//------------------------------// // Chapter 16 // Story: Mobile Suit Gundam: Alicorn // by Alines Reinhard //------------------------------// After about 20 minutes, the bus finally arrived at the fair. It was not so much a huge fair in terms of size, but the amount of creatures there is just hard to describe. He has to squeeze himself countless times through the crowd to navigate through the fair. A couple of minutes later, he gets to see the map that was handed over by a parrot, which shows the entirety of what is inside the fair: it was basically a game fair, where kingdoms showing their cultures through their traditional entertainment methods. The first tent he came across is the “Hold the Bar” games from Griffonstone. The purpose of the game is to test the player’s vestibule: the players hold their hooves, claws or claws to a wooden bar that connects to a cone, located in the middle of a carousel-like circle. It was decorated with colors that match Griffonstone to remind them, as well as other creatures about their home kingdom. Operating the game is two griffons, tiding themselves through wire that is connected to the bar itself. After a few rounds, they will detach themselves from the bar and let the carousel do the rest. The creatures who play the game have to stand and hold the bar while the carousel-like circle rotates rapidly. One reason that made him decide to make his first stop at “Hold the Bar” is the reward: a specific red scarf that hangs on the highest place on the rewarding shaft. It hangs there like waving at him, asking him to take it along after winning the game. But it could be hard, since the winning creatures have gone through being spinning around for over 7 minutes, the record time that creature could bear through a fast rotating circle for 2 years ago. In order to get that scarf, he has to beat the record. Flash isn't sure if he can go through all of that, but there’s one advantage: he is an MS pilot. After a one of the pony that he met before on the bus failed to go through the first 3 minutes, who was said to be nearly fainted, the announcer said out loud to the crowd: “Who wants to try?” he said “It’s only 7 minutes long!” The crowd tumult for a moment, talking to each other about what creature should do it, and how to do it. When Flash is still wondering if he should try it, suddenly, Grisela’s voice comes by. “Just do it!” the voice said “I know 7 minutes is nothing to you!” He turned around to find who had said that, but realizing who the voice belonged to, he turned back to the game. Then, he decided to just participate. “I’ll do it!” He stunned the crowd by saying it out loud. "I'll beat that record!" “Oh, so you want to do it, soldier?” the announcer said “What’s your name?” “Brandon” “Okay, so every creature, have a big clap for Brandon!” After some little applause from the crowd, Flash stepped on the platform. He noticed that it was pretty high to the ground, that he could see almost every creature in the tent that was also relatively large. Flash stands still as he holds tight to the bar, expecting that the griffons’ speed is not faster than the test he has once gone through during his time at Antarctica base. “If you feel enough is enough, just raise your right hand and we’ll stop!” the announcer said. However, in contrast to his belief, the 2 griffons immediately started the game with high speed flight for a couple of seconds. After a few seconds, they detached the carousel to start to run by its own power. It was called the starting procedure, since it’s traditional Griffonstone’s engineering doesn't allow electricity to get into its component. Despite that, the carousel spinning speed is insanely fast. Flash concentrates all of his strength onto holding the bar, not allowing his mind and eyes to take out of it in a single second. The scene before his eyes was blurred by the speed of the thing, as well as his consciousness due to the fact that he started feeling dizzy. The creatures are still chattering, as if nothing special is happening. Finally, after just about 4 minutes, he has to raise his hand, which signals one of the griffons to press the brake to stop. “Better than our last player, but still can’t beat the record, sadly!” the announcer said with a sad face. “Better luck next time, but you still get this cute stone mug!” “But… Why is that scarf so important?” Flash asked in confusion and frustration “It's just a scarf!” “Well… it’s not a normal scarf…” a pony next to him explained “It belonged to, possibly, one of the greatest griffons of all time: Grisela and color guardian!” “Wh… Wh… What?” he asked in disbelief while still recovering himself from the game. “The griffon that along with her friends brings back the Magic of Rainbow to Griffonstone by teaching the griffon to never stop hoping!” “What nonsense are you talking about?” he mumbled. … Just a few footsteps away, he was greeted by the Yakyakistan’s tent with the decoration reminding the creatures