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- “It's time for bed, you guys.”
- >Oh, they hate this part.
- >They know you're going home for the night.
- >They know they will be alone.
- >Starlight takes this the hardest of all, so she goes into her cage first.
- >”Nuuuuu, no weave 'gain! Stawigh' no wike wonwey!”
- >You make sure she's got her little blue stuffed bunny rabbit before setting her inside.
- “I'll be back tomorrow, it's okay.”
- >Nimbus goes in next. She's sad, but resigned to the whole process.
- >Strawberry, one of the red earth ponies, comes after Nimbus.
- >She likes to have a ball with her to nose around, in case she wakes up.
- >Felix goes in his cage after Strawberry.
- >”Fewiss miss nice hooman...”
- >You tousle his mane a bit.
- >Athena, a dusty grey pegasus mare, is next.
- >She likes to have a little bowl of grain to snack on overnight.
- >Zeus, a big yellow unicorn, wants a hug before he goes in, not unlike most of the other fluffies.
- >He goes, crying, into the cage next to Athena.
- >They came from the same house, and are inseparable.
- >Mandy gets pooped before he goes into the cage.
- >You have to squeeze him firmly, and he always lets out a heartbreaking squeak because he didn't develop enough to know the word 'owwies'.
- >You linger a bit on the thought of putting him down.
- >He'll never be normal.
- >What kind of existence are you giving him?
- >You dismiss it. Every fluffy deserves a chance...right?
- >Grab a tissue, move on.
- >A young peach earth fluffy mare named Mango is hiding behind Slate.
- >She's not really scared of being alone, she's nervous because so many of the others are.
- >”Why fwiends scawed?” she asks.
- “They're okay.”
- >Fluffy, a plum-colored unicorn mare, is next to be put up.
- >Yes, her name is Fluffy. She was reset so many times, a given name won't stick anymore.
- >A patch of her forehead is bare; the skin is too scarred to let fluff grow.
- >Nutmeg is next, a rich brown earth fluffy with a great personality.
- >Until it gets dark, when she freaks the absolute hell out.
- >Her owner would leave her in an unlit room for days on end as punishment.
- >Get another tissue.
- >You continue putting them into cages, giving out hugs and assurances that you'll be back tomorrow.
- >The king and queen of your herd, Slate and Flame, go in last.
- >”See nice hooman when shiny come 'gain. Fwuffies be good, ge' sweepies.”
- >Big hug for Slate. It must kill him to see you leave every night, but he never shows it.
- >He is always strong for his herd.
- >Flame is still jittery about the fluffy 'munsta'.
- >If you had been thrown out and replaced by one, you would be too.
- >All the fluffies are in their cages.
- >You step back and look.
- >Starlight begs you to take her home.
- >Flame is trying to hide in her blanket.
- >Athena and Zeus wail about being apart.
- >Mandy is stuck on his back, unable to get in his bed. His little legs flail wildly.
- >No actual words come from his mouth, just a fearful “Woooohaaa! Wuffa hoogie wibba!”
- >You open the door and put him in his bed.
- >One more look around.
- >Fluffy stares blankly into space.
- >Nutmeg is sobbing, begging the 'scawy dawk' to go away.
- >All the worst that humanity has to offer, in convenient fluffy packages.
- >Your soul gets crushed just a little bit more.
- >Push it aside. Gotta smile for the nightly speech!
- “Okay, be good fluffies until I get back tomorrow!”
- >”No weeeeeeeeeeave!” Starlight sobs.
- “I'll be back, Starlight, don't cry.”
- >”Stawigh' sowwy, pwease no weave, no wan' wonwey!”
- >Another tissue.
- >You'd take them all home in a heartbeat...if your apartment allowed pets.
- “Be strong. I'll be back, I promise.”
- >Lots of sniffling and sad faces.
- >It's not going to get any easier, so you grab your keys and lock up.
- >One last wave through the windows before you drive off.
