the money. Percival contemplated for a moment, he knew as well, but chose not to voice it.

“Wait here,” he said after a little while. Granted, I waited, albeit impatiently for him to return. Soon he got back with some papers and a small bundle of money. “Got to sign some paper works whenever the store makes a big purchase. I rolled my eyes at his stretching of the word ‘big’.

I skimmed it over, making sure it was in order before I signed. He gave me my copy, the three hundred dollars and I handed over the vinyls.

“Well, the boring part’s over,” he said and placed the papers beneath the counter, “now, sate my curiosity, if you will. What made you change your mind?”

“Nothing special, man, I just needed some extra cash, that’s all.” Percy looked at me quizzically for a moment, then his lips curled up in a smile again.

“Nothing special, huh?”

Oh, for fuck’s sake. I deadpanned at him for the obvious remark he tried to make. “No, I haven’t got a girlfriend all of a sudden, idiot.” I sighed. “Anyway, afraid I can’t stay and chat, but I have to bounce.”

“Gonna splurge on your not-girlfriend?” he said and laughed.

“Goodbye, Percival,” I said to my ‘dear’ acquaintance.

“Hah, see you later, man.”

I cursed a bit as I opened the door, the familiar sound playing, I stopped, turned and looked at him. “And freaking disable that thing, you nerd.”

My footsteps were accompanied by Percy’s annoying laughter. Fucking Percy.

I quickly tucked the money in my jacket, I didn’t expect to get mugged in broad daylight, but you never know whom might feel a little extra frisky every now and then. On the way I asked for direction to the Fluffy specialty store, ending up having to take a detour due to asking the wrong person, however soon I stood before the establishment, ‘Fluffy Friends’. Its sign looking like a lawnmower went loose on some unexpected people in a crowded area, colours everywhere.

I hesitantly walked in, and got greeted by probably one of the most siliconed-stuffed blonde teenaged girl Little Rock ever had the tormented pleasure to make acquaintance. I swear, they had a life of their own.

“Hello, and welcome to Fluffy Friends! My name’s Jessie, call me ‘Jay’ for short, you know, because it’s easy and I like to say YAY, a lot! Like now, yay! Like, all my friends calls me ‘Jay’ instead of Jesse, so that they can say, ‘Hey, Jay’! Oh that rhymed!”

o.O.o

One specific mare’s tail twitched back and forth and she looked up from the counter in the store she was working. She got a suspecting look on her face as her eyes darted from side to side, trying to figure out what caused the anomaly.

“Dooooozy,” she said quietly, earning a nervous look from the grey earth pony in front of her.

o.O.o

I tried tuning her faster-than-ludicrous-speed voice out while almost avoiding the allure of her jiggling gazongas. Gah, urge to kill rises, but also, breasts… Sadly, I failed.

“Anyway, that’s enough about me, what can I do for you, sir?” Apparently her jargong had ended and she breathed heavily. Damn, how long was I out?

“E-erm, well, uh, ‘Jay’, I’m here because I need some things for my new fluffy I adopted.”

“Oh, of course, sir. I mean, why else would you be here, am I right, hahahaha!” She got closer and patted my back, harder than I expected. Jesus, girl, what are your parents feeding you?

“Now, what exactly are you looking for?” She said cheerily.

“Oh, actually a little bit of everything, this is my first one.”

Her lips extended into another big grin. “That’s great! The first one is always special. Well then, let me guide you through the necessities that’ll you need. What gender, and how old is it?”

“Oh Blue Cloud’s a girl, and uh,” I thought for a moment, I didn’t know exactly, however I remembered that I still carried the receipt from the store in my jacket. I pulled it out and examined it. “according to this she’s about a week old.”

“A week? Is the filly’s mother still nursing her?” she asked.

I looked back at her. “Uh, no? I bought her from a pet store yesterday evening, it was only her in a small cardboard box.”

Jesse, or ‘Jay’ went through a different set of facial expressions ranging from confused, and what looked like anger, finally she settled on acceptance with a sigh. “Wow, yeah that’s against protocol, no fluffies under three weeks are allowed to be sold without their mother, I’m surprised that the owner got the sell the foals at all, hmm, must have been what you call a ‘private’ transaction.”

I was a bit amazed, the bubbly girl was gone and had been replaced by a calm professional. I felt that familiar coldness inside though, in my head I knew that Blue Cloud got separated from her mother too early, and that I should have filed a complaint against Peter, but yesterday felt so far away now. Also, would I not be able to keep Blue, perhaps?

