It's Magic

Chapters

Prologue: It's Magic
Chapter 1: The Circus is in Town
Chapter 2: Mind Freak
Chapter 3: Smoke and Mirrors
Chapter 4: The Closer You Look, The Harder You See

Prologue: It's Magic

It's Magic

By: Zelkova48

Prologue: It's Magic

* * *

“Come on, what makes you so special!?” said Twilight as she stared feverishly into her microscope that had a simple playing card underneath the observing end of it. For the last day and a half she had been stuck inside her lab, examining and studying a deck of cards that she had... procured through special means in order to understand it.

Now the deck of cards itself isn’t very interesting save for the fact it had an elegant victorian design that each card had but what made it so special was what she saw that was being done with it.

* * *

It all started when she was showing Pinkie’s cousin, Top Hat, around town when he had arrived from Stalliongrad to Ponyville for a short vacation. He was the magician of a travelling circus that was on an Equestrian tour, and the circus troupe went and decided to take a break in Ponyville. To show his appreciation and thanks for such hospitality to Twilight he had decided to reward her with some magic tricks. Now that’s where the catch is.

Top Hat is an earth pony special talent was supposedly magic tricks, so logic dictates for Twilight to believe that his tricks were all smoke and mirrors, much like a certain blue colored unicorn with a penchant for flare and the need to refer to herself in third person. The only difference between the two was that Trixie could at least perform real magic. You know, the kind with the fancy glow and the telekinesis and stuff.

She’d expect for Top Hat to pull of some tricks that you would expect just to fool a friend and to entertain little foals at birthday parties, and for the most part she was right about it. However, as he went on with her reward, his performance became more perplexing and mind boggling with each trick and the rest that followed.

“Please, krasivaya dama, pick a card” Top Hat asked.

It started off with some simple card tricks, Twilight assumed that it was the kind of trick where Top Hat would affect the sequence of card to find the one that she picked. She found it amusing and fun at first, but when he started to do things that defied all logic she began to feel a bit concerned.

After the first few tricks Top Hat had offered to perform something more advanced. Top Hat asked Twilight to pick a random card from the deck again, the process went like clockwork and she had expected the same outcome again only with some kind of twist to it. When she finally experienced the twist her jaw slammed right into the ground with enough force to shatter the hope diamond in little pebbles.

After he had put the Twilight’s card back into his deck, Top Hat pulled out a match and lit the deck on fire as he let it burn upon the ground. When the deck was nothing more than small pile of black ash he asked her to put her hoof on top of the little pile, Twilight was a little confused at first considering that the deck itself was gone but she complied anyway.

After a few seconds and the obligatory hocus pocus from Top Hat, he asked her to look at the bottom of her hoof. Her skepticism flowed like river as she went to examine her ash covered hoof but her heart nearly stopped itself went she saw the fruits of Top Hat’s labor. She could remember herself stuttering and stammering for a good five minutes before coming back to her senses.

In her ash covered hoof was not a card, instead the ash somehow took shape and formed itself into the card that she chose, complete with the decorative borders, numbers and everything.

The queen of clubs

“Is that your card?” Top Hat asked with a hint of amusement in his voice.

She stared at her hoof, speechless at what had just happened. She tried to rule it off as nothing more than an elaborate ruse or some kind of special magical powder but the evidence on her hoof rendered all of her hypothesis inconclusive. Oh, but he didn’t stop there.

After she returned to her sense Top Hat ran his own hoof across Twilight’s and an intact playing card slid out from underneath. He then pressed his hoof into the dirt where he had burnt his deck of cards and returned it back to it’s former glory. He casually slid the queen of clubs back into the deck and then put away his deck of cards all the while enjoying the slack jawed look that Twilight was exhibiting.

He soon followed the trick up with another classic, the rabbit out of the hat trick.

Top Hat took off his hat and showed her the inside of it, like any good magician would before he blew everyone away. It was surely empty when she peeked inside but he proved her wrong when he pulled out an adorable little bunny rabbit out from within it, and then another, and another, and another until he had a small family of rabbits crowding around Twilight.

