Embers Fall

by CrimsonWave

24 - Best Intentions

The first few days of the Gathering for Obscurus & Co. went smoothly, but there was still some room for improvement. For one, both Obscurus and Wave Rider managed to get lost within the Duskgem Ring trying to find the camps where their Sunday, late-afternoon DJ shows were being held. Thankfully, the organizer at Camp Awkward Faux Pas understood the predicament surrounding Obscurus's nearly last-minute arrival (she got the time-based notation of the Ring's "streets" mixed up with the actual time she was supposed to be there by), and let the previous DJ play a few more songs while she regained her bearings.

Meanwhile, Eight Track and Train Spot were trying to assemble their own DJ camp, the House of Pancakes. Its design consisted of a somewhat intricate, wooden DJ stage attached to a large, tent-like enclosure. The only problem, however, was that only Wave Rider had the skills - specifically, the ability to correctly configure the lights, and the ability to fly up and anchor the tent to the roof of the stage - in order to actually finish it. Even worse? They were supposed to open at sunset tonight!

The only appropriate course of action was to revisit how Train Spot and Wave Rider dealt with the gas station incident...

---

Sunday afternoon also marked the arrival of Sun Beamer and Blast Furnace; they had spent most of the day on an orientation quest, scouting some of the important locations within the ring for future reference while Blast Furnace conducted a series of errands with some of the Gathering's volunteers. The last of these errands was a meeting with the head of the Gang of Griffons; they were one of the first art collectives she had helped bring to the Gathering, so Blast Furnace made it a tradition to always check in on them on her first day.

"Guthrie said he'd meet me at his campsite; it's down near the end of the 7:00 spoke." explained Blast Furnace. "Shouldn't take too long; I have a history with his Gang of Griffons, so I always try to have a chat with their leader on the first day I'm here."

"Okay then. While you do that, I'll see if I can find scout out some dinner around here." replied Sun Beamer. "Preferably something that looks certifiably edible."

"Scuttleflank said there was this good smoothie nightclub down this particular spoke this year, but I presume you probably want more of an actual meal." remarked Blast Furnace.

"Okay then. If all else fails, I still have those subs in the RV's fridge." noted Sun Beamer. "Those buy one get one free coupons expired on Monday. Use 'em or lose 'em."

"To be fair, that was actually pretty smart. Most newbies end up trying to boil cup ramen using the heat of the sun." she explained." complimented Blast Furnace. "In the meantime, there's always quite a lot of restaurant and kitchen-type things. Just check the guidebook."

"Anyway, Guthrie's probably waiting for me." she continued. "I'll be about 15-25 minutes or so. We should meet up somewhere afterwards."

"I see some sort of tower up ahead." noticed Sun Beamer.

"Yeah, that could work!" Blast Furnace confirmed as she headed off, confused by the fact that a marker had been erected there to begin with.

"Wait, did we even approve that?" she mumbled to herself.

Meanwhile, Sun Beamer wound up finding a quirky little stall where you could have pork chops and apple sauce, and listen to a zebra reading off her poetry while she cooked it. It was a rather social experience, like many of the things here.

The next order of business was finding the elusive smoothie nightclub that everypony seemed to be talking about. However, Sun Beamer's search was interrupted by an announcement that seemed suspiciously relevant to him.

"Hey everypony, this is Eight Track..." the booming voice said over a speaker. "Does anypony here know how to set up stage lighting?"

Sun Beamer, for obvious reasons, seemed interested.

"We can live without the tent for tonight, but we really need help setting up the rest of the sound and lighting, or there's not gonna be a show tonight." the voice continued. "Which is a shame, cause I had a nice, three-hour set planned. Lots of cool beats."

"What's in it for me?" Sun Beamer said to himself.

"We'll give you stuff!" announced the equine whose name seemed to be Eight Track.

The reward seemed suspiciously verbose, but there's always a chance it could end up being something useful (or just a souvenir).

Sun Beamer galloped over to a campsite that seemed to be under construction; it had a stage, a bunch of poles in the ground, and a collection of wooden tables scattered around. Propped up against one of the poles was a large sign that read "Eight Track's House of Pancakes", along with a small footnote which read "*Does not actually serve food. Bring your own breakfast". It was unsatisfying to know that this was not literally a breakfast club.

He noticed a blue-ish coloured Earth stallion, dressed like an old-school fighter pilot, on an incomplete-looking wooden stage. That must have been Eight Track himself. At the same time, a white-colored unicorn with a poofy, mint-coloured mane walked over to him.

"Hi there! I presume you heard my colleague's call for help?" asked the unicorn.

"Yes, I did. This is technically my vacation, but I actually work for an event production company back at home, so I actually deal with this stuff a lot." explained Sun Beamer. "On a much grander scale recently, I must add."

"How big?" asked the unicorn.

"SSC Las Pegasus big." Sun Beamer replied. "Was not aware something that big happened in my hometown."

"Really? I actually performed there for the first time this year!" the unicorn exclaimed. "Also, what's your name? You look a little familiar for some reason."

"I'm Sun Beamer. From Las Pegasus, of course." he responded.

"I'm Train Spot." the unicorn replied. "Anyway, I remember, a few weeks ago or so, that my friend Wave Rider was showing me some selfies he took at SSC. There were a few with this yellow and orange pony who called himself 'chaos kisol' or something like that."

"That's Chaotic Kisol to you, Train Spot." boasted Sun Beamer. "But anyway, was this pony maroon and wearing green, glowy stuff?"

"Yes." confirmed Train Spot.

"Oh yeah, I think I remember him! We were geeking out about our cyberpunk fashion sense."

"I'm so jealous of his outfits." she continued. "He wanted to make me a suit like his for the Gathering, but had other things he needed to work on."

"Okay then. Speaking of things we need to work on, what exactly do you need me to do?" asked Sun Beamer. "I'll try and keep it quick."