“Um, I’m sorry, miss Jessie. I just wanted to bring Blue out of there quickly, it was late and I’m not sure what the owner might have done to her if I hadn’t bought her.” Especially since Peter called her a useless ‘shitstain’, she might have ended up as snake food, or worse.

Jessie took some calm breaths before looking at me. “Alright, I get you, I won’t mention your part in this, however, when we’re done, I want you to stay and give me the address and of the shop, okay?”

“Yes,” I said, “will do.” She proceeded to ask me some more questions, regarding diet and vaccinations. After examining the papers, we found out that Blue never got her shots, well no surprise, due to her age. Jessie gave me the location of a good veterinarian, and told me to go there in a week’s time.

About thirty minutes later, I left the boutique with a wide arrangement of foal formula - the nutritious kind - foal kibble, two litter boxes, a foldable, padded play-pen, Fluffy-shampoo, toys, a ‘sorry box’, and countless other stuff. I must have blown over a hundred dollars, easily. Closer to hundred and eighty five apparently after I looked at the receipt, Jessie issued me a membership card though - since I splurged ridiculously - earning me a small discount.

Jessie returned to her bubbly self as she waved goodbye, and said that she would love it if Blue visited someday. I promised that I’d return in the future.

The way back melted into nothing more than my eagerness to get home my apartment and my new roommate, that I nearly stepped on the thing clutching to my leg near an alley. I stopped abruptly and looked down.

“Pwease nice mistah, gif nummies to mummah? Nee make miwkies fow babbehs” A yellow fluffy pegasus said as she looked at me with her huge, green eyes.

Huh, a stray? That’s odd, generally they’d stick to the parks, I thought. I heard the chirping coming from the clutches of her furry coat, true enough, an assortment of little foals nestled close to her and peeped hungrily.

I sighed. Even if I gave them food, there was no guarantee they’d survive long enough to make it elsewhere, but, I wasn’t so cruel that I could deny them something to eat either.

“Okay, little one, I will give you some nummies.”

“Weawwy?” she said happily. I nodded to her and took out some soft, foal kibble from one of the bags. We went into the alleyway, it stunk a bit, but the garbageman already emptied it out. I poked a hole in the bag poured some out for the mare in a discarded pizza box. She ate the kibble, while praising me for being so nice. It was quite heartwrenching.

After eating all of it, she looked up to me. “Um, maywbe, nice mistah be fwuffies new daddeh?” I suspected as much.

I shook my head. “I’m sorry little missy, but I have a fluffy already, and I can’t afford to feed any more.”

She looked quite dejected as she sighed. “Dat otay, fank you fow good nummies.”

“You’re very welcome, take care of yourself and your babies, okay?”

“Fwuffy am bestest mummah, awways take goo cawe ow babbehs.”

“I know you will, sweetheart. Goodbye.” I waved at the mare as her small stature vanished as I left the alley.

Now, no more stops, back to Blue, I thought as I picked up the pace. Five minutes later I turned the key to my apartment door and went inside.

Already I heard Blue Cloud chirping loudly, I dropped everything on the floor and hurried over. In some mysterious way, she turned laying on her back and now her small hooves flailed uselessly in the air. A tiny pool of urine and feces adorning her rump as she squeaked for aid.

I gently picked her up in my palm and cooed at her, trying to settle her cries for help. I think she recognized my voice because it didn’t take long until she calmed down and started sucking on my finger.

“I’m lucky I’m young, Blue, or else I might have thought you were trying to kill me by giving me a heart attack.” She gurgled and continued nursing on my finger in response. “Guess it’s time for another bottle then. I got a surprise for you though, sweetheart.”

I cuddled with her a bit until I set her down again against Mr. Bunny, she cried weakly, but daddy had to make some nummies so I left her in her little box.

Some simple instructions later, Blue Cloud nursed on a healthy bottle of foal formula, sweetened with vanilla. Sure must have tasted good, because she emptied it rather fast for being so small.

“Okay, Blue. Now that you’re a full baby, time to make you a less smelly one as well.” I tapped up a bath in the sink, carefully poured water and rubbed it into her fur, used a drop of no-tear shampoo, washed again, and dried her. Voila, little stinky became all clean and well. Not that she felt any better about it, poor girl. Seems that fluffies really do hate water.

