The Pond

by Belgian Waffle

Ch. 7 "The Climax"

“Ready... set... GO!”

At the last word, three more ponies scurried themselves down the tunnels and flume of the Filly Flashes and Rainboom speed slides. Aqua Splash looked over the edge of the railing to watch the pony on the Rainboom reach the slow-down lane at the end and splash first before the ponies in the Filly Flashes did. He turned back around to address more waiting ponies. “Alright, who’s up next?”

Three ponies immediately came forward and went to their designated water slides. One of the ponies with a wing restraining vest that went to one of the Filly Flashes didn’t immediately sit down once she got to the tunnel entrance. She glanced over the railing to observe what she was in for. Shivers were sent down her legs, and it was easily picked up by Aqua.

---

Rainbow Dash trotted everywhere. She went to the palm tree that Applejack was supposed to be napping at, she went to the concession stands where she expected Pinkie to be eating, and she went to a few entrances to the lazy river expecting to eventually bump into Fluttershy. She couldn’t find anypony anywhere. She was now on her way to the last lazy river entrance, where she’ll hopefully bump into somepony she knows.

She reached her destination, and did not find any of her companions. “Shoot! Where are they?”

She then saw a familiar green mint colored unicorn standing near the lazy river water and trotted up to her. “Hey, have you seen a yellow timid pegasus anywhere?”

Lyra, the green mint pony, responded. “You mean Fluttershy?”

Rainbow nodded. “Yeah. Wow, I thought I’d have to be more descriptive than that!”

“I’m helping your friends look for her,” Lyra responded. She went back to observing ponies that went through the lazy river. “She left to go to the bathroom a while back and we haven’t seen her since.”

Many questions bombarded Rainbow’s mind at that moment, but one stood out that she had to ask. “Wait, Fluttershy is missing?”

“Yes,” Lyra responded. “We split up to search for her. Applejack is searching the front-half of the park, and Pinkie and Vinyl are searching the back.”

“Vinyl? Vinyl who?”

“Vinyl Scratch. You know, the famous DJ Pon-3?”

Rainbow looked surprised. “Wow, she’s here? I haven’t seen her ever since... well, I can’t remember. Anyways, when was the last time you saw her?”

“She said she needed to use the restroom a while ago, and we let her go while the rest of us ate. We haven’t seen her since.” Lyra faced Rainbow. “Pinkie looked in the bathrooms already and said she wasn’t in there. After that, we split up to search the park for her before it closed.”

Rainbow now began to feel worried for the yellow pegasus. Knowing that she had been gone for a while is very unusual. She must be scared out of her mind if she’s lost in this park, or worse.

Just then, both Lyra and Rainbow could hear distant hoof clops getting closer. They turned to see Pinkie and Vinyl galloping full-speed toward their direction.

They stopped to catch their breath once they reached Rainbow and Lyra. Pinkie tried to speak between gasps of air.”You guys... we think... we think...”

“Go on,” said Rainbow.

Vinyl caught enough breath to talk more coherently. “We think... we found Fluttershy.”

Rainbow and Lyra perked at hearing the news. “Where is she?” Lyra asked.

Pinkie was finally able to speak more coherently as well. “Uhh... we can’t say she’s there for sure... but it sure did look like her.”

“Yeah, go ahead. Tell us,” Rainbow said quickly, tired of waiting to know where she was.

Vinyl gave them the answer. “She’s in line for the Rainboom.”

---

“You guys ready to slide?” Aqua Splash asked all three riders. All sliders responded by saying “ready,” except for the nervous pony, who closed her eyes and took a big gulp. Aqua took this as a chance to speak to her. “You’re a brave pony, you know that?”

The nervous pegasus turned to look at Aqua Splash as he continued. “For riding the slide, of course. It’s a pretty intense one. For some, it’s too intense. But I’m sure anypony who’s never tried something like it should do it at least once so they know what it’s like. Have you been on the Daring Do-Over slide here yet?”

The pegasus shook her head slowly.

