The Blazing Jubilee [Dead]

[Tartan Lassie]

    Flyte herself took a sweet as everypony introduced themselves. Or rather, Gearshift introduced all of them. She smiled at each of them and spoke to the very fluffy looking filly. "An illusionist? How unusual! The circus I'm with now is called the Cirque d'Illusion. The Circus of Illusion." This was true but she wasn't planning on staying with them long. She had been a part of many circuses and didn't really feel happy with any of them. She was still looking for somewhere else.

    "And Powderkeg, right? Isn't it unusual to see a Lunar Pegasus outside our Princess of the Night's guard." Thought she didn't say so aloud, secretly, she was impressed with Powderkeg for breaking the mould of usual pegabats. Just like she, herself had broken the mould of an Earth Pony and chosen to learn to fly. She smiled at them all. The three mares over at the next table hadn't introduced themselves and she waved encouragingly to them, repeating her name, in case they hadn't heard earlier. "I'm Flyte, by the way." She left it open for the mares to introduce themselves. Flyte had introduced herself with her stage name. She told herself that it was because it was easier to say, but really, deep down, it was because it was more well known, and she was always hopeful of being recognised.

    The dark-coated mare took a sip of her coffee. It had a strong and earthy tasted that she very much enjoyed. She turned to Lupus though, who was looking distressed and rather red. Maybe he really had swallowed his tongue. "Are you alright there, Lupus?" She asked gently, the 'U's in Lupus' name resonating well with her deep accent. She moved a little closer to him, scrutinising him closely. She wondered if he was ill... He didn't look too healthy. She could practically feel the heat emanating from him.

[waxworks]

Powderkeg grinned in a way that was a strange mixture of sheepish bashfulness and pride at Flyte's comment, "well mah pa an' sister are both in the Guard, but I always followed the line'a thinkin' that there ain't nopony in all of Equestria ought to be told what they gotta do based on what they look like. Heh, 'course I ended up not bein' a guard like pa, but going into fireworks like ma, so I guess I didn't stray that far from it all in th'end. But hey, furgit about all that, yer a circus performer? Shoot! When I was a little filly I always wanted to swing 'round on one'a them trapeze things! Figger it wouldn't be as death-defyin' when ya got a pair'a wings, but it still looked like fun."

She grabbed another sweet from the basket, and stuffed it into her mouth along with a biscuit and another slice of fruit. They were all going to need a lot of fuel if they were going to have a blast.

[Loops]

Lupus recoiled. Flyte was a little too close for comfort, not that he wasn't enjoying it. He was just rather confused. He was nervous by the whole situation, after all a mare was a quite close. Should she move anymore, the earth pony would almost be touching Lupus' flank. However, he was a normal, to some degree, stallion. So, when a mare moves closer to him; its not like he doesn't like it. In fact, the action itself was nice, but Lupus was Lupus, and he naturally began to start feeling uncomfortable. The closeness of the prepossessing pony adding to Loops' nervous activity.

Loops shuffled a little, not knowing how to react. Should he talk back? Should he move away? They were just some of the examples of the thoughts that ran through his head. The thoughts raged around in his head like stampeding cattle, a riot of possible answers and outcomes battling for superiority over his mouth. He glanced over to the mare, looking across at him.

His snapped his head back, and looked down at his lap. When it came down to talking to women, bashfulness wasn't a quality that Loops was short of. Rubbing his hooves together he spoke hesitantly.

"I'm f-fine." He stuttered slightly.

He wasn't putting on the best performance to create a good image. Lupus looked over to Gearshift. He wasn't making a complete fool out of himself; not bumbling over his words because of a pony's allure. Actually, Gearshift seemed a little too casual about it all. Lupus guessed that it was down to Gearshifts previous encounters around women. Looking at Powerkeg, Loops thought best not to try and drag her into his problems. Her behaviour made Lupus feel that she would be the type of pony to throw an arm around him, and that would be disastrous. Lupus could tell it would be.

He was tolerating all of this because the company he had gained was a combination of the qualities you'd like to see from flowers: Pretty, interesting, bright, and colourful. It was obvious to tell which was which.

