Letters From a Little Princess Monster
Mirror - rorriM - Part Six
Monster had never really taken the time to examine the insides of Fear. It was just an emotion triggered by a danger, perceived or real, and resulted in a reaction. That was the way it had always been for her, at least until she had friends.
If the old Monster had ever found herself strapped into a steel car and rolling forward out of the 'loading dock' in the direction of a huge wooden mountain with a chain running up it… Well, the results would not have been pretty, and she was fairly certain there would have been fire involved. Much fire. And a crater.
The odd thing was that even though Monster was surrounded by enough fear that little crystalline bits of it wanted to materialize out of the air, there was a second emotion hammering around in her head. It felt so much like fear that she had mistaken it at first. She was torn between wanting to leap out of the car and dash away, and a burning curiosity to what the rest of the ride was going to be like. The car rattled onto the wooden mountain with a ratcheting clatter and a sharp thump before turning in an upwards direction and starting to climb. Her heart was beating so fast it felt like a hummingbird was trapped in her chest. It was exciting, terrifying, exhilarating, frightening, thrilling, chilling, and so confusing she did not know what to think.
She knew what to feel, though. Pain.
Diamond Tiara had clamped down on her foreleg with all of the strength in her little pegasus body and was trembling with her eyes closed. Even the padded restraint that held them both into the car seemed to bend slightly from her grip. Diamond had none of the exhilaration that fairly poured out of the car behind her as Featherweight and Scootaloo chattered eagerly about the ongoing ride and how awesome it was going to be. Even the spirits of the air had whipped themselves into a frenzy of joy, swirling and dancing around the climbing car with an energy that made the pennants and flags snap and pop in the wind.
It was fairly obvious that Diamond Tiara had lied about getting Aunt Fix's permission to ride the Boomer. Trixie had taught Monster several tricks to catch a liar in the act, but this lie was a needed lie that…
No, it was still wrong, even if she was accessorizing the lie by going along with it. Punishment would be needed as soon as the ride was over and Monster had learned whatever lesson she was driven to this altitude to learn. There was at least one thing that had become obvious as the car clattered and clanked up to the top of the wooden mountain, and Monster turned her head to shout back at her friends.
"Remember now! Never been on the Boomer before!"
"What?!" Diamond Tiara opened her eyes and glared at Monster. "What do you mean, you've never been on the Boomer before?"
"I haven't either!" shouted Featherweight from behind them. "The front cars are supposed to be awesome though. You get the best view of the drops."
"Drops?"
The front end of the roller coaster took that moment to edge over the top of the mountain and reveal a straight line headed to what seemed to be straight down. Diamond Tiara gave off a startled scream of pure panic, mingled with Featherweight and Scootaloo's scream of joy and Monster's strangled squawk of pain from Diamond Tiara's abrupt increase in hoof pressure. The feeling of having her foreleg almost torn out of the socket distracted Monster from the dangling sensation of being suspended over the drop, but she could hear the distinct 'whump' of her wings opening up into the cool metal back of the rollercoaster car, along with a series of 'whumps' following as the rest of the riders with wings instinctively extended their own. That is all except Diamond Tiara, whose wings still remained as closed as they could be without being glued to her orange sides.
Then the clattering stopped.
There was a moment of silence.
And everything dropped.
As much as Monster wanted to remember every single instant of the ride, it passed in a rattling and roaring blur of inverted ground and zipping wooden structures. It had to be just an optical illusion that several of the wooden beams seemed low enough that she needed to duck underneath them, but they passed in and out of her perception so fast she did not have time enough to do the trigonometric calculations to properly estimate their distance. Inertia (not gravity) pressed her against the seat with crushing force, then released its grasp to allow moments of floating before crushing her back against the seat again. From behind her, she heard Featherweight scream, "Raise your forelegs! Camera coming up!"
There was a brilliant flash-flash-flash-flash that vanished behind them, the rollercoaster cars canted into a sharp turn, and there was a rapid deceleration accompanied by a deafening hiss of compressed air with an urgent moan of discomfort from Diamond Tiara.
"Awesome!" shouted Featherweight. "Again!"
Despite his urgent pleas for a repeat trip, the attendant ponies opened the restraints and let all of the riders stagger out onto the platform. Featherweight bounded away almost immediately towards a booth labelled 'Boom Shots' while Diamond Tiara and Scootaloo made identical beelines for a trash can and buried their faces into it. Monster snatched up the bundle of stuff from the cubicle and followed, extracting out one of the Daring Doo notebooks and a mechanical pencil as she stumbled along in their direction while distracted by a far more interesting task.
