A/N: Better late than never, I guess. Told from Flare's POV and later Olivia's, this covers the 1-hour special that aired in the United States and was uploaded to YouTube in 5 parts.

Full character bios are on my profile, but here is a brief summary. Olivia Frost is light grey with shoulder-length brown hair, and she wears a below-the-knee prosthetic right leg (which is normally covered up). Cloudflare, who goes by his nickname, is light orange with short green-blue hair.


We get off of the spinning teacups ride.

"Trixie looks like she had fun," Olivia says.

I look toward the exit. Trixie is skipping through the exit. She immediately gets right back in line with a big grin on her face.

"I guess this is her favorite ride," I say. We walk to the exit.

"Well, it's kinda fun. I remember the Tilt-A-Hurl being way more thrilling."

"Maybe she likes that you can control the spin speed." Or she's not a fan of the 'Hurl' part.

Rarity and Applejack applied for summer jobs at Equestria Land – the new theme park – to work at the caramel apple stand. Rarity ended up getting a job as the lead costume designer for their parade, while AJ didn't get any job. I don't understand how. She probably knows the most about apples out of anybody in town. She quit her old job at the mall's smoothie shop because she was so confident, and they already hired a replacement. I'm gonna guess Bulk Biceps didn't receive any proper training.

On the plus side, Rarity got all of us VIP passes to the park. We can go right to the front of the line for every ride.

As soon as we got in the park, we met the person overseeing everything there: Vignette Valencia, one of SnapGab's most-followed users. Personally, I never understood the appeal in having high follower counts. It's basically a way to tell the world, "Look! I'm popular!" The pics she posts aren't even all that special, for the most part. I guess her "Be yourself, but better" motto is really appealing to some. She liked what she saw about the Rainbooms on SnapGab and offered us the chance to perform during the parade. She also gave a like to everyone in the band, so I guess that'll make them more popular.

As for rides, I was concerned Olivia's condition would limit a lot of what she could ride, but it's not as bad as I feared. With the exception of, like... four rides, I think? ...she can ride any ride in the park. She could probably ride the 400-foot-drop coaster, but she needs documentation from the people who made her prosthesis that it can handle the G-forces and not come loose. She didn't look up what she could and couldn't ride until right before we came here, and that wasn't enough time to acquire the papers, so that's off the table. I don't understand why she waited until literally the last minute. At least she's wearing her contacts for the stuff she can ride.

Speaking of not understanding...


"Okay," AJ says, "somebody tell me why this picture has 20,000 likes!"

On Applejack's phone is a short video. In it, Vignette has a part of her hair covering her left eye, with her other eye half-closed, and she's lying on a bed. "Hashtag..." She brushes that part of her hair with her hand. "...bangs." She puts the tip of her index finger between her teeth.

Uh... "Seriously? You can't see how thousands of people would smash the Like button on this?"

"No, I don't!"

"Can you?" Olivia asks me.

Really? "Are you serious? Do you remember that one selfie you sent me?" I lean toward her ear and whisper, "Lying on the couch, showing your midriff, similar expression as in that video? Minus the finger bite."

"Oh, I remember that. Normally I wouldn't pose like that, but I knew you'd like it, so I –" She stops herself and her eyes go wide. "Ohhh... Now I get it! People are liking more than just her bangs."

"What more is there to like?" AJ asks.

Olivia sighs. "Nothing. Don't worry about it."


I mean, come on! You'd have to be, like, in early middle school to not get that! Or as naïve as Fluttershy.

"So what next?" Olivia asks.

"Hmm..." I get out the park map. There's a rollercoaster much shorter than the big one nearby. "How about this?" I point to it on the map.

She looks at the map. "Sure. It's been 6 years since I've ridden one of those. Hopefully it's as fun as I remember!" she says with a big grin.

We hold hands and set off in the coaster's direction.

"What time did Rarity say we have to be at the stage, again?" Olivia asks.

"I think that was for the others. You're not in the band, and I'm Pinkie's understudy. Unless she devours the cotton candy stand and gets a stomachache, I doubt they'll need me."

