Ty Lee’s Quest

“Step right up, step right up! Come one, come all, for an amazing show!”

“No no no, that’s my line!”

“Is it? I thought you had ‘thank you, one and all at the end.’”

“Hush now, you two - the show’s about to start!”

A Cerberal Sushi Dog argued amongst themselves on center stage, wielding a hat at the front of them. Their back was lined with tiny little animal crackers, and their pelt seemed to glitter with some sort of special effect; if Ty Lee had been sniffing things out more, she would’ve known it was just the nighttime dew collecting on their pelt. But in this case, it was rather the showman’s bravado that made one forget.

“Glad everyone could make it! Now, how is everyone tonight?” One of the heads spoke, flashing a grin; the response in turn was whooping and hollering as the excitement gathered in the air. “That’s what we like to hear! Well, we’ve got a full night of shows and events for everyone…”

“Psst! Ty Lee!” One of the other Sushi Dogs called her over, waving a scruffy paw. “You’ll wanna be in the front this time - best seats in the house! All the illusion crowd get to be up here with the lot of them.” Ty Lee meandered over hesitantly, tail waving high in the air - but even still, there was more than a shadow of a doubt on her mind when it came to how everything would truly go down. She needed to get her bearings, unsure of how things would work out in the end - if she had things correct, it would be a challenge for the lot of them.

“Is this where you guys go to have fun?”

“Us illusionists or Sooshes in general? Yeah, we do tend to stick around here, and it’s pretty much correct across the board. Everyone loves a nice trick of the eye - er, nose? It’s about the sensation you get from it. It’s fun stuff!”

“So I see. And I presume the carnival creatures get the best spots there are, isn’t that right?”

“Yep yep! Technically you still count, being a donut and all. Cute little thing I gotta say.”

“Oh, um… Thanks.” Ty Lee looked away, abashed; this cat definitely knew how to talk the sweet talk and keep her on her toes. “So when do we get to really strut our stuff? I’d love to be able to get a chance to show off my work!”

“Well, they do tend to call up volunteers before the show is done. Maybe you’ll be able to get a word in there!”

Ty Lee watched and waited as the show went on; the little ways in which this animal cracker-clad Soosh made phantom rabbits spring out of hats, and dove out of thin air. Everyone whooped and hollered, tails wagging and legs thumping to the beat; it seemed that everyone was having a good time. After the show had switched off between various performers (some creating frogs that rained down on the crowd, and others performing the classic coin trick they’d learned in transformation class), there came a time when everyone had taken their bow and headed off - all, that was, except for the head of the show, who stood their smiling and at ease.

The cakes were set. The clock was out. And right in front of it all was precisely the spectacle that everyone had been waiting for. A splendorous set, a handful of cups, and a baker’s dozen of….

Oh no.

“We’ve got a nice selection of donuts up here, with plenty of contributions from the staff. Exactly one of these fine things is real. If you can guess the one, then you’ll be able to win the grand prize: ownership of the new shop around town! Who thinks that they’ve got the guts to chow down on the real thing?”

Ty Lee’s paw shot up into the air on instinct; others followed, but nowhere near as swiftly. “Now now, you sure you wanna be the first one up? It gets easier with the elimination per participant, and you only get one shot at this.”

“I’m positive!” The air was thick with the tension from the prior day, beginning to consume the Sooshes and their daily activities; if this worked, then they’d certainly be down for the count when it all hit the road.

“Alrighty then, step right up.”

Ty Lee made her way to the stage, inspecting each and every one of them. A couple of them seemed obvious with their glimmers of false pastry dough; even through her own mind’s eye, she could see which things the donuts used to be. A clock, and a small piece of string; those were the transformed donuts.

She moved on. A slight lack of texture seemed to come with the created donuts, opposed to baker-made; there was a lack in shine on their glazing, and it definitely made things hard to work through. Their scent was off. She would not touch them. And yet again, she moved on.

The illusion donuts were the hardest to tell; they retained every shape, size, and texture the donuts needed in their stead. There were no telltale signs of falsity in their midst, or at least not that she could tell; there were only slight differences in them. What was it that Nox had said? If she used her nose, then perhaps she could figure out a better way? Wrinkling her nose, she readjusted her bearings and took a step forward; the illusionary ones had a fainter scent to them. With a quick step, she reached in headfirst and took a bite…

“Nice try, that’s the wrong - huh?”

The Cerberus snapped their fingers, jaw agape as she held up her prize. It didn’t disappear from her jaws at all, remaining intact. “Well I’ll be…. Nox’s students really do learn fast, don’t they?”