The yellow pegasus with butterflies on her flank scowled at the sheer white griffon sitting in front of her who wondered what was on her mind. He was about to question her about his duties but was interrupted just as he opened his beak, it felt like she was waiting for it.
"Listen here, hooligan!" The mare spoke loudly, eliciting a look of surprise on the griffon. "You don't scare me one bit. You may be a tough mobster on the streets but here, I set the rules!" The griffon's expression changed from surprised to annoyance.
"Yes, ma'am." He answered only in a minor tone of dissatisfaction while keeping his head still and gazing forward like a soldier.
"That's right!" The mare spoke now with a new tone of confidence in her voice. "You'll do as you're told and on the first sign of trouble I'll alert the authorities and you'll know what that means don't you?" Still with the same expression and with the same tone the griffon answered.
"Yes, ma'am."
"Good. I'll introduce you to all the other staff members and expect you to respect them and don't even think about doing whatever it is that you do to any of them!" The griffon's eyes widened and mare continued her sermon. "Maybe in your time here you can learn a real honest craft and be a proper member of society." The pegasus looked at the thunderstruck griffon as his expression clearly saddened as finally moved his gaze to the floor before answering in a very different tone.
"Y... Yes, ma'am.
The pegasus grim suddenly turned into one of worry, quickly dropping the façade as her posture, expression and tone drastically changed.
"Oh no! I hurt your feelings, didn't I? I'm so sorry, I was just trying to make sure you wouldn't cause any trouble but I went too far!"
"It's okay, ma'am. I'm fine and I promise I won't cause you any trouble."
"Oh, goodness, you're not a bad creature at all, I should've known. They wouldn't have sent you here otherwise, you probably suffered a lot and was forced into a life of crime and.. "
"It's not a crime... I just didn't have the paperwork to do it because I didn't know I needed one."
"Oh... Still... It must have been terrible to have to resort to... uh..." The blush on the mare's face was ever more visible as was her voice ever more soft.
"It wasn't terrible at all, ma'am. In fact I enjoyed it very much." The griffon spoke with new found pride.
"Oh... I see... I suppose... some creatures have more libido than others... I shouldn't judge." Said the mare, averting her gaze from the griffon with a clear expression of distaste as she covered her mouth with the side of one of forelegs.
"That's not why I enjoy it but I don't blame you for thinking that. That's what every creature thinks of us, victims and deviants.... ma'am." The griffon went back to his annoyed self as he made the statement but also averted his gaze from the mare by looking in the opposite direction.
The mare was surprised and looked straight at him, in awe she quickly retorted, "What?". After a brief silence she was able to muster the courage to ask, "Why did-", only to be cut short by a door being opened and a pink hippogriff who looked at the two surprised creatures in the room as she became surprised herself and took a loud breath taking her claws to the side of her face as she had just seen a ghost.
"Hello, Silver-". The yellow mare tried to speak but was cut off once again.
"ARE YOU THE PROSTITUTE THEY MENTIONED WAS COMING?!" She shouted directly at the griffon who beckoned a bit in shock.
"Silverstream!" The mare spoke, clearly displeased. Silverstream quickly covered her mouth with her claws while lowering herself to ground level before letting out a quiet nervous giggle.
"Sorry..."
"It's ok, Miss, I'm in fact a prostitute but we usually say we're "escorts". It's a better sounding word." The griffon giggled looking at the flustered hippogriff.
She set herself straight, clearly flustered, she stroked one of her forelegs with the other foreleg's claw and letting a small giggle again she apologized once more.
"Uh... Silverstream, this is Angelo. Angelo, this is Silverstream, she has been helping me run the sanctuary for a while and I consider her my right arm if not my equal, so you can trust her and be sure to... well... obey her orders... if that's okay..." The mare's voice got quieter once more as the environment seemed to go back to normal if not for the fact that Silverstream suddenly embraced her entirely in a tight hug, rubbing her cheek on the mare's.
"Thanks, Teacher! I love you and I love this place!" The griffon smiled at the scene and decided to say something after realizing he'd been staring at them in silence for a few seconds.
"Nice to meet you, miss Silverstream. I assure you despite what you might have heard, I won't cause any trouble and I'm even a little excited, I love animals after all."
"You do?!" Both females said in unison, surprised by the griffon's comment. The mood of the environment had completely changed and feeling more at ease, he giggled before answering.
"I do, actually. Kind like miss Fluttershy, my mom took care of small abandoned animals and I used to help her all the time. I even wanted to be a biologist when I was young because of it."
