"Are you sure about this?"

"Yes, I'm sure. You take seven, and I take seven: that way, they can move around, but I can keep my eyes on all of them. Besides, I reserved a personal tour: we'll be the only ones at the zoo. It's good timing, too, because everyone should be at work today. So, tomorrow, when they're off from work, they can still take their kids there. Oh, and we also get to go into the aquarium area - they're going to love it."

I smile up at Daddy, holding his thumb so I can stay in place. He smiles down at me, and tickles my chin with a finger. I give a silent giggle as he cradles me.

"So, when are we going?"

"Well, we should get them ready now. It's actually sort of lucky that I scheduled the zoo trip for today - 'cus when it's over, I'll be going to pick up a new computer, cell phone, and television. But not a table - that thing was ugly. I'm actually happy that it's gone..."

The Nice Lady chuckles a bit, and reaches to touch me. But I shy away from her finger: I don't like it when others touch me. It makes me feel uncomfortable. I only let Dashie and Daddy touch me because they're family.

"Awww, Fluttershy, you don't have to hide from me," the Nice Lady assures me. I ignore her by burying my face in Daddy's side.

"Don't be rude, Fluttershy," Daddy whispers. "She's just being nice. You shouldn't shut her out like that." I look to the Nice Lady in caution. She smiles at me, and I give her a tiny smile back. "There." He shifts his attention to the Nice Lady. "So, let's get 'em ready, hm?"

The Nice Lady nods, and Daddy puts me down in my cushioned chair. I immediately frown as the niceness leaves: it doesn't feel right in this chair. I raise my hooves towards Daddy, and he just smiles as he kisses me on the forehead. "I'll be right back, sweetheart. I promise." I nod as he leaves to get my siblings.

A few eternities later, Daddy brings back everybody with him, and so does the Nice Lady. They each have all of my siblings on separate leashes and harnesses, all of them with a different friend on them. Daddy puts the leash loops in his pocket as he starts to put mine on. I smile as I feel it restraining me, and keeping me nice and tight: the harness is nice and fuzzy and warm, and Buzzy Bee is on the back, smiling like all bees do when they're happy in the summer. I give Buzzy's antenna a little nip so he knows I'm there to keep him safe: Daddy says that if the harnesses come off, we'd lose our friends! And I don't want to lose Buzzy Bee. Even if I do, I'll still have Bravery Bee, but he's not a backpack that can go everywhere with me...

"Alright, come on," Daddy calls, holding seven of the leash loops in his hands. I grin as I realize that I'm walking with Dashie, Rarity, and Derpy: they're my bestest best best friends!

"Daddy, are we going back to the City-Place? I liked it there - it was pretty!" Rarity exclaims.

"Yer' stupid, that place sucked!" I turn, and see that Appley is walking with the Nice Lady.

"No name-calling," Daddy reminds her. Appley sighs. "And yes, Rarity, we are - but we're going to a very special place, and one that doesn't look like the city."

"Then...it's not the city-place?" Rarity asks.

"No, it is. It's just a very, very special place. Now, come on, guys - let's get to the car."

"Oh, we have to go in the car!?" Dashie complains. "But I hate the car! I can't fly or anything in there..."

"Yeah, well, it's a necessary evil," Daddy responds. "Besides, you won't be in there for long, you'll only be in there for about...a half hour or so. And Barbara will be back there with you, so you can talk to her if you want."

As he speaks, Daddy opens the car door, and puts all of us in. He straps us into the seats that he has attached to the inside of the car, and Rainbow Dash pouts as she's put into the seat that she shares with me.

"I don't wanna be in the car," she grumbles. I let out an involuntary yawn as I rub my eyes. I'm sleepy...

"Rainbow Dash, you'll like where we're going," Daddy announces. "We get to have ice cream after!"

Rainbow Dash sits bolt upright, and her wings expand, slapping me in the eye. I let out a mew of discomfort as I rub my now-stinging eye with a hoof. "Ice cream!?" She cries.

"Daddy, can I get cake batter ice cream!?" Twily shouts.

"Can I get that French Chocolate stuff?" Octavia asks.

Daddy smiles to himself as he starts the car, and the Nice Lady Barbara shuts the door, and sits down between a few of the seats. Applejack immediately smiles at her. "You can all get whatever you want, guys. But not yet - after we go to the zoo!"

"What's a zoo, Daddy?" Twilight asks, voicing my question. I yawn as I slump into the seat, and start to let my eyes slowly close...

"You'll see," Daddy responds.

"Oh, is it a surprise? I love surprises!" Pinkie shouts. I frown, and squirm so I can get my wings wrapped around my ears: her voice is so shrill...

"Yes, it's a surprise," I hear Daddy chuckle past the muffling of my feathers. "Now, why don't you kids go ahead and nap until we get there - it's at least an hour drive..."

A few of the ponies groan, especially Rainbow Dash, who pokes me in the side. I open my eyes reluctantly as I look to her. "Can you believe we'll be stuck in this thing for one hour!?" She demands. I blink at her, frowning as I try to think of what to say. After a few moments, she rolls her eyes. "Fine, whatever, be like that..."

