The crowd parted somewhat, clearing a path between Blueblood and the stage, but it wasn't taken. He stood perfectly still, his face suggesting he hoped Trixie's sight was based on movement and he would vanish from her perception if he just stayed where he was long enough.
This, obviously, was not the case as she waved the bouquet in a come-hither fashion at him. "There's no need to hesitate, my Beloved Prince, the Great and Powerful Trixie has at long last come to claim her husb-"
Without a word, he teleported away in a magical flash.
Some laughed, some gasped, some looked like they felt sorry for the lonely not-quite bride, but she only grinned. "Ohhohoo~! You want proof of Trixie's magnificence first, My Love?" The veil and wedding dress reformed into her purple, starry hat and cape as she took a dramatic pose, one hoof pointed where Blueblood had been standing. She closed her eyes, the extended hoof slowly moving in a straight line. "Be amazed as Trixie follows the flow of magical energy from the starting point of the spell to its end!"
She slowly moved her hoof like a dowsing rod before stopping at a nearby barrel. The barrel lit up with magenta light as it lifted into the air, revealing Blueblood where it had sat. The crowd cheered, but he immediately vanished with another flash. Trixie replicated her hoof-movements as Prince's friends shared a look with raised eyebrows, mostly tuning out the impromptu two-pony show.
"Hey, Doctor?"
"Trixie's magical perception is second to none!"
"Yes, Shining?"
"Aha!"
"Does he seem kinda...?"
*Flash!*
"Scared of her?"
"I'll always find you, My Dearest!"
"Yea, that."
"There you are!"
Doctor shrugged. "Maybe a little?"
*Flash!*
"Shouldn't we, uh...?"
"Behold!"
"Help him?"
*Flash!*
"Yea, that."
Trixie giggled merrily before draping a hoof over her head dramatically. "Oh, woe, Trixie fears she's truly lost him this time!" Her grin of delight made the statement considerably less convincing. "Unless of course, he's-" She leapt from the stage, retracting the bulk of it back into her wagon, (how all of that worked, few but the more skilled earth pony engineers of the land were sure) revealing Prince, who had been hiding under it, ducked low, head under his forehooves. "Here!" He was immediately hug-tackled by the giggling showpony, much to the crowd's amusement, bar a few.
"Oh, come on," Rose huffed, "we saw him first!"
Daisy smirked. "Then why haven't you asked him out already?"
Rose turned rosy, averting her eyes. "Because shut up, Daisy!"
She giggled in reply, looking to Lily, who still stood staring at the guard she'd met at one of Pinkie's parties. "You might try asking him out too, you know."
Lily immediately flushed crimson, finally tearing her gaze away. "A-a--a-ask, h-him, I-I...!" And then she sped away, leaving only a cloud of dust behind.
"Shoot," Daisy muttered, giving chase, "Lily, come back!"
Rose followed her friends. "Wait, where are you guys going?!"
Shining Armor, Doctor immediately behind him, approached Trixie, wrapped around the trembling, whimpering noblepony. "Excuse me, Miss?"
She casually waved a hoof at him in a 'shoo-shoo' motion. "Show's over, scram."
With that, the ponies that had gathered to watch began to disperse, leaving the lovebirds what little privacy cuddling out in the open would afford them. Prince's friends might have felt bad about physically separating Trixie from him, with a crowbar ("Where'd you get that thing, Doctor? It was just lying around? Well, alright then."), eyes dreamily shut as she tenderly nuzzled his face if not for the latter's terrified, helpless expression.
Newly free, Blueblood shot them a grateful look, but didn't hang around to explain what the hay was going on, fleeing in the direction of the library. Trixie, in the mean time, was still cuddling empty air for several seconds, eyes still closed and a look of contentment on her face. Then, groping with her hooves not unlike a filly blindly reaching for her teddy bear, her eyes popped open, glancing in each direction as she fired up the teleportation counterspell... to no effect. She leapt to her hooves, Shining and Doctor jumping back with a start when she stopped with her muzzle an inch away from Shining's, her voice a threatening growl. "Where did you take Trixie's coltfriend?"
