ART BY:
 LeonXIII
Original Art - https://www.furaffinity.net/view/44540136/

STORY FEATURING:
 Paddedartist
Poppy The Toon Loon Hummingbird

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Sunnybrook Park is a great place to grow up. Especially if you are the ever-energetic, happy-go-lucky hummingbird, Poppy.

This is a story of how Poppy first learned to embrace her love for gymnastics and cheerleading. It is also the first time she felt good about being herself instead of trying to be like everybody else.

***

Sunshine Start was a daycare and preschool located just outside the city’s central park. Many young toons were brought here by their parents to make friends while learning the basics about being a friendly friend, caring colleague, and playful playmate. However, this did not necessarily mean that all toons were as welcomed and loved as others.

“No, no, no!” whined a young badger in overalls. “Too much! Too loud!”

“I sorry,” stated a saddened, three year old Poppy. “I not mean to.”

“Go away!” cried a terrier as he went about picking up a collection of blocks that had been recently knocked over. “You no fun!”

The young, ruby-throated hummingbird felt a tear form in her eye upon being rejected by the two possible playmates she had found.
“O-okay,” she sniffled before toddling away from the displeased duo.

***

As Poppy was experiencing another setback on the road to friendship, a young peacock by the name of Paulie had just been welcomed into Sunshine Start. He was a bashful bird who was fearful of not being able to make friends. The reason for this was not that he was bashful, but because he liked to wear whatever clothing he felt like wearing whenever he wanted to. Today he was wearing a sky-blue skirt that slightly covered his poofy, padded, potty pants. The shirt he wore was white and covered in blue outlines of clouds with one of the clouds featuring a smiling sun peaking out from underneath it. He also had a pale-green bow on his head with a pink ribbon helping to hold his train of feathers in place above his behind.

“Is he a boy, or girl?” one of the caretakers asked.

“He’s a toon,” replied a proud parent who had clearly been asked this question more often than not. “He’s his own thing and I expect that you’ll take good care of him.”

BOOMPF!

Between Paulie’s nervousness and Poppy’s sadness, the two birds managed to come together in a collision that knocked both of them down onto their diapered derrieres.

“Sorry!” Poppy apologized. “I no mean to make you fall.”

“Is okay,” Paulie replied as he admired the few shimmering stars that twirled above his head as they faded away. “My name Paulie.”

Poppy was surprised by how this new toon was treating her. Normally she’d be told to ‘Get lost!’, be called clumsy, or just given an unfriendly look by whomever she happened to accidentally collide with. This toon was actually saying, ‘Hello!’ instead of ‘Goodbye!’.
“Umm,” she nervously hummed. “I’m Poppy.”

Paulie stood up and toddled by the anxious hummingbird.
“You know smell poopy,” he said with genuine misunderstanding. “Maybe you need to make poopy?”

Poppy couldn’t help but laugh at the innocent mistake that the young peacock made. However, this was far from the first time that someone mistook her name for what she still dropped into her diapers.
“No, no,” she said with a giggle. “Poppy. My name’s Poppy. Like a bubble that goes pop-pop.”

“Pop, pop, Poppy?” Paulie pondered. “I like bubbles.”

Poppy smiled as she used her fast, flapping wings to help stand herself back up to her feet.
“Wanna’ play?” she asked with a sparkle of hope in her eyes.

Paulie couldn’t believe his luck. He literally had bumped into a friend right after being ushered away from his parent.
“Oh, yes!” he chirped. “Let’s play!”