"Sorry," I mumble, my voice barely a whisper.

"It's fine," Rainbow mutters. "You're just so boring sometimes..."

I frown. I'm boring? Oh, I don't wanna be boring...maybe I should talk more...for Dashie?

"I'm really sorry," I inform her, adding a total of three words to my registrar. Rainbow Dash shrugs.

"Whatever..." She mutters. She turns around, and starts to talk to Twily. I sigh as I snuggle into the comfortable backing of my seat.

However, my peace is short lived, as I feel the car seat depressing as Nice Lady Barbara sits down next to my seat. I open my eyes, and look up at her, trembling a bit as I take in how humongous she is...

"Hi, there," she says to me, smiling as she buckles herself in. "D'you mind if I sit here with you?"

I shake my head, fearful of what will happen if I deny her the seat. She smiles down at me, and immediately leans back on the leathery seat. She sighs, and closes her eyes. After a few moments of me watching her, she looks backs to me and smiles.

"So, Fluttershy, do you like animals?" She asks me. I nod, and she smiles. "I do, too. What's your favorite animal?"

I squirm so she can see Buzzy Bee. She lets out a little "ah," and pokes Buzzy on the nose. I immediately twist my neck to check on him, and make sure he's alright.

"Bees are very cool insects," she informs me. "Did you know that they use their honey to feed their young?" I nod. I read the books Daddy gave me - they were all very detailed about the bee, especially the Magic School Bus one. "Would you like to have a pet bee?"

I gasp at the idea, and nod fervently. However, I quickly give Buzzy another nip, to let him know that he'll always be my Buzzy.

"What about spiders? Do you like spiders?"

"I like spiders!" Somepony shouts. I turn my head to see Rarity, grinning up at Nice Lady.

"Oh? What do you like about them?" She asks.

"They, uhm...they use their, uhm...silk! They use their silk to make super pretty patterns!" I smile as I remember the spider web that Daddy had showed us that one time. The only bad thing was that there was a poor little moth stuck in the web - but Daddy said not to do anything. He said that it's a part of nature, and that while it may seem scary, it's just natural, and is what keeps everything balanced and alive. Which actually made me happy, in a weird way. It means everything is working like it should in the world.

"That's right, they do!" Nice Lady responds. "But I'm surprised you would like spiders - aren't they sort of scary?"

"No, they're cute! They have all those legs for cuddling!" Rarity turns to show her the stuffed spider that has its eight legs wrapped around her. "Like Cathleen!"

"You named your spider Cathleen?" Nice Lady asks. "That's not a very spider-y name..."

"She doesn't need a spider-y name: a name's a name, and nothing can change! That..." She pouts. "Oh, I couldn't rhyme it..."

Nice Lady smiles. "Keep trying, Rarity."

Rarity nods, and starts to mumble lines to herself. I turn back around to look to Dashie, who is struggling to turn in the seat so she can see Twilight easier. I smile as I squirm a bit to let her turn, but it doesn't work. I shrug to myself as I rest my chin on her shoulder.

"Really? Cookies have tastiness?" Twilight asks. "Oh, Dashie, that's so neat! You're almost as smart as me!"

"Almost as smart!?" Dashie shouts. "No way! I'm just as smart as you!"

"No, you're not," Twilight retorts. "If you were, you'd know how to multiply and divide!"

"I do! One times two is two; two divided by -"

"At the same time."

Rainbow falls silent, and stares at Twilight for a second. After the second, she turns back around to face forward, forcing me to pull my chin back, and crosses her hooves with a pout. I smile as I hug her.

"It's okay," I whisper to her. "You're still really smart! You've just got to learn!"

"Shut up," Rainbow mutters.

I sigh as I pull away, and stare down at my hooves. "That's not very nice, Rainbow," the Nice Lady announces. "You shouldn't tell your sister to shut up - she was just trying to help you."

I look up at the Nice Lady, and she smiles down at me. I smile back, and look to Rainbow Dash with the same smile.

"Fine," Rainbow sighs. "I'm sorry, Fluttershy..."

"It's okay," I announce as I hug her again. Rainbow Dash smiles, and hugs me back. I close my eyes as I prepare to take a nap, my vision distorted by the tiredness in my eyes...

"Fluttershy, could you..."

"Oh, sorry," I say as I lean off of her.

"Thanks," she mutters. I nod, and close my eyes for a nap. For reals this time...

Conversation continues around me as I fall asleep, and I feel a bit bad because I'm sort of shunning them all, but I'm too tired to talk a lot and -

I'm woken up by violent shaking.

"Wake up, we're here!" Rainbow shouts at me. I open my eyes groggily, blinking the haze away as I look around.

"Where?" I ask.

"The zoo!" Rainbow responds. She pauses as she thinks. "Whatever that is..."

I frown as I feel the buckles falling away, and a gentle hand lifting me up. I'm put down outside, and I hear a zipping noise. I look up, and see that my leash has been joined with six other leashes by a ringy thing. I think Daddy called them zip ties...

