Whinny Land. Otherwise known through their popular slogan: "The Happiest Place in Equestria." Known for its high-caliber ameneties and the exorbitantly high prices to match, it was one of the most popular and beloved tourist locations across the land. Inside the amusement park, there was everything from spinning tea-cups to death-defying roller coasters that only the adrenaline junkies would be daring enough to ride. There were ponies in costumes pretending to be dragons, overpriced souvenirs and of course, a seemingly endless variety of deep fried everything. Whinny Land really was the "Happiest Place in Equestria," and everypony loved to go there.
Standing patiently somewhere in the middle of an extremely long queue to the entrance of Whinny Land were the two pegasus ponies: Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy. Normally, the two ponies wouldn't be going on such an overpriced vacation, but Fluttershy had somehow managed to win a raffle for two tickets to the amusement park just a few days prior at an animal enthusiasts get-together.
And, immediately after receiving the tickets and almost having a heart attack simply from having her name mentioned out loud in front of a moderate group of ponies, Fluttershy had begun worrying about the pony she would choose to take with her. She'd always loved Whinny Land, at least from the pictures she'd seen. The cute architecture, the warm atmosphere and all of the beautiful trees and flowers that decorated the scenery. From the pictures, it looked like a little slice of heaven in Equestria.
After careful consideration, Fluttershy decided to invite Rainbow Dash to go with her. After all, she had been friends with her since they were fillies, and Fluttershy knew there was a ride or two there as well. It seemed only logical to ask her to come along and enjoy the park with her. Surely Twilight and the rest of her friends would understand.
It was early morning and the queue was advancing at a snail's pace in the blistering heat of the sun, but after a great deal of waiting, the two ponies had reached the ticket kiosk.
"Good morning and welcome to the happiest place on earth," said a lanky teenage pony from inside the booth, "tickets please?"
"Here you go," Fluttershy quietly replied, sliding two red tickets onto the counter.
"Go right ahead and enjoy yourselves," the pony replied un-enthusiastically. Inside the amusement park, they were greeted with a cheery and beautiful landscape complete with a fountain in the middle of the pathway surrounded by pink and blue flowers and two gorgeous brick buildings on their right and left. Ponies meandered in every which direction, trotting hastily on the brick roads.
"Wow, I've got to admit, this place looks pretty awesome," said Rainbow Dash.
"It's beautiful," added Fluttershy.
"So, where do we go?"
Fluttershy pulled out a map she had been given by the ticket booth operator and was greeted with a complex maze of paths and numbered amenities, going into the hundreds. "Oh...my..." she whispered softly.
"Maybe we should just wander around a bit until we find something we want to do. How's that?" asked Rainbow Dash. She was grateful that Fluttershy had chosen her to go to the amusement park with her, and she wanted to make sure she was comfortable at all times. Dash knew how easily she could get startled or feel out of place in large crowds, and Whinny Land was definitely crowded.
"Okay," Fluttershy replied with a small smile.
The two ponies trotted along the brick pathway for awhile until they had ended up in a large open area with several shops and concession stands, some park benches and a large pony-made lake, and across it was--
"Oh. My. Gosh," said Rainbow Dash as she gaped at what was across the lake. "That thing is ENORMOUS."
Fluttershy looked up from the map, her head previously buried within it, to see what Rainbow Dash was so excited about. Immediately, Fluttershy felt like her heart dropped to her flank.
"Do you mean...the...lake?" Fluttershy asked, hoping desperately for a yes.
"No," said Dash, "I mean that thing." She gestured to the ginormous, red roller coaster that was in clear sight in the far-off distance. She could even hear the terror-filled screams of the ponies riding it from so far away. There were several loops and turns, twists and corkscrews, and Rainbow Dash had her mouth open just from looking at it. A tiny drop of saliva even dripped off from the corner.
"Oh...that..." Fluttershy said so softly that nopony could even hear it but herself.
"What's it called? What's the map say?" asked Rainbow Dash.
"It's called...*gulp*...The Flaming Dragon"
"We have to ride that," said Rainbow Dash.
