You’re a high end fluffy breeder, one of the first ones to ever be licensed by Hasbio. Originally, you were going to be one of the only sources of fluffy ponies in the country, the world even, and every fluffy you sold would be carefully sterilized beforehand so only licensed breeders could produce more. You thought you’d been screwed after PETA released thousands of fluffies into the wild and anyone and everyone could get their hands on fertile fluffies and start breeding their own, but you just switched to specialty fluffies and your business survived.
You started out breeding fluffies that looked like characters on the show, or tried to anyway. Getting specific color patterns and types on a regular basis was very much hit-or-miss. Now you don’t even bother trying, and the rare fluffy who resembles a show character happens more or less at random and nets you some extra cash as a bonus.
Then, as fluffies became more popular, you started breeding high-pedigree show fluffies. More desirable colors, sleeker, glossier coats, and well trained for the show circuit. Really, no different than regular fluffies, but people were willing to pay more for those with a little extra fanciness to their looks and the proper attitude and training. A certified pedigree that went all the back to Hasbio’s labs and showed no smarties or ‘trash’ fluffies in their ancestry always netted you some extra bucks. You kept a few with shitty personalities as breeders, seperating them from their foals once their eyes opened so they wouldn’t pass on their behavior, but most of those you either passed off to other breeders or, if blessed with behavior you wouldn’t inflict on your enemies, put down humanely by gassing them with your car exhaust. You just stuck them in the “nu smeww pwetty bawx”, shut the lid, ran the hose to your exhaust pipe, and let the engine idle for twenty minutes. Problem solved.
You kept a large stable of different colors on hand, because show fluffies (or, more accurately, their owners) were very fickle and you had to keep up with what was fashionable at the time. Primary colors, then pastels, then monochromes, then just pegasi, then red, then pinto, then earth tones, tastes and fashion in show fluffies were always shifting. The only constants were solid black and any combination with white being the in thing, regardless of whatever else was popular at the time. Unlike many show fluffy breeders, you didn’t dispose of your mares and studs once their colors were no longer in vogue; you held onto them because you knew what was popular and what wasn’t would change within a couple months and you could start selling them and their offspring again.
Show fluffies have been your bread and butter, always, and you’re never going to quit breeding them. They’ve gone down in value lately thanks to designer fluffies, but that just means more regular folks are buying your merchandise, opening up a new market for you besides rich people and the show circuit.
Designer fluffies… now there’s where the money’s at!
The most popular designer breed, and the one most people think of when they hear the term ‘designer fluffy’, is in high demand. Monochrome, extra poofy fluff, especially in their tail and the bib on their chest, always a pastel shade, and they come with stubbier legs than regular fluffies. They’re popular with regular customers as well as the show circuit, and after acquiring your initial batch of designer fluffies, you’ve worked out the kinks and are regularly producing foals with all the right colors and characteristics.
Unfortunately, designers are a pain in the ass because they’re slightly dumber than the average fluffy and naturally inclined to brattiness. Worse still, they’re more delicate than regular fluffies, so many punishments that will train a show fluffy to have proper discipline will permanently scar a designer and ruin its appearance, making it worthless. So you have to focus on things that won’t physically harm the fluffy; spraying it with cold water, spritzing it with Listerine (you stole that idea from another breeder in town who called it ‘bad baby spray’ and used it to discipline foals.), putting it in a sorry box, and confiscating toys, food, beds, etc. If you cracked down hard enough on them as foals, they learned to behave and took to show circuit training as they got older. The ones who were still irredeemable brats you either kept as breeders (at which point you beat the shit out of them with a sorry stick or hit them with pepper spray; you weren’t going to sell them, so who cares if they get a little fucked up, so long as they stop acting like shitheads?) or gassed.
The original designer fluffy, though not one people usually thought of as ‘designer’, was the Clydesdale fluffy. Like the poofy designers, they’re always earthies, but that’s where the similarities end. Clydesdale fluffies are larger, stronger, and more durable than regular fluffies, and they have much shorter fluff; it’s only regular length around their ankles and in a bib on their chest. They’re nearly always earth tones, chestnut for example, but a deep red or maroon is also acceptable. Mane and tail are always earth tone or black. Clydesdales aren’t any smarter than regular fluffies, but they’re much more mellow and laid back, and very cooperative by nature. They nearly always have the temperament for the show circuit and are ridiculously easy to train. Unfortunately, they’re nearly always male (having been bred to appeal to buyers who wanted a ‘manlier’ fluffy), with female litter mates being regular earthies nine times out of ten, and they’re nowhere near as popular as other designer fluffies. You used to have a whole stable of them, but now you’ve just got the one stud, a dark red with chocolate mane and tail, and you mainly keep him as a pet rather than a breeder; you do occasionally let him get frisky with a mare, just to keep him happy and because you do have a limited market for his babies.
