Being a princess was, more often than not, a fantastic thing. Celestia and Luna both very much enjoyed their jobs, as stressful as they could be at times, and the love and respect their subjects showed them was worth more than they could articulate. That being said, the job was not without its downsides. Politics, the occasional villain trying to take control, and the nobility being stuck up twits were trudged through with varying degrees of irritation.
That being said, there are some things even a princess knows are bad, BAD ideas. One such thing being assuming that just because the rule isn't officially written down, everypony will follow it.
And so Celestia and Luna found themselves with their current issue, because nopony in their right mind would ever build something jutting out from the side of a cliff in Rainbow Falls, no matter how securely it was anchored. Right?
Wrong.
And so the celestial sisters found themselves slowly walking towards the opening ceremony of The Color Wheel, a new tourist attraction in Rainbow Falls. A beautiful (and from the admission price, expensive) ferris wheel firmly anchored to the side of one of the town's cliffs, offering stunning views of the valley below and the mountains above. Had they the knowledge of it, they likely would have remarked that it looked similar to the London Eye.
"I'll make excuses to keep you out of the Grand Galloping Gala for the next ten years if you go," Celestia whispered at a volume only Luna could hear.
"We will double thy cake stash."
"Tempting. How about I handle ALL the tax paperwork this year? All of it."
"Sister, we are not getting on that thing if we can help it. This is Arcane we are talking about, anything built over the cliff edge may as well be made of tissue paper."
"We'll figure it out. Smile, the crowd is watching!"
Celestia and Luna both kept up their princessly smiles and gait as they approached. Centuries of practice meant that even though they were practically sweating bullets, to the onlookers they were calm and even pleased to be here.
"Well, brother, I can't think of a better way to start up our latest business venture than with TWO of the princesses coming to our grand opening!" One of the two stallions clearly in charge stepped forward to greet Celestia and Luna, offering a bow. "Pleasure to meet you, your majesties. I'm Flim and that dapper fellow over there is my brother Flam." Flim took Celestia's hoof and gave it a friendly yet quick shake as he continued to prattle on. "Our Las Pegasus resort has graciously decided to sponsor building this glorious attraction for this town. I mean, just look at how excited everypony is to see The Color Wheel in action, boosting tourism and providing a spectacular view!"
Flam smiled and gestured to the crowd of ponies standing behind some hastily set up rope barriers. Most of them were eating popcorn and had various conversations going, and even bets in the back rows. They were all wearing helmets, though, but Flam wasn't sure why.
"And we'd like to offer the two of you the first ride, free of charge!" Flim had offered it to mayor Silver, but had gotten several excuses. But the princesses were a step up!
"Both… both of us?" Luna asked worriedly.
"Of course!"
"Oh. We… thank thee, sir Flim. Art thou sure? Perhaps our sister would prefer to go fir-"
"If I'm going, you're going, Luna. Come along."
And so, the two princesses got into the carriage of the ferris wheel and it began its slow ascent. Thankfully, aside from a few reporter pegasi, they were free to talk in private.
"He's out of town, he's out of town, he's out of town…" Luna kept repeating it to herself, a soothing mantra. As they continued to climb, they could see all of the town- including Alchemiracles, which was still on fire. Arca had been clear about that, he had been growing plants native to the dragonlands.
"Luna, you say that as though that's ever stopped him from causing a fiasco. Worst case scenario, we teleport out of the carriage and fly to safety. I'll admit I'm nervous, but it should be fine."
"Fair point, sister, fair point. After all, what's the worst that could possibly happen?"
"Don't say that or-"
At this point, the carriage the alicorns were in had reached the top of the wheel. It stopped for a minute so the passengers could admire the view… at least, that would have been the intent. Instead, Celestia and Luna heard a portal opening and looked up just in time for Arca to fall into the carriage, shattering the glass with the impact as he landed between them.
"Owwww… my left nostril hurts."
"Hello Arca. Back from your trip?"
Arca glanced up to look Celestia in the the eye. "Oh, yeah! And I brought back-"
"BARK BARK I AM MISTER SPLINTERS"
A second impact rattled the cabin as Mister Splinters, Arca's pet timberwolf, landed on top of them, and then proceeded to jump off and down the support beams to reach solid ground. Of course, timberwolves are rather heavy, so with each jump the ferris wheel tilted more and more to one side, until it dipped under one of the rainbow waterfalls.
Mister Splinters, meanwhile, had landed safely and all but pounced on Razzle Dazzle, looking for petting and attention. "WAG WAG WAG I AM MISTER SPLINTERS." Razzle sighed and started giving the magical construct a belly rub.
Back up in the cabin, the sudden deluge of rainbow liquid was keeping its occupants from casting a spell to escape. It was also causing the ferris wheel to turn faster and faster, like a giant water wheel going full speed. There'd be a few moments of momentum before they all got soaked again, and again, and Celestia thought she saw Flim and Flam running away as the crowd watched the inevitable spectacle they'd turned up for.
And then Arca got his senses back enough to cast a spell.
Of course, Arca being Arca, he had simply teleported the entire ferris wheel away to 'somewhere it'd be funny', and all of a sudden the trio found themselves in empty air with a lot of momentum behind them.
Celestia and Luna, being larger and heavier than Arca, landed face-first in a stack of hay bales, their flanks sticking out helplessly as the press took photos. Celestia buried her head in her hooves in embarrassment, knowing this would be front-page news everywhere but Rainbow Falls, but Luna was cursing and struggling to get free, which only served to cause her flanks to shake in a way that would DEFINITELY be front-page in some magazines.
Arca, being roughly the size of an average pony, however, was flung over the hay bales, slammed into the fountain in town square only to skip off the water like a stone, and crashed through the window of his favorite pizza shop, miraculously landing in his regular seat at his usual table. He looked over at chef Crispy Crust and opened his mouth to speak, but Crispy cut him off.
"Yes, I know. I'll get you some garlic bread and start on your usual."
Arca glanced back at the pile of hay bales, still shaking violently from a very angry moon horse.
"Uh… can I get that to go?"