Fall of Cleveland: An Idol, a Fan and a Stepladder

Frank's Story: A Fan, an Idol, and a Step Ladder

1ST Day of Spaghetti Land, 3:00pm

>Be Frank, a pudgy brown Unicorn Fluffy, rushing through 'Spaghetti Land' or 'Sketti Wand' in your people's tonuge, looking for the Goddess.
>Uni the Unicorn. A giant white Fluffy Pony with a dusky-pink mane and tail. The most Magical and Beautiful Fluffy Pony to have ever lived.....
>She's also Desire personified, if you were to be asked. Her fluff is divinely silky, her face the picture of loveliness, her mane and tail shimmering waterfalls and she has two big, beautiful teats hanging between her hind legs that sway deliciously as she walks, and her Naughty Place .....
>Oh ..... oh! That Divine Plot! Oh, OH, OH, OOOOOOOOH!
>Whoops, your belly is sticky now. But the few times you've seen her Naughty Place on the Magic Picture Boxes, or in person, the half-seen glimpses have driven you into a frenzy of lust that had you humping the air furiously.
>Mumma and Bad Hoomin Mare were still shrieking at each other as you finally gnawed through your leather leash, and you rushed away into the crowd of Hoomins and Fluffies to seek out Uni once more.
>You had almost got close enough to Uni during her Magical Singing and Dancing Show to talk to her, then your leash got snagged on the Meanie Hoomin Mare's bag of Fluffy Toys, and then she dragged you away on your back as Uni sang and danced and shook her fluff for you!
>Makes you sob with frustration. So close! So very close!
>And she's been waiting for you for so long!
>10 weeks ago, Uni said she was waiting for her 'One Twue Speshaw Fwiend!'
>You couldn't stop grinning for those 10 weeks, knowing full well that you, and you alone, were the one she was talking about.
>You gave her fantastic Speshaw Huggies through the Magic Picture Box the day before, after all!
>But your Meanie Friends ... well!
>When everyone was brought together by their Hoomins, they all puffed up proudly and declared that Uni had professed her undying love for them.
>But it was for you! Not them! Uni loves you!
>Biggest Fight your group ever had. Swatting each other with your hooves, blowing raspberries, shouting, the works.
>"My Pokey ting biggest!" Tuber shouted, standing on his hind legs and thrusting his tiny little pokey thing furiously into the air. "Uni wuv me!"
>"Nuuuuuuu, it su tiny, nu even Foaw could feew dat!" Spots roared with laughter, then stood up and did the same. His was a little bit bigger ....
>Then everyone was doing it, even you, standing on your hind legs and thrusting, shouting that yours alone was big enough to satisfy Uni!
>Grappling and wrestling, trying beat the other Bad Fluffies, shouting that your Pokey Thing was the biggest and most magical of them all, with the Hoomins shrieking and laughing behind you, and then .....
>Uni appeared on a Magic Picture Box. YAAAAAAAAAAAAY! You loved Uni, and she said she loved you! Meanie Fluffies would hear that and be so sad, but you would be so happy to have her say it in front of the other Fluffies!
>You were so happy at the thought of being together with Uni forever ... maybe too happy. And it all happened so, so fast!
>It was so embarrassing .... everybody squeaked, shouted 'Uneeeeeeh!' and hugged each other so very tight.
>Stared into the eyes of Ginger as your legs and his legs pulled you both tightly together.
>"Oh pwease nuuu...." Ginger whimpered unhappily.
>"Fwank nu pway dat way!" You protested loudly.
>"Hewwo Fwuffies!" Uni giggled through the magic Picture Box, standing between Eddy and Pip on a stretch of yellowing grass out the front of a Hoomin building ....
>"Eeeeeee .... eeeeeeeeennnn ......" You groaned, tensing every muscle, trying so hard to fight the urge .....
>"Eeeeeeeeeee ..... nnnnnnnnnnn ........ nnnnnnnnnnnngh!" Ginger whined, trembling. Every Stallion was trying so hard to not .....
>"Uni suuuuu happy tu see yuu aww! Uni wuv yuu!" The Goddess says those three magical words, and everyone's self control just disintergrates ..
>"Eeeeenf eeenf eeenf eeenf eeenf eeenf eeenf eeenf eeenf eeenf eeenf eeenf eeenf eeenf eeenf eeenf eeenf eeenf eeenf eeenf eeenf eeenf eeenf eeenf eeenf eeenf eeenf eeenf eeenf eeenf eeenf eeenf eeenf eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeenf eeenf eeenf eeenf eeenf eeenf eeenf eeenf eeenf eeenf eeenf eeenf eeenf eeenf eeenf eeenf eeenf eeenf eeenf eeenf eeenf eeenf eeenf eeenf eeenf eeenf eeenf eeenf eeenf eeenf eeenf eeenf eeenf eeenf eeenf eeeeeenf! Eeeeeeenf! EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEENNNNF!"
>You were so ashamed! Being so naughty in front of Uni! Sticky Huggies Time with other Stallions was so embarrassing!
>And stupid Fluffies didn't let go after Special Huggies, so you all were stuck together.
>Fluffies kept on eeeenfing all through the show, shouting that the other Fluffies should get off them, or stop poking them there, or mumbling around their mouthfuls.
>Sooooooo embarrasing.
>Kept on getting stuck together. Eventually you were all just one big sticky ball flailing around as the Meanie Friends tried to drag themselves away, but only made the Big Sticky Ball of Fluffies roll around the lounge-room floor.
>Hoomins kept on laughing at you all. Mummy laughed so hard she almost stopped breathing. And Uni was watching the whole time!
>So ashamed .....
>But now, finally, you're at Sketti Wand! Uni is nearby, heard Fluffy Ponies and Hoomins shouting where she was dancing for you before, before Meanie Hoomin Mare dragged you away! Maybe Uni stopped dancing when she saw her One True Special Friend dragged away!
>Fluffies screaming and shouting about a 'Bad Mawe' and 'Fwuffy gu boom!'
>There's a Sad Hoomin and a Sad Fluffie craddling several small, squeaking things in an armload of grey fluff, whispering to each other, that rush past you.
>None of that is important! Uni is nearby! You have to find her before Mummy and the Meanie Hoomin Mare start to fight, have to tell Uni that her long, lonely wait is over!
>Frank, the One True Special Friend of Uni, has arrived!