With a whistle, he called all of his rabbits back into the hat and wore it back on with a wide grin on his face. But before he could finish up the trick, Twilight noticed that his top hat began to shake itself. Top Hat absently ignored the strange occurrence that was happening atop his head and decided that he would say his goodbyes for the day before returning back to his trailer

With a polite curtsy he took his hat off to Twilight where doves flew freely from the confines of the silk hat and into the sky before returning back to their point of origin. After that, he wore his hat again and excused himself before he went on to explore the rest of Ponyville.

“It has been a pleasure meeting you, Twilight Sparkle. Dasvidaniya!” he shouted before he left.

For the rest of the day, Twilight could only think of one thing.

* * *

“Ugh! How did he do it!” she shouted in her lab. Now she had promised herself to be a bit more accepting of certain things after trying to understand the Pinkie senses but because this involved magic she couldn’t stop herself when she felt the need to dissect and understand how Top Hat was doing all of his tricks “There must be something, anything!”

She stared straight at the plain playing card while jotting down some notes. She wrote down every little detail that she could possibly find on a playing card to the point where one would find it positively maddening.

“Okay, card number eighteen, the five of hearts” she whispered beneath her breath “Card appears to be made from the wood pulps of a willow tree. The age and quality of the paper suggest that this deck is around ten years old” she wrote in her little notepad before adjusting the lens on her microscope

“The edges of the card are worn and the browning of the paper confirms my last hypothesis. Oh, there is a black little dot right next to the five, gotta write that down. Hmm, let’s see, did I miss anything else?” she asked herself before pulling away from the microscope and rubbing her strained eyes. She let out a loud sigh before turning her head and took a good look at Top Hat’s deck of cards that were right next to her, only thirty four more cards left.

“Grr... stop mocking me!” she yelled at the cards, glad for the fact that nopony saw her yelling angrily at a deck of cards. She slinked onto the floor, feeling both drained and defeated at the same time. She ran over her notes again, double checking to see if there was any relevance in their order.

“Three of spades, the upper right corner of the card has a small tear. Jack of hearts, is slightly bent in the middle. Ace of spades, looks as if it has been used as a coaster for a cup of coffee” she double checked and triple checked her notes before slamming her head against the table from pure annoyance.

“What is it that I’m missing? Are there runes inscribed on these things?” she quickly got back up and checked the five again, this time she examined the borders. The elegant borders of the card doesn’t look like anything special, just some intertwining lines that were artfully printed onto the card itself, not a rune in sight. She sighed again as she laid face down on her table.

She hasn’t gotten any closer to solving the mystery of the earth pony magician. She did everything in her power to try and understand Top Hat’s methods but she always ran into dead ends. Perhaps she wasn’t trying hard enough. She would continue this pursuit again once she got a good night sleep. Maybe she should ask Top Hat again about how he did all of his tricks.

“No, that’s a bad idea” she said to herself. Because the last dozen time that she had asked Top Hat since he came to Ponyville, he had always smiled gently at her and simply stated:

“A good magician never reveals his tricks”

Chapter 1: The Circus is in Town

It's Magic

By: Zelkova48

Chapter 1: The Circus is in Town

* * *

A day and a half earlier...

It was a bright and sunny day in the quaint little town of Ponyville. Both Twilight and Pinkie Pie were at the town’s train station and were patiently waiting for a very special arrival. The platform itself didn’t look the way as it normally did, it was given the Pinkie touch and was completely decked out with balloons, streamers, large three tiered cakes and a large banner that was splayed across the entrance to the platform that read:

WELCOME TO PONYVILLE COUSIN TOP HAT

“Thanks again for helping me greet my cousin, Twilight. I haven’t seen him in a really long time and I’m just so excited that he’s coming to Ponyville!” said Pinkie as she added some more streamers to one of the ticket booths which mildly annoyed the worker that was inside.

“No problem Pinkie, I’m glad I can help” Twilight replied “I’m really interested in meeting your cousin, you told me that he was part of Cirque De Leon right?” she asked.

“Yup, yup, yup! His name’s Top Hat, his special talent is magic tricks, and he’s the magical, mystical, magician of the circus troupe. He’s really nice and he knows all kind of neat and fancy magic!” replied Pinkie

“Really?” said Twilight, sounding particularly intrigued “What kind of spells does he know? Levitation? Invisibility?” she asked.

