The Vacation Crew

by Dafaddah

Chapter 2: The House that Shadows Built

The seven ponies and baby dragon passed through the main entrance of the Annual Carnival Exhibition in the Sky of Cloudsdale (also know as A.C.E.S. for short.) On every side were tents large and small offering food, rides, exhibits and acts of all kinds. Pinkie Pie was a moving blur, going from the Cotton Candy stand, to the roller coaster, and then on to the various animal acts. The group followed along with her every whim, despite the absolutely frantic pace she maintained. Luna was having a grand time just being 'one of the fillies' and laughing, eating or screaming along with the rest.

When Twilight was about to suggest calling it a day, Pinkie came to a complete halt in front of one tent in particular that read 'House of Horror' in a scary script that looked like dripping blood. "This is it! I wanna go here, I wanna go here!" said the excited pony in a voice that simply could not be denied.

Twilight heaved a sigh. "Ok, let's line up and get tickets - looks like this is our last stop before heading home."

The friends lined up, with 'Selene' and Twilight last. One by one their friends entered. Periodically, those in line outside would hear screams of fright emanating from the tent. She had a sudden thought, after seeing Fluttershy disappear inside. "Oh, no!" she told the Princess. "Should we have let Fluttershy go in alone? She's already scared of everything!"

The Princess saw how anxious Twilight had become and decided to help reduce the mare's distress. 'This', she thought, 'is what being a friend is all about!' Out loud, she told Twilight "I'll go in next and try to catch up with her, after all I have superb night vision." She hurried inside.

Her eyes quickly adjusted to the minimal light, which was a bit of a pity as she was able to see all the traps, alarms and trip wires long before her passage engaged them. It was turning out to be a real bore, with only the warped mirrors and moving stairs providing any genuine amusement.

Ahead she saw a yellow flank disappear around a corner. Aha! She rushed forward and heard a scream so tiny it was almost cute.

***

Fluttershy felt reasonably proud of herself so far. Yes, she had screamed in fear once or twice. Okay, maybe ten or twenty times, but she was feeling more courageous as time went on. The yellow mare turned the corner, and out from the dark jumped Nightmare Moon! She produced her loudest scream so far this evening. Trembling, she hid her eyes, still haunted by her previous encounters with the evil Alicorn. She finally worked up the courage to take her hooves from her face, when from around the corner came Princess Luna, the real Nightmare Moon! And they were alone together! In the dark! She screamed again, even louder this time, hooves scrambling backwards in order to escape.

***

Princess Luna turned the corner at speed, first seeing Fluttershy screaming (very cutely) at her appearance. It was as if the mare was afraid of her! She noticed another figure in the dark space. Turning she spied a cheaply made, but nevertheless obvious caricature of Nightmare Moon, with slitted reptile eyes, the bared fangs of a predator, and forelegs raised as if in the act of striking down any unfortunate passer by. She turned back to Fluttershy, and saw her peddling backwards in terror, trying to get away. From her. She felt crestfallen, all the joy of the day deserting her in one fell moment.

"Fluttershy!" she said and took a step forward. Fluttershy screamed again, and this time got enough traction to propel herself out of the dark space. Luna heard the mare crashing through the remaining parts of the House of Horror, while she remained frozen in place with the memory of fear in the yellow mare's eyes and the shame of being its cause.

She was still there when minutes later Twilight Sparkle came around the corner into the Nightmare Moon space. She could not bring herself to look Twilight in the eye. "Is Fluttershy alright?" she asked, her voice subdued.

When Twilight saw the look on Luna's face she immediately ran to her, encircling her in a hug. "Oh, Luna, it wasn't your fault! I should have told you that Fluttershy is really slow to get used to ponies, and she is still haunted by her experiences with Nightmare Moon. It wasn't very smart of me to let you go in after her. But she has a really kind heart. Seconds after running out of the tent she realized what she had done and was concerned about you."

Luna looked up at the dummy Nightmare Moon. "This is my legacy. This what ponies think of me, and I can see it in their eyes wherever I go." Twilight was heartbroken at Luna's sad expression.

"It seems to me," countered Twilight, "that your story is far from finished, and that your real legacy is yet to be written. Come on, let's get out of here and do something about your legacy. Starting with Fluttershy." She extended a hoof to the Princess.

Luna looked up at Twilight, placing her hoof on that of the lavender mare, this simple act of companionship meaning the world to her. "I can see now why my sister says that you truly possess the magic of friendship. Thank you Twilight." With that, the two mares left the unfortunate place and its unhappy ghosts behind.

***

When they exited the tent, their companions were waiting for them, including a forlorn looking Fluttershy. She looked up at they two mares, her shyness and her shame both evident in her expression. "Uh, Pri... uh, Selene. I'm so sorry I mistook you for... that mare. I know she's not you, not inside. But I was scared, and ... I'm really sorry."

Luna looked at Fluttershy and saw both the curse of her past and the hope that she might be able to overcome it. "Please, Fluttershy, I'm not offended. And I understand why this might happen under these circumstances."

Fluttershy truly felt grateful that Luna could accept the fact that she was so easily alarmed. "Even for me, sometimes I'll do something that'll scare one of my little animal friends, and it might take them days before they can trust me again. I hope you can forgive me and be patient with me. I'd really like to be your friend."

Luna smiled at the yellow mare. "I would very much like that too, Fluttershy. So I hope I won't scare you again, not even by mistake, not ever."

Spike spoke up "Augh! I don't know about you guys, but I'm getting hungry. Let's go get some grub, already!"

"Yeah," said Rainbow Dash, "I know a great restaurant here in Cloudsdale that's at least 20% cooler than any restaurant in Ponyville."

"Oh yeah?" objected an offended Pinkie Pie. "Prove it!"

"OK, dinner's on me, and Pinkie Pie don't be getting any funny ideas," retorted Dash.

"It had better not be fast food!" said Rarity, alarmed at what Rainbow Dash might consider a 'cool' restaurant.

"It better have some desert with Apples in it 'cause I could eat a bushel just on my lonesome," added Applejack.

"And then, we party!" said Pinkie Pie, her only predictable character trait.

The friends followed Rainbow Dash as she led the way to the restaurant, laughing as tension was replaced humor was restored.

Comments

[BenRG]

Poor Fluttershy! If I were Twilight, I would have told her to wait outside rather than go into a House of Horrors. That said, she's just brave enough to insist that she go in, because she doesn't want to offend her friends or look silly in their eyes!