This was going to be the worst day of her life.
Chrysalis sighed. The Crystal Empire Entertainment Fair felt too much–yelling fillies, loud machines, overpriced and over-fried hay burgers, not to mention the rotting taste of positivity. The teacup she sat in spun round and round.
“Fwifwight is missing uut!” screamed a thrilled, offbeat Starlight Glimmer, leaning onto the former queen.
It didn’t help that her friendship mentor of the day was out of whack, having accidentally mispronounced a spell to teleport a bag of jellybeans. Instead, she was basically drunk–Starlight just had to do it while on the ride and not before they arrived at the fair.
Starlight smiled wide. “Wheeeee!”
Chrysalis did wonder if summoning jellybeans was any worse than the cost of buying them.
“Huzazahahah!” Starlight uttered.
“We’re…” Chrysalis struggled to not hit her own forehead. “Not… moving that fast
Based on her rudimentary knowledge, she figured Starlight’s stasis would last until midnight. This constituted a dilemma. Should she bail out of this every-other-day redemption class? Or should she somehow manage with the tipsy protégé of Princess Twilight Sparkle?
Starlight burped lightly, chuckling erratically. She gazed blankly into space as the teacups whirled slowly.
Something about seeing Starlight’s in a hazed state triggered a warmth in Chrysalis. Did it remind her of… herself? No, that couldn’t be right. She stared at those purple eyes. They sparkled.
.
Another sigh. She had to do this, or else the Princess would surely smite with community service or something equally terrible.
The view allowed her to breathe in the scenery. Not being a statue, an embarrassing presence, surely affected the swarming crowds. She’d destroy them all if they started interfering with the day of mandated fun and trouble she had ahead! Or at least ignore them
The tension of love and excitement in the air half disgusted her. But she’d get used to it. But maybe never. Noticing Starlight’s intense aura of giddy positivity was… interesting, to say the least. Chrysalis grumbled in tune with the ride’s whirring as it came to a stop.
Chrysalis devolved her front hoof into a hook shape and nudged Starlight out of the car. Wrapping it around Starlight’s lower neck proved to be the best solution. Awkward for walking and being looked at. Yet an effective tool to reign in a shorter-than-her-pink-drunken mage apprentice to the highest power in the land.
“Twat… jahs fwun!” Starlight blurted, eyes beaming at Chrysalis.
A flood of positive feelings pulsed through Chrysalis, which felt strange. “Erm, yes, yes, ‘fwun’ as you say!”
Starlight tapped her chin, albeit staggeringly. “Und I’ve smore fwun, non-villin idejas!”
Chrysalis nodded for her to rattle them off as they went to a jellybean booth.
“NOW DIE!” Chrysalis screamed, charging at Starlight with all her might.
Starlight clashed back with all her might. “No, jhu fwurst, Chrysalis!”
The bumper cars slammed into one another before they skidded past on the sides. Chrysalis skewered back with a turn of the wheel. Learning to drive seemed to be a new skill for ponies. Well, new for her. Starlight drove badly due to her state. They each pivoted in opposite corners. Moments later, they were at it once more.
“I will win the point this time!” Chrysalis declared.
“Nwo, I shwill!” Starlight shook a hoof.
Starlight kept close to her side of the wall; Chrysalis bided by hers. Speed built up as they encircled the outer barrier of the crashing arena. Teaching how to cooperate with others counted towards learning friendship. Aggressively ramming into other ponies counted. Besides, she had to let loose a little violence.
Biting her tongue lightly, Chrysalis kept a careful eye on the pink demon across the row. Little bumps and shakes and rattles peppered the otherwise smooth experience. Sweat poured onto the wheel as she delicately preserved speed yet maintained combat initiative. Strategic plans filtered through her scheming mind.
When the right moment presented itself, she revved forth. Instantly, Starlight did the same.
The two opponents slammed dead center in the middle of the ring. The last bout had been a tie because they didn’t hit on the front. This time, their aim was true and center. Each bumper car banged on the other’s nose. Vibrations of force rattled the duo as a result, resulting in giggles of jitters.
