Feral Fluffies

Feral fluffies are fluffies that are not domesticated, or that have otherwise escaped or been released from care/captivity.

These fluffies are often seen as pests due to their constant defecation and reproduction, which tend to result in damage to both public and private property. This usually takes for the form of unintentionally spreading disease and tainting water supplies, inflicting damage to lawns, parks and gardens and damaging agricultural/pastoral production when feeding.

## Description

Feral fluffies, also called street fluffies and wild fluffies, are fluffy ponies who have no home and no owner. Some are strays who have run away from their homes, were abandoned by their owners, 'freed' from Shelters and mills by activists, or in some rare cases, simply got lost. Others were born feral, and have little understanding of concepts that are otherwise familiar to domestic fluffies beyond what is instinctively baked into their psyche at a genetic level.

Feral fluffies are a common sight in many cities, urban areas and forests. Their appearance is usually identical to domestic fluffies. However, because of a harsh and unforgiving life style, their fluff tend to be more dirty and shaggy. Scars can sometimes be found on ferals that survived a dangerous encounter - be it with people, predators or random objects. The life of a feral is more bleak and difficult than that of a domestic fluffy, and they are faced with dangers such as malnutrition, predators, abusers, exterminators, the elements, and a list of other things which fluffy ponies are ill-equipped to deal with.

Many will die, and the few who manage to etch out a living of scavenging and begging will have little comfort in their lives.

There are two proposals for for the huge number of feral fluffies in the world.

* The first and most common is that their high reproductive rate (as short as 3 weeks in some headcanons,) is sufficient that they can persist anywhere through nothing more than sheer weight of numbers. This isn't unlike many animals such as rats, rabbits, fish and many amphibians who use similar strategies to survive as a species. Their numbers are further supplemented by well-meaning activists and uncaring (or simply negligent) owners releasing, losing, or abandoning thier fluffies for any number of reasons.
* The second and apparently less popular proposal is that while they are not very well equipped biologically to survive, they are simply good *enough*, such that they manage to carry on in spite of their other shortcomings. This usually takes the form of a combination of factors beyond simple persistence and numbers, including natural selection (as fluffies still bound to only a waddle-type gait and the *especially* stupid would die out very quickly,) resistance to disease, intelligence (and the capacity to learn that comes with it,) and ability to communicate both with each other and humans somewhat effectively, thanks to their instinctive understanding (of a sort, anyway,) of North American English. Along with a helping of sheer dumb luck.

## Life and Death, on the streets or in the wilderness

As Fluffy ponies were designed to be highly dependent on humans, they are horribly equipped to deal with life outside of a warm and safe home.

Unlike other stray animals; such as cats and dogs, fluffies, particularly those of a domestic background, usually have an at-best lacking grasp of survival skills and instincts. Those not born feral expect to be handed food from a loving owner or other caretaker and will frequently suffer from at *minimum* short-term malnourishment as they will frequently be reluctant to eat regular plants and some kinds of edible garbage. In the case of expectant mothers who ran away to protect thier brood, this will often result in undersized or malformed (if not straight up stillborn,) foals. In addition to this, they are *notoriously* stupid, naïve, and are so accident prone (or just plain unlucky,) that they can often manage to find ways to get themselves injured or even killed in a supposedly fluffy-proofed Safe Room or house, even while in the care of the best possible hugboxing owners. When put in a dangerous environment with scarce resources the results can be (and frequently are,) disastrous for them.

Feral fluffes will, from time to time however, attempt to get help from humans. Usually this takes the form of begging for food and a warm home (or in the case of a fluffy who simply got lost, seeking help to be reunited with its owner) and is more common among those who were released or abandoned than those born into and thus accustomed to life as a feral. That said, especially desperate ferals do occasionally try to seek help from humans, usually in a bid to secure safety for thier offspring.

However, these cries for help are most often met with apathy and rejection at best and mortal peril at worst.

This can be attributed primarily to ferals being considered vermin by much of society due to the damage they typically cause. In rare cases however, humans do take pity on them and give them something to eat. In some cases, they may even adopt them, or failing that, agree to take in one or more of thier foals if they have any. Most often this will be the 'bestest babbeh,' but more cautious parents who've survived encounters with abusers or exterminators may first give away their least favorite foals instead.

The near constant rejection causes an incredible amount of stress and sorrow in fluffies, whose greatest desire is to be loved and cared for. When not begging for food, they acquire any nutrition they can get by digging through trash and eating whatever plant life is available, generally resulting in a great deal of damage being done to public, private and commercial areas alike as grass, crops and leaves are stripped and bodily waste is left strewn about.

Ferals usually have greater success at finding food in parks and outside city limits where plant life is more abundant and human interference is less common, but this comes at the price of a lack of shelter and an increase in predators. Lack of shelter in particular is a leading killer of many ferals in places with harsh and/or wet winters, as many have fluff that provides little to no protection from the wind and is only mildly water repellent to resist a light mist or being handled by a damp owner (such as at a pool, beach, or after a shower.)

Fluffies are also generally just disadvantaged in terms of tools for survival outside of an urban/suburban setting. They often lack camouflage of any sort, they aren't particularly strong, fast or agile, are seldom ever able to overpower anything larger than themselves (and when they do, it usually costs a great number of fluffies or involves an indescribable amount of luck,) generally have mediocre spatial awareness and are often quite loud when speaking amongst themselves. Foals in particular can often get thier parents or herds killed when the youngest among them sense danger or feel hungry, prompting loud and fearful or demanding scardy/hungry peeps, utterly oblivious to the danger their vocalizations are bringing.

