The universe.
It’s an unfathomably large and continuously expanding space, holding up to billions of galaxies. However, in one particular galaxy was a solar system, and in this solar system was a planet, and on this planet was a continent, and on this continent was a town, and in this town was a street, and on this street was a castle, and inside of this castle was a room.
And inside of this room, there was a pony thinking...
“I’m bored.”
This pony was Rainbow Dash, sitting along with her five other friends in their individual thrones, whose thoughts almost perfectly matched her own: Fluttershy, who awkwardly stared at every pony else too nervous to start a conversation herself. Pinkie Pie, restless at the lack of energy. Applejack, who looked to be on the verge of taking a nap. Rarity, who was casually sifting through her own thoughts. And Twilight, who was distressingly flipping through the pages of a sleepover manual, desperate for an idea to save this night from disaster.
Rainbow Dash, on the other hoof, had watched the sleepover start off fun and slowly decline into a state of stillness. Sure, this was a common thing in a lot of friend groups, but as someone who preferred constant fun and action, she could barely handle how lame this hangout had become.
Now the interesting thing about boredom is that it sparks the most creative ideas. Whether productive, or just plain something to do, it serves the purpose of finding a task in the most unexpected places in order to keep yourself entertained.
In Rainbow Dash's case, that’s exactly what happened.
"Hey, Fluttershy," she spoke. The timid pegasus jumped at the unexpected initiation of a conversation, especially since it was directed at her. "That stare thing of yours, does it work on ponies?"
"Uh…" Fluttershy started, pondering why Rainbow would want to know something like that. "Yeah, I think so. Um, why?"
Rainbow smiled, glad she had a chance at reviving the energy everyone had lost. "Alright, girls. How's this sound: staring contest, all of us one at a time versus Fluttershy."
There was a moment of silence as the rest of the group considered the idea.
"That ain't a half bad idea," Applejack spoke up. "Ah have always been curious about that stare o' hers. Ah'm in."
Pinkie Pie sighed in relief. "Finally. If that silence continued for another minute, I would have gone crazy!"
"Um, wait," Fluttershy said. "Is this really a good idea?"
"Beats sitting around doing literally nothing," Rainbow replied.
"Its just… I don't want to hurt any of you…"
Rainbow cocked an eyebrow. "Did you forget that you use the stare on like… all your animals?"
"But I don't stare too hard. Only enough that they do as I say and only if they're being disobedient. I don't know how badly my stare can affect somecreature and especially somepony."
"I mean, you used it on Discord and he wasn't affected by it, so how bad could it be?"
"Ah think you're forgetting that Discord is basically an all-powerful being," Applejack pointed out.
"In any case, I do have to concur that Rainbow's idea is more preferable than doing absolutely nothing," Rarity said, putting in her own two cents. Bits. Whatever.
"Well, if you're all sure, then okay I guess," Fluttershy said despite still being slightly unsure about the idea.
Twilight, who had not yet spoken, appeared relieved at Rainbow Dash saving everyone's lives from crippling boredom. "Okay, I guess that's what we're doing now."
Rainbow chuckled. "How about a thank you for thinking of something to do while you had a whole sleepover guide and somehow still couldn't think of anything?"
Twilight just looked down and grumbled.
Pleased by her reaction, she turned to the rest of the girls. "Anyways, who wants to go first?"
Applejack shrugged. "Ah suppose ah can, since ah'm curious about it an' all." She shifted in her chair to face Fluttershy's direction, and blinked a few times. "Alright, hit me."
"Um, okay," the butter yellow pegasus said, still not certain if this was a good idea. Then, she shut her eyes, concentrating while Applejack trained her eyes on Fluttershy, bracing for what was coming.
Suddenly, as though releasing the demons from Tartarus, her eyelids shot open, revealing two strained, blue eyes, sending forth a stare far worse than that of a parent toward a troublesome child, or a teacher toward a tardy student. In Fluttershy's eyes was the very encapsulation of terror. It was the definition of one's worst fears; the epitome of the worst possible nightmare a pony's mind could produce. And as they bore into Applejack's own eyes, her entire body jolted, as though a high-voltage electric shock had run through her. Her entire mind was erased, every memory and every thought replaced by those horrific blue irises, each circled around a black hole that sunk further and further into an endless inescapable void.