of traditional tents. He has once visited Yakyakistan before, when Princess Cadence had a state level visit there: it was cold and dull, but the warm welcome from the yak still made him feel like home. The main game that the Yakyakistan’s tent showed was called “Stomp till it pop”. The rule is to stomp on some pieces of wood, placed on top of one another in order to break it, creating the large popping sound, hence the name “Stomp till it pop”. However, instead of traditional woods the yaks normally do, they replaced them with wood shaped cardboard. The creature who can make them break faster will win the competition. To make sure the result comes out even, the amount of “woods” placed will vary, depending on the creatures that play the game. Only yaks and buffalos are allowed to play with traditional woods since they are stronger than the majority of creatures. “Hey, blue hair! Didn’t know you were too!” Yamina waved at him as soon as she saw him pop up from the crowd “Do you want to play this? It’s our best traditional game around!” “I guess you must be very proud to see some of your culture presented here, right?” Blue Thunder asked with his hooves around Yamina’s neck “Let me see: “Build a tent”, “Yak’s Carol”,… plenty of the stalls are full already!” “Yeah, you should try it too, Brad!” But one thing, just like the “Hold the bar” game he has played, makes him stay at “Stomp till it pop”: some blue bracelet placed on the rewarding shelf. It was fairly easy to take because it was for the creatures who don’t finish in the top three. However, this also means that he has to be careful not to stomp too hard on the “woods”, since he is an MS pilot, a job which requires a lot of leg strength. He took the position beside Yamina to his left and a buffalo to his right. This made him feel comfortable that he could not end up in the top three, despite knowing that the pile of ‘woods’ he had, which was simply a bunch of cutted off cardboard, was used in order to enhance equality within the competition. Just as the last game, he was also faced with crowds facing the competitors in the bright light of the stage. Every creature seemed a little bit shocked when they saw a human playing an Equus kingdom’s traditional game, but he ignored it. After the announcement and the long introduction, the competition started. The stomping from all the 6 competitors could make an experience that creatures describe as “A large magnitude Earthquake”. Despite the stage that was set for the game is rather large so the competitors could have some space from each other, Flash still can't be sure he could bear himself until the “woods” that he receives finally break. “Gimalla the Speedo Griffon has the first position!” The announcer surprised him with the announcement. “Woah, congrat to her!” Yamina said right next “Seems like some creature could do this better than us!” Then, the buffalo to his right broke the ‘woods’, making him holding the second place. “That’s a good sign for me!” Flash thought “Glad that I don’t have to get that oversized yak’s scarf!” When Yamina broke her own woods and held the third place, he knew his goal was achieved. Turns out, the cardboard ‘woods’ he has is actually harder than he thought, so he has to put more energy into the game, though it is still not all he has. This makes him the last creature to meet the goal and, as said before, having the yak’s bracelet. “Few… That was hard!” he said after the competition was over “But why cardboard, though?” he asked one of the organizing yak. “Yakyakistan woods tend to be harder than most other kinds of woods, since they have to constantly go through freezing conditions.” He said “That’s why yak’s wood is so reliable: they help us a lot, mostly in construction! And…” he looked down the floor “Attract Black Wine. He wanted to have the Jaw Mountain’s wood to have a yak's wood reserve on his own!” “What? How can he…” “Yeah… that’s the truth. You know how racist he is, don’t ya? But hey, at least we have you guys here to fight him alongside the creatures, right?” … The word from the organizing yak has him thinking, mostly about the situation he is currently in and Black Wine, the reason he was immediately drafted by S.M.I.L.E for their MS force. “He is really destroying the harmony that Twilight and her friends have built…” He looked around and sighed. Then, he decided to look at the map for another time to find out what he should do next and what game he should play. However, he soon realized his map had suddenly gone away, mysteriously. “Huh… No… No way!” he gasped in panic “Where’s the map?” He looked at the right pocket of his military trouser several times before looking all over his clothes. It was also important to mention that the scale of the festival is still very large and he underestimated its size when he glanced at one of it’s large maps placed on the main entrance, which was also too crowded to allow him to look at it in detail. Then, accepting it has