Reset: Unrequited

>It's been three weeks since you decided to keep Janus.
>Since she only got one reset, she acts much closer to fluffy pony baseline behavior than Amnesia.
>It's frankly a hassle to keep track of her, but Amnesia helps.
>Very common to hear her scolding the former stray for shitting in the wrong place.
>Or for knocking something over.
>Janus always apologizes, but an hour later she does the exact same thing again.
>You are beginning to grow annoyed.
>One day, while you're busy with work things on your computer, Janus waddles into the room.
>”Daddy, wan' sgetties pwease!  Janus hung'y!”
>She ate dinner not more than forty-five minutes ago.
“You've been fed, Janus.  Go play with Amnesia while I finish this, okay?”
>”Hung'y!” she whines, clinging to your shin.  “Pwease gif nummies!”
>The task at hand requires all your concentration, so you ignore her.
>For five minutes, she whines about being hungry.  You feel her light grip on her leg.
>Suddenly, she lets go and raises up on the side of your office chair.
>”Gif nummies!  Janus hung'y!”
>You continue to ignore her.
>”Why no gif nummies?  Why daddy no wuv Janus anymo'?” she begins to pout.
>When you don't rebuff that notion, she begins to cry.
>”No wuv Janus!  Daddy no wuv Janus anymo'!” she wails, waddling in circles.
>You still ignore her.
>Amnesia comes in.  “Janus, pway bwocks wif Amneesa!”
>”No wan' pway, wan' nummies!  Wan' daddy wuv Janus, an' gif nummies!”
>Amnesia blinks.  “Jus' haf nummies!  Daddy wuv fwuffies, gif nummies!”
>”Wan' nummies now!” Janus whines, trying to get up in your chair again.
>Confused, Amnesia waddles out to play.
>You continue to ignore the crying pegasus.
>”Daddy no talkies!  Daddy no wuv Janus!” she cries repeatedly.
>Only when she falls silent do you glance down.
>She lays on the carpet, curled into a shivering ball and sniffling quietly.
>”No wuv fwuffy, daddy no wuv anymo', why no wuv fwuffy?” she whispers.
>You blink.  Before now, she's always referred to herself by name.
>”Fwuffy jus' wan wuv, pwease gif wuv to fwuffy...”
>You're done with your work now, and reach down to pet her.
“What's wrong, Janus?”
>She perks back up instantly when you say her name.
>”Daddy wuv Janus 'gain!  Janus so happy!” she chirps, hugging your arm.
>You begin to realize something is off.
>Janus seemed to be in actual physical distress, but why?
>Surely not because you weren't paying her any attention.
>...it couldn't be.
>An idea is forming in your head.
>Soon, it will be time for science.
>It's the next morning, and your sister is over.
>Amnesia didn't really like the idea of going away, but you assured her she'd be all right.
>You're sending her to your sister's house for the week.
>She already has fluffies, so your unicorn will be in good hands and have friends to play with.
>Besides, you don't want her to interfere in this.
>The experiment begins immediately after Amnesia is gone.
>”Whewe fwiend Amneesa go?” Janus asks.
>You do not say a word.
>You can hear the pegasus waddling after you as you move around.
>”Daddy, whewe Amneesa go?  Amneesa come back?  Janus miss fwiend!”
>You remain silent, simply going about your morning routine before you leave for work.
>Janus is confused, constantly asking where Amnesia is.
>Once you're ready to leave, you set her in the restored upstairs safe room as usual, but give her no treat.
>You shut the door and leave, hearing her cry behind you about being alone.
>It's twenty minutes after eight PM when you return home.
>You believe it's very likely she has forgotten about Amnesia by now.
>She waddles around your legs happily when you open the safe room door.
>”Daddy home!  Fwuffy miss daddy! Fwuffy no woney now!” she cheers.
>Christ.  She doesn't even recall her own name, no chance she remembers Amnesia.
>You guess that's probably because the unicorn isn't here to say it so often.
>You glance into the safe room.
>It is a minefield of fluffy turds.  She only hit her litter box twice.
>That carpet is probably ruined, but it's not a big deal.
>As she hugs your legs, you find that while her name eludes her, her love for you does not.
>Janus continues to babble happily as she follows you downstairs.
>”Fwuffy wuv daddy!  Fwuffy wan' nummies, daddy gif?”
>You feed her, but still don't talk to her.
>She's talking so much right now, she hasn't noticed that yet.
>When you're both done with dinner, you wash up and relax on the couch.
>This is when Janus begins to figure it out.
>”Pway wif bwocks wif fwuffy, daddy!  Is fun!”
>You don't even look at her.
