You drop the “newborn” off at the makeshift nursery set up in what used to be the break room. It’s not much of a thing— a small cheap playpen with an autofeeder, a litterbox, a set of speakers, and some soft blocks, a ball, and a hugtoy from the 99¢ store. Total cost was probably under twenty bucks, and yet the current resident is worth more than you’ll see in a year.
Several minutes later, you enter the main production room in the east wing. It’s not all that different from the previous one, except for the fact that nearly every vat is currently occupied by a developing reptile. Right now, you’ve got an order for about two dozen reticulated pythons for a Chicago fashion house whose chief designer has a thing for both exotic leather and the pain and suffering of fluffy ponies, and you need to make sure that none of them are going to come out with two heads or something.
(Yeah, you’re one of the reasons why nearly every fluffy abuser and their mother conveniently has a snake or a lizard or whatever to feed their victims to. If you knew or cared about this, you might feel at least a little guilty…but you don’t get paid to do any of those.)
As you wander among the vats, you can’t help but keep thinking about that little alicorn for whatever reason. Maybe you’ll stop by and see it on your way out after the shift ends, give it at least some sort of living contact before it goes to it’s new owner…whoever that may be.
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You are David O’Callahan, and you’re a junior executive at United AgriTech. You’re also a divorced dad with a joint-custody arrangement, a daughter in grade school who’s (regrettably) been reduced to a pawn in you and your ex’s ongoing feud, and a whole lot of disposable income. As such, you’ve devised a perfect scheme to pull one over on that old bat: buy your kid a customized fluffy pony as a surprise gift.
Granted, you didn’t bother getting your daughter’s input (because if Mom hears about it from her, she might consider buying the girl a VR rig or a swimming pool or an actual pony), so you made some educated guesses and ordered an alicorn filly with an alabaster coat and a silvery mane and tail. Best part of all: Mom won’t let her keep a fluffy, so she’ll have to see you if she wants to see the little creature. That and a fluffy would make for a better conversationalist than your current girlfriend, but that’s not nearly as important.