Buzzy Ponies/Buzzy Friends/Buzzies/Bee Fluffies
Buzzies are very small, although still managing to be bigger than actual bumblebees, it’s not by much. The standard buzzy pony is actually smaller than a fully mature Variant 2 Micro though it wouldn’t quite look that way from the amount of fuzz on a buzzy, as well as their wings. Buzzies generally have two colour palettes that alternate in stripes down their body, similar to a bee. Although all buzzies seem to have a predisposition towards black and yellow being the standard colours, at least for worker buzzies, others have been spotted. With some rumours, although not confirmations, of monochrome black & white buzzies, and, more rarely, even full rainbow pattern buzzies. Buzzies are able to fly via the small translucent wings they have on their backs, but only in bursts of around 2 or 3 minutes before needing a quick rest, this is due both to their fat little bodies, and also the fact that the speed at which those small wings must flap to keep that fat body in the air increases the buzzy’s body heat to levels that make them very susceptible to sudden heat strokes if they push themselves too hard, or are just unlucky.
Another unique feature of buzzies would be their stinger; located between the testicles and anus of male buzzies. A needle thin, somewhat short and pathetic stinger, but a stinger regardless. If a buzzy is agitated they will threaten to, as well as actually be willing to, use it, though only at great behest, because they take great pride in their stingers and don’t wish to damage or dirty them.
Often they will attempt to defend themselves from or attack perceived enemies by threatening to give them “sowwy spitties” or “sowwy honies”, in which they will attempt to vomit up a honey-like substance onto whatever they’re engaged with while buzzing around it quickly, only stopping to release the honey. This isn’t as bad as it sounds however, as buzzies are not able to spit at all, and so it’s more accurate to say the honey dribbles out of them as they buzz above and around you, occasionally succeeding in splashing it on you, much to their celebration and taunting. However; if a buzzy feels as though its hive is truly in danger, and it really doesn’t like you, it will relent and use its stinger.
Unbeknownst to every male buzzy, unfortunately for them, despite their stinger being a powerful weapon for a fluffy, especially one of their size, it was not designed to be used against a human, as such it fails to pierce the skin of a human. If the buzzy is lucky, which does not refer to many of them, the stinger will snap and they will go through a dismissable amount of physical pain and the psychological pain of losing a piece of themselves. The more likely outcome however is the stinger not bending at all upon being pressed against the skin of a human, and instead the pressure is directed towards the buzzy, who is unceremoniously ran through by his own stinger, with it either exiting through his back/asshole, or cock/balls. Both of which likely being lethal injuries for the small creature.
Perhaps most interestingly are the different “roles” that buzzies occupy within their social structure.
Queen. The “Qweenie” Buzzy is a larger buzzy (close to 2 inches compared to just under an inch for a standard buzzy) who produces all of the offspring for the entire group. She stays in the deepest part of the nest and is so fat from both pregnancy and food consumption that most of them are entirely incapable of moving at all, let alone flying. They are brought food from “Nestie Fwends” and never have to want for anything. Other than more food.
Drones. Smallest variety of buzzy. Exist solely to mate with the queen when needed. No further purpose. (Only one of them exists for every 50 other worker bees.) Dies not long after mating. No stinger.
Workers. Most abundant variety, split into many different groups. Most female workers, occasionally called “Nestie Fwends” by other buzzies, have multiple jobs, including bringing food from the storage areas to the queen, or expanding the hive, or building different structures within the hive such as honeycomb to store grubbies in or store honies in. Some of them act as full time guards to the queen’s chambers. Others take care of the grubs, feeding them honey and making sure they’re developing normally. They fulfill many niches.
Scouts. Composed entirely of sterile males, not that they mind, they prefer going out and exploring the world, looking for flowers in order to get their favorite meal in the world, nectar. (and also because they enjoy flowers a lot aesthetically. And the way they smell.) That nectar is then brought back to the hive where it’s given to a worker buzzy, who either packs it into a honeycomb “to use later”, or will then go and begin immediately making it into honey.
Soldiers. Marginally bigger scouts. Not particularly noticeable unless you pay close attention. But to buzzies it is immediately noticeable and means the world. They are still as strong as a scout. Still have a stinger just as short. Still sterile. They’re just slightly bigger and often act as enforcers, and will try to keep the others calm when the hive is experiencing a stressful event.
Grubs. Also referred to by buzzies as “Gwubbies” or “Gwub Babbehs” are the offspring of the queen buzzy. She pushes out dozens of these 1/4th inch long grubs each day that are quickly whisked away by worker buzzies and taken to a nursery and placed in a beeswax cell and fed honey. After two days the grub will be asking when it’s allowed out of its cocoon. And on the fifth day it will emerge ready to take on its role in the hive.
Princess. Takes on the role of queen when no queen is around. Able to reproduce asexually at the cost of autophagy, would require a substantial food source of some sort to safely reproduce with no drones.
Buzzies live in large social groups called swarms in structures called hives, though they refer to them as “hive housie” or “nest housie”. These hives are made in a similar manner as to how paper wasps make nests, though using plant matter instead of wood does lead to the constructions looking less than beautiful. Buzzies will fly away from the hive and gather organic material like grasses and leaves that it mixes with saliva to make a rudimentary paper mache imitation. Despite the clunky outside look that serves as an indicator that these are indeed buzzies, and not wasps or bees, the inside of the hive is actually generally ordered somewhat well. At least in the sense that it resembles a normal hive in terms of structure. Different sections of the (strangely wide?) nest have different purposes, from storing nectar, to storing honey, to storing the grubs that would soon become buzzies.
When the queen buzzy reaches near the end of her life cycle or her body feels as though it’s on the verge of death, it will begin releasing “princess grubs” at exponentially slower rates than previous grubs, normally only releasing around 4 princess grubs before nearly halting grub production entirely. When a princess replaces the former queen (chosen at complete random upon all princess grubs growing into buzzies on their third day, on the whim of the inhabitants of the hive) and becomes a new one, all buzzies will attempt to kill the remaining princesses. Rarely, those princesses can escape, and even more rarely than that, they can start their own independent hive later, but that relies on them living that long.
Buzzies are beginning to be farmed more often as their honey has become something of a trend in the social media food communities, reportedly tasting like a less viscous, but ultimately sweeter honey. They’re not especially difficult to raise either, taking to standard bee boxes quite easily, and being able to be convinced to part with their honey in exchange for being allowed to stay in their “big nestie”, so long as they had enough to feed themselves and the grubs. Of course, they could also just as easily be forced into it through manipulation, force, or any other number of ways.