Love's a Roller Coaster Ride

by The Lord Thunder

Chapter 12

One hour later, Starlight and Sunburst secured their treasures in a rental locker at Corrals of Fun. Now that they’d returned to the park, Starlight looked about for some more excitement. That Lazy River ride they’d passed over when they rode the train seemed like fun, and it would be hilarious to see Sunburst all wet.

She’d considered asking him if he wanted to go there next, but her nose caught a whiff of something sweet, holding the question in. A funnel cake stand was a few feet away, causing her stomach to growl at the sight of a filly and her mother walking away with one of the pastries.

“You know, Sunburst, all that walking’s made me hungry. I could really go for a funnel cake right about now.”

“Sure! They’re delicious.”

The duo dodged a group of running foals as they made their way to the funnel cake stand. Both purchased one cake topped with powdered sugar, now hovering in front of them.

For her own life, Starlight could never figure out why they called this misshapen lump of fried batter “funnel cake.” The criss-crossing strips of fried dough looked more like hashbrowns than anything funnel shaped and they certainly didn’t resemble cake. One thing was for certain, though: Sunburst was right. They were delicious. She bit in, the outer portion crunching between her teeth. As she chewed, the crunchy outside gave way to the warm, fluffy inside and sweet powdered sugar in a tantalizing mix of flavor and textures.

After finishing her funnel cake, Starlight looked over at Sunburst and giggled, for a light dusting of powdered sugar covered his face.

“What’s so funny?” Sunburst asked after he swallowed his last piece.

“You’re a mess. It’s all over your face!”

Sunburst ran his tongue around his lips to remove what powdered sugar he could reach. A small patch remained on his cheek. Starlight brushed it away and licked it off her hoof.

“Sunburst, you’re delicious!”

“Delicious?” Sunburst repeated. He blushed, his eyes locked on Starlight.

“Yeah, that’s what I-”

Starlight stopped in mid sentence, now noticing Sunburst’s gaze. She stared back, lost in the blue of his eyes, barely aware that she was slowly moving her face closer to his, and his to hers.

A sudden explosion rang in her ears, startling her into jarring forward and slamming her skull into Suburst’s.

“Ow!” Starlight pulled back, but the throbbing in her head was still no match for the pounding of her heart. “What in the world?”

Rubbing his forehead, Sunburst glanced skyward, noting showers of crackling sparks and small puffs of smoke above them. “A fireworks show? That doesn’t make any sense. It’s not nighttime yet.”

Unless somepony was trying to accent the moment. And Starlight knew only one pony who could be responsible. She turned in a full circle, eyes scanning the area for the perpetrator. A plume of smoke rising from behind one of the garbage cans all but confirmed her suspicions.

“What is it?” Sunburst asked.

Squinting her eyes in focus, Starlight glanced around a bit longer, just barely noticing a tingle of blue hidden in the leaves of a nearby tree.

“Wait here, Sunburst. I think I smell a rat.”

“A rat?” Sunburst cocked his head in confusion, but Starlight had already walked away.

Starlight circled the tree in question, gazing up into it. “I know you’re up there, Trixie! Get down here, I need to have a little chat with you!”

There was only silence up in the tree, as its resident had opted not to respond.

“Well, be that way, then! I’m not going anywhere, and I can wait here all night if I have to!” Starlight dropped to her haunches, crossing her front legs across her chest to illustrate her point.

“Go away,” Trixie’s voice answered in a thinly disguised warble. “Away, I say! I am the spirit which haunts this tree, and I command you to leave!”

“Nice try, Trixie,” Starlight answered, lowering her voice to a dangerous tone.

The crack of splintering wood sounded from above, then a shriek of terror. Before she hit the ground, however, Trixie’s cloak snagged itself on a low branch, stopping her descent and leaving her dangling upside down, face-to-face with Starlight. Trixie’s hat succumbed to the pull of gravity and fluttered to the ground, joining the broken branch she’d perched on moments earlier.

“Trixie!” Starlight snapped.

Trixie sheepishly shrugged, then offered Starlight a wave. “Oh, hi, Starlight. Fancy meeting you here, huh?”

If looks could injure, the glare Starlight gave Trixie would have her crying for mercy. “Do you want to tell me what exactly you think you’re doing?”

Trixie glanced up at her tangled cloak, assessing her current situation. “Oh, just hanging around.”

“That’s not funny,” Starlight answered flatly.

Trixie groaned with some effort as she lurched upward, swatting for her caught cloak without success. She then kicked her legs, trying to swing herself enough to get loose, but only got her cape more tangled in the process. She let out a defeated sigh and turned her attention back to Starlight. “Hey, can I get some help here?”

“You can just keep hanging around until you tell me what it is you’re up to.”

Trixie scrunched her nose in irritation. “Ugh, fine. You two are such sticks in the mud that Trixie thought you could use a little push.”

Rolling her eyes, Starlight used her magic to untangle Trixie’s cloak from the branch, allowing Trixie to hit the ground back-first.

“Did she find out?” came a dull voice from a slate gray earth pony who sauntered up to Trixie’s side.

“Maud?!” Starlight glared at the earth pony in disbelief while Trixie picked herself up and dusted herself off. “You were in on it, too?”

Maud pulled Boulder out of her pocket and pointed her free hoof at Trixie. “It was their idea. I was out-voted.”

“Wait a second.” Starlight rubbed her chin as her mind started putting the pieces together. “That was no coincidence our noodles got tangled up back at Dim Sum’s. The way I zoned out, and Sunburst staring at me, that was you, wasn’t it, Trixie?”

Trixie put a hoof to her chest, eyes shut in pride. “Well you did teach me those spells.”