Okay, okay, thought Fluttershy. Her mind was running a million miles an hour trying to think of an excuse not to ride the coaster that would probably cause her to go into cardiac arrest. Too much food? No...we haven't eaten yet. Too long a line? No... I don't want to? Fluttershy almost opened her mouth to say her perfectly good excuse not to ride the roller coaster, but after looking at Rainbow Dash's face, which was so full of wonder and excitement, she couldn't bring herself to shut her down.
But she couldn't bring herself to say yes either. "Maybe...we can do it later?"
Rainbow Dash looked a little dejected, but as long as the promise that they'd get to ride it later remained, she was content. After all, Fluttershy was the pony who gave her the ticket.
"Okay," Dash replied. "Well, what else should we do? There's the log flume over there."
"Oh, I don't know," she replied, "it sounds too wet to me. We'd be sopping after getting off and then the whole rest of the day would be ruined."
"Okay..." said Rainbow Dash. The log flume wasn't that fun anyways. You get on, you get wet, you get off. Nothing spectacular about that, so they weren't missing much. "OH," she continued excitedly. "How about the laser tag? Nopony gets wet in laser tag!"
Fluttershy once again looked uncertain about Dash's proposition. "But what if one of the lasers goes into my eyes? I could lose my sight and bump into a wall or worse--" Fluttershy breathed in heavily "--I could go blind!"
Rainbow Dash rolled her eyes in mild annoyance. But that was okay. Laser tag was mostly just for the little fillies anyways. She'd probably look out of place shooting a toy gun at a bunch of little children. I would totally dominate though, Rainbow Dash daydreamed for a moment before coming back to the realization that Fluttershy didn't want to do the laser tag.
Rainbow Dash looked at the map, her smile starting to fade. "Well...we could do the tea cups. Those are okay...right?"
"Well...I don't know," Fluttershy replied hesitantly. "They're too...spinny..."
Rainbow Dash was starting to get slightly annoyed, but buried it inside and tried her best to rationally deal with the situation. "Okay, well, what do you suggest?"
Fluttershy eyed the map in her hooves for the umpteenth time, until finally coming across something that met her fancy. "Ooh! We can go see It's a Small World!"
Rainbow Dash resisted the almost unbearable urge to smack her face with a hoof, and let out an okay and forced smile. Something told her that today was going to be a long day.
Fluttershy gleefully pranced out of the exit of "It's a Small World" while humming the irritably catchy tune, with Rainbow Dash sulking behind her. It had taken them 45 minutes just to wait in line for the ride, and by that time Rainbow Dash had heard the entirety of the song 27 times. She had counted them.
"So what's next?" asked Fluttershy with a wide smile on her face. "Wasn't that ride so cute?"
"Yeah...cute isn't exactly the word I'd use to describe it," Rainbow Dash muttered under her breath. "Um, I don't know, what's on the map?"
"Well, there's the flower gardens and the hedge maze right over there," Fluttershy replied.
The hedge maze sounded somewhat fun to Rainbow Dash, to her own surprise. Apparently being denied any fun for so long out in the blistering heat had reduced the threshold for which the pony considered something fun. "We could do the hedge maze."
Fluttershy seemed a bit hesitant about the idea.
"Don't tell me you don't want to do the hedge maze," said Rainbow Dash.
"Well, normally I wouldn't mind it, but after what happened when Discord had us go through one..."
"That was eons ago," said Rainbow Dash, "besides, Discord is our friend now...well, mostly just your friend...but you know what I mean."
"Oh, I know," Fluttershy replied, "but I have a phobia for anything that resembles a maze now."
Rainbow Dash sighed. "Flower gardens it is..." She looked up in hopelessness at the giant, red roller coaster towering over them, hearing the exciteful screams of the ponies as they flew overhead, wishing she were one of them.
After a peacefully boring escapade through the magical world of flowers and lawn management, Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy made their way to a small food court near The Flaming Dragon. Fluttershy ordered a small green salad, and Rainbow Dash came back towards the bench they shared with a giant slice of pizza with at least 6 toppings that were falling off the sides.
