Hugbox

Hugbox: Simply put, this is the classification given to all Fluffy Pony content of a positive nature and owners taking proper care of their fluffies instead of abusing them.

Background
The term "hugbox" was originally used on 4chan for years to disdainfully refer to people who were upset by small things. The implication was that they could not handle anything beyond sanitized orbright offerings. This usage was leveraged against the first optimistic fluffy pony fics on the site. As fluffy ponies were originally the product of abuse, even fiction that did not fit the core concept of hugbox material was given this label

Many fandoms (such as the core FiM fanbase) start from a bright, child-oriented canon and fans take it into darker territory as the fandom evolves. This is either done as a way to flesh out dark concepts in the canon or as a way to rebel against the lighter, more popular themes. As the fluffy pony fandom already originated from tales of dark abuse and cartoon logic, this theme was reversed and creators evolved by acting against the dark framework of fluffy pony and introducing themes of kindness and realism. The sickly saccharine fluffies were depicted as honestly cute and the childish mentality that made them simple-minded was explored. This is now seen as instrumental to the survival of fluffy pony stories, with even abuse works benefiting from the universal expansion.

Reactions to this were originally neutral or negative. It was originally derided as being 'sh*tty hugbox crap' for not involving the abuse of fluffy ponies. As these accusations grew, the use of the term began to widen until content creators began to refer to their own work with the same label.

Current Usage
Currently, the term is used in a much broader sense, to refer to all content of a positive manner. This is stereotypically stories/pictures of fluffy ponies doing adorable things with little to no conflict. In reality, the label canbe used for stories from that extreme to stories where the ponies simply don't suffer. Occasionally, the label is used in conjunction with "Sad", "Abuse" or "Questionable" tags on the booru to show that the story is supposed to be positive along with the other labels.

Hugbox stories predominantly take the form of 'slice of life' fiction involving a fluffy and its owner or a feral fluffy herd.

Just as in abuse stories, the POV can change from the fluffy pony to the owner, and vice versa. In hugbox fiction, the fluffy pony usually experiences and enjoys the most in the story. Therefore, putting the reader into the fluffy's hooves allows them to experience everything the fluffy does. This has caused writers to explore the mentality of fluffy ponies, in order to provide the reader with a more enjoyable experience.