Painted Pinto Desert UFOs over the desert. [Open/Anyone]

[Bladerock]

A small brown tent laid in the middle of the desert, a wooden cart carefully parked next to it. A row of what looked like small red cans on sticks was neatly laid in front of it.

The tent's entrance flap opened and out poked his head a white pony with a red and yellow mane. He looked up at the sky and smiled. There was not a single cloud in sight. - "The desert is just perfect for this kind of experimental work." - The pony said to himself with a satisfied nod. - "Nopony can get hurt and the clear sky makes sure i know if there is any air traffic." - He walked out confidently, a long pipe on his back and a cutie mark shaped like his name on his flank: A firecracker.

Firecracker picked up one of the small red cans and placed further away from the tent, digging into the ground with the stick that was attached to it. - "Allright, buddy, lots of hard work riding on you." - he said with a chuckle. He had been preparing this special batch of fireworks for a while now and that which they were meant to do... Well, they were not his life's work, but they were genuinely unique.

He grabbed hold of the pipe on his back by it's hilt, unsheathing it from the cloth that protected it from the elements. Firmly holding it in his mouth, he bit hard until a clicking sound was heard. A small flame lit up at the end. The pipe was merely a lighter. He lit a small match at the bottom of the red can and then backed away from the scene, placing his lighter away and hopping behind a nearby rock.

Slowly, he poked his head over a corner and stared at the small can with his big green eyes. The match at it's bottom being slowly consumed by fire. - "Come on, don't keep me waiting." - and just as Firecracker finished this sentence.

FwoooOOOoo! the sound of the whistler went off as the can took off.

Firecracker's ears dropped, as he followed the tiny object on it's flight. His eyes wide with expectation.

CRACKHOOM!

The sound of thunder went off as an uneven circle of red and white light was formed in it's wake, slowly fading out of view.

"YES!" - A loudly whooping Firecracker exclaimed. - "It must be visible for over a mile!" - He proclaimed excitedly as he jumped with joy. He had succeeded in the first try today, and this new firework type was sure to delight plenty of ponies once he added it to his show.

[Boss_Hoss1]

Hoss beat his wings leisurely, occasionally looking back to his passenger in the back of his bright yellow cart, the Sherrif of Appleoosa. "How are you doing?"

Then he looked at the famous author at his side, on the other side of the cart's limber, Louise LaMare, knowing his father would be thrilled to hear of this adventure.

Looking forward and keeping to a low altitude, he saw a bright flash ahead at a higher altitude. He finally saw a pony with a cart below the bang and did a slow circle then came in for a landing nearby. He waved and shouted out at the strange pony with the firecracker cutie mark. "Hello there! Awesome fireworks. I wish we had these in Cloudsdale! How are ya doing?"

[Mojo]

"I'll let ya know when this here thing lands!" Sheriff Silverstar shouted, strapped securely in the wooden cart being flown through the air by the Pegasus team of Hoss Skybright and Louise LaMare, the famous author of pony pioneer-era Western novels. The brown furred Pegasus mare with dark mane had insisted on flying out into the desert with the stallions. She was a new arrival in Appleoosa and wants to experience real frontier pony life for herself.

"Relax Sheriff, you're perfectly safe!" Louise shouted before turning her head to see Firecracker.

"Hello there, sir! I'm Louise LaMare, the stallion hitched beside me is Hoss Skybright, and the quaking pony in the cowboy hat is Sheriff Silverstar. Pleased to meet you!"

[Bladerock]

OOC: Oh snap, this is alive? i had stopped checking the boards by now! Give me a sec, post is coming. Let me get my Firecracker on.

IC:

Firecracker jumped in place, startled by the pegasus and his guests. They must have flown in while he was cheering for... himself. This was awkward. - "Oh, um... hello there!" - he said to none of them in particular, lowering his head and taking a step back. - "I'm not causing any trouble, am i?" - he asked, worried that his experimental display may have caused them to drop by. He had tried to choose a secluded spot, but he hadn't strayed that far from the town just in case he had an accident.

His nerves had caused him to pretty much skim over everything they had told him, he had completely ignored the fact that they were introducing themselves... Not that it was on purpose.

[Boss_Hoss1]

The bay colored pegasus clopped his hooves together in applause, and smiled at the white pony "Not at all, I dont think. I saw the commotion while checking out the mesa for tonight's comet watch. No one in town saw it when I reported it and I volenteered to come out and see if anypony needed help."

He nodded to the other ponies "Miss LaMare wanted a little excitement and brought the sherrif along for the ride in case it was bandits or somesuch."

He looked the campsite over "Do you do displays? That last one was awesome!"

If Firecracker looks at the side of the yellow cart, the words "Royal Canterlot Observatory, Cloudsdale branch" will be visible.

[Mojo]

"Jumpin' Jehosophat!" Sheriff Silverstar neighed as Louise unhitched herself and started helping him remove his restraints inside the cart. "You mean to tell me that all this here commotion was caused by a buncha firecrackers goin' off?"

"Firecrackers! WOW!" Louise neighed, removing the last restraint from the Sheriff's body. "Sir, you have to tell me, are these fireworks of yours homemade? How easy or difficult were they to create? Do you plan to launch more of them today?"

