“Daddeh, Snowbaww wan’ pway owtside!”
“Snowball, we went over this just yesterday, it’s not safe for you out there.”
“Buh wan’ pway in snowies!” Snowball huffed, puffing out his cheeks.
“Snowball, the answer is no. It isn’t safe, it’s too cold, and you’d get lost too easily.”
“Buh… buh dat nu faiw! Snowbaww wan’ pway owtside!”
“Snowball, you’re pissing me off. You’re not allowed outside when it’s snowing, and that’s final. It’s for your own good.”
“Buh dat nu faiw! Snowbaww an’ pway in snowies!”
But Dad had heard enough.
"Snowball, one more word out of you about this, just fucking one, and you’re in the Sorry-Box until January!"
“Eep!” Snowball 'eep’d before turning and waddling away as fast as his tiny, fat legs could carry him.
Dad watched him go, and sighed.
Getting a fluffy pony had been his wife’s idea. They both agreed that children should have a pet, something to develop a bond with and something that took responsibility at the same time, but they had argued over what it should be. A cat? A dog? A hamster? A goldfish? Nothing seemed quite right.
Then one day, she’d seen something online about fluffy ponies. He couldn’t see anything wrong about them, if anything they seemed like an answer to their prayers. An animal pet your children could love and play with, but which also had the mind of a child and could be beaten if it misbehaved.
It was perfect… in theory.
The truth was, Ben and Suzie weren’t really ready for a pet. Ben had next to no interest in it, and while Suzie certainly made up for that… she also had a tendency to spoil it.
Suzie and her mother knew a lot more about fluffy ponies than he did,and apparently Snowball was quite a specimen. He was a pegasus, with a pure white coat and mane combo. According to his wife, that color combo was very rare to find. He didn’t ask how she’d found one, one day she’d simply come home with a snow white foal in her hands and, after a few hours of bathing and feeding, had introduced it to Ben and Suzie as their pet.
That had been over a year ago, and things had not gone particularly well.
Snowball had the mind of a child alright… a child that shit everywhere, threw tantrums constantly, and could always be counted on to do something naughty. Dad had lost count of the amount of times he’d had to punish Snowball, but it never quite seemed to take.
Oh he was afraid of his punishments alright, but he never quite seemed to realise he was being punished because he was misbehaving… either that or he knew and just didn’t care.
Dad thought about that as he watched the over-fed form of Snowball amble away into the depths of the house, wondering how many minutes it’d be before Snowball tried to throw another tantrum.
Snowball, meanwhile, was doing something very important: sulking.
“Nu faiw.” He muttered to himself, waddling into the kitchen. He paused to kick a stubby hoof at his empty food-bowl, then continued waddling, glaring down at the floor.
And it wasn’t fair! Not at all!
Suzie always gave Snowball whatever he wanted! Sometimes Ben did too, on the condition that Snowball ‘shut up’ and ‘leave me alone’. Which Snowball did… until he wanted something else, that is.
But Dad never did! Dad was mean! Dad shouted at Snowball, and Snowball never did anything to deserve it! Not once ever! Not even the time when he took a shit on the rug, or that time he ate some of Dad’s pizza, which made him sick to the point that he vomited it back up over the remaining slices… no, none of that warranted the kind of harsh treatment that Snowball received!
“Nu faiw.” Snowball huffed again, sitting down on his fat rear and glaring at the kitchen door. Suzie and Ben had slipped out what felt like hours ago (in reality, it had only been six minutes), and Snowball wanted to go out with them! Snow looked so fun! It was all over the place outside, on the trees, on the cars, on the ground… it looked so soft and poofy, just like clouds!
And besides, his name was SNOWball! It was hardly fair to say he shouldn’t be out in the snow, now was it?!
Then, Snowball began to get an idea… and he smiled to himself with sick delight.
Because he was going to outsmart Dad, and Ben, and Suzie, and everyone else that ever lived! He’d come up with the greatest, smartest, most brilliant thought ever!