Dear printcess luna! This is amazing! fear can be fun! My friends and myself went on this roolercoaster named boomer and i was really fraid but i new it wasnt dangerous and it was so exciting i want to go ride it again but i probably cant. sometimes when yoou are reallly afraid of something that isnt really what you shud be afraid of it can feel really really good after you face it—
There was a sharp pop as the tip snapped off Monster's mechanical pencil, making her take a moment to move the graphite down a little and continue in a more structured fashion. She wrote as fast as she could move the pencil before all the words escaped, adding a note that Luna was supposed to show the letter to Shining Armor and Cadence. It took several pages to complete, but Scootaloo and Diamond were still making painful noises in the trash can when she paused for her signature.
your friend,
Twilight sparkle (and good Monster)
After sending the letter (with gem attached) on to Spike, Monster regarded the rump ends of her friends… well, if she could call Diamond that. She had promised to reverse the spell if the two of them got to know each other better and if riding on the Boomer helped Monster remember. Both conditions seemed to be true, and Monster lowered her horn to release the spell again, only gently.
A haze of violet and green surrounded the two vomiting little ponies, and the spell was done. Aunt Fix would most likely take them all home now, Scootaloo to her house and Diamond to her huge stone house up on the hill. It was a small step along the path of progress. Monster had a good idea why Scootaloo could not fly and Diamond would be less annoying now that she knew what Scootaloo’s life was like. It could have been better, but it could also have been far, far worse.
Trixie said take what you can get and come back later for the rest. That sounds good now.
"How many copies of the picture do you want, Twilight!" called out Featherweight from the photo booth, pointing to a magically-projected picture of the four of them in the rollercoaster car. All of them had their hooves up in the air, although Scootaloo's were both over her greening face, and even Diamond Tiara looked a little pale.
No, Scootaloo is looking pale and Diamond Tiara has her hooves over her face.
Having the two of them swapped was getting confusing, and Monster was glad it was over now. She counted friends and family that she wanted to give the picture to so that they could see how far along the path her recovery had progressed, and added one just as a spare.
"Six," she called back. "No, eight."
"Speaking of sick," said a voice from right over her shoulder, "is that my niece over there with her face in the trash can?
It was Scootaloo's aunt. In order to make sure Quick Fix would punish the right pony, Monster could not remain silent. The story of Scootaloo and Diamond Tiara's fight and subsequent transference just poured out in an unstoppable stream. Twist and Sweetie Belle stayed quiet as she talked except to offer confirmation of the more unbelievable sections and to offer a kerchief for Monster to blow her nose when she got frustrated with a word or two that would not come out. Quick Fix just stood there with a blank expression as the words flowed, taking the occasional glance at the little ponies who had just finished throwing up in the trash can, Monster's wings, and the afternoon sun.
"It's my fault," admitted Monster with a sniff into the kerchief. "Diamond only lied to get back in her body. Go ahead and punish me."
Taking a long, deep breath, Quick Fix lifted Monster’s chin with one hoof so she could look into her eyes. Aunt Fix had nice cool blue eyes that reminded Monster of Shining Armor, right down to the concern and amused confusion that Monster could remember like a sharp thorn piercing right through her heart. "Punish you?" asked Quick Fix with a wink. She slipped the yellow cape over Monster's back and whispered into her ear. "For what? Scootaloo and Diamond Tiara have been together all day, and they haven't fought or yelled at each other or anything like I was expecting."
Monster sniffed. "It won't last. I put them back."
"Hm…" Quick Fix regarded the two other bedraggled ponies as they plodded over in front of her. "What do you two have to say for yourselves?"
"I'm sorry, Aunt Fix," said the little earth pony. "I should have known better."
"Daddy is going to sue you for every bit you own," snapped the little pegasus.
"Oh, snap," said Apple Bloom. "Zap 'em harder this time, Twilight."
* * *
Several fruitless applications of the spell later, Aunt Fix declared the problem was one which could be resolved better after a little thought and some time to rest her hooves. And a drink. Or several. There were a number of drink stands labelled on the big You Are Here map, mostly around the outside edge of Daring Doo Pavilion, and the group trudged/bounced/fluttered in that direction with various levels of enthusiasm. Quick Fix had decreed that part of the punishment for Twilight's deception was to do something she did not want to do, so it seemed a photography session was going to be included in her future whether she liked it or not. Getting their pictures taken as the Elements of Harmony did not seem to bother Featherweight one bit, although Diamond Tiara continued to complain about not having a brush to tame her wind-tangled mane.
Upon reflection, Monster could not consider the punishment actually that bad, although it still bothered her that the ponies in the amusement park knew that the six of them would be here today. There had not even been any forms to fill out for permission to use their images, which Monster had gotten to know quite well when dealing with the 5F1C lemonade business. Still, getting her picture taken a few times should not be too difficult. She had gotten quite good at sitting in one place and trying to look as if she were comfortable, although smiling was still difficult and occasionally frightened other ponies. It would at least give her the opportunity to work on why dispelling the mind-swapping spell had not worked, even though she had tried hard enough with the dispelling spell that one of the park employees had come over to see what all of the zapping noise was about and a slightly-charred Scootaloo still staggered a little while walking.
