Pinkie Pie, Rainbow Dash, Fluttershy, Twilight Sparkle, Applejack, and Rarity had spent the past month planning and saving up for the best. trip. ever! And it was finally about to happen. They were convinced that nothing could go wrong- that this wouldn't turn out to be another Grand Galloping Gala- surely they had put to much effort in for it to all end in a disaster...
“C'mon Rarity! You take sooooo long to get ready, you look fine!” Rainbow Dash said- she was slightly exasperated now- being shown 30 outfits in an hour will do that to anypony. “You look gorgeous” she added, for good measure. “Now come on!”
“But doesn't this one look better? It goes with my eyes...” Rarity said, fluttering her eyelashes.
“Aaaagh, come on!” Dash shouted, not realizing Rarity was just messing with her now.
“C'mon y' all!” Apple Jack said, bursting through the doors of Carousel Boutique with Pinkie Pie and the others hot on her heels.
“Yeah, we would have been ready aaaages ago, but some pony” Dash said, staring at Rarity “was taking forever to get ready!”
“We're only going to the fair!” Twilight pointed out, raising her eyebrows at the mess of clothes strewn around the shop.
“Yes, but it's in Canterlot!” Rarity swooned.
“Yes, yes, we know!” Said an exasperated Dash. It had been the only topic of conversation for weeks.
“Right! Let's go! Princess Celestia has sent some of her guards over with a Chariot, and it's waiting outside”
Rarity conjured up a chaise lounge from her bedroom and fainted.
“We don't have time for this!” Twilight shouted, and levitated Rarity out of the door and plonked her in the chariot.
When everyone was in the chariot took off and they were finally off to Canterlot.
“Are you excited, because I'm excited! I've never been so excited- well, apart from the time when I gasp but I mean really!” said Pinkie Pie- falling off her seat in a fit of the giggles.
“who could top that” sighed Twilight, rolling her eyes.
“Yes- it shall be wonderful!” Rarity said, picturing the glamour and sophistication of Twilight's birthday week.
The only one that was sulking was Rainbow Dash- her beloved Wonderbolts were not yet confirmed as guests of honour at the grand opening of the Canterlot fair- the biggest fair in all of Equestria- so in her opinion there was very little to get excited about, thank you very much.
Fluttershy was awfully quiet- hardly seemed like she was there at all- cowering at the back of the chariot on her own, not joining the others with the excited chattering.
Applejack noticed that somepony was missing from their conversation, and plonked her rump on the seat to the side of her shy friend. “What's wrong sugar cube?” She asked.
Fluttershy sighed but refused to elaborate- “I don't want to talk about it” she mumbled, not wanting to ruin the chariot trip for the rest of her friends.
Much to her distress, Twilight knew exactly what was wrong, and tactlessly piped up “It has been decades since a dragon killed anypony at Canterlot!” she piped up. “Well... at least decades since it has happened at a public event...”
Fluttershy remained unconvinced, and sat quietly by herself once more, with Spike gazing across at her in a concerned manner.
When the ponies and Spike finally landed in Canterlot, there was a lot of excited chattering among the Canterlot ponies as everyone seemed to be heading in one direction.
“I hear that there is a dragon at the fair! I hear dragon hide sells for quite a lot these days!” said a well-spoken pony in a group to the left of the friends. The ponies that were with here were hanging on her every word.
This really annoyed Rarity. “Ugh- that Upper Crust hogging all of the limelight- that pony is so mean”
“You only think that because she thought you were common” Dash teased her.
“Oh how delightful!” Rarity exclaimed, attempting to change the subject, “a beautiful garden! What do you think about that, Fluttershy- was it worth coming? Let's check it out...” Everyone was conscious about how uncomfortable Fluttershy was about the prospect of seeing the dragon, so they were going out of their way to help her to feel better about it.
Dash was a bit slow on the uptake though- “You have argued with a dragon one hundred times your size- you have stood on his nose and shouted at him, you made him cry, Fluttershy!” but this just made the poor pony look more anxious.
The garden seemed to help though. As with most of the Canterlot animals that she had met- or tried to meet- the animals at the fair didn't seem to want to know the gentle pony, but Fluttershy had learnt her lesson, and stayed back, observing the critters from a safe, un-intimidating distance as the other ponies left her to calm down and trotted away to buy candy-floss, have a go on the rides, and try their look at throwing balls into barrels to win teddies.
Sure enough, Pinkie Pie was in her element, gobbling candy-floss and bouncing around after Rainbow Dash who seemed to be enjoying herself attempting to coax Rarity onto one of the rides. Of course Rarity was having none of it- she didn't want to ruin her beautiful feathered hat made especially for this occasion, so it was somewhat of a blessing when Twilight spotted a fortune teller's caravan.
“That's interesting, I haven't seen one of these in Canterlot before. Terribly unscientific. I wonder why it is here...” she said.
“Loosen up Twilight!” Dash exclaimed, “let's check it out.” She said, trotting off to investigate, with Pinkie bouncing along behind her.
Ten minutes later, Dash emerged from the caravan, dragging Pinkie Pie out by her fluffy pink tail.
“'inkie, ooo cwazy!” Dash said, with Pinkie's tail still in her mouth. Spitting it out, she said “you are meant to let the fortune teller to tell your fortune, not make up some mumbo-jumbo to tell her! That's not how it works. No wonder she kicked you out- taking her hat and putting it on your own head isn't exactly the behaviour that these Canterlot ponies are used to...”
Everypony giggled as the element of laughter bounced ahead, not phased at all. “She wasn't doing it right” she said, not seeing what the problem was.
“Let's go find Fluttershy and carry on exploring. I would hate for her to miss this” said Rarity, strolling back to the garden.
The ponies decided to investigate the small forested area by the beautiful garden, Fluttershy seemed reluctant to leave the animals, and everypony apart from Pinkie Pie needed a break from the crazy fair. It was quiet and slightly eerie in the forest, and although they were all thinking it, nopony wanted to admit that it reminded them of the Everfree forest,
The snapping of twigs and the whistling of the wind through the trees made the ponies shiver, when suddenly a dragon crashed through the trees right in front of them. All around him the trees were snapping like dry straw, and the ground trembled under his heavy footfalls as he roared and thrashed his tail, demolishing everything that stood in it's path.
