A/N – Part 4! This one's a little longer, but once I put Ferb and Vanessa on the Airplane Ride, the whole scene just took off (pun intended). I hope all the staging is clear and plays as I envisioned it.

I hope the Phinabella stuff plays satisfactorily – they are the "B" plot, and I'm not doing any big life-changing revelations with them, just having some fun with their relationship in keeping with the series.

And yes, that was a little dash of Gretchen/Django, and it's there for a reason. I respect the right of other authors to write whatever pairings they like, but in my take on the P&F-verse, there is no such thing as Ferb/Gretchen, either mutual or one-sided in either direction. I like Gretchen, though, and frankly, I find the concept of "Brainy Girl/Artsy Guy" appealing.

I can now say with confidence that this will end up being 7 Chapters.

Now, back to our story!

Ferb and Vanessa were standing in line for the Airplanes, as he explained to her how they worked. "The foot pedal controls your altitude. Press down to lift the plane, let up to descend. The joystick controls your pitch and direction. Use the air gun to shoot at the targets. The reels in the cockpit show your score."

"How did you come up with this?" she marveled, watching the current flight of planes as they circled the tower in a counter-clockwise rotation.

"Well, the Airplane Ride was mostly Phineas's doing. He came up with the target-shooting idea, and the controls."

"No," she clarified, "I meant – what made you think of building all of this?" Her gesture encompassed the entire park.

"It was inspired by the Sniffleton Pleasure Gardens, in England. My grandparents used to go there as teenagers."

"Pleasure Gardens," Vanessa repeated the unfamiliar phrase, and nodded as she looked around. "I like that."

Ferb liked hearing her say it. Perhaps a little too much.

The squadron came in to land, as the pilots variously remarked, "Aw, man…" or "Woo-hoo!" or "Take that, Loser!" depending on their scores, and climbed out of their cockpits to make way for the new crew. Ferb stepped aside to allow Vanessa to board first, and followed her as she claimed the green plane. He took the yellow plane behind her, and off they went. Vanessa must have tromped on the pedal a little harder than intended, because she let out a "Whoa!" as her plane shot skyward. Jerking her foot off the pedal sent her plummeting downward. "Ow!" she exclaimed, as the arm hit its lowest position and the plane bounced slightly. Ferb knew it was impossible for her to have been hurt, but he still winced a bit.

"Gently!" he called out to her, as she started to rise again. She tried to turn herself to take aim at the targets on the central tower, and the next thing he knew, she was facing him, flying backwards. He saw her brow knit in frustration for only a moment, before she pulled at the joystick and went spinning in the opposite direction. The plane rotated a full 630 degrees clockwise before she stopped it, now facing away from the tower, nose pointed downward. She was descending toward the ground again, and corrected this with another overly-forceful foot to the floor, which shot her to the upper limit of the arm and jolted a scream out of her. Gripping the joystick in her right hand and the air gun in her left, she wrestled the plane back around to face the tower, setting off a barrage of rapid pingpingpings as she fired wildly, hitting targets at random.

Ferb wasn't even trying to shoot; all he could do was watch Vanessa, until the absurdity of this cool, capable young woman struggling to control a simple kiddie ride overcame him, and he felt, with dread, the force of his own laughter welling up inside him. He held it down as best he could, lips clamped tightly together, but it escaped him in bits, as a snort, then a snicker. Then Vanessa was facing him again, and their eyes met, and he could no longer help himself. His clenched mouth curled upward in a smile. Her eyes went wide, and he knew that she knew that he was laughing at her, then she jerked the stick again and pivoted away from him.

The ride mechanism exhaled, and all the planes turned themselves to face forward as they descended gently to the ground. Ferb leapt from his cockpit before the ride had fully stopped, and dashed to her plane.

"Vanessa, I'm sorry," he sputtered, still choking back his laughter. "Perhaps riding the Airplanes wasn't such a good idea…"

"Come on, Ferb," she refused to look at him as she climbed out of the ride. Then, through gritted teeth, she declared: "We're doing that again."

"There's no need – " he blurted, but her boots had already hit the ground and he was too late. He had to hurry to keep up with her longer strides, as she headed toward the end of the queue.

"Oh, yes, there is," she replied. "No stupid little toy plane is getting the best of me!" Vanessa shook her fist – actually shook her fist, Ferb witnessed, suddenly having to gulp down a whole new mouthful of laughter – at the ride, and railed, "Curse you, Target-Shooting Airplane Ride! You are not getting the best of Vanessa Doofenshmirtz!"

"Vanessa…?" he managed to get her name out, and she glanced at him.

"What?" she snapped.

"I only meant there was no need to get out of the plane. We could have stayed on for another cycle."

Her expression softened as she looked at him. "Really?"

"I do own the place, you know," he pointed out.

"Oh." She looked a little embarrassed for a moment, then said, "That's okay. I need to regroup. And I want a different plane," she glowered, observing as the next squadron took off. Half the pilots on this round were Fireside Girls, and they were bobbing and spinning their planes with the precision of a crack stunt team, picking off targets at will. "This cannot be as hard as I'm making it," Vanessa muttered.

Ferb wasn't certain she wanted his advice at this point, but standing by her side as they both watched the ride, he ventured it all the same. "Don't worry about the targets this time," he spoke to her reassuringly. From the corner of his eye, he saw her nod, and he took the invitation to go on. "Concentrate on controlling your elevation. Once you know how much pressure to apply, it will become second nature. When you're comfortable with that, practice turning with the joystick. Try to keep the plane level for now; you can work on the pitch later. We can stay on for as many cycles as you like," he promised. "Just give a thumbs up when we land if you want another go."

