Equestrianage

"Two tickets, please?" asked a brown zebra, holding up the bits for the purchase.

The sea green Equine pony working the ticket booth looked up from her phone with a start. She quickly regained her composure.

"Uh. Oh, sure," the mare in the booth took the bits from the zebra and handed over the two tickets. "Enjoy the ride, you two."

"Thanks," replied the zebra.

"Will do," promised the light brown Saddle Arabian unicorn standing to his left. She was a young mare, clearly younger than her company, and wore her black mane short and neat. Her magic horn protruded from her forehead.

The two of them got in line for the line to the ride they had had just purchased access to. The Grand Aslam Ferris Wheel was enormous, standing over two hundred feet in the air. It held the world record for ten years, until a bigger one was constructed at the 'Boucler la Boucle' in Prance three years ago. Regardless, the ride was decorated with lights of several colored lights and was visible from miles off.

The two would've looked out of place, as all the other ponies else waiting for the ride were young fillies and foals along side their parents. But, no one seemed to notice. Or care.

The unicorn evaded the gaze of her company, as the wheel slowly moved ascended upwards. The zebra didn't seem to mind.

In no time, the zebra and unicorn were looking out upon the entire Aslam Amusement Park and all of it's glory. The unicorn instantly recognized everything. The Twirling Teacup Tower. The hot dog stand. The Vomi-Tron. The parking lot with carriages picking up and dropping off visitors. Everything was so familiar to her. But. Uncannily, different.

"We always used to do this," the unicorn finally broke the silence. She still avoided the brown zebra's eyes. "We'd visit this amusement park every-"

"Second Saturday of the month," the zebra finished for her.

Still avoiding his eyes, the mare nodded.

"We'd always count how many ponies we spotted going up the wheel."

The park was surprisingly empty at the time. Normally, Haziir Park was choked up with tourists and visitors from far and wide. Now, only a few ponies were dotted on the walk ways.

"Four years after-"

The unicorn trailed off.

"-Mom somehow convinced me to do this with Tread Slow," she giggled. "The entire outing, there and back, was just silent. It was super awkward. I almost felt bad for the guy."

It was so easy to talk to the zebra. She hadn't talked to him in six years, but it still seemed as if nothing had changed.

The two of them were nearing the top. From here, they could make out the cobblestone clock tower all the way in town.

Finally, the unicorn turned to the zebra, meeting his emerald green eyes with her sky blue ones.

"Years ago, Mom kept trying to tell me that sometimes, ponies need to move on. Put things behind them. Let change happen." Her eyes turned watery. She wouldn't cry. She'd done that enough years ago. She refused to do it as an adult.

The wheel had strangely come to a complete stop with the two perfectly on top. So did everything else. An Arabian filly in the lower couch was frozen in place peering over the side of the couch. Pegasi park employees were suspended in mid air, in the middle of a flap. The only moving creatures in the entire park were the zebra and the unicorn.

"I can't think of a day I don't wake up with you on my mind. I miss you so much. How am I supposed to just move on? You know what I've done because this? Do you know what I've almost done?"

The tears flew freely, streaming down her cheeks. The drops froze in the air, as all the other ponies did below them.

"Sweetie," the zebra seemed to look past the mare, lost in thought. "I - I didn't..."

The zebra paused for a moment. A moment that felt like an hour.

"What exactly is the almost part?" the zebra asked, his eyes fixed on the mare in front of her.

Another silence hung over the two. There was no other motion, no other sounds, to distract the two from each other.

After another eternity, the unicorn responded with a question, one seeming completely unrelated.

"What's the name of the current Prime Minister's kid?"

The zebra gave the mare a look of pure confusion.

"Uh, Numb White? Wh-Why'd you ask that?"

"Huh," the unicorn slouched back in her seat, ignoring her company's question. "That's strange."

"Why?" asked the zebra.

"He was born three years ago. You died four years ago."

The zebra's eyes dropped down, looking at the floor.

"So what, or more specifically, who killed you, exactly?" interrogated the unicorn.

The zebra sighed, as if he had anticipated her asking that, and prayed that she wouldn't.

"Come on, now. You didn't think I'd grow up never wondering how my own father was killed." The mare cringed for a moment. Thinking about the horrible scene. "It wasn't as bad as you'd probably think, really. I didn't have to see into your face again. Like I do now."

That was lie, but BitterSweet believed it was a well told one.

"Your guess is as good as mine," the zebra replied after a long minute of thinking up a response. "You don't get a kill cam in real life."

"You wouldn't know, since you only seem to know everything I do."

"Sweetie-"

"You're figment of my imagination. And one hay of a good one."

The unicorn chuckled at her own falling towards insanity. She wiped away her tears.

"Well, that explains the floating tears." A smile had spread across her face.

"And the Ferris wheel stopping. And floating pegasi. I've been dreaming this whole time.

Pieces of the sky started to evaporate, leaving behind nothing but black. The ground down below, the clouds, the roller coasters, everything was being sucked into the void of nothingness.

In a matter of minutes, the Ferris wheel couch carrying the father and daughter was floating in total oblivion.

"I'm waking up," the mare said, while staring down into the abyss. "Aren't I?"

The zebra sighed.

"Yes. You are," he admitted.

"Am I lucid dreaming, or something? Or am I legitimately crazy? I'm dreaming, I know, and I'm completely in control of myself," she examined her hoof, then banged it against the carriage. A surge of pain rushed up her foreleg. "And everything seems so real."

"You'll understand, soon enough, dear," assured the zebra.

"And how do you," she paused, making a point of correcting herself. "I, know that?"

The zebra thought for a second. Then he smiled.

"I can't tell you that, right now." Oblivion began to take him, as well. It spread from his legs, to his waist, till he was but a floating neck and head. "Just remember this, you are a very special filly. There is absolutely nothing you can't do."

The floating head of the zebra began to disappear, once more. "You hear me, nothing! Remember that, and there will be absolutely nothing that you can't overcome. Remember. BitterSweet is faltered by no pony. Remember."

With that, the head disappeared, leaving BitterSweet alone in Ferris wheel couch, floating in nothingness. Well, at least for a few more seconds.