//------------------------------// // Fluttershy's Mansion (Nightmare Night's Short Story) // Story: EquestriaBound Girls: Short Stories // by Lucky Ness //------------------------------// "Why'd they have to go in there?" The yellow skinned girl asks herself as she walks back and forth in front of the front door of the dark, foreboding mansion that looms before, contemplating whether she should go in and check on her freinds. She had reluctantly been brought along when her friends went through the warp pipe Mario had built, which would allow them to visit the Mushroom Kingdom whenever they wanted to, saying that they wanted to inspect the haunted mansion that Luigi had won in a contest a while ago. They had entered the mansion over two hours ago, with Luigi in tow, leaving Fluttershy out front with Professor E. Gadd. They had yet to return. "I'm sure your friends are alright," someone says as they put a hand on Fluttershy's shoulder in an attempt to comfort her, which only caused the scared girl to let out a startled scream. "Oh, it's just you," Fluttershy says relieved, after seeing that it was E. Gadd who had touched her shoulder. "I'm just worried about them." "As I said, I'm sure they're all right. After all, they've got Luigi with them, and I taught him everything he knows when it comes to taking care of haunted mansions." Fluttershy is about to respond when the front door open and Luigi emerges with a somber look on his face. "E. Gadd, I need the Poltergust." He says to E. Gadd before turning towards Fluttershy as E. Gadd heads to his lab. "King Boo has captured your friends." He looks down at his feet. "I tried to stop him, but without the Poltergust, there wasn't much I could do. I barely made it out of there myself." He says as he turns and looks at the mansion. Fluttershy starts to cry. Luigi hears her, walks over to her, and puts an arm around Fluttershy. "Everything will be fine Fluttershy. When E. Gadd returns with the Poltergust, I'll go back in there and rescue your friends." He says as he gives her a comforting squeeze. "Thank you, Luigi." Fluttershy says, sniffling, as she sees E. Gadd returning with a flashlight and two vacuum cleaners. "Luigi, I know you said you wanted the Poltergust 3000, but I found the Poltergust 5000 as well. I figured I bring them both, in case you'd want to use i instead." E. Gadd says as he puts the Poltergusts down. "Thanks, Elvin." Luigi says as he picks up the Poltegust 5000 and turns to go back into the mansion. "Luigi, wait! I'm going with you." Fluttershy says as she runs forward and picks up the Poltergust 3000 and the other flashlight. "No, Fluttershy. Let Luigi handle this." E. Gadd says as Luigi turns to look at Fluttershy with a look of surprise on his face. "I can't just stand here while my friends are in trouble!" Fluttershy says, with a pleading tone to her voice. "No, Fluttershy. It's just not safe." "I think she should come." Fluttershy and E. Gadd turn and look at Luigi in surprise, before Fluttershy runs forward and envelops Luigi in a friendly hug. "Thankyouthankyouthankyou!!" She squeals as Luigi shoots a look at E. Gadd. "Fine," E. Gadd says, conceding defeat. "But let me give her a crash course in ghost hunting first." ---- "Be careful you two!" E. Gadd says to Luigi and Fluttershy as they walk up the pathway to the mansion after E. Gadd put Fluttershy through a five minute training session. Fluttershy actually managed to get really good, especially after she learned that her Stare would work on the ghosts as well as, if not better than, the flashlight E. Gadd gave her. E. Gadd waves until he sees the door of the mansion close with the finality of a tomb. ---- "So where are we going?" Fluttershy asks as she turns her flashlight on and grips it tightly. "We're going to the basement." Luigi says as he opens the door that leads to the first floor. "King Boo's minions were escorting your friends in that direction when I escaped." He says as he steps through the door, holding it open for Fluttershy. "Okay, Luigi, lead the way." Fluttershy says as she steps through the doorway and follows Luigi as he starts to walk down the hallway to the stairs. The two walk in silence until Fluttershy realizes that the lights are on. "Hey Luigi?" "Hmm." "Why are the lights on? I thought they stayed off unless you've caught all of the ghosts in a specific area." Luigi stops and opens the door that leads to the stairs to the basement. "They're on because I already cleared this area of ghosts. Maro had told me that your friends wanted to come here, so I took care of every ghost I could find in the mansion, so it would be lit when they arrived." He says, explaining as he steps out of the way so Fluttershy can walk through the doorway. They enter the room and head down the creaky staircase. Luigi then turns to his left, opens the door to the Cellar, and follows Fluttershy into the room. Luigi quickly heads to the door that will lead to the final hallway, make a pathway for them to follow by vacuuming up the piles of dust that was blocking the way. "This door will lead us to the final hallway," Luigi says as he opens the door and Fluttershy looks inside. "It l-looks d-dark in th-there," Fluttershy stammers. "That's because ghosts don't like light, and King Boo should be in the room at the end of the hallway." Luigi says as he turns off his flashlight, before turning to Fluttershy. "Turn your flashlight off. It'll give us the element of surprise for when we find him." Fluttershy complies as they enter the door, and Luigi starts to lead her down the hallway. The two walk in silence until they reach the door at the end of the hall. "Ready?" He asks. Fluttershy slowly nods her head, and Luigi opens the door to find King Boo staring right at them with Fluttershy's friends behind him, except for Pinkie Pie, who's stuck in a painting. "Boo." He says as he attacks, but Luigi startles him by turning on his flashlight before he reaches them. "Fluttershy!" Luigi says as he turns on the Poltergust 5000 to suck up King Boo. "I'm on it!" Fluttershy turns on her Poltergust 3000 and starts to help Luigi with catching the ghost. It doesn't take them long before King Boo gets sucked up by Fluttershy. "Are you girls okay?" Fluttershy asks as she and Luigi enter the room. "We're fine, but King Boo trapped Pinkie Pie in a painting." Rainbow says as she envelops Fluttershy in a hug. Luigi pulls out the Game Boy Horror and turns it on. "E. Gadd?" Luigi nods "Yeah it's-a me. We're going to need you to power up the Ghost Portrificationizer." The girls quickly walk out of the room and leave the mansion, with Fluttershy carrying Pinkie Pie's portrait the entire way. The group walks all the way to E. Gadd's lab, where they see the elderly professor waiting outside for them. "Hello, Fluttershy. I'm glad to see that you and your friends made it out all right." E. Gadd looks at the portrait. "Or most of you." "Can you reverse it?" Fluttershy asks. "I can. Luigi let me know about your situation, so I've got the Ghost Portrificationizer ready." He says as he takes the portrait from Fluttershy and leads the girls to the device. He then puts the portrait at the end of the device and sets the process in motion of restoring Pinkie Pie to her true form, which causes giggles to emanate from the painting the entire time. "Now we've just got to return King Boo to his portrait." He says as he directs Fluttershy to an opening and has her put the nozzle of the Poltergust 3000 in it. Immediately the Ghost Portrificationizer starts up, doing the same thing it did to Pinkie Pie, except in reverse. "Glad to see everything's been taken care of," Luigi says as he enters the room, before turning to the girls. "I assume that you'll want to head home now." The girls nod and Fluttershy moves to take off the Poltergust 3000, but Luigi stops her. "Keep it." "What?" "I saw how skilled you've become with it when we caught King Boo. So I want you to keep it." "Thank you." "You're welcome." Luigi says as he puts the Poltergust 5000 on the ground. "Now then, let's get you girls home."