Pacifica blew out a ring of smoke. She leaned against the flank of a Unicorn as the horse gazed at itself in the water. Her purple cig holder matched her jacket and she scowled when it suddenly changed to orange.
"Change it back," she said, The unicorn rolled its eyes.
"You're no fun," she sighed, "You used to enjoy these kinds of things."
That had been before Dipper had sent his latest text. He'd been standing next to a girl she didn't know…and even Pacifica had to admit she was pretty. It had been a prom picture. She had one herself with her date…but that was different.
"Its not fair that I only get to see him for the summer! Everyone else gets to see him for a lot longer!"
The horse sighed, "this again?"
"I liked him first!"
"yeah, that doesn't men anything dear," she said shaking her mane, "unless you can make the perfect impression on him in two months, you got nothing. Time to move. On."
But Pacifica didn't want to move on. There wasn't anyone in all of Gravity Falls that had a high enough IQ to even be mildly interesting.
The Unicorn started to change the cig holder all sorts of different colors. Pacifica rolled her eyes and smoked some more. She watched the squirrels jump from branch to branch, and a few gnomes were running across the clearing, tipping over themselves.
She laughed and then froze.
That was it.
If she wanted his attention, she'd have to either go big or go BIGGER!

Pacifica burst into the science lab after school. Even though her family had fallen from grace, the teachers still didn't have the nerve to tell her she couldn't smoke in school. So she sauntered in with her purple cig-holder. The club meeting there panicked as she flipped on the lights and made her way over to the shortest person.
Giddeon scowled at her as she towered over him.
"What do you want Northwest?"
"I need your help," she said and shoved a folded piece of paper in his face, "You have connections, and I need these items ASAP."
"Ha!" He didn't even take the paper, "I don't have to do anything you say. You can't-"
"It will make Mabel happy."
"What?"
"I know you still text her."
Giddeon scowled, "I do not. I have a girlfriend!"
"No you don't. Magen dumped you and you've been texting Mabel again for the last three months. I know this because I also have connections. But these items are something I need you to get."
Giddeon blushed and snatched the paper from her hands. Looking at it he wondered if she hadn't given him the wrong list.
"This says you want a cannon large enough to fit people in," Giddeon said waving it in the air, "and a metal cage, and- what was it? – a ten story tower? What on earth would you ever want this for?"
"Just get it," Pacifica snapped, flicking her cig-holder, "I'll pay you, but I need the material to be top notch, got it?"
The boy rolled his eyes, "Fine, but you owe me. Next time I ask for a favor you have to say 'yes'."
"Deal."

()

Pacifica left the school, stole Giddeons bike, and rode it out to a small log cabin just outside of town. Manly Dan should be at work, and she only had a small window of opportunity to make this deal work.

She knocked on the door and an older version of Wendy answered the door…just shorter and more feminine. The woman stood with her hands on her hips, a dark green dress that fluttered around her knees, and a cigar protruding out of her mouth.

This was Mrs. Corduroy, one of the top demolition experts in the country. She moved from job to job, so she wasn't home that often. Pacifica had heard she was back in town and no one knew when she'd leave again.

"What'd'ya need kid?"

"Explosives," Pacifica said immediately, then realized that probably wasn't the best lead in to the conversation she wanted to have.

Luckily for her, Wendy's mom thought it was great. When she was done laughing, she invited the girl into the house.

She handed Pacifica a soda and sat down at the table.

"how 'bout you start from the beginning?"

Pacifica outlined her brain child, she'd even brought diagrams, a budget table, and had everything she would need organized perfectly in a robins egg blue binder.

Mrs. Corduroy blew out a plum of smoke that filled the kitchen with an earthy sent. Pacifica lit her own and added to the haze. The woman analyzed Pacificas work and nodded.

"this is pretty cool. I can get you what you need, but might I suggest a few changes," She held out a hand and Pacifica reached into her bag to grab a pen. Mrs. Corduroy made a few detail corrections. Pacifica had done her research well and had everything from brand names of specific items she wanted. But Wendy's mom was changing that.

"the people you have down are good, but if you want something unique, you have to find the backwater makers. These people started their business putting cherry bombs in mayo jars; they've experimented enough that I'm sure they will have everything you want and more."

