• Published 12th Jul 2022
  • 422 Views, 21 Comments

The Shattered Rollercoaster Of Friendship - FourShadow



Summertime is here, and it's time to kick things off at the newly arrived Equestria Land!

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Chapter 5: Funtime's Over

Pulling into the parking lot of Equestria Land was Amethyst Star, slowly parking the station wagon into a spot that gave them plenty of room. No trouble would be had to get back in the car, that's for sure. At least, she hoped for now.

Both doors opened and the girls stepped out of the car, with the additions of wearing aviator shades.

"Thanks for the sunglasses, Amethyst," the princess smiled.

"No problem, Princess," Amethyst replied. "I figured you could use some if you're going to walk out here, you're going to need to be able to see, and I don't think you'll need a hat. Besides, that hair's too fluffy, I wouldn't hide it from anyone."

The princess blushed. "Well it's not like I'm going to be meeting anyone here. But I still need to ask, what if people just think I'm Trixie? I mean, I am Trixie, but... you know what I mean."

"Well, why do you think I've been calling you Princess for most of the time?"

"Um..."

Amethyst chuckled. "Trixie, look. I know you prefer me to just call you by that, but I just think it would save everyone the trouble if we just nicknamed you Princess while you're here. That way, if we do run into your human counterpart at somepoint, and should someone put two and two together, we can explain and pass you off as someone else. Fair enough?"

The princess thought for a moment, but came to an agreeing nod.

"Okay, great! Now come on, let's get inside, Princess," she winked.

Reaching in the back seat of the car, the keytar player strapped a small backpack onto her back, with a small speaker playing some tunes in one of the pockets.

"A little bit of music never hurt," Amethyst grinned. "Come on."

With an open hand, she and the princess interlocked arms together to walk side by side, still happy as ever.

Now whip it! Into shape!
Shape it up! Get straight!
Go forward! Move ahead!
Try to detect it
It's not too late
To whip it
Whip it good

Pulling out the brochure, Amethyst looked at the park map, trying to see where to start. Her eyes sparkled when she saw a particular location, and so, she led the princess down a section of the park, showing her around. On their left and right were several small buildings and stalls; mostly for food, drinks, whatever. Plenty of places to stop at if you just needed a quick snack; and plenty of picnic tables with umbrellas to protect skin against the hot sun. And just up ahead, they could see a few people playing some mini games you would see at carnivals.

"This right here, Princess, is a great representation for fun in America. Fat foods, wild people having fun, rigged games…"

"Huh," the princess said, looking around. But then, the food stands caught her eye. "Oooh."

Amethyst giggled. "You want me to get you some food?"

The Princess stopped for a moment, hearing her stomach growl. "I-uh, heh, I could use a snack, yes please."

"No problem. What do you want?"

"Hmm… do they have salted peanuts?"

"They do. Coming right up." Amethyst walked up to one of the food stalls; the princess right behind her. "Excuse me, miss?"

She got the server's attention, and to her surprise, it was Vinyl Scratch! Hair was still fluffy and full of life like always, but was dressed in a short sleeved shirt with an apron.

"Amethyst, hey! It's so good to see you!"

"Great to see you too! And hey, you got the job, that's amazing! Congrats."

"Both of us did, mate," Octavia smiled, peaking over Vinyl's shoulder.

"Hey, great job Octy! Seriously, that's awesome you two."

"I know," Vinyl squeaked. "Seriously, this job is definitely going to help me."

"Hi girls!" The princess waved.

"Oooh, Trixie, you spicing up your look? I like it!"

Amethyst tittered, "Vinyl, that's not Trixie."

"Yes it is, she's right here!"

"Vinyl. Remember that other Trixie that came through the portal the night Sunset was arrested?"

Vinyl stopped for a moment, trying to refresh her memory back on that night. So many things had happened on that night, they all kind of blurred. But then her mind came back to the last surprise of that evening; when a familiar girl came through the portal and got her crown back...

"Ohhhh! Princess, hey! Welcome back to Earth," Vinyl greeted.

The ambassador giggled. "Thank you, Vinyl."

"So wait, does our Trixie know...?"

"No, no, at least, I don't think so. Boy is she going to surprised," Amethyst snickered.

"I'll say. So, Princess, what can we get you?"

"Do you guys have salted peanuts?"

"You bet we do, coming right up. Oh, you want anything to drink?"

"Well... what do you got?"

"Milk, soda, OJ, purple stuff..."

"Um... I guess milk is fine."

"You want anything Amy?"

"I'll take some popcorn, and make mine a chocolate milk please."

