Rolling into Town and Back in Time (Private) [Dead]

[CableZ]

Canterlot.

The Captial.

"The Canterial.."

The musing voice came from behind a metallic grin looking out over the pristine white towers of the city, it was madness that he'd never come here before.

Madness was right as Quip surely had some plans for Canterlot, as his cart ricketed and and racketed into town being pulled by some unseen magical force. The hatted jester sat atop his faded home as it waited at the gates of Canterlot for guards to check and search it. Seemed that since that Changeling nonsense he'd heard about, they were still a little weary. They were especially weary of a masked individual who had a cart that was bigger on the inside that the outside, understandable he supposed.

It surely was a day that the Pegasi of the city could be proud of, the weather team had outdone themselves. The sun shone down beautifully as only the occasional tuft of white cloud accented the skyline. The tranquil breeze kept things cool and moderate while animals and ponies alike made the most of the summer's day. Large hats and sun glasses were prominent as ponies went about their happy normal days. It was a quiet, calm sort of day. The kind of day where there were no made dashes or rushes, everything went at a pleasantly lazy pace.

As the squad of surprised and confused looking guards marched out of his mobile house on wheels, Quip was given the all clear and was able to make his way into the city. Canterlot was a place to behold, beautiful pearly white buildings and amazing verdant gardens all around. Why had he never been here before?!

There was no time to sight see however, first things first was setting up the cart and getting some fliers out. As ego stroking an act as it was, Quip loved announcing his arrival somewhere. Always having a stack of fliers with his masked mug all over them, they had a little information and a few jokes dotted on them. A few even had little doodles that Quip had drawn during a lazy winter day. The message on the fliers went along these lines.

"Ladies and Gentlecolts!

The wondrous, hilarious, performerous, adjectiveous Quip Crack is here! Keep an eye out for upcoming shows that are sure to amaze! Quip is always happy to meet fans, so if you see him around, give him a wave! If you can't wait to meet him, keep an eye out for his cart at your local park"

Quip had parked his cart in one of the larger parks in the city and the bright colourful thing was already attracting some attention, smiles were abundant as most who recognized the cart knew what it meant. Quite a few ponies had been waiting for Quip to come to this neck of Equestria, many had travelled to the nearby Ponyville recently after having heard he was holed up there. Now however he was here, sadly he was alone for now. Mad Cap had earned a vacation and so was away for two weeks. While Quip could certainly perform a show on his own, it somehow didn't seem as fun without his bubbly harlequin partner. Quip may seem like he was a goofy pony who didn't care about anything but being silly and having a good time, but he had his moments of sincerity. Too bad Mad Cap wasn't around to see it.

After Quip had made it out of the door and past the wave of fans that crashed upon the side of his cart, he managed to get out into the streets of Canterlot. A wicker basket was hooked around a leg that he kept off the ground as he skipped along the streets like a schoolgirl. Tossing fliers to his side like a flower girl at a wedding, Quip happily made his way through the streets of Canterlot. Every now and again he would be stopped and asked for an autograph or photo, usually having a little fun with his fans. It was around 1:30pm, ponies had just enjoyed their lunches and were now just enjoying the day. More than a few ponies were out and out, lazing in gardens or getting cool drinks and hanging out with friends. It was another beautiful day in Canterlot, the light breeze carried Quip's fliers far and wide through the streets of Canterlot. Who knew who might happen upon one...

[Oopsie Daisy]

☆ • P a n t o m i m e • ☆

- - -

Since rehearsal had been particularly long and trying that morning, Pantomime was certainly more than happy to sit outside of her favourite café, sipping some chai tea and soaking up the glorious sunshine. She was making the most of it too, wearing a small straw hat with a pink bow tied around it and a flower patterned silk scarf wrapped neatly around her neck. Rays of gold peered down from the bright sky, illuminating the city in a wonderful warm glow that covered the large buildings and the many citizens going about their busy daily lives. Canterlot was always busy, and of course today was no exception. But the weather was so peaceful, it seemed to have less hustle and bustle than usual. It must've been affecting everyone, and the relaxing atmosphere really made the city shine almost as much as the gorgeous sunlight did. The castle looked particularly breathtaking: standing tall and stunning against the azure sky with the light reflecting of its white exterior. A soft, contented sigh escaped the young unicorn's lips as she lifted her cup upwards with the light blue haze of her magic, bringing it to her mouth for a final refreshing sip. She still had some shopping to get done, but it could wait until later. She just wanted to relax for a little while longer.