[Tartan Lassie]

    The pale golden stallion finally said something. And, in Flyte's opinion, if something was wrong he would say so. He didn't look at her when he spoke and his pale coat was looking rather pink around the cheek areas. It was then that Flyte's vain personality told her that it was because she was so cute that he must be blushing. No, Witch Hazel. Pull yourself together. He's not some love-struck fan that's snuck into your back-stage tent. He's a nice, friendly stallion who's having a pleasant morning with his friends. She decided she should turn her attention away from him, before she did something she'd regret.

    Flyte was impressed with Powderkeg's story. It was interesting that the interest in fireworks did stem from parental influence and she wondered if maybe Powderkeg's mother had been a pony other than a Lunar Pegasus? She smiled, flushing a little at the fluffy-haired pony's apparent excitement at her own occupation. "Well, as it happens, "swinging around on one of those trapeze things" is, in fact, what I do!" She grinned wider, reflecting the pegabat's earlier comment. She sat up a little, leaning over the table, and using her bandaged tail to point to her cutie mark. A simple trapeze swing. "Simple, but effective." She said, looking at it fondly.

    Flicking her tail a little she added, "But, of course, I do other things too. Tightrope, silks and so on... But my true skill lies in trapeze. Specifically Swinging Trapeze." Deciding it would be silly to attempt to explain the differences between different types of trapeze, she changed track slightly. "So, what are you up to today? The competition isn't until tonight, right?" Flyte wondered if she would be able to catch some of the contest between performances. She would quite like to see what Powderkeg, Master of Chemical Fireworks could really do.

[waxworks]

"Yer darn tootin' it ain't 'til t'night," said Powderkeg eagerly, leaning back with an air of nonchalance that masked her anxiety jitters. "An' that's when I'm fixin' ta blow a hole in the sky, y'all just watch and be amazed! 'Course I warn ya, after y'all see this, ya might not think rainbows an' sunsets are such hot stuff anymore, fair warnin'!"

Her brain was about to tell her to knock off the boasting, but it didn't have time as she quickly changed gears and glanced around at the incoming crowd.

"Right, well there's two big things fur t'day before the actual competition, I figger if'n y'all want ta join me an' Gear an' Mira, we're gonna splurge on the street vendors, git ourselves a mess'a fireworks of all sorts, an' go to the big lot where they're doin' all the free shoots! They even got themselves a rooftop competition goin' on, if'n anypony kin hit the bell'a that there tower over yonder with a rocket, y'all get yerself some cute lil' prize!"

She paused and sniffed at the air, catching the scent of something sweet being baked. "Ooh, an' after that they's havin' a big pie eatin' contest in the middle'a Canterlot! Y'all're free ta do that but it ain't a good idea fur me to binge 'fore the contest. Gotta keep m'self in top form an' all."

Most of the vendors had finished setting their stalls back up, and were beginning to get into their eager pitches of their various wares. Rockets that would form the customized shapes of cutie marks, large orange paper explosives that would spell out fortunes, if you could set light to it, it was for sale. Powderkeg was itching to try some of the competition's crafts, partially to get some ideas for her own work, mostly because fireworks! Her little leathery wings fluttered in anticipation.

"So as soon as y'all're done with breakfast, why don'tchyall join us for a big bang?"

(( Wow, the word count is weird when PK's words are all mashed together with apostrophes ))

[Loops]

Lupus was hesitant about the whole thing, he didn't really want to force himself to hang around with some mares... However he really did want to go. He knew it would be a great chance to finally find some friends of the opposite gender, and maybe with a little luck...

Lupus shook his head, he wasn't going to think those thoughts. Sure she was pretty, but she wouldn't waste time on a wannabe writer who could just afford a standard lifestyle. Nothing flashy for Lupus. Ushering the dream-like thoughts out of his head he quickly turned his mind to the matter at hand: Whether we would or wouldn't go with the group for the 'big bang'.

Loops thought quickly and quietly, weighing out the positives and negatives of each situation, and really they all balanced each other out. If he didn't he would seem rude and miss the chance to make some new friends, however if he went he would constantly be on mute and would end up in the background... And the thought of that wasn't something that boosted his confidence.