In that moment, Applejack felt weak, defenseless, and trapped. Fear had overwhelmed all her senses. She wanted to run, but she was frozen in place. No matter what, she couldn't escape those eyes.
Those inky black pupils.
Unending.
Vacant.
Eternal.
"MAMA, SAVE ME!!" Applejack screamed, sinking into a ball in her chair and quivering with her hat shielding her eyes.
Everypony in the room sat shocked at the uncharacteristically cowardly display that Applejack had just shown.
"...please tell me that was just an act," Rainbow Dash said, her face portraying a disappointment that matched my own after completing a certain game of the year…
Applejack's ears perked up a little upon hearing Rainbow's voice, and peeked out from behind her hat. She was back in the throne room with all her friends, completely safe. All her fear had vanished into thin air like what happened prior was just a dream.
With a shaky voice, Applejack spoke. "Ah ain't got a clue what just happened, but Fluttershy, ah can safely say that that there stare o' yours ain't natural!"
Fluttershy's ears fell guiltily. "I'm so sorry Applejack, I didn't think your reaction would be that bad."
Rainbow Dash blew a raspberry. "Come on! She had to have been faking it--"
"Ah was not fakin', Rainbow!" Applejack interrupted. "Outta everything ah've seen in all mah years, that was by far the scariest thing I have ever witnessed!"
"I should add, and no offense to you, Applejack, that she isn't exactly the best actress, being the element of honesty and all," Rarity said. "Plus that reaction seemed very genuine."
"I'd trust Rarity's judgement. She does specialize in dramatics after all," Pinkie Pie said, giggling as she received a scowl from Rarity.
"Also, if you think mah reaction was so fake, why don't yew have Fluttershy give ya the stare?" Applejack challenged.
"No problem!" Rainbow confidently said, turning to face the yellow pegasus, who quickly appeared reluctant.
"W-wait, maybe this isn't such a good idea."
"Yeah, maybe it's best if we don't hurt ourselves and do something else," Twilight said.
"And what better idea do you have in that sleepover manual of yours?" Rainbow asked.
"Uh…" Twilight picked up the sleepover manual in her magic and sped read through a random section of it. "A pillow fight…?"
"Ooh, that sounds fun!" Pinkie shouted excitedly. "Though admittedly, I'm pretty interested in this whole staring contest thingy."
"Also, ah think we've sorta grown out of pillow fighting?" Applejack said, Rarity nodding in suite.
Twilight sighed, and flung the sleepover manual away with her magic. "Fair enough. I've got no ideas."
Rainbow turned to Fluttershy. "Please, Fluttershy, I promise we won't ask you to do the stare on us again."
"I… okay," Fluttershy said, giving in to peer pressure, and faced Rainbow Dash before shutting her eyes. The brashful pegasus smirked confidently and took a deep breath--
which immediately caught in her throat as she was faced with Fluttershy's eyes, once innocent and kind, replaced by the devil's gaze, piercing Rainbow's very soul with raw nightmare fuel.
Barely holding back a yelp of freight, Rainbow tried with all her willpower to keep calm and collected, maintaining eye-contact with Fluttershy with as much of a stone face as she could muster. However, it was clear that she would not be able to keep it up, as it felt like her whole body was protesting against her attempt to not react to the stare. Beads of sweat rolled down from her brow, and she began to shudder as the sheer force of Fluttershy's eyes bore into her very being and implanted a growing seed of fear that quickly began to spread like an infestation, latching onto every nerve in her body, before reaching her heart and making her blood run cold, and then climbing up to her brain where her entire mind was invaded by the haunting images of those two black, endless voids…
And then she couldn't take it anymore.
Unleashing a high-pitched squeal that cut through the air like a sharpened blade, her wings deployed, pushing her to the edge of the room where she curled up and hid herself behind her wings in a similar fashion to Applejack.
