Collision was not an ingredient (OPEN)

Fluttershy would have felt bad about running into anypony, but to run into a filly was even worse. Even somepony like Fluttershy could accidently harm a filly. Also, Fluttershy remembered how vulnerable she had felt at that age and could barely handle the idea that she could be the cause of a foal’s emotional anguish. What if the zebra thought that Fluttershy believed her to be too small to matter? It was around that thought that Fluttershy actually processed that she had ran into a zebra filly and not a pony zebra.

When it came to knowing the neighborhood, Fluttershy was no Pinkie Pie or even Rarity, but it was strange that a new zebra had come to town and she hadn’t found out. The most logical assumption was that this filly was new to town, which meant that Fluttershy had basically welcomed her to the town by running in to her. This was just getting worse and worse! No wonder the filly had bolted.

Fluttershy scooped up the dropped cook book and passed it back to the once again stable Angel before she followed the zebra. ”I’m so sorry I ran in to you. You’re not hurt, are you?” She asked before remembering the newspaper that had been dropped. ”Would you like me to bring you your newspaper? Or I could buy you a new one, or maybe there’s something else I could do to make it up to you?” She looked between the occupied bush and the newspaper with a worried expression. Above all, she hoped the lively reaction was a sign that nopony had gotten hurt.

Fluttershy was relieved that she hadn’t hurt the filly. She also noted that the zebra’s interesting way of talking was different than Zecora’s different way of talking. She wondered if they were different accents or if both just preferred speaking that way.

Fluttershy was usually very careful about both where she walked and how she walked, so it wasn’t a common thing for her to run into anypony. Still, she had caused this problem, so even if it was a rare even, it was her responsibility to not let it go too easily. ”That’s a relief, but I’m still sorry that I startled you.”

Angel perked up at being mentioned, closing the book once again to bend his head around Fluttershy’s so that he could see who she was talking to. ”This is Angel Bunny, he’s my companion and special helper. We came in to town to get ingredients for a new recipe he wanted me to try for him. Since he’s been such a good bunny lately, I couldn’t refuse.”

Fluttershy smiled. Angel didn’t move off of Fluttershy’s back. While he loved attention, he was also quite eager to have food and the two drives were causing him to hesitate to act in pursuit of either goal. ”Would you like to meet him?” Fluttershy asked.

Fluttershy waited for the zebra’s response, not wanting to rush her into making a decision. Angel was a lot of things to Fluttershy. While he could be demanding at times, he was also a great listener and the only help she ever needed while she tended to other animals. But he wasn’t just a friend, either. She had raised Angel since he was a baby and his smarter-than-the-average rabbit intelligence made him almost like her adopted child. But those special feelings that she attached to him weren’t universal. To most ponies, Angel was just a cute pet. So if his adorable features weren’t enough to coax her out, then Fluttershy would have to accept that.

However, in time, his rabbit charms seemed to win out. Fluttershy looked at the zebra as she made herself visible. As a pony of essentially two worlds, she was intrigued by the expression the filly had. She couldn’t put a label upon what she saw, but there was a subtle difference to this zebra and the fillies that Fluttershy was used to. But with only a flimsy sense of novelty to go off of, she couldn’t come to any conclusions. So for now, that train of thought had to be dropped along with her curiosity toward the differing speech patterns.

Angel slipped his book back into Fluttershy’s saddlebag as he was greeted. His nose wrinkled in curiosity. He hopped off of his caretaker’s back and attempted to sniff Nya nose. With Fluttershy only a hop away, he felt safe enough to get close. But he also tended to take his cuteness for granted as a defense.

”He’s white year round,” Fluttershy answered, watching Angel and Nya’s interaction. ”Bunnies don’t usually change their fur color too drastically in winter, but his doesn’t change at all.” Fluttershy tended to know a lot more about the ‘what’ of animals rather than the ‘why’ unless it was something the animals themselves understood or could be logically reasoned out. But for whatever reason, Angel’s fur color didn’t change. ”S-so, your name is Nya, then?” She asked, not wanting to assume.


(Based upon the best rabbit facts I could google xD)

Fluttershy almost melted upon seeing Nya smelling Angel’s nose back. The sight was just too cute to bear. The best her body could do to react was to giggle. It didn’t convey the entire emotion; however there wasn’t anything that could. If it was necessary for anybody to endear themselves to Fluttershy, Nya would have already accomplished it with that alone. Angel himself seemed surprised, which only made it all even more adorable. Fluttershy practically swayed watching the white rabbit consider whether or not he had to smell her again, as if her response had somehow confounded his experience.

”It’s nice to meet you, Nya, my name is Fluttershy,” she greeted, realizing that she had only given Angel’s name up until that point. ”I tend to a lot of the animals that live near Ponyville,” she continued. It served to further answer Nya’s earlier question asking why Fluttershy had a bunny on her back. If they crossed paths again, it wouldn’t be surprising if Fluttershy was towing a wagon filled with mice, froggies or anything, really. Also, young ponies seemed to think it was pretty cool. She was hardly going to lead with speaking about her lack of acrobatic flying abilities.

Fluttershy considered that Nya may not have had all day to just chat with somepony she didn’t know just because that pony had run into her. ”Sorry again about taking you away from your um hiding…”

Angel hopped back on Fluttershy’s back. The way his weight distributed itself was so familiar to her that she felt no different when she was caring him and when she wasn’t. The young rabbit kept an eye on Nya, still not sure what to think of her.

Working with the many critters that lived near Ponyville was a spectacular job in Fluttershy’s opinion, but she hadn’t been expecting it to be worthy of being followed around. The posture Nya had taken before asking her melted away any possibility that she was going to deny the request, of which there never would have been much of it anyway. That smile was difficult to say no to as well. If Fluttershy didn’t know any better, she would believe that Nya was well aware of how cute she was. That would be silly, though. Foals were too young to be that manipulative.

”That’s no trouble for me, I’d be happy to share what I’ve learned over the years.” It would be an unusual circumstance. Her market trips were rarely accompanied by anypony and never by anypony that she had just met. It was nice to change things up every once in a while. ”I believe the first ingredient we need to buy is over that way.” She gestured to a nearby stand before slowly moving in that direction.

What would you like to know?”

Fluttershy found herself being very attentive to her new young friend as she wandered around the marketplace. She realized that Nya was not technically her responsibility, but she also believed that she did have an informal obligation to keep an eye on her now that they were hanging out. In all honesty, it was like a fish offering to watch over a baby bird. If something did come up, Fluttershy wasn’t the most capable pony when it came to intervening or protective. But she was great at apologizing and leaving bad situations.

The yellow mare wanted to giggle at Nya’s question. Not because it was a bad question. It was actually a great question. But the way Nya phrased everything was just so adorable. She stifled herself from doing so in order to stop there from being any confusion. ”Well you see, grey squirrels don’t hibernate… that is, they don’t sleep through the winter. But, the food that they like isn’t around as much when it’s cold, so they bury acorns near their homes so they can find them later more easily. But sometimes other squirrels find them and take them to their homes…”

”B-but usually that’s not a big problem. Each family stores more than what it will need.” She wasn’t sure if Nya would be bothered by what sounded a lot like theft among squirrels, but she knew it had taken her some getting used to. Critters lived very differently than equines and it was important not to judge them in the same way. But really, it was important to not judge anyone too quickly, even if they were of the same species.