He did his iconic nervous shuffle, which was becoming a regular thing for him. He looked over to Powerkeg.

"Sure, I'd love to." Loops said, trying to keep his voice as calm as possible. It must have worked because his words came out like they normally should. He was rather surprised at his ability to safe calm; he felt like he was drenched in sweat, like a overly nervous cartoon character.

[Tartan Lassie]

    Flyte glanced over her companion and out the window. It was still early, but everypony was starting to sell things already, showing off their many different wares. Flyte found it very it exciting. Though she may live in a year-round fair, other fairs had never lost their excitement and allure. Powderkeg had offered her company for the day, while they went out and explored the second day of the jubilee.

    Flyte thought about it. She didn't want to exert herself too much since she was performing tonight too. But she couldn't see any harm in going out and about for a while. It would be rather lonely to go out on her own, after all and these ponies seemed like good company. Powderkeg was a performer too and Flyte enjoyed the company of enthusiastic performers. Mira and Gearshift were intriguing too and Flyte couldn't resist the idea of getting to know the shy golden stallion beside her.

    "I think it sounds like great fun Powderkeg. I'd be glad to accompany you!" She drained the last of her coffee. "I'm pretty much finished anyway." She reached across Loops to grab another sweetie from the basket, perhaps leaning a little too close to him than was really necessary. She turned to him as she took a bite. "And if everypony's going, I don't want to be the one left out, eh Loops?" She nudged him playfully and stood up. "Whenever you are all ready." She added, trotting over to the counter to hand back her mug.

The trip would probably be fun and she could always excuse herself when she needed to get back to training.

[darktobias13]

Gearshift sat back, amused by the proceedings. If he was guessing correctly, the stallion that they had absorbed into their group was suffering from a fear of the opposite gender ponies that sat with them. He also believed that the other pony, Flyte, was it? He believed that she had a inkling that this was going on, and was doing her best to aggravate it as far as it would go. He threw back his head and started laughing, before swinging around on his seat to land on his hooves. Mira gave him a look, before giggling and popping up onto the table. She pulled out a small comb, and it fanned out to reveal an assortment of combs and brushes. Gearshift smiled and used his telekinesis to start using all of the brushes and her floofy coat was combed down with all utmost speed. She ran her hoof through her short mane and down her long tail before putting her cape and hat back on. She jumped onto Gearshift's back and her tail curled around both of them, as Gearshift stretched out from sitting at the table for a while.

Mira looked excitedly to Flyte,

"OOOH Does that mean that your circus has an illusionist in it? I have yet to meet any other powerful illusion masters, aside from my teacher, Smokey Mirrors, and well....me. Well....me from the future."

As Mira started shooting questions to Flyte, Gearshift leaned to Lupus, saying in a low voice.

"Calm down, mate. They won't bite, just don't show fear or they will never let it go."
Gearshift then turned to answer Powderkeg's invitation.
"I'm coming along for sure, and i know Mira is in, aren't you, Mira?"

"Is that really even a question?"

"Just checking," Gearshift started laughing, and began gathering the power for a teleport, but accidentally activated the wrong thing. His eyes went wide as he realized what had gone off.

To all the ponies watching, Gearshift gulped, became transparent, and fell into the ground. He threw up a hoof to catch the edge of the table, but it sank through the tabletop just as easily as the ground. Mira stared at the ground where he vanished, and started to panic.

"Uhm....Uhm....Help?"

With a roaring noise, Gearshift came flying out of the ground, a rocket attached to his back along with a frame made of wood and fabric to form wings to glide with. He flew through the air, and it quickly became apparent that it was hard to control. He was still transparent and shot through building without damaging anything, but he was trying to figure out how to get off without the rocket hitting everything and causing damage, but still low enough for him to land safely. He sighed, and aimed the rocket for the ground, jumping off at the last second. The rocket became solid again just as the ground covered it, defusing the wick. He hit the ground hard, having flipped off the spell that made him intangible. He rolled over a few times, but jumped up immediately, staggering a bit.

