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.