Disclaimer: Zootopia and all related characters are owned by Disney. All other characters, product names, trademarks, and copyrights, belong to their respective owners.
…..
The Queen used her knees to steer her dragon mount toward a densely forested area and said, while waving her sword over her head, "Oh great steed, use your nose to find my enemy that I might conquer them."
The dragon growled and tried to reach around and snap at his master, but the Queen was too powerful and easily forced the great beast to do her bidding.
Head lowered, the dragon sniffed the trail in front of him and, finally locating the scent of the Queen's next victim, made his way into the dark forest.
Stopping near a fallen tree, the dragon growled, and with a forelimb up, pointed his muzzle toward the pair of bunny ears poking over the log.
"Show yourself, Sir Billy, or I shall command my dragon to flame you."
An eight-year-old buck slowly stood from behind the tree and, facing Queen Cotton in all her wrath, said, "No fair. We're playing Hide and Seek, not Knights and Dragons."
Face contorted in rage, cutely, of course, Queen Cotton sat up straight on her fox-shaped dragon and yelled, "Nu-uh. I'm building an army so we can raid grandma's pantry for snacks. Want to help? You can ride on Uncle Nick's back with me."
"Yay!" yelled Sir Billy as he hopped onto Mr. Nick's back and started kicking the fox's sides. "Giddy-up!"
"I want to join your army too." yelled another kit hopping out from behind a bush.
"Me, too. Can I ride Mr. Nick?"
"Us too," said two more does, adding their voices to the growing chorus of kits.
"I want to pet his tail."
"Judy said he's ticklish on his tummy."
The dragon, panicking at seeing over thirty kits with grabby paws literally coming out of the woodwork, made a beeline toward safety.
He was too slow.
Way too slow.
Kit after kit jumped on his back, latched onto his fur, or grabbed his tail. They were like an endless school of lampreys, all looking for exposed fur to attach themselves to.
He couldn't shake them off.
Within moments, he could hardly walk with an entire kerfuffle of kits latched on.
Only a few feet from safety, the fox collapsed with a whimper.
"Heeelp."
"Okay, guys, let Mr. Nick breathe," chuckled Judy as she got up from her yard chair and started to pull kits off of her mate.
"Awwww, he was going to help us get snacks."
A pawful of older does, sensing a fox's demise, arrived in the nick of time with trays of snacks and juice boxes for all the kits.
"Is Nick alright?" asked Judy's older sister Sarah.
"Yeah," replied Judy looking over her groaning mate. "You know foxes, they're all so dramatic."
Sarah passed out juice boxes to the train of kits dismounting from their flattened steed and then whispered, "He's good with the kits, though."
Judy nodded as Cotton, the last to dismount, poked Nick with her plastic sword, and then only getting another groan in response, hopped over to her mother, grabbed a juice box, and gave it to Nick.
"I think he's thirsty," said Cotton as she maneuvered the bendy straw into Nick's mouth.
Cooing now, Sarah whispered, "So, Jude, you guys have been mates for a couple of years, when are you going to–"
Judy grabbed her sister's muzzle and whispered back, "Shush, you're as bad as Mom and Dad."
"Aunt Judy. Uncle Nick said he needs some carrots kisses to feel better. Should I ask Grandma if she has any of those?"
Judy glanced at her now smirking fox, and then petting Cotton's head fur, said, "Why don't you help your mom pass out more snacks. I'll take care of your Uncle Nick."
-/-/-
"So, this is the infamous 'South Barn' I keep hearing about. Are you sure it's a good idea for an innocent doe like you to be out here all by herself with a disreputable fox like me? No telling what kinds of untold things might happen to you."
Judy, reaching for the barn door, stopped and then, glancing around, grabbed Nick's shirt and pulled him into a kiss.
Nick, caught a little off guard, quickly recovered and deepened the kiss while he let his paws wander down Judy's back toward her puffball of a–
Giggling, Nick heard giggling.