"Ok...so....Tada? I meant to do that? I remember hearing something about pie?"

Mira giggled a bit, before bringing him a glass of water to drink.

"Yeah, hes fine. Just give him a little bit to unscramble his brains."

"Ugh, remaking that frame is going to be a pain, but at least i didn't fall through the mountain..again. Are we going someplace? I don't remember, but lead the way, KowderPeg."

Mira started full out laughing. "Sorry, again, he is going to be a bit loopy for a bit.....but at least hes not being Lupus. Trust me, he has been other ponies before, its not easy to fix."

[waxworks]

"Well what in a blazing bushel a' black powder was that," asked the stunned bat pony, fluttering over towards Gearshift to examine him with a mixture of concern and curiosity. It wasn't every day somepony dropped through the floor only to reemerge strapped to a rocket. Although the site was somewhat familiar to Powderkeg, as a fanged grin snuck across her face as she nudged the slightly scrambled inventor, "now I know y'all know that strappin' yerself to a rocket only gits ya nothin' but disaster. Aaaand a mouthful'a splinters an' dirt."

She spoke with some experience on the subject but shook her head at the thought. "But hey, time's a wastin' and the powder's burnin'! Mira an' Loopy, Flyte an' Loops, an' y'all three," she said pointing a charcoal colored hoof to Jazzy, Gem, and Amber, "c'mon along! Promise yer gonna have a bang!"

With those words she eagerly shot through the growing crowd (which had grown even more at mention of a rocket bursting out of the ground near the cafe), and flapped towards one of the streets lined with vendors. She hung in the air in front of them to make sure her friends were following along, eager to expose them to some festive explosives.

"Now y'all take the word'a one primed pyro-pony, these fellers down in here all got themselves some top notch stuff! That there stallion's Kamuro Tamaya, famed explosive ball maker! Them big festive orange paper balls that're bigger'n Mira here sizzle up fierce an' then give off a big colorful bang. He's got some sorta clever stuff in 'em so it won't set yer mane on fire, so you can even sit on top'a them when y'light 'em. Lessee, that there unicorn is Crosette, I think she's got them fireworks you can git made t'look like somepony's Cutie Mark, over there's Roman, he's got him a mess'a rockets of all shapes an' sizes, Bengal's got things that go zippin' off every which way- HEY! An' the Sparkler Sisters set up their booth down thataways too!"

She grinned at the group and gestured towards the vendors like she was cutting some sort of ribbon, "have at 'em ponies!"

[Tartan Lassie]

    As Flyte rejoined the company, everypony else seemed to follow her example. Flyte watched as Mira leapt on Gearshift's back in an adorable manner. She began asking Flyte questions excitedly. Though the trapeze-pony was particular good with children, she really did admire passion in a rookie and frequently gave advice to trainee trapeze-ponies. She smiled at the little filly. "Well, to be quite honest, true Illusionists are really rare. I think only one stallion a the circus is actually an Illusionist. The rest are just ponies that are particularly good at card tricks." She winked at Mira.

    Suddenly, Mira wasn't sitting on Gearshift's back anymore. Because there was not Gearshift to sit on. Before Flyte could even worry about that, he crashed back into the cafe, strapped to a rocket. Flyte was shocked at this, but she tried hard to hide it. Where she lived, this sort of thing often happened but this was slightly out of context. She wondered if he was seriously hurt, but Mira confirmed he was okay and that this was normal for him. Powderkeg was bounding excitedly out into the streets and Flyte was excited to follow. She kept her eyes on the floating bat-pony and beckoned to Lupus. "Come on, let's go!"

    Galloping out into the hustle and bustle, Flyte broke out in a wide smile. Everywhere looked so colourful and exciting. The smell of gunpowder was everywhere and the sound of sizzling filled her ears. Powderkeg starting pointing all sorts of stuff out and Flyte pointed to one specific stall. "Those cutie mark fireworks! How do they do that?" She looked to Powderkeg and bounced up and down slightly. "Can we try them?"

Flyte had decided that this was going to be a day filled with all sorts of fun and games! She couldn't wait to get started!