Just then, something caught her eye. What appeared to be a flier went whizzing past her, riding on the slight breeze that swept through the streets. Pantomime raised a brow as she caught it in mid-air with her magic, tutting with annoyance. Who would be so rude as to litter the city with silly advertisements? She shook her head with disappointment as she swiftly moved the piece of paper behind her to throw it in the bin just next to the outside tables. But as she did so, a certain masked figure printed on it caught her eye, and she brought it back in front of her to take a better look. When she realised who it was, her mouth dropped open in pleasant surprise.

"Quip Crack is here in Canterlot?" She said to herself, reading the information on the sheet. It must be his first time as she'd never seen him here before, and she certainly enjoyed his work. His performances often intrigued and inspired her, even though his style was very different to her's. But that of course didn't mean she couldn't appreciate different forms of entertainment. Since she didn't have many other plans for the day, she figured she could go and catch some of his shows.. it'd be interesting to see him perform in the flesh. So with that, she left a few tips and exited the exterior of the café and began making her through town to look for the famous cart.

It didn't take her too long to find it as there seemed to be a small mob of fans surrounding it, taking pictures and talking loudly and excitedly amongst themselves. Since there wasn't currently a show on, they weren't completely flooding the area, making it easy for Pantomime to get closer to the cart, managing to push through the small crowds with ease as she was a fairly slender and petite pony. Soon enough she got close enough to admire the cart in its charmingly rustic splendour. It was exciting to see the travelling home/stage for real, but it still wasn't quite enough to sate her curiosity. No, she wanted to meet the famous masked clown for herself. Maybe she could learn something from him. She assumed he was inside, hopefully not too busy. So, she placed a front hoof on the step and knocked on the door, earning herself a few odd looks from a few of the ponies surrounding the area. She realised she was doing something quite bold and unusual, but she didn't care. She really wanted to meet him.

"Um.. hello? Mr. Quip, are you in there?" she asked in her sweet sing-song voice, taking a step back and waiting eagerly for the door to open. Assuming he was inside of course, but she assumed so as she could hear some movement from inside the cart. If not, she was content to wait a little longer for him to return.

[CableZ]

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There it stood, a simple thing really. An old Prench cart on the outside, a whole different realm of wonder on the inside. The worn exterior of the cart showed it's age, a sad site of worn and chipped paint and exposed wooden board. Signs of life however gave it a nice little feel, the balloons tied to the wooden beam were an enjoyable sight as were the traces of streamers left over from some other show. To most the cart was a pleasing to the eye piece of junk, but it stood strong and showed no sign of faltering despite its apparent age. It was the kind of run down yet mad home you'd expect to find the sort of mad pony that would always wear a metal mask, couldn't fault him for keeping up appearances.

Quip himself was no where to be seen, ponies reported seeing him return to the park but no one ever saw him head back into the cart. Truly was an enigma what happened to the jester, he was a bit of a bad hand at raising eyebrows and perplexing ponies. Still that served no help to those looking for him, it seemed that he had inadvertently created a very large game of hide and seek that everypony in the park was taking part in.  Not long after all the fuss began was when Pantomime arrived, Quip spotted her immediately from whatever corner of reality he was currently bending. When those taps came upon his door he decided to give this one what she wanted, any bold action like that was quite deserved after all.

There came a rumbling sound from beneath the ground some distance away, however it was no long distance away short after as soon the sound approached the pony with the coloured streaks in her hair. A streak of upturned earth was what followed the sound, as if a particularly large mole were trail blazing beneath the park. Several ponies quickly rushed out of the way of said dirt trail fof fear of losing balance as it blitzed toward the poor unsuspecting Pantomime.  A mumbled voice could be heard beneath the earth although words could not be made out, though they sounded slightly confused and frustrated from tone. The firt trail arrived at the base of the steps to Quip's cart and for a painfully long time that wasn't all that long, there was a silence as ponies all around stopped to see what all this was about. After a slight shuffling sound, out popped a pony from the ground.