“Well, I don’t know if he can do that, but I remember he made a bag full of bits come out of my ear! It took me a whole month before I realized that I didn’t have an endless amount of money within my ear canal” Pinkie replied with a smile and giggle “He also knows this really neat trick where he ask you to pick a card-”

“And then he puts the card back into the deck where he shuffles it and he pulls out the one that you chose” Twilight finished for Pinkie before sighing heavily “So, does he know any real magic?”

“Well, of course he knows real magic silly, he is a magician after all” Pinkie replied as she hopped back from the ticket booth and right next to Twilight “I saw him make an entire elephant disappear and then reappear out of thin air! It was really super awesome!”

“Pinkie, all of those tricks aren’t real magic, they’re fake. They’re all smoke and mirrors used to entertain the masses” said Twilight.

“Kind of like Trixie’s?” Pinkie asked.

“Ye- um... not really” said Twilight “Trixie can at least perform some simple spells like telekinesis and such. Can your cousin do that?”

“I don’t think so, he’s an earth pony, like me” said Pinkie which caused Twilight’s eye to widen like a dinner plate.

“What!?” Twilight exclaimed, sounding more shocked than she should have “But you just told me that his special talent was magic tricks! Are you trying to tell me he’s an earth pony magician that can perform magic?”

“I think so, if that’s how you want to see it” Pinkie obliviously replied.

“So let me get this straight” said Twilight “he’s an earth pony”

“Mmhmm” replied Pinkie.

“And his special talents magic”

“Actually it’s magic tricks”

“Oh, sorry, my mistake. His special talent is magic tricks and he’s the magician for his circus troupe?”

“You got it”

“And he can’t perform real magic”

“Oh no, he can. You should’ve seen him pull a rabbit out of his hat!”

“Whuah? But... that doesn’t make any sense! All you’ve told me so far was that he’s really good at entertaining ponies with kiddish illusions and simple card tricks. If he’s an earth pony how can he perform spells?” Twilight asked.

“Oh come on, Twilight. Lighten up, it’s magic, it doesn’t have to make sense” Pinkie sharply replied “Remember what happened the last time you tried to study something that didn’t make sense?” she asked with a great big smile as to pointed to herself.

Twilight subconsciously rubbed the side of her head after a brief remembrance of the multiple heavy and incredibly painful object that were carelessly dropped upon her head by some ignorant pegasi employees for a moving company. She also began to hyperventilate slightly when images of the hydra that was chasing both her and her friends flashed into her mind for a split second. She swore to herself that ever since that day that she would be a bit more lenient towards things that she didn’t understand... mostly lenient.

“Alright, I get the point” Twilight replied as she regained her sunny disposition “ So when do you think he’s going to be here?” she asked Pinkie.

“Uhh...” Pinkie pulled out a little brass pocket watch from out of nowhere and she checked the time “Right... about... in a couple of... when the sun reaches... leave a message after the tone... now!” she shouted as she pointed down the railway.

* * *

Sure enough there was a large train approaching the station. Instead of the colorful train that was the friendship express they were instead greeted with the iron horse. The loud whistle of the train could be heard from miles away and black smoke filled the sky as the mass of fire and iron screeched it’s way to a grinding halt upon the little train station. The large train skidded a good twenty feet before finally stopping at it’s intended location before the whistle blew again.

Pinkie and Twilight along with several passer bys and the station attendants stared in awe the large train before them. It was certainly rustic and had appeared to have seen better days. But the rust on the train did not deter others from admiring it’s elegant metal engravings and large red banner with the circus’ logo on the side of the train.

Cirque De Leon

All was quiet at first, save for the roaring engine of the train and the occasional muffled sound of clattering metal from within the train cars. With a loud creak and some grinding metal from the large train cars themselves, the door to the train slowly opened to reveal nothing but an unending oblivion of darkness.

The crowd that formed around the train stared into the supposedly empty car with mild confusion, and then a rustling sound could be heard. The rustling got louder and louder until something jumped out of it and scared the living daylights out of everyone at the train platform. The crowd sense of fear immediately switched over to that of surprise and excitement when they finally got a good look of what, or more specifically, who jumped out.

