Snow Flurry - 4 - The Original Feels Chapter

Part IV – The 'Now I'm Updating Directly to the Thread' Editon

Your ears perk up as you hear Dan's pickup roll into the driveway and stop outside the house.  Ryan, too, seems to notice as he finally stops lavishing you with attention and pulls himself to an upright position on the couch.  You roll over to your stomach, your mane looking like a complete mess thanks to Ryan's affections, although this doesn't particularly bother you much.  The front door swings open with tremendous force, shaking the room when it impacts the wall.

“Got her looking like her good old self again for tonight,” Dan says as he enters while pointing out the open door towards the driveway.

“Oooooh. What's special about tonight?” you ask, genuinely interested.

Ryan answers your question from behind you.  “Dan and I've been thinking about heading back to the warehouse.  We figure that by now whoever was there skipped town to avoid getting caught if we went to the cops.”

You flip around to face Ryan.  “Why would you do something like that?”

“They might well have left something that could clue us on to what they did to you.  Maybe,” he hesitates, seemingly trying to decide whether or not to continue, “maybe even something that could help us change you back.”

You run up to Ryan's leg and grip it tightly with your forehooves, pressing your face into it to suppress your tears.  You pull back slightly after a few moments to speak.  “Why would you do something crazy like that for me?  Just …  don't, please, don't do it.”

“Don't worry.  I'm sure we'll be fine.  We've gone charging straight in to much worse places and come out okay.”  He chuckles and nods knowingly at Dan.

“Just please, don't do it.  You've already done way too much for me.”  By this point you're failing to control your sobbing.  “Can't we just stay here?”  You hop up and place your front hooves in Ryan's lap, looking directly into his eyes.  “Please.  I've been happier here than I have been my whole life.  I don't even wanna go back.”

The final sentence comes naturally but still takes you off guard once it leaves your mouth.  The more you think about, looking up at Ryan, the more it resonates as true.  A part of you can't believe this to be the case, that just a month ago you were free.  You were living your own life.  You were human.  And yet, everything else inside you seems to know what you said to be the case.  For the first time in years you've really felt, well, happy.

Ryan and Dan both look straight at you, not saying a word, seemingly leaving the floor open for you to retract your statements.  All you can do is stare back at Ryan.  There's really nothing more you feel that needs to be said.

Once what you said finally sinks in, Ryan is the first of the two to speak.

“Well, if that's really how you feel Snow, let's talk about it.”

Ryan nods at Dan, who takes the cue and steps back out of the threshold.  Now that you're alone with Ryan it seems as though all your conflicted emotions are magnified tenfold.  You look up at him with the intent to speak but can only manage to stare into his eyes.

Ryan takes the cue and speaks first.  “You know, what I said earlier today was true.  I really don't get it but I feel closer to you than anyone else in the world.  All I wanted was to see you happy.  If that means risking it all to find a way to fix you, I'll do it.”

You jump up, planting your upper body squarely in his lap.  “I don't need fixing.  I'm happy just the way I am as long as I'm with you.”  You nuzzle up to his chest.

Ryan reaches out and strokes your mane thoughtfully.  “I really just don't know anymore.”  He continues petting you gently while lost in thought for some time.  “So, you're sure about this?  You're willing to give up whatever you had before this whole mess started?”

“Yes, of course!”  It barely takes you a second to respond.  By this point the thought of ever going back to your old life seems almost ludicrous.  You're not sure you could manage taking care of yourself again, much less hold down a job and pay the bills.  You've been far too spoiled by Ryan since you met him to even remember what it's like to worry about such things.  You actually nearly break down at the thought of him rejecting you and forcing you back to that life, and you add a weak “Please, don't make me leave.”

A weak voice in the back of your head can't believe what you're saying, but you've spent your entire life second-guessing yourself and getting nothing done.  You push it aside, allowing your thoughts to be entirely consumed by your desire to stay at Ryan's side.  You pull your face out of the folds of his shirt and stare up into his eyes with the cutest expression you can manage on your face.

Ryan chuckles and tousles your mane.  “I just can't say no to a face like that.  I guess we're gonna stay in this together for the foreseeable future, my little Snow Flurry.”

You jump up entirely into Ryan's lap and cuddle up to him as he scratches your head.  You know you made the right choice.