He was going to go outside… despite what Dad had said!!!
Ten minutes later, Dad glanced up from his book and noticed how dark it was getting. Winter always got dark early, the kids had only been outside for about fifteen minutes, but it was already dark enough for him to start worrying.
Hauling himself out of his chair, he walked over to the kitchen and opened up the back door, shivering at the cold wind that blew in against him.
“Kids! C’mon in, it’s late!” He yelled into the darkness, spotting two blobs having a snowball fight in the distance.
“Aw c’mon dad!” Ben’s voice called back to him.
“Just f-five more m-minutes?!” Suzie called after.
“No, both of you inside! It’s freezing out there, c’mon, hurry up!”
The two let out dejected groans and began trudging back towards home, boots stamping grouchily through the deep snow as they went.
Dad stepped back from the door, leaving it open to let the kids in, but retreated to the warmth of the lounge while they approached.
Nobody had spotted Snowball curled up beside the door. The wall was white and the kitchen was dimly lit (at least, at that point), it was so easy for Snowball to just disappear against the wall. Even then, he couldn’t resist a giggle to himself as he watched Dad walk away, leaving the door unguarded.
Then it swung open, and Ben and Suzie came back in.
Snowball waited for just the right moment, as both children forgot the door for a moment while removing their cumbersome winterwear, and with all the grace and speed that a fat fluffy pony could muster, Snowball bolted out of the door, leaping into the air and landing in the deep snow with a muffled thump.
Seconds later, the door closed behind him, and Snowball grinned.
He’d done it! He’d outsmarted them all! Now Snowball was outside, among all the fun and very very very cold snow, and his dummy family were all inside, where it was warm and had lots of food and… and…
Snowball paused for a moment. Something about this situation seemed very wrong.
But then he stopped thinking about it, he had something more important to do: playing in the snow!!!
Snowball spent about two minutes jumping around in the deep snow and kicking up small amounts of powdery flakes into the air before he finally noticed the cold setting in. His hooves had gone numb almost as soon as he’d stepped outside, but his fluff had done a little to protect him from the icy winds… but as he’d played, the snow had soaked into the dense hairs, and at long last the cold began seeping into Snowball’s body.
After two minutes of playing, he paused where he was, and shivered violently as a powerful gust of cold air blew past him. His teeth chattered loudly in his head, and his entire body began to feel numb.
Snowball began to wonder if playing in the snow was all it was cracked up to be.
But he was determined to have fun regardless, and continued stomping on piles of snow, then shivering violently… kicking other piles, shivering again… rolling around in the snow, shivering again…
Finally Snowball stopped, panting for breath.
Okay, playing in the snow was fun, but it was also very cold. His entire body was soaked from the melting snow, and the shivering and teeth-chattering had now become nonstop.
Snowball made a decision. Enough was enough, he was ready to go back inside now.
He turned where he was, looking around… and saw how far he’d come from the door since he got outside, having carved a clear trail through the snow as he romped and pranced and played to his (now very chilly) heart’s content.
Snowball took a step forwards, but his entire body shook so bad he almost lost his balance while looking for a place to put his foot. He finally put it down, only to slip on the snow and land face-first in some icy cold slush left by his raucous playing. He leapt up again, his feet scrabbling on the cold ground, resulting in him falling down again, this time on his rear, which was also left badly chilled.
“Suh-Suh-Suh-Suh-Suh-Soo-oo-oo-zee-ee-ee!!!” His tiny voice wailed, drowned out by the howling winds of a cold winter’s night. “B-B-B-B-B-Be-e-e-e-n!!! Dah-Dah-Dah-Dah-Da-a-a-a-addeh!!!”
But nobody came.
Nobody heard him.
Nobody could.
The distance to the house was only a few feet, but to a fluffy pony, and a very cold one at that, it might as well have been a few miles. Snowball tried another step forwards, his limbs feeling stiff with the cold, his fluff actually starting to frost over, as he weakly tried to make his way home.
