Chapter 7:
Perfect day for fun
It was not long after she had walked through the amusement park entrance that Sunset could already hear the cries of joy of children coming from all directions: some of theme were laughing, while riding the Mery Go- Round, others were standing in a long line in front of a pink cart and, judging by the looks of their adorable faces, they had been waiting for quite a while, yet even that could not stop them from wanting a bite of the delicious looking cotton candy the cart’s owner was serving. Some of them were splashing in the water of a fountain nearby, as for their mothers; they had gotten tired of yelling at them that theirs was not a game to be played in public. But at the sight of the girl the kids got quickly out of the water and left, even though Sunset did not seem to mind the children playing and was quite disappointed in seeing them run away: “Ah” sighed the girl: “what’s wrong with me? I did not wish to frighten them”. Sunset got comfy at the edge of the fountain where she could hear the water, as it sprouted out of a statue shaped like three youngsters hugging each other, without getting wet and watched the women going after their kids and dragging them out of the amusement park, pulling them by an ear, once they had caught them: “Oh, right” exclaimed the girl: “that’s why they tried to get away”. Sunset turned around and carefully looked at every attraction she could see: not counting the Carousel, there were also a haunted house, a mirror gallery, a Ferris Wheel and of course a Roller Coaster: “Rainbow Dash would love to ride that” thought the girl who was already getting her mind lost into that carnival of delights, almost forgetting the reason why she had decided to go there:
“Sunshim!” she heard at that very moment:
“Oh?” said the girl, as she turned her head toward the direction from which she had just heard someone call her name:
“Sunshim!” a lovely and at the same time pleasantly familiar voice repeated: “Over here!”
“Pinkie Pie” exclaimed Sunset, seeing her friend who was as cheerful as ever:“Coming!” shouted the girl, while running towards Pinkie:
“Oh, I am so happy you came, now we can get to do a ton of fun stuff here”
“Yes, Pinkie; yes, we can” said Sunset with an ironic smile on her face: “but how about next time you don’t call at six am to ask me If I wanna hang out, so I can get some more, you know...sleep, please?”.
“Mmm…”whispered Sunset, as she heard an annoying beeping: “Ha, don’t tell me I set the alarm clock last night, too!”, after trying to fall asleep once, twice and even three times more, Sunset realized with great disappointment, that her struggle was useless, as the noise that had so suddenly interrupted her peaceful slumber would start tormenting her shortly after it had stopped ringing. The girl started waving her arms and agitating her legs under the warm blankets of her bed and moved toward the bookshelf: “Uh?” said Sunset, as she grabbed her clock and checked the timer: “Not this one, but what else could possibly be ringing at 6 o’ clock on Saturday morning?” as soon as the hated beeping started again, Sunset noticed her mobile on the floor: “someone’s calling...Pinkie?” whispered the girl, trying to open her heavy eyes: “Hello?” she said, doing her best to make her voice sound normal:
“Sunshim!” exclaimed her friend on the other side of the phone:
“Hi...Pinkie...what’s with the early morning phone call? You know I like to sleep in a bit during weekend”
“Dah, of course I know, I mean what kind of friend would I be if I suddenly forgot what you like? A non-friend that’s what! Or is that an unfriend?”
“Pinkie I think neither of those are actually words and, yes, we are friends and I know you remember everything there is to know about practically everybody in town which is precisely why I would like you to tell me what is so important that you couldn’t wait until later to talk to me about”
“Ah, silly Sunset...” giggled the cheerful girl on the phone:
“what was that, again?”
“You thought I called you to tell you about your special surprise, well I can’t, because then it wouldn’t be a surprise any more and I would have prepared it for nothing”
“A surprise, ah, what kind of...”
“Ah ah ah, no more questions or your spoil all my work; just meet me at the amusement park in the eastern part of the city later and you’ll find out, Bye!”