The bath tuckered the little one out, as her newly dried body doozed off in my embrace, foals sure slept a lot when they were this small. Well, it gave me the time to set up Blue’s pen and organize the foal food. One of the items I got simulated a mother fluffy’s warmth, it was merely a glorified electric blanket, but Jessie praised its effectiveness, so I bought it.

I plugged it in and put Blue Cloud, the terry cloth and her new friend Mr. Bunny on top of it, and after a little while I could hear soft cooing followed by Blue snuggling deeper into the cloth.

“Wuw.”

I had to do a doubletake as I rose up, I thought I heard Blue saying something, but after staring at her for a minute all I got was chirps. I scratched my chin in confusion, however soon my stomach reminded me that I forgot to feed it today. This was punctuated by a rude gargle, god, my belly could be such a dick sometimes, well, not literally.

I couldn’t be arsed to gather the effort to cook, so I just put some cheese and butter in between two slices of bread, while I normally would fry some bacon and eggs. So maybe I wasn’t the most healthy guy, but I never saw the point in cooking elaborate meals and eating them alone either. Also, I liked bacon.

The rest of the day I occupied myself with putting together the play pen, assorting all the necessary items, and of course feeding and cuddling with Blue.

When evening came, I took a look at myself in the bathroom mirror, my black hair was getting quite ragged, so I opted for a quick shower and a shave. Blue Cloud had been recently fed and slept serenely in her new nest.

After drying myself, I plopped down on the sofa and opened my laptop, I browsed some channels on Youtube, for entertainment but mostly for more information on how other owners managed their fluffies. Sadly, most of them involved playing mean, but not necessary cruel jokes on their pets.

Before closing my computer, I decided that I should probably write down some notes regarding Blue Cloud, heck, why not start a diary, oh, and a photo album! Yeah sounded like a great idea, then I could show her when she’s older. “Well, let’s start with a diary entry first, I guess,” I said out loud. “Alright, day two: Today I’ve discovered…”

Chapter 4: Nightmares

My mind returned to the porch where Blue and sat. She stirred slightly, and not wanting to disturb her, I just gently rubbed her behind the ear. She always loved that.

Before me, fields and trees of green clouded my sight as we rocked back and forth in the chair.

“It certainly has been a while, hasn’t it, Blue?” I spoke calmly. Not expecting a response from her, I kept rubbing her ears. “Felt like yesterday that you started exploring the apartment, but it’s already been so long. Time sure flies.”

My eyes glazed over and I drifted off to the rhythm and sound of us both breathing softly in unison.

o.O.o

The next morning I felt like a miserable wreck. Blue Cloud needed feeding every three hours, so naturally I got up and prepared her bottle. This was all fine except my little filly seemed to have some bad dreams. She flailed around and managed to roll off from the electric blanket. Her distressed chirpings kept me up several times until I comforted her enough to fall back to sleep.

I moved my bed the evening earlier closer to the wall, so that I could place her new pen in my bedroom for now. The old, piece of garbage cardboard I threw out. Probably not very clean anyway. I took some pictures for memories first though. My old digital camera got the job done, as I never got around buying a smartphone—too expensive.

Now Blue rested peacefully in her little nest. The blanket I adjusted to keep her from getting too hot during the night. The pen sure looked awesome though. It came with a water bottle — similar to what a rabbit would drink from — a feed box in a nice colour, a nightlight, some toys and a bed. For now she still rested on the electric blanket and towel — for easier clean up — but when she got older, I would introduce the litter box. Also the pen could easily be reconstructed and made bigger, which I planned to do as well.

I looked at my watch. Guh, five in the morning, far, far too early when you’re off from work, but I imagined parents having similar problems with newborns, albeit for much longer.

Blue would need another bottle soon, so I figured I would take care of my own morning necessities first while she slept. I showered for about ten minutes, ate some cereals and had an egg sandwich. The coffee I brewed smelled delicious. I prefered mine dark roasted with just a smidge of milk in it. A good thing I stocked up on that.

A couple of minutes before the alarm hit, Blue Cloud made herself heard over the room. Once again she woke up, tried to get steady and landed on her back. A sign that she would probably start moving around more briskly though. Fluffy ponies grew up rather fast after all.

Settling her on the right side, I cooed at her while gently holding her. She grasped my hand and hugged it tightly, good, she was becoming accustomed to my voice and touch and probably my smell as well. According to the breeder’s website, Blue Cloud would almost certainly open her eyes and say her first words very soon; I can’t express how excited that made me.

