//------------------------------// // New In Town // Story: Magic Falls // by TheIronPone035 //------------------------------// A loud whistle rang throughout the train, notifying the passengers that they had arrived at their destination. Twilight and Pinkie both looked out the window next to them, taking in the sight of the station. The Magic Falls train station looked as equally unused as the one at the main depo. Dust littered the platforms and the old style ticket building. The few light posts around the area had cracks in the glass, and only a hoof full of ponies were on the platform to enter the train. "Well, this is my stop." Twilight exclaimed, grabbing her saddlebags and hopping off the seat. To her surprise, Pinkie did the same. As Twilight went over to the train car's exit door, she noted that Pinkie was following her. She looked over at the filly with a confused expression. "Um, why are you following me?" Twilight asked. "If this is your stop, then it's my stop! I don't really have a destination to reach and I would rather stay with my new friend!" Pinkie Pie declared. Twilight was about to protest, but thought about it for a few seconds. What harm could Pinkie cause? Well, that information was unknown due to the lack of knowledge about Pinkie. But from what she had gathered from the train ride, it should be alright for Pinkie to stick around. "Ok, but i'm not sure if Aunt Dash will allow you to stay at her place. But I guess it wouldn't hurt to ask." Twilight said. Pinkie's face seemed to light up at that response. "Really!? Thankyouthankyouthankyou!" Pinkie wrapped her hooves around Twilight and gave her a tight hug, nearly causing Twilight to choke. "Now, at the time, I had thought that I might have made a mistake bringing Pinkie along with me. But after we met with my Aunt Dash, I quickly realized that it was one of the best calls I had ever made. Because without her, i'm not sure if I would of lasted a single week in that shack..." Twilight and Pinkie stared at the building, quickly realizing that the state it was in seemed somehow even worse than the train station. The building appeared to be an old rickety shack that had been turned into a Tourist Trap. Signs were everywhere around the area trying to draw people to the shack. Things like; What's Inside!? or This Way To The World Of Mystery!! There were even two massive signs on top of the shack. One had the words MYSTERY painted on it in black, while the other had five red letters that had been nailed onto the sign which spelled out SHACK. The S seemed to be barely hanging onto the sign, the slightest gust of wind making the whole letter sway left and right. "Reminds me of my family's old barn." Pinkie Pie claimed absentmindedly. As the two fillies advanced towards what they assumed was the front door, a massive blast of smoke stopped them dead in their tracks. The smoke quickly subsided, revealing a cyan pegasus with a greying rainbow mane and tail. The Pegasus was wearing a pair of black glasses which had a role of tape around the middle to keep them together. She was also wearing a black suit with a red tie as well as a red fez on top of her head which had the outline of her cutie mark stitched onto it. "Welcome Fillies, to the most mysterious place in Magic Falls! The Mystery Shack!" The Pegasus declared, however, her salesmare expression soon faded when she realized who one of the fillies was. "Wait a minute, aren't you that kid that I was told about? Umm," The Pegasus put a hoof to her chin as she tried to remember Twilight's name. "Twinkle?" At that answer, Pinkie Pie bursted out into a fit of laughter. White Twilight just shook her head. "Twilight, and you must be Aunt Dash. Sorry that we haven't met before, but I didn't even know this town existed until my parents brought it up." Twilight exclaimed. "No worries, this town is always overlooked. By the way, whose Miss Laughter over there? I thought only one filly was coming." Aunt Dash stated. "Oh, I met her on the train and we ended up becoming friends. She's-" Twilight was cut off as Pinkie Pie suddenly stopped laughing and bounced over to the elderly Pegasus. "I'm Pinkie Pie! It's always nice to meet a new friend!" Pinkie Pie said, bouncing in place. "Pinkie told me that she doesn't really know where to go and since we're apparently friends now, she wants to come with me." Twilight explained. Aunt Dash looked Pinkie over, from the sweater she was wearing, to the wacky pink mane and tail. "Eh, I could always use a few extra hooves around the shack. You can stay as long as you follow MY rules." "Okie Doki Loki! I Pinkie promise to follow your rules Dashie!" Aunt Dash rose an eyebrow, before mumbling something under her breath. "First rule, NEVER call me that again." She instructed. "After meeting Aunt Dash, she ended up giving us a tour around the Mystery Shack. But she said the only reason it was free was because we would