//------------------------------// // Prompt #170: Perfume // Story: Ponywatching // by ThunderTempest //------------------------------// It was a somewhat unknown fact that Fluttershy had a rather acute sense of smell, though she never did advertise this fact. Living on the border of the Everfree Forest as she did, Fluttershy could siometimes predict the forest's strange weather patterns almost by smell alone. And the constant cacophony of animal scents that surrounded her also fine-tuned her nose. It was not uncommon for Fluttershy to be able to find a specific animal by scent alone, even in the chaotic mess of fur and feathers that was her home. Thus it was an oddity that one morning, Fluttershy woke up to smell nothing except the fading smells from the previous night. No birds were fluttering through the house, no mice were scampering, and Harry the Bear was not outside her window. Even Angel Bunny, who was normally stamping his foot on Fluttershy's head in the morning to get her up to feed her animal friends was absent. Fluttershy hurried downstairs, calling out her friend's names. But every single one of them was gone. Even the bats, which would normally be settling down inside her front closet, were gone. As Fluttershy hurried outside, a new smell hit her nose. Not the ones that she was fearing, such as the smoky smell of fire, or the subtle sharp scent of an oncoming lightning storm, but something more pleasant. It was a heavy smell, almost sickly sweet, and something about it was deeply familiar to Fluttershy, but that thought could wait until she'd found out what happened to her animal friends. Still, the heady, sweet smell persisted, until it was all that she could smell, and so she followed the scent to its source, hoping that she would also find her friends at the end. The scent lead Fluttershy through Ponyville, eventually ending at Sugarcube Corner, and that was odd, because Fluttershy knew that the Cakes were currently out of town, leaving only Pinkie Pie there. But still, the mysterious smell was definitely coming from the kitchen of the bakery, and Fluttershy's ears could pick up grunts and growls that definitely belonged to Harry the bear, along with Pinkie Pie's giggle. Fluttershy slipped inside as quietly as she could. "Oh, there she is!" said Pinkie Pie the second that Fluttershy entered the kitchen, squeezing herself between a goat and Elizabeak the chicken. The next thing that Fluttershy knew, Harry the Bear picked her up and deposited her next to Pinkie Pie, and grunted something at Fluttershy. "Huh?" said Fluttershy, "You said that she has something to tell me?" Fluttershy turned to Pinkie Pie, who was being almost quiet. And then Pinkie Pie leaned forward, her eyes darting left and right, as if she was being watched. *****Time**** Fluttershy was dimly aware that the smell that drew her here was coming from Pinkie Pie. Another dim thought finally recognised the smell as one of Rarity's more fancy perfumes. "I don't really know how to say this, so..." Pinkie Pie trailed off, looking like she was arguing with herself, before she burst into motion. Then Fluttershy tasted pink and cotton candy and chocolate and pudding. Fluttershy pulled away, and saw Pinkie Pie, waiting, tears threatening to spill from her so very expressive eyes. "If you don't mind, Fluttershy, I'd like to do that with you a whole lot more," said Pinkie Pie, "So, will you be my very extra-special super-duper special somepony?" Fluttershy was not good with attention. Even from her animal friends. And everyone in the room was waiting for her response to Pinkie Pie's declaration. Every instinct, every fear that Fluttershy had was screaming at her to run, to fly back to her house and safe, lockable door and the closet that the bats lived in. But there was a smaller part of her that told Fluttershy to stay, to at least not run away to try and understand Pinkie Pie's feelings, and maybe her own about Pinkie Pie. Because Fluttershy didn't hate Pinkie Pie, but she couldn't say for sure that she felt the same way about Pinkie that she now knew Pinkie felt about her. Fluttershy made her choice. ******* The scream warbled and pitch-shifted as Fluttershy fled back into the distance, and Pinkie Pie wiped her eyes, and then sniffed. "Maybe I shouldn't have used so much of Rarity's perfume, Gummy," said Pinkie. Gummy blinked.