I stroked her blue fur and set her down on the blanket with Mr. Bunny, whom she immediately embraced. Then I noticed that the plushie as well as Blue Cloud needed another bath, not her fault of course. Normally foals wouldn’t take to the litter box until they were at least three weeks old.

After feeding and burping Blue, I went through the usual ritual of cleaning her up, adding in some no-tear baby shampoo to make her smell extra nice. She complained, but chirped happily afterwards in her snuggly cloth when she dried off. I think Blue Cloud appreciated smelling pleasant over poopy as well.

While her new bunny friend was out of bounds for her, I took one of the soft blocks and placed it near her. She gurgled softly, putting the red toy in her mouth and sucked on it. That earned a shot with the camera for sure. “Does that taste good, Blue? I can’t imagine, but hey, who am I to judge?”

“Nomnom - chirp - nomnom,” she said, pure contentment resting on her face.

“If you say so,” I said and shrugged. I scratched her behind her ears and chuckled. After a little while, Blue Cloud tired of noming on the block and spit it out, instead she then unsteadily went up on all four.

Oh damn, I thought and pulled out the camera, putting on video mode. Blue Cloud’s going to take her first real steps!

It started off slowly. She supported her a bit on the block, but soon the little foal waddled around on her little hooves. I think counted ten steps before she slumped down on her stomach, letting out some tiny chirps in what maybe was annoyance. I stopped the video and scooped her up to nuzzle her. “Well done, Blue Cloud; you can almost walk now. I’m so proud of you,” I cooed.

She might’ve been a bit of a late bloomer when it came to walking. Fluffy foals I’ve seen throughout the years usually took to walking pretty quickly; I guess it all had to do with stimulation and practice. The mother - like many others - played a vital part in their upbringing when it came to talking and walking, a fluffy mother never really shut up about her babies though, it was always ‘babies this, babies that’ and ‘pwease mistah, be nyu daddeh fow babbehs and mummah?’

Myself, I had no problem with it. I just declined and took off, but I’ve heard stories about people getting so fed up with the creatures, that they literally cut their tongues out whether they be pets, strays or ferals.

It hit me that Blue would most certainly want a litter of her own one day. I sighed heavily. Hopefully when the time came, I could talk her out of it. Many owners spayed or neutered their fluffies, but sometimes it could backfire and sending them into depression when they reached a mature age. Well that was a long time from now anyway, no use getting grey hairs before I’m fifty.

Blue Cloud then got my attention as she grabbed on to my nose and started smooching it. “Mmeemhdawdee” she let out. Surprised I held her out and looked at her. Time seemed to slow down as her little eyelids moved, revealing a set of deep-blue sapphires.

Her eyes soon adjusted to the dim light, getting a full view of me in her face.

“H-hey there, Blue Cloud. I’m your daddy,” I said nervously. Honestly I had no idea how Blue would react to me. Fluffies usually take well to humans as is in their genetic code, but there was always a chance they’d act scared during first contact.

Blue set my worries aside. “Daddeh?” she gurgled and looked at me expectantly.

“That’s right honey, I’m your daddy and I love you.”

“Daddeh!” she exclaimed and put her small, furry hooves up in a hug-like motion. “Wuv!”

I embraced her gently and returned the gesture, kissing her little nose. “Yes, Blue Cloud. Daddy loves you very much.”

We cuddled and played for hours with her ball and blocks, mostly it ended up in her putting them in her mouth and sucking, but at least I got some hearty laughs and some good pictures out of it. I kept talking to her, about what she was playing with and rewarded her with belly scratching whenever she managed to roll the ball back to me.

“Baww!” she said out loud.

“That’s right, Blue, that’s your ball that daddy got for you.” Some words came easier than others it seemed.

“Wub baww,” she said and chirped happily.

“I’m glad, sweetheart and I can’t wait until we can play around in the apartment together,” I said and pet her belly.

“Hrmmngh,” she responded and scrunched up her face, a trickle of urine and liquid feces spurted from her backside, then she relaxed. “Aaaah.”

“Err, well. We better work on the litter box idea first I think, but that’ll be a week or two from now,” I said and pinched my nose, just barely dodging getting any of her excrement on my hand. Blue just earned herself another bath, but an idea struck me, what if we make it a game?

While my little girl was distracted by her toys, I went up and emptied out a plastic container I kept my shampoo in, I scrubbed it out and tapped up some temperate water, just enough to reach her hooves.