Octavia and Vinyl nodded and got to work on their orders. Luckily it wasn't too long of a line behind them, so no angry or impatient people eager to get their order. And it didn't take too long to get their food/drinks prepped. And soon enough the window was opened some more to pass them their snacks.

"On the house, for the princess."

"Really, it's no trouble, I think I could--"

"Princess," Vinyl stopped. "It's on the house."

"Well, thank you," she said, smiling.

Amethyst grabbed their food, and luckily, the princess grasped the idea of fingers quick enough that she could grab the drink and bag of peanuts with no issue.

"So, okay, I know we're both having snacks, so we should probably wait before trying the heavy amusement park rides," Amethyst said, nibbling on some popcorn. "So as long as we're here, you want to hit the arcade?"

"They have an arcade?"

"They do. You play any games in Equestria?"

"I have. My friend Amethyst, your counterpart, introduced me to a lot of cool games in Equestria."

Amethyst's jaw dropped. "They have arcade machines in Equestria?"

"Mmmhmm!"

"... I need to pay a visit to Equestria, just how technologically advanced is your world? I thought everything relied on magic."

"It does. Well, most, um... I'll explain later. Is this the arcade?"

Amethyst nodded. "Come on, let's play some games!"

Yanking her hand, the two of them vanished in a cloud of smoke right to the arcade. Inside, they could see people trying out many of the arcade machines and other side-games. Some skeeball, spinning wheels, every ticket earning arcade game was here. The two of them looked around, so many choices, so many options. But what to start with?

"So what do you want to start with?"

"I don't know. Any suggestions?"

Amethyst's eyes sparkled, looking at a machine in the corner. "I think I know. Come on, follow me!"

The princess followed Amethyst, walking past a few other people playing some games. And getting really into it, judging by the screaming and cheering. And off near one of the arcade machines was Aria Blaze, Flash Sentry, and little sister Starry.

"Oh boy, I'm in uncharted territory here," Aria admitted.

"Babe, you got this, just remember. You've still got 2 lives left," Flash said.

"You can do this!"

Aria couldn't help but smile at Starry's cute little voice. "Thanks kiddo--and holy, okay, we're getting right into it, no preparation, that's nice!"

Aria's fingers slammed against the console, with Starry and Flash's voices overlapping, trying to direct her and give encouragement. But Aria couldn't hear them, her ears and eyes were focused on the screen. She tried to press the buttons in time, dodging the rapid onslaught of fire heading her way, trying not to die.

"Come on, come on..."

But it was too late. She pressed the wrong button, and just like that her character died. With over the top pixel animation of the avatar slowly falling down and collapsing into pieces. And Aria was not happy.

"Stupid, piece of--argh! Overpriced... errrh!!!" Aria grunted, slapping the machine. "Forcing me to hold in my swearing, I hate you!"

Flash patted her shoulder. "It's okay."

"Yeah, I know... but I hate it when a game cheats you over like that, I hate, hate, hate, hate it!"

"Agreed. Exactly how I felt playing Paranormal Hunters," Flash said.

Aria blinked. "Was that the horror game where--"

"Yeah, yeah, that one. I paid 50 dollars... and I beat it in 2 hours," Flash scoffed, folding his arms.

"Sheesh. If that's not a cash-grab, I don't know what is. But come on, let's play another game," Aria said. Looking over, her eyes locked onto a simple arcade game, at least, simple to her. She remembered playing it a little back in her Equestria visit with Amethyst Star. She remembered having some fun with it; maybe Starry would have some fun with this too?"

"Hey Starry. You wanna know how to play this?"

The little girl nodded with excitement, making Aria smile.

"Okay, it's real simple. All you have to do is attack anything that comes your way, using Tirek here," Aria pointed. "Just make it through the level as best as you can until you make it to the final boss without getting hit."

Starry nodded and she inserted a quarter into the machine, ready to give it a shot. Once the game loaded, she got straight into it. Her eyes focused on the screen, and she moved her avatar with the joystick. A few enemies tried to attack; and instinct kicked in to dodge/attack their moves. She made it past the first few rooms in the game without a single dent of damage.

"Hey, hey, hey, not bad! You got a knack for this. Have you played this game before?"

"Not really. Though I did play a few games at some Salty's Sea Palace at my friend's birthday party," Starry said.

Aria thankfully restrained herself from gagging or groaning out loud just thinking about that place. She hated that place, but she wasn't about to upset her boyfriend's little sister.

For a little bit more, the two stood by and watched, honestly amazed to see how good Starry was at this game. Was there something she knew before hand and just didn't say, or was this just a natural thing with her? Either way, this kid was doing great! And very soon, she was coming straight to the final boss.

"Here we go, the big boy. You can do this Starry, you got this," Aria encouraged.

