"Maybe I should've gotten a churro too," Fluttershy mumbled as she and Applejack wandered through Frontierland, past some of the cheering patrons on Big Thunder Mountain. "This popcorn smelled good, but it's awfully dry."

Applejack laughed. "No kiddin'. Here, go ahead, I don't need any more of this stuff anyway," she replied, handing her the churro after tearing a last chunk for herself.

"Huh? Oh, I don't... alright." She gave into her impulses and immediately took a bite off of the end. "That is good. A lot softer than the ones Pinkie liked that they had at the Festival."

"I tried tellin' Sunset that, but that girl sure can hold a grudge against food. Still doesn't like fizzy cider, either. I thought that was just her actin’ tough before we made friends, but go figure."

"So where do you want to go when we finish?"

"Well, I was maybe thinkin'... oh hello?"

"Hello what?" Fluttershy looked over at Applejack, who'd clearly spotted something.

"I know what we can do next! Come on!" Applejack darted off toward a structure with a white sign and blue borders, decorated with... were those fireworks? Fluttershy ran along behind until she could see the words on the sign a little better: "Shooting Exposition".

"A shooting gallery?" Fluttershy asked, surprised.

"Why not?" Applejack asked. "Don't ya remember when we used to go to summer camp together when we were little? You never wanted anything to do with archery for some reason, but you sure could handle a rifle at the range!"

Fluttershy looked down at the ground. "Don't remind me."

"I never really understood why you never took it up as a hobby!"

"People said I was a natural. They wanted me to go on hunting trips." She shuddered.

"Aw, to heck with them. No need to shoot animals when targets exist. Want to see if ya still got it?"

Fluttershy hesitated. "What do the targets look like? They're not... cute little bunnies, are they?"

"I'll take a look." Applejack walked over to, peeked in and walked back. "Naw, no animals. Except for an owl, but the targets don't actually react when you hit 'em. It's just a red light that goes on and off."

"Okay... you go first though."

"Sounds good to me." They walked over to the gallery, where Applejack loaded two quarters into the slot and picked up one of the model rifles, which had a thick black cable attaching it to the structure. Fluttershy looked inside and was spooked when she saw the setting. It was a night scene in an old west town, only it looked more like a ghost town; there were a few model buildings, but most of the targets were gravestones. A train lit up with targets occasionally appeared in the distance, as did some ghostly specters of skeletal riders.

"Applejack!" Fluttershy whispered nervously. "You didn't mention it was a haunted shooting gallery!"

"I didn't realize, I was only really lookin' for animals. I thought the gravestones were just buildings at first."

Fluttershy shivered. "And the gravestones are targets? That seems rather morbid..."

"Alright there, settle down. Let's see how good a shot I am. I've been doing more archery practice ever since the Friendship Games, but it's been a while since I held a gun."

Carefully aiming, Applejack took her 20 shots, hitting about 12 times; she wasted several trying to nail the train in the back. "Pretty good, considerin'. You wanna go?"

"Well, I guess..."

"You don't have to if you don't wanna, Fluttershy."

"No, it's okay, I'd like to."

Applejack loaded in another 50 cents and handed the gun to Fluttershy, who hadn't held anything that even looked like a rifle since long before high school. She got into position, looked out into the spooky scene, and breathed.

She hit 18 out of 20 shots.

"Wowie!" Applejack shouted as Fluttershy put down the rifle. "That's some good shootin' right there!"

"Thanks," Fluttershy said, blushing slightly. "I missed the first one because I kinda forgot it wouldn't have an actual recoil, since, y'know, it's not actually firing. But it wasn't hard to get used to!"

"Aw heck, Flutters, now I really wanna do that with you for real. You haven't missed a beat!"

"Gosh." Fluttershy mumbled. "You really think so?"

"I'm a bit rusty myself. I know you feel a little awkward with it around other people, but maybe if it's just people you trust not to put pressure on you, it could still be fun!"

"I'll... I'll think about it." Fluttershy smiled, and the two of them giggled as the ambled back into Frontierland.

Next Chapter: Incredicoaster (Rarity & Twilight Sparkle) Estimated time remaining: 18 Minutes