//------------------------------// // Nine: Mr. Kino and Prof. Menlo // Story: A Night at the Movies // by Mr Movie Magic //------------------------------// It was late into the night. Back at the hotel, Applejack was in a deep sleep. Rarity was resting peacefully, too. She rolled over onto her left side. Then she rolled over onto her right side. A parched throat had disrupted her slumber. She took off her sleep mask and got up to fix herself a refreshing glass of water. Going into the bathroom, she closed the door behind her, but left it slightly ajar. She turned on the light. She took a few swallows of her water. Before she returned to her bed, she paused for a moment to check her mane in the mirror. Perfect! Not a strand out of place! She turned out the light and returned to bed. She lay her head down. She sat up and fluffed her pillow. She lay back down. She sat up once more to fix her pillow. Not being satisfied with the fluffiness of her pillow, she got back out of bed to fetch one of the extra pillows they had kept on the chair. Hm. That’s odd, she thought to herself, not finding the pillows there. I could have sworn we left them here. She turned to go back to bed and noticed one of the pillows on the floor beside Rainbow Dash’s bed. Oh, Rainbow Dash. Taking all of the pillows. She picked up the pillow from the floor. That’s when she noticed something odd… “Applejack!” she cried out in distress. “Wha-what? What’s goin’ on?” Applejack frantically questioned as she sprang up wide awake. “Applejack, Rainbow Dash isn’t here.” Rarity had pulled the blanket back. All of the extra pillows were aligned on the bed. A quickly drawn doodle of Rainbow Dash’s face was sketched on a piece of paper and placed on the pillow at the head of her bed. Applejack noticed something else. “Look, Rarity. Her bag is gone, too.” She and Rarity turned their attention to the door that connected their room to their little sisters’ room. They went inside and turned on the lights… “They’re not here!” Rarity gasped in shock. Just as they expected! Applejack noticed that the bags of ghost hunting gear were also not there. “Ah bet Ah know where they are,” she asserted. Applejack and Rarity hurried as quickly as they could to the movie palace. They rushed down the hallway, through the lobby, and out the front door. “Ah cain’t believe this,” Applejack grumbled. She changed her tone of voice. “Well, Ah do believe this. Oh, but Ah cain’t believe it’s happenin’.” “Oh, I do hope they’re okay,” said Rarity worriedly. Much like the borough of Manehattan, and the resort of Las Pegasus, Applewood was a city that never slept. Even at this hour of the night, the streets were alive with activities. Ponies were coming and going. Somewhere, there was probably a production crew shooting the night scenes for their latest picture. As they made their way along the streets, they caught sight of a stallion standing beside his taxi carriage as he sipped his late-night cup of Joe while on break from his night shift. He spoke with another taxi driver. Rarity and Applejack shouted out to him as they ran towards him, “Hey! Taxi!” Before the taxi driver knew it, the two mares had jumped into the carriage. Flabbergasted and speechless, the taxi driver spit out the swig of coffee he had just taken. “What the?!” he exclaimed. “We need you tuh get us to the haunted movie palace pronto!” Applejack demanded. “How ‘bout sayin’ ‘please?’” the taxi driver grumbled as he cinched up his harness. “Please take us to the movie palace,” said Rarity. “Sure thing,” said the driver in a cheerful tone. “Hold on.” With his harness in place, the taxi driver made for the haunted movie palace. He weaved through the traffic along the way. Rarity and Applejack held on tightly, practically for dear life. “I’m not so sure taking a taxi was a very good idea,” said Rarity. “Yee-haw!” Applejack hollered. “Git your cowpony on, Rarity. This is much faster than walkin’.” “Yeah, but is it safer?” A group of ponies were crossing the street when the taxi carriage came barreling by. The ponies jumped back in surprise. “I’m walkin’ here!” one pony shouted. The haunted movie palace was straight ahead. “There it is!” Rarity exclaimed. Curiously, its lights were turned on. “Oh, Sweet Betsy from Pike! Ah hope it’s that janitor who turned on those lights.” Applejack commented. Just one block away, the stallion suddenly stopped. “Excuse me,” Rarity started, “we asked you to take us to the movie palace.” “Sorry, miss. There’s too many weird things that happen there,” the taxi driver explained. “This is as far as I’m taking you.” Rarity and Applejack got out from the carriage and ran the rest of the way to the theater. A small crowd of ponies were standing around in curiosity, looking at the lights of the movie palace. Rarity and Applejack paused at the front door. “Look! The door’s been opened,” Applejack pointed out. “And somepony has even taken the time to turn on all the lights,” Rarity added. The lights were dim in the lobby and a few of the bulbs outlining the marquee flickered on and off. “Ah’ll give you four guesses as to who’s behind all this,” said Applejack. She and Rarity went inside. A few concerned ponies noticed. “Hey, don’t go in there,” one pony called out after them. They dared not to follow them inside. “Ew, look at this place,” Rarity looked around the lobby in disgust. “And I thought it looked atrocious on the outside. I’m sure even a ghost would want to tidy up.” “Save the spring cleanin’ for later, Rarity,” began Applejack. “We gotta find our sisters and Rainbow Dash and Scootaloo.” Rarity would certainly never step hoof in a place in this condition, but she could easily do so when it came to her friends’ and family’s wellbeing. “Apple Bloom!” Applejack called out. “Rainbow Dash!” “Sweetie Belle!” Rarity called out. “Scootaloo! Where are you?” They searched around the lobby. Nopony was there. They walked through a doorway and followed the hallway to the