More specifically a pair of arms popped out and took a grip on the turf of the park, pulling up the torso of a pony. There, below all eyes was Quip T. Crack. He wore a yellow hard hat with a miners light forward facing, which might have helped had he not been wearing the helmet backward. His mask was dirtied with mud and...well dirt. as was his pelt stained slightly brown in patches. Looking around for a moment at the bewildered looked from above, he quickly spun the helmet around atop his head and laughed. Looking up at Panto who was a little taller than the others by way of stairs, Quip held up hoof up out to her.

"Nice to meet you." Came a happy and bubbly voice from behind the static mask.

Sadly for dear Pantomime, shaking his hoof would prove to be a mistake. At mere touch of his dirt covered keratin crafted hooves, she was pulled from her perch atop the stairs into the ground below. What followed next was a blur, the sounds of an entire work force chipping away at dirt and chatting with each other blurred by despite nothing being there. Quip himself was having at the ground before them with a pick axe as they shot forward at what seemed a ridiculous speed for even atop the ground let along beneath its muddy coating.

They were not long for the miners path however as soon, the poor mare shot out of the ground at a nearby garden a few city blocks away. The cannon like force at which she shot out of the ground might have hurt had it not been for a perfectly placed blanket held up by two ponies inexplicably walking by. Quip climbed out of the hole in the ground just in time to wave to the two fellows as they dropped Panto back onto firm ground in the form of Canterlot's cobbled streets. Quip turned turned on heel and grabbed two edges of the hole and pulled them in, leaving no trace that they were ever there. Quip went to turn once again but overshot and ended up doing a full 720 spin in place before he managed to regain some balance. It seemed this action was enough to wash his pelt clean and replace his miners helmet with his usual belled jester's hat. Approaching Pantomime he laughed as he held out a hoof to help her off the ground.

"My apologies, I wished to get away from the fans. They can be so brilliant but they don't often enjoy the notion of personal space when it comes to celebrities." Quip smiled beneath his smiling metal façade. "Name's Quip, Quip Crack. Who might you be miss?.."

[Oopsie Daisy]

☆ • P a n t o m i m e • ☆

- - -

Quite soon after she'd tapped on the rusty ramshackle door, her ears pricked upwards as a very unusual thing suddenly began happening. At first she thought it was just her over reactive imagination, but soon she realised that that distant rumbling she could hear was swiftly moving closer towards the area. Raising a hoof in alarm, she quickly turned her head to see the large mound of dirt coming right towards her at a rather worrying speed. A bunch of ponies around screamed, galloping and jumping out the way, but she stayed put: mostly because of her curiosity. If it got too close, she'd be able to dive out of the way with graceful ease. Just as expected, the mound halted right before the cart, and distinct mumbling could be heard from inside it. Still looking over her shoulder, Pantomine placed her hoof back onto the step and turned a little; brow raised and mouth open slightly in confusion and curiosity. A few other ponies gathered around and confused hushed whispers could be heard around the otherwise silent scene. It's safe to say that she jumped a little when a pair of light beige forelimbs appeared, hoisting the masked digger himself out of the hole. The unicorn mare's expression changed to one of utter confusion when she also saw the miner's helmet sitting on his crown: very obviously the wrong way round.

So, this was Quip. She hadn't expected anything less.

He offered her a dirty appendage, and she looked down at him: appreciating his attention to her and his politeness. "Uh.. nice to meet you too," she mumbled, smiling an unsure half-smile as she reached down to receive his offered hoofshake. What a big mistake that was.

"Whu-- WHOOOAAAH!" she gasped in surprise. Next thing she knew, she was being yanked from the cleanliness of the steps to the less welcome dirt and darkness of the tunnel. Before she could protest, Quip was rushing ahead, continuing to dig through the ground with a pickaxe at a crazy speed. Pantomime didn't know how she was moving so fast, but everything was just a confusing blur and she was too busy trying to figure out what on earth was going on to ask. All she knew was that she was being pulled through the hastily dug tunnel at an unusual speed.. and that her pristine coat and well-kept hair were most likely getting absolutely filthy.