That said, it can be assumed they do have some (only slight) ability to defend themselves, or failing that, serve as distractions while thier friends and family make an escape.

They can deter predators and rivals with thier ability to intentionally spray fecal matter (as most animals tend to not like being sprayed with foul smelling *anything*,) and can break bones in unprotected fingers and toes if they throw all thier weight behind a stomp, including being able to break the necks of other fluffies and other smaller animals (this is of little if any concern to humans, who are usually wearing shoes and are otherwise far too large to injure in this manner.) They're also perfectly capable of drawing blood when they bite other creatures, however their slightly blunt teeth and relatively low bite strength makes this a rare feat without concerted effort (such as when forced to cannibalize another fluffy or eat carrion,) and virtually unheard of from the quick angry nips they often make when displeased or cornered. The discharge of bodily waste elicited when afraid is also usually quite slick and runny and presents a genuine slipping/stumbling hazard to pursuers that can sometimes buy them enough time to make an escape.

While easy to injure, they were gifted with quick-clotting blood (to counter the inevitable scraps and cuts that being a child's biotoy would lead to,) and able to endure - though only rarely ever survive - physical trauma that would put virtually any other creature into shock-induced unconsciousness as long as the heart and brain aren't immediately destroyed and the blood loss not *too* severe. The stories of fluffies, including foals, who were able to survive for a short time or even on very rare occasions escape death despite extreme crushing trauma, puncture wounds, losing limbs, and worse are many, including being capable of semi-coherent speech (by fluffy standards,) even when severely mangled. This makes the wounded an often extremely loud and distracting target to a would-be predator, exterminator or abuser and the resultant diversion of attention, however brief, can be the difference in at least a few fluffies in a herd surviving, or none at all.

As a final note, some unusually clever fluffies have also been known to try and use objects in the environment as makeshift weapons on occasion, with at least one account of a foal attempting to kill an abuser to save its family with a bowling ball, specifically by pushing it off a shelf onto his head.

## Feral Herds

Fluffies, like humans, are highly social creatures and become depressed when alone for too long. Naturally, they will seek out the company of other fluffies, which leads to the creation of herds. The benefits of a herd go far beyond companionship, however. While in a herd, the life expectancy of a fluffy rises dramatically as their actual odds of being killed by predators is reduced. They also benefit from dramatically improved ability to find food and shelter, and rearing foals becomes much easier as well as mothers are able to leave thier young for a short while to get food, water, or relieve themselves away from their nest and be reasonably certain thier litter won't be dead when they return.

While the structure and dynamics of a herd vary, herds are always led by a Smarty fluffy or a "smarty friend." Smarties are notorious for being self-centered, greedy, egotistical tyrants that often bring death and misery to their herds. Usually this is for the sake of their own personal gain, but just as often it's simply a result of general incompetence. That said, it can be assumed that most Smarties are at least intelligent enough to steer their herds away from danger *most* of the time, bringing doom upon themselves and their herds only when thier ego outstrips what passes for common sense among fluffies. When it does, a herd's death warrant is typically signed with the phrase "dis is smawty's wand nao!" Or some variation thereof.

Nearly all herds will also have Toughie Friends. Toughies act as both as enforcers for the Smarty and as soldiers/protectors for the herd, and are often granted special privileges in exchange for the duties they take up. Usually this takes the form of a greater share of food, better nesting places/spots in the fluffpile and less restrictive mating rights.

While herds drastically increase a feral's chance of survival, herds are also bring them new dangers.

* A poor judgment call by the leader can lead an entire herd to its doom. This will usually be a result of a Smarty being far too confident in his and his toughies' abilities (usually resulting in them starting a fight they quite literally cannot win,) but it could also simply be a Smarty choosing a poor place to stop and rest, not sensibly rationing food or opting to not leave an area soon enough.
* Herds can also attract a large number of wild animals that will typically prefer to pick off anyone who dares stray from the group. Foragers and Toughies in particular are especially likely to be victims of predators, as their duties typically take them far from the bulk of the herd. Others may simply attack the herd directly.
* Herds will consume more resources than a single fluffy, and leave more obvious signs to their presence in the form of stripped vegetation, filth and stench. This frequently leads to exterminators or other control officials being called in to deal with them.
	+ This can also lead a herd to starvation as food sources are more rapidly depleted.
* During the colder months, when there is less food to go around, many at the bottom of the pecking order will starve, or in extreme cases be cannibalized by the other fluffies.
* Fluffy herds are often surprisingly and violently territorial, often leading to bloodshed when herds meet. Herds lead by especially violent Smarties will often raid other herds for food, to kidnap mares and foals to bolster their own herd or to drive other herds away from food and water sources. These conflicts typically last until one herd has killed, absorbed, or driven off its competitors.
	+ Oftentimes stallions will simply be killed in these conflicts, but this seems to be mostly a result of some herds going "all in" and using every available stallion as a fighter, even those unsuited to the role or who have other more important roles in the herd. It is more likely stallions will be driven away as it's easier and less dangerous than killing them. This generally means one or more may escape to start anew, if they weren't offered a place in the conquering herd's ranks.
	+ Herds will also often ignore or attempt to recruit feral families that are not part of a herd. This policy seems to vary from herd to herd however, and consequently means those fluffies who would rather live in smaller groups are put in much greater danger of being simply killed by more violent herds for simply existing near them.