“Good, because it’s like this, but much smaller and less intense. Once you’ve been on this slide or that, you wouldn’t need to try the other.”

---

“How sure are ya?” asked Applejack.

“It looked just like her when we saw her,” responded Vinyl. “I know it’s hard to believe, but I’m very sure it’s Fluttershy.”

Applejack looked toward Rainbow Dash and Lyra, who both shrugged. They obviously don’t know whether to believe Pinkie and Vinyl on something that just doesn’t sound like what Fluttershy would do.

Applejack looked back towards Pinkie and Vinyl. “If we go to the slide, do ya’ll think we’ll see her come off of it?”

“Probably,” responded Pinkie. “We should get going fast though, she was near the top when we last saw her.”

“Alright, let’s find out,” Applejack said as she started trotting in the direction of where the Rainboom slide was. The other four ponies followed along behind her.

---

Aqua heard a faint splashing noise, and looked over the railing to see that the two ponies that were in the Filly Flashes had made it to the end. The lifeguard pony at the bottom pointed to Aqua, and Aqua signaled back. He then turned towards the nervous mare.

“Okay time to slide everypony,” he called out to everypony ready to go down their chosen slide. All the sliders, except the nervous pegasus, sent themselves down their slides. Aqua took a few steps closer to the mare to help talk her into going down.

“Look, just clear your mind of anything you might be thinking of,” He said. “You waited in a long line to get on this ride, and I’m sure you’d hate to go back down the same steps. Just go for it, and don’t think about anything. Trust me.”

The pegasus looked back at the tunnel entrance into the dark depths of the Filly Flash water slide. Water constantly splashed out of an opening on the tunnel edge and down into the darkness that is the tunnel.

She then walked toward the slide entrance and sat down. Her long pink mane touched the floor when she did so. She took a deep breath and slowly released it before saying something.

“When somepony shows intimidation...” She grabbed the edges of the tunnel entrance. “... show no cessation.”

She closed her eyes and flung herself into the tunnel.

---

Applejack, Vinyl Scratch, Pinkie Pie, Rainbow Dash, and Lyra Heartstrings stood waiting behind a fence beside the slow-down lanes of the Rainboom and Filly Flashes speed slides. They expected to see a yellow pegasus to come screaming down the Rainboom slide at any moment. So far, they’ve only seen one stallion scream his head off as he rocketed into a big splash finale.

“I just don’t know what we’re doing here,” Rainbow Dash said. “Fluttershy would never get on something like this. I should be out trying to find her right now.”

“Rainbow, we’ve already covered the entire water park,” Lyra responded to the impatient pegasus. "We couldn't find her anywhere else, so this is the last place to look."

Just then, a pony shot out of the Filly Flashes tunnel nearest to the group and made a big splash as he stopped in the slow-down lane. The pony sat up from the lane and wobbled a little, before he stumbled his way out of the flume with a silly grin on his face. As he passed the five ponies, he softly uttered "woah!"

All five mares watched as the shaken stallion continued trotting away from the slide.

Rainbow was the first to react. "Wow! I should have tried that slide instead!"

---

Fluttershy pressed her crossed hooves as hard against her chest as she could while she bolted through the flume on her back at a violent speed, constantly accelerating the further she slid. She would rocket through a helix with screaming speeds and pull g-forces that would melt her face against her skull and plaster her body against the walls of the flume. When she would transition into an opposite directional turn, water would be kicked up and splashed in her face, causing her to close her eyes in the already pitch-black tunnel.

She peeked through her eye lids and saw a faint glimmer of light, before she changed directions again and had water splashed in her face, forcing her to shut her eyes again.

---

Applejack was able to hear a faint sound of rushing water coming from the Filly Flashes tunnel furthest away from them. It steadily grew and grew until it was noticable by the other ponies.

“Here comes somepony,” Applejack addressed to her friends.

The five ponies carefully watched what was going to come from the exit of the dark tunnel that wound it’s way in zig-zags and helixes to the top of the structure far from them.

