Fluffy Life Cycle

The life of a fluffy is incredibly rapid. Although they might have a maximum life span ranging from eight to ten years, various factors like weather, diseases, their own stupidity, wild animals and abusers may drastically shorten their life expectancy to around only a year or two. As fluffies age, they go through distinctive life stages. As always, the exact nature and length of each stage varies through different headcanons.

## Newborns (Chiwpy/Cheepy Babbehs)

The fluffy pony's first stage of life. In this stage, the foals eyes have not yet opened and they have not spoken their first words; they can only communicate through high pitched "chirps" "cheeps" or "peeps" (But there have been some cases of newborn foals trying to make talking sounds) that sound similar to chicks; This is one of the reason why fluffies are called Crap Chicks. Newborn foals are incredibly vulnerable and incapable of properly walking, though they can crawl with great effort. Foals are born with an instinctive desire to feed, and so will crawl towards any nipple-like object and suckle instinctively, whether it be a human finger, a bottle, or the actual teat of a fluffy mother. Newborn foals have a thin covering of hair, not yet fully grown into proper fluff, and little-to-no fluff on their manes or tail (the amount varies between headcanon). The color of a newborn's fluff may resemble that of their parents, but may just as likely not. After about 4 days of proper care, a new born foal is usually able to sit upright and interact with others, though it is still unable to walk, talk, or see.

## Foals (Babbehs)

The second stage of a fluffy foal's life, usually occurring in their first or second week after birth. The eyes of a fluffy foal have opened and the foal is able to now walk on its legs instead of crawling. Major physical changes include tail and fluff growth. The now mobile foal is able to play with its parents or caretaker. Most foals still cling tightly to their parents at this stage, though some more adventurous foals may begin to explore at this age. Foals at this stage may begin to speak one-or-two simple words, most commonly "mummah", "huggies" "wub" and "miwkies", but are unable to fully form sentences and still mostly chirp. Most fluffies during this period will have major separation anxiety from their mothers. The majority of foals away from their mother or in danger will use a collection of alarm chirps to alert their family.

## Weanlings (Big Babbehs)

Occurring in the third week after birth, a weanling is a fluffy pony foal who is able to completely walk and fully form sentences to communicate (but might chirp on occasion) Foals at this stage are generally more adventurous, and begin to form actual friendships outside of the family. Physically, a weanling is slightly larger than a foal and has a developed tail and fluff, though the manes of a weanling are usually still very short. It is also at this stage that foals teeth start to come in and they usually begin to eat solid foods and start to move away from milk as their primary food source. Distinctive personality traits, such as brattiness, kindness, curiosity, intelligence, or aggression, will also usually become visible during this stage, though in some cases these traits may appear earlier.

## Adolescence (Fillies and Colts)

About a month after birth, fluffies begin to physically and mentally mature towards adulthood, and are able to eat a wide variety of food and will stop chirping completely. Physically, an adolescent fluffy greatly resembles an adult with their fully-developed fluff, manes and tails, though they are usually still only a little over half the size of a full-grown adult. Colts and fillies generally begin to experience sexual urges at this stage, and may start breeding. Fluffies of this age are generally known by their boldness, their sexual urges, and their eagerness to prove themselves. In feral herds, the fluffy then assigns these adolescent fluffies their role as attendants, gatherers, scouts, or toughie friend enforcer.

## Adulthood (Mares and Stallions)

At around two months old, the fluffy is full grown and sexually mature, making it one of the fastest maturing animals. The average adult fluffy has an intellect that ranges from a human four-year-old to a human six-year-old, though adult alicorn intelligence might range from a seven-year-old human to ten-year-old human; in very rare cases, a freak mutation can cause fluffies to have near-adult-human or adult-human level intellect. This is the age where fluffies develop mothering/fathering instincts, although it has been commonly seen for fluffies to have hindered development of this instinct and therefore, when having children, may forget to feed them and instead let them starve. This is one of the factors for high infant mortality. Adult fluffies may scavenge for food even in captivity, despite being given food, likely due to instinctual responses. Female fluffies will have fully developed teats which are used for infant lactation, but fluffy mare milk can be tainted, especially for feral fluffies.

## Old Age (Gwey Fwuffs)

Due to the frail and stupid nature of fluffies, as well as the stupefyingly large amount of people who intentionally or accidentally kill them and poor diet of ferals, it is quite rare for a fluffy to actually reach old age. After the fourth year, older fluffies begin to show strands of grey or white in their fluff; while it will almost never fully overtake their natural coloring, these strands will increase with time. Their movements also begin to slow down, and older fluffies are more prone to resting or engaging in activities even more sedate than those of a normal fluffy. Without human supervision, only the luckiest and smartest fluffies can reach old age. Among fluffies, the few old fluffies tend to share their experience with the herd, acting as a sort of wise-man or adviser. However, some herd leaders treat the elder fluffies' constant warning and word of advice as a challenge to their position as the all-knowing smarty friend, and will kill or chase them away if they do not submit to the smarty friend's decision. After about eight-to-ten years, a fluffy may finally die of old age.