"Yeah, but they'd like us to be there to support them."

"We can support them by watching their performance in the parade." And I know I'd just get in the way. Not necessarily of them, but of the staff.

She sighs. "If you insist..."

I mean, I probably would get in the girls' way...


We get into the third car. I take off my geode and put it in my left pocket. I should probably keep it in there for the whole day. In the unlikely event I do need it, I can take it out. I fasten my seatbelt and pull my lap bar down as the pre-recorded safety message is played over the PA system.

"Ready?" I say when it's finished.

"Honestly," Olivia says, "I'm a bit nervous. But also excited."

Two attendants check our lap bars, then move to the next car.

"I can hold your hand if it'll help calm you down."

"Nah, I'm fine. It's just been a while since I've done this."

"All clear?" the PA attendant says. The two who checked our lap bars are giving a thumbs-up. "Dispatch."

The car train leaves the station and begins climbing the first hill. It's been a couple years since I've ridden one of these as well. Until today, there hasn't been an amusement park nearby. The last time I visited one, I was with my mom, aunt, uncle, and cousin on vacation to Las Pegasus for my 15th birthday. I hope I haven't outgrown this, although I don't think you can outgrow something this thrilling. While I'm afraid of heights, park rides aren't all that scary. It's actually a fear of falling, and it'll take more than being dropped out of an airship once to overcome that.

Once it gets over the hill and starts its descent, Olivia and several other riders start screaming. I didn't take her as a screamer. There's nothing too crazy; just some banked corners and moderate-height hills. It's exciting, but Liv's screams are a bit distracting, especially when she doesn't stop!

The ride comes to an end, slowing to a near crawl just before the station. Only now does she calm down. I look at her. Her eyes are squeezed shut. "Liv..." I put my right hand over her left hand. "You can open your eyes now. The ride's over."

She slowly opens her left eye, looks around, then closes it again. "Not until we're in the station!" she says, panicked. That's not excitement. I think she was screaming in terror. But she was so eager to get on. She told me she loved riding these before her accident. Maybe you can outgrow something this thrilling.

The train enters the station. While the post-ride message plays, the lap bars unlock. Olivia shoves hers off, quickly unbuckles her seat belt, leaves the car, and goes right for the exit ramp.

"Liv, wait up!" I get out of the car and follow her.

At the bottom, I see her sitting on a bench to the right. She's resting her forehead on her hands. I walk over and join her.

"Hey, Liv. You okay?" I place my right hand on her left shoulder.

She takes a deep breath. "I have never been terrified of rollercoasters before. But once I got to the top of that hill and saw how high up we were... I was genuinely afraid the lap bar was gonna fail on one of the hills."

"I'm really sorry. If I knew you were scared, I wouldn't have asked you to ride with me."

"No, it wasn't your fault. I didn't even know I was afraid of heights."

"Hey, guys!" Rainbow walks up to us with Fluttershy behind her. She looks at Olivia. "Are, uh... Are you okay?"

"Huh? Wh-who, me?" Olivia stammers. She stands up. "Never better!" she says with what I'm sure is a fake smile.

"Are you sure?" Fluttershy asks. "It looked like you were upset."

"Nah, I'm just a little shaken up. It's, uh... It's been a while since I've ridden a rollercoaster. Not used to the, um... excitement."

"Well... Okay." Rainbow doesn't sound convinced. "Anyway, Fluttershy and I about to ride the big coaster. You guys wanna tag along?"

"No way!" Olivia yells. "I... I mean..."

Rainbow looks surprised and confused by the outburst, and Fluttershy hides behind her.

I stand up. "What she means," I interject, "is she can't ride it. She needs documentation to show her fake leg can stay in place at those speeds and G-forces, but she didn't find this out until a minute before she left her house. Not enough time to get the paperwork." Although with her sudden fear of heights, she wouldn't want to ride it anyway.

"Yeah... What he said," Olivia says, trying to calm down. "Go ahead, Flarey. I'm gonna ride the bumper cars."

"Alright. If we get done first, I'll meet you there." We kiss. She gets out her map and I join Rainbow and Fluttershy. "Let's go." The three of us start walking to the coaster.