- >...and a big sigh.
- ------
- >Something is wrong.
- >Wake up!
- >You startle to consciousness, shaking your head until your grey mane is out of your eyes.
- >Something doesn't smell pretty.
- >You check your blue fluff to see if you made bad poopies.
- >Wasn't you, so you start looking around.
- >The smell is coming from the cage next door...which is Flame's.
- “Fwame, why make bad poopies?”
- >She is utterly terrified, having crammed herself in the farthest corner of her cage.
- >”Fwuffy munsta hewe, see munsta, nice hooman no wuv Fwame anymo'...”
- >You enter alert mode, standing up and looking around for the enemy.
- >You don't see anything, however.
- “Swate no see munsta. No be scawed.”
- >Flame isn't listening. She's staring at a shadow on the far wall, made by the night shinies outside.
- >”Pwease wuv Fwame, Fwame is good fwuffy, no haf babehs anymo'...”
- >You're confused about Flame's behavior.
- “Swate no see munsta, no be scawed. Ge' sweepies.”
- >All the other fluffies around you are doing that. They wouldn't be if a monster were really here.
- >The shadow moves because a vroom box comes by.
- >It doesn't scare you, but Flame hides and whimpers. She also makes more bad poopies.
- “Fwame, no be scawed!”
- >”Fwame sowwy, Fwame sowwy, no mean make bad poopies, no mean be bad fwuffy, pwease wuv,” she sniffles.
- “Fwame no bad fwuffy...”
- >She's not listening, and you're really sleepy.
- >Your eyes close, even though you're worried.
- >Flame will be okay, she's a smart fluffy like you. She'll understand that a monster isn't really here.
- >Time for sleepies.
- >The next time your eyes open, the big shiny thing is back. Everything is bright. All the shadows are gone.
- >You nod approvingly.
- >As usual, you are the first fluffy to wake up.
- >You turn to Flame's cage.
- “See, no muns-”
- >Flame is looking right at you, but something is wrong with her eyes.
- >She looks bad. You can't really express it, but the way she's lying on her side terrifies you.
- >Bad poopies fill her cage.
- “Fw-fwame? Fwame sweepin'? Fwame no feew good?”
- >It takes you ages to attach a word to what you see.
- >When the meaning strikes, you feel weak and wobbly and scared.
- >Flame is dead. This is death.
- >You begin pounding on your cage door weakly.
- >Your voice is barely above a wheeze.
- “Pwease hewp Fwame, Fwame nee' huggies, Fwame nee' nice hooman...”
- >An eternity passes before you finally see nice human's vroom box arrive.
- >She'll fix Flame. She can fix everything.
- ------
- >You arrive bright and early, ready to...
- >You're stopped cold when you get to the door.
- >You see Slate scratching at his cage door frantically.
- >Flame's cage is full of crap, and she looks kinda...
- >Oh no.
- >You quickly walk in, waving the smell away from your nose.
- >Gotta be quiet, can't let any of the others see this.
- >”Pwease hewp Fwame, Fwame haf owwies, Fwame nee' huggies,” Slate whimpers.
- >She's beyond hugging now.
- “Slate, what happened?”
- >”Say see fwuffy munsta, scawed, make scawed poopies, no wissen Swate when say no munsta...”
- >She terrified herself to death, thinking she saw an alicorn.
- >Damn it!
- >You very quietly remove the body and clean out the cage.
- >Just as you get done, the others begin waking up.
- >You go about the breakfast routine and put everyone in the big play pen.
- >It only hits them then.
- >Nimbus blinks, looking around. ”Whewe fwiend Fwame? Why Swate cwy?”
- >Starlight blinks, waddling around the pen. “Fwame! Fwame nee' nummies! Whewe is?”
- >After half an hour, she cries for you. “Mommy, no wike dis game! Wan' fwiend back!”
- >You really don't know what to tell them.
- >The tears probably tell the story well enough, anyway.
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