gone forever, he thought it was better to navigate the place himself with extra help from volunteers. But one event has turned his decision upside down. After just a few seconds after the decision was made and started his walk, suddenly, he stumbled upon a light cerise unicorn with her mane tied into double ponytail style, decorated with a pink dotted strawberry hair clip. She looks strangely familiar to a specific unicorn he saw in his dreams, but her situation prevents him from thinking further. She’s crying out loud while sitting in the middle of the crowd, looking around as if she is looking for something. Her tears ran along her face, making Flash’s heart almost break. He was frustrated to see none of the creatures around seemed to care for the poor little filly. Flash gently come to her, asking: “Wh… What’s going on to you?” he asked “Where are your parents?” “They… I… I lost them!” the filly whimpering “I just finished… a… a game at the kirin stall and… and when I turned around, they… they were all gone!” She burst into crying again, making Flash cover his ear for a moment. He turned around and shouting: “Are there any creatures helping this filly?” Instead of replies, Flash received eyes looking at him weirdly. “Hello, who are these filly parents?” Still no replies, but he kept shouting around to find an answer. After frustrating to see creatures only giving him weird faces at most, he decided to just find the parents by themselves, as Flash said. “Well, guess we have to find your parents on our own for now!” he said “Are you okay with that?” “Yes… Mister, mister…” “Call me Brandon, Brandon Cultrich!” She looked at him suspiciously, but then she decided to just go on. “Okay! Thank you Mister Brandon! My name is… Warmth Sunshine!” she said gently as she wiped her tears “But… Can you help bring me up so I can see further: my legs are tired from running all over the festival to find my mom and dad!” Flash looked around as he wondered if he should do what she told. Then, after seeing her adorable eyes and some push into his leg, he decided to scoop her up. The light cerise pony makes a cute giggle once she is safely in his hand. “Okay, now tell me what should we do now?” “Well, but first…” she pointed to his left. “Can we go to the kirin’s tent?” “Why?” “My parents are probably there!” she said confidently “And by the way… I want to get something for myself…” … The thing that she wants when the two get to the small Kirin Grooves’s tent is one of the two dresses that “can be used for every creature”, said by one the organizer kirin at the stall. He demanded that if won the “Find the rainbow in your friends” game, he would get them as a reward. “So the rule is to find all of the rainbow icons in a piece of paper, where it was mixed with several other objects…” The organizer kirin said “There are 15 in total, pretty easy. However, I only give you about 2 minutes to find them all!” "And... Sorry... Why do you name the game 'Find the Rainbow in your friends'?" "The game is kinda a teamwork game! So, do you have any team? It's okay to only have one friend since you only need one: he or she can be your 'circler' or the 'navigator'!" he asked while turned his back to them, preparing for the game. “Oh, I knew it!” Warmth Sunshine said excitedly “I’ve played it once with a kirin friend and we hooked on that. But I have to warn you that it will not be easy to find: the paper you’ll have is the size of 2 desks! But not to worry: I'll guide you to find them!" "So... you want to be my 'navigator'?" Flash asked. "Yep... you got it right?" “There it is!" The kirin gave them out the paper and a pencil "Do you still want to play?” the organizer kirin said “There are plenty of creatures lining up after you!” The paper was handed to him after a moment, the paper really stunted him with his side, and it was dotted with icons. However, Warmth Sunshine has another plan. She kicked to his right leg slightly: “That’s how I signal you when I find a rainbow. I will point my hove there so you can circle it.” The couple did exactly like what she said. Warmth Sunshine concentration has helped him alot, and the two have a lot of fun together. With her help, the couple finally finished the challenge just 2 seconds away from the deadline. The organizer kirin seems to not be aware of them, since he is chatting with his friends the whole time they play the game. “Woah, you and another kirin couple are the only ones to find all 15 rainbows on a paper like this!” the kirin said in surprise and happiness, as well as confusion “But… who do you talk to while you play?” “Uh… a lost unicorn filly… Haven't you seen her?” "Uh... Nope, buddy! I don't see any filly besides you! Are you okay?" "No... That can't be true!" Flash thought as his eye looked at the filly, as he was sweating and didn't know what to do. The organizer kirin blinking his eyes for a little while before saying: “Anyway, congrat! Now have this cute little dress for your filly or