“Heyo! I am Jump” said a small blue colt.

“Heyo! I am Hop” said the small yellow colt.

“Heyo! I am Bounce!” said the small red filly.

“And together, we are the Spring Family!” they all exclaimed at once as they deftly performs a set of daring jumps to stacked themselves up to reach the height of the average pony “We are Cirque De Leon’s acrobatic stars!” they proudly announced. The crowd stamped the ground and cheered for the neat little performance that they just experienced.

But just as the cheering began to die down, two more blurs hopped from out of the train car and with several flips and dizzying spins, they both landed with a green stallion on the bottom in a standing position with his hooves up in the air. The most spectacular part of that acrobatic motion was the pink mare who was on top the of the stallion’s hooves and was upside down on a hoofstand. Together, the two ponies were perfectly balanced upon one another and the crowd cheered once more.

“Guten Tag! I am papa Leap!” announced the green stallion.

“Und I am momma Skip!” announced the pink mare.

“Und ve are the Spring’s parents!” they goofily exclaimed together as they flipped back onto all fours and huddled together with their kids

“Cirque De Leon is excited to finally be in Ponyville!” they all shouted together. And with that said, the rest of the circus revealed itself to quaint citizens of Ponyville.

The next to exit the train car was the tall red stallion. He had to pull out his incredibly long stilts to make sure that he didn’t hit anyone. But the moment he got outside it was clear as day as to why he was known as the tall pony. he towered a good ten feet over the citizens of Ponyville as he joyously nodded to the fine ponies of the little town.

“Top of that morning to ya ponies! The names Stilts O'Reilly and you all look like ants from up here” he announced himself.

Following the tall pony as he left was a light orange unicorn mare that wheeled out of the car on her unicycle while juggling a set of bowling pins in one hoof, spinning a yo yo in her other, and balancing a glass of orange juice on the very tip of her nose.

“Ciao everypony! I am Bilancia, I would shake your hoof but as you can see I am molto occupato at the moment!” she said before wheeling herself next to Stilts

Now the next one to come out was pretty funny. A very small toy chariot rolled it’s way out into the crowd. As the chariot stopped in the center of the crowd the tiny door opened on the side and a group of clowns exited the tiny vehicle. They didn’t speak or utter a single word but the way they acted and they way they moved told the crowd everything.

“Honk, honk” honked one of the ridiculously dressed clown.

“Beep, beep” beeped another before they all bowed and crammed their way back into the chariot and parking right next to the other ponies.

With a loud rumble and some shaking of the ground, a large set of dumbbells rolled it’s way out into the platform. Almost as quick as the dumbbells arrive two large and muscular stallion wearing striped tops with a totally bodacious handlebar moustache approached the dumbbells and started to lift them up and down with relative ease.

“Hola, me llamo Juan Tonnes!” shouted the yellow stallion.

“Si, me llamo Tu Tonnes!” shouted the brown stallion.

“We are the Tonnes Brothers! Strong ponies of Cirque De Leon!” they proudly announced together as they started to carry the rest of the circus troupe on their shoulder.

The next to exit made himself relevant with a lion’s roar. A great big lion strolled out of the train car and an old gray pony with an equally gray gentlecolt’s moustache and wearing old styled expedition clothing trotted beside him. With a crack of his Whip the lion hopped on top of a little stool that the gray pony provided for him and he started to dance atop it along with the lion tamer who was busting a move right next to him.

“Why hello there! I am Sir Leon and this is my very good friend, Leo!” announced Sir Leon as Leo let out a proud roar and politely waved for the crowd “And together, we are Cirque De Leon!”

The atmosphere in the air was electric, it was practically tangible for Twilight and Pinkie and they gazed in amazement of the circus before them. But there was a question that still remained unanswered within both their heads.

“Hey, where’s cousin Top Hat?” Pinkie asked, sounding a little down that he wasn’t there.

“That’s weird, did they forget about him?” Twilight asked.