Blue Cloud looked around as I got back, probably wondering where I disappeared to, but she brightened up when I came into the room. “Daddeh!”

“Hey little girl, guess what we’re going to do? We’re going to play in the bath.”

She tilted her head, not understanding the idea of what a ‘bath’ was. She would momentarily however. The play part got her though.

“Pway!” she said and motioned for me to pick her up. I obliged, and together lil’ Stinky and I journeyed to the bathroom. She babbled for awhile until I set her down in the tub, it was big enough for her to move around, but not to escape out of.

The first two or three seconds her brain didn’t register the wetness, but her eyes went big and she started crying. “Nuuuuuu!” Luckily I came prepared, I set down a small rubber deck in her view and squeezed it.

“Look honey, a new friend, Mr. Duck. Quack, quack, I love you, Blue,” I said, impersonating a duck. My duck impressions are the best, don’t you dare.

She stared at the toy for a couple of second, not knowing what to do until I squeezed it again.

Blue Cloud giggled. “Fwend!” she said and dove for the toy and hugged it tightly, rolling onto her back. Perfect. I quickly administered some no-tear shampoo and rubbed it in while she was too busy playing, her poopy bottom clean again in a matter of seconds.

I let her play with Mr. Duck for a little while longer until I lift her up to dry off. She shivered a little, but otherwise the ordeal had gone nicely, hopefully her future baths would go just as smoothly.

I put her back in the pen for some more playtime, but it didn’t take long until she held her tummy and let out a little whimper. “Huu - chirp - huu.”

Already time for another feeding, I stroked her back and told her I would be back with some delicious milk, I noticed her white mane protruding even more than yesterday. I wondered how it would look when it was fully grown out.

A few minutes later I returned to my inconsolable filly, a streak of tears dropping down on her little face as she complained about her little tummy.

I cradled her as I usually do and fed her the bottle, she inhaled it almost rather than drinking, ending it all with some contents smacks of her lips.

“Better now?” I asked after burping her.

“Wuv Daddeh!” she said in response, her vocabulary still limited but I didn’t expect it to take off that quickly either.

“I love you to, Blue Cloud.” She yawned, and I set her down on the little blanket, soon she was fast asleep. “Sleep tight, little angel.”

I looked at the time, ugh, not even noon, but my freaking belly nagged at me like an old wife for neglecting it. I checked the pantry, empty, of course. I sighed. In hindsight I should have gone grocery shopping yesterday. Blue laid still asleep, so I grabbed whatever’s left in the wallet and went for my jacket.

A man in a black tuxedo, silver-blonde crewcut hair and sunglasses stood outside my apartment door, his hand raised as to knock. I froze as he regained his posture and straightened his suit.

“Well, good morning, Robert, where are you going?” he said and took off his spectacles, revealing a pair of grey, calculating eyes. “Don’t tell you forgot I was paying you a visit today?”

Neal. Neal Erickson. He worked together with my old man several years back, and was one of the reasons I could never afford to any luxuries. Whatever paper my father had signed in the past, it gave Neal’s and his ‘colleagues’ the right to cash in on my savings, until the debt was washed away.

Neal had a gift of some sort, he got under your skin, manipulated you in weird ways and sadly he had enough power to back it up with. A word from this man, and he could make sure I never taught children again, he had the contacts necessary. He kept me under his metaphorical thumb so to speak.

“O-of course not, sir,” I said as I quivered before him. Calling someone else sir would make me sick, but Neal’s demeanor silently demanded it. “I thought our appointment was due later this afternoon.” Not a lie, it should have been, but Neal makes his own rules.

“Aah, yes, however I’m far too busy this afternoon, so I moved it up,” he said and leaned in, “you don’t mind, do you?” The threat hung empty in the air, but I hurriedly stepped aside.

“Not at all, please take a seat in the living room, sir,” I said. My left hand trembled as it started reaching for my nose, and I prayed he looked elsewhere, not wanting to show my palpable fear of him. Slightly crooked still, it reminded me of the first and last time I refused him, his underlings made sure of that.

“Very good,” he said and stepped inside. He took a seat in my single armchair and I unceremoniously sat down in the black sofa. “Now, the other reason I’m here earlier is quite simple, one of the boys saw you going out from a record store the other day.”

Figures, so close to the end of the month he had his goons monitoring those who owed them. I felt a chill creeping up on me, as he looked at me suspiciously.

