As the Summer Season draws to a close, the chilling grip of fall takes hold of the land as the once lush green fields are soon to be blanketed with thick layers of snow and ice as winter rapidly approaches. To prepare for such conditions, many creatures begin consuming excessive amounts of calories and dig burrows where they will safely be able to hibernate until the warmer spring season comes whilst others who are not as capable instead migrate to the warmer southern parts of the hemisphere where food is still plentiful.
Fluffies however, are not nearly as capable due to them being designed as domestic house pets for small children. Their bones are extremely soft and brittle and their dense layers of fur and fat do very little to actually keep them insulated in freezing temperatures. Despite this, the feral fluffy population continues to thrive by feeding on the scraps left behind by humans, namely the contents left in trash receptacles. For today however, we will be studying a fluffy in the pure wilderness, completely isolated from humans.
This is Eggplant, a once domestic fluffy which ran away from home after learning that she was going to be fixed the next day along with her âspecial friendâ Tomato. Tomato was born to a wild herd and has lived outside his entire life unlike Eggplant who as you can see is much more hesitant to exit the safety of the small hole beneath the mighty oak tree which the two have claimed as their home.
Despite the cold temperatures, the stallion knows that he has to provide for his family and thus swallows his many âhurtiesâ and trudges on through the cold layers of snow which now cover the fields. A common misconception of fluffies is that they are practically braindead and cannot survive without the aid of humans, which is true for fluffies that either grew up in a home or city streets, but what people fail to realize is that fluffies can learn through example. As a result, wild fluffies that manage to reach adulthood are able to pass on their knowledge to future generations.
Tomato comes from a long line of wild fluffies, and as such he knows that when the leaves start turning color and the air starts to get cooler that winter is right around the corner and must prepare. He starts by finding a safe place for his special friend and himself, some place where the cold wind and snow cannot reach such as a hollowed out log or an abandoned structure if he is particularly lucky. Next he begins creating a warm nest for him and his special friend composed out of soft materials such as dried grass, scraps of cloth, and even the fur of other fluffies if they are particularly desperate. With the nest done, he begins collecting food for his special friend and himself to go through during the winter, but despite his many years of foraging he would not be prepared for the burden he had taken on by having a special friend.
Now many of you may be wondering âIf he prepared so well, then why is he out foraging for food now? Shouldnât he and his special friend have plenty to eat for the winter?â to which there are several reasons as to why he is in this situation.
To start, we will once again jump back to the Fall where plants are still plentiful and our friend Tomato is out foraging for food for him and his special friend. Whilst he is out doing all of the hard work, the purple mare has been rendered completely immobile due to being in the late stages of pregnancy. She spends her time singing to her unborn brood and chomping away at their reserves in order to provide nutrients for both her and her young.
During the first winter snowfall in the dead of night, Tomato is awoken from his slumber by his partner shouting âBIGGEST POOPIESâ before her muscles contract and begin pushing out all of her urine and feces. With her bladder and bowels emptied, the first of many foals emerge from her vagina and gently land in the nest with several more following suit one after the other.
In total, the mother managed to give birth to five foals, most carrying traits of the mother and father such as coat and mane color but there is one whom looks nothing like the two, sporting a deep brown coat instead. Though this may seem like a strange detail to point out for the inexperienced, those whom have or do deal with fluffies regularly know that this brown foalâs life will not be as easy as their siblings.
Time passes, and more layers of snow pile on top of each other with the entrance constantly having to be cleared to prevent them from being completely snowed in. Scavenging is no longer an option, but the mare cares not for conserving their rations as she quickly burns through them in order to keep both herself and her young fed whilst her partner slowly gnaws away at the nest for sustenance.
Eventually, the rations run out and the nest is completely consumed out of desperation. Left with no other options, Tomato braves the white wasteland in the hopes of finding food for him and his special friend. By now, Winter is in full effect as rivers have completely frozen over and most plants being reduced to wooden skeletons with all of their foliage completely missing.
Still, life finds a way as fluffies are not the only ones whom choose not to migrate for the winter. Deer and elk scrape away the dense snow layers to get to the grass slumbering beneath whilst rabbits rely on tall plants and shrubs that manage to endure the freezing temperatures year after year.
One such shrub could be seen across a large frozen river where a number of animals were sat feasting on its bounty. Tomato, desperate and hungry, cared very little about the journey to get there and instead focused on getting there before the shrub was picked clean. His stubby hooves dashed through the snow, kicking up small specks of snow whilst shouting at the animals for them to leave some âleaf nummiesâ left for him and his babies back home.
Of course, the cold was not the only thing that animals had to fear as carnivorous predators also lurked about. Ravenous wolves traveled in packs and relied on their sheer numbers and teamwork to secure their meals whilst more tenacious creatures such as the snow fox relied on their natural camouflage to help them find potential prey before they even see them. For a bright red fluffy with an equally bright green mane, walking around in a pure-white flat area however, these threats were practically a death sentence for them as our unfortunate friend is about to find out.
