Twilight and Fluttershy ambled into the showroom for the Enchanted Tiki Room and sat down on one of the benches towards the back, away from where most of the families in the showing were gathering. Twilight was moreso simply following Fluttershy than making a seating decision herself, being a bit more invested in finishing the Dole Whip she'd bought outside.

"Thanks for coming with me, Twilight." Fluttershy whispered. "I didn't want to ask Dashie to sit still in a room for a long show like this, but I didn't want to go alone either."

Twilight swallowed the last spoonful, then turned and smiled. "Hey, no worries! I was hoping to do this anyway!"

"Oh, really? I didn't realize you were excited for this, I'd have asked earlier!"

"Oh, of course I wanted to see this! Animatronics like they have for this are basically old robots, and it's not often you get to see almost-70-year-old robots that are still active and this well-maintained! Well, not literally, obviously they've done refurbishments and replaced figurines over the years, but still, incredibly old-school robotics technology! And when you think about the effort it took to get a show like this coordinated well before you could ever have computers controlling things... it's fascinating stuff. I read a little bit about it but I've been eager to see it in action."

"Wow, it really does sound like it's perfect for you when you put it that way," Fluttershy mused. "I just wanted to see all the cute birdies."

"I mean, that's always a plus." Twilight giggled, and after a moment Fluttershy did likewise.

With everyone seated, a cast member walked in and issued a command, and at once the animatronic macaws in the center of the room began to "wake up". Twilight noticed they weren't speaking in stereotypical parrot-speech, but rather in an assortment of human accents. She leaned over to Fluttershy and whispered, "Is that really what parrots sound like to you when you hear them talk? For-real talk, not 'polly want a cracker' talk, that is."

"We don't get many parrots at the shelter, actually, Canterlot has a lot of strict policies about bird ownership. We did once have a budgie for a little bit that had a thick Manehattan accent, though."

"Weird..."

Soon the first song had started, and Twilight was studying the movements of the birds closely, paying special attention to some of the background birds that were around her. She noticed one had malfunctioned; its jaw was hanging open slackly and its only movements were bobbing its head up and down. Beyond that, though, everything seemed to be working perfectly, and despite having described it herself moments earlier, Twilight was quietly astonished, fascinated at the idea of how much coordination it would have taken to program and synchronize all of these birds' performances so many decades ago.

Fluttershy, meanwhile, wasn't quite as enraptured by the show as her seatmate was. It was cute, certainly, but it seemed constantly hearing animals talk in daily life, with far less inane banter and musical numbers, had taken some of the novelty out of the premise. Still, at least the birdies were as cute as hoped. This must be how Twilight feels when we see a serious sci-fi movie that gets the science wrong, she thought aimlessly.

Soon a second song had begun, with a multicolored jet of water from the central fountain reaching up towards the ceiling, then descending in sync with a rotating platform containing a multitude of additional white birds. Fluttershy was starting to feel a little understimulated as it went along, thanking heavens she didn't insist on Rainbow Dash attending. She'd have zipped out of the room minutes ago.

"And now, ladies and gentlemen," one of the accented macaws announced, "we have somethin' really big for you!"

"I bet," Fluttershy mumbled sarcastically.

"Huh?" Twilight was pulled back to earth at the sound of her friend's voice, and she turned to look at Fluttershy, who was trying to hastily put on a smile. "You okay?"

"Oh, I'm fine," Fluttershy whispered. "I suppose I'm just not getting as much out of it as I'd hoped. And it's not really my kind of music."

"Well, I don't want you to be bored..." Twilight whispered back with concern. "If you need to step out, I can come."

"Oh no, it's not that bad! I don't want you to leave when you're enjoying it. Besides, I don't mind getting to sit for a bit after how much we've been walking today."

"I suppose that's fair."

As they'd been speaking, the central platform had retracted back up into the ceiling, and several smaller platforms with robotic plants had lowered in the side areas. Fluttershy looked and noticed the flowers' petals were shaped into faux-lips and had begun to move for their song. Talking plants? Now that's just absurd.

Twilight caught her eye, and she noticed the other girl now looked like she had seen a ghost all of a sudden. Her eyes were wide and her hands were gripping the bench. "Uh... Twilight? Is something wrong?" Fluttershy asked with concern.

"Wha... what do you mean?"

"The bench is starting to levitate."

"Oh." Twilight gently brought the bench down to the ground, grateful no one else had sat with them. "Well... remember the time I told you about when Principal Celestia asked me to take care of her garden and some Equestrian magic got inside?"

"Yes..."

"The flowers here kinda look exactly like those did and it's giving me some really not-happy flashbacks."

"Do you want to leave?"

"Yes!" Twilight whispered forcefully.

The two of them stood up, snuck around to the back door and nudged it open, sneaking out with minimal disturbance. They managed to find an empty bench and sat down.

"Well," Fluttershy said with a smile. "I suppose not everything here can be a winner."

"I guess not," Twilight smiled back. "Still, I'm glad we got to not-have-fun together."

"I can't think of anyone I'd rather have had not-fun with in there," Fluttershy replied as they both laughed.

Next Chapter: Grizzly River Run (Rarity & Pinkie Pie) Estimated time remaining: 36 Minutes