"What's the deal with her?" Rainbow asks.

"What do you mean?"

"Olivia didn't sound like she was having fun."

I assume Olivia wants me to keep it between the two of us. "It's nothing."

Rainbow groans. "It's always nothing! Why is she so secretive?! Doesn't she trust us?"

"It's not that she doesn't trust you girls. It's really hard for her to be open with others."

"When did she open up to you?" Fluttershy asks.

"About... a month after we started hanging out."

"So what's wrong with us?" Rainbow asks. "We've been her friends for a few months!"

"Nothing's wrong! After Sunset ruined her school life, she kept to herself. She never told anybody anything because she didn't want to give them more reasons to torment her." I sigh. "I hoped being friends with all of you would get her to open up a little more. I mean, she is a lot happier, but I guess old habits are hard to break."

"It's not a big deal. We like being her friends. It's just she knows almost everything about us, and we'd like to know a little more about her."

"I'll see what I can do."


The train starts being pulled up the first hill. Rainbow and Fluttershy are in the front seat, and I'm in the seat behind them. I don't know how Rainbow convinced Fluttershy to ride this, but whatever she said, it must've worked.

...

...

Okay, this has been going for how long? Like, a minute and a half? The coaster in Las Pegasus goes up 300 feet and the chain pulls the cars faster as they ascend. Only takes about 30 seconds. This one's a hundred feet taller, but the cars are pulled the same slow speed the entire way. I understand building the anticipation, but this is a bit excessive. It's kinda ruining the experience.

Rainbow starts saying something to Fluttershy. I lean forward. "You're facing your fears head-on! Just like.." I kinda figured Fluttershy was afraid of rollercoasters. Rainbow looks off the side of the car. "I mean, look! A 400-foot vertical drop right into these loop-the-loops and a corkscrew?" Again, I'd love to know how she got Fluttershy to agree to this. This is not something a person with coasterphobia or whatever would be caught dead riding, let alone in the front! If Olivia got on this, she'd probably run out of the park screaming afterward. "You're probably thinking, 'Stop the ride! I wanna get off!' That's what you want, right?" I want you to stop freaking her out even more. As the train reaches the top of the hill, I lean back in my seat. "Right now? You're about to yell it? Stop the ride! Please, somebody! Stop the ride! Stop the ride!" Wait, Rainbow is afraid? Oh, this is too good!

After a thrill ride that was almost as long as the initial climb, the train pulls into the station and the lap bars release. I get out, and Fluttershy does the same. Rainbow carefully stands up, and one of the attendants helps her out. She breathes a sigh of relief, and as we head for the exit, I notice she's walking kinda funny.

"That was actually kind of... fun!" Fluttershy says.

Aside from the long climb.

"Tooootally!" Rainbow says with a thumbs-up. "That's why I didn't want to get off. I was just saying what you would've said. That's all." Uh-huh...

Fluttershy puts a hand on her shoulder. "You were very brave."

"Heh... You too, by the way." She starts walking gingerly again, then falls over. I bet Olivia's gonna love to hear this. Maybe she'll feel comfortable opening up to Rainbow.

Fluttershy's phone goes off. She gets it out and looks at it. "Hmm..."

"What is it?" I ask.

"Vignette Valencia wants to talk with me about something."

"Alright, then. Guess I'll meet up with Olivia." I look at Rainbow. "Need a hand?" I hold out my hand. She sits up, looks at me, and grabs it. I pull her to her feet. "You gonna be okay?"

"Yeah... Just fine. Can you... help me to that bench?" She points at a nearby bench.

"Sure." I put her left arm behind my neck for support and we slowly walk over to it.

"Thanks," she says as she sits down. "I just need to rest my legs a minute."

"Are you sure you're alright?"

She takes a couple deep breaths. "I'm... I told you, I'm fine. Go hang out with your girlfriend."

"Okay, then. See you at the show tonight." I assume she wants to keep this between us. Being afraid of coasters after hyping one up doesn't sound very awesome, and she's all about appearing as awesome as possible. I can at least keep it between the two of us and Olivia. Liv probably won't believe me, anyway.