Shining Armor steeled himself, if he could endure Captain Blitz Shield at his angriest, this street performer should be no problem. "W-we actually wanted to ask you about that, Ma'am, what exactly is your affiliation with Prince Bl-"
She stepped forward again, horn bouncing off Shining's hastily-thrown-up shield. If that hurt her at all, she didn't show it. "Trixie will ask a second time," she said, looking somehow angrier than before "Where is Trixie's. Colt. Friend. Question. Mark."
Stay calm, he thought to himself, you've dealt with emotional ponies before. Just clarify the situation and act accordingly. That should be easy, provided she didn't make any little foals cry in the next few minutes. "He didn't seem to return your affections, Ma'am, are you sure you're not mistaken?"
She blinked once, a light chuckle diminishing a considerable amount of menace. "Ohh, he's just a little shy is all, always was around Trixie." She smirked, brushing a hoof against her chest. "It's understandable, even Prince Blueblood can grow nervous when confronted with-" extravagant hoof-gestures were unnecessary, but he figured it was the showpony in her talking, "the Great, and Powerful Trrrrrixie!"
What would have been a few seconds of awkward silence were instead Doctor whispering in Shining's ear. "Plan: I think we should fall back and regroup with Prince, maybe he knows what's happening here?"
While Trixie held a majestic pose, Shining whispered back. "Ok, but how do we get away from her first? He might just run again if she follows us to-"
The exchange was cut off by Soarin landing behind Trixie, who turned to look at the seductively smiling pegasus in full-on hunter mode. "Hello, Great and Picturesque Trixie!"
She chuckled, smiling with just a hint of smugness. "Trixie does not have time to be lauded for her beauty right now, but-"
"But," he interrupted with a charming grin, "a stunning lady of your dazzling good looks could be persuaded to be lavished with all-due praise?"
Trixie actually blushed just slightly, hiding her mouth behind a hoof as she let out a laugh of equal parts amusement and arrogance. "Perhaps," she said coyly, "make it quick."
Soarin gave Shining and Doctor a split-second look, which they interpreted to mean 'I'll keep her busy, you know what to do!' They nodded, carefully moving around him and the vain magician to head to the library. Luckily, Trixie was proving to be very easy to work with, what wasn't obscured by her hat or cape really quite pretty.
He stood in silence for a moment, looking her over as she raised an eyebrow. "A-hem?"
Bait taken! "Sorry," he replied with a grin, "I'm just not sure where to begin! Your lush, silvery mane, statuesque face, outstanding fashion sense...?" He sighed as Shining and Doctor slipped away, his eyes the picture of a love-struck colt's. "I could look at you forever."
Trixie grinned brightly, and with just as much smugness. "Please, take your pick~"
---
"Blue," Shining called out as they stepped into Golden Oaks, "You in here?" There were very few places to hide in the library, but he was doing a surprisingly good job. "Blue?"
Doctor, shutting the door behind them, slowly looked around the room. "He might be behind a sliding shelf or a secret compartment or something."
Shining rolled his eyes. "That's ridiculous, we don't have a-"
"We do now," Prince's muffled voice sounded from behind a bookshelf, "is she with you?"
Doctor's smug smile was ignored for the time being as Shining approached the talking shelf. "How did you build a secret compartment so fast?!"
"That's not important right now, is Trixie still around or not?!"
---
"Which is why I keep bowling balls all over town!" Pinkie's eye twitched.
Mrs. Cake involuntarily took a step backward, forcing a smile. Ohh, goodness it's finally starting, isn't it?! "I-Is that so?"
"Yeah..." She touched a hoof to her eye after closing it. That was the second time that happened today, was this a new Pinkie Sense?
---
"And that's all seventeen reasons you shouldn't obscure your outstanding charms under a hat and cape!"
She chuckled, an eyebrow raised and a smirk that said she had figured out the punchline to a joke before it was told. "Really? Being able to ogle Trixie's perfect flanks didn't come up even once."
Soarin beamed. "Guilty! It shows in your magic, but you're as brilliant as you are beautiful!" This mare, it was clear, could hear about herself all day by the way she grinned and struck poses as if to say 'you may now appreciate my existence!'
He'd been thinking about something since watching Trixie glomp Prince after finishing up faster than expected with his client, (he was just considering forming the cloud he was watching from into a cozy chair when the wedding dress thing happened) leaving Cloud Chaser to "keep an eye on the office/house." With Flitter. Alone. Together. He'd also been thinking about something actually related to watching Trixie glomp Prince; why she had been doing that, and why he seemed so uncomfortable.
