Fan Fiction Challenge #27: Seven Dwarfs
The Seven Dwarfs Mine Train opens and turns out to be haunted by a spirit. Two Keepers are assigned to find it and defeat it. Write the scene in four paragraphs.
Mirror, Mirror...
"Ahhhh!" The girl shrieked with joy as the mine cart she was sitting in jerked back and forth. After months—no, years—of anticipation, the Seven Dwarfs Mine Train was finally open, and she was one of the first to ride it. As the cart pulled into the mine portion of the attraction, she stared around, trying to take it all in. She was surrounded by rock. The grayness was interrupted by buckets of colorful, shining gems and glowing lanterns. Suddenly, the lights flickered, and the ride was plunged into darkness. The girl's cart screeched to a stop so suddenly that her head almost banged against the back of the cart. She hadn't heard about this part of the ride… it was more thrilling than she expected! She strained her eyes, trying to anticipate the ride's next twist. A strange sound filled the air—a scraping sound, like rock against rock. Something whooshed past the girl's ear, making her screech and shy away. The effects were realistic… almost too realistic. This was supposed to be a family ride, wasn't it? Maybe something was wrong; the cart should have been moving by now.
The gems began glowing again, slowly illuminating the scene in front of her. But instead of being red and blue, they were a sickly green. Something moved in the shadows—the source of the scraping sound. Was it one of the dwarf animatronics? No… A skeleton leapt from the shadows, moving far too realistically to be a robot. It charged at the cart, its bony fingers grasping at the girl's sleeves. She shrieked again—this time, not from joy, but from terror. A black bird swept down from the ceiling, its talons extended towards her head. She yanked at the safety bar, trying to escape, but it was no use. She was trapped! Right before the bird made contact, the lights went out. She braced herself for the impact, but… nothing. Just blackness. A new sound filled the air: eerie laughter, growing louder and louder until the mine rang with it. Then a woman's voice, crackling with age and anger—"How's this for a scary adventure?"
...
"So what happened next?" Finn asked.
"Nothing. The ride started up again like nothing happened. But Disney shut it down 'for renovations'," Philby answered, making air quotes with his fingers.
"In other words…"
"Overtakers," Finn and Philby said together. Finn smirked at Philby as they walked towards the dark, empty mine. After all of the guests had gone home, the Imagineers had sent the two Keepers—as kids, not as DHIs—on a mission to investigate.
"The evidence seems simple," Philby continued in full-on professor mode. "Guests were attacked by skeletons and black birds—both of which used to be featured in the Snow White's Scary Adventure's attraction. Add in the comment about 'a scary adventure', and it's a slam dunk. But there's just one problem. What Overtaker is associated with that ride?"
"The Evil Queen…" Finn replied, not loving Philby's I'm-talking-to-a-preschooler tone.
"And where's the Evil Queen?" Philby asked, still sounding like he was addressing a toddler.
"Buried alive with Chernabog. I know! Get to the point!" Finn snapped.
"Touchy, touchy. I'm just pointing out the facts," Philby said.
"Fine." Finn took a deep breath. "With all of your facts, have you come up with an actual plan?"
"Unfortunately… no." Philby blushed under his freckles. "Hopefully, we'll know it when we see it."
...
Finn and Philby walked deeper into the mine, past audio-animatronics that looked frozen in time, and lanterns that no longer glowed. It was even creepier when the park was closed. As the boys walked through the attraction, they examined every corner of the mine, but nothing seemed out of the ordinary. Until… "Hey. Do you see that?" Finn whispered. Up ahead was an eerie green glow.
"Yeah. Let's go," Philby whispered back. The boys crept up to a rocky outcrop and peeked around the corner. Hanging on the wall was an ornate mirror with a gilded frame. The surface of the mirror shimmered like water, flickering with green flames. It looked as if the frame was decorated with gold—real gold. This was no theme park prop. A skeleton and several black birds gazed into it as if they were waiting for orders. The flames swirled and dissipated, revealing a face in the mirror. She was haggard and dirty, older than they remembered, but there was no mistaking it. The Evil Queen! The boys gasped simultaneously. The face chuckled darkly. Somehow, she knew they were there. "You thought you were rid of me, did you? You thought you could close my ride to make way for a princess meet-and-greet, did you?" She practically hissed the words. "Well, you may have trapped me for now, but you can't contain my powers! I can't be here in person, but I can still turn this ride into a living nightmare! It will be a scary adventure, indeed!" The skeleton and birds turned towards the Keepers as the Queen cried, "Seize them!"
There was no time to make a plan. Finn and Philby met each other's eyes. They knew what they had to do. Philby charged at the skeleton and birds, catching them by surprise. Meanwhile, Finn grabbed a rock off the ground and rushed towards the mirror. A bird dive-bombed his head, but he ducked and kept going. In the mirror, the Queen's eyes widened as she realized what he was going to do. "Stop him, you fools! Leave the other boy—stop him!" But Finn didn't give them a chance. He flung the rock at the mirror, shattering it into a hundred pieces. For a moment, the Queen's face flickered in the shards. "This isn't over, Finn Whitman… this isn't over…" she exclaimed as the image faded away to nothing. As soon as the Queen disappeared, the birds and skeleton fell to the ground, animatronics once more. Finn and Philby shared a sigh of relief. Another battle fought, another battle won… just another day in the life of a Kingdom Keeper.