“Oh! We almost forgot!” Sir Leon shouted as the crowd grew silent “We forgot to welcome one last final member to our group, how forgetful of me” he pulled out a black silk top hat from out of a hat box and placed it on the ground, rim facing up “I’m sorry everypony, he’s a little shy. He’ll only show himself if you ask very nicely”

“Come on, Top Hat!” Pinkie excitedly shouted from the top of her lungs “It’s me, cousin Pinkie! Where are you?” she asked.

“Cousin Pinkie?” a voice came out from the hat “Is that really you?” a white hoof then popped out of the hat. Then, like a rabbit out of the hat trick, the hoof reached into the hat and pulled out the head white earth pony with a warm smile for his peers. The crowd cheered for him as he slid himself back into the hat. With a couple of shakes and some jittering from the hat, Top Hat shot himself out like a cannon and land atop the Tonnes brother in a bright sparkly entrance with hat in hoof.

“Privet everypony! I am Top Hat!” he shouted as loud as Pinkie Did “Khorosho!” he excitedly shouted.

“Ahem, now that out shy star is here, I would like to properly announce that we are Cirque De Leon!” Sir Leon shouted as they received a standing ovation from the extremely large group of ponies that had formed at the station.

“We are here to entertain everpony!”

Chapter 2: Mind Freak

It's Magic

By: Zelkova48

Chapter 2: Mind Freak

* * *

It had been a few minutes now since the circus outrageously introduced themselves in a manner that had the entire town of Ponyville chattering for miles, now they were all unloading their luggage and all manner of random baggage that would have one scratching their heads in curiosity of what might be inside. But in the midst of all the controlled chaos, two family members were finally reunited after several years apart from each other.

“Kuzina!” Top Hat ecstatically shouted at Pinkie as he hugged the fluffy pink party pony “Oh, it has been too long since I have last seen you! Why, when I last saw you, you believed that there was endless supply of money within your ear! Ahahahaha” he heartily laughed alongside Pinkie who was laughing beside him.

“It’s so great to finally see you again cousin!” Pinkie exclaimed “I counted down all the days and waited a really long time to see you! When you were about to arrive me and my friend had all of this set up just for you!” Pinkie pointed to all the streamers and balloons and the large spread of delectable sweets that was sitting in the center of the train station “Well, do you like it?”

Top Hat glanced around the train station and his jaw hit the floor, a single tear streamed down from his left eye from pure happiness. He was speechless at all the thinking and preparation that Pinkie must’ve have gone through to greet him in his very first time in Ponyville. The single tear that trailed down his eye later flowed like a waterfall of liquid joy.

“This... this is...” Top Hat reached into the sleeve of the black tuxedo that he was wearing and pulled out a red handkerchief that was tied to a green handkerchief that was tied to a blue handkerchief that was tied to a... well, you get the general idea. He then used the handkerchief(s) to wipe away his tears and to blow his nose.

“I love it, I absolutely love it!” he exclaimed “Spasibo, kuzina Pinkie Pie. Spasibo!” he hugged his cousin even tighter in his loving embrace before he finally took notice of Twilight who was right beside him with a gentle smile “Ah, prosti menya. Forgive me for not noticing you earlier miss...”

“Twilight. Twilight Sparkle” said Twilight as she shook Top Hats hoof. As she was shaking Top Hat’s hoof, she noted most of his distinguishing features.

For one, he was a bit on the lanky side for a stallion but it wasn’t anything serious. His coat was snow white, kind of like Rarity’s or Shinging Armor’s. He was wearing a fancy looking tuxedo complete with a red bow tie and a rose on the pocket to his right.

His signature top hat that he wore had a very wide brim and had a red velvet ribbon near the base of the hat. His eyes were a clear blue while his hair was a raggedy mess of charcoal black. His cutie mark fit with his occupation, it was an image of the card suit spade that had an elegant victorian design whose wispy lines wrapped all around the side of his flank.

“Ah, yes. I have heard many things about you miss Sparkle. Pinkie has told me much about over the mail” Top Hat replied “I am glad to finally meet you in the flesh”

“Really, what did she say about me?” Twilight asked with a raised eyebrow.