Another designer breed, more recent and gaining popularity, doesn’t have a name as of yet. They’re smaller than most adult fluffies, about the size of a weaned foal, with long, gangly legs like a foal that hasn’t grown into his limbs just yet. Any color combination is acceptable, as in regular show fluffies, but of course some are more popular than others. Dappling is very desirable, but pintos are absolutely forbidden in the breed. Nearly all are earthies, but an occasional pegasus crops up, and those are considered ‘trash’ on the show circuit for reasons you can only describe as capricious. This designer breed tends to be smarter than the average fluffy, and like the Clydesdale their personalities are often agreeable; they’re readily trained and eager to please, but they also have a curious streak that can get them into trouble. You had to gas one after he went exploring when he should have been studding and shattered his nose and jaw sticking his face into a rat trap you’d stuck behind the cabinets to get rid of the rats that had broken into your fluffy kibble stockpile. Another managed to get out of her cage and go exploring; she managed to eat half a bar of soap and puke it all over your bathroom, shit all over your carpet when she couldn’t find the litter box, knock over an expensive flower vase made of milk glass that had been your grandmother’s, and get knocked up by a show stallion who had been getting very antsy since you hadn’t studded him out in weeks and basically raped her. All in the span of an hour. You ended up having to keep that breed in a different cage design because their small size, gangly legs, and heightened intelligence (still dumb by human standards, but pretty clever for a fluffy) made them talented escape artists when they wanted to be; fortunately, nearly all were well behaved, just insatiably curious and eager to explore and seek out new things to things to discover. Really, the only problem with the breed was that their small size meant a litter larger than three or four was almost guaranteed to have at least one runt, and large litters could be dangerous; you’d had to abort two pregnancies when a mare ended up with six or more foals inside her and her little body couldn’t handle it.
The most recent designer breed was one from overseas. Depending on who you talked to, they were ‘war horses’ or Greco-Roman fluffies. Some Japanese breeders, seeking another ‘manly’ fluffy (ironic since the Japanese were obsessed with all things cute and adorable, which regular fluffies certain qualified as.) had bred them. They were the only designer breed that was primarily unicorns; earthies also happened occasionally but were less desirable. Once, a pegasus war horse had been produced and its owner had tried to reproduce it unsuccessfully ever since. These fluffies had their appearance patterned after the stylized war horses on Greco-Roman pottery. They were large, strong, and durable like Clydesdales (you strongly suspect that Clydesdales were involved in the breed’s origin), with manes that grew in stiff and straight, like the crest on an ancient Greek or Roman helmet, or a mohawk. Their horns were longer and more pointed than those of a typical unicorn, and every example of the breed was monochrome black, white, red, or navy blue. One or two had a mix of black and white, but these were considered less desirable than the monochromes. Right now, they were the rarest and most expensive designer breed in North America and you had a pair of just-weaned studs, both red and from the same litter, on their way from a breeder in Japan. You stood to make a lot of money off of them. You weren’t sure about the best way to go about breeding them; maybe try a female with strong Clydesdale genes?
The last fluffy you deal with costs nearly as much as your designer breeds, more than the Clydesdale and regular show fluffies. Alicorns, the good old tried and true. You had a small stable, male and female, and your prize winner, the most valuable fluffy you owned, was a monochrome white stallion with gorgeous blue eyes.
You had a monochrome dove grey alicorn mare that wasn’t a breeder; her first pregnancy had nearly killed her and all but one foal had been a runt due to premature birth. Once he’d grown to adulthood and been sold off, you had her spayed to prevent any future incidents and kept her as a pet since she was such a sweetheart. Like the small, long-legged designer fluffies, alicorns were much more clever than regular fluffies, but were as large and durable as Clydesdales. Your Clydesdale stud and sterile alicorn mare were the only fluffies you kept as pets and allowed to live in the house with you; all the others resided in the studio built onto the back of your house.
Now then, time to check what this season’s hottest colors are… oh hey, text alert! Your war horse fluffies have landed in California and are being processed by another breeder there; once they’re examined to make sure they’re healthy and have stretched their legs after the long flight in a shipping crate, they’ll be cleaned, fed, watered, repackaged, and put on the road straight to your house. Estimated time of arrival, late Thursday afternoon. Sweet.
You reach down and scratch your stallion’s ears, shift the alicorn in your lap, and check to see what the popular look is going to be this season; you need to get a head start on breeding the right colors!