Chapter 5- Showtime

"Ok, I'll get it this time."

Rainbow was standing next to her friends as Twilight tried to win a prize at ring toss.

So far she had used up eight out of her ten rings. Twilight was getting ready to throw a ring at the same bottle she had been for her last eight tries.

"Here we go," Twilight threw her ring. It flipped twice in the air and came down. The ring hit the tip of the bottle and… fell right off. Twilight only looked a little disappointed, "Oh well, one more try."

Rainbow rolled her eyes tired of waiting for her friends to head to the big top with her. She sighed and asked exasperated, "Ugh! When can we go to the show?"

"Right after I throw this last one," Twilight said taking aim with her last throw.

"Ugh, Twilight you take way to long. Here let me." Rainbow said, grabbing the ring out of Twilights hoof. Without waiting for an answer she tossed the ring at the grand prize target which was a bottle far behind the one Twilight was throwing at. It landed with ease, whirling around the neck of the bottle till it stopped.

The mare running the booth exclaimed, "Good toss! You can have your choice of the prizes in the booth."

Twilight looked around the booth and picked a stuffed Celestia plushy. She giggled as she picked up her prize; it was about the same size as her. She looked quite silly hugging her plush mentor, and giggling like a school filly.

The other mares tried to stifle their chuckles but to no avail, and they all burst out laughing. Twilight looked at them with a raised eyebrow and asked, "What are you girls laughing at?"

Fluttershy was the first to recover from her fit. She then tried to comfort Twilight, "We were just um… laughing at…"

Rainbow calmed down enough to squeak out, "Were laughing at you, Twi!" She then sunk right back into her laughter. Twilight twisted her head sideways and asked, "Why?"

Applejack regained her composure and tried to explain why they were laughing with her, "Well, sugarcube, you kinda looked a mite silly hugging that plush."

Rarity gathered herself and said, "Yes, were quite sorry dear but that was quite silly."

"Well that's ok," Twilight said not bothered by the incident. She waited for the others to finish their giggles.

Soon it was just Rainbow Dash laughing and pounding the ground, and she showed no signs of stopping soon.

Twilight soon realized that this could take a while and the show was going to starting soon. She smiled realizing there was an easy way to get Rainbow to stop laughing. "Jeez, I sure hope we can make it to the show soon. It starts in about five minutes and we're quite a bit away."

Rainbow Dash's head shot up and her eyes opened wide at the possibility of missing the show. She came to her hooves and flew up into the air and shouted, "Time to go!"

Dash flew underneath all of her friends and carried them to the big top. They were then stopped by some ticket takers.

"Hello Ma'am can I have your ticket." Then seeing Pinkie Pie behind her and said, "Oh, Ms. Pie, we have some seats saved for you and your friends. Is this mare with you?"

Pinkie bounced to the front and said "Yep,"

"Follow me to your seats."

They were guided to their seats and the lights dimmed, the show was about to begin.

After a second of total darkness a single spotlight turned on and aimed at the center of the tent. There standing in a large top hat and a red vest with gold buttons was a tall griffon. He was looking at the ground and holding a mike. Without looking up he brought the mike to his beak and began to speak, "Welcome ladies and gentlecolts, allow me to officially welcome you to the…" He looked up for the first time and looked at the audience grinning, "Emerald of Life Circus!" He threw his front claws into the air as the spotlight spread to include the entire ring.

Clowns and jugglers become coming in from both sides. Some were riding on ridiculous vehicles such as unicycles, little bikes and two, one from each side, were riding bikes with giant front wheels and almost nonexistent back tires. They rode over their fellow performers throwing pies which they carried in a basket in front of them, some of the pies went into the audience to be greeted by squeals of delight from everypony including those hit. A pie came straight at Rarity and she threw up her forehooves in front of her to try and perfect herself from it. The pie, though never hit her as Pinkie leaned in front of Rarity and eat the pie right out of the air.

Four elephants strutted into ring upon each of their backs was a unicorn, each in a ridiculous costume. They all stood up upon their elephants back and began to use their magic to raise a ball up onto the elephant's faces. The elephants took the ball in their trunks and began to toss them in a circle.