“Well, she told me that you spend too much time in local library. You like to spy on my cousin. You enjoy causing problems for others so that you may solve them for your own leisure and that you can light up like a match when you get angry” Top Hat replied nonchalantly. Twilight stole a quick glare from Pinkie as she gave the pink pony the stink eye.

“Pinkie! You totally threw everything out of context!” shouted Twilight.

“Okay, so I’m not as good at writing letters that aren’t invitations. But I am right about the whole library thing, you should really get out more often you know? And that whole lighting up like a match thing...” said Pinkie while she wore and innocent looking smile. Twilight just let out a loud sigh before calming her nerves down at Pinkie’s inability to write a proper letter.

“Look, can we please stop bringing that episode of my life back up?” said Twilight as she turned to Top Hat with a professional look, kind of like one that a business person might have “I can assure you Top Hat that most of what Pinkie told you in her letters are highly exaggerated. She made me sound like a crazy pony in her letters”

“So you cannot light on fire? Shame. I would’ve liked to ask you to be my assistant for big magic act involving flaming hoops and tank full of ravenous piranhas” said Top Hat, sounding a little disappointed “But I guess we can’t have everything”

“Oh no, I can still do the whole fire thing, just like Pinkie said” said Twilight “Speaking of magic, how did you do that?” she asked.

“Do what?” Top Hat replied.

“Those handkerchiefs” said Twilight as she pointed to the small coil of multiple tied handkerchiefs that was next to him “It must be incredibly time consuming and uncomfortable stuffing all of those up your sleeves”

“No, no. Not uncomfortable or long to do. It’s magic” Top Hat quickly replied.

“Magic, really?” said Twilight with a voice of disbelief, but she quickly caught her tongue before her logical side go the better of her “Can you do anything else with it?” she asked.

“Da, of course I can” Top Hat then collected the coil of handkerchiefs on the ground and wadded it up into a tight little ball. He showed the wadded up ball of cloth to both Pinkie and Twilight, not once did he let go of it “Look closely, blink and you will miss it” he said as she squashed the wadded ball in both of his hooves.

“I will now count to three. One, two, three!” at the exact moment he shouted three he tossed the ball up into the air and the tied coil of handkerchiefs magically separated themselves into their individual square selves as they all floated down upon a dazzled Pinkie Pie and Twilight Sparkle. They both clapped for him as he bowed to his magnificent audience of two.

“Thank you, thank you! You are a wonderful audience!” he proudly exclaimed as he speedily picked up all of the handkerchiefs and hastily stuffing them into his pocket “Phew, I think that is enough magic for now. Perhaps it’s time for tour of town?” he asked.

“That sounds like a good idea. Go and find your luggage and we will personally show you around Ponyville” said Twilight.

“Spasibo, miss Sparkle. I will be back shortly” without missing a beat, Top Hat turned to the rail cars and went to find his baggage. As both Twilight and Pinkie waited they decided to chat amongst themselves.

“That was a really neat magic trick wasn’t it?” said Pinkie, still shakened by shock and awe at how cool the trick was.

“It really was” Twilight replied “Though I think I figured his trick out already”

“Really? Well how do you think he did it then?” said Pinkie with a raised eyebrow.

“When he wadded up the handkerchiefs, he made us look at it” Twilight explained “All that time that we were staring at the ball he was probably doing something with his hooves to unravel them all while our attention was turned elsewhere. It’s basic deception at it’s best” said Twilight with a smug look on her face.

“Really? I don’t think that’s how he did it because he told us that it was magic” Pinkie replied.

“There’s no way magic was involved in that. There just couldn’t be!” Twilight retorted “The only logical explanation was that he used all the basic rules of illusion to fool us into thinking that what he did was magic when it was clearly a pair quick hooves to the untrained eye” as she finished with her speech Pinkie just let out a little giggle before giving Twilight a look that told the purple unicorn you think you have everything figured out don’t you?

“Well if that’s what you believe, Twilight” said Pinkie as Top Hat return with his luggage in in his teeth.

“Okay, I have my bag. Let us go look round town” said Top Hat, the two girls nodded in agreement and the little trio headed off into the little town of Ponyville.

* * *

“And that’s pretty much everything there is to Ponyville” said Twilight as she finished her tour for Top Hat. They went to all the best places that Ponyville and to offer.