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>You are Natasha Googaluv, 'Tasha' to your friends, sitting in the dressing room for the Fluffy Pilots as your Gal-Pal Sammy 'tidies' up the Eddy Suit after a disasterous show in which a Fluffy Mare, mistakenly believing that her Foals were sired on her by Eddy, began to throw the sticky new-borns at the Suit, then became so enraged at 'Eddy's' refusal to be her Special Friend and take care of her Foals that she Fluffploded right on stage, in front of hundreds of Fluffy Ponies and their Owners.
>"Jesus. Jesus, Joseph and Mary, what a day." The Pilot of the 'Front' of the Eddy suit whispers, holding his cup of cold coffee and staring blankly into space. "Her babies, man, she was throwing her babies at us to make 'Eddy' love her."
>"Yeah, that was .... something." The Pilot of the 'Back' of the Eddy Suit replies glumly. "It was a stupid joke, you know, mucking around with the Fluffies with the Suit's in-built Swag. Who would have thought that the little fluffball would .... you know .... fluffsplode like that? Just because 'Eddy' refused her?"
>"And for the love of God, this is why we said DO NOT TOUCH THE SWAG." The Director groans, rubbing at his temples. "Mayor Ham-Fisting just screamed my head off about the bad PR that's going to generate. Thank God none of the TV Stations picked up your little incident during the original stage show, we'd have the wrath of every Moralistic Prude and Conserative Nutter coming down on our head if the Impalement Incident made it into the News!"
>"Well .... we've got a couple of our technicians going down to build a portable incubator for the poor bastard and his Fluffy." Sammy sighs and runs a brush through 'Eddy's' matted chest-fluff. "That Stallion was sobbing his heart out because his Mate left him, then died and orphaned all his Foals, right before his eyes."
>"Speaking of poor bastards .... we need to get back and take the Ferals back off the Warden soon." You mutter darkly, looking at the wall-mounted clock. "We promised Dirt that his Daughter would have the best day ever, and I'm not going to break a promise to a Father who went through all that for a better life for his Daughter."
>"Yeah yeah .... just don't be late to the next 'Hug and Greet' show." The Director gives you a long-suffering look. "We had enough troubles with the rubes, both two and four footed, when you rocked up with a dozen Fluffy Ponies riding on your back."
>"Tell them they can ride on Uni's back if they're dying or about to be orphaned." You shoot back bitterly, staring at the Uni suit with angry, narrowed eyes as you glare at the front half of the suit, the digital controls blinking and flashing as the programs run through their auto-correction protocols, making the animatronics in the neck and head twitch and run through their routines as they search for malfunctions or coding errors.
>Just a few more hours, then you take Brandy home .... and leave Dirt to his fate. You've millions sitting in the bank, but the contracts state you cannot allow Fluffy Ponies to know the 'Truth' about Uni. You're taking a massive risk taking a Feral like Brandy into your home as things stand, if she learns .... Hammon McPhisten has the legal right to order her immediate termination to prevent the knowledge spreading to other Fluffy Ponies.
>Fucking Hammon McPhisten. An amputation would only cost $50 and would give Dirt a fighting chance to survive without his pus-filled broken leg filling his body with poison.
>But it's $50 he won't spend on a non-paying customer, and you will have enough hassles smuggling a Fluffy Pony out of the Theme Park without a badly injured Feral thrown into the mix.
>Brandy will be kept in your new apartment, as far away from the Uni suit as you can humanly manage, so the 'secret' that Uni is actually two Hoomins pretending to be a Fluffy never gets out.
>Suit up and sigh as you wait for Sammy to get into the back half of the suit, and the technicians to attach the two halves together.
>You're beginning to wish you'd never come to Cleveland.