"Alright, guys," Daddy announces. I look to where the leashes lead, and I see that I'm conjoined with Rarity, Dashie, Derpy, Lyra, Octavia, and Vinyl Scratch. I smile as I take a deep breath: it smells really nice here...very calming...

"Daddy, I thought you said we were going to the city place," Rarity whines.

"We are. But we're at a very special place."

"But there's no concrete or anything! It's all dirt and trees!"

I look around, and see that she's right - we're parked on a dirt parking lot. I look around, and realize that we're not very close to the city. We're more or less in a sort of wild area...

I jump as I hear a scary noise coming from the place behind me. I run behind Daddy, holding onto his leg in defense.

"It's alright," Daddy urges as he picks me up. "That was just an elephant!"

I gulp, but Daddy puts me down, and starts to walk away. "Let's go," he announces. "We've only got a few hours..."

I start to walk with the leash, and hurry to keep up with him: I need his protection!

"What's in there?" I hear Twilight ask. "It sounds scary..."

"You'll see," Daddy announces. "Don't worry, it's nothing to be afraid of."

"Hah! I wasn't even afraid in the first place!" Rainbow Dash announces. A sudden blast of noise causes her to jump into the air in obvious fear. I chuckle lightly, and she pouts at me. "Shut it, you," she grumbles.

I'm about to apologize when I feel something bump into me. I turn in surprise, and see that it's Derpy Hooves. I smile as I help her keep steady. Her wings flap once or twice, and her rump comes up a centimeter off of the ground. She giggles as she lets her legs fall back down onto the ground with an audible thump.

I smile as I do the same, my wings free from the specially-made leash that Daddy made for each of us. Because of the way it is, my wings are free to move however I want them to: I just have to fit my wings through the sides first, when I'm putting it on. It doesn't hurt: Daddy makes sure of that.

"Daddy, why is it so dirty?" Rarity asks. "I thought we were going to the city!"

"Because there are animals here," Daddy responds. "Come on, let's go into the entrance building - we can get our tour guide. And Rarity, I've already told you - this is part of the city. People from cities come to places like these to enjoy themselves!"

Rarity pouts, but doesn't say any more.

I smile to myself, and sigh in relief as we enter the building. The air conditioning is on - makes it much better than it is outside, for sure...

"Daddy, is if alright if I fly?" Rainbow Dash asks. "Like, just so I don't have to walk?"

"Sure," Daddy responds. "Just make sure not to go higher than my shoulder, alright?"

"Okay!" With that, Dashie jumps up, and flies up to just above Daddy's waist. She grins as she keeps herself aloft, and I can't help but feel a bit jealous. I always wish I could fly like Dashie, if only so I could say hello to the birdies in the morning...

"Hi," Daddy announces to a stranger. I make sure to keep my eyes away from the strangers', as she's looking at all of us - it makes me feel uncomfortable.

As Daddy and the stranger continue to talk, I decide to busy myself with my sisters. At first, we're just giggling as we play a simple game with each other: a staring contest. I look over at Twilight, Celestia, Luna, Applejack, Big Mac, Pinkie Pie, and Trixie to see what they're doing. Twilight, Celestia, Luna, and Trixie are all having some sort of conversation. Applejack and Big Mac are standing together in silence, as they usually do. And Pinkie Pie is standing alone, staring off into space.

I frown as I leave the trio of sisters I've been staring at, and move to join Pinkie Pie. I try to catch her attention, but she seems to be completely ignoring me.

"Pinkie Pie?" I ask softly. I poke her a few times, then wave a hoof in front of her face. She looks to me with a smile.

"Hi," she chirps. "What's up?"

"Are you okay? You were just...staring..."

"Look," Pinkie Pie orders, grabbing me and squeezing me to my side. I cringe as she does so, and struggle to see what she's pointing-

At...

I gasp as I move as close as I can to look at it, straining against my leash in the process. I grin as I watch the caterpillars move around in the small display, munching on leaves and crawling with their cute little stubby legs...

I twitch of movement catches my eye, and I gasp again as a chrysalis moves. I watch it with a grin, giggling as it slowly splits open.

Within moments, a butterfly has emerged, and I'm giggling in joy as I bounce. A few of the ponies have joined me, and are staring at the emerged butterfly.

"Wow," Twilight breathes. "It's pretty!"

"You guys like that?"

We turn to see that Daddy is looking down at us with a small smile. I nod fervently, not really paying attention to anypony else as I stare up at Daddy, wondering what this marvelous place is...

"Well, we've got a lot more to see," he announces with a grin. "Come on - let's get to it."

I grin as he and the Nice Lady lead us through the door heading into a wide open, natural area. Within moments, I'm absorbed in the sights, smells, and sounds, and I can't wait to see it all...

Author's Notes:

I've decided to split up this chapter into two different parts due to the fact that the content will be different in each.
Also, how do you like the new format of separating different portions like that? Should I do that to all the chapters already up so new readers will enjoy it more?