your daughter!” … “Yay! Now we got a dress, I think we can work with each other pretty smoothly!” the pink filly said happily while inspecting the dress “So beautiful… Is it for me?” Flash blinked for a second to find an appropriate answer that would not harm her happy feeling. “Well… It was for a ritual… Sadly…” he replied with hesitant “You might not have matured to understand it yet… But argh, why do I say that? Okay, this is for you!” “Yay!” she cheered. On the way, Warmth Sunshine guided him through the festival to find her parents and find new games to play. When he mentioned “How is your parents look like?” or “How could we identify them?”, she refused to answered, instead she replied with discomfort, as if he is touching her private spot in her: “You’ll know once we see them, okay?” Then, it was her turn to ask: “Why did you lose your map?” “I don’t know… Maybe a mysterious force took it away?” he replied jokingly “There is a fortune teller tent somewhere in this festival. Maybe it was handled by an evil witch that seeks to… imprison us in this festival!” “Oh… I see…” she nodded. After a few minutes of walking, the light cerise filly wanted him to visit a section of the festival, which was occupied by the ponies of Equestria. He heard that Black Wine still allowed the ponies to join the festival in order to avoid more tension, but it seems like with the smile of all creatures and the ponies there, they just don’t care about politics at all, at least for that moment. The filly then ‘forced’ him to get to a hayburger restaurant, where there is another competition to find out what creature can find out the main ingredient in the fastest time for the “Ponyville cheese hayburger” . The price: 100 Best ways for the best easy Equestrian dish, a recipe compilation book which creatures could use to learn how to make, as the title suggests, 100 types of different Equestrian fast food. The book make Warmth Sunshine really happy, as she jumped and asked him: “Can I get that book too? Pleassss!” she pointed her hooves at the book and began begging. “Why do you need that book?” “Because I want it for… one of my friends!” she said happily “I want to bring this to him since he is very busy and also, he doesn't have enough money to buy it back home!” Flash was genuinely surprised by her generosity, to the point that he immediately agreed. “Okay, if you wish!” he said as he looked at the competition. The pal then decided to get in the line and wait for the organizer to help Flash find the position. “Okay, so I’ll take the third position on the row…” There are 5 competitors in total: a unicorn, a Pegasus, a yak, a kirin, him and a changeling. He was pretty confident because he had tried various Ponyville Hayburger types before, during the time he was still Princess Twilight's personal guard. Just like every other game, the game started just after the introduction. However, the hardness of the game just proved how worthy the reward is: some of the ingredients that are included in the burger are the ones that he has never tasted before! It was delicious, but he still can’t figure some of them out. “Appleloosa’s hay and Zap Apple Jam, I knew it. But these vegetables…” he thought “What are they, exactly?” “Sweet Apple Acres spinach and Appleloosa tomato, as well as some Canterlot cheese! They are the best combination of the finest from every corner of Equestria!” Suddenly, a cheerful voice came up. It was BB saying the name of the ingredient for him, which stunted him since he doesn't know how he can know so much about food. And he didn’t stop there: “There are some eggs from Manehattan in the barn as well. They are the most special type of egg that tastes different from every other kind of egg in Equus, which is also why they make the egg half raw in the burger to make sure creatures can taste that difference in its fullest. Oh, and don’t forget pepper, onions and ketchup! Too bad they are normal one that you can buy in the supermarket, so you don’t have to say where they come specifically!” Seizing the opportunity, he wrote down all of the answers and rang the bell, signaling he had finished the challenge. Looking around, he still sees the creatures guessing and writing down their answer, which means he is the first one finished. The result was issued, and despite that he got one of the answers wrong: it was multi-flavor fruit jam instead of Zap Apple Jam, he got the most right answer amongst the competitors, which helped him secure first place and get his hand on the reward: the recipe book. The crowd were highly impressed and gave out a huge applause once he was handed 100 Best ways for the best easy Equestrian dish. “Yay! You made it, you made it!” Warmth Sunshine jumping up in joy along with the crowd. When the two came out of the tent, she casually asked him “How can you make so many right answers? Are there some creatures to help you?” “Uh… Let's just say there are really adorable creatures that helped me through!”