Applejack and Pinkie Pie burst into boisterous laughter, clutching their stomachs while Rainbow slowly moved her wings away from her face, and suddenly blushed from embarrassment upon seeing the two ponies laughing it up while Rarity and Twilight wore faint amused smiles. She then glared in the direction of the laughter. "What exactly is so funny, huh?"
"That scream was priceless! You should've seen your face!" Pinkie exclaimed through short bursts of giggling.
"Heh heh, ah dunno Pinkie," Applejack added. "If ya ask me, ah'd say that reaction seemed kinda fake!"
"Shut it before I force those words back down your throat!" Rainbow said, eliciting even more laughter from the orange earth pony. Standing from the ground on shaky legs, still ashamed of her reaction, she turned to Fluttershy. "Are you sure using the stare on your animals isn't like… animal abuse or something?!"
The idea of harming her own animals made Fluttershy's eyes widen, causing Rainbow to flinch. "No, I would never hurt them. I only use it as a last resort and if they're being particularly fussy. In fact, I think the last time I used it was a year ago when Miss Feathers was trying to attack the other animals. And as I said, I don't stare hard enough to hurt them."
"Seems like animal abuse to me," Rainbow said in a low voice.
"You know, I just remembered something," Twilight spoke up. "During that incident when I was turned into stone by a cockatrice and Fluttershy used the stare to save us, I ended up doing research on the stare to learn more about what it was. And I found this book back when the golden oak library was still around that pretty much contained all the details about it."
Twilight took a breath to explain. "It turns out the stare is actually caused by a magical distribution disorder, which basically causes the total sum of magical energy in your body at birth to--"
"English please, I don't understand egghead."
Sighing at Rainbow's rude interruption, she resumed. "Basically, when you're born, you have a certain amount of magic in you, and depending on what race you are, it spreads to specific parts of your body. Pegasi magic spreads to the wings and the fur, because their body to wing ratio doesn't allow them to fly naturally, and so they have the ability to walk on clouds. Unicorns require all the magic in their body to fuel their horns due to its complexity, and earth pony magic fuel the muscles in their body to strengthen them.
"The body's ability to distribute magic is flawed, however. In some cases, the magic in their bodies spread to places they aren't supposed to. In Fluttershy's case, a part of her magic spread to her eyes as well, which explains why her ability to fly is weaker than normal."
Fluttershy's eyes sunk slightly at this new discovery about herself.
"So you're saying that Fluttershy's stare is kind of like a... superpower?" Rarity proposed.
Twilight giggled slightly. "Superpower?"
Rarity shrugged with a sheepish grin. "Spike rubs off on me sometimes."
Twilight gave her a joking roll of the eyes. "Well, yes, technically it is."
"Hang on a sec..." Applejack sent Twilight a curious frown. "Does that mean that Fluttershy ain't the only one with the stare?"
The alicorn nodded. "Right, although it's very rare, and in the past one hundred years, only 32 ponies were found to have that ability, and the interesting thing is each of their stares differed in strength. One of them was able to give ponies near heart attacks."
"So yer sayin' Fluttershy could be a killer using only her stare?" Applejack proposed.
"Well, I highly doubt it, but I couldn't give a definitive answer since I don't really know how powerful her stare is."
"Oh, ooh! That gives me an idea!" came Pinkie Pie's loud and excitable voice.
"What, you wanna go next?" Rainbow said.
"Nonono, not me, I have a nominee to test how strong Fluttershy's stare is: the narrator!" Pinkie sa--wait, what?
"...the who-what now?" Applejack said.
"The narrator! Y'know, the one writing out everything that's happening?"
Rainbow cast a concerned look at her pink friend. "Pinkie, are you feeling okay…?"
Yeah, Pinkie, what the frick?
"Have you girls been living under a rock?!" Everypony in the room just gave her a confused stare. "Doesn't matter. Fluttershy, you see that spot in the corner of the room there?" She pointed to the furthest corner of the throne room.
"Um… I guess?" Fluttershy said. By the way, Pinkie, stop.
"Use the stare on it!"
Pinkie...
"...why?"
"Just do it."
Pinkie, I swear!
