"This is gonna suck," I pouted. "Did you see those seats? They looked even more tail-unfriendly than the front seats of most cars!"

Melissa and Susan both glanced around nervously, but nobody else seemed to be paying attention to me and my complaining. At least as near as I could tell everybody had been tuning out my whining the whole time the four of us had been standing in line.

We'd spent the past hundred years - or six and a half minutes if you believed Melissa - standing in line for the biggest roller-coaster in the whole amusement park.

And now we were close enough to the front of the line that I actually got a look at the moulded form-fitting plastic seats and I knew I was going to hate the entire ride. They looked uncomfortable even if you didn't have a five-foot-long demonic tail sticking out above your butt. And the way the attendants ratcheted the safety bar down into people looked just as bad. Like I wouldn't have any wriggle-room at all.

Right up till seeing the seats I'd been excited about this. Me and Melissa and Susan and Amber were all ready for a full day of rides and fun and stuff. We came on a Monday since we hoped it wouldn't be as busy on a work day, and Amber's schedule meant she was off Mondays and Tuesdays. The place was still busy though, and I wondered if it was this busy on a Monday then what was it like on weekends.

Sue leaned closer to me and lowered her voice slightly as she asked, "You still know that other spell right? The one that makes them go away, instead of just turning them invisible? Maybe you could do that for today? Or at least for this ride?"

"Ugh," I scowled. "That's just trading one kind of uncomfortable for another."

All four of us watched as the group in front of us got into the next train, and I grimaced as they all got squished into place between the nasty seats and the seatbelts and safety lap-bar.

As the coaster rolled away towards the first hill Melissa suggested, "A couple minutes of discomfort versus a couple minutes of pain? Anyways maybe it won't be so bad Mara, like the ride might help get your mind off the dysmorphia."

I sighed deeply but I was trying to make a decision. I could hope it wasn't too painful for my tail getting squished. Or I could grit my teeth and make my horns and tail go away completely and hope Melissa was right about the ride being fun enough to forget my missing bits. Or I could just pass on the ride and let my girlfriends go without me.

There was less than a minute or so for me to decide as the next coaster rolled up in front of us and the happy excited passengers climbed out and headed for the exit, all smiles and giddiness and everything.

Then the gate opened and the four of us all moved to the empty seats. I hesitated for just a second as I focused and used the other spell. My horns and tail went from invisible to just gone, but I didn't have a chance to register the loss as I felt the hard contoured plastic seat pressing against my behind. Then the attendant was pushing the safety bar down onto my lap and checking the seatbelt and stuff.

The coaster sat all four of us across and we were right up at the front. I was on the far right, Melissa was next to me, then Susan beside her, and finally Amber was on the far left.

With a clunking sound the cars were suddenly moving again as we rolled out of the station and into the bright July sunshine.

Susan giggled, "I sure hope the ride's good enough to justify all the trouble you have to endure Mara."

"Me too," I pouted as I looked over at her.

Amber giggled as well, though she sounded a little nervous. And a moment later I knew why.

The coaster reached the base of the first hill, and there was another clunk as it locked into the lifting thingy. Just like that we were climbing upwards.

It looked a whole lot higher from this angle than it did when we were standing in line, and way higher than it did in the TV commercials and stuff.

My heart was racing and I had some excited butterflies in my stomach, but by the time we got halfway up the hill the butterflies stopped being excited and started glancing nervously at each other as they adjusted their collars.

"This is really high!" Amber commented unhelpfully.

Melissa agreed, "It's over ninety meters tall at the peak. That's like a thirty story building."

We weren't even at the top yet and the butterflies in my stomach were all starting to buckle up and put on their crash helmets and elbow pads.

"It's the highest coaster in Canada," Susan added. "And the fastest too."

"Mara," Lily spoke up, and even she sounded anxious. "Are you quite sure this is safe?"

That made me grin, it sounded like my demon mom was a little scared.

"Yeah Lily," I replied. "I'm sure it's safe..."

My voice trailed off as we reached the top of the hill. The front of the car nosed over and it felt like we were looking straight down. We sort of hung there for a second or two, before gravity finally noticed and gave us a tug.

My stomach and all the frightened butterflies were left somewhere back at the top of the hill as we plummeted almost straight down towards the ground before the track pulled us out of the drop. We rocketed through a little tunnel then next thing I knew we were shooting skyward again, before suddenly banking and turning right.

There were more hills and dips and hard turns this way and that, before we finally made another hard turn then started to slow down, with the station up ahead in front of us.

My heart was pounding and I knew I had the same sort of excited giddy smile on my face as all the other people I'd seen getting off the ride when it was over.

As me and my girlfriends climbed out and headed for the exit Susan asked, "So what did you all think of that?"

"Lets go again!" I half-shouted.

My girlfriends all giggled at my enthusiasm, but Lily wasn't so excited.

"Must we really do that again Mara?"

That made me giggle too, "Come on Lily, you're not scared are you? You jumped off the CN Tower back at new years! How can a roller coaster be scary after that?"

"I had wings then," my demon mom replied in a curt voice. "Heights aren't so scary when you can fly."

I giggled again, "Well we don't need to fly when we're in a ride. But thinking about that makes me want to try that Drop Zone ride!"

Melissa sort of nudged me, "Uh Mara?"

Suddenly I realized there were a few people looking at me funny, since I'd been carrying on a conversation with Lily out in public with strangers around me.