>”Daddy?  No heaw fwuffy?  Fwuffy say pway wif bwocks and fwuffy!”
>Eyes straight ahead.  You can barely see her waddle over.
>”Daddy okay?  Why no come pway?” she asks, tugging on your pants leg.
>No response.
>You can't see it, but her lips begin quivering.  “D-daddy no pway wif fwuffy?  Why no pway?”
>When you don't reply, she begins trying to jump up on the couch.  “Daddy!  Fwuffy no wike quiet, why no talkies to fwuffy?  Why no pway?”
>You don't help her up.  You don't even acknowledge her struggle.
>”Daddy, hewp fwuffy!  Fwuffy gif huggies, make daddy betta!  Hewp daddy pway!”
>Eyes locked on the TV.
>She stops, plopping down on her haunches on the floor.  “Daddy?  Fwuffy scawed!  Talkies!”
>Silence.
>She begins crying.  “Why no talkies, daddy?  Daddy okay?  Fwuffy scawed!”
>Flipping through channels.
>”Daddy...daddy no wuv fwuffy?”
>Bingo, we're back here again.
>You continue to ignore her.
>She tries to get up onto the couch again, madly flapping her wings.
>”Fwuffy am sowwy fo' be bad!  Pwease wuv fwuffy!” she bawls.
>When you don't speak, she falls over and begins hiccuping.
>”Fwuffy...fwuffy am...fwuffy am sowwy!  Fwuffy no...no mean...no mean be bad!”
>It's getting harder to ignore her, but you press on.
>”Fwuffy am bad, fwuffy am sowwy!  Pwease no huwt!” she yells, toddling about in circles around your coffee table.
>After ten minutes of this, she suddenly waddles over and shits in front of the TV.
>”No smeww pwetty...nuuuuuu, make bad poopies!  Fwuffy sowwy, fwuffy no mean to!”
>She remembers that.  You kind of lost your temper when she shat in front of the TV the first time.
>Even Amnesia was scared.
>”No yeww!  Pwease no yeww, fwuffy sowwy!” she sobs, coming over to hug your leg again.
>When you fail to punish her, fail to even acknowledge her existence, something happens.
>Janus sits down by your legs and blinks.
>”No yeww?  Why no yeww?  Fwuffy bad!”
>Her tears are dried, her sobs quieted, even her lips are still.
>”Daddy no mad?  Daddy no wuv?  Daddy no wuv an' no mad?”
>You fight the urge to look down at her while she tries to process this.
>”Fwuffy am good, am bad too?  Daddy no am mad, no wuv fwuffy too?”
>She falls silent, sitting on her haunches and looking around.
>After a few minutes, she blurts out.  “Daddy!  Wuv fwuffy pwease!  Is okay yeww at fwuffy if wan', fwuffy no be sad!  Fwuffy be okay!”
>'Love' appears to be a broad term for the fluffy pony.
>Perhaps the abused ones aren't totally sad.  It is attention, after all.
>But Janus, faced with the insurmountable wall of your silence, has no idea what to do.
>”Daddy!  Pwease talkies!  Pwease yeww!  Pwease huggies!  Pwease wuv!” she begs, tugging on your pants again.
>You fight to ignore her.  Her pleas and tugs get more frantic as the silent seconds tick by.
>Finally, you glance up at the wall clock.  It's late.
>Wordlessly, you pick Janus up, and put her in the upstairs safe room.
>”No smeww pwetty!” is the first sentence out of her mouth.
>When you shut the door behind her, she begins lightly banging on it.
>”Gif wuv!  Gif woud yewws!  Fwuffy wan' talkies!  Pwease wuv!  Pwease somefin'!”
>She says iterations of that over and over, but finally becomes quiet.
>Since she's tired herself out, you go on to bed.
>The next morning, you go first thing to check on Janus.
>She lays on her side in the center of the room, a tremendous puddle of liquid waste pooled at her rear end.
>This puddle is at the end of a long, swerving spiral of brown that covers most of the carpet.
>You navigate the fluffy crap to check on her.
“Janus?  Janus?”
>Her chest fluff is still.
>She is dead.
>You pick her up to look at her.  Her eyes are glassy.  Rivulets of dried saliva surround her open mouth.
>It looks like she's had a catastrophic seizure.
>You continue to examine her.  Her joints are ruined.
>It appears as though she tried to run her legs right out of their sockets.
>Her wings are partially torn off.
>Without human or fluffy input, Janus's mind did not know what to do to get acknowledgment.
>Since her mind didn't know what to do, it seems to have done everything at once.
>While you dispose of the body and begin cleaning up, you come to a clear realization:
>For the fluffy pony, attention is no more optional than food, water, and air.