ON FLUFFIES by bbthatguy
SECTION 1: THE HISTORY OF FLUFFIES
CHAPTER 4: PUBLIC OPINION TURNS
MEGAHERDS ROAM THE LAND
A month since the opening of SpaghettiLand, people reported the presence of several feral herds near the fence surrounding the theme park. Though security (and some convincing from one of the park’s Unis) managed to disperse these herds, there was a bigger problem.
Hundreds of herds in nearby states began merging with one another, creating the first megaherds. Despite the cold, they marched on. With no real way of knowing if they were headed in the right direction, the megaherds wandered aimlessly, decimating plant life and leaving a trail of excrement in their wake. Despite efforts by local governments to stop these megaherds on their tracks, they only succeeded in killing a small fraction of them (around 10% of a megaherd population on average, or 25000 fluffies).
Uni fluffs were taken from their homes by ferals who looked to them for guidance, believing them to be the true Uni the Unicorn, Eartha the Earthie, and Peggy the Pegasus. The ferals were happy to oblige with their every want if it meant they could reach “SkettiWand”. Though the Uni fluffs tried, they were no smarter than the average fluffy, and in time the herds were no closer to SpaghettiLand than they were before taking in the Uni fluffs.
THE FALL OF CLEVELAND
The events surrounding the Fall of Cleveland remain a mystery. All that is known is that by pure chance, one megaherd of around 250,000 fluffies stumbled onto the vicinity of Cleveland, home of SpaghettiLand. Seeing the tall tower, the rides, and the bright lights, the fluffies wasted no time. With several Uni fluffs at the forefront, finally “coming home”, the megaherd descended upon SpaghettiLand, their sheer numbers managing to bring down the wire perimeter fence. Security was quickly overwhelmed, and an explosion was somehow triggered.
The flaming fluffies began blindly running around, spreading the fire around the park, and soon, the city. Not helping matters were some fluffies trying to hug the “hurties” away, igniting their own (highly flammable) fluff. As fires spread across Cleveland, several gas lines exploded, causing untold damage. As citizens desperately attempted to evacuate, they found their escape hindered by the horde of fluffies, dead or dying, scattered across the streets. In total, around 75 percent of the city was destroyed, with 100,000 dead and countless more injured.
THE AFTERMATH
With such a high loss of life and infrastructure, backlash was swift. FluffTV took the brunt of the blame. Their ad campaign for SpaghettiLand had caused several fluffies to run away and destroy a city. “Uni the Unicorn” cancelled, with all known copies owed by FluffTV destroyed. All mention of SpaghettiLand on TV was effectively banned outside of an academic perspective.
Though what happened in Cleveland was an accident, people began to turn against fluffies. Some domestics were thrown out of their homes. Mobs even formed around certain hugboxer’s homes, out for blood against the creature which had destroyed a city. The army was sent out to destroy the megaherds roaming the country, largely succeeding in wiping them out. The few hundred survivors retreated to forested areas. All told, more fluffies are estimated to have died as a result of post-Fall fluffy purges than in the actual Fall of Cleveland.
Demand for fluffies crashed to the lowest levels it had ever seen. Most backyard breeders closed down, euthanizing nearly their entire stock. FluffMart had to stop its training program for their fluffies in order to keep afloat. Acacia Biotoys only barely managed to hold on because of their massive earnings from the Uni fluffs. While sales for fluffies would rise once again, they would never reach pre-Fall levels.
The Hugboxer League lost the support they had with lawmakers. The fight for fluffy rights was back at square one. PETA as a whole saw their public standing take a large hit. If they had not “freed” the test ponies out into the wild, this entire chain of events could have been avoided. The organization was dissolved, with only the more radical elements remaining today.