Forty Minute Fantasies

“And when they opened the coffin, there, sitting between Wellwisher’s mummified hooves was a single, perfect rose.”

As she finished her story, Rarity leaned back with a bit of pride.  Spike was frozen in place, a clawful of popcorn (long since cooled) locked halfway to his mouth.  Pinkie, for once, was completely silent, Applejack refused to meet her eyes, Twilight was shivering slightly, and poor Fluttershy had pulled herself backwards until only her eyes and the tip of her nose were visible underneath her blanket.  Judging by how violently the edges of the blanket were jerking around, it might not be there for long.

Rainbow Dash, of course, was airborne and loudly complaining.  “Bo~oring!  I thought we were supposed to be telling scary stories here!”

Rarity looked back.  “I happen to believe in the understated approach, Rainbow.  Your sordid little tale, for example, was far too overstretched to be scary.  True scares lie in the elements of surprise and mystery, not in bucketloads of blood and gore.”

Before round umpteen of the argument could begin, Applejack shoved a hoof between the other two.  “Girls, how about you two just agree ta disagree an’ we get on to the next story?  Sound reasonable?”

“I guess so,” Rainbow muttered, glaring down.

“Quite,” replied Rarity.  “So, who is next?”

Twilight looked down to the sheet of paper she’d been scribbling on.  “Um, according to this, it’s Fluttershy.”

As one, all eyes turned on the shuddering blanket.  “Oh, n,no,” came the voice from beneath it, “I d,don’t know any sc,scary stories.”  Then, almost as an afterthought, “and I don’t want to.”

Twilight leaned over, peering beneath the blanket.  “Fluttershy, how about this.  Instead of trying to tell us a scary story, why don’t you just tell us a story?”

“Nuh-uh!”  Rainbow parked herself almost directly above Twilight, glaring down as she did so.  “This is a Nightmare Night get-together, Twi!  If she tells a story, I want one that’s good for that!”

“Um, I could maybe talk about what I did last Nightmare Night, if that’s okay with everybody?  It’s not really scary, but it is about Nightmare Night, so…” The blanket trailed off, nervously.

“That’ll be fine, sugarcube,” Applejack said, glaring at Rainbow as she did so.  “Jest go ahead and start talkin’.”

Fluttershy finally poked her head out from underneath the blanket.  “Well, I’d just gotten a letter from a couple of old friends…”

“I hope they arrive soon, Angel - it’s almost dark out, and I don’t want to have to go too far in the darkness.  Especially tonight.”

“I don’t think you’ll have to worry about that tonight, lass.”  As Fluttershy ‘eeped’ and tried to hide behind herself, the door opened, revealing a white pegasus stallion with a shining white mane, strong, tall, and looking to be about the same age as Fluttershy’s own father.  “Sorry to bother you, dear, but you left the door open.  I hope I didn’t disturb you too badly.”

“Oh, Mr. Elpis.  It’s just you.”  Fluttershy sighed heavily as she stepped toward the stallion.  “I’m sorry, it’s just that I’m so on edge tonight.”

Elpis smiled, a warm expression that seemed to light the room around him.  “I understand, dear.  I take it you got our message?”

“Yes, sir.  I’d like to thank you and Miss Rose for inviting me to help you; I really wasn’t looking forward to being home tonight.”

“I understand, dear.  I’m afraid it’s just going to be the two of us for a bit; Rosie’s already at the hospital.”  A frown briefly passed over Elpis’s face as he spoke.  “She had an… appointment she needed to keep.  It… wasn’t exactly something that could wait.”

“I understand,”  Fluttershy said.  “But she will still be meeting us afterwards, right?”

“She will,” Elpis said, holding the door open for Fluttershy to leave.  “But I’m afraid, dear one, that you don’t understand.  And I hope you never have to.”

“About time you got here, El.”  The green-hided unicorn mare greeted Elpis and Fluttershy as they stepped through the door.  As always, Fluttershy’s eyes went to the wide white scar on the side of Miss Rose’s head, just under her golden mane, and Fluttershy had to pull them away.  “And Fluttershy, look at you!  You’ve gotten so big since I first saw you!”

Fluttershy dimpled.  “Oh, um, thank you, Miss Rose.”  She looked up again.  “Where were we going to visit?”

Elpis turned back to them, a pair of hospital saddlebags laden down with candy across his barrel.  “Foals’ ward, Fluttershy.  Second floor.”  As Fluttershy headed down the hallway, Elpis caught Rosie’s eye.  “Difficult meeting?”

She smiled, a single tear glistening as she met his gaze.  “Only the way they all are,” she said.  “He was ready to see me, though.”

“Thank the Maker for that.”  He extended his wing, wrapping it around her.  “Now, my lovely lady, shall we?”

“And we spent the rest of the night handing out candy and playing games with the colts and fillies.  I had a lot of fun, even if it was sad to see how badly off some of them were.”  Fluttershy smiled in memory, then turned back to the group.  “So I’m afraid it wasn’t really that scary.”

“No, it wasn’t scary.  It was absolutely sweet, and I’m glad you got the chance to speak of it.”  The others nodded as Rarity spoke.  All except for Spike, who had a strange expression on his face.  Without saying anything, he got up and headed upstairs.

Fluttershy’s gaze followed him.  “Oh, I hope I didn’t hurt his feelings.”

Twilight frowned.  “I’ll go find out.  You guys keep the party going, okay?”

“Spike, what has gotten into you?!” Twilight hissed.  “Do you realize how rude you just were to Fluttershy?  Go right back down there and apologize!”

Spike turned back to Twilight, a book in his hands.  “I’ll try, Twi, but I had to…”  He shook his, head, then handed the book across to Twilight.  “I borrowed this from Mr. Waddle, Twi.  Check this page, and the one three over.”

Puzzled, Twilight looked at the pages in question.  Each one bore the reproduction of a drawn portrait, rather old-fashioned, and both matching surprisingly well with the descriptions Fluttershy had given of her friends.  “That’s… unusual, I’ll admit, but what…?”

Spike shook his head again.  “I ended up talking to Nurse Redheart a few days after last Nightmare Night, Twi.  She was talking about how glad she was Fluttershy had shown up, since there wasn’t anyone else there to visit with the patients.  Wasn’t anyone else, Twi!”

Twilight stared, then turned back to the book.  And to the two images that Spike had shown her.

The proud white stallion entitled Spirit of Hope.

And the green mare with the white scar, labeled Chloros, gentle Death.