Suddenly, the tunnel exploded water out of it’s end like a cannon. A faint yellow object could be seen within the watery mess. It reached half-way through the slow-down lane before it finally stopped completely and rested.

“Hey! I think that was Fluttershy!” yelled Pinkie, while jumping and pointing pointing.

“Well I’ll be,” said Applejack with a smile. “I think I saw her too! Ta think Fluttershy would get on something like this! Woo-wee!”

The group continued to stare at the yellow fiberglass lane, expectant on somepony to eventually rise out of the water and reveal them self.

A beat skipped, and nopony emerged.

Rainbow called out to the mysterious pony. “Fluttershy...? Is that you...?”

No answer.

The lifeguard near the slide blew her whistle and crossed her hooves above her head, which was a signal to the lifeguard pony at the top of the structure to not send any ponies down the slides yet. She then got out of her high wooden chair and quickly trotted over to the stagnant object still in the flume.

The impressed smiles that were worn on the faces of the five ponies slowly started to fade away into looks of worry as they observed the lifeguard pony staring into the lane. They saw her lean in closer to the pony obscured from their view and mouth something to it. The group couldn’t hear what the lifeguard said due to her being too far away.

Lyra put a hoof to her mouth, Applejack removed her hat, Pinkie and Vinyl glanced at each other, Rainbow leaned on the wooden fence to try to get a closer look.

Rainbow called out again. “Fluttersh-”

Before she could finish, a yellow pegasus shot up and out of the flume while screaming.

“I DID IT! I DID IT! YES! WOOOOOOO!!!” screamed the mare who was obviously Fluttershy.

All five ponies behind the fence were dumbstruck at the explosive emotions expressed by the usually gentle Fluttershy. It’s quite rare to see her like this, let alone try something that should have scared her silly.

They continued to stare as the yellow pegasus gave the startled lifeguard a big hug with a face-stretching grin on her face.

---

Celestia’s sun had dipped into the horizon and continued to sink. The sky around the sun was ablaze with the color orange. Further away from the sun, the sky became a darker and darker shade of blue until it was nearly black on the east side. Luna’s moon would begin to slowly rise at any moment.

The Pond waterpark was officially closed for the day, having ran it’s first successful day smoothly. It expects to open tomorrow at the same time, and it expects the same number of ponies to return for another day to soak in the sun.

Ponies were still exiting the park through the front gate. Most of them had their towels hung around their necks and were carrying their coolers and saddlebags with them. Some ponies carried little fillies on their back that were too sleepy to make the walk back to their hometown. All ponies were in no rush, for the majority of them were satisfied with how their experience in Equestria’s first waterpark had been.

The same could be said for a group of six mares, who made their way out the front gate. Five of them trotted out, one of them flew. They talked and laughed as they began walking further away from the water park and towards the trail that led back to Ponyville where all but one would be staying.

“Hey Vinyl,” asked Pinkie Pie. “You should come with us back to Ponyville! There’s so much that’s changed ever since you left that I want you to see!”

Vinyl thought about it before she responded. “As much as I’d love to Pinkie, I’ve got to get back to Manehattan. I promised my manager that I’d be back at my place after I was done with the park. Maybe some other time?”

“Okay,” said Pinkie. “But be sure to let us know! I’ll have to set up a Welcome-Back-to-Ponyville party for you!”

Vinyl chuckled at the pink pony’s enthusiasm in wanting to make a party for such an occasion. “Alright, Pinkie. I’ll be sure to let you guys know. See-ya!”

And so, Pinkie, Lyra, Applejack, Rainbow Dash, and Fluttershy waved as Vinyl Scratch began to trot off towards another trail that had a sign that read “To Manehattan.”

Once Vinyl was far enough, the other five continued down the long trail back to their town. The town of Ponyville.

“So Rainbow,” said Lyra. “You were all hyped about the Rainboom slide until you rode it?”

“Yep,” replied the flying cyan pegasus. “I should have thought it wasn’t going to be as cool as I thought it would be. Any pegasus could easily fly higher and dive faster than that slide. They don’t need places like these to have a good time.”