As Tomato approaches the riverbank the pitter-patter of something approaching him could be heard, his ear twitching and turning to try and catch the sound better. Despite being a wild fluffy, the creature is hard-programmed to respond verbally to auditory stimuli, whether it be a scream of fear or a pleasant greeting which Tomato gives whilst trying to identify the source of the sound. His whole body turns around, scanning the surrounding area whilst subconsciously stepping away from the river due to fluffyâs natural fear of water. Still he sees nothing, but by this time it is all but too late as it seems as though the snow itself had come alive and shot high into the air before landing on top of him, snapping his spine in two which results in a garbled âSCREEâ followed by a bit of blood coming from the mouth
The culprit for this stealthy attack is none other than the arctic fox whom normally wouldnât attack prey as large as an adult fluffy but thanks to several unsuccessful outings, desperate times called for desperate measures. Bit by bit, the fluffy is torn asunder, its stomach being torn open by a powerful pair of canines and its flesh along with its internal organs being forcefully removed all while the fluffy is unable to move due to being crippled. His death is a slow, agonizing one as he looks out over the snowy plains, but if the fox hadnât taken him then the freezing journey back certainly would have.
Meanwhile, the mare is dealing with her own issues in the burrow, as she is abruptly woken from a nap and smacks away the small brown foal whom had seized the opportunity to sneak in a drink of his motherâs vital milk. Many have their theories as to why mares treat their discolored foals in such a way, but the only reasoning that Eggplant will give is the same as many others have given before her; âPoopeh Bebbeh nu seaw mummah miwkies! Miwkies am fo gud bebbehs, nu dummeh poopeh bebbeh!â The foal begs its mother for milk and affection, but its cries fall on deaf ears as the mother continues to barrate them both physically and verbally until they retreat into the corner of the hovel.
Time passes, hours turn into days as the mother waits for her partner to return with food, unaware that they had been long deceased by a particularly cunning fox days prior. Starvation sets in for the mother and her foals, their figures slimming down to the point where their ribs are showing whilst the mother is in only slightly better shape due to all the food she had consumed to make her young milk over the past few weeks. She is left with a choice; either forge out into the wild in search of food and leave her foals behind to be attacked by potential predators or take her foals with her on a treacherous migration across the frozen planes in the hopes of finding a new nest with ânummiesâ.
Due to a lack of experience as both a scavenger and a mother, the purple mare opts to make the dangerous trek through the snow to a place with plenty of food and warmth, unaware that such a place is nigh impossible to find in nature. However, she knows that she cannot make the trek in the condition sheâs in now; requiring sustenance of some kind to keep her energy up and to feed her young one final time in order to tide them over for the journey.
While not uncommon, infanticide does occur in nature with mostly carnivorous beings. Some of the more well known examples are Lions whom often join other prides and kill off the young that arenât theirs to accelerate the onset of oestrus in pride females and have their bare their seed. For fluffies however, a majority of intentional foal deaths are brought about in frustration or desperation, and for Eggplantâs brown foal he is the unfortunate victim of both as his back end is taken into his motherâs mouth before she bites down and bisects them. In its final moments, the foal attempts to crawl away from its mother using its remaining front hooves, screening and chirping for several seconds before succumbing to their injuries.
Even for brown foals, mothers do not enjoy consuming their own young as they express either a sense of sadness or disgust depending on the color and position of the foal in the social hierarchy among their siblings. Still, a meal is a meal, and for Eggplant they will provide just enough energy for her and her remaining four children to carry on. After a quick feeding and some reassurance that she wasnât going to eat the rest of them, the family leave the safety of the tree at long last.
For the longest while, the mother unknowingly retraces the steps of her mate, though unlike him she worries only about the cold and not the potential dangers in the area. She sings to her foals to try and get both of their minds off of the stinging cold, and by some miracle no animal manages to spot her bright purple coat or catch wind of the loud, off-tune music she was making. Before they knew it, the group was standing on the same river bank and staring at the same bushel of leaves as before which over time has left it with only sparse patches of foliage.
For Eggplant and her young however, it was a feast and without giving it much thought she began racing across the river whilst excitedly telling her foals that they would be getting milk soon. Her brood are naturally excited by the news, praising their mother whilst hugging each other and letting out soft coos. Sadly, by letting her stomach do the thinking for her, she had unknowingly placed both her foals and herself in peril.
For one to survive the winter, they must be willing to adapt and overcome any challenge that mother nature throws at them. Some creatures become less picky about their food sources in order to ensure their survival whilst others take advantage of the new terrain by either hiding in it using their natural camouflage or using it to more easily cross hazards that are normally untraversable during the warmer seasons.
