Lost Muse

by David Silver

44 - Carnival

The three ponies trotted side-by-side down the wide village road. They were outside the town's limits, winding their way towards the lights and cheerful sounds of the carnival that spread out in front of them. Bottom had both her ears trained on it, watching it intently. "I've never visited a real country carnival before. Tell me what I should expect."

"Fun." Day nodded softly. "Stay with us."

Color smiled softly. "And watch out for donkies, if Sunny's right."

"Donkies, got it." Bottom shrugged softly, entirely unconvinced of that danger. "May I bother you, Color, for some bits? We've only just arrived but I see some soft things I'd like to buy."

Color followed her gaze towards a stand that was selling all manner of Equestrian critter, from ponies to manticores, all done up in cute fabric for hugging and enjoying. "Aw, that's cute."

Day moved in between Color and Bottom, leaning towards his stallion friend. "Pass me the bits so I can buy them for her."

"You realize I can hear you, yes?" Bottom smiled gently. "I appreciate the token though."

Color laughed softly as his horn glowed and a bag floated into view with a jingle.

It didn't get far before Bottom snatched it away in her own magic. "There's no reason to carry that so high." She glanced around as she pulled a few coins from within it, passing one to Day, then tucking the bag right back in Color's pocket.

Color blinked at that. "You look nervous. The ponies of this town are nice. Nopony's going to give us a hard time."

Day accepted his bit, dropping it from his mouth onto his hoof. His eyes widened a little. "This is not a single bit." It had too many zeroes...

Bottom raised a brow at that. "What were you going to do with a single bit?"

"Spend it carefully?" Day smiled a little as he tucked the bit away. "I'll need to turn that into smaller coins." He pointed to the stand with the toys of all manner of creature. "Oh look, maybe they'll have it." He ambled in that direction with an innocent whistle.

Color and Bottom followed along after him. A stallion stood to the side of the stand and gestured at it with a hoof. "Welcome, welcome!" he cried with a grin. "Here to get a little something for the lovely mare?" He waggled his brows towards Bottom, but his eyes were on Day at the front of the line.

Day closed the distance with a soft nod. "Yeah." He looked over the selection, eyes going up and down over the hanging plush toys. "That one." He pointed at a dangling grey form. It was a donkey with goofy eyes.

Bottom snorted out a half-laugh, restraining herself barely.

He surrendered the bit he had to the salespony, who almost tucked it away without looking at it, only to whistle loudly when he saw what he was holding. "Big spender!" The salespony circled around to a register and put the coin in, fetching out a great heaping hoof-full of change to replace it. "For the fancy pony."

Day colored softly. "Nah man. A good friend's treating me." He accepted the change though, tucking it away into his pocket with the jingle of coinage. "Go ahead, Bottom. It's yours now."

Bottom reached out for the donkey with her magic, pulling it closer and gently nuzzling it. "Hello there, you cute little ass. I'm adding you to my collection, are you alright with that? Yes? Fantastic!"

Color smiled at that, nudging against her once. "You have a collection?"

Bottom swiftly colored as if just realizing what she had said in what company. "Is that so wrong?!"

"Not at all." Color shook his head. "It's cute."

Day nodded in easy agreement. "Is that enough? We could get another..."

Bottom tucked her doll away. "This is how you get carried away. Let's enjoy other things, maybe come back later if something catches our eye. One doll for the doll pile is just fine to start."

Color smirked a little as they moved in past some hoop games, ponies tossing hoops at bottles with flicks of their head. "You know,this means we found the donkies."

Day glanced towards where the doll had vanished. "It did have pretty stupid eyes."

"Oh no," dramatically cried Bottom. "We're doomed!" She raised a hoof to adjust her glasses lightly. "Now, will the two strapping stallions with me care to compete for a kiss?" She pointed to the hoop game.

Color swiftly colored. "Bottom! You two are already a thing. I wouldn't dare!"

Day nodded softly. "And he has a mare. She's the jealous kind too."

"I know who she is, and you two will play along and have fun." She looked to the mare running the hoop toss stand. "Get these two some hoops. We have a game to play!"

"You heard the mare." The carnie mare shrugged even as she set down two small stacks of hoops. "No magic." She was glaring at Color as she said that. "Practically cheating. No stepping past the line either. A nice smooth toss and if you get it to stick to the bottle, you get a prize." Her expression deepened into a lecherous smirk. "Though it looks like you already got one coming."

Laughing nervously, Color advanced to take the first hoop in his mouth, clenched in his teeth. "No hard feelings, right?"

"This is her idea, not yours," assured Bottom as he took up another. "I didn't know I was with that kind of mare."

A hoop sailed through the air, unleashed by Color with a flick. Even as it soared he wondered how badly a unicorn could cheat if they really wanted to. He couldn't even finish the thought before the hoop came back down, just to bounce off the lip of a bottle, clattering to join so many other failed hoops.

"Is that the best you have?" taunted the carnie mare, her bright colors jostling in her movements. "Give it another try. I know you have better hiding in there."

Day swayed his head up and down, the hoop swinging back and forth in his mouth. On the fourth sway, he let go and the hoop arced up and away, spinning around back towards himself as it went. It landed straight on the bottle, but struck with the circle facing Day, bouncing off the top and plummeted down to join Color's.

Bottom shook her head. "Get your act together, boys. I know you can do better."

The carnie mare smiled at Bottom brightly. "What a spicy lady. Why don't you show these colts how it's done?" She set down a new little pile of hoops and gestured at it. "Go on."

