//------------------------------//
// Test the first: Garlic 
// Story: zomg vamponies, or, Fluttershy the Hunter 
// by bahatumay 
//------------------------------//

	"Ugh... What's that smell?"

Fluttershy jumped at the unexpected sound of Vinyl Scratch's voice. "Oh, I didn't see you there,” she said. She set down at her props, a small folding table and a basket of fresh, warm, garlic breadsticks. She looked back at the DJ, trying to figure out where her eyes were behind her signature purple shades. “They're garlic breadsticks, I'm practicing baking and I'm seeing if my friends like them," she said, rehearsing Twilight's cover story that she had practiced for many, many hours last night. She was glad her animal friends had been supportive and patient as she practiced.

On an unrelated side note, Angel Bunny, with a wet handkerchief over his nose, was at that precise moment burying all her garlic in the backyard, while hordes of Fluttershy's animal friends pranced about in happiness and cheered him on.

"Nah, garlic is no good for your throat, like for shouting and such, and I got a biiiig gig tonight. Plus, it smells nasty. See ya!"

Fluttershy had the feeling that she had just missed something very important, but she carried on. She walked down the street, eyes closed, head held high, props in her mouth. Fluttershy was a mare on a mission. Now all would go according to...

* * *

"I'm sorry, Fluttershy, but Nurse Redheart isn't available right now. She's helping with a very intensive surgery here today and it's going to take a couple of hours at least." Tenderheart smiled kindly.

...plan?

"Oh.... that's ok.... Um....." With her heart racing, Fluttershy thought fast. "I made them for everypony, but I thought she might like them too, especially. Do you want one?"

"Oh, I would, but I'm allergic."

Fluttershy blinked in surprise. "Ponies can be allergic to bread?"

"Gluten, actually, but that's not important right now.</span> I can't eat these. You are more than welcome to share them in the waiting room, though."

Fluttershy had not planned for this. She, of course, had expected Nurse Redheart to refuse, but hadn't even considered her not even being there, and thus had no idea what to do.

She didn't want to go home and abandon her mission just yet, so she did what she did best.

She walked into the waiting room, passed the low table with the magazines on it, went to one corner of the room, quickly set up her little table with the basket of breadsticks on top—and promptly hid behind it, hoping that nopony would notice her (which is really hard when you're an adorable yellow pegasus).


* * *



Berry Punch was trying to stack all the blocks up into a pyramid of some kind (she probably thought she was building Canterlot itself), but, as usual, was slightly buzzed, and she kept failing. Finally, she gave up and wandered over by where Fluttershy sat with her garlic breadsticks.

Fluttershy didn't really know her that well, but she seemed nice enough--even if unable to remain sober. 

"You know what's not a good idea, Miss Yella?" Berry Punch slurred, leaning against Fluttershy unsteadily. 

Fluttershy blinked at the rolling stench of alcohol. She quickly realized that “personal space” was not an issue for Berry. "Um... My name is Fluttershy. Um... what?" Fluttershy asked timidly.

"Barlic geer. I mean... garlic beer."

The expression of both Fluttershy and Ruby Pinch was best described as, “wat”. This actually wasn't an uncommon expression for Ruby Pinch.

Berry, on the other hoof, didn't notice. "You ever tried that?"

"N- n- no, I can't say that I have."

Berry squinted, as if trying to discern something. “Ya evvver tried anything?”

“Oh, no, I couldn't,” said Fluttershy, retreating slightly.

Berry Punch was suddenly all smiles. "How's about you and me go get us somethin' to drink?"

"Oh, no, really, th- that's fine, I don't drink...."

Fluttershy's resistance went unnoticed by the purple mare as she threw a foreleg around the surprised (almost startled) pegasus, who responded with an “eep!”. 

"Come on, Yellow, I'll pay. Besides, if you drink a drink, that's one less drink for me to drink. Right, Pinchy?"

Berry Punch's daughter, Ruby Pinch, looked up and, with her hooves on her hips and with impressive dignity and maturity for a foal, said, "Mommy, you're here to get help to stop drinking, not helping other ponies start!"

Berry Punch looked as if she'd been suddenly slapped in the face. She released Fluttershy and sat down hard on her haunches. "You're right, Pinchy.... I'm sorry.... I just...."

Ruby Pinch walked up to her mother and gave her a hug. "Come on, Mommy.... Nurse Redheart and I both believe in you.... You can do this."

Berry nuzzled her daughter's head tenderly. "I don't care what anypony else says, you remember that I love you," she said, with surprising sobriety. 

The tender moment was interrupted by Ruby sniffing. “Are those garlic breads?”

Fluttershy nodded.

“It's been forever since I had one. Mommy, can I?”	

Berry Punch wiped at her eyes, and nodded. “Only if Fluttershy says it's ok.”