Like many other animals, Fluffies take advantage of frozen bodies of water to help them cross from one side to the other. In the wild, the biggest killer of fluffies next to wild animals are actually deep rivers and lakes, for unlike the Bowl Fluffy their fluff is not naturally resistant to water and will oftentimes weigh them down and cause them to drown. Coupling that with their skittishness and inability to think rationally when faced with danger results in a fluffy simply dying tired or putting the lives of brave fluffies whom try to save them in danger.
As Eggplant crosses the frozen river, she fails to consider the strain she is putting on the thin sheet of ice currently supporting her as a hairline fracture etches its way across the ice, stretching from one bank to the other whilst several smaller cracks branch off of it. Time is now of the essence, as more and more cracks form and the ice sheet fragments but for Eggplant the noise peeks her curiosity as she attempts to stop and access where the noise is coming from which simply results in her slipping and landing on her side whilst her foals scatter across the ice.
Curiosity turns to panic, as she quickly realizes her mistake and attempts to stand back onto her legs so that she can scoop up her lost brood, though this is a task easier said than done as her fear leads to a lack of coordination as she fights with the ground to get back up. She quickly moves from fear to anger, as she now assumes that the ground itself is actively fighting against her and thus she threatens the âmeanie slippy groundâ with a strike from her front hoof if it does not comply
Of course, the ground remains silent and true to her word she strikes the ice with as much force as she could muster only for her hoof to dent the ice and make it more unstable. The ground audible cracks and pops in response to her strike, more sheets of ice loosening and begin to move as they become subject to the underlying current of the stream. Her young on the other hand, call out to their mother and make frightened chirping noises as they too are unable to get up and escape the fragmenting ground or get to the safety of their mother.
Left with no other option, the mother begins crawling along the ground like a human infant would, dragging her bloated breasts behind her which proved to be an extremely painful endeavor for her as made evident by her soft sobbing. Slowly but surely, she crosses the ground and manages to reach one of her babies whom were also attempting to inch their way towards her. Quickly, the foal climbs over her face and onto her back, relieved to be saved whilst the remaining three continue to cry out for help.
Once again she begins to crawl, the acute pain of the cold on her breasts and her own lack of nutrients for several days beginning to affect the motherâs pace as her crawl becomes slower and slower with each wiggle. Meanwhile, the ice continues to break apart, the parts further downstream having already began to drift down the now freed current with more and more of the river beginning to do the same. Through her own grit and determination, the mother manages to grab two more foals before the ice sheet finally gives weigh and both she and her babies are sent adrift down the river.
Sadly, the river would make sure to claim at least one victim that day as the foal that she failed to retrieve would be caught on the crack between two sheets of ice and rather than trying to shift onto one or the other it foolishly kept attempting to get to its mother before the gap finally became too wide and it fell into the freezing waters. For the next few moments, the foal is seen tumbling down the river. If the immediate temperature shock didnât kill it right away, then it more than likely spent its final few moments screaming either out of fear, pain, or longing for its mother before its lungs completely filled with water and it was silenced.
May it be an act of cruelty or mercy, the mother would be kept alive mourning the loss of its young whilst the remaining foals mourn with her, the hunger pangs and brutal loss of two siblings making it so that they were more focused on comforting themselves rather than trying to help their mother recuperate and get them off the ice which was becoming less and less stable the longer they stay on it
With the ice now feely traveling downstream, the flowing water slowly began eroding the ice with it becoming thinner by the second from both the bottom and the top since Eggplantâs own natural body heat was also starting to affect it. With it thinning from both ends, it wouldnât be long until the piece of ice finally gave and dumped the poor mare and her young into the water as well.
Much like her first foal, the fluffy family also tumbled down the stream but it would not be the water alone that would take their lives on this day. Having lost her sense of up and down the moment her head went below water, the mother flails about wildly with one hoof smacking her foal right onto the riverbed, knocking the air out it before it even got the chance to make frightened chirps or cries for their mother. The other two on the other hand managed to hold onto each other and their breath, though this only served to prolong their deaths as they slowly lost oxygen and reflexively began inhaling water in a vain attempt to breathe.
Finally, there was the mother herself whom at this point had completely abandoned her babies and was focused more on her own self preservation, a trait commonly found in domestic fluffies such as herself as well as those suffering from âbitch mare syndromeâ. Due to her dense fur, she quickly sank to the riverbed and tumbled along the many jagged rocks like dried bramble rolling across the desert.
In the end, winter will not go quietly this year, just as it has time and time again with dozens if not hundreds of fluffies succumbing to the unforgiving environment and the creatures that have adapted to thrive in it as this fluffy family has shown us. With that, we here at Planet Fluffy bid you adieu and hope to see you next time where we will be moving to warmer regions in order to study the behavior of Sea Fluffies in a tropical environment and how they differ from their freshwater counterparts.
Heavy Inspiration taken from:
Planet Fluffy In: The Boreal Forest (TG-89)
