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And On and on1,096 words
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Isn't it a Thrill

Trixie stifled a yawn.

“This is boring.”

“Trix, be nice.” Flash nudged her.

“What’s to be nice about?” the mare motioned towards the scene in front of them: a young pegasus performed a loop de loop and corkscrew.

“They’re kids, what were you expecting? Wonderbolt level material?”

“If you listen to what Rainbow Dash claims about Treble, yes.”

Octavia stifled a laugh as the pegasus glared at her. Treble rolled her eyes, while Sonata continued to snore.

“Trixie…”

“What? Are you paying attention to what she’s saying?”

“You say the same thing about Curtain Call.”

“That’s different.”

“Hardly. It’s a pair of mothers who think their child is the best and brightest,” Octavia interrupted.

“Yes, Exac…” Trixie trailed off, realizing what had been said. The show mare huffed and pouted.

“Savage, Tavia.” Dash muttered.

“One has to be to live with you.”

“Yea...wait a minute” Dash paused midsentence, “...Not cool.”

“She got you good, mom.” Treble snickered.

---

Curtain Call and Airwave sat, still waiting for their turn. The room remained empty save for the two of them.

“...Nervous?” the colt asked.

“Not really.”

“How come?”

“It’s like when I was in the talent show at school,” Curtain Call scratched her neck, “It’s the same as that, just go out and perform.”

“...Yeah.”

“Didn’t Treble say anything to you?”

“...No.” Airwave sulked, “Nothing helpful, anyway.”

“Alright, kids.” A middle-aged mare appeared in front of the two, “One of you’s gotta go next.”

“Can we go at the same time?” The two asked in unison.

The mare paused, pursing her lips in thought, “Let me go ask if it’s alright.”

She trotted off as the two began to prepare. Curtain Call got up and extended her wings, checking the hidden streamers and little paper globes hidden in her feathers. Airwave put away his music player as he also got to his hooves. The two continued to stretch and warm up.

“What if she says no?”

“Can we squeeze past her and both go anyway?” Curtain Call’s eyes lit up, “I could throw a glitter bomb in her face and we could sneak by.”

“...That might just get you disqualified.”

“...Not if I do awesomely.”

“No, that would still get you disqualified.” The two jumped as another voice responded. They spun around as the mare smiled back.
“However, the other judges have discussed it, and agreed. But, this means that you’re technically sabotaging yourselves.” She paused and closed her eyes, “Because not only are you two trying to outshine the other, but you’ll have to do better than all the previous competitors. Do you two still want to go at the same time?”

She opened her eyes, only to find an empty room.

“....Pfft. Little daredevils, wish we had more like them in this.”

---

“Shhh, they’re announcing the next competitor,” Octavia interrupted.

“Fillies and Gentlecolts! For the last round, we have not one, but TWO performers at the same time! For our final contestants, Curtain Call and Airwave!”

“WHAT?!?” Dash and Trixie jolted up.

“....We probably should have seen this coming,” Octavia sighed.

“...Well, how bad can it be?” Flash responded, “They’re both….”

“PRESENTING THE MOST MAGNIFICENT FLIER THAT YOU HAVE EVER LAID EYES ON! COMING FROM THE CRYSTAL EMPIRE, IT IS...THE MAGNIFICENT, THE ILLUSTRIOUS, THE GREAT AND POWERFUL CURTAIN CALL!”

With the last statement, a cloud of glitter and colored smoke erupted from the starting line. Trixie turned bright red with embarrassment as the ponies seated around her all stared at her. Flash slumped down, putting his face in his hooves.

After a moment, the smoke dispersed revealing Curtain Call and Airwave, sputtering, coughing and shaking off the glitter.

“That could have gone better.” Airwave blew the glitter off his wings.

“Sorry.”

With a shrug, Airwave launched into the air, with a burst of speed and sound. A blast of musical tones hung in the air after him. As he swooped, spun, twisted, accelerated and slowed, the tones shifted.

“How’s he doing that?” Flash turned to Octavia.

“It’s apparently part of his special talent. Sound manipulation depending on what he does when he speeds up.”

“...So he always makes noise when he flies?”

“No, only at higher speeds,” Dash added, “It’s kinda cool actually.”

“Does he know any songs?” Trixie asked, “He’s not very harmonic.”

“He’s learning. I’ve tried, but…”

“But he runs out in the middle of the lessons,” Treble adds.

“..Yes. He does.”

“It’s still not bad,” Flash admitted.

“Hmph,” Curtain Call checked her wings and took off, leaving a trail of glitter colored smoke behind her.

“Where is all the smoke coming from?” Dash frowned.

“Smoke Bomb.” Flash responded.

“Under her wings?”

“They’re stage smoke bombs. Specially designed so that it’s more of a chemical reaction that leaves out the need for fire.”

“So you let her hid them in her wings?” Octavia frowned.

“They’re child friendly,” I wouldn’t have given them to her if they weren’t.” Trixie huffed, “I’m not going to give her anything I wouldn’t personally trust myself.”

“Did you test them?” Flash asked.

“I did.”

“....That explains why the fire department showed up.” He muttered.