Fluttershy nodded again. It had been such a sweet moment. Vamponies could wait.

“Oh, Miss Punch?” Tenderheart called from the front desk.

Berry stood up unsteadily and shuffled up to the counter.

“She really is a good mommy,” Ruby whispered to Fluttershy around a mouth full of breadstick.

Fluttershy smiled back. "She cares about you a lot, I can tell."

“Ey, Pinchy! She says Redheart i'n't gonna be back soon—guess this surgererery thingy is goin' long. We'll come back tomorrow, ok?”

Ruby thanked Fluttershy again, and followed her mother out.

It had been so cute, Fluttershy had almost forgotten about her original reason for bringing the breadsticks.


* * *


Fluttershy sat patiently.

She assumed, or rather hoped, that the rest of the day would be uneventful.

That hope was quickly dashed by a slightly frantic Cheerilee rushing in, followed by a limping Pipsqueak.

“Anypony?” she called frantically. Her eyes lit up when she saw Fluttershy. “Oh, Fluttershy, could I ask you to watch Pip here until Redheart gets back? We're on a field trip and I can't leave the others unattended.” There was a sudden sound of a commotion outside, sounds of foals, and of shattering glass. Fluttershy winced; Cheerilee's eyes widened slightly in dread.

“I... oh, not a problem,” Fluttershy smiled. “I'd be glad to.”

Cheerilee rushed off, with a grateful grin on her face.

Fluttershy turned her attention to the little pinto colt. He smiled back, eyes sparkling, his left forehoof was wrapped, but he seemed to be in high spirits.

“Are you ok?” she asked.

“Yes... I burned myself during a field trip to Sugarcube Corner. But it wasn't too bad--three fillies helped me.” He held up his wrapped hoof. “They called themselves the Cutie-Mark Crusaders.... something-or-others.”

Fluttershy inspected the dressing. “Oh, they didn't do too badly.” Oh, but they had. There was a knot way too high up, if the bandage were any tighter it would have been classified a tourniquet instead of a wrapping, and they had apparently used an entire roll when a pace and a half of gauze would have been more than sufficient. “Just.... let me.... adjust it a bit.” And Fluttershy began to re-wrap it.

Pipsqueak watched silently for a moment before commenting, “Everypony seems to trust you.”

“M- me?”

“Yeah. You're really nice.”

Fluttershy blushed and continued wrapping. “Tell me if this feels too tight,” she said as she finished the knot.

“No, I think that's perfect,” Pipsqueak said, flexing experimentally. Suddenly, Pipsqueak's stomach growled. He looked up sheepishly. “I sortof haven't had lunch,” he confessed, “and I had to leave before we got to the samples.”

Fluttershy smiled. “Well, you're more than welcome to have a breadstick,” she said.

Pipsqueak accepted gratefully.

Not ten seconds later, Tenderheart returned and called him in.

Fluttershy looked back at the colt. The breadstick was gone. He looked up gratefully.

“Thanks, Fluttershy. I was really hungry.”

Fluttershy melted at the look in his eyes.

So. Worth. It.


* * *


Pipsqueak had been released after Tenderheart had judged her wrapping “good”, but there was still no sign of Redheart.

Oh well. Just like with animals, sometimes you just had to wait.


* * *



And wait, and wait... Much time had passed, but still Fluttershy waited. She munched on one of her own breadsticks, because she hadn't eaten recently either. What were they doing in there, reattaching a wing?

She was interrupted by two young unicorns walking in.

“I told you it was a bad idea,” the short one said.

“It would have been fine if you had held on tighter,” the tall, lanky one responded.

“So now it's MY fault, eh?”

Fluttershy, not liking this conflict (when you're Kindness, little spats seem so much larger and much more pressing), let out an involuntary squeak.

“Oh, hey, Miss Animal Pegasus!” Snails greeted her.

“Yeah, hi, Fluttershy!” Snips added, all arguments forgotten.

“What happened to you two?” she asked.

“Talent show practice!” Snails replied.

“Yep!” Snips said proudly. “It's coming up soon, and we're going to have something grrrreat to show!” He paused. “….we just have to find an idea. We were going to try indoor parachuting.” They had obviously taken a tip or two from the Cutie Mark Crusaders. Fluttershy's inner worrier quickly found seven ways that that could go wrong. She probably could have thought of more, but number seven involved involuntary castration, and she quickly found something else to think about.

“Didn't work out, though,” Snails added sadly.

“Yeah, we'll need to come up with something else, now.” 

Snails turned to his short friend. “Why are we here, again?”

“Because you hit your head and we wanna get you checked out, remember?” Snips answered.

Snails shook his head. “I would've remembered that.”

“Ooh... did you drink some water afterwards? That helps,” Fluttershy suggested.

“....I don't remember that either.”