"Can you help me get it?"

"Sure, but next time I'm in town you have to do me a favor, on top of what this will cost."

"Deal," Pacifica said.

School ended and Pacifica raced to the fair grounds on the West side of town. The tent was pitched to one side and was full of equipment. The performers had been practicing for a month now and everything was looking good. The cannon was clean. The outfits were picked out. The tigers and elephants were fed and happy.
She had two weeks before Dipper... and Mabel- got there.
Two week to make everything perfect.

Dipper and Mabel laughed and goofed off as they rode the bus up to Gravity Falls. they had returned to Gravity Falls every summer since their first time. They only had two summers left of school and then it would be the real world for them. they planned to make every day count.
"Hey! How was school?"
"Why ask such a horrible question," Stan snapped, shoving Ford aside as he embraced the twins, "there's no room for school in summer!"
Ford rolled his eyes, "forgive me..."
"School was fine, Grunkle Ford," Mabel said hugging him, "I got an A in English this last year!"
"that's wonderful!"
"Its because the teacher is fond of 'individual expression' and thought Mabel was a genius when she wrote a story about Bill. He thought it was her commentary on 'physiology vs reality'."
"I didn't have the heart to tell him it was based on an actual demon," Mabel added, "he was just so excited."
"And A is an A," Stan patted her head, "you did wonderfully pumpkin."

Pacifica took a deep breath as she glanced down at her phone. Dipper…and Mabel were back in town. They'd just arrived today.
She would wait a few days, let them settle in, then she would enact her plan.

Dipper answered the door one morning during breakfast. He was still in his ratty t-shirt that had holes in it and a pair of just as ragged shorts. It was his preferred sleepwear.
"Oh, hey Pacifica, what's up?" He smiled at her as he opened the door wider. She blushed and beamed.
"Oh, nothing much, I just wanted to give you guys a, um, welcome back gift!" she laughed and handed Dipper five tickets.
"…what's this for?"
"You haven't heard?" her smiled faltered. He plan centered around the fact that nothing was a secret in this forsaken town.
"Nope," Dipper looked at the raffle like tickets and raised an eyebrow, "is this for the arcade or something?"
"NO!" she snapped, then bit her lip, "I mean, noooo, its, um, you see there's a circus in town! And I just thought you would- I mean you and Mabel would like to go!"
She cursed her voice for squeaking.
"A circus…" Dipper grimaced as Mabel shoved him out of the way.
"A CIRCUS?! I LOVE CIRCUSES!" She snatched the tickets, "WHOO-HOO!"
"Do…do you not like them?" Pacifica asked, the blood draining from her face.
"So long as I don't run into any clowns, I'm fine," Dipper shuddered, "I hate clowns…"
"Oh, well, they're not like, traditional clowns," she rushed, "I got the gnomes in the forest to help and they'll be doing a lot of the comedy and-"
"The Gnomes are part of it?
"And what do you mean that 'you go them'?"
The twins stared at her and she swallowed hard, "welllll…I may or may not be the one putting the show on…."
They stared for a while more, then they laughed, "That's awesome!"
"I'll totally go," Dipper grinned, "clowns or no. I've got to see this."
Pacifica felt her heart in her throat as she walked away from the Shack. That whole conversation had been a rollercoaster. She had thought Dipper would like the Circus…Wendy had said he'd liked the Carnival. She could've kicked herself for not doing more research.
Instead she lit another cig.

()

Dipper and Mabel found their seats. Stan settled in on the bench behind them. Ford, not interested in the slightest, stayed at home. They each had their own popcorn and Mabel had grabbed three cotton candies.

Pacifica opened the tent flap and peaked out.

The tent was situated on the edge of the parade grounds that Gravity Falls usually used for other festivals and activities. The evening air was still warm as people trickled in. She watched the twins take their seat and felt her stomach do a flop.

"You stink with anxiety," the unicorn replied poking her with its horn, "stress any more and it will rub off on everyone else. And I don't want to stink."

"Sorry," Pacifica straightened up and adjusted her bright red traditional ringmasters outfit. It was only altered in a small way. She had a skirt instead of pants and the tail coats reached to an inch above the ground. The buttons were studded with glass gems and the rope on one shoulder gave it more of a militaristic feel. Her hat was tall with feathers as red as her jacket and lined with the same gems as her buttons. Her shoes were bright red stilettos and they would spark on the ground outside when she walked. And of course, her cig holder matched as well.