"Anyone got a bucket of ice water I can use on these two?"
Judy pulled back suddenly and, patting down Nick's shirt, squeaked out, "There you go, Nick. All tidy." And then turning to Sarah standing in the doorway, "Hey Sis, we're here to help."
"Right," replied Sarah.
"Come on, Nick," Judy added, pulling her confused fox into the cavernous barn and past her now smirking sister.
"Help?" Nick whisper-shouted, "I thought we were going to, you know, work on some math."
"Practicing math is how we all ended up here," replied Sarah trapping the fox to his doom as she closed the barn door.
"Hi Nick," said a cream-colored doe.
Followed by one of Judy's older brothers, "Evening, Nick."
And the deeper voice of a hedgehog boar, "Hey, Nick."
"Hey Katy, Marcus," and holding a fist out to the hedgehog for a fist-bump, "Terry. What's going on here? What's with all the treats?"
"Our pile is over there, Slick," said Judy. "The Easter egg hunt is tomorrow morning, and we have over fifteen hundred plastic eggs to load up."
"Easter egg hunt?"
"Yeah, we spread a bunch of candy filled eggs all over one of the fields and then let the kits run around and pick them up."
"So, we're here to fill all these plastic eggs with candy?'
"Yup, except the golden ones that have names on them, those are special. They get filled with a treat special to each kit, and then the kit gets to turn the empty egg in for a big prize from the Easter Bunny."
"Easter Bunny? So, you guys are cool with the whole Easter Bunny thing? A big rabbit hopping around passing out treats, I thought for sure that would fall under the forbidden 'cute' category that rabbits hated other mammals to see."
Judy smiled and rocked on her hind-paws as she pulled a set of rabbit-eared headgear out from behind her back, and then giving her mate doe-eyes and a trembly lip, said, "Please?"
The whole barn went silent.
Terry pulled a black and brown furred doe close and winked, "I had to do it last year."
Nick rolled his eyes, "I think I've been hustled." And then, reaching out to Judy, he slipped the rabbit ears headband on his head, pulled his mate into a hug, and kissed her.
"Get a room."
"Alright everyone, the shows over," said Sarah, "Back to work, the sooner we load the eggs, the sooner we can hide them and get to bed."
Breaking the kiss, Nick whispered, "Speaking of bed, you're going to owe me big for this."
Judy pecked her fox on the lips and whispered back, "Got ya covered, Slick."
-/-/-
"Three. Two. One. Go!"
Nick, sitting in an elaborately painted Easter-themed chair, took in the sight of over a hundred and fifty kits running through an egg covered, tree lined field, or in other words, a Hopps' version of a family backyard event.
Last night's egg stuffing lasted most of the evening. More because of the food buffet and adult beverages for the egg stuffers than the time it took to finish off filling the eggs. Who would have thought, a fox in a barn full of rabbits, sharing kit stories, comparing notes on cars or cooking, and trying to one-up each other on whose boss was craziest? Nick smiled to himself, it hadn't been instant acceptance being a fox joining the Hopps clan, but after that short awkward beginning, he'd been an integral part of Judy's family ever since.
By the way, he won the crazy boss competition, fourth visit home in a row.
More importantly, Judy paid him back in spades what she owed him for having to wear the dorkiest rabbit costume in history.
"Mr. Nick, I mean Mr. Easter Bunny, here's my golden egg."
"Wow, uh, James," said Nick reading the name on the egg, "You sure found your egg fast."
"Uh-huh. Mom says I'm super-fast at everything but my chores."
"A kit after my own heart, here you go," replied Nick, handing a package to the small buck and tussling his head fur."
"Thank you, Mr. Easter Bunny."
Over the next hour, Nick pulled gifts from the arranged piles next to him, baby toys, five and under, six to eight-year-olds, and the pre-teens.
Some of the pre-teen toys looked pretty cool, and Nick kept hoping that maybe the parents had over-bought that group and perhaps he'd come away with a prize of his own.