As the Sheriff climbed down and his hooves touch the ground, he bent his head down to kiss the soil of the desert.

"Thank Equestria! I'm still alive!"

Louise just rolled her eyes and laughed.

[Bladerock]

Firecracker looked between the three, a little bewildered as he tried to keep track of everything they were saying. "First of all, don't get too close, i need to pick up this dud." He said, looking over the sand carefully and picking up a casings that had failed to go off.

"No, no. Those were not firecrackers..." he said, holding the casing on his mouth with a nervous look. They had a habit of going off sometimes, though he could usually tell in time and throw them away, it was not like he wanted experimental fireworks going off around other ponies. "Most of those were rockets, firecrackers don't fly." He opened a metal case and dropped it inside, closing and locking it quickly. "They sort of just go off and make lots of noise. Was why my parents picked the-"

Firecracker cut himself mid-sentence when he noticed that he was talking about his name and hadn't even introduced himself. "Oh, where are my manners?" he said apologetically. Walking back towards the group, not as nervous now that the dud was in a safe place. "My name is Firecracker, i do displays for a living. I'm afraid that what you saw wasn't a display..." he said, lowering his head a little as he felt it reflected poorly on him if they thought that was a demonstration of his abilities. "It was just a bunch of rockets going off. A real display is not as chaotic... or dangerous."

[Boss_Hoss1]

(oops, sorry, the last post got by me for several days... )

Hoss unhitched himself from the cart and moved to the other side as the pony mentioned the danger, staying there until the danger was past. "Uh-oh! I would do as he says..."

When it was finally safe he came back around to the front of the cart.

He listened as the earth pony explained about his works, then finally gave hs name.

"Pleased to meet you firecracker, I certainly understand about the displays. This is a very nice place to experiment with new blends, one I would have chosen to practice with thunderclouds for the same reasons when I was learning Weather Patrol duties.. I'm afraid they are trickier to master than fireworks. Even the smallest boomer can be as unpredictable as that dud unless I keep a tight rein on it."

Hoss looked at the remaining rockets curiously and smiled "We dont often get to see good fireworks in Cloudsdale, the dampness of our clouds causes problems with the powders I would imagine, not to mention static electricity in the clouds..."

[Mojo]

"Rockets?" Sheriff Silverstar asked. "You sure did pick a good place to test them thar things off in. We don't allow rockets like those to be launched in Appleoosa cause it'd be a fire hazard."

"Homemade rockets! How exciting!" Louise LaMare neighed. "You have to tell me how they're made, Firecracker, if it's not a family secret."

"Look miss, ya can't go round printin' up how to make rockets. Some of the foals back in town would read that and try to make'm themselves! Workin' with explodin' stuff is dangerous! If'n yur not careful, you could git yourself blowin' to Kingdom Come!"

"Not to worry, Sheriff. I'm just curious about it. I have no plans to write a How To book about rocket creation."

[Boss_Hoss1]

(OOC: to help keep Mojo from losing Sherrif Silverstar, and since Hoss is part of his ride, I'm afraid I'll have to pull Hoss from this thread for now. I will return later when Bladerock reappears...)

Hoss nickered as he looked the setup over , but heard his pocket watch chime in his underwing pouch. He pulled it out and checked the watch after turning the alarm off. "Whups! need some downtime before tonight..."

"Your fireworks are amazing. Let me know if you come up with damp-proof displays, but I need to return right away."

He waved at the earth pony "There will be impressive fireworks in the sky, courtesy of nature. The best view of the comet will be on that mesa if you wish to join us and watch."

Hoss got ready to strap the Sherrif in, then hitched up to the cart once he did so.

"Ready Sherrif Silverstar, Miss LaMare?"

[Mojo]

(ooc): Thanks Boss!

"I'm all hitched up and ready to go, Hoss!" Louise giggled, her wings spread at the ready.

"Can't we all jist TROT on back to town?" Sheriff Silverstar asked after his body had been strapped back onto the cart by Louise.

"Walking no fun. What's the joy of having wings if you can't use them to chaffeur your friends around?"

"If Celestia had meant fer me to fly, I'd been born with wings like you and Hoss thar!"

"Try not to scream TOO much this time!" Louise laughed as she prepared for takeoff. "Anytime you're ready, Hoss, give the word and we'll FLY!"

[Boss_Hoss1]

Hoss chuckled as Sherrif Silverstar acted so nervous.

"Dont worry Sherrif, pegasus chariot is a safer way to travel than by train. its just more convenient. And those straps make sure you are even safer than usual."

Hoss settled into the harness, then wiggled his wings.

"Ready! Lets go!"

With that, he took off for town...

[Mojo]

Louise began flapping her wings and was soon in rythem with Hoss as the 'chariot' went skyward.

"Y'know Sheriff, maybe that's a business someone needs to open in Appleoosa! Betcha offering Earth ponies and unicorns chariot rides over the town could become quite popular!"

"Or ya could make that a nice, safe hot air balloon instead!"

"You're funny, Sheriff!" Louise laughed as the flying cart neared town.

(ooc): Boss, will the three 'reenter' the "Night of the Comet" RP now?

[Bladerock]

((Sorry i vanished guys... Other sites i do stuff in picked up on activity and i sort off prioritized them... Urgh, i feel like an ass.))