After the clowns and elephants left the ring a cage came forward with three lions all roaring as loud as they could. A single stallion stood in the center surrounded by some colorful cones with flat tops. The cage reached the center and the cage opened and the lions came out stalking toward the tamer. The tamer brought up a whip and snapped it causing the lions to jump back. The trainer shout, "Up!" and the lions got onto a cone each. They growled and the tamer growled right back. He walked up to the biggest one and snapped the whip right in front of him. The lion roared and opened his mouth as wide as he could. The tamer grinned to the crowd and covered his eyes and stuck his head into the lion's mouth grinning all the while. The crowd went wild. The maned six's jaws all dropped and began clapping furiously. The tamer took out his head and directed the lions to jump through several hoops and finally back into their cage.

There were several other acts before the main event, but finally it was time for Blazing angel to take the stage. The spotlight began to search the ring for where to turn next. At once they converged upon the ringmaster standing in the center, "Ladies and gentlecolts of all ages, prepare yourselves for a truly amazing spectacle. This is the main event of the evening it is time for your hero to take the stage. Blazing Angel!"

A roar from the crowd went up as Blazing Angel took to the air. His wings were already ablaze. He began to flip and twirl through the air, leaving a trail of flames in loops all over the place. When he finished his first routine he flew up to the top of the tent and came down fast he began to spin as fast as he could around and around in circles and began making a tornado of flames. Rainbow Dash's jaw dropped at that trick. I've been trying to perfect that trick for ages. Flash flew over an open crate and took out all of the contents which were tiny foam balls of a dark red color. They were picked up into the tornado and began to catch a flame. Angel took them up to the roof of the tent and let them drop down towards the Audience. Everyone covered their faces not wanting to be burned but the balls all burned up before getting anywhere near the audience. They all took their hooves from their faces just in time to see them finish burning then looked at Flash to see him fly up to the roof and finish off his tricks by signing his name in the sky with fire.

He came down and put out his flames with a ruffle, revealing his coat to the onlookers. Before the flames you couldn't see him, just the bright fire that enveloped him. Now without the flames his figure came into view, he was a tall pony with an athletic build. His mane was a dark blue with a red streak, and a black coat. He opened his mouth to speak, "If anyone would like to challenge me to a race, say so now and come forward."

This is my chance, its go time! Dash thought to herself. She launched herself into the air and shouted, "I want to race, this so called 'fastest pony in Equestria'!" She rushed into the center and then they were joined by two other racers one was a stallion with a grey mane and brown coat while the other was a mare with a purple mane and a pink body. Flash smiled at the racers and said not just to the racers but the crowd, "Great three challengers!" Then in an under tone so only to speak to the competitors, "I was worried I'd never get to race again," he smiled kindly to the competitors, but Rainbow saw something else in his eyes, what it was she didn't know, but she knew she didn't trust his happy go lucky act.

"Let's see, what's your name skittles?" Flash asked Rainbow Dash. She turned to him pissed at what he called her, "I'm Rainbow Dash, and I don't like being made fun of like that." She growled and thought, who does this asshat think he is? He looked at her shocked at her rough demeanor, "Hey calm down I didn't mean any offense. I love skittles, there tasty, and just about twenty percent cooler than any other candy."

She felt a weird feeling when she looked at him. She wasn't sure what it was. This must be what hate feels like. She wanted to hate this guy, but she was struggling to keep a smile off her face. I refuse to smile. This asshole is going down and never coming back up. She was about to say something else, but she realized that He'd already moved down the line and asked for the other competitors names. He turned back to the crowd and announced, "Our three competitors names are, Jetseam, Athora and Rainbow Dash!" The crowd was extremely receptive of the competitors. "The race will take place tomorrow at noon! So all you race fans get ready and enjoy the rest of the show!"

Rainbow and the other challengers went back to seats. Flash went Rainbow and the other five mares to take his seat but he was met by glares from five of the six mares there. Rainbow noticed that Pinkie wasn't glaring instead motioning him over patting the seat next to him. She stuck an elbow right into Pinkie's gut. Pinkie grabbed her belly and looked at Rainbow then saw the others glaring and realized they didn't want him over here.

Flash looked down and walked away from the mares, right out of the big top. Pinkie turned towards Rainbow and saw them all glaring at Flash and asked, "Guys, why are you glaring at him like that?"

Rarity turned to Pinkie, "Don't worry dear. It's all in good fun. A little sports rivalry never hurt anyone."

"I don't think so, he gave us these seats and he wanted to watch the show with us afterwards. I think you guys are just being mean," Pinkie frowned at her friends then thought to herself. I hope Flash is ok maybe I should look for him before the race tomorrow.