Unfortunately for Nick's inner-kit, no such luck. The piles were quickly depleted until only one six to eight-year-old package was left.
Which meant there was a sad bun slow-walking her way in from the field.
*Sniff*
"Cotton?"
The young doe stood in front of Nick, a crestfallen look on her muzzle, "I can't find my golden egg."
Nick knelt next to Cotton and said, "I'm sorry."
Cotton threw her arms around Nick's neck and hugged him tight, "I looked everywhere Uncle Nick."
"I know you did, Cotton, but it's okay. There's only one toy left. How about we pretend you found your egg and you can have the last toy."
Cotton sniffed again, "I can't. That would be cheating."
"How about if Uncle Nick helps you find your egg? Would that be okay?"
Cotton shook her head, "I'm supposed to find it all by myself."
Nick thought for a moment, "How about if your trusty dragon gives you a ride so you can look around the field one last time before giving up?"
Cotton was silent until Judy spoke up, "Cotton, it's not cheating if you're the one telling Uncle Nick where to go."
Brightening up, Cotton said, "Okay, but first, I need my sword," and then ran into the house.
Nick stood, unzipped the bunny costume, and quietly asked the assembled adults, "So who hid Cotton's egg?"
Everyone looked around at each other until Judy raised a paw, "Sorry."
Nick shook his head, and about to ask where it was hidden, suddenly felt a kit leaping onto his back.
"Giddy-up, Dragon," and then kicking Nick's sides, she pointed her sword toward the field, "Go that way."
On all fours now, Nick carried his Queen around as she pointed to various spots for him to examine, all the while sniffing for his mate's scent.
Finally finding Judy's trail, Nick crisscrossed her path, letting Cotton think he was going where she was steering until they ended up looking at a fresh pile of leaves.
"Look, my Queen, yonder be a suspicious pile of leaves. Does thou wish me to flame thine leaves so my Queen can more easily search under said pile?"
Cotton regally replied, "No Dragon, I must find the treasure myself, or I will dishonor the crown."
Nick tucked an arm under him so that Cotton could easily dismount and then waited.
Cotton poked her sword into the pile until something shiny clunked, and she screamed.
"Yay, my egg!"
"Well done, my Queen," intoned Nick.
And then yelling again, Cotton pulled out a second, larger egg, "And one for you, Uncle Nick."
"Me?"
"Yup, it has your name on it and everything."
"Wow. Thanks, kit."
Lifting Cotton to his shoulder, Nick carried her back to where all the kits were getting hyped up on sugar and playing with their Easter Bunny presents. Setting his liege down next to the Easter Bunny chair, Nick handed Cotton her well-earned treasure present and sat down next to his smiling mate.
"Whose is that?" asked Judy, letting Cotton crawl into her lap.
Nick turned the large golden egg over in his paws and replied, "Mine, I guess. It has my name on it," and then mock-glaring at Cotton, "and a dragon sticker holding it together."
"There's a crown one too… Oops!" said Cotton holding her paws over her muzzle. And then, opening them for a second, quickly added, "AuntJudysaiditwasspecialjustforyouandIdidn'twantanyonetoopenit."
Nick looked around at the suddenly quiet group of momma-does all staring at him, and then at his smirking mate before whispering, "Give it up Fluff, no way you'll ever be able to out hustle this hustler."
Judy nudged Nick and said, "Go ahead Slick, open it up."
With a last look around the group, Nick wiggled his fingers, deftly twisted open the egg, and shook out the contents into his paw.
"What's that, Uncle Nick? It looks like a stick with a bow tied around it."
Nick's eyes went wide as he slipped the ribbon off the pregnancy test, saw the bright double red lines, and looked at his bunny.
"Does this mean what I think it means?"
Judy gave Nick a quick kiss, and then holding his paw to her stomach, she said, "Yup, it means we hustled you good!"
"Yes, yes, you sure did."
…..
Happy Easter 2021
~Mikey