It was getting close to the end of the day, and the park would be closing in just a couple hours. Rainbow Dash eyed The Flaming Dragon above them as she took a bite out of her pizza, and then proceeded to look down and sigh depressingly. Fluttershy sat next to Dash and watched her eat her slice pizza like it was the only thing in the world that was worth living for, and decided to say something she knew she would immediately regret, possibly forever.
"Rainbow Dash..." Fluttershy said softly, "...maybe...we can ride the...*gulp*...Flaming Dragon..."
Rainbow Dash perked up from her slump and some of the toppings from her pizza flew off behind her into the bushes. "Really? You mean it? You'll ride it with me? I mean, you don't have to ride it. I'd just be gone for a couple hours and you'd be here all alone in the middle of the amusement park surrounded by strange ponies."
"Well...when you put it that way...okay. I'll ride with you...I guess..."
"Awesome!" Rainbow Dash squeaked gleefully, taking Fluttershy by the hoof and pulling her forcefully from the bench and galloping towards the queue for The Flaming Dragon.
Minutes later, the two ponies were standing in the middle of the queue, surrounded by older and more mature ponies. Eerie music played nearby and a fog machine made Fluttershy's legs grow cold and shiver, although that wasn't the only thing making them shiver. They advanced slowly in line as the distance between them and the loading gate grew shorter and shorter. Fluttershy's heart pounded in her chest and she felt like running away each time that stupid fake dragon roared every two minutes.
But she stayed put next to Rainbow Dash. There was something somewhat comforting about being next to her courageous friend. She stood next to her, and pretended that she was Rainbow Dash. And it helped. She really felt more confident, and could feel her heart beat beginning to slow down. She filled her mind with thoughts about being Rainbow Dash, imagining what she would say about the ride after they finished, and how happy she would be when it was over.
Fluttershy was so preoccupied with having her daydream that she didn't notice they were safely buckled and in the very front car and the chain lift began cranking. And suddenly, she wasn't Rainbow Dash anymore...
The coaster slowly inched up the track, cranking loudly with every step. Fluttershy couldn't see anything but the track in front of her and the bright blue sky behind it, until suddenly, her view shifted downwards straight towards the ground and she felt her heart shoot straight through her stomach.
"AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!" Fluttershy shrieked like a banshee, which caused Rainbow Dash to pull a double take to her right in the middle of the very first drop. The coaster reached the bottom and began to bank upwards to the right, sending them both sliding leftwards. Fluttershy gripped the fastening bar with an iron death-grip, still screaming at the top of her lungs. The bank ended and went into a twist, sending everpony upside down for several seconds until reaching yet another drop.
Fluttershy took this brief moment to fill her lungs back with air, and then continued screaming. "AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH"
Rainbow Dash was only half-occupied enjoying the ride, with the rest of her enjoyment coming from watching her best friend scream in complete terror. She just hoped the poor pegasus would make it out without having a heart attack.
And then came the loops. Two of them back to back at break-neck speeds that made even Rainbow Dash a bit queasy, but Fluttershy continued screaming at the top of her lungs, which was actually quite impressive. After the second loop, the coaster went through a handful more twists and turns until finally coming to a halting stop back at the station.
The bars raised up with a mechanical hiss, and Rainbow Dash got out of the car, only to see that Fluttershy was still inside holding it for dear life. Oh great, she's frozen in terror... thought Rainbow Dash, but what happened next surprised her.
"That...was...AWESOME," said Fluttershy with a surprising amount of volume. "Can we go for another ride? Please?"
The operator addressed her plea, "Sorry miss, but there are lots of other ponies waiting their turn and we've only got time for a couple more rides before we close."
"Oh...okay..." Fluttershy replied with great sorrow and climbed out of the car.
The two ponies left the station, and the operator called in the next batch of ponies to board. Two stallions made their way towards the front car and got in their seats, but one of them jumped up in surprise.
"What the--WHY IS MY SEAT SO STICKY AND WET?"
Author's Note
Thanks for reading! I had lots of fun writing this one. Please leave a comment or review if you enjoyed it!