“I vwin! I vwin!” Starlight declared.
“That can’t be true!” Chrysalis felt herself flustering. “I hit with more force!”
“Da screhorebooard says odernise!” Starlight wobbly pointed out.
Chrysalis’s ears perked to the side as the red victory flares went off. To her shock, Starlight was right. The counter system showed a score of 9.45 for her glorious, precise driving to… Starlight’s 9.46. The proof was in the fair-fried chocolate pudding. Agony erupted inside of her as she left her bumper car.
“Nooooooooo!” she screamed.
“Tweak dat!” Starlight declared, unable to get her seatbelt off. “Uhh, vi mwean, gud ground.”
Shaking her head, Chrysalis headed over to help Starlight. Time was up. They have to quickly get out or be kicked out. It was more fun to get out of here with Starlight than be stranded with security. Nor could she abandon her. It took a moment to release the unicorn.
“Next time,” Chrysalis jokingly hissed, as Starlight half fell, half stepped out of her bumper, “You WILL die!”
Starlight simply giggled with jubilation. Chrysalis felt a pricking, tingling rush throughout her emotivore nerves. She rolled her eyes as they moved on.
“We-hoooo!” Starlight yelled out, arms splayed against the rotating wall.
“YOU CALL THIS FUN?” the equally rotating Chrysalis yelled.
“VECK ZEHWA!” the pony acknowledged.
The Flim-Fim Gravitron rapidly gyrated in circle after circle. Something, some force, kept them pinned to the wall. Starlight reassured the basic physics kept them pinned to the wall without restraints. Chrysalis trusted her. She just didn’t trust the machine. Nor those off-feeling brothers. As a formerly monologuing queen, she knew evil at sight.
“WE’RE GONNA PERISHHHH!” Chrysalis screamed as she swirled.
The blinding, flashing rainbow lights inside the contraption didn’t help either. Nor did the screaming delight and or terror of the other occupants ease her fear. In fact, it only increased her doubt about Starlight and her safety. Equal amounts of happiness and terror filled the air, the latter mostly being her.
“GAR YOU FREDDY TAH DIE THWEN?” Starlight’s gaze peppered with positivity, though her head was cocked.
Much as this sparked a strange warmth in Chrysalis's emotivore senses once more, it did not overcome her innate instincts of helping others followed by self-preservation. She attempted to lift her noodly limbs to no avail. They were trapped until the ride granted them mercy,
“DO YOU SEE THE HOLE RIGHT BELOW US?” Chrysalis screamed above the clacking parts.
Chrysalis motioned her ears to the fact they could see the grassy ground of the fairgrounds below the ever-rotating walls. Dry air swept in. It felt so close. Too close for comfort. At least Starlight was nearby.
“PFTTTT! JAT’S JUST FART OV DA FWUN!” Starlight tried to lift her arms too, but they were kept against the wall.
“Doesn’t make me feel any better!” Chrysalis made her voice quieter, feeling thirsty and hoarse.
“ADJMIJT JIT BE FWUN!” Starlight teased with a yell, sticking her lopsided tongue out as the machine twirled around and around.
Chrysalis felt her jaw fumble a moment before she could answer. “Of-of course it's fun! How could I, a former Queen, deny the pleasures of what I demanded?”
Starlight, still in a constant stupor state, just laughed.
Chrysalis felt her black cheeks gush with a bit of green. Why was she changing color? What was happening to her today that was different from any other day? It had to be this infernal contraption.
The Gravitron came to a halt after a few more minutes of back-and-forth wailing and fun. To Chrysalis’s expectations, the floors flipped back into place beforehand. She had to make sure Starlight didn’t fall flat on her face at that moment. Deftly, she hooked Starlight, who was only a foot from her. Next, she gently guided her down. Finally, they exited the ride.
Starlight swayed side to side as he walked. Chrysalis breathed. They were still alive. Onward, they must go.
