The bright afternoon sun shines down on the chattering, cheery carnival goers while pop music floats down from the loudspeakers. A ferris wheel touches the sky, and a roller coaster twists and turns. A carousel spins merrily, and another fifty foot carousel swings its riders around. Children, teens, adults alike holler with excitement. Small carnival games line the aisles, and a buttery, sweet aroma wafts through the air.

A group of six, Iance, enters the grounds. Ruby cheers, multicolored lights reflecting off of her. Most of the group stare in awe, thinking of all the fun they could have.

"Come on, Ruby!" Flower gestures to the gem, "help me win some prizes!"

"Will do!" Ruby skips, but halts in her tracks. "You wanna come with, Bubble?"

Bubble smiles apologetically. "Oh, soirry, but Oi'm going to help Fanny enjoy hoirself!" She wraps an arm around an annoyed Fanny, who scoffs and looks in the other direction.

Ruby nods, skipping off with Flower while Bubble and Fanny head in another direction. Snowball and Lightning glance at each other.

"Well, that just leaves the two of us," Lightning mumbles. "What do you want to do first?"

"I heard there's always a strong man's game in places like these," Snowball runs off, "and I'm gonna go destroy it!"

"Hey!" Lightning dashes after him, "don't leave me alone!"

After a few minutes, Lightning and Snowball finally find the strong man's game, a tower with a bell on the top, and a lever on the bottom. The few people ahead of Snowball in the line couldn't hit the bell, but Snowball swaggers up to the front like he already knows the outcome.

"One ticket, sir," the carny says. Snowball rips a ticket off the roll and hands it to the carny. Lightning watches in amusement as Snowball lifts the mallet high over his head. Grunting, Snowball pummels the mallet into the lever and the puck shoots up and rings the bell. Lightning and the carny clap.

"Great job! Want to take a prize?" the carny gestures to a few buckets of toys on the side. Snowball digs around, pursing his lips.

"Hmph, I don't play with children's toys! Lightning, do you want to pick one?" Snowball gives way for Lightning to rummage in the buckets. From it, he picks out a small pumpkin plush.

"Bye!" Lightning waves to the carny, who was busy with another customer. He turns to Snowball as they make their way around. "So, what's next? A ride? Maybe some food?"

Snowball smirks. "Roller coaster. The most dangerous one here. You up for it?"

"Yeah!"

On the roller coaster, however, Lightning trembles.

"So, to clarify," he asks the attendant lowering the safety bar, "this is safe, right?" The attendant nods, and locks Lightning in place. Though he has no legs to secure him, the bar is tight on his body. Lightning grips the bar like his life depends on it.

With a jolt, the cars roll forward, leaving the station and climbing up the first hill. Lightning risks a glance over the side- it's a long way to the ground. He swallows, anticipating the first drop that would make his stomach flip. The front car reaches the peak, and dips down slightly. The cars pause for a moment. Lightning holds his breath.

Rushing down and around the tracks, the cars speed on the rails, twisting and turning and going upside down- Lightning is tossed from side to side as he screams, and gets thrown back as the cars move up and down. The racing wind blasting against his face fills his ears and the ground appears and disappears from view, only remaining for a blurry second. His hands sweat from grasping the handlebar so tightly and almost threaten to let go.

The cars round a corner and start to slow. Lightning's heart pounds in his chest as he takes deep, stuttering breaths. The cars roll back into the station and stop, and the attendants lift the safety bar. Lightning stumbles out, watching the legless bendy straw who sat beside him also struggle to hop, ultimately leaning on a laughing party hat.

Lightning floats over to Snowball, who catches him midair.

"Don't tell me you're out of breath, Lightning- that was nothing!"

"Eugh," Lightning groans. "Just gimme a second."

Running down the exit with Lightning tucked in his arm, Snowball goes around visiting some other carnival booths. Soon enough, Lightning joins him, having recovered from his experience. They ride a few more rides and play carnival games, and Lightning laughs as Snowball rages from losing. It's well into the night, and the pair eat some snacks on a bench.

Lightning tears into his salty, buttery pretzel. "So, you think the others should get here soon?"

"Yeah," Snowball nods. He looks to the distance, and something catches his eye. He turns back to Lightning, grinning mischievously. "Hey, I found something over there. Wanna go check it out?"

Lightning nods eagerly, wolfing down the rest of his pretzel and tossing the wrapper in a trash bin. Snowball is already sneaking behind a closed fireworks booth by the time Lightning is done, and the latter zips to his side. A pile of fireworks lies behind the large booth.

"Well, I don't know what else would be behind here," Lightning comments. Snowball picks a rocket up.

"You can light fires, right?"

"Uhh, yeah?" Lightning asks, becoming apprehensive. "Why do you ask?"

Snowball smirks, holding the rocket out to Lightning. "Light it up. Actually," he takes the rocket back, and lines up the fireworks. "Light them all up!"

"I..." Lightning drags, "don't think that's a good idea."

"Don't tell me you're being a wimp!" Snowball accuses. Lightning raises his hands defensively.

"I'm not!"

"Then light 'em on fire!"

Reluctantly, Lightning approaches the lineup of fireworks, and carefully heats himself so that he sets the fuses on fire. He quickly retreats, and watches as the fuses whittle down.

The air explodes with sound and light, as the ground fireworks fizz and sparkle and the aerials shoot up and light up the night sky. Lightning and Snowball step out from behind the booth to view their handiwork as the rest of their team runs to them.

"Ohhh, don't tell me yoiu set thoise foireworks off!" Bubble exclaims.

"We did. What of it?" Snowball stretches, glaring at Bubble.

A few officials run over. "Hey! Were you the ones who set off those fireworks?" a top hat demands.

"It was them!" Flower blurts, pointing to Lightning and Snowball. Lightning guiltily nods while Snowball glares at Flower.

The top hat sighs, pinching at his silk. "Well, you're lucky nothing was damaged, so there's no lawsuit needed. Still, I'm going to have to ask you two to leave now."

"Hmph. We were leaving anyway." Snowball turns and walks off. Lightning squeaks out a sorry before he and the rest of Iance follow him.

"That turned out better than I thought it would," Lightning mutters.

"I hate that you caused such a disturbance! Why would you do that?" Fanny spits.

"Well- Snowball told me to!" Lightning explains, exasperated.

"Because you're a wimp!"

"That's not even a good excuse!"

Bubble comes between Lightning and Snowball, raising her arms. "Okay, that's enoiugh! Loit's just- calm doiwn."

"You don't tell me to calm down!" Snowball shouts, popping Bubble. Ruby rolls her eyes.

"What a baby."

Snowball fumes, and stomps ahead of the rest of the group. Fanny scoffs and Flower sighs, holding her forehead. What a mess.