“Are you sure, darling? I mean I don’t remember the last time you took work over a relaxing day at the spa.”
“Oh I’m so sorry, Rarity. It’s just that I have a whole family of bunnies who have tummy aches from some bad carrots. I have to stay with them in case any of them get worse. Especially the little one. He keeps working up a bad fever.”
“Oh no no no no no! I most definitely don’t want you to let the poor dears suffer! But if that’s your choice I guess maybe I can go with Twilight because I think we all know that mare needs some relaxing time.”
“Sure thing! Next week for sure!”
“Well bye for now, Fluttershy!”
“Bye, Rarity!”
Just keep walking away, Rarity, and you’ll be the last one out of the way.
She needed to be alone for this, so she made sure that none of her friends planned on coming by. Fluttershy was always open to friends visiting, but not today. Today was a very special day for the yellow pegasus. Pinkie had to plan a huge party and didn’t have time that day. Twilight was holed up in her library as usual. Rarity was occupied with her spa day. It was the peak of apple bucking season for Applejack, so she was also taken care of. And Rainbow Dash was practicing for the upcoming Wonderbolts tryouts. Everything was set and all Fluttershy had left to do was deal with her patients.
In truth, there weren’t any sick animals at all. They were all healthy and energetic and Fluttershy knew they would just love a day out in the fields to the east of her house.
“Alright Angel, you lead them out to the field like a good bunny and I’ll make you whatever you want when you come back! Is that ok?” she asked daintily.
Angel hopped up and down in agreement and led his other animal friends out the door to the fields near Fluttershy’s house. They weren’t far, so she would have to keep it down if she was going to do this.
She took one last look outside and when she was satisfied that there was no one to hear her, she closed her door. She sighed happily and prepared for her special day.
“Alright, now where did I put those candles?”
She rummaged through a cabinet that was hidden behind one of her bookshelves.
“Hmm. No. No. No! Where are-aah! There you are! Hiding under those old romance books rarity gave me.”
She bunched the candles in her hooves and set them out around the room, humming joyously to herself. She took a match from the kitchen and lit a candle, inhaling the sweet aroma before moving on to the rest. When there were enough candles to light the room, she closed the curtains, leaving her home bathed in a mystic yellow glow.
“Exotic Worlds” is the best one! The candles always calm me down.
“I really don’t think I could do this without you my dear little friends.”
She proceeded to move some of the furniture in the center of the room out of the way, creating a small clearing in the middle of her house.
“Candles: check. Now all I need are my jingling companions.”
She returned to the obscured cabinet happily and fished out four bracelets. Each one had several small metal bells hanging from them, so that every time they moved even a little, they filled the air with a symphony of ringing. She slipped them on and returned to the cabinet one last time.
“Hmm. Since I did Love in the Air last time I guess I could do...oh i know! Mares in the Dark! That’s a classic.”
She slid out the sleek black circle from its cardboard case and trotted over to a small white box in the corner. She put the disk down and dragged out a set of speakers, which she set up on each side of the area in the center of her house. They were just right for this song. Unknown to her friends, she had acquired quite some experience with the equipment. She pulled a silver slab from the white box and slid the disk into a slot on the side. It flashed a green light a few times before the music started.
Its dark outside and you can’t hide! And Its cold outside and you can’t lie!...
She closed her eyes and let the smooth bass guitar and vocals wash over her. Almost involuntarily she started swaying a little, her anklets jingling. Soon the usually shy pegasus started stepping forward and backward, rhythmically ringing with the beat. When the chorus came, she let go of her apprehension.
“We are the Mares in the Dark! We’re like great white sharks! If you bleed we’ll bite you, if you scream we’ll find you! We’re the Maaaaaaares in the Dark!”
She sang her heart out, swaying harder and closing her eyes, letting the music resonate with her. She smiled wide and used imaginary drum sticks to play the solo. She threw the drumsticks away and grabbed her imaginary microphone.
“In the day we live like any other Ma-a-ares! But in the night we live like we don’t have a ca-a-are! And so we run through the streets, and we cannot be beat! Weeeeeee! Aaaaaare! The Maaaares ooof the Daaaaaaark!”
She kept singing, her volume escalating as she got more and more into it. She got on her back two hoofs and swayed her hips left and right, following every pitch and tone of the vocal solo. She then proceeded to transform her microphone into an invisible bass guitar and strummed the non-existant strings to the sounds of the famous bassist Low Pitch. She continued to sway her hips and clap her hooves together half improvising her own solo in the song and half just really getting immersed into the music.
She whipped her hair left.
“And even though we can hurt you, it’s not as if we caaan’t be hu-u-urt! And we may own the night, but the day is in sight, so let our message be he-e-eard!”
She whipped her hair right and then tilted her head back and beat her hooves on the ground behind her, a cascade of clinks from her anklets following each hit. She then righted herself on two hooves and let her hair fall all over her face. Then she bent over, her two front hooves on her back legs, raising herself up as her beautiful voice rang through the air with growing volume on the final chorus.
“We are the ponies who waaaant fuuuun! We are the ponies who haaave tooo ruuuun! We are the ponies who haaaave nooo hooome! We are the ponies who oooonly rooooam! We are evil, we are good, we are always misunderstood. WE ARE THE MAAAAAAARRREEESS OOOOOFFF THE DAAAAAAAAAAARK!”
She spun on the spot on the last phrase, hoofs out, and facing an open door with five flabbergasted ponies and one astonished baby dragon. She froze and her pupils contracted to specks and her mouth gaped in shock. She started shaking, on the verge of tears, and fell back onto her four hooves.
Oh no! How long were they standing there!? What if they saw the whole thing!? What are they going to think about me?!
She braced herself for laughter, but none came. What did was the sound of two small scaly hands clapping loudly, followed by cheers from their owner. Soon all of her friends were cheering and applauding for the blushing pegasus. She gingerly took a bow and went up to her friends.
“My dear! I didn’t know you had such a divine voice! And that dancing! It was marvellous!”
“Woah Fluttershy! That was so awesome! I didn’t know you had it in you. Why didn’t you tell me all these years that you were so good at karaoke! We could have won the competition in High School!”
“Wow Fluttershy, I always thought that with your soft voice you weren’t much of a singer. Even the science pointed at that conclusion! But wow did you prove me wrong!”
“Yee-haw! Tha’ was one great performance, Fluttershy! I can’t believe our Fluttershy was secretly a singer all this time!”
“Oh my gosh Fluttershy! You are totally awesome! You should perform at one of my parties! Except I have other performers already and I don’t know how they’ll feel, but I guess it’s okay because-”
“Holy Guacamole Fluttershy! I didn’t know you had such an awesome taste in music! I love Low Pitch! He’s bucking awesome!”
“You know what this calls for? A Party! I’ll get that old karaoke set from the basement and you can sing some more!”
Before anyone could say anything the pink party pony shot towards Sugarcube Corner faster than she should be able to. They all looked back at Fluttershy, a silent question of whether the pegasus wanted to sing more or not.
“Well. I can’t say no to my friends. I wonder if she has any Maredonna? Or Poison Jokesters? Or Sultry Soup?”
At that last one, everyone’s eyes widened a little. It was painfully obvious they didn’t know any of the names the pegasus had cheerfully named.
“Don’t worry! I’ll teach all of you what real music is! We can have fun for hours!”
She trotted off to Sugarcube Corner happily, leaving her five friends wondering the same thing:
Maybe this wasn’t such a good idea.
