Dipper slowly pushed the sparkly circus cannon out from backstage as Mabel sat on the edge of the cannon's barrel, humming to herself and swinging her legs back and forth. The cannon's lengthy fuse dragged along the ground behind them, Mabel specifically requesting the fuse be so long to savor the buildup. Along the way, he passed by a barrel full of sticks with flammable tips, and picked one of them up. It was sort of like a combination of a match and a torch, and they were specifically for lighting the cannon. Putting the stick in his pocket, he continued pushing the cannon to where the audience was waiting.

As the twins entered the view of the crowd, cheering sounded from the stands. Mabel flashed a toothy grin as she waved to the crowd. Though this was far from their first performance, Dipper still felt nervous about being in front of such a large crowd, even if most of the attention was on Mabel.

He pushed the large cannon to its usual place on one end of the circus tent, and looked over to see Ringmaster Stan overseeing the net being set up on the other end.

Stan then turned to the crowd and said "Alright everybody, let's all clap for our little daredevil over here!"

Stan walked off backstage as the crowd gave a round of applause to Mabel, who gave another brace-filled smile. "Good evening, everybody. You know, even though I'm the one about to be shot out of a giant explosive war machine, I think you're all the real brave ones for standing in the path of fire. And speaking of bravery, I think you should give some applause to my brother, who's got the guts to fire his sister to her potential doom time and time again!"

Dipper let out a nervous chuckle as the crowd gave him some moderate applause.

Mabel took a few deep breaths before cheerfully exclaiming "Alright, here I go!"

Mabel tucked herself into a ball and rolled down into the cannon's barrel. Dipper adjusted the cannon's aim, making sure it was at just the right angle. He pulled the flammable stick out of his pocket and struck the tip against the base of the cannon. The tip of the stick ignited in a bright flame, prompting some oohs and ahhs from the crowd.

Dipper paused to take some breaths and calm the anxious feeling in his chest. He then knocked on the side of the cannon and asked "You ready in there, sis?"

"Ready! Now light me up!" echoed Mabel's voice from inside the cannon.

Dipper slowly brought the lit tip of the stick to the tip of the long fuse, sparking it up. As the sparkling end of the fuse slowly but surely burned its way towards the cannon, a drum roll could be heard in the distance. Dipper blew out the burning stick before tossing it aside, looking at the crowd watching in anticipation. He hoped that Mabel had put in the right amount of gunpowder, since she seemed like the type to get carried away with it. He also briefly wondered about the sparkly gunpowder she had mentioned earlier, since he didn't remember seeing any of that lying around, unless Mabel had mistaken something else for it.

His eyes widened with simultaneous realization, shock, and dread. He quickly climbed onto the cannon and sprinted along the raised barrel. When he got to the edge, he leaned inside and yelled "Mabel! You-"

Dipper lost his footing, causing him to fall into the cannon and tumble down the inside, smacking into Mabel.

"Uh, Dipper?" said Mabel. "I didn't know you wanted to get a closer look at my act. I mean, I'm flattered, but I don't think this is-"

"We don't have time to talk, we gotta get out of here!" exclaimed Dipper. He struggled to get out, but the cannon was too cramped for both of them, and they seemed to be stuck.

"Wait, why do I need to get out?" asked Mabel.

"Because of that sparkly powder you put in." said Dipper shakily. "I'd found it in the woods, and I think it's pixie dust. Who knows what'll happen when it goes off?"

"Oh. Oh boy." said Mabel nervously.

The sounds of the fuse sizzling were growing steadily closer. Dipper almost wished the cannon would just fire and get it over with.

"Uh, how much of it did you add, exactly?" asked Dipper.

"Um... all of it?" said Mabel sheepishly. She sighed and said "I'm sorry."

The two tried to get out of the mighty cannon, but it was no use. They were stuck in there.

"Come on, we gotta get out now!" cried Dipper, listening to the drum roll still sounding in the distance. His heart was pounding in his chest.

"Uh, Dipper?" said Mabel, gulping. "I think there's only one way we're gonna get out of this, and it... uh, involves a really loud boom."

Dipper looked around the cramped space in a panic, starting to hyperventilate. "Oh no, oh no, oh no, oh-"

"Hey, bro." said Mabel, placing a hand on Dipper's shoulder. She seemed to be an odd combination of brave and terrified. "It's gonna be okay. I've done this a whole bunch of times before, and even if the blast is gonna be different than normal, I'm gonna make sure nothing bad happens to you. You're gonna be okay, promise."

Dipper managed to steady his breathing somewhat as he nodded. He and Mabel embraced in the closet thing they could get to a hug, and Dipper could feel that his sister's heart was also beating rapidly, though not as quickly as his own. As he heard the fuse burn to its last moments, Dipper saw the bottom of the cannon glow faintly purple and shut his eyes as tightly as he could.

BOOOOOOM!