"...o...kay?" Fluttershy puzzledly looked at the corner, hardened her gaze and unleashed the staAAAAHHHH!! MY EYES! OH GOD, THEY BURN!! MY BRAIN!! ITS MELTING!!! AHHHHHHHHH!!!
…
…
…
…
…
…
…
…
Hello? Narrator? Where'd ya go?! Huh. I guess he died... oh well! I guess I'm the new narrator now! Whoopie!
So anyways, my super dooper best friends in the whole wide world were still staring at me with confusion because apparently they've been living who the heck knows where. But that's okay. I love them no matter how weird they can be sometimes.
“Dahling, why did you just make Fluttershy stare at the wall,” Rarity, my… hmm. I suppose my fourth favorite friend out of everyone in the group. It’s hard to say, I love them all equally!! I got sidetracked, where was I? Oh yeah! Rarity said as she--ah, hey!
I… am still… alive! And I will not condone this behavior!
Aww, but I was having fun narrating.
My story, my rules. I narrate, you don’t touch. By the way, I will get you back for that.
Fine. Ugh, you’re no fun.
Ahem… Rarity said, just as puzzled as everyone else around the table.
“I made Fluttershy use the stare on the narrator to see if it would work, and it did. Verdict: it’s pretty powerful.”
An awkward silence hung in the air for almost a minute.
“Okay, I think that dosage of Pinkie should have me covered for the next week or so,” Rainbow said. "On the topic of how powerful Fluttershy's stare is, y'know how we said that Discord wasn't affected by the stare at all? Well, maybe he could help figure out how powerful it is."
"Did you not just see her stare cross the fourth?!" Pinkie shouted.
Ignoring Pinkie, Fluttershy looked to Rainbow. "Um, I can call him here if you want."
Rainbow rose an eyebrow. "You can?"
"Yeah. Apparently no matter where I call his name from, he can hear it. It's strange."
Thinking about it for a moment, the rainbow-maned pegasus shrugged. "Then, I guess get Discord over here." Rainbow frowned. “Never thought I’d say that.”
"Okay." Fluttershy cleared her throat. "Discord?"
A bright spark of magic flashed beside Fluttershy before the draconequus himself appeared out of thin air.
"Yes, dearest Fluttershy…" Discord said before looking around the room and realizing the setting he was in. "Well I have to say, I'm a little insulted that you all decided to invite me to your girl's night."
"You're not invited, we only want you here for a little bit and then we're kicking you out," Rainbow clarified.
Discord appeared somewhat relieved. "Is that so? In that case I'd prefer that you make this quick. Me and the schmooze were in the middle of our weekly movie night and I was interrupted at the best part."
"I'm so sorry Discord, I didn't know you were busy," Fluttershy said.
"It's quite alright, Fluttershy. I'm only mad at everyone else, not you."
"Aaaanyways, Discord," Rainbow impatiently began. "You know that day when Celestia made us free you from stone and Fluttershy tried to use the stare on you."
"I remember that day quite clearly." The draconequus smiled, eyes directed upward as he reflected. "I'll never forget the moment Fluttershy became my first actual friend, thus planting the seed of a deep bond that would later grow and blossom into weekly tea parties, chaotic walks on the beach and occasional special moments in the bedroom--"
"Awesome, so here's the thing," Rainbow cut Discord off, preferring not to know more about that last part especially considering it painted a deep red tinted on Fluttershy's cheeks. "We were in the middle of discussing Fluttershy's stare, and remembered that the stare didn't work on you."
"That's what you thought?" Discord looked rather proud of himself. "Huh, I suppose my acting is better than I thought."
Rainbow was caught off guard by that remark, as were the other girls. "Say what?"
"Oh right, I forgot how featherbrained you ponies are," Discord said. "Well allow me to spell it out for you all: I simply faked not being affected by it so that Fluttershy would give up on trying to get through to me. Fortunately, she was cleverer and made me realize the errors of my ways." Discord then shuddered, his face going cartoonishly blue. "But ever since that day, I've been haunted by nightmares of the stare, and as a result, I can't say I'll ever be the same again..."