Vanessa nodded again at this, eyes still focused intently on the ride.

"Oh," Ferb said, cautiously, "and it really doesn't matter which plane you have. Unless you have a favorite color," he qualified.

She glanced down at him with a curious little smile and asked, "What's your favorite color?"

Gazing up into her eyes, he decided. "Blue."

They waited through another cycle in order to have their choice of planes, and Vanessa snagged the blue one. Ferb hopped into red behind her. Off they went, and this time she knew what to expect. It didn't take long for her to get the hang of gliding smoothly up and down, but when she started to use the joystick, the blue plane careened wildly, nose tilting upward, then downward, as she spun clockwise and ended up facing him again. Watching her jerk at the stick, Ferb suddenly realized what was wrong. "Vanessa!" he called out, and she looked up at him for a moment before the lurching plane spun toward the tower. With some effort this time, she jogged the stick around until she was facing him again.

"What?" she shouted.

"Turn around," he gestured. "Fly straight and let the cycle finish."

She got herself pointed in the right direction and held the plane steady for the rest of the ride. Again, when they touched down, Ferb leapt swiftly from his cockpit and dashed to her side.

"Well, that went a little better," she cracked sarcastically.

"Come with me," he commanded, offering her his hand in assistance.

"But, you said we could stay on…" she looked at him in confusion, but climbed out under her own power as he interrupted her.

"Quickly," he urged, "before the next group loads." He motioned for her to follow as he jogged around the circle of planes.

"Ferb, where are we going?"

"You need the orange one!" he blurted, as they approached it. He was nearly breathless with both exertion and excitement as he looked up into her puzzled face and declared in triumph: "You're left handed!"

"Yes," she answered, still not comprehending, then her eyes lit on the cockpit of the orange plane, and she understood. "Yes, I am."

"I was wrong, they're not all the same," Ferb was almost blathering as he sprinted to claim the green plane behind her. "Phineas swapped the controls on the orange plane specifically for a left-handed pilot. Try it!"

Vanessa climbed in and took the joystick in her left hand. The air gun was now on her right. She felt better already.

"Go easy," Ferb called to her. "Remember what we talked about."

But there would be no going easy for Vanessa this time. There was still a learning curve to the joystick, even in the correct hand, and she missed more targets than she hit, but at least she had the plane pointing where she wanted it for most of the flight. When they landed this time, she thrust both thumbs in the air and threw a smile over her shoulder at Ferb, who replied with a smile and a thumbs-up of his own. On the next go, he finally started target-shooting from his own plane instead of just watching her, and posted a respectable score. Three cycles later, she had outscored him twice, and finally hopped out of the plane.

"217!" she exclaimed, walking back to meet him as he climbed out. "New High Score!"

"Well done," Ferb saluted her with mock solemnity. "May I offer you a celebratory beverage?" he proposed, as they walked away from the ride.

"I could use a drink of something," Vanessa agreed, fanning herself with one hand, and they headed toward the Refreshment Pavilion.

llllllllllll

Phineas and Isabella had finished their strawberry sodas and polished off a hot fudge sundae between the two of them when, to her delight, he said, "So, Isabella, what would you like to do next?"

"Well," she smiled, "since you asked, I was thinking that maybe we could check out the…"

"Oh, hey!" he interrupted her, his eyes lighting up. "I need to take you on the Carousel!"

"I've already been on the Carousel," she informed him. "Why don't we go to the…"

"Then you've seen it!" he enthused. "What did you think?"

"Well, it's nice, I guess, for a Carousel," she conceded, puzzled by his excitement.

"No, I meant what's on the Carousel," he explained, grinning ear to ear. "I put it on there just for you. So, did you like it?"

"Phineas, I have no idea what you're talking about."

"Then you haven't seen it," he deduced.

"Haven't seen what?"

"Oh, you'll see!" Phineas gathered up the trash off their table and deposited it in the bin. "Come on!" he invited, reaching out for her hand.

Isabella sighed. Every time she tried to get him to the Enchanted Glade, he came up with some other idea, and then, before she could get mad, he would take her hand and she would melt and follow him anywhere.

Now he led her toward this new distraction, talking all the way. "You're really going to like this; I can't believe you didn't see it." It was just a short stroll around the corner from the Refreshment Pavilion to the Carousel, and, as they approached, he said, "It'll come around in a moment. It's right on the outside row. You really didn't notice it? I guess you must have been on the opposite side. Here it comes!" he pointed.

Isabella gasped in delight. Prancing around the ring of horses was a gleaming white steed, with a pink mane and tail, and a long, golden horn on its forehead.

"It's a Unicorn," Phineas said helpfully. "I know I messed up with that Rainbow-inator thing," he admitted sheepishly, "but now you can finally say you've seen a Unicorn. Well, not a real one," he admitted, "I'm still working on that."

"Oh, Phineas!" Isabella breathed. "It's perfect!" When it was their turn to ride, Phineas led her to the Unicorn, then climbed on the neighboring horse. Isabella beamed even brighter when she saw that he was mounted on a chestnut charger that made him resemble the Centaur-Phineas of her Dreams. Off they went, to the lilting tune of Gitchee Gitchee Goo means that I Love You, and she wasn't sure that even the Enchanted Glade could top this. Isabella would never understand how Phineas could seem so oblivious to her affections, and then turn around and do something so romantic for her.

To Be Continued…