Soon enough, she was being tossed out of the ground, flew across a few blocks before landing in someone's garden. She braced herself for painful impact, but opened her eyes in surprise after her unusually soft landing. She opened her eyes and saw that she had landed on a very luckily situated blanket carried by a pair of rather annoyed looking stallions. At least, they looked rather annoyed until they saw the masked clown. Next thing she knew, Pantomime was being dropped back onto solid ground as the two walked away, and she apologised sheepishly.. and a little dazedly. She blinked her violet eyes before shaking her head from side to side, before looking up at the laughing Quip who had joined her and was now offering her a hoof. The mare was understandably sceptical at first, but considering there were no holes for her to be pulled into this time (she hoped), she accepted it and was brought to her feet. Her ears lowered and she let out a groan as she looked down at herself: she was absolutely covered in dirt and mud that had caked her pelt and hair. A sigh escaped her before she began vigorously shaking herself off, removing as much of the mess as she possibly could before looking to Quip once again as he apologised to her.

"I understand," she said softly, still feeling a little dazed and confused after what had just occurred. "But surely there's an easier, and less.. unorthodox way to escape from annoying fanatics. Wouldn't you agree?" She suddenly inhaled a gasped breath before letting out a few ragged coughs and petting her mane with a hoof to try and fix it, noticing that her sun-hat had disappeared. She groaned touched her neck to see if her silk scarf was still there, and almost wished she hadn't. She removed it and noticed it was all covered in dirt, but wasn't too bummed out about it as it wasn't her favourite scarf and was easily replaceable. Realising none of it mattered until she could get home and have a nice hot bath, she looked to the entertainer once again with a smile, looking into the rather creepy eyes of his brass face. It certainly looked more fascinating in person. "My name is Pantomime. It's truly a pleasure, Mr. Quip," she said politely, her sweet smile adding a shine to her otherwise slightly dirtied face. "May I ask what brings you to Canterlot, as I'm pretty sure you haven't performed here before?"

[CableZ]

Quip began sipping from a very large soda cup that he had acquired from seemingly nowhere while Pantomime spoke, although he almost spat his drink all over the inside of his mask when she asked her question. Nearly choking as he drank the liquid down before bursting out into hysterics, Quip got quite a kick out of that.

"Unorthodox?! Its a mind game! They expect the unorthodox because of who I am, but then they'll think I'll do something normal like dress up in a disguise because they know that I know that they think I'll do something unorthodox. So THEN, I do something completely unorthodox that they expected I would do in the first place but then not expect because they expected it so they expected something else therefore they'll expect me to do something that I do because they expect it because then they won't expect it!" Through this barely comprehendable rambling nonsense, Quip made several dramatic gestures and over the top movements that just added to his lunacy.

Taking a large gasp of air after his ramble that had no pauses, Quip went back to sipping on his drink with the usual cartoonish slurps that signalled the drink was near its end as liquid struggled to squeeze past the ice and get up the straw. It was unclear how the liquid was going up the straw and through his mask but it wouldn't be proper for anything to be clear with this pony.

"Well my dear you have answered your own question, I'm here because I've never been here." Quip chuckled, throwing the drink he'd only gotten a few seconds ago into a bin that was a considerable distance away, making it quite the skilled throw despite how casually he did it. "I've always wanted to come here, I just stopped off at other places on the other way." Quip smiled beneath his metal smile, rendering the action rather pointless even though it was impossible not to smile when around this mare, she had an infectious niceness to her. "Oh I do apologize about the dirt, allow me" Quip took off his hat and from it pulled out a hair-drier.

In a one quick motion, Quip moved all the way around Pantomime. As he moved around her, there appeared a shower curtain held up by a circular metal ring with a foreboding shower head above her topping it off. The next few seconds were another blur for Panto, feeling refreshing hot water run over her, soap foaming up all over her and disappearing second later. Probably feeling very befuddled and now cold thanks to the water, Panto would probably not feel too awesome when the shower curtain rolled back across the pole into nothingness leaving her facing Quip who was now holding two hair driers. What followed next was a jet force blast of hot air that left Panto looking as if she had seen the meaning of life and it had blown all her hair back. After a moment however it all sprung back into shape in a way that only the effect of a truly goofy pony could have on you, leaving Panto clean and sparkly (literally) and in general actually feeling rather nice. As an added bonus her scarf had cleared up to near perfection, leaving her staring at Quip who was now holding a very familiar hat. Happily placing it on top of her head.

"There we go, now we be squared away." Quip put on a pirate voice for a moment. "You seem like a nice sort, I could tell you were a performer from afar. Tell me, does the stage call to you in the night or something cool and dramatic like that?"