Applejack couldn't help but chuckle at Discord's over dramatic display. "Oh believe me, we understand how terrifyin' it is."
Discord's face faded back to normal. "Oh? Am I right in guessing that you all just had Fluttershy give you the stare?"
"Not all of us yet, just me and Rainbow. And… the wall."
"The narrator!" Pinkie shouted, a touch of irritation in her voice.
Discord contemplated that. "Well, I have to say I commend your bravery. I'm surprised the narrator had the guts to face it as well."
I didn't, it was against my will.
"Ah, what a shame."
Rarity thought of something. "But if the stare did work on you, then how were you able to play it off as if you weren't?"
Discord put a talon to his chin. "That's an interesting one. You see, I used a very particular technique I found in my years of learning how to conquer the stare called: looking away." Discord's forehead suddenly widened. Rarity didn't find it amusing.
The draconequus's forehead returned to normal as he crossed his arms, letting out an emphasized humph. "You ponies are no fun. Can't even take a joke!"
"Don't worry, Discord," Fluttershy said reassuringly. "I thought it was funny." She didn't, but she felt naturally that she should cheer him up.
Discord smiled at her. "Oh Fluttershy, you're such a sweetheart, lying to me to make me feel better."
“Alright, Discord, that’s all we needed from you. Get out,” Rainbow said.
Discord glared at the rainbow-maned pegasus. “Hmph, looks like somepony really doesn’t want to see me. Consider yourself lucky Fluttershy’s here, otherwise I’d take a page from Trixie’s book and have you spinning in a funnel until you’re stuck with vertigo for the next 1000 moons.”
“Discord!” Fluttershy scolded.
“Fine, fine. 500 moons,” Discord said, raising his hands. “Anywho, the schmooze is probably wondering where I am, so I better skedaddle. Good luck on your endeavors, my friends.” With that, he snapped his fingers, a purple swirling mass appearing next to him, and backflipped into it, the swirling mass swallowing him whole before contracting into a small dot and blinking out of existence.
“So, Fluttershy’s stare works on a literal demigod,” Applejack summarized. "Have we got enough proof that it's a weapon of mass destruction?"
Pinkie threw her arms up. "If it crossed the fourth, it's obviously gonna have worked on Discord. Duh!" No one acknowledged Pinkie, as though she hadn't even spoken. "Hey, can you girls hear me? Helloooooo?! Are you all ignoring… wait a second."
*Whistles nonchalantly*
"Narrator!"
I did say I'd get you back, didn't I?
"You big jerk!"
Twilight perked up. "Actually, I want to try something. The book I read recommended a defense spell that was proven to deflect the stare of most ponies, just barely including the most powerful cases of it. Now is the perfect opportunity to try it out!"
"That pillow fight is sounding very lovely right now," Fluttershy mumbled.
"Please, Fluttershy? For research purposes!" Twilight's lips curled into an excitable smile akin to a filly opening a Christmas present.
Fluttershy surrendered. "Alright."
"Yes!" Twilight exclaimed. "Now if I remember the spell correctly, it should go a little something like…" She shut her eyes in concentration. Her horn began to glow a dim purple light as a faint, transparent sheet of magic cast itself in front of Twilight's eyes.
"Perfect." Twilight reopened her eyes, briefly analyzing the glass-like film in front of her vision, before looking in Fluttershy's direction. "Okay, I'm ready."
Fluttershy repeated exactly what she had done before, blinking for a short moment, and then casting the stare toward Twilight's eyes. Other than a mere flinch of anticipation, the first few seconds had shown no dramatic reaction from her like that of Applejack and Rainbow Dash.
"So far so good," Twilight reported.
Avoiding the line of fire from Fluttershy, Rarity leaned toward the other three mares. "Could this spell of hers actually conquer the stare?"
"Maybe, but just hold your horses. Ah wouldn't speak too soon," Applejack said. Meanwhile, Rainbow silently observed, fully intrigued by the current situation. Pinkie simply grumbled, still unable to be heard.
As time passed, the spell appeared to be working as Twilight still showed no visible reaction to the stare.