Applejack then chimed in. “Well, you’re a pegasus that would consider doin’ stunts like that. But there are others who just don’t do it for a livin’. Ain’t that right Fluttershy?”

Applejack glanced at the yellow pegasus, who only glanced back at her. AJ then continued speaking. “I still can’t believe you got on that thing! None of us expected you ta do somethin’ like that.”

“Yeah,” Rainbow inserted. “What made you want to get on the slide in the first place?”

“Well, when I tried the other slides with Lyra, Pinkie and Vinyl, I got curious as to how exciting a water slide like that would be if I were to get on it.” Fluttershy spoke in her usual soft voice, and with a smile on her face. “I was too scared to ride the Rainboom, so I chose the Filly Flashes as an alternative. The lifeguard at the top told me that it was more intense than the Rainboom, so then I got even more scared. But I just cleared my thoughts and went for it anyways. I’m glad I did too. It was pretty intense, but it wasn’t as intense as I thought it was going to be.”

“It’s good to hear that, Fluttershy,” Lyra said. “I was surprised to see you ride it too. I guess you’ve learned to overcome your fears on you own. I myself wouldn’t have gotten on that thing!”

“Yeah,” Pinkie inserted. “I was thinking about getting on it too, but that slide has all kinds of curvy twists and twisty curves on it! I thought I’d get sick from all of those turns on it!”

Fluttershy smiled at hearing her friends tell her they were too nervous to try the slide she went on. Maybe she was so full of surprises that she even surprises herself.

Rainbow then asked her a question. “Do you think you’d ever get back on it Fluttershy?”

Fluttershy thought to herself as she continued trotting down the dirt trail with her friends towards Ponyville. She thought about her experience on the slide. The dark tunnel, the fast speeds, the constant directional changes, and the water that splashed everywhere.

She then gave her answer. “Sure! It was fun the first time. I don’t see why I wouldn’t try it again!”

Rainbow shook her head at hearing what Fluttershy said. “Well, I guess that means we should come back someday, huh?”

“Absolutely!” beamed Pinkie. “We should definitely come back someday. *gasp*! What if we came back next month? Or next week? No! What about tomorrow?!”

“Woah there Pinkie!” said Applejack. “We shouldn’t rush things. Besides, I need ta get back to the orchard. I can already hear my apples callin’ for me to buck ‘em out of the trees.”

“Oh. Well, we should still definitely come back soon! I can’t wait until then! It should be super duper awesome like today was!” Pinkie imagined what their return to the water park would be like and smiled at the thought of returning.

“Yeah, sure,” Rainbow inserted. “Sounds like fun. I’d love to try some water slides with Fluttershy when we do!”

And so, the five mares continued trotting north to their peaceful town called Ponyville as the sun continued to set in the west, dipping further and further into the horizon.

---

Real-life waterpark influences:
-Aquatica (Orlando, Florida)
-Discovery Cove (Orlando, Florida)
-Disney’s Blizzard Beach (Orlando, Florida)
-Six Flags Hurricane Harbour (Valencia, California; near Los Angeles, CA)

---

Thank you so much for reading this story! It's the most amount of effort I've put into any story ever.

The last chapter sounded a little weak in my opinion, but I'd like to know what you may have thought of it. Was it weak? Just fine? Could be redone? Or should I not touch it at all?

Again thanks everyone for reading!

Comments

[MeltingCake]

Great fic, exactly what I wanted. Something happy and as someone said above doesn't have too many big things happen. However the ending seems a little sudden... not gonna spoil anything.

[Belgian Waffle]

450472 I appreciate the comment, and thanks for telling me your thoughts on the ending.

[angelicoreXX]

nice .. didnt expect Fluttershy would play the Filly Flashed and so awesome that i feel like i should really want to join and play it .. never play a giant slide before..

[Belgian Waffle]

570830 Thanks! I'm looking into having someone help me revise the story, or for me to revise it myself.