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4pm, First Day of Spaghetti Land

>You are Frank, a Run-Away Brown Unicorn Fluffy Stallion. So tired. So hungry. So worried you'll never see Uni, and you'll miss your chance to make her so happy!
>You've been running all day, looking for Uni with Mummy tugging on your leash, or tied up under a Table so Mummy could make Goo-Goo eyes at that young long-haired Hoomin, and Mummy never gave you any nummies.
>You didn't want Spaghetti, you wanted Uni.
>You thought you could have had all the Spaghetti you wanted with Uni after she realised you were her One True Special Friend, and then .....
>Eating together with Uni.
>Licking each other clean and hugging.
>Special Hugging.
>More Cleaning and touching each other.
>More Special Hugging.
>Then Sleepies.
>Then Just-Woke-Up Special Hugging.
>And maybe some more Spaghetti after that.
>Sigh gustily and crouch under the bush, gnawing heel of bread you found just a few minutes before, grimacing at the taste of dirt and thinking about how hard it was to find such a Big, Lovely, Sexy, Bright Fluffy Unicorn Mare-Goddess like Uni.
>Could have sworn she came this way. Uni has a very distinct scent, and you'd know it anywhere. Smells like Flowers and Soap and ..... other things.
>But there's no way into this Hoomin Safe Place. So you crouch here under the bushes and wait, hoping that you'll find Uni before Mummy finds you.
>She's going to be sooooooo mad at you for running away, but she doesn't understand! Uni needs you, she's been waiting so long!
>So long, with no Special Friend .... she must be so desperate, so agitated by her Feels-Hot-Needs-Hugs feelings.
>You must find her, before she can't help herself and takes whatever Stallion reaches her first!
>And then .... the Hoomin Safe Place opens!
>UNI! She's coming out! You're stunned by her radiant beauty so much you almost drop your food!
>No! You must give it to her! You wish you'd found some Spaghetti, but maybe this will be enough to show her how much you love her, and then, you can find some Spaghetti and really show Uni how much you love her!
>Rush out to greet her, holding your heel of bread out as an offering, and then flinch as you hear Mummy shouting your name.
>NUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU! So close! Why does this keep happening to you?
>Rush back to your bush and hide behind it once again, tears streaming down your face and wetting the bread in your mouth. You doubt Eddy will let you speak to Uni long enough to make her understand, and the time you spend convincing him .... Mummy will find you and spank you!
>Right in front of Uni! You'd be mortified, Eddy would laugh, big meanie that he is, and Uni would think you were a Silly Colt, not a Manly Stallion!
>Uni must not have seen you, trots right past with Eddy right behind her. Sob and cry, so frustrated that you can't be with Uni right now.
>Mummy is coming closer, you can hear her calling your name louder now. She sounds so very, very angry! She never calls you a 'Naughty Fluffy' unless you're in the Deepest of Poopies!
>You have to hide, but you're sure this bush won't be enough to confuse your Mummy..... wait!
>Uni's Safe Place! You can hide there!
>Rush towards the rapidly closing door and jump through at the last moment, losing a few tail-hairs to the door .... and end up in the strangest place.
>Doesn't look like your Safe room at all. Lots of shiny things, tool-things, moving picture things.
>Patches of Fluff lying everywhere, the Hoomins' Black-Not-Wa-Wa's in cups on the floor and tables .....
>This isn't Uni's Safe Place! It's a Hoomin Place!
>NUUUUU! You've been tricked again!