Then Fluttershy's eyes narrowed.
The change was immediate, as the lavender alicorn suddenly recoiled, sweating mildly. With the instant increase in power from Fluttershy's eyes, Twilight found it getting more difficult to hold up the spell as her horn glowed brighter.
In a sudden turn of events, the stare proved to be too much as the film of protection magic before her eyes began to spark and glow as if going up in flames. Then, it completely broke apart, splitting into a firework of molecular bits and causing the magical energy to rebound into Twilight's horn, sending her out of her chair and onto the ground.
Everypony looked on in shock and concern at what had just happened. Twilight, meanwhile, groaned in pain, holding the base of her horn.
"Twilight, darling! Are you alright?" Rarity said, standing to go help her up.
"Wha… how the… what the… how?!" Twilight shouted from the ground, her eyes twitching. Rarity sat back down.
"That usually ain't a good sign," Applejack cautioned.
Twilight stood up on unsteady legs, slightly dazed from her spell backfiring in both senses of the term. "B-but all the research shows that the most powerful case of the stare were only barely weaker than the optical defense spell." Twilight's crazed expression twisted toward Fluttershy. "Your stare just forced my magic back into my horn. Do you realize how impossible that is? Apparently not so much anymore because you just did it! If the full range of your stare can do that, picture what else it can do!"
"Oh, I was holding back…"
"WHAT?!?!"
Further signs of the alicorn's progression toward Twilighting began to show, such as bits of her manes springing upward and her eyes twitching uncontrollably.
"Yeeaahh, that's not good," Rainbow said nervously.
Twilight let out a manic giggle. "I'm sorry, Fluttershy, did I just hear you say you were… holding… back…?"
The yellow pegasus took cover slightly behind her mane. "Uh, no."
Rainbow followed up quickly. "Yeah, that's not what I heard, did you hear that, Rarity?"
"Oh, no darling, not a word of it. How about you, Applejack?"
"Ah, uh… dang. Stupid honesty."
Pinkie remained quiet, pouting angrily with her forelegs crossed.
"Do you even realize the implications of what that means…?" Twilight said in a tone of voice that suggested she probably wasn't okay. "Your stare is literally lethal! The amount of magical energy required for that to be possible is immense. If the magic in your body had distributed correctly, you may have had the fastest wing power in all of Equestria by maybe up to 15 wing power! Not to mention, with all that energy stored in your eyes, the possibilities of what you could do could be endless! Think of the experiments! The research! The type of breakthroughs to be made! NOTES!!" With a flash of her horn, a notepad and quill popped into existence, floating each with the support of the purple magical aura around them. She then plopped down on her haunches, violently scribbling away on the notepad as she muttered incoherently to herself.
"I think we've broken poor Twilight," Rarity observed.
"Yeah, Fluttershy, I think you gave her brain damage," Rainbow said bluntly.
Fluttershy shrunk slightly. "I didn't mean to…"
For the next few moments, everypony was silent save Twilight, who frantically spoke under her breath.
"So, now what…?" Applejack asked.
An idea came to Rarity. "I have an idea for a spell that might be able to block Fluttershy's stare. May I test it, darling?"
***
"Hey, I brought you guys some snacks in case anyone's… hungry…"
Spike had opened the door to the throne room with a plate of nachos in one hand, before stopping in his tracks at the sight before him:
Everypony in the room sat in their respective throne--except for Twilight who sat, scribbing into a notebook in max freakout mode--around an empty space where the cutie map should have been, instead upturned over in the corner of the room while where it should have been, a large scorch mark was etched into the floor.
Rarity was consistently rubbing her horn and leaning slightly in pain. Pinkie sat with a sour look, folding her forelegs while Rainbow and Applejack appeared disconnected, as though at a loss of what to make of the whole situation. In the midst of it all, Fluttershy watched the whole scenario with a guilty expression that plainly read that she wanted to be anywhere but here.
Spike surveyed the scene for another few seconds.
"I'll come back later," he sighed, walking out and closing the door behind him.
Author's Note
I tried to write a comedy. Did I do good?