Bottom stepped up to the pile and plucked up one with her magic only to transfer it to her mouth. "I hope you're ready to be embarrassed." She gave a quick flick, but it wasn't just her hoop that went flying. Her glasses soared right along with it.

The hoop sailed right over all the bottles, hitting the back of the tent with a soft thump, sliding down to join others that had gone too far. Her glasses didn't get that far, coming down in the second right, adorning a bottle like the glass had a vision problem that Bottom had been trying to address.

The carnie mare burst into laughter. "That doesn't count," she jovially noted as she moved to fetch the glasses carefully. "Here you are. I know that's exactly what you meant to do."

"Of course," laughed Bottom, accepting her glasses in her magic and getting them back on her snout. "Now, while she says it doesn't count, I have to argue. I say mine is the closest so far, so you'd better step up your game, you two."

Color tilted his head. "We're counting your glasses for closeness?" As soon as the carnie mare had moved, he released his second throw. The hoop snagged the top, but limply hung there instead of falling onto the neck as required. "Close..."

"Really close," agreed Day with a smile. "Let's see..." He placidly stood there, considering his move.

Rather than wait, Color took his third of four hoops and launched it. It was just a little too strong, landing behind the bottle he was aiming for. He clopped the ground in frustration as he reached for the last hoop.

Bottom put a hoof over her face, holding her glasses back as she willed her second hoop into her mouth. She made a much more demure toss and the hoop bounced off the first row.

"Mmm..." Bottom began to sway, the hoop going back and forth, rotating with the rest of him in a counter-rhythm.

Color perked an ear at his friend, watching him sway back and forth a moment. He didn't seem to be stopping. "I'll just... make my last throw." He gave a flick and the hoop sailed to the right, bouncing off a bottle in the third row. "Aw..."

Bottom picked up her third and lobbed it, getting just after the first row instead. "Closing in..."

Day opened his mouth mid-sway and the hoop went twirling away, dancing in air as gracefully as the pony that launched it wasn't. It hit the neck of the bottle and kept rotating, sliding right on, but too powerfully, it bounced up and off. "Close..." He reached for his third hoop.

Bottom smiled at that. "We're both closing in. Which will be the first?" She picked up her last hoop, eyeing the first row. "What do you get for the first row?"

The carnie gestured at the smallest toys and balloons. "Easiest bottles, smallest prizes. That's the way the hoop flies."

She considered her angle and let the hoop go. It hit the neck and seemed ready to fall but its momentum made it bounce back, flopping down artlessly. "Shoot..." She shrugged softly. "Tried."

Day had the last hoop of them all and was already swaying back and forth and back and forth. He released the hoop and it went flying not towards the bottles, but at the carnie. It landed right on her covered head, revealing a lump as it adorned her previously concealed horn. "I think I win."

The carnie's teeth set even as she forced a laugh. "I'm not a bottle... but I suppose I'll give you something." She brushed the hoop away, resuming her appearance of an earth pony. "You can pick any prize from the mid-tier." She gestured at the prizes that were neither small nor huge.

Bottom smiled gently. "I wouldn't want one of those huge ones anyway." She leaned in towards Day. "Good eye. I didn't even notice it... Can I have... that one?" She pointed to a stereotypically carnie-dressed pony. "To remember the day."

The mare laughed as she went to fetch it down. "Is that your subtle way of noting you like what you see? Not while I'm duty, precious."

Day reached out a hoof to accept the prize, but was stunned suddenly. Bottom had planted a big wet kiss on his cheek. "O-oh."

"You did win," she reminded. "That was fun!" With a glowing horn, she took the doll from the carnie. "Let's find a... slightly less rigged game."

Color puffed out his chest. "Oh, that's easy. Find the ones that don't have prizes. No prizes, no reason to tilt the odds in their favor."

Despite his advice, Bottom was veering towards a stallion dressed as a gypsy with a crystal ball. A sign read beside him 'Will guess your age and tell your fortune, 1 bit.'

"Just one bit?" Bottom approached eagerly. "I'll take that. Come on. Let's see what destiny has in store for us."

Day followed along happily, still floating from his sudden kiss.

Color looked more skeptical. "He's just good with ponies. It's rigged in a different way."

"So cold," spoke the gypsy stallion. "Come, sit. Allow me a chance to prove myself before you write me down as a fraud. I can hear the whispers of the next world, and they have much to tell me about all of you." He gestured to a tin with a picture of a bit on it.

Author's Note:

Carnival time! Woooo!

Ever been to one? Have fun?

Comments

[Emtu]

I've seen videos about how many carnival games are rigged, and a lot of them are obvious if you pay attention. The difference in size between the top of a ring toss bottle and the rings tends to be a millimeter or so. Basketball hoops are a couple feet higher and smaller in diameter than regulation. The list goes on.

Edit: Another common one I just remembered: The one where you throw darts at balloons, the balloons are under-filled and the darts are dull.

[Dashie04]

I was worried you”d use the same thing from that one Equestria Girls thing. But it’s different enough that I can’t criticize you for copying anything.

[David Silver]

9372501
I feel like I missed something.

[Dashie04]

9372598
Equestria Girls, Rollercoaster of Friendship, I believe it was, where the Humane 7 visit the carnival and Sci-Twi (she’s the one who wears glasses) takes on a carnival game run by the FlimFlam brothers. She uses an absurd amount of physics to launch the ring perfectly at the bottle and it pops off due to the rigged carnival game. I was a little worried you would do that, but you didn’t.

[David Silver]

9372830
Ah, I didn't see that one, though it is eery that we went down the same path.