There was no way she would get through this night without it.

"Alright, is everyone ready?!"

There was a chorus of cheers from her actors and artists. With a flourish, she flung the tent flap open and walked out into the late evening.

She spun, her hair down and loose to cause the maximum effect. The music blared and her movements were perfectly on beat. She beamed her brightest as she gestured to the actors following behind her. They paraded around the grounds to deafening applause.

As the actors showed off, Pacifica ran up to the bleachers. She high-fived a few people and when she got to Dipper she winked at him and shoved a lit cigar in his mouth. It was probably five times bigger than a normal cigar, and his stunned face made it that much more of a treasure. She laughed as she hopped down from the railing and made her way back to the center of the field.

The parade part over, she clapped her hands and waved her arm, indicated the first act, a simple show of acrobatics. Jeff the gnome directed squirrels and rabbits in a remarkable array of flexibility…until one of the squirrels decided he'd much rather attack Mrs. Jamsons face. The other squirrels saw this, thought it was a great idea and joined in on attacking a few audience members.

They ran screaming from the bleachers while some people winced and others laughed.

Pacifica bit her lip as Jeff came back with half his act.

"Too much pressure," Jeff shrugged and went to get ready for his next turn. Pacifica took a huff and snapped her fingers. Everything that had been red changed to purple. She walked out to announce the next act.

One by one the acts failed.

The Unicorn trick riding left one girl with a broken leg and a unicorn with a chipped horn.

The Multi-bear juggling act left two of his head unconscious and he stubbed his toe walking out.

The gnome clown show was great, until Schmebulock started to cry from nerves and everyone lost their nerve. They ended up scattering and not even going back to the tent.

The elephants decided that tonight was the night they would do their own thing. After two weeks of perfect practice, one took a nap, another sprayed the audience with water, and the third tried to run away.

The Minator show was a disaster from start to finish. Pacifica had looked on in utter horror as all they did was argue and fight.

The tigers, thankfully, stayed in their cages. But one ate a fairy and was now floating five feet above the ground…upside down.

It was good and dark out now, the show lit by stadium lights and tiki torches to ward the mosquitoes away.

She looked down at her outfit which had changed color with each performance. The style had also been changing little by little. She now only had one sleeve and her outfit was now more a dress rather than a suit and skirt. The collar was gone and the other sleeve was now billowing and long. Her hat had also changed from its top hat style to more of a twenties style flat cap. The feathers were still there and still matched the color of her outfit.

With one more snap, the color changed to glitter-balck and white. Her second to final outfit.

This one had to work.

It just had to.

She drew a long huff from her cig-holder (which had also changed with each outfit) and let it out slowly, but as she went to lift the flap, to announce the last and final act, one of the minators bumped her. Her cig and holder fell to the ground and with a feint snap, the hoof came down and crushed it.

"Oh, sorry," he said, lifting his hoof as though he'd stepped on something gooey. Then he walked off. Pacifica held in the scream that she wanted to express, and instead flung the tent flap open harder than normal. Smiling against all her rage she announced that she would need a volunteer from the audience.

It was met with silence. They had seen how they show was going so far, they didn't trust her with their safety. She didn't blame them.

The Minators rolled out the cannon and Pacifica gestured to it, "A once in a life time opportunity to be shot out of a cannon!"

"ME!" Mabels voice echoed into the night sky, "MEMEMEMEME!"

She was climbing over the railing and sprinting over to Pacifica before anyone could stop her. Pacifica swallowed hard. Now this had to work. If anything went wrong and she hurt his sister, Dipper would never forgive her.

They fitted Mabel into the safety gear and helped her into the cannon. She squealed with delight as she slid down the barrol.

Pacifica reached into her pocket…

And it was empty.

Where was the lighter?!

She began to sweat as she thought about what to do. She couldn't run into the tent to get them without looking like a fool and she had no way of signaling to anyone in the tent to bring them out!

She could sense the audience waiting for her. Each second felt like a year as her brain beat itself trying to figure out what to do.

