CHAPTER THE FIRST: In Which Angel Bunny Takes Precautionary Measures
Calm
Cool
Collected
Patient
Mellow
Understanding
…THESE were just a small smattering of the words one could safely ascribe to fluttershy’s demeanor on a typical day.
This was not a typical day.
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Fluttershy was pacing. That was a bad sign. Likewise was the succession of huffing sounds that could be heard escaping her lips. Most ponies would instantantly melt at the sight of the pouty pegasis. But Angel Bunny knew better than to “squee”. There was a bad moon on the rise.
Sighing to himself and muttering something about “I can’t see why [words undistinguishable] all the time”, Angel continued to clear away piles of kipple (where did that stuff come from anyway?) stacked on top of the small metal dome seated in the back of Fluttershy’s pantry. A closer inspection revealed what one might at first suspect to be a federally protected sanctuary for dust motes to in fact be a several-hoof wide hatch of some sort. Actually, thanks to the conservation efforts of Fluttershy, it was both. Who’d’a thunk.
The furry critter (illegally) wiped out a large swath of the motes’ habitat, revealing a once shiny plaqard with Equestrian text engraved upon it:
Let us build for ourselves great things, and let us create afresh with still greater power, but let us pray that greatest of all be our restraint.
Angel shuttered. He feared the day that magic and technology exceeded the knowledge and wisdom required to wield them. He sighed and chided himself: he really shouldn’t have read that last chapter of Fallout: Humanica right before bed.
Getting back to the task at paw, the rabbit grabbed and twisted the rusty wheel that sealed the blast shelter closed. For once he was glad Fluttershy made all the animals do bimonthly disaster preparedness drills, as the hitherto pointless oiling of the mechanism’s workings for once actually paid off. With a nasty squeak, the metal seal was given reprieve, and angle carefully lifted the metal shell, staring down into the darkness it had hidden away.
How many years had it been since this thing had been built? Not many the rabbit decided, seeing how he couldn’t really picture anypony besides Fluttershy having a blast shelter built that was in fact, much too small for ponies. Whatever fears might have prompted her decision the rabbit could only speculate. But he doubted she ever dreamed of this usage. Grabbing a candle and hopping back to the round pit, Angle slowly and carefully descended the miniaturized metal rungs of the ladder, the darkness illuminated by naught but the tiny flicker of flame. Reaching the bottom, he carefully trotted across the cool compacted earthen floor.” Funny, really,” he thought, recoiling after almost running into a cobweb-covered shelf, “that the very mare who sought to protect us is instead she whom we seek protection from!”
“Look at me! I’m hiding from my loyal caretaker, Fluttershy of all ponies! Am I perhaps over reacting?”
His ears twitched, and he heard from above a muffled CLUNK!, followed by a shriek and the unmistakable symphony of breaking glass. And then… laughing?
Nope, definitely not overreacting.