“Pinkie, wait! What time will you be...ah, shoot!” sighed Sunset, as she realized Pinkie had already ended the call “Now what? When I am supposed to show up at the park?”. After reflecting upon these things, the girl realized that attempting to find out what her friend had in mind would be a perfect waste of time which now she needed and a whole lot of it: “Perhaps it’ll be better if I just get dressed and go” she said to herself, as she finally decided to get up.
“Oh, c’mon” answered Pinkie Pie: “It wasn’t that early, besides it’ll be worth it!”
“Oh, I don’t doubt that” giggled Sunset: “So, when exactly do I get to know about that surprise you mentioned?”
“Well...” said, hearing those words, the girl:
“Please Pinkie, I’m dying to know”
“… I guess, if you really want me to reveal it...”
“Yes?” exclaimed Sunset with a particularly evident thrill in her voice:
“mmm… oh! Is that... is that what I think it is?!”
“Ah?”
“C’mon Sunset, let’s go!”, at that very moment something in Pinkie Pie’s eyes had glimmered for a moment like a luminescent spark, but of course not even that was enough to contain Sunset’s disappointment for not receiving the news she wanted so badly, yet, after no longer than a few minutes, she had stopped thinking about it, probably because she had gotten so used to her friend’s secret surprises to know that, if she had not been told what it was straight away, any other effort to get Pinkie to confess her plans would have been useless:
“Why did you bring me here?” said the girl, once her friend had dragged her in front of a stage where one could see five dummies displayed:
“It’s a game! “answered her friend: “the aim of it is to hit the target with this toy gun, so you can get a prize!”
“mmm...” whispered Sunset: “Fine” she said in the end: “I suppose it’s worth the shot, plus I’m feeling lucky today, hand over the toy gun, Pinkie”. The girl grabbed the blue painted pistol her friend was holding in her hand, inserted a bullet, got closer to one of the targets, closed her left eye, while aiming, took a deep breath and clicked the trigger. Right afterwards she heard a low noise and saw one of the dummies getting hit:
“you did it Sunshim, you did it! “shouted excited Pinkie:
“Did you doubt me?”
“not really...but it feels good to see you succeed”
“Thanks Pinkie and, yes, I love you, too” said Sunset, right before hugging her friend: “Now watch me knock down the rest of them”. Sunset was not joking indeed, when she said those things, for, after a quick reload to her gun, she shot another bullet and hit the bullseye of another target with sniper precision and she did the exact same with the remaining ones:
“Congrats, girl!” said a well built man who had randomly showed up right in front of their eyes and appeared to be the one in charge of overseeing the game: “here’s your prize!”
“Thanks…I guess” answered Sunset who was not expecting to receive a red and yellow maned pony plush as a winning prize:
“Hey, it kinds looks like you, Sunset!” pointed out Pinkie:
“well...I guess it does. You know what? I think you should keep it, Pinkie” “What, but you are the one who won it, Sunset”
“True, but there’s absolutely no way I could have done that without your amazing cheering!”
“Oh, shacks Sunset, no need for thanking”
“I really mean it Pinkie, take it” despite her initial reluctance, seeing her friend handing over the plush, the girl took it in her hands and smiled kindly:
“Oh” remembered Pinke just moment afterwards: “we must hurry or we won’t be the first in line to enter the haunted house, they say it’s the best attraction they have around here”
“We definitely don’t wanna miss that”
“exactly, in fact they also say it’s really haunted!”
“Sure and do you know what else they say about the haunted house?”
“No, what?”
“The last one to arrive gets to pay the tickets!” giggled the girl, running:
“Hey, no fair!” protested Pinkie, chasing her: “wait for me...no, really wait for me, I forgot all of my bits at home!”.
As they entered the room, the lights turned off and a strange anxiety suddenly filled the air; the atmosphere in the haunted house was tense, but that is not something to be surprised at, since is a common fact for that kind of park attractions, yet this one had something ghastly and ugly not even Sunset could explain. Every step she made, she could hear the floor cracking under her feet, making her wonder if it would be able to bear her weight; everywhere she looked she could not see a thing except for an old and apparently dusty night case illuminated by the pale light coming from a window; but the worst thing was a creepy whistle, similar to a wind blow, which the girl could hear every five seconds: she did not find that amusing, at all: “Hey Pinkie, are you still there?” whispered the girl who was struggling to recognize her friend in all that dark:
“Yeah, I am!”