I start walking to the bumper cars. I spot Olivia walking this way when I reach the coaster we rode earlier.

"Hey, Flarey." She runs over to me and hugs me. "How was the ride?"

"The initial climb was a little long, but otherwise a lot of fun. How were the bumper cars?"

"A lot of bumping. A lot of head-on bumping." She closes her eyes and puts a hand on the side of her head.

Ouch. "Sounds like a real headache."

"Tell me about it..."

Why would the park allow head-on collisions? I've been on the receiving end of those, and they are not pleasant.

"So what did Fluttershy think of the mega coaster?" She looks at the coaster we're next to. "If I was freaking out on this, I can only imagine how she reacted."

"Actually, she liked it, too."

With a look of surprise, she says, "Fluttershy liked it? Our Fluttershy?"

"Uh-huh. And Rainbow ended up being the scared one."

She now looks confused. "What? You're pulling my leg."

"Nope. Completely serious."

"Rainbow Dash... The Rainbow Dash? The Rainbow Dash who was so eager to ride one of the tallest rollercoasters in the world?"

That's how I expected her to react. "I mean, you went from loving rollercoasters 6 years ago to being terrified of them today."

She sighs. "I can tell you're not BSing me. It's just... Fluttershy liking it and Rainbow being afraid... I'm having trouble picturing that."

"One of those 'see it to believe it' images."

"Then again, I also had trouble picturing you wanting to date Sunset. Even without magic, this has been one bizarre school year."

Forget dating Sunset. Just becoming her friend was bizarre enough! If I went back in time to November and told myself he'd be Sunset's friend by the end of the school year, he'd think I'm one of the other students playing a sick joke on him.


Olivia and I are in the park's arcade. It was actually her who suggested we come here. Sometimes I feel she knows me better than I know myself. I thought about looking around and seeing what all there is to do here, but when my eyes spotted Rock Hero Arcade, I knew I had to try it out. I'd say I've been rocking out at this machine for the past hour. The lag is a bit annoying, but I got used to it quickly.

"Howdy, you two."

Sounds like Applejack found us. "Hey, AJ," I say without looking away from the screen. "Gimme a few seconds. The song's almost over."

I play the last few measures, then wait for the results screen. 98% notes hit. With the lag, that's not too bad.

I set the controller down, then turn and look at AJ. "Sorry about that. So what's up?"

"How are things going with Rarity?" Olivia asks.

"She's freaking out over the costumes."

"Figures as much."

"Have either of you seen Fluttershy? She went off with Vignette and nobody's seen her since. Her phone goes right to voicemail. I'm worried somethin' mighta happened to her."

Fluttershy's phone is going straight to voicemail? That sounds familiar... Yeah, back with Juniper Montage. Everybody's phones went to voicemail because they were trapped in her mirror. Could there be another magic object somewhere in this park?

Nah, that's absurd. Just because every big event we've gone to this school year has had some magic shenanigans break out doesn't mean this one will be the same. Most likely her phone's battery ran out. I'm just being paranoid.

Paranoia... It wouldn't be the only time this year.

"Flare?"

"Huh?" Applejack snaps me out of my thoughts.

"Everythin' alright? You're spacin' out."

"It's, uh... It's nothing. I rode the mega coaster with Fluttershy and Rainbow earlier. Haven't seen either of them since, not that I've been looking. I'll keep an eye open."

She sighs. "Well, thanks..." She walks away.

"I'm pretty sure she's fine," I yell to her.

"You're worried too, aren't you?" Olivia asks me.

"A little. It's probably just a dead phone battery, though. Nothing to be too concerned about." I reach for the controller.

"Uh, before you start another marathon session," she interrupts, "maybe you'd want to try a different game? I know you like this one, but you have Rock Hero at home. And it doesn't cost $1 per song play."

Well, that's a buzzkill. "Just one more?"

She crosses her arms and glares at me. "Do you want to walk around the park with me or by yourself?"

If she puts it that way, I don't really have a choice.