The two foals continued to loop, dive and perform stunts independent of each other. After performing a corkscrew, the two moved next to each other.

“Should we try to do something together?” Airwave asked.

“Like what?” Curtain Call asked

“Well, Mom said two ponies working together can make a tornado.”

“Yeah, but…”

“It’ll be a small tornado. And you can open the glitter bombs in it.”

“Let’s do it!”

The two began to circle each other in the middle of the arena.

“What are they doing?” Trixie frowned.

“...I’m not su-” Octavia was cut off as Dash slammed both hooves on the cloud.

“ARE THEY STUPID?” She snapped.

“...What are you talking about?”

“Those two are trying to make a tornado.” Dash stood up, “I’m going to stop them before they do something st-”

“Hold on, Dash,” Flash interrupted.

“What do you mean, ‘Hold on’?” She snapped back, “They don’t have the experience to do-”

“Dash, think about it. Do you really think anypony here would let it get out of control?”

“...Probably not.” Dash sulked as she sat down again.

“Somepony will intervene, especially if it looks like they’re going to lose control,” Flash grinned, “Until then, let’s see if they can pull it off.”

Curtain Call gritted her teeth as she continued to pick up speed.

“I think we got it!” Airwave yelled back.

“You think so?”

“Yeah!”

The audience watched in nervous silence as the beginnings of a funnel cloud began to form. As the two picked up speed, the funnel cloud began to grow larger and larger.

“...They’ve got it under control,” Flash chuckled, “Good synergy and teamwork.”

“...Yeah,” Dash admitted, “Better than some of the knuckleheads on the Canterlot weather teams.”

“OK!” Airwave yelled at Curtain Call, “Let’s finish this off!”

“With what?”

“You still got your glitter bombs?”

“Yeah.”

“Let’m rip!”

The filly fumbled around a bit, looking for something. After a moment, she nabbed a string and yanked it. From beneath her wings, a flurry of glitter erupted, mixing into the tornado winds. From outside, the crowd oohed and ahhed as the multicolored glitter began to mix into the tornado.

“Is that….Glitter?” Octavia frowned.

“...Trixie, I thought we agreed that we weren’t giving her any more glitter bombs.”

“For Hearth’s Warming and her birthday.”

“You know what I meant.” Flash firmly replied.

“...I thought it would add some flair to her performance,” Trixie huffed.

“How come she’s not supposed to have glitter bombs, Mr. Sentry?” Sonata asked.

“Trixie gave her a set of Thirty for Heart’s Warming. By the end of that day she used Twenty-Seven of them,” Flash shook his head at the memory, “We were still cleaning glitter out of the house for weeks.”

“Oh,” Sonata looked back at the glittering tornado, and back up to her parents, “Can…”

“No.” Octavia and Rainbow Dash replied in unison.

“I didn’t even get t-”

“Still no.”

Curtain Call and Airwave shot out of the center of the tornado, forcing it to dissipate in a burst of sound, wind and glitter. The two zipped up and looked around at the crowds: silent and covered in glitter. After a moment the crowd began to cheer and applaud for the two.

Flash shook off the glitter, “That went well.”

Dash coughed, spitting out a mouthful of glitter.
“Could have gone better.”

---

A horde of colts and fillies sat in front of the announcement stand as the entire stadium waited.

“Can we go yet, I’m bored,” Sonata grumbled to her mothers.

“Almost, let them announce the winners,”

After another minute, a quartet of ponies trotted out and took their seats behind a table. Another pony trotted up to the microphone and cleared her throat.

“Fillies and Gentlecolts, the judges have made their decisions! In third place…” she glanced down at the piece of paper, “Solar Flare!”

An orange colt, jumped up, yelling excitedly. He quickly flittered forward, landing in front of one of the judges who placed a medal over his neck.

“In second place…” the mare looked up, smiling, “We have a tie! Second place is Curtain Call and Airwave!”

“YES!” Trixie and Rainbow Dash yelled in unison, jumping up to their hooves. Flash shook his head and sighed, while Octavia rolled her eyes.

The two fillies flittered out of the crowd and took their place at the front. Two judges leaned over and placed their medals over their necks.

“Convenient that they had an extra,” Octavia noted.

“They make extras,” Dash shrugged, “They made the mistake of not having enough before.”

“And finally, the moment you all have been waiting for…” the announcer glanced down at her paper, “In first place, Cinder Cone!”

A nonchalant looking gray filly trotted forward and took her place next to Curtain Call and Airwave. She bowed slightly and accepted her medal. After a moment she turned to look at Airwave and Curtain Call.

“I liked your performance better,” she stated in a nearly monotone voice.

“Thanks!” The two beamed.

“Fillies and Gentlecolts, here are your winners for this year’s competition!”

Applause and cheers erupted from throughout the stadium as the audience and participants celebrated.

“YEAH!” A buff white pegasus stallion yelled and clapped his hooves together, “My little girl did it!”

“Yay.” the Gray earth mare seated next to him clapped, her face locked into a neutral expression.

“C’mon!” The stallion nudged her, “I wanna hear you really cheer for her!”

“Darling, can’t you see that I’m overwhelmed with excitement?”

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