“And the flier for the kite store, it couldn’t have been funny luck that it just happened to land on our table.”

“I found the flier,” Maud admitted.

“And I used my magic to make it look like it landed on the table from a breeze,” Trixie added.

“And the brochure for Madam Mystic’s?” Starlight asked.

“That was us, too,” Maud said.

“You’ve been following us around since lunch!” Starlight facehoofed at this realization, wrestling to keep hold of her anger. “Why? Just… why?”

“Why,” Trixie answered, putting emphasis on the word, “don’t you just tell him?”

“Tell him what?” Starlight asked. She felt a uneasy fluttering in the pit of her stomach at where this conversation was heading.

“Deny it all you want, but you can’t fool me.” Trixie shot Starlight a knowing smirk.

“W-what are you talking about?”

“Somepony’s got a cru-ush!” Mockingly batting her eyelashes, Trixie made the word “crush” come out gooey and sickeningly sweet.

“What?!” Starlight spat. She averted her eyes, face flaring as she wound her hoof in her mane. “That-that’s crazy! I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“Oh, come on! It's so obvious. You don’t have to be great and powerful to see that.”

Starlight held up a hoof in a gesture of surrender. “Okay, okay. I do have feelings for Sunburst.” She glanced over her shoulder to be sure he hadn’t joined them, but Sunburst remained at the food court where Starlight told him to wait. “But for now just keep quiet about it. I'm not sure what it means, what he'll think, how he'll react, how I'll react to his reacting, or if I feel I can trust him.”

Trixie trotted closer to put a friendly foreleg around Starlight’s neck. “Trust Trixie; she can see it in his eyes, too. You go together like…” she paused, her eyes searching for a suitable analogy. Trixie smiled as she spotted her hat on the ground and her cloak still stuck on the tree branch. She grabbed them with her magic and put them back on. “Like a cape and a pointy hat! You two were made for each other! You have this wonderful thing that I've never even come close to, and it's right within your grasp. This is a chance of a lifetime, are you just going to let it blow away?”

Starlight’s thoughts flashed back to her dark past, and what had caused it. “Trixie, do I need to remind you what happened between us in the past, the chain of events it sparked? I can't let that happen again.”

“Just tell him how you feel.”

“Drop it, Trixie.”

“Tell him!” Trixie repeated, a bit more forcefully.

“Alright, I'll think about it. Let's see how the evening goes. And I don’t want to see you again tonight.”

Shutting her eyes, Trixie turned up her nose in indignation. “Hmph. Some way to talk to your best friend.”

Starlight’s ears drooped. Trixie really did know how to throw on the guilt. “Sorry, but I need some more time alone with him if I'm going to make any kind of decision. And I haven't forgotten you're my best friend.” Starlight stepped closer and hugged Trixie.

“I'm doing this because you're my best friend and I want to see you happy in the best way possible.”

“I know,” Starlight answered. She let go of Trixie and regarded both her and Maud. “But what are you two even doing here in Las Pegasus anyway?”

“Like you need to ask,” Trixie said. “You know that I’m on tour. I have a show here tomorrow night.”

“I was here for a rocktoral convention,” Maud added. “But Boulder wanted to go to Corrals of Fun before we went back to the hotel.”

“Right,” Starlight said, biting back a sarcastic remark. She’d come to know Maud a bit better, but still wasn’t completely sure about her habit of talking to rocks. “Well, if you two don’t mind, I’d like to spend some time with Sunburst. Alone.”

“Say no more.” Trixie held her head high and started off. Starlight couldn’t tell if Trixie was genuinely hurt or if she was merely hamming it up. “Maud, it looks like our services are no longer needed. Want to help me get set up for tomorrow night’s show?”

“Sure,” Maud answered, and followed after Trixie. “Boulder loves magic shows. He’d kill to get a behind the scenes look.”

Starlight watched the two walk off, making sure they actually left. Once they’d vanished, she returned to Sunburst at the food court.

“Was that Trixie and Maud?” Sunburst asked, his voice a tone of disbelief.

“Yup.”

“Wow. What are the odds both of them came to Las Pegasus the same day as us?”

Starlight giggled despite herself and drew closer to Sunburst. “Forget about them. This day is about us.”

“You’re right, Starlight. I still feel bad about before. You know, that time when I got so focused on them that-”

“Forget about it,” Starlight interrupted him. “I have.”

“Oh. Ok.” Sunburst paused to adjust his glasses. “So what do you want to do next?”

With that question, Starlight’s thoughts returned to the Lazy River ride...

Comments

[TasermonsPartner]

Ah, and the truth is revealed! To be honest, I almost thought that they'd stay hidden until the climax, but there was some good dialogue here, and the visual of an upside-down Trixie hanging from a tree was pretty cute.

[ElAfrakao]

Woah, I'm addicted to this fic, keep it up! Its so good

[The Lord Thunder]

8984606
Glad you're enjoying it

[The Lord Thunder]

8984138
Aren't they?

[RoyalBardofCanterlot]

That head bonking scene shouldn't have made me giggle, but it did.

[Yoshifan30]

Squinting her eyes in focus, Starlight glanced around a bit longer, just barely noticing a tingle of blue hidden in the leaves of a nearby tree.

Oops busted 😥

[Yoshifan30]

Well then by the way to ruin a special moments between those two and it looks like Trixie and Maud got caught and starlight was not too happy about their spying on them but Trixie told her that she has a crush on sunburst and starlight wants to deny it but she kind of does but right now she just told then to back off and let them have their fun together so now it's just Sunburst and starlight so it looks like they're going for the lazy river that sounds fun