once grand auditorium. Nopony was there either. Not finding Apple Bloom, Sweetie Belle, Scootaloo, and Rainbow Dash there, they darted back down the hallway. They found the door to the projection booth. They hurried through the doorway and up the stairs. In the projection booth, Apple Bloom, Scootaloo, Sweetie Belle, and Rainbow Dash heard the hoof steps of somepony approaching. They were hurrying up the stairs. They were coming right to them. Not knowing who, or what, it was, the four ponies huddled together, their ghost hunting gear raised and at the ready. The hoof steps rapidly sounded. They were coming closer until… Bam! The door burst wide open. “Yahh!” the four ponies yelled out. Rainbow Dash and Scootaloo swung their tennis racket and fly swatter, respectively. Sweetie Belle switched on her little vacuum and Apple Bloom held up the stone of the spirit that Granny Smith had given to her. Rarity and Applejack jumped back in surprise. “Oh, my heavens!” Rarity exclaimed as she ducked down. “Easy, y’all, easy!” Applejack tried to settle everypony down. “It’s me and Rarity.” The four of them put down their defenses when they realized who was there. “Rarity!” Sweetie Belle exclaimed, happy to see her big sister. “Applejack! What’re you doin’ here?” Apple Bloom asked, not expecting to see her or Rarity there at the haunted movie palace. “Ah reckon Ah should be askin’ y’all that same question,” Applejack replied. She did not look too happy to see them there. “Ah jus’ wanted to find the ghost,” Apple Bloom explained. “We were maybe gonna get out ghost huntin’ cutie marks.” “For the last time, Apple Bloom, there ain’t no ghost hauntin’ this theater.” She turned her attention to Rainbow Dash. “And you, Rainbow Dash, how could you bring them here? Don’t you realize that y’all had Rarity and Ah worried sick? Now c’mon. Ah’m takin’ y’all back to the hotel.” “Wait, Applejack,” Apple Bloom pleaded. “No, Apple Bloom. We’re leavin’." “Please, don’t leave,” Mr. Kino’s voice came through the radio. Applejack and Rarity paused. “Who said that?” Rarity asked a bit nervously. Scootaloo announced, “Rarity, Applejack. Allow us to introduce you to Mr. Kino himself.” She pointed her hoof to the young filmmaker’s shadow on the wall. Applejack and Rarity turned around. They were a bit spooked to see a shadow and nopony present to cast one. “Mr. Kino?” began Applejack. “The Mr. Kino?” asked Rarity. “Don’t be frightened, Fraulein. I am not a ghost,” said Mr. Kino. “I am neither a parlor trick. I am trapped in a void. I have been for one hundred und twenty-three years.” “I’m dreadfully sorry to hear that,” said Rarity. “Perhaps if we had the Elements of Harmony with us, we could get you out of there.” “The key to my escape is that projector.” Mr. Kino extended his hoof. Being a two-dimensional shadow, his hoof reached down the wall and across the floor, pointing to the projector. “Well, let’s start ‘er up and get you outta there,” said Applejack. “Hold on,” started Scootaloo. “Running the projector will not just bring back Mr. Kino, it’ll also bring back Prof. Menlo.” “Mr. Kino and Prof. Menlo are in there? Golly, how many ponies are in there?” “Well, this certainly explains why nopony has seen or heard of either of you since you two had disappeared,” said Rarity. Apple Bloom asked, “Mr. Kino, are ya ready to come back? Even though Prof. Menlo may be comin’ back, too?” Sweetie Belle added, “I know you two had your differences, but if you could talk things out, it just might solve all your problems.” Mr. Kino stayed silent for a second. “Take it from us,” began Rainbow Dash. “We’re the defenders of Harmony. There’s no friendship problem we can’t fix.” “Your determination to help me gives me confidence that I will have mein old friend back,” Mr. Kino spoke. Though he was a shadow, they knew that he was wearing a look of courage on his face. “Start the projector.” Rainbow Dash fired up the projector. The reel of film began to roll as fast as the projector would allow. The screen in the auditorium illuminated. The image of Prof. Menlo reappeared. “What is this about?” he inquired assertively. He banged his hoof on the screen. “Get me out of here now!” With the projector running at full speed, it was now time to turn up the light. “Okay, we’re turning up the light,” informed Rainbow Dash. To Rarity and Applejack, she cautioned, “Ya might wanna look away. Things are about to get bright!” The light shined as brightly as they could get it. They all shielded their eyes from the bright white light that radiated from the projector. The faster the film reel spun, the louder the whirring of the projector became until it reached a steady volume. The projector was revved up to maximum power. It began to shake and its mechanics were running like the devil. “Is it working?” Apple Bloom called out above the noise. “It’s working!” Prof. Menlo exclaimed on the screen. “Ha, ha! It’s working!” “Wunderbar! It’s working!” exclaimed Mr. Kino with joy. The film was spinning so fast that each individual frame on the filmstrip seemed to merge into one single frame, glowing brightly in a blinding white light. The beam of light which projected the image from the film onto the silver screen began to be filled with particles. Each time a frame from the film passed in front of the light, another layer of particles was added. With each new layer added, the forms of two stallions began to take shape and materialize. The image of Prof. Menlo on the screen, and thus on the filmstrip, began to fade until he was no longer there. Then in a bright flash of light, everything went dark. The projector stopped and slowed to a stop, cooling down. “What happened to the light?” asked Rarity. “It’s the faulty wiring,” replied Applejack. “This place is a century old, remember?” The lights of the movie palace slowly faded on. A great gasp escaped from everyponies’ mouths. Standing before them were two stallions: Mr. Kino and Prof. Menlo in the flesh.