“Good, I can’t see you or where we’re supposed to go, got any ideas?”
“Not really” answered Pinkie with a certain tone of excitement in her voice:
“Wow, they sure went through a lot to make this look like the real thing: now was I or wasn’t I right, when I told you this was the best thing they had, uh?”
“Yes, Pinkie, you were” answered Sunset who did not sound as caught up in the excitement of the situation: “but, to me, it would still be better if they had made it a little easier for us to see anything in here”
“Oh Sunshim, don’t be such a party pooper and follow me, I’m sure we will find our way through this here haunted house” exclaimed Pinkie, right before pulling her friend by the arm. On the other hand Sunset, who had started feeling pain from all that arm pulling, was still doubtful, but decided it would be better not to argue and just let Pinkie do the leading, especially because she had not any other options. While the girls walked through the various rooms of the building, they did not find anything worth being frightened of, if not for a spider plush that had dropped down on their faces the very first moment they had opened a door, even though, from a closer look, the spider would not have scared a child:
“Guess they run out of ideas to make this place look any more threatening” thought at that moment Sunset, as she and Pinkie entered another room that was lighten more than the previous ones:
“What’s that?” questioned curiously Pinkie Pie:
“It looks like...a message” pointed out Sunset, noticing something written on the wall just in front of them:
“Congratulations to you, dear travellers, your path is almost at its end, yet to be set free from this unpleasant maze, you needn’t but to lift the curse that afflicts this very place that is prison to you; here’s your riddle, by solving it the evil spell of this house shall be broken, but think carefully, for it shan’t be an easy feat”.
“Darn, a riddle, I am not great at solving them” exclaimed Pinkie:
“well, it certainly is an original concept, I’ve never come across a haunted house like this” answered Sunset: “Now let’s try to solve it, it says…
... cry and I weep, yawn and I sleep, smile and I shall grin. You tell me, what am I?”
“What was that?”
“Heck If I knew…let’s think, there’s no doubt the answer lies somewhere in this in room; we just need to find it”
“You sure make it sound easy as pie”
“It’s not, I know, but it wouldn’t be as fun otherwise; I am right Pinkie?”
“Of course, let’s find out what the answer to this crazy riddle is...you got any clues?”
“Ha” giggled the girl: “Not really, but I’m still hoping I’ll find one. Sunset started wandering the room keen on finding a way to solve the mysterious riddle, as if she had taken the task as a challenge to her own intellect or, perhaps, she had just had enough of that loony house which had seemed to have bothered her some much. While Pinkie was standing still, doing her best to come up with an idea, Sunset kept repeating: “… cry and I weep, yawn and I sleep”, as she was speaking those words, her eyes came across a dusty mirror, all alone in a corner, just a few inches away from her: “smile and I shall grin...” she said, looking at her reflection in the dirty glass of the mirror: “You tell me, what I am?”. Sunset smiled and moved the object away: “Pinkie” she shouted: “I’ve found the exit!”
“So” asked the cheerful girl to her friend: “how did you figure out the exit to the haunted house was hidden behind that mirror?”
“Well...”answered Sunset, bushing from pride: “I kept thinking about what the final riddle said and understood that the only thing that does everything you do at the exact same time as you could only be your own self”
“Wow...you are right, Sunset; I would have been struggling for ages to come up with such a brilliant intuition!”
“Oh Pinkie, you’re such a flutterer!”
“Did you just say Futtershy, where is she, where is she?”
“No Pinkie, I meant you’re complementing me so much I am starting to feel embarrassed”
“Well, dah!” giggled Sunset’s friend: “that’s exactly what I do: I always make my best effort to see my friends smile!”
“and you do an amazing job, speaking of which” said the girl, as she turned her head toward a stage nearby: “now that we’re sitting here, eating cupcakes this place is starting to look familiar...”