“Now, I usually don’t care what you do in your spare time, but a record store in this era? Sounds off to me. Tell me, boy, are you perhaps having trouble making ends meet, hmm? Are we going to have a problem by the end of the month?” He leaned in and whispered. “Are you spending my fucking money on some piece of shit vinyls?”

Even though it was far from the truth, the ‘fund’ that went to Neal I always kept separate and hidden to give them to his debt collectors. I still shivered as I answered.

“N-no, sir, I-I..err the contrary, you will have your money by the end of the month as always, I was just visiting a friend that works there.” I was sweating profusely at this point, hoping he didn’t catch my bluff and instead thought his presence intimidated me, which it did no doubt.

“Hmm, is that so?” He leaned back in the chair as he eyed me with disgust, but with a flip of the switch it turned into a wrinkled grin. “Good, good!” he exclaimed and patted me on the back, making me wince slightly at the force behind them. “I was worried there for a little while, Robert haha! Well then,” he said and got up, “then I believe everything is in order, yes?”

“Oh, heh, yes everything is just dandy, sir,” I said, laughing nervously in the process.

“Alright then, let’s just cut this brief, I’m a busy person after all,” he said, still keeping the same grin on his face. “I do have some other home visits today I need attend to.”

Words couldn’t describe how relieved I felt as he stood up and walked towards the door, a meeting lasting no more than a mere minute, but one of the worst of my life.

God decided at that point to piss me in the eye, as Neal went through the entrance, I stopped abruptly as a distressed chirp sounded off from behind my bedroom door. Rectifying the moment, I coughed out loud, hoping to disguise the sounds.

Neal turned around his eyebrows furrowed in a quizzical look, then he grinned at me again. “You have a good day now, Robert, I’ll see you some other time,” he spoke, almost honeyed in fact.Then he descended down the stairs, walking out of the entrance of the flat.

I stood completely frozen until I heard him leave, then I slumped to the floor, half-relieved, half scared to death. The heart wrenching crying coming from my bedroom, drowned out by my own pathetic whimpering.

o.O.o

She walked gently through the fields of the dreamscape, her regal mane reflecting in the sparkling rivers of the gossamer realm.

The ethereal plane was conundrum to many scholars and intellectuals in general, portrayed as a ghostly realm that existed parallel to the material plane, overlapping it in a way. Those successful enough to actually travel there, told of a place much like the living world, but unable to interact with their surroundings, and slowly, they felt their consciousness slip away, as if trying to become one with the world.

Therefore actual interactions with the plane got banned and its studies fell out of practice. To her it was more of a second home, and had been for millennia. A place she traversed to carry out her sacred duty, protecting those who suffered from nightmares induced by traumatic events and soothing their souls from heartache. Sometimes she directly intervened to guide them, but often they needed only someone to relieve them off their bad dreams. This was her task.

Alerting her senses, a distressed crying snapped her head up. Someone was having an awful dream for her to react this strongly. She focused on the sound, homing in on its origin, a flash of silvery light and she stood outside.

Blackness surrounded the area of the recipient’s dream, swirling thick and wild, threatening to lash out at her. She recognized the darkness; it had once consumed her very core. Grief, loneliness, helplessness. Whomever stuck in the nightmare suffered as she once had.

She braced herself as she approached the black vortex, her horn now touching it slightly. Argh! The pain was excruciating, and she almost faltered, yet steadied herself and began reciting a spell, no, a lullaby.

The darkness jeopardized her well being, she knew and its swirling form turned into tendrils to grab at her, to swallow her as it did a long time ago, but she had grown stronger with the help of new friends, she would be damned to let another become a victim.

Trying her utmost to quell the nightmare, she urged it to move along, away from this realm, lest it faced eradication.

“You are not wanted here, shadows of doubt and loathing,” she said in between chanting, however, it became apparent they intended to stay.

Oh no you don’t! She braced herself, invoking more raw magic into her horn, turning the soft song into words of power.

“LEAVE!” She commanded, her voice echoing strongly throughout the dreamscape.

Glowing like the northern star, her horn penetrated the vicious blackness. Spreading like wildfire, the light consumed the vortex, banishing the shadows back to their own realm.

She gasped heavily from effort, but still looked at the recipients of the dream. Peculiarly enough, it now glowed dimly of cyan blended with almond flowers, and laughter and happiness exuded from its core.

The princess of the night smiled with genuine joy and carefully withdrew to leave the soothed soul to its innocent dream. Daring not to intrude the peaceful slumbering.

Sweet dreams, little one