**************************************************************

7pm, First Day of Spaghetti Land
>Be Dirt, waving with your one good front leg to your daughter, Brandy the Second, as the Two Nice Hoomin Mummies cuddle her.
>Uni came to the Sick and Worst-Owies Fluffies, said that tonight they would eat and be safe inside the Magical Sketti Wand, while the Other Fluffies would be going to a Safe Place where they could find Hoomin Mummies and Daddies of their own.
>Some Fluffies cried at having to leave Spaghetti Land, but Uni said they must. Spaghetti Land will still be here, but the Fluffies must go and be safe someplace else.
>Many, many Fluffies are coming, and Spaghetti Land must have plenty of room for the tired and the hungry Fluffies to rest, eat and play.
>There's .... a lot of Sick and Worst-Owies Fluffies.
>Uni let them all have Huggies and Snuggles, as did Eddy and Pip and the Balls. You got huggies with Uni, who said again how brave you were, and how much she was going to miss you.
>Hugged her back as best you could, smiled and cried a lot. Told Brandy it was because you were so happy.
>But you know ... you know this is your last Day.
>Uni gave you Last Huggies.
>Said that all Sick and Worst-Owies Fluffies will have lots of Sketti, then get to play in Pretty Smell-Guud Mist.
>You know ..... you know it's something to help Fluffies have Longest Sleeps, without Owies or Huwties or Scaries.
>But for now .... wave to Brandy the Second and shout how much you love her as she and the two Nice Hoomin Mummies walk away.
>They said Uni told them how brave you were. They said they would never forget you, or let Brandy the Second forget about you.
>They are Nice Hoomin Mummies. Uni chose well.
>Big heaped plates of Sketti are brought out by the Nice Hoomins in Long White Coats, and the other Fluffies cheer and give hugs and sing happily as they eat.
>You shuffle over to a pair of the Nice Hoomins in Long White Coats and tug on the hem of a coat.
>"What in the .... hey? Your spaghetti's right there, best eat up before it's all gone!" The Hoomins says in surprise, pointing to the pile of fresh, steaming hot spaghetti.
>"Fwuffie knu. Fwuffie wan ask ... wiww huwt?" You ask softly as the Fluffies behind you start throwing Spaghetti to each other, giggling and playing, happy to be safe and warm and surrounded by toys and good food and friends once again. "Wongest Sweepies? Uni pwomise, nu huwties fo' Fwuffies who tu sickies tu gu tu Hoomin's."
>Long White Coat Hoomins look surprised, but crouch down and nod and whisper back. "Yes, no pain. You'll feel nothing bad at all, we promise. Just look up into the sky and watch the Pretty Lights after the Spaghetti."
>".... Tank yu. Diwt jus' wan knu dat Fwuffies nu haf be scawedy nu moar." You whisper back, then shuffle forwards and rub your head against the Long White Coat Hoomin's hand. "Diwt an' Fwiends come wong way tu find Sketti Wand. Wan tank yu fo' Bestest Day Evah wit' Uni, yu is Nice Hoomins tu Fewals."
>Shuffle back and eat some spaghetti with your Friends, feeling the twinge of the return of the pain in your Bad Leg again. Hear the Hoomins talking softly behind you, but you can't make out the words over the babbling of your friends.
>Spaghetti is delicious and filling, and Fluffies play and dance amongst the plates, crying with joy that they get to stay in Spaghetti Land and will get to watch 'Pretty Lights'.
>Then the Pretty Lights appear, bursts of brilliant lights in the sky followed by loud bo-booms.
>Fluffies stare into the night sky, eyes wide with wonder as the night sky above the Sketti Mountain explodes into pretty colours, whispering in awe at how much fun Spaghetti Land is.
>Nice Long White Coat Hoomins wheel over a big toy with a large, long, flared piece sticking out and start to tell Fluffies as the Pretty Lights in the sky appear and disappear that Uni prepared for them a Special Magic.
>Bite your lip and try not to cry. This must be .... this must be it.
>Hug a friend next to you, who giggles and cheers, thinking you're so happy you can't help but hug.
>He doesn't notice the tears in your eyes. And you're glad for that.
>After so long, so long walking, running, hiding, starving, crying .... you want the Fluffies who survived the Longest Journey to have a happy ending to their lives.
>Machine starts with a loud, low Grummmmmmmmmmmmm sound, and pretty pink mist starts to spill out, creeping low across the ground towards the Fluffies, who giggle and cheer as the mist creeps over them.
>"Smewws su pwetty!" A Mare missing both ears and an eye cheers loudly, inhaling deeply. "Smewws wike fwowers!"
>She's right. A beautiful flower-like smell. Uni's last Magical Gift is truly wonderful....
>Inhale deeply, and feel a tickle in your throat, and stare up at the sky, exploding with brilliant, pretty colours, and feel the hot burning of your tears down your cheeks.
>So ... sleepy.
>................. A pretty smell, a belly full of Sketties, Brandy the Second has two Hoomin Mummies, and you played all day with Uni.
>You're sad to see it end, but maybe this is for the best. How can anything be this fun, after today?
>Wait .... is that ..... you see something swirling in the pink mist as it dissipates into the sky, forming shapes ....
>"Yu ... come fo' ... Diwt?" You whisper, reaching your one good leg up into the night sky, where they are waiting for you, legs reached out to you, calling your name. "Yuu ... wait fo' ... Daddy?"
>Tears flow, fresh and stinging, down your cheeks, but you smile happily as the shapes that look like Brandy the First and your two Foals come down and grab your leg with their own, smiling lovingly down at you. "Diwt haf .... su much tu .... teww yuu!  Daddy comin' .... haf teww ... Bwandy .... wuv y-*"