- - -

Your eyes flutter open lazily, your body remaining sprawled out across the couch cushion where Ryan had been sitting a few hours prior.  With all the events of the past weeks you hadn't been alone long enough to figure out how hard it is to amuse yourself with hooves.  You know that it's only been a couple hours since the two of them headed into town.  All they would say is that they had something special to get ready for.  You can only hope that they didn't go and do something crazy without letting you know.  You nuzzle the cushion longingly.  You really wish that they were back so you could stop coming up with terrible scenarios in your head of what might have happened to them.

You finally hear something that sounds like the chugging motor of Dan's truck and crane your neck outwards.  Both excited and relieved, you jump off the couch and plant yourself at the front door, sitting upright on your back legs.

The door swings open with Dan leading the way, carrying a large cardboard box.  He pauses for a moment as he enters, smiling and laughing at the sight of you waiting by the door.

“Careful there Snowy.”  He hoists the box onto his shoulders to get it past you and continues into the living room.

Ryan enters behind him, also carrying a few smaller boxes.  You can only imagine what the two of them have been up to.  He leans down and scratches your head, which you acknowledge with a gracious nuzzle.

“I hope you haven't been sitting there the whole time,” he laughs. “You're going to make me feel even worse next time I have to leave.”

Ryan walks into the living room and takes a seat on the side of the couch opposite Dan, who's already reclining on one end with his feet on the nearby table.  He pats the cushion between the two of them and you eagerly climb on the couch and cozy up to Ryan's leg.

Ryan looks over to Dan.  “Well, shall we get started then?”

Dan grabs his box, which he left propped up on the armrest, and plants it squarely in the middle of the table, shifting his feet to one side to make room.  Pulling a switchblade from his pocket, he slices open the lid of the container before sliding the knife back into his jeans.  You make a mental note not to cuddle that side of Dan's leg in the future.

Dan “The truth is, little missy, we've grown pretty fond of you too.  So long as you're gonna be staying with us we figured that we might as well do a little something for you.”  You still really wish Dan would stop calling you that, although you've grown to appreciate it as his own unique form of affection.  He removes the top of the box and tosses it aside, before pulling out something that you can't quite discern and doing the same to the lower half of the container.

As you try to get a better look at what was in the box, you can feel yourself lifted off the couch and placed somewhat unceremoniously onto the table.

“Well, how do you like it?”

Taking a second to re-orient yourself, you finally look down at your hooves and realize that you're standing on top of a soft, fluffy pet bed.

“For me?”

“Well, it's probably better than that old mattress but I don't think I'd fit in it.”

“Oh, thank you!  Thank you thank you thank you!”  You have to admit, sleeping on a cold wooden floor hasn't been the most comfortable experience of your life, even though you didn't mind it thanks to Ryan's petting before you went to sleep.  What you can't believe is that Ryan and Dan still feel the need to do more for you even when they've already sacrificed so much to make sure you were safe and comfortable.

As you poke around the edges of the bed with your nose you can feel Ryan stand up and begin rubbing your back.  You lean into the petting, savoring every second of it.

“That's not all,” he says, reaching back to where he was sitting on the couch.  When he returns you can feel his hands fasten something around your neck.  He grabs a mirror from the wall near the front door and holds it in front of you.  Around your neck is a beautiful ivory-colored leather collar, with a small tag hanging from the front.

“I hope you don't mind it, Snowy.  I think it looks cute on you.”  He leans down and smiles at you.

You know that you should hate wearing this thing, but you can't bring even a small fraction of yourself to do it.  In fact, you find it calming and reassuring, like all your remaining worries were just lifted from you.

You simply sit and stare into Ryan's eyes in a trance.  When you've finally collected your thoughts enough to speak, you can only think of one thing to say, despite how much a part of you doesn't want to say it.  It is, after all, the only polite thing to say in your position.  Right?  You sit there with a blank stare for a few seconds as your mind races back and forth, finally deciding on the course of action best suited to a pet pony such as yourself.

“Th-Thank you, Master.”

He looks down at you, taking a second to process the events.  He breaks into an even wider grin, seemingly content with the present turn of events.  He leans down and kisses you the top of your head.

“No need to thank me, Snowy.”

You lean over the edge of your bed and nuzzle his chest.

Suddenly the moment is interrupted by the sound of a motor outside the house abruptly stop followed by the slam of car doors.  The knock on the door that follows cuts the silence like a knife.