"Oh... can I ask why you changed your mind? Did… did something bad happen?" Fluttershy asked, still held in an embrace by Silverstream, who awaited the answer in sheer suspense.
"I..." Angelo averted his gaze and changed his expression to a more serious one. "I am..." The females held each other tighter and awaited for an answer, disregarding the world around them entirely. After a few seconds of silence, Angelo looked straight at them, with a serious expression" to give his answer.
"I'm actually a little dumb and couldn't keep up." He let out a nervous giggle while he scratched the back of his head. The females stared in awe and disbelief in silence for several seconds. "Well, there was also the issue that whenever they talked about arteries, blood vessels and stuff like that I started to feel really weak and even passed out once."
"Is that why you became a hook- escort? To pay for your school?" Silverstream asked nonchalantly. In a quiet yet loud voice Fluttershy protested.
"Silverstream!"
"That is a common reason why many start but no, that wasn't why."
"Oh, I see..." Silverstream said, holding herself to not directly ask the reason, knowing that Fluttershy wouldn't like that.
"But it was because of one of my teachers."
"WHAT?!" Both females shouted again in unison.
The explanation was cut short by a pale lime stallion bursting into the room, panting and smiling, declaring that "She's in labor" followed by "come on!" as he sprinted back. Fluttershy and Silverstream trotted towards the stallion with large smiles, Angel followed them confused as to what was happening and even if he should, let alone be allowed, to be following them. While still running, he asked Fluttershy what was going on. She explained that the stallion was one of the veterinarians of the sanctuary and his name was Sandbar, she also explained that "Simone" was finally giving birth.
Not longer after that they found a mare, the other veterinarian, to whom they referred as "Dr. Fauna", besides a manticore laying on a small bed made of hay in a small barn with nothing in it. "Simone" roared in agony until Fluttershy started speaking to it. Sandbar and Dr. Fauna were apparently working on the delivery, Silverstream stood close as she gazed in awe, Angel in part stood back in fear of causing an accident in such a delicate moment. Two thoughts quickly passed through his head, first that he would never have thought a female could roar like that and second that being a griffon, he was a hybrid just like the creature giving birth in front of him, which caused him a brief existential crisis as Dr. Fauna left her spot for moment, leaving the sight of natural birth clear for Angel to see.
Sandbar held the upper half of the newborn, covered in slime and blood, as it slowly emerged from the creature's extremely spread and bleeding vagina. As Dr. Fauna quickly returned with a towel on her mouth, Fluttershy calmly told the manticore it was going to be ok, it was almost over and that she was so proud of her. "You're gonna be a mommy", she added happily, and after a final loud roar, obfuscating a "thump" noise in the background, the manticore felt a sudden relief and let her entire body relax. Sandbar approached the creature's head from the side, walking on 3 legs as he used one to carry the baby manticore lightly wrapped in a towel.
"Congratulations, Simone, it's a girl." Sandbar whispered as he gently placed her near her mother's snout. Simone had watery eyes and a clear smile, she gave her daughter a little lick, the baby, with eyes yet to open, opened her mouth wide for a very very faint "mew" to come. Silverstream was crying nonchalantly as she approached the mother and daughter.
"Ooooh, she's so cute. What are you gonna name her, Simone?" After hearing Silverstream's question, Simone let out a small groan.
"Oh, that's a wonderful name, Simone." Said Fluttershy before looking at the newborn. "Welcome to Equestria, Diana." Everyone in the room except Angel were smiling as the manticore shifted her position and curled herself around her daughter. "Dr. Fauna, Sandbar, do you need help with anything?"
"I think we're ok, Fluttershy. Quite an exciting morning isn't it?" Dr. Fauna giggled.
"You have no idea." Fluttershy giggled back. "Speaking of which, let me introduce you guys to our new helper." Fluttershy looked around the barn for the griffon but she couldn't spot him. "Angelo?" She asked out loud but was answered with silence. Everyone started looking around until Sandbar almost stepped in something fluffy.
"Uh... Silverstream?" Everyone looked at Sandbar, who in turn looked downwards. "Would you lend me a hoof? I think our new help might have passed out." Silverstream rushed towards Sandbar only to see the dead looking griffon on the floor with his tongue slightly sticking out of his open beak.
"I knew I heard a brick falling." she declared proudly in a loud whisper.