A freshly-painted sign proclaimed ‘Harmony Square’ in bright colors overhead as they lined up for various juices or frozen flavored water in the hot afternoon sun. Quick Fix was keeping a close eye on both Diamond Tiara and Scootaloo, which allowed Monster to slip into a nearby shadowed area and sip on her frozen sugar water ‘slurpie’ in relative quiet. There were a lot of little fillies and colts about her age— or her apparent age — circulating around the open plaza with parents in tow or being towed by. Behind or on top of each one was glitter from sparkling crowns and waving ‘wands,’ mixed with ‘pith’ hats and tethered ‘balloons’ in among the little ponies, and some of the older adults too. It was a chaotic seething anthill of a scene that uncomfortably reminded Monster of the changeling hive, only the earth spirits beneath her hooves did not seem to notice any changeling in the area. The spirits were unusually happy though, dancing and flowing around beneath her almost as happily as the air spirits whipping the flags into sharp snaps and pops. Their joy even seemed to be contagious, as the little ponies all seemed to be waiting for something, and all looked up at the sound of some unseen pony’s voice booming over the crowd.
“Fillies and colts of all ages! We here at Funland would like to welcome you to our afternoon exhibition where the Elements of Harmony will be available for photographs and autographs. Please form orderly lines and have your signature books ready as Funland presents, straight from Ponyville, the Elements of Harmony!”
Before Monster could get up the nerve to step out of her shadowed place of concealment, a wide gate in a nearby fence opened up and Rarity strode out. She was resplendent in a sparkling cape and dashing hat, but there was something odd about Sweetie Belle’s sister. Well, other than Monster had been almost certain that Rarity was still back in Ponyville. The unseen announcer continued his booming tones as Rainbow Dash followed Rarity out into the crowd, and then Fluttershy, who looked somewhat larger and more muscular than Monster remembered. It was not until Applejack strode out into the growing crowd of eager little ponies waving autograph books that something deep in her mind began to spit sparks all over the logical centers of her brain.
The broad-shouldered earth pony standing on the amusement park sidewalk looked a lot like Applejack, with the same cutie mark, battered hat and tied-up mane, although there was just a tiny difference in tint between the long flowing plait of yellow that came out from under the hat and the natural mane that flowed down the rest of her head, much as if some sort of artificial trickery was involved. That same trickery seemed to be applied across her cutie mark, or actually his cutie mark, as Monster realized with a cold shock.
She’s a he. Apple Bloom’s sister is a brother. Oh!
All of the little mental puzzle pieces slid together with an almost audible click. The actor who was playing Applejack was bantering away with an intense Apple Bloom, and seemed to be considering backpedding from his original open greeting to a slow crab backwards in the general direction of the wide gate labelled ‘Funland Staff Only.’ Scootaloo had cornered a different actress and was jumping up and down in huge bounds screaming ‘Rainbow Dash! Rainbow Dash!’ at the top of her lungs, while Diamond Tiara had sidled up to the white unicorn, who had stopped next to a sign that read ‘Temporary Elements of Harmony Manestyles and Cutie Marks, 10 bits'
The rest of her friends and a horde of other little foals surrounded the ‘Elements of Harmony,’ who were spreading out in the broad plaza, each with a park employee and a box of items by their side. Everything from plushie rabbits to plastic glowing jewelry seemed for sale and were being snapped up just as quickly as the little foals and their parents could produce the bits. ‘Fluttershy’ was even selling little plastic bird whistles, which gurgled and chirped in a way that no self-respecting bird would ever believe, while ‘Rainbow Dash’ seemed to be hocking a mixture of Elements of Harmony toys and some sort of lightning bolt pendant, marked down to half price. There was even a 'Trixie' selling floppy hats all marked in stars, and a somewhat smaller-than-Monster-expected 'Princess Celestia' striding slowly through the crowd while apparently selling nothing at all.
Still, there was something missing in the joyful crowd, despite the impressive number of bits being exchanged and the delighted shrieks of the little ponies now sporting 'Genuine Temporary Elements of Harmony Cutie Marks' or waving colorful stuffed plush toys. It was something obvious, that she should be able to see if only her mind were working correctly, but as hard as she stared out into the crowd, she could only see her friends, both young and old, although the older ones seemed slightly distorted, as if she were looking at them in a warped mirror.
She was so caught up in the moment that Monster did not hear the stealthy tread of hooves behind her until a strangely-familiar voice spoke just behind one ear.
“Hello, little one. My name is Twilight Sparkle. What’s your name?”