Snips made an executive decision. “Let's get Tenderheart to look at you. Maybe we could talk to her now.”

“She might be busy,” Fluttershy gently protested.

Snips waved a hoof dismissively. “Nah, I'm sure it's cool. Nurses are cool like that. Nothin' bothers 'em.”

From behind the counter and under the desk, they heard Tenderheart's voice. “I'm drowning in paperwork! Alphabetize, alphabetize... What is this I don't even...” she said, her initial whine descending into incoherent mumbling noises. Was she... singing the alphabet song?

Snips' ears dropped. “Heh.... Guess I spoke too soon?”

Fluttershy's kindness instincts flickered. “Do you want a breadstick while you wait?” she asked, gesturing towards the basket.

The two colts took her up on that offer, and quickly demonstrated their appreciation for this gift.

“If this happens all the time here, I'm going to get hurt tomorrow, too!” (Tact was NOT one of either's strong points.)

Fluttershy winced. “Oh, I wouldn't recommend that.”

Five minutes later, Tenderheart had recollected herself enough to be presentable; ten minutes later she pronounced Snails 'dazed but unhurt'; and one minute after that, Redheart walked back into the waiting room. She was sweaty and tired, but obviously pleased with herself.

“Success!” she announced, looking at Tenderheart. “The wing is reattached..." and here, Fluttershy winced in sympathy pain—she had just been joking earlier; but as any pegasus knows, reattaching a wing was nothing to joke about. "...and should be functional in approximately four months; the surgeon will be.... why does it smell like garlic in here?”

Tenderheart looked up brightly. “Fluttershy brought some breadsticks to share!”

“Save one for me, I'm going to go wash up.”

Oh no you don't, Fluttershy thought. You're going to take it, and then hide it, so you won't get caught. I'm on to you! I will sit here and watch you eat it! Or, I'll sit here and watch as you won't eat it!

But, to her horror, when she reached inside the basket to check how many she had left, she realized that she had run out of breadsticks.

Ah... That was a problem.

“Um... Tenderheart?”

She had to repeat herself four times before Tenderheart heard.

“I... um... am out of breadsticks.”	

Redheart walked back in, fur glistening wet where she had washed. “No breadsticks?” She wasn't angry, but Fluttershy cringed anyway. Redheart was actually calm. “Oh, I've had worse.” Another thought occurred to the white unicorn. “Have you been here all day?”

“Yep!” Tenderheart answered for the shy pegasus. “She's even been helping keep foals calm and even re-wrapped a bandage or two.”

“Is that so?”

Fluttershy nodded, a tiny hint of pride entering her voice. “I have to make sure all my animal friends heal right when they get hurt, so I know a lot of basic first aid.”

Redheart met Fluttershy's eyes. “We could really use somepony like that every once in a while. Have you ever thought about staying and working here long term?”

Long term.... Long term.... with a vampony? That's how she's going to get me to join her! Fluttershy's heart raced, her eyes widened, her breath caught in her throat. She took a shaky step backwards, protesting quietly.

"Oh, no, I couldn't, I have lots of animals to take care of, and I'd really better be going.... eep!" And she flew out the door, leaving behind her table, her basket, and the faint smell of garlic in the air.

A slightly awkward silence filled the air.

“She seems.... nice,” Tenderheart remarked hesitantly. “Is she always like that?”

“She's a little skittish, but very kind,” Redheart confirmed.


* * *



Having heard the story, Twilight Sparkle issued her verdict. “Well, that went well,” Twilight said, picking up her daisy sandwich with magic and taking a bite.

“No, Twilight! It was horrible! Now I can't prove she's a vampony!” Fluttershy.... shouted? Her voice never seemed to be above a whisper anyway.

"Fluttershy! Not here!" Twilight hissed, glancing around. Luckily, nopony seemed to have heard; the restaurant was fairly crowded.

With a small blush, Fluttershy looked down and morosely prodded her sandwich again with her nose. 

Twilight took another bite and chewed thoughtfully. "Anyways, I'm pretty sick of garlic. I don't think I'll ever get the smell out of my mane."

"I know," Fluttershy agreed. "In fact, I can still smell it now."

Twilight sniffed. Strangely enough, she could smell it too. Then she looked behind Fluttershy and had to stifle a giggle.

"What?" Fluttershy asked, confused. She turned around--and saw white as Redheart was chowing down on garlic breadsticks at the table right behind her.

"Oh, Fluttershy, is that you?" Redheart asked. "I had nearly forgotten how tasty these breadsticks are! So sorry you ran out before I could get one, but after smelling them all afternoon, I just had to get one."

Twilight couldn't stop a slow, wide smile from spreading across her face, and quickly 'dropped her fork' and dove under the table to 'retrieve it' (and hide her smirk before Fluttershy could see).

Twilight: 1; Fluttershy: 0