“Suh-Suh-Soo-zee!” He wailed as he trudged forwards, his voice growing hoarser as the cold crept deeper into his tiny, fragile body. “Buh-Buh-Be-e-en! Dah-Dah-Da-a-addeh!!!”
About 30 minutes later, Suzie, Ben and Dad were sitting down for dinner together. A hot meal lay on the dining table, with three plates heaped with steaming piles of food. Fries and chicken, dad’s favourite (as well as one that he found particularly easy to cook, coincidentally).
“Dad, what about Snowball?” Suzie asked as they sat down together.
“Oh, I filled his bowl with kibble, just like usual.” Dad replied, cutting into his roasted chicken breast.
“But he hasn’t touched it…” Suzie asked, her eyes fixed on Snowball’s bowl.
“Well… I saw him sulking earlier.” Dad said. “He wanted to go out and play in the snow with you too, but I said it wasn’t safe. So he went off in a huff, and I haven’t seen him since.”
“He’s probably crying in Suzie’s room or something.” Ben muttered, eating a handful of fries with his bare hand.
“Ben, use your knife and fork.” Dad replied, putting a piece of chicken into his mouth and biting down into the soft, hot meat as he began to chew.
None of them heard the tiny, insignificant sound at the door.
None of them could.
The wind outside was battering the house so hard, any other sounds were drowned out completely. Not only that, but the sound itself was so small, they’d have struggled to hear it even on a quiet night.
Outside the back door, Snowball was weakly pawing at the wooden surface, his blunt, ice-cold hoof scraping against it slowly.
“Huh… huh… hewp…” He wheezed, his voice barely a whisper, as another blast of cold air assaulted his soaking wet body. His teeth chattered violently, so much so that he almost bit off his tongue, as Snowball pressed his hoof against the door once more.
He had, in his mind, wanted to bang on the door until they heard him… but the cold had gotten too deep, and all Snowball could muster up was just enough energy to place his hoof against the door, then drag it downwards, creating a quiet near-scratching sound that, even if it had been heard by any of the occupants of the house, would have been mistaken for a by-product the wind.
“Puh-puh-puh-pwease…” Snowball whined, scraping his hoof against the door again. “Suh-Suh-Suh-Snowbaww am s-s-so cowld…”
Another howling gale came and hit Snowball directly in the side, toppling over his tiny, ice-cold body and landing him once more in the dense snow, right next to the door. He let out a long, quiet whine as the piercing cold speared into his sensitive little body once more.
Snowball was really starting to hate snow!
The sun rose the next morning, as it is known to do, as Ben and Suzie got ready for school. Mom had gotten back late, but still got up in time to make the kid’s lunches.
As per usual she handed them both out as the kids headed to the back door, stomping out into the snow to catch the school-bus.
Neither one of them noticed a particularly rotund blob of snow next to the door as they left.
Neither one noticed the blob of snow had eyes and a snout with two quivering, shivering nostrils.
Neither one heard the tiny, wheezing voice whisper something that sounded vaguely like ‘help’.
Ben and Suzie simply headed for the bus, and Mom closed the door behind them.
Snowball was left, buried in the snow, his eyes and nose protruding just enough from his icy prison that he could see everything happening as his owners stomped away and left him, his entire body numb to it’s very core from the night of endless, bitter cold.
Snowball hadn’t been able to sleep all night, but things were worse than just that. The cold had run so deep it had actually begun affecting his body, with frostbite working it’s way into each of his legs and even his tiny wings. Already they were turning black, but Snowball didn’t notice.
Snowball couldn’t notice.
Snowball could only sit where he was, buried in the snow, unable to move, unable to speak, unable to even twitch his head from the cold numbness of his entire frozen body.
But he could watch… and watch he did, as Ben and Suzie disappeared into the big yellow bus, and left him behind.
It was the last sight Snowball ever saw as the snow covering his head shifted and covered his face entirely, ending his suffering at last.