The battle was on. Starry mashed the buttons, making her attacks on the final boss. The final boss thrashed and attacked with everything he got, but Starry still fought him off. She didn't hesitate or back down from the battle. She could see he was losing the strength from the indicated health bar above. Just needed a few more hits... a few more hits aaaaannndd

Victory!

"Hey, hey, hey, you did it! Nice job kid," Aria smiled.

Starry squeaked, happily. "I did it! Whoo-hoo!"

Flash couldn't help but smile too. To see his little sister openly happy instead of being shy and closed off was a nice change.


Sometime later, the princess and Amethyst came out

"Okay, so what do you want to do now?" the princess asked.

"I had a fun idea for a place we can go to. Let's try out the log flume, that I think can be fun. But before we go, can you stay here for a minute? I'm just going to run to the restroom real quick."

"Of course!"

"... You're not going to go anywhere?" Amethyst asked like a concerned parent.

"I promise, I won't go anywhere."

"Good. Now just... just wait, I'll be out in a few," Amethyst nodded before running off to the bathrooms.

And so the princess just stood idly, humming quietly as she looked at her surroundings, enjoying the sights of all the colorful attractions the park had to offer, and the sight of happy people from all around.

But down the alleyway behind her...

"Alright, so I can apparently make things disappear and make holograms take their place? Well let's see how far we can push the limit," Click mused.

She had several random objects set up, ready to be used for test subjects. To start off, she set a random bowl filled with popcorn on the ground. Walking backwards, she set up her camera, ready to snap. With one press on her screen, the phone flashed a bright light at the bowl, zapping the food away from sight. Putting her camera down, she smirked, seeing the bowl was now gone. What else could she zap?

A few more random items came into the photography session; a random candy bar, a trashcan lid, a garbage bag, a mannequin, a random toolbox, a stool, a whole bunch of random junk. And with every picture she took, it only showed more and more! Unbeknownst to her, someone had spotted her. Seeing the flashes of light, the princess curiously wandered to it. Until she saw the woman in the alleyway, taking random pictures. Now it didn't seem that weird... until she noticed the pictures she was taking was making the objects in front of her completely vanish from reality.

The princess gulped and stepped back, unintentionally bumping into the trashcan. The sound caused some noise, which made Click jolt and turn around, hoping no one had caught her. Unfortunately, someone did. But she didn't freak out in fear. Recognizing who it was, she slowly smirked and composed herself.

"Well, well, well. If it isn't Trixie, the loser of girlfriends," Click snapped.

The princess was still speechless. For one, not only seeing what this girl had in her possession, but also she knew her? How? She had zero interactions with this woman!

"You know, I have to admit. Out of all the people coming to this park, I didn't expect you to come. But I suppose everyone has their little secrets... and you probably already know Adagio's by now. So tell me..." She said, leaning against a wall with a smirk. "Why stay with her?"

The princess couldn't come up with an answer. Nor did she know how to respond, frankly she wanted to run away, like now. Something was wrong, and she had no chance of fighting against it.

"What's wrong? Can't speak, or do you refuse? Though I must admit, I am digging your new look. Such a shame though..." She dug into her purse, and pulled out her phone. "I was hoping I wouldn't have to come to this, but you've left me no choice, Trixie. I am done with you and your friends. I've held enough restraint. And besides... Vignette has no real friends, but me. And after all... you punch me, and I punch back. Goodbye, Trixie," she said. She pressed the button to snap a picture, and a bright flash of light hit the princess. Her entire body flashed like a hologram, and she vanished right into Click's phone.

"Sorry Adagio. Your girlfriend may have a nice new look, but I don't think she'll be in a relationship with a beast any longer..."

***

Princess Trixie's eyes opened up to find herself trapped in a white void. No one else was inside but her, and she couldn't hear anything or anyone, outside of her own movements. And she was all alone. No one knew she was gone. "Um... hello? Anyone here?" Princess Trixie called out, her voice echoing in the void. "Hello? Anyone?" Her hands gripped her own arms, shaking in fear. "Oh, I hope Amethyst gets some help..."

***

And no one even saw Click zap the princess away. Walking out of the corridor, she just casually walked by security and other passersby completely unaware of what she had done. And a slow but soft, evil smile grew on her lips. No one had seen her; and now she had finally gotten the punch on Adagio's girlfriend.

But there was much work to do. Vignette had bugged her long enough with her rules, her bossiness, her talk of 'perfection' and 'playing nice', she was done with it. She had a phone, she had a new weapon. And if anyone was going to cross her... well she knew how to resolve that. And right now, she had some scores to settle with a few individuals who were getting on her nerves...