After waking up a few minutes later in a bed, Angel got up and left the room to be surprised by Fluttershy, who was very relieved to see him awake. He explained again that he might have a slight weakness when it comes to blood and apparently live birth to less slight degree. Fluttershy reassured him that it was ok and that she would try to not give him any chores that involved blood. She thought it was very strange that a griffon of all creatures would have such a weakness, but then she berated herself for the thoughts of prejudice, she felt guilty for it was the second time she had misjudged him.
Angel wanted to question about the "blood chores" Fluttershy mentioned but flashes of Simone alone made his legs weaker so he thought it was better to let it slide. That morning Fluttershy showed him the entire sanctuary and introduced him to the rest of the sanctuary's staff, starting with Sandbar and Dr. Fauna, since upon their first meeting things were too hectic for formal introductions.
"Dr. Fauna, Sandbar, this is Angelo. He's the extra help I talked to you about before." Said Fluttershy with a smile.
"Nice to meet you, Angelo, I'm Sandbar. Sorry about before, I hope you're feeling better."
"And I'm Mane Goodall but creatures mostly call me Dr. Fauna." She giggled. "I've gotta say, I never saw a griffon with hemophobia, the possibility never even occurred to me since griffons are usually omnivorous... uh... I don't mean that in a bad way, I think it's nice... sweet even." She giggled again but this time a little nervous, clearly her mouth was operating faster than her brain at that moment."
"It's fine, Dr. Fauna. I was raised by a mare so I was never into meat at all, even when she tried to get me to eat fish I'd always make a fuss. She did make me eat a lot of eggs though." He laughed. "By the way, most usually call me Angel so feel free to call me whatever."
Fluttershy had a brief mind blown upon hearing that name coming from the white griffon, she stayed silent with a slight surprised expression on her face.
"I can see why, dude. I have a super blue griffon friend and you're more white than he's blue. Wait, did you say you were raised by a mare?" Along Sandbar, Dr. Fauna too was very curious about that statement. Fluttershy was completely zoned out.
"Yeah, she adopted me and we lived in Saddle Arabia, her hometown. She was the greatest mom a creature could ask for."
"That's incredible, I've never heard of such interaction- Fluttershy? Are you okay?" Dr. Fauna caught Fluttershy staring at the floor with watery eyes. She snapped out of her trance and quickly rubbed the tears.
"Oh, yes, yes. I'm fine, I was just... thinking about an old friend." She said to Dr. Fauna with a faint smile with a few droplets of tears in her eyes.
"Oh... Right. I'm sorry Fluttershy." Dr. Fauna said before closing in on Fluttershy for a hug. Angel looked around in confusion, he saw Sandbar looking down with a frown on face. Angel was unsure if he should say something or even what to say at all.
"It's okay, Dr. Fauna, It's been quite a while since I remembered him that I was caught off guard when I did." She lightly pulled away from the hug to give the other mare a smile before looking at Angel. "Angelo... Angel does look a lot like him, albeit not nearly as aggressive." She let out a loud and honest laughter. Dr. Fauna and Sandbar joined Fluttershy in laughter as Angel just stood there confused.
"Woah, dude. You've been outmatched by a bunny." Sandbar went back to laughing.
"Sandbar!" Said Fluttershy trying to contain her laughter, so much so she couldn't continue her intended berating to Sandbar. Angel in turn was relieved the mood had become more light.
"I'm guessing your angry bunny friend had all white fur?" Angel looked at Fluttershy with a light smile.
"He did, but it's much more of a coincidence is that you also had the same name." No longer laughing but with a smile on her face, Fluttershy answered the griffon's question.
"Oh. You mean Ang- You can call me whatever you want, Miss Fluttershy, I don't want you to feel bad."
Fluttershy shook her head. "It's fine, Angel. I was just caught off guard but like being reminded of him, and you reminded me of him a lot. I just hope you're not a troublemaker like he was." She giggled again and Angel smiled in relief. "Common, there's more of the staff I want you to meet before lunch."
"Right. I'm right behind you, Boss."
"Boss?" Fluttershy giggled.
"Miss Fluttershy is kind of a mouthful, I hope you don't mind."
"It's okay, you can just call me Fluttershy if you want."
"Or Missus Discord." Sandbar said before holding in laughter.
"Sandbar! Me and Discord are not married!"
"Yet." Added Dr. Fauna, now struggling with laughter just like her colleague. Fluttershy blushed deeply and stormed out of the room. Angel followed her in confusion.
"Discord? No way it's the same one. Right?" Angel thought to himself.
