[Canterlot] It's Good to be Home. (Open)

[Vanillapop]

As Vanilla Pop stepped off of the train, he felt a sense of overwhelming relief. It felt as if he were away from home for an eternity... Even if only a few days had passed. Though the young unicorn always welcomed a new experience, there was nothing quite as precious as the familiarity of Canterlot.

His curly brown and tan mane bounced as he perked up. He inhaled a deep breath, straightened his back, and trotted into the city he loved. His saddle bag bounded against his back, clanking the dozens of vials he had brought home with him together- new flavors from across Equestria. He so looked forward to mixing new soda concoctions, and he was certain his friends would be excited to see something new on his menu. It had been a while since he had attempted a new recipe.

As Vanilla Pop trotted along down the quaint roads, his heart began to race. Just thinking about all of the ponies who came into his shop, and how happy they would be to see something new excited him. In fact, he was sooooo excited that he failed to notice he was leaving a trail of his precious flavor vials behind him. Each step he took led to another vial of liquid plopping to the ground, rolling along down the street.

[PyroBlaze]

Pyro Blaze trotted down the street happily, taking in the scenery. It was nothing new to the unicorn, he had lived here all his life after all, he just liked to look around while he was on one of his walks. He liked just walking around, not really heading anywhere in particular except perhaps in a loop back to his house.

His fiery mane and tail were blowing around slightly in the breeze as he walked down the street, coming to a stop as he noticed a unicorn leaving a trail of vials in his wake. They were all filled with something, so Pyro figured that the stallion wasn't dropping them on purpose.

The pyromancer then set out in pursuit of this other unicorn, picking up the vials in his magic as he went.

"Hey, buddy! I think you dropped something." Pyro called to the pony, floating all the vials he had picked up along behind him. "These are yours, right?" He asked after getting closer to the stallion.

[Vanillapop]

The sound of another pony's voice captured Vanilla's attention quickly. Midway into a happy-go-lucky step, the cream colored pony paused. His fluffy tail straightened out, a few loose curls springing from the surprise. He quickly turned his head from one side to the other, finally whirling around in time to see a fiery unicorn approaching him ... With a trail of all of the flavors he'd brought home.

It took Vanilla a moment to process what the other pony was saying, but when he did, he was understandably embarrassed. "Oh, Sweet Celestia! Yes!" He sank, trying to hide his embarrassment. "Thank you! I would have been in quite a bit of trouble if I'd lost all of these!"

Trouble was certainly an understatement. His business would have been in a sorry state if he were to open up with absolutely none of the things he'd promised before leaving on his trip! Vanilla's horn began to gradually glow as he took a few of the vials, returning them back to their rightful place in his overstuffed satchel. "I guess I didn't notice that they were flying down the street... I was just in such a hurry to get back to my shop." He laughed lightly, giving the other unicorn a faint smile.

[PyroBlaze]

This unicorn looked embarrassed by the situation, and understandably so. Pyro watched him as he responded, saying the vials were his and that he would've been in trouble if he had lost them all. So they were important to this stallion. Well, Pyro was happy to help there. He smiled slightly at the unicorn as the vials were slowly taken from him and transferred back into the stallion's saddlebags.

"Don't worry about it, happy to help. I'm Pyro Blaze, by the way." Pyro said after the stallion had finished. "You run a shop? What kind?"

After that, he floated one of the vials in front of his face, examining the contents with his red eyes. He had forgotten his sunglasses at home this time, so his eyes were clearly visible. "What's in these things anyways?" He asked, looking back at the unicorn in front of him and allowing the last vial to be placed in the proper place in the bag.

[Lux]

"There you go miss Surprise," a store clerk spoke as he levitated a bag filled with various spices, "From the looks of things, you're pretty bust making candy."

"Yes indeedie," she said hefting the bag on her head, "I'm always looking for new flavors. A little word of advice though, eggplant flavored candy doesn't taste very good."

With that last word of sage advice, Sweet Surprise hopped merrily out into the street, her mind full of new candy ideas. Unfortunately between these ideas and trying to keep the bag balanced on his head she wasn't watching where she was going and as she rounded the corner came right into the path of Pyro Blaze and Vanilla Pop!

[Vanillapop]

"It's a pleasure to meet you, Pyro Blaze. My name's Vanilla Pop."

Vanilla perked up a little bit at the introduction. It felt good not to be seen as a complete fool or anything. Not to mention, Pyro had asked about his favorite thing in the world. He could spend hours talking about his work, and the travels he'd had. "I run a soda pop shop here in Canterlot!" He chirped cheerily. "I mix all of the flavors myself, actually ... So I'm always travelling out of town to try and find something new and exciting to try. That one you have right there is an essence of caramelized tulips."

As Vanilla was chatting, an idea dawned upon him. He couldn't contain himself from gasping loudly. "Oh! Really, I positively have to thank you properly! If you'd like, it'd be an absolute honor to mix you a drink at my shop?"

It was the least Vanilla could think to do. Had the other pony not returned his flavors, he very may well have gone out of business ... And that would have been truly awful. Canterlot was his home, after all, and he had built a reputation he needed to ---

Before he could finish his train of thought, a big bag came directly into his view. Vanilla took a step backwards, his feet crossing awkwardly. It took him a moment to regain his composure --- at least enough to speak. "Whoa there, ma'am!"

[PyroBlaze]

Vanilla Pop? Interesting name, he supposed. Pyro nodded at the introduction, continuing to listen as Vanilla continued, saying he ran a soda shop in Canterlot. That was interesting. Sounded like someplace he wanted to check out sometime... Maybe he could go now, it's not like he had anyplace he needed to get to in a hurry. Sure, he had that show to get to later that night, but that wasn't for a while yet. Apparently the vials had contained various flavors for the soda's, and the one he had been examining was caramelized tulips.

Well, that sounds like a good pl-" Pyro said, being cut off by a gasp coming from Vanilla. His brow furrowed slightly in annoyance, but he let it slide, figuring it wouldn't be worth it to bring it up. Pyro's eyes widened, as well as his smile, when Vanilla offered to mix him a drink in the shop.

"Sounds great!" Pyro said, giving Vanilla a friendly smile. Now he was getting a free drink from the place he was going to go check out anyways. At least he assumed the drink was free... Even if it wasn't, he still had plenty of bits with him.

Suddenly, a mare came around the corner and nearly ran into the two unicorns. Pyro's magic activated instinctively, lifting the mare off the ground slightly to stop her movement as Vanilla took a step back. She turned out to be an earth pony mare with some sort of bag on her head, and Pyro gently placed her back on the ground with an apologetic smile.

"Sorry about that." Pyro said, rubbing the back of his neck slightly with a hoof.

[Lux]

At that very moment Sweet saw the two ponies coming right for her. She tried to stop but the chocolate brown mare knew it was too late. Shielding her face from the inevitable collision she waited. A few seconds passed and the mare felt nothing, well there was something. She felt like... floating? She opened her eyes to find herself indeed hovering in the air, looking down to see the shocked Vanilla Pop and Pyro.

"That was fun," Sweet said after being lowered to the ground, "Guess that's what it's like to fly, huh? Hey, did you say you made soda?"