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>Be a Vet, employed by the Mayor to take care of Fluffies in the Spaghetti Land Theme-Park.
>Expected to deal with Fluffy Ponies getting knocked up or bruised on the rides, not putting down several hundred Ferals on the first day ....
>Little brown Feral, smiling and whispering something, a look of absolute joy on his face even as tears stream down his fluffy cheeks, and then ... the poisons in the scented mist finally kicks in, and he goes limp.
>"Got something in my eye here." One of the other Vets whispers, sniffing.
>"Yeah, the old Fogging Machine can send smoke up into your eyes if you're not careful." You reply in an equally thick voice, coughing. "Still, I wonder you put into the mist that makes them hallucinate like that? Nice touch, by the way."
>"Uh .... it's just cheap rose-scenting oils to mask the cholorform and ....." The other Vet replies, looking a little confused. "I thought you guys had laced their Last Meal with something?"
>Share a look out of the pile of dead, smiling Fluffy Ponies, and look up into the night sky, filled with fireworks and a perfectly white Full Moon.
>Share another look.
>"Couldn't be ...." You both say at once as the Park's 'Fluffy Management Teams' turn up with their black bags and start their grisly work.
>Couldn't be .....

**************************************************************

>Be Tasha Googaluv, sitting on the couch with your gal-pal Sammy curled up next to you, Brandy asleep in her arms.
>Working out some kinks in the system, as it were.
>There's precious little information on Richard Moloch to be found through most of your digging, so you turned to a few friends you made in colleage who ... have some rather illegal methods of their own.
>Waiting for them to get back to you with the details, but the gist of it is that this guy is fucking loaded with money, owns hideous amounts of real estate in this town and has more legal connections than a spider's web has threads.
>And apparently he's got some sort of connection to the Russian Mafia. too. Jesus Fuck.
>Sammy's stroking Brandy's mane when the little Fillie suddenly sits bolt upright, her little face screwing up in confusion and fear.
>"Brandy? What's wrong, sweetie?" Sammy whispers, stroking the little Fillie as the Fluffy Pony hugs Sammy's chest and starts to sob.
>"Bw-bwandy see Daddy an' Mummeh an' Brudda an' Sissy!" The little Brown Fillie whimpers, crying freely now. "Daddy say he goin' to be wit' Mummeh and otha' Foals, say he happeh, wan Bwandy be happeh tuu!"
>Share a look with Sammy and stare at the wall-clock.
>7:15. The closing event, lots of fire-works, should be winding down by now. People going home with their Fluffies Ponies, to motels or their caravans, to bunk down for the night after a day of partying hard in the Theme Park.....
>The Ferals were being put down during the Show, so that any noises they made would be masked by the fireworks exploding.
>Cuddle Brandy between your bodies and tell her that Dirt loves her very much, and she should be happy.
>Eventually she settles down, convinced it was just a saddies-happehs-saddies dream, but you and Sammy stay in that position until you fall asleep, a wall of warmth and protection for the little Fluffy Pony you've brought into your lives.
>Fall asleep, and miss the Email from your contacts, and forget to check it before you rush off to work the next morning, leaving Brandy to play in your small yard with her Ball and her Uni the Unicorn Plushie.
>An Email you'd wish you'd have read when you get home that evening, before everything went to hell.