Instead of acting embarrassed or whatever I just rolled my eyes, "It's fine. I'm just having a private conversation with the voices in my head."

That turned out to be a great way to get strangers to leave me alone, as the people who were looking at me funny went out of their way to ignore me and move along.

I giggled once more as I asked my girlfriends, "So what's next?"

The four of us spent the next couple hours bouncing from one ride to the next. We did that big coaster twice more, and the Drop Zone which was a giant tower that lifted us way up in the air then let go. According to Melissa we had twenty-three stories of free-fall before the brakes slowed us down. It wasn't even half as far as we fell when Lily jumped off the CN Tower, but I was positive my demon mom had her hands over her eyes as she sat on her big leather sofa and tried not to watch.

Then we did a looping coaster that Lily hated, and we rode one of those inverted coasters where you hang under the tracks. That one also looped and Lily actually yelped a few times on that one. Then we did a ride that was like swings except it went super high in the air and had us spinning in a circle. She didn't like that much either.

Out of everything though, the one my demon mom hated most was a looping coaster that went forwards along a track then ended at another big hill. It pulled us up that second hill then let go and we went through the whole thing again backwards, including the loops. When it was over she actually forbade me from riding it again.

At the other end of the spectrum there was a ride that was supposed to be like white-water river rafting. It was fun but a lot less exciting than the roller coasters and stuff. Lily actually seemed to like that one, then I took her on a boring old carrousel and she appreciated that too.

It honestly felt really funny to me that the eight thousand year old demon who lived in my head liked the slow boring rides, while the fun exciting stuff scared her. So by mid-afternoon we all kind of agreed to take breaks from the fast scary rides every so often to let Lily enjoy some of the family or kids rides instead.

And when we did, me and my girlfriends ignored all the funny looks we got from the young families with little kids. And I couldn't stop giggling every time I thought about my big blue demon mom having fun riding a kiddy coaster or those old-timey cars that just slowly clunked around on a level course through a little park.

Though to be fair she wasn't all that bad. There were a couple of the bigger rides she seemed to like as well. Even one of the coasters wasn't too bad for her.

Around five in the afternoon we finally took a break from the rides so we could get something to eat and stuff. The four of us found a restaurant we all agreed on, and soon enough we were sitting around a table sipping coolers and waiting for our food.

"Mara? How's Lily holding up?" Melissa asked with a sympathetic smile.

I giggled, "I think she wants to install seatbelts and safety gear on her leather sofa? She's really not happy with some of those rides."

Susan asked, "And how are you holding up?"

"I'm fine," I shrugged. I had a gulp of my drink and added, "As soon as we're done eating I want to get right back at it! We haven't even done any of the wooden coasters yet, and there's that spinning pendulum thing that looks insane! We have to try that one!"

My girlfriends all giggled and exchanged a little glance, which left me feeling self-conscious and I wasn't even sure why.

I frowned "Ok what? What's that little look all about?"

Melissa and Susan both hesitated, but Amber spoke up.

"You're just like a little kid Mara. You were all pouting and complaining when we got here, but one roller-coaster ride later and you've been like a twelve-year-old who's had too much sugar and caffein."

"She's right," Melissa agreed. "You've been kind of hyper all day. It's cute though!"

Susan nodded, "What they said. And your excitement is contagious, it's been a lot of fun just trying to keep up with you today."

I grinned and had another gulp of my drink then asked, "So what do you think? The wooden coasters next? Then the spinny crazy pendulum thing?"

"Fine," Melissa laughed. "Then we'll need to ride the carrousel again for Lily. And maybe that white water one as well."

When the food came we all started eating, though Amber only got a little appetizer for herself.

The cute little succubus nibbled on that and asked, "How late were we going to stay?"

"I think the place closes up at eight tonight?" Melissa replied. "May as well stay till then?"

"Sounds good!" I smiled as I enjoyed my meal.

When we'd all had enough to eat my girlfriends made me wait a bit before we dove into the coasters and stuff again. They seemed to be worried about getting sick or something if we did anything too crazy right after eating.

We ended up riding another Lily ride just to buy some time, before we got on one of the rickety old wood coasters. Lily hated that almost as much as the looping ones, she was positive the thing was going to shake itself to bits or something.

And the spinning pendulum was as wild as it looked, but like a lot of the rides it was over way too soon. Like you only got to go upside-down a couple times and suddenly they were slowing it down and bringing it to a stop.

There was actually only one ride I didn't like, which looked like a big windmill with seats on the blades. It was ok but kind of whippy and jarring. And one ride I couldn't convince any of my girlfriends to get on with me, was literally a giant slingshot that launched you straight up thirty stories into the air. I was positive Lily was grateful nobody wanted to try that with me.

We rounded out the day by riding the big coasters a couple more times, but our very last ride was on the silly old carrousel so Lily could calm down again.

When it was all over and done the four of us headed out to the parking lot. It looked like there would be one more line to wait in before we got home, based on the crowd of cars all trying to get out of the lot at the same time.

We climbed into Melissa's car and as we joined the line to escape, Susan twisted in her seat and gave me a funny look.

"So Mara," she asked with a bit of a grin, "How's your tail?"

My eyes went wide as it suddenly hit me. I'd gone most of the day without my tail and horns, and I was so busy having fun with the rides and stuff I didn't even notice.

I immediately had my demon bits come back, then I pouted and hugged my tail to my chest and made a big show of apologizing to it for ignoring it all day long.

PurpleCatGirl

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