Then she saw it. Dipper, with a curious look on his face, the cigar still hanging from between his teeth.

Bingo.

She sprinted across the grounds and leapt up onto the railing. She snatched the cigar out of his mouth, took a long puff to calm her raw nerves, and, because she felt she needed to play this off as part of the act, she winked at him and waved to the audience.

They laughed, some whistled, and they applauded as she made her way, dramatically, back to the cannon.

She lit the fuse.

The fuse was also connected to the grand finale of fireworks she had positioned just out of sight of the stadium lights. It was timed so that, when Mabel landed safely and the audience applauded, the fire works would go off. Then she'd snap her fingers one more time into her final outfit right in front of everyone and it would be glorious and showy.

As she stepped back she eyed the net that would catch Mabel and prayed she wouldn't be over shot.

If only that were the problem.

The cannon exploded.

Pacifica jumped and bit the cigar in half.

Mabel shot into the air at an odd angle and pieces of metal and fire flew everywhere. Guests screamed and everyone ran for their lives. The tent caught on fire, causing a panic there. And in the back ground, fire works were going off without a hitch as the world burned.

Pacifica stared at the chaos. Eyes wide, she chewed the cigar as she looked at the devastation and chaos. Her ears ringing from being too close to the explosion, but, amazingly, she wasn't hurt. The screams from the towns people faded as they all ran away.

Pacifica swallowed, and hiccupped.

Mabels maniacal laughter could be heard filling the sudden silence as she falls from the sky like a shooting star. Light trailing behind her as her sweaters on fire.

She lands spectacularly in the elephant feed. She cackles as she pats out the fire and Dipper and Stan run towards her.

And that was it.

She turned and started to walk away into the dark. She'd take the long way home…away from sidewalks and streets where she would obviously be the object of ridicule and scorn.

Dipper would hate her by now.

She blinked tears from her eyes and kicked off her shoes.

Stupid things.

She hated everything. How had it gone so wrong when everything had been so right?! She had worked so hard! The price she'd set for the tickets wouldn't even cover half of the costs of the show and that was BEFORE the disaster. Now she could expect medical bills, insurance claims, and who knew what else.

She was so stupid…doing all this for a guy…what even was the point?!

"PACIFICA!"

"PACIFICA, WAIT UP!"

She stopped and turned around to see Dipper and Mabel running after her. They waved flashlights and glow sticks in her direction. When they caught up to her, Dipper grabbed her long sleeve and started to tug on it..

"What are you doing?"

"We could see you from the parade grounds," Mabel chuckled, "your sleeve was on fire!"

"…it was?" She sniffed and looked at the chard remains of her sleeve as Dipper stepped back.

"All safe now," he said and grinned at her, "that was quite the show."

"…it was terrible.." she sniffed and rubbed her eyes, "a complete and utter disgrace…"

"I had a BLAST!" Mabel cried and laughed, "Seriously, puns aside, it was really fun."

"Did you see that squirrel go after Tobby?" Dipper laughed, "It was like he had a personal vendetta against him!"

"I loved the Elephants, they were hysterical!"

"The gnomes were awesome. Poor Schmebulock, though. I had no idea they could pull off stunts like that."

"I want that tiger! I didn't know eating a fairy could make you fly!"

"Who knew the unicorns could also be useful?"

They talked back and fourth about how much fun the show really was and Pacifica couldn't believe her ears. She'd been told all her life that perfection was key. Perfection was what would let you win.

"Oh dear," Mabel gasped as the twins finally notice that Pacifica was crying.

"Heyheyheyhey!" the twins reached out together and tried to wipe away the tears. With four hands in her face, Pacifica batted them away.

"It was awful!" she snapped, "I'm terrible! Nothing I do is ever right!"

"Yeah," Dipper sighed and Mable hit him, but he kept going, "you've been working hard at the diner, Giddeon told us yesterday how much effort you put into this, you made the tickets to the show cheep so people could come, and you actually put a lot of thought into all this…"

Dipper bent over a little so he could be face to face with her.

When had he gotten that tall?!

"you're the worst," Dipper said, a snarky grin on his face as he gently wiped soot off her nose. Then he took her hand and pulled her along.

Mabel stepped back and watched.

Oh yeah, she thought, my plan went perfect.