end up having to work there all summer and should get used to everything. Pinkie seemed fine with that, but I honestly just wanted to stay in the town library and read." "Still have yet to go there." "Anyways, turns out that Aunt Dash also had a few other employees around the place. By a few I mean two. One isn't even a pony." "And this is the rock that looks like a face." Aunt Dash explained, pointing to a rock on display that had the outline of a face. Pinkie stared at the rock for a few seconds, before digging around in her suitcase and retrieved a party hat. She was about to set the party hat down on the rock but Aunt Dash stopped her. "Rule 33! Don't touch the merchandise!" Pinkie slowly put the party hat back in the suitcase, before spotting a figure standing on a step stool. Not a split second after that, she rushed off to greet them. Twilight turned around to see where Pinkie was, only to see the pink filly dash over to a strange figure. "Who's that?" Twilight questioned to Aunt Dash. "That's just Spike. He's the repair dragon who helps keep the shack running." Aunt Dash exclaimed. "You have a dragon as a repair pony!?" Twilight said, her jaw dropping. "No, repair dragon. Don't worry, Spike is as sweet as a cupcake once you get to know him." Aunt Dash stated. Sure enough, when Twilight looked back in the direction of the dragon, she saw Spike and Pinkie Pie chatting and laughing. Still keeping her guard up, Twilight advanced towards the two. Spike noticed Twilight and turned to face her, a smile across his face. "Hello! You must be Twilight. Ms Dash told me about you staying for the summer. I'm Spike." Spike greeted, extending one of his claws out in an attempted hoof/claw shake. Twilight's worry about Spike faded as she shook the dragon's claw. "Wow, i've never met a dragon before!" Twilight claimed. Spike chuckled, before answering; "If I had a bit for everypony that has ever said that to me then i'd be richer than the dragonlord himself." Spike glanced over at Dash who just gave him a motion of her pointing at an invisible watch. When he looked back down at Twilight, he was shocked to see the pony using a ruler to measure his feet. He already could already tell that this summer just got a whole lot better. "And this is the gift shop." Aunt Dash proclaimed, motioning with her hoof at the wide array of nic nacs and price tags that were scattered about the room. Pinkie Pie bounced around the room, making sure to not touch anything. Twilight on the other hoof just trotted over to a massive grey rectangle. "Aunt Dash? What in Equestria is this thing?" Twilight asked, trying to figure out the purpose of the rectangle. The grey rectangle had a long piece of glass on the front, exposing several candy bars and soda cans. Under each item was a price tag that ranged between one and two bits. "That's just a vending machine." Aunt Dash said flatly, wondering how Twilight didn't know about this common machine. Twilight reached into her saddlebag and pulled out a bit. She put the bit into an exposed slot and let it fall into the machine. The bit clanked as it rolled into the machine, triggering a faint light above a set of squares with symbols on them that were also located next to the price tags of each item. Twilight pressed one of the squares, watching in awe as a soda can suddenly started moving from its spot on a shelf and fall to the bottom of the machine. Twilight opened up a compartment on the bottom and spotted the soda can which she quickly grabbed with her magic. "First vending machine? I still remember my original reaction to the very first microwave." A female voice stated from behind Twilight, startling her. Twilight turned around to see a yellow unicorn with a yellow and red mane that gave off the vibe of fire. The unicorn was wearing an old lumberjack hat and her cutie mark was of a yin-yang red and yellow sun. Her cyan irises were full of amusement as she recalled the old memory. Pinkie wasted no time to make a new friend, dashing over to the counter with a huge smile on her face. "Hi! I'm Pinkie Pie!" Pinkie greeted enthusiastically, bouncing up onto the counter and extended a hoof out. "Sunset Shimmer," Sunset said, bumping the little Filly's hoof. "I take it that you're gonna be the one helping around this rickety shack?" "Yepperuni! Me and Twilight are gonna be here all summer! And i'd be more than happy to help out!" Pinkie exclaimed. Sunset Shimmer rolled her eyes, still grinning. "Give it a week and you'll already be bored out of your mind here." "After meeting Sunset Shimmer and Spike, Pinkie and I got situated upstairs in the attic where a room had been made into a joined bedroom. After wrestling with a goat that had somehow gotten inside and on my bed, we began are chores around the shack." "I honestly thought that this would end up being the usual routine every day until the end of summer." "Sweet Celestia was I wrong..."