>You don't know where in the world your country is, you just know that it is called Ethiopia
>Your refugee village is in a bad state
>There are only a hand full of people still alive here and it's only a matter of time before it's empty and forgotten
>You are a 8-9 year old boy, and you are going to starve to death soon
>You lay, pretending to sleep on the ground in your rough hut, next to your older brother
>Your brother usually takes the "father" role in your "family" but his ankle is broken right now so your mother had to leave to look for something to eat tonight
>Your mother comes back from her journey
>Brother asks her if she found anything
>She says yes, but it cost her
>She reveals that she has a big gash on her head, which is bleeding down her neck
>You hope it will heal
>She opens up a cloth bag and reveals her haul for the dinner: three small fluffy creatures
>They are immediately yelling in high, whiny, baby voices in some language you don't understand
 
>You ask your mother what they are
>She tells you they are, "fluffy horses", animals that are made by scientists in a place called "China" as pets for people in a place called, "America". She reveals that she obtained the fluffy ponies by stealing them from a group of pirates, who, in turn, stole them from a ship to America
>That explains the gash
>She provides one to all three of you
>Yours is looking at you, and you take a moment to observe the quirky animal
>It's looking at you, still shouting in a strange language
>You notice it keeps using the word, "famwy"
>The fluffy horse looks around to its friends, and manages to turn its head enough to see your brother with one of them, a green one with wings
>Your brother is very hungry, so he takes a big bite out of the side of the animal, like a fruit
>It starts shouting in immense pain, which scares you a bit
>It scares your dinner more
>It starts yelling even louder, and crying, dripping tears onto the ground
>Your mother takes a bite out of hers, but your fluffy horse can't see her
>It's a similar sight
>Your brother asks you why you're not eating
>You don't know
>You are so hungry; you haven't eaten in 3 days
>You open your mouth wide
>The fluffy horse's head enters your mouth
>The screaming vibrates across your tongue, through your nose, into your head
>You pull back
>You stare at the fluffy horse for a while, still crying and most likely pleading not to die
>Your brother pipes up, reminding you to eat
>You can't do it
 
>You have no idea why, but you have a severe aversion to eating this creature
>You admit this to your brother
>Mother yells at you, ordering you to eat it
>You once again claim that you can't do that
>Brother finishes up the last leg of his fluffy pony in one bite and gets up
>He grabs you by your neck
>He tells you, angrily, that you are a maladroit. You will die if you don't eat the puny creature. He claims, mockingly, that you are a girl, and cannot take even the simplest of action, even to save your own life.
>You feel your blood thin, like in the night
>You hold the horse close to your chest, unable to say a word
>Brother drops you to the ground and delivers a blow to your face
>Your Mother is yelling with him
>You look down at the animal
>It is curled up in a ball of fluff, constantly yelling in its strange language
>It is afraid
>So are you
>You stop thinking
>You feel strangely for this small soul
>You get up
>You walk past your brother
>You exit the hut
>You venture out of the town
>You venture, to the protest and mocking of your "family"
>You venture to a better place for this small, helpless creature
>You are an iota of hopeless defiance
>
>
 
>You are floating
>Everything hurts
>Everywhere is sand and rock, burning. Burning.
>Burning you.
>You hold your fluffy horse close to you
>You shield its soft body from the rays of the sun with your hand, to the best of your ability
>Sometimes a bit of his exposed fluff catches on fire, but you immediately smother it out before it can spread
>It's a long time
>
>Nightfall
>You fall
>The cold, unforgiving rock knocks the feeling out of your body
>You have to roll over to make sure you're still alive
>The fluffy horse leaves your hands and walks over to your now-ground-level face
>It says some things, in a now-calmer tone, but you still don't understand it
>It looks to you with helpless, sorrowful eyes
>It is cold
>Your eyes close by themselves
>All is dark
>
>
 
>You feel something push against your face
>The fluffy horse is attempting to enter your mouth
>Your eyes open on their own
>The fluffy pony is plunging into your mouth, headfirst
>It is crying again, saying the word "daddy" a lot
>
>You love it
>You reach up and grab the fluffy horse out of your mouth
>You get up
>You press on
>
>
>You are a white male, 20 years old, in a village in Ethiopia
>You enter the helicopter once again to retrieve another box of canned goods
>You take it out to the villagers who have gathered in the center of the town
>Almost all of these people are not only eating for the first time in months, but have found a person to talk to them and tell them that it just might be alright
>Even though these kinds of missions are extremely political and bureaucratic, you love your job
>You drop off the crate and take a moment to walk to the edge of the village, and bask in the equatorial sun
>You see a figure in the desert
>It looks like... a little boy!
>You run back to the center of the village and yell to everyone the strange news, simultaneously grabbing into the crate you just moved for whatever food you can get
>A party is sent out for the boy
>
 
>You find a small, shirtless boy, starved to death, no more than 9
>What's more; next to his still corpse is a small, red fluffy pony
>It stands next to his face, sobbing, "Daddy! Daddy, pwese wa' up! Pwese! Fwuffy miss daddy, fwuffy hawt!"
>This is, by far, the most peculiar thing you've ever seen overseas
>You grab a can of food (it happens to be Spaghetti-O's) and get the fluffy pony's attention with it
"Fluffy, hey. What happened here? You hungry?"
>"Daddy no wa' up! Gif' nummies!"
>The fluffy pony jumps up and knocks the can out of your hands
>In vein, the animal gets behind the fallen can and rolls it over to the boy, mindlessly pushing it to his face
>It sobs
>
>You reach down and grab the fluffy
>It immediately cries out for its daddy
"Come on, little guy. We need to get you to a safe place."
>You carry the fluffy pony back to the helicopter, to be brought back to the States
>"No! No, ta' fwuffy ba'! Daddy nee' hewp, nee' wa' up!" the fluffy pony mewls all the way