They stopped by Sweet Apple Acres where Top Hat mucked about by putting on the show for the apple family. He was juggling apples and little Applebloom in a spectacular display in the art of sleight of hoof. The expression on the Apples was priceless, they were speechless at first but slowly a childlike smile crept onto each of their faces. It was mostly hilarious when Granny Smith’s dentures popped out from laughing so much. It the end, Top Hat get a free slice of apple pie for giving such a wonderful performance.

Then they visited Sugarcube Corner where Top Hat got to know little the cakes. There he pulled off a trick that swapped the parent’s natural coloration with each other. Cupcake was yellow with an orange mane while Carrot Cake was blue with an electric pink mane. They all shared a good laugh out of that before Top Hat switched them back to their respective color schemes.

Around that time, Pinkie had to cut her portion of the tour short to return back to her baking at the shop. She bid a quick farewell to both Twilight and her cousin before promising to visit them again as soon as possible.

After a quick break at the calm and serene fields by the lakeside they went off to Rarity’s place, Carousel Boutique. As Top Hat stepped into the fashionista’s home and business, the white unicorn couldn’t help but gush at the sight of Top Hat’s hat and magnificent tuxedo. He appreciated the compliments that he was receiving so much that went on to pull off another trick for their little group for the third time.

The moment Rarity showed everyone her newest gala dress, Top Hat cleanly pulled the dress off of the ponyquin that it was on and with one brilliant gesture, he completely clothed Rarity in her gorgeous outfit, complete with her hair done and everything. Rarity’s jaw hit the floor when she saw how stunning she looked in the dress as well as how Top Hat actually did it in the first place, although she brushed it off as she kept admiring herself within the mirror.

When she was finally done with her staring at herself, Top Hat did the trick again, only this time in reverse. He added some extra flair by twirling the dress off of her that time and in the blink of an eye she was back to the way she was and her dress was back on the ponyquin where it once was. As it turns out, Sweetie Belle was in the room the entire time and she almost exploded from the excitement that she felt.

* * *

Amazing, surprising, unbelievable. Those were the words that Twilight and her friends used to describe Top Hat’s performances. Alternatively, they were also the words that was used to describe Twilight’s demeanor during the entire tour of Ponyville. She actually enjoyed all the tricks that she saw. Not once did she object to the legitimacy of his tricks. Her leniency on the subject was starting to show itself.

Although, that didn’t mean that she wasn’t skeptical about his so called magic. Inside that purple cranium of hers, she was entirely convinced by logic and understanding that all of his magic tricks were all nothing but mere acts of deception. Albeit, entertaining deception.

She deduced at Sweet Apple Acres that Top Hat was far more athletic than he looked in able to juggle all of those apples and Applebloom. In Sugarcube Corner, Twilight claimed that Top Hat was using mirrors to make it appear that Cupcake and Carrot Cake had switched colours. And at Carousel Boutique, she claimed that it was just a variation on the trick where you pull the tablecloth from underneath the silverware without yanking all of the plates with it.

Fast hooves. That was the explanation to all of his tricks. He was blindingly fast, supposedly. That’s how he was able to pull off all of those mind boggling magic tricks, when she thought about it, it all made sense in her head. He was a professional after all, he must know how the eye and the mind work so that he may tickle them both for the joy of everypony. Real magic? Pfft, yeah right. They were just simple and advance illusions. Nothing less, nothing more.

“Khorosho, I loved it!” Top Hat exclaimed “Thank you so very much, miss Sparkle. I enjoyed every minute of that tour. Plus, I got pie out of it” he laughed next to Twilight who enjoyed a heartfelt laugh alongside him “I must repay you for this, da, I must” he said as he tugged on his hat.

“I showed everyone you knew some magic tricks. Now, I will personally reward you with a miniature show” he pulled out a set of his favorite playing cards “Most ponies I know would pay hundreds for this. But because you have been so nice to me, and because I’m on vacation, this will be free of charge. Please, enjoy the show”

“Oh, thank you. I humbly accept your gracious offer, Top Hat” Twilight replied as he fanned out his cards to her.

“Let us start with something simple. Please, krasivaya dama, pick a card” he asked as he looked away from the cards.