"If I may pick your great and powerful mind, Trixie, why would an alicorn-in-waiting like yourself settle for-"
Trixie's grin vanished, her tone curt. "Prince Blueblood?"
He blinked. "Well, him too."
She took a step closer. "Are you saying there's something wrong with Trixie's future husband?"
Soarin took a step back, doing his best to project a disarming smile, despite the light sense of panic bubbling in the back of his head. "Woah, woah, not what I meant!" Although... "Well, I mean, nopony's perfect, I'm just not sure Blue's your type." He spent a split second looking her over. "So to speak."
Her eyes narrowed dangerously. "Ohh, Trixie sees how it is!"
"...What?"
She pointed a hoof at him. "You just want to be with Trixie so you can make My Darling Prince jealous, so that when he's feeling all loveless and lonely you can drop Trixie and swoop into his muscular forelegs!"
"WHAT?!"
"Don't try to deny it! There's no better way to make a pony burn with envy than to be the pony in a relationship with the Great and Powerful Trixie!"
He held up his forehooves defensively. "I think you're misunderstanding a little, my barn door doesn't swing that way!"
She got very, very close, her angry expression indicating it wasn't for any of the eight reasons Soarin might have liked, but with a distant possibly of a ninth or tenth. "We are talking about Prince Blueblood, Most Eligible Bachelor in Equestria, Best-Groomed Fetlocks Trixie Has Ever Seen, Longest Horn On Anypony But A Princess, Toned, Muscular Body, and! That! Face!" She grabbed Soarin's head in her forehooves and shook him. "Sexual preference is not an issue here!"
He faintly recalled his first encounter with Prince, chuckling. "He's a pretty guy, I'll give you that!"
Trixie beamed, dropping him with an audible thud. "Right?!"
While they were on the subject, it seemed like a good time to put his Love Guru magic to work. Standing up, he brushed himself off. "Ok, so I can see why you're interested, but there's more to love than two ponies just being really amazing together, y'know? How do you know you'd really like one another?"
She grinned triumphantly. "Ignoring for a moment that everypony loves Trixie," he guessed brushing a nonchalant hoof against her chest was for effect, "whether they know it or not, My Dearest Prince is completely head over hooves for her!"
There was a short silence. "So, the teleporting away, freezing up in panic when you caught him...?"
She giggled, dismissively waving a hoof. "Jitters. He loves Trixie so much, he just doesn't know what to do!"
He nodded. Humoring her seemed like a better way to make progress. "Have you ever been around him long enough that he wasn't nervous anymore?"
Her mouth opened to reply, but none came immediately. Her face scrunched up a little as she seemed to concentrate on no particular point in space, looking a bit like Ditzy Doo did when trying to focus on a butterfly that had landed on her nose. She eventually looked at Soarin, head slightly tilted. "What... What do you mean?"
He shrugged. "Just, if he only ever panics around you, what makes you think he ever liked you in the first place?"
Looking for a moment as though the imaginary butterfly on her nose had been swatted with a newspaper while still on her face, she shook her head. "Hmph! Trixie knows just how her beloved feels about her! Now where is he?!"
Soarin raised an eyebrow. "What makes you think I'd know where to-"
She spoke through gritted teeth. "Don't think Trixie wasn't paying attention, you said he isn't 'Trixie's type', and you wouldn't know that if you didn't know him. Well?"
He'd only meant to butter her up, but she actually was kindof smart. But he would be smarter! He pointed behind her. "Hey, look over there!"
Her deadpan stare said she was seconds away from turning him into a frog or something. "Really?"
He nodded, smiling. "Yup! Blueblood and the cutie he can't take his eyes off of are right over-"
"WHAT?!" She whirled around so quickly he had to take a step back to avoid being slapped by her cape, immediately followed by taking off and speeding away before she knew what had happened.
---
Doctor decided to be helpful. "Soarin's keeping her busy. Perhaps you could inform us, who exactly is the pony that seems so fixated on you?"
"S-she's, uh..." He sighed quietly, but remained audible through the bookshelf. "It started when I was a colt..."