//------------------------------//
// Awakened Instincts 
// Story: When the Monster Comes Out 
// by reflective vagrant 
//------------------------------//

Fluttershy woke up from a restful sleep in the comfort of her own bed with a content smile on her face.
"What a lovely dream," she spoke aloud in her usual kind and cheerful voice.
She got out of bed and went to the downstairs of her cottage to start the morning feeding of her animal friends.  Such was the life of an animal caregiver.  The chores always needed to be done as soon as possible.
As she stepped off the last stair to go outside and get started, she turned her head to something that had gotten her attention.
"It sounds like Applejack's rooster is even healthier now than before he got sick," she said with a simple joy to nopony in particular.  "I'm glad the pointers I gave her helped him recover so well.  His voice didn't used to carry..."
Almost immediately the smile on her face washed away and a faint look of uncertainty replaced it.  "...This far."
She paused for a few moments at the bottom of the stair case before she found Angel Bunny tugging at her mane.  "Oh right, the chores.  Thank you, Angel."
"By the way," Fluttershy asked her little bunny as she started towards the front door, "Has 'you know what' came in?  I didn't get a chance to check last night."
With a few hops, Angel dashed ahead and jumped onto an end table with the mail on it then placed a paw on the top envelope and shook his head side to side.
Fluttershy looked down in disappointment.  "Oh, I see.  Well maybe it will be in today."

Over the course of the early morning hours, Fluttershy had managed to breeze through her chores in a way that only a pony that loved her work and the animals trusted wholeheartedly could do, just as she had done for many a morning before.
At the end of her morning chores, Fluttershy was finishing up the routine therapy massage for her grizzly bear friend's sore shoulder.  "And there we go.  Now be sure to be careful with that arm and come right back if it star–"
Her ear twitched upward and her eyes widened.  Leaping over top her bear friend without explanation, she flew with a quick burst of speed and caught a baby bird that had almost hit the ground.
"Are you alright?" she called out to the young bluejay with a tone befitting a worried mother.  With a relieved tweet for a response, Fluttershy smiled and flew up to return the little bird to its nest and siblings.
"Now you all need to be careful to not push each other out of the nest.  You almost lost your little sister here."
Some happy tweeting of gratitude came from the nest as Fluttershy contently descended back to the ground, only to be scooped up by the bear she had just been tending moments before.  He hugged her as tightly as he always did to show his gratitude as well, with his only disdain having been the small wait he had to endure before he could hug her.
With a soft hoof tap on his chest a few seconds later, to let him know she needed air, the bear let go and trudged back to the Everfree Forest.  Fluttershy inhaled deeply but calmly to regain her wind.  With her morning chores finished she surveyed the area to make sure she didn't miss anything.  It wasn't that she was forgetful, but on occasion she would have to do her chores in a different order when something came up and making a habit of double checking at the end helped her be at peace, knowing none of her animal friends' needs weren't met that day.
When she panned back to the cottage, she saw Angel Bunny waiting patiently for his breakfast.  Of course waiting patiently by Angel Bunny's standards meant holding his special salad cookbook up at the window seal and tapping it with his paw repeatedly, instead of coming outside and thumping one of his back feet on Fluttershy's hoof in the middle of whatever chore she was doing at the time.
"Alright, Angel.  I'm coming," Fluttershy called.

When she had come inside, she saw Angel had asked for a salad that was a little on the complex side.  "It's a bit over the top, but since you waited so patiently for me to get the chores done this morning I'll see what I can do."
Fluttershy went about getting the breakfast ready for both herself and Angel.  Having some of the supplies but missing others, she substituted to get it as close to what he asked for as she could.  While she did this she also worked on her own breakfast as needed.
A little while later Fluttershy had gotten his breakfast and her own, minus her toast, made and had sat down with her beloved pet for breakfast.
She looked over at Angel to see him holding one of the tiny tomatoes from his salad up.  With a scowl on his face he was pointing to his open cookbook.  Its illustration showed larger tomatoes sliced up in the salad.
Just as he was about to get upset and purposely spill his salad all over the table, he found himself being glared at by his master.  'The stare' Fluttershy was famous for was far too strong for a simple situation like this, but over time she had learned to utilize its essence in lesser forms for more mild situations, learning to be healthily assertive.
"Now, Angel!"  She stated quite firmly but calmly at him.  "We are on a budget, and I can't go off to get the supplies for fancy salads! Every time I have to take extra time to get things ready for you, I lose time I need to train the other caregivers!  Blossomforth is still new to ferret care and I needed to get things ready before she came!  Be grateful I was able to get something nice for your breakfast at all!"
At this point Angel had been cowering down on the table next to his bowl, knowing he had done wrong.  He gingerly lifted a paw over to pick up the tiny tomato from before.  He took an uneasy bite from it and smiled just as uneasily.
Fluttershy eased up on him just as the toast popped up from the toaster.  She went to retrieve the toast only to be stopped suddenly in her tracks.
She spied her reflection in the toaster's metallic surface.  It wasn't completely flat but it was smooth enough for her to unmistakably spy the furled eyebrows she had lingering on her face.  She took a moment to relax the tension in her face only to replace it with a frown the moment after.

An awkward breakfast passed with Angel Bunny eating his salad without complaint, but avoiding eye contact with his master.  His ears had tilted down a little, cuing the experienced animal reader that her pet had become uncomfortable with the situation.  Her own ears went down in turn, waiting for her pet to see her sorrow before she verbally apologized, only to never have those big black eyes wander away from the bowl in front of them.
Half way through her breakfast, she heard the strong but slightly off balance wing beats of a pony she knew well approaching.  Getting up from the table, she made a quick bead for the front door.  Outside, a grey mare stood in front of one of her many clearly occupied birdhouses, rustling through her mail delivery bag as if she were about to deliver.
"Thank you for bringing the mail, Ditsy.  I can take it myself," she called with strong purpose to her voice.
The grey mare lifted her head back up to face the birdhouse again, holding a tiny package.  "There you go," she said as she delivered the package to the birdhouse.
"Special delivery from little Dinky!" she declared as she turned away from the happy cardinal, who was pecking at the home made seed ball treat merrily.
"Alright then," the grey mare responded to Fluttershy in a professional yet genuinely cheery voice.  She flew a short ways to Fluttershy's doorway and delivered the mail to the eager hooves of the recipient.
A particularly brief attempt at a polite goodbye and a closed door later, Fluttershy was sifting through the mail with the utmost urgency.  When she reached the second to last envelope she did a double take.
"It's in!" she declared.
Hearing his master's excitement, Angel Bunny quickly darted to her side from the kitchen as she tore open the envelope.
"Dear Ms Fluttershy,"  Fluttershy read aloud to herself, leaning back on her front door.  "We, at the Institute of Medical Studies of Magical Influence, are pleased to inform you that..."  Her voice trailed off as her eyes continued down the page eagerly.
The eagerness in her eyes quickly faded as she read through the letter.  Tears welled up in those same eyes as the paper slipped from her hooves.  As she laid down, Angel quickly came to her comfort in effort to ease his master's pain.
Fluttershy withdrew from her pet's touch and spoke softly to herself, "It's true then.  There still is a monster in me."