The cold times had been gentle so far in the year for the family of fluffies beneath the Willow tree. The family discovered this den abandoned save for some sparse bones of previous occupants in the summer. They thanked the dead for their work and buried the bones as a sign of respect. The willow sat slightly uphill from a pond at the edge of a sub division providing them with plenty of water and the occasional raid of opportunity for human nummies.
A now empty field save for some tall dry things that once had nummies inside them sat to their south and south east across the black metal monster path was lots of open field and trees. Further beyond was beyond the human lands they knew.
Due to an incoming storm the new years firework display was delayed, moved and rescheduled so the family would not be awoken that night to the bursting of explosions and the glistening lights. But the cold crept in and with it came the rain and the sleet that clung to many things.
The fluffies shivered that morning, barely surviving thanks to the work they had put in to reinforce the dens walls. Their nest was padded with fluff they had pulled in the warmer seasons and dry not nummies they had taken from the field and the family covered itself with an old pic-nic blanket that wasn’t as scratchy when you had a cushion of fluff around you. “Su-coldies…” Cobalt the blue stallion with a shiney grey mane said as he stuck his snout out from under the blankie to the outside and then peaked to see his breath on the air.
A thin rock slab they had recovered from one of the gardens mostly covered the entrance with the words ‘live laugh love’ etched across it. The stallion pursed his lips a few times from thirst and reluctantly left the fluff pile. He wiggled the door that he usually twisted aside with such ease as it cracked and then finally gave way as the thin sheet of ice cracked and allowed him to open the dens entrance to the outside.
“Su many wites…” The stallion added seeing a streak of colors dapple the ground but not like the twinkly lights on the human houses. More like many small rainbows. “Speshuw fwend, must wakies! it mowning, come see pwetty cowows." Cobalt added with pride as it continued looking down at all the pretty colors across the ground as it made its way towards the pond for water. The grass was crunchy and pricked his feet slightly but its icey coating was not so thick yet and the hill had caused much of the weight of the water to cause the grass on the hill to hang downward. He had not noticed that the more level grass of the yards that was some ways away was mostly standing up in a jagged fashion.
The stallion stomped a path, careful not to slip as he proceeded forward down the incline. Upon reaching the pond though the stallion discovered it had frozen over. Thankfully it was not thick yet, so with a few hard Paffs of his hoofsies he eventually cracked the thin ice enough to get some water though he drank as little as he dared as it chilled his insides further. “Need bwin’ in den su nu su cowdies.” The water would still be cold but hopefully not nearly as bad.
Thankfully they had an orange smiley friend with a holdie strap with a few sweetie nummies they had long since eaten they had found left over from the scary night about two months back that should work. As he turned around to return to the den he finally saw it while looking up.
First his family, the foals that pranced back and fourth to enraptured by the glistening colors and their playful sliding too and fro to yet complain about their feet being cold. A pink filly with a honey yellow mane that might have been named ‘pink lemonade’ if it had a human owner. A green colt with brown socks and darker green mane that looked somewhat like a bush oddly enough, might have been named ‘shrub’ or ‘chia’ or something generic who knows. And last but not least, the honey gold with hints of silver underfluff / highlight shading and boots, as well as a metallic platinum mane that would have likely been kidnapped by now if it had been seen by a human. Heck the entire family may have been taken in if they had seen the potential in the pair from this foal alone. This was the bestest even if momma never said it because she loved all her babies.
Cobalt and Nimbus were runaways from the neighborhood which explained the decent breeding that resulted in the Electrum filly. Cobalt having escaped a month or so longer then nimbus and had a year more of life experience which provided valuable insight for survival when he found her. She possessed a Cloudy white body and off white accents and a blonde mane that wasn’t quite light enough to be true platinum. Her smile though was warmer then the bright thing in the sky as she watched her children frolic.
A human looked out their back porch with a mug of coffee in their hand. “Something pretty magic about waking up and seeing a wispy naked willow coated in ice and delicately chiming in the breeze.” He added with a sip. “2021 trying real hard to lure me into a false sense of security.” They added closing the blinds.
Hanging down like a heavenly chandelier dangled the tendrils of the Willow covered in ice. It’s glow in the morning this new year and the gentle chimes of the breeze made a song that almost said “Be ye not afraid.”
“Nimbus, come see what Cobalt see.” After picking up the foals onto her back she proceeded down the path slightly to meet her special friend and the two leaned together and looked on the tree in awe for a minute or so, the foals ooo’ing and aweing as well until they decided the moment was no longer worth the chill and proceeded back inside. Their day was filled with general fare, games to keep warm, eating from the nummy pile, lessons and a few chores but eventually night came and the group fell asleep once more.
Unfortunately the rain and sleet was not a one night occurrence. The ice thickened on everything. The song of the tree became less and less happy and hopeful and began to inspire bad dreams and even a few of the fluffies woke occasionally from the heavy creaking and occasional snapping sound. None got much of a good nights sleep but without jobs to go to they were able to sleep in till mid day.
That morning the human returned to their back porch and undid his blinds. With a sigh he said. “I knew it.” They added looking out upon the tree that had so inspired them yesterday. Its limbs hung heavy with the weight of previous days, bent to the point of breaking. It no longer inspired joy an beauty, replaced with an exhausted grey sheen that felt heavy of depression. With a sight they knew, this too would be a terrible year.
When the fluffies finally awoke it took both parents struggling and pushing with all their might to dislodge the stone from the ice coating and it snapped in half right through the word ‘live’. An ominous omen if the fluffies could read. “Wha happen?" Nimbus said in a concerned tone. Cobalt though was more concerned about what lay beyond. A few feet out in all directions the tendrils of the willow draped all the way to the ground. Their glorious chandelier had drooped into an icey prison and as he walked around it was obvious there was no escape in any direction. “Oh noes…”
The temperature remained about the same but now with a barely functioning door even if they manage to partially stack them side by side it would be harder to retain warmth as cold air poured through an inch wide crevice they could not pack due to frozen ground and lack of ice instead of snow layering the grass. They could not break the Icey exterior bars and the ground was too hard and frozen over to dig out to escape. Even if they could escape the hill was practically a sheet of ice they may have slipped down onto the pond and fallen through. Going in the direction of the lawns beyond was not much safer as they were thousands of sharp needles they could not walk on without spending minute carefully kicking them over for each step they wanted to make. Even if they could make it to the field the stalks were frozen as well making it another series of bars that hedged them in and the snow plows that provided service for this area had created a mound of snow and ice preventing them from accessing the cleared streets they might have been able to walk to get to one of the human housies and seek refuge with their previous owners.
Their orange smiley friend had cracked along its cheap seam and leaked all the water they had freezing much of the bottom layer of their nummy pile as well. They tried everything they could to survive, their foals died first from hunger and thirst when mother could no longer provide milkies and licking the ice had caused a few painful incidents so far while trying to slake their thirst. The parents could not bring themselves to consume their childrens remains either and so resigned themselves to lay hugging their childrens frozen bodies due to heart hurties.
No, this was their end. Another family that would sleep forever, beneath old man willow. Only to be discovered as bones by the next family of fluffies that would move in next spring.
Based on a real life experience I had while house sitting this new year. The human commenter being me but that’s about it for the ‘based on a true story’ since no fluffies.