“We did visit it together with the rest of our friends a while ago”
“oh right…we tried a lot of the attractions they have here back then, too. I still have the pictures we took that time in my scrapbook at home”
“It sure was fun, especially when we played music all together on that stage!”
“Yeah” sighed heavily Sunset: “All together...and she was here, too”
“Woopsie...sorry about that, still no news from Twilight?” Sunset replied shaking her head: “Oh...I guess it really is like Applejack said: she must be super busy right now”
“Sure, too busy...even for me!”. After a moment of awkward silence, Pinkie decided to break the ice once again:
“Hey chelax Sunshim, wanna go for a ride on the Marry Go-Round?”
“Okay” answered Sunset, nodding: “Then, what are we waiting for? Let’s go!”
As soon as the attraction started spinning to the rhythm of the music, Sunset started watching the children around her, as they played, chasing each other, laughing innocently: “Look at them!” she thought: “why can’t I just be like them? Why can’t I jut enjoy myself here? Why can’t I...” the girl suddenly interrupted her thoughts to stare at a little girl, sitting at the table where she had been talking to Pinkie Pie a few minutes ago, together with a boy older than her, but who one could swear looked very much like her and a woman about as the same age as him, and seeing those people made Sunset remember…
At the light of her horn, a loud noise was heard and a giant bean stock sprouted out of the ground of the royal castle quicker than anypony in the whole city of Canterlot could ever imagine: “Wow!” exclaimed Minuette who had remained speechless in front of such amazing abilities: “You really are the best of the best, Sunset!” the red and yellow maned filly in front of her stayed quite:“that vine you made is amazing!”
“would you like to come have lunch with us?” intervened Lyra Heart Strings:
“Sorry girls” answered the pony they had called Sunset: “I gotta practice for my advanced summoning spell exam, maybe next time!” while leaving, the girl noticed a very happy looking filly nearby: she was lavender skinned, had a dark purple mane which turned into magenta in two stripes of her hair and was playing with a ball she was magically lifting, thought the filly did not have a cutie mark on her flank, yet, together with a full grown up colt with a shield as his mark and a young pink alicorn princess. As she passed by, Sunset felt something strange in her, the sensation of a warm wind blow, passing by for moment or a spark igniting in her heart: what was stuck in her mind about that filly was her eyes which possessed a bright light Sunset had immediately fallen in love with: “In the last page of his journal Clover the Claver wrote” thought the girl: “he wrote that this kind of sensation only happens twice: the first time, when you meet somepony special and then, when you meet them again.” “Maybe it’s true” sighed, after a while Sunset: “Perhaps Clover was right, perhaps we’ll meet again one day...until then, farewell young one”.
“Sunshim!” shouted loudly Pinkie, trying to wake up her friend from her day dreaming:
“Uh?” said Sunset, shaking her head confusedly: “Where...what?”
“the ride is over Sunshim and we’ve no time for another, after all, we still need to try out the Ferris Wheel!”
“Oh, Pinkie, it’s just you”
“Well dah! We’ve been hanging out all day, who else could it be?”
“Nobody, of course; I was just reminiscing...”
“No time for that, either: now let’s go!” exclaimed the girl, once she had started puling Sunset’s arm again: “Pinkie Pie...” whispered to herself the girl: “Ah, Pinkie Pie!”
“Yes?” answered her friend who had clearly heard her call her name: “Pinkie...I…thank you… for the surprise I mean, I think I finally got what it was”
“Oh, Sunset, I just did what friends do; you would have done the same for me!”
“Yeah!” sighed the girl:
“Now come here and give me a hug!” While they were wrapping each other in a warm embrace, Sunset felt something in her, something new, but familiar at the same time which made her smile, as she felt a tear lining her cheek: “Now let’s go!” shouted then Pinkie: “whoever gets to the Ferris Wheel first has the right to ask her friend to do her homework in her stead for a whole week:
“Hey, Pinkie!” giggled Sunset, chasing her friend all the way to the Wheel: “Wait for me!