The click-clacking of the roller coaster pinched Chrysalis’s mind as they slowly trekked. Slowly. Slowly. Slowly. To the pinnacle of the metal hill’s height. Chrysalis felt her blood rushing, her head pounding, her heart racing. The view startled every sense. Too bad they were at the front of the ride.
“Is this even safe?” Chrysalis asked the hazed Starlight.
Starlight propped her head up with a glow of her horn. “Jhi dunto.”
Chrysalis panicked. “What do you mean you don’t know?!”
The car creaked closer and closer. Chrysalis freaked more and more.
“You said this was the safest ride! More than that barbarian carouse!”
Starlight rubbed her neck. “Vhi said funjest, nwot sagefest.”
“That doesn’t give any reassurance at all!”
Starlight shrugged, drooling at the downhill slope awaiting them. Chrysalis dared to look down. Fear shot through her heart all over again. Anticipation of this ending in a flaming disaster filled her mind. Months worth of redemption lessons with this pink pony, and Celestia’s tiny mercies, would amount to nothing. Starlight being safe was all that mattered if anything actually did happen. She-
Wait, why was she concerned for Starlight now?
The coaster jerked forward, wiping Chrysalis’s train of thought. It raced down, straight to the ground. Chrysalis held on for dear life. Contrarily, Starlight held her hooves high. As did everyone else with them. They raced down, down. Plummeting to certain doom. The shaking of the coaster synced with Chrysalis’s chattering.
They reached the bottom of the track.
Chrysalis screamed bloody murder.
Starlight glanced with foggy eyes.
They swooped back onto the next hill, avoiding disaster.
Chrysalis felt herself inhaling and exhaling rapidly as the coaster inched upward.
“Tuuld jha sooooo!” The unicorn poked her shoulder, leaning towards her.
Chrysalis grunted. “Fineeeee, that was fun!”
“Vhand?” Starlight pushed, being a mentor, even if spell-drunk.
“And we didn’t die.” Chrysalis relented.
“Annddddddddd?” Starlight pressed with a lopsided, smug grin.
“Trust your friends, blah blah,” the changeling grunted.
“Ghoodd!” Starlight shouted.
“Phew.”
“Nvow shrepare dor a bwigger hill!”
Chrysalis felt her lungs rupture at that information.
Evening light descended underneath the horizon as she led Starlight away from the tiringly long mirror maze. Compared to grumblyish mood, Starlight bubbled frothingly. Chrysalis couldn’t help but a smile a little bit at that. Companionship really was better than isolating the queenship of a hive.
Starlight’s stomach as she stumbled within the hook that held her. “Hmm… jwe leed fwooodd!”
“Can’t we just steal someone’s leftovers?” Chrysalis contemplated.
Starlight immediately jabbed the changeling's shoulder. ”Thevvft uz evail, and jhu… uh…. know fhrat.”
“Ughhh, I know, I know.” She really was messing around–mostly. “Any ideas, pink one-”
“Plink! Cujjon kandy!”
At that thought, Starlight instantly slipped out of the hook and ran into the dense, milling groups of ponies. The unicorn popped with such gusto for a sugary snack that she was a good distance away by the time her holder reacted. Chrysalis deformed her hoof and shot after. She did not need ‘losing your mentor’ added to her record.
“Starlight!” she called out as she gave chase.
Most of everyone around her moved out of the way, thankfully, some just in time due to the sheer surprise. Though Chrysalis still had to shove through a few groups. Despite tossing apologies, it still felt bad. Over a table, under a fence, around a prize booth. Huffing and huffing, her target barely in sight.
“You cannot be on your own!” Chrysalis advised between wheezes.
She was not good at long-distance running. However, between the panic and concern, it eerily resembled a fair ride on its own. The thrill of the chase–now that she hadn’t felt for a while now. And Starlight needed her, to keep her safe, much as Chrysalis needed her for this day of friendship lessons.
Reinvigorated, Chrysalis ushered more power into her steps. An idea of what formulated itself in her mind.
Sniffing the air located a source of cotton candy. Coincidentally, Starlight veered vaguely near the estimated location at that moment. Rolling her eyes, Chrysalis slowed down some, realizing Starlight knew where she had been going. Now it felt a bit silly for panic. Even so, she too knew food was needed before the next ride.
Soon enough, she trotted to the booth, where Starlight stood haggardly. Chuckling a tad bit, Chrysalis rolled into town to help.
“Starlight,” she announced with exasperation.
“Fru wauight tup, good.” Starlight beamed.
“Well, you–never mind.” There was no point in explaining her illogical thinking to her. “So uh-
“Junjry, yes bi jam…” Starlight read her words.
Nodding, Chrysalis walked over to the confused but unfazed booth owner. Five bits shelled out from her internal coin pouch. Slapping some goo off, she handed them over. A minute later, the pegasus handed over two green swathes of cotton candy. The delicious smell annexed Chrysalis’s nostrils.
There was no wait before Starlight gnawed upon her share of the harvest. Chrysalis guided her to the closest bench. It was a welcome rest to the aching moment of all day. The sunlight escaped further into the night as Chrysalis nibbled away. That chase excited and enticed her more than any other ride.
It was a shame the fair would end soon. Chrysalis wondered which ride should come next.
The moonlight shadow fell over the quiet fairground. Everything remained lit at eleven fifty-seven before the next day by technicality. Whispering noises and dim disturbances filled the atmosphere. The slowing churning Ferris Wheel creaked up into the sky with a great big sigh. Exhausted from the day of whimsical amusement at the fair, Chrysalis sighed. In a few minutes, it’d all be over.
In a few minutes, it’d all be over.
For some reason, Chrysalis felt a little sad at that fact. She took a glance at the near-undrunk Starlight leaning against her side. The pony’s squishy face rested on her shoulder with a blank stare into the twinkling void above. Chrysalis followed her eyes to the constellation of Cadance, dedicated to the princess herself. That felt poetic of today.
In a few minutes, it’d all be over.
The fun she’d had with a drunken Starlight Glimmer felt like more fun than she’d ever had before. Why was that? Her tired eyelids fluttered.
Chrysalis acknowledged, her black cheeks blasting green again.
Maybe… maybe that was an answer. She stared at the constellation further.
The rides, the games, the fun. A spark of realization dawned on her with a silent gasp.
She’d done it of her own initiative all along, she saw that only now. Sure, she’d dragged Starlight along for her own amusement. But she didn’t have to do that. The Ferris wheel stopped with a small jerk. Though, Chrysalis ignored it, deep in sudden self-reflection.
The castle clock tower, however, chimed next. Its bonging echoed across the night sky. Chrysalis wistfully took a breath of summer night. Goodbye to a day of fun. By the chimes, it was midnight. That meant the spell should have broken-
An unexpected contact of warm lips pecked her cheek.
Chrysalis tilted her gaze to meet an embarrassed, awkward, but very much normal Starlight Glimmer shuffling her hooves. She proceeded to lightly kick a black hoof with her pink hoof. Chrysalis let her hook hoof go. A few moments of silence passed between them.
“I… remember.”
Her mind went into shock as she processed the interaction.
“Ermmm… everything?” Chrysalis cocked her head.
Starlight simply nodded.
Chrysalis felt herself flushed.
A positive thump beat in her chest as the culmination of what she'd done that day snapped into view. It felt a mystery that she deserved any of this for one fast-paced, off the walls day of fun and food. Yet she must have been doing something right to be deserving of a crush out of the blue.
Starlight scooted closer as the Ferris Wheel began moving again. Chrysalis felt Starlight’s hoof reach around her back. Chrysalis returned the favor. With a mutual glance, they simply looked at the stars. Though it felt a bit sudden, she wasn’t going to throw away a genuine change.
Perhaps the fun wasn’t over.
This was the best day of her life.