Twilight complied and picked a random card from the deck. After putting it back into the deck and the obligatory shuffling from Top Hat, he pulled out a set number of cards before asking Twilight to pick the card from the top. Sure enough, her card was right there on top of the deck. Twilight smiled when she found her card, more so about how it was about how Top Hat affected the sequence of the cards through specific actions for shuffling rather than magic.

Top Hat continued on with the rest of his card tricks. He did many variations of finding the right card and even performed some interesting card maneuvers like the one hoof fan, the false cut, and the card spring. When he was done with all of the simple stuff, well, simple for him at least, he went on to the more advance tricks.

“Once again, I ask you to pick a card. This time, it will be very special” Top Hat said with confidence. Twilight did as he told and pick another card from the deck, she was curious as to what made the next trick so special, but she decided not to let the thought mull in her head as she was going to see it anyway.

“Please, put the card back into the deck and watch the magic happen” he said with a confident grin on his face. Twilight put the card back into the deck and he began shuffle it like normal.

“Magic, huh? I wonder what makes this so magical?” she thought as she watched Top Hat’s hypnotic hooves shuffle the deck of cards at the speed of light (metaphorical). He then dropped the deck onto the ground like a two ton boulder (metaphorical). Lastly, he pulled out a match, lit it across the soles of his hooves, and tossed it onto the cards where they burned into a small pile of black ash like a smoted campfire (non-metaphorical).

Twilight eyes widen to the size of dinner plates when she finally realized what he had done. Gone was the deck of cards that were used to entertain her, now in it’s place was a pile of ash, courtesy of Top Hat and his box full of matches.

“What!? How is this magic? He just burnt his deck of cards!” she shouted in her mind. But just as she was about to speak she was cut off by Top Hat speaking first.

“Now, place the bottom of your hoof onto the ash pile” he asked “Now, now. There is nothing to worry about. Trust me” he gave Twilight a reassuring smile as Twilight lifted her hoof over the ash pile.

“I don’t get it, how will this find my card?” she asked as she felt the powdery substance cling to the bottom of her hoof.

“A good magician never reveals his secret, miss Sparkle. I don’t mean to be rude but I am bound by my occupation and sworn to secrecy about my magic tricks. Only those closest to me are allowed to know and that is even if I let them” Top Hat stated with passion and fire “Now, lift up your hoof. I’m sure you will be left speechless after this?” he softly chuckled as Twilight raised an eyebrow.

“Well I’m sure everypony would be left speechless too if the bottom of their hoof was covered wit-” she was stopped dead in her tracks the moment her eyes met with her hoof. He was right, she really was speechless, but more importantly, stunned in disbelief “The queen of clubs...” she shakily whispered to herself.

Dead center right in her hoof was ash from the deck of immolated playing cards, but that wasn’t the best part. The ash itself wasn’t all messy and all over the place. Somehow, it had been condensed and shaped into the exact card that she had chosen from out of Top Hat’s deck moments before he lit the deck on the fire. Twilight could feel her heart rate slow down as she continued to stare at her look as if she was staring right into the abyss. If the abyss was shaped like the queen of clubs that is.

Throughout the day she had constantly reassured herself that all of Top Hat’s tricks were mere acts of deception. But what she saw in her hoof was more than just mirrors and fancy hoof work. It was something else, something impossible. This couldn’t have been done without...

“H-how... did you do this?” she slowly asked as her mind shifted into overdrive “I-I-I mean t-this is im... im...”

“Impossible?” Top Hat finished for Twilight “Simple. It’s magic” he said with a smile. He chuckled to himself, he never gets tired of seeing the baffled expressions ponies make whenever he performed a trick for them “But...” he went and place his own hoof atop Twilight’s “I am not finished yet” he smiled again.

Top Hat slowly slid his hoof across Twilight’s own. He took his time but just as his hoof was about to slide off of Twilight’s she felt something cold in between both of their hooves. At the exact moment he pulled his hoof away Twilight saw that her hoof was completely clean, not a single spec of ash in sight. But the real shocker was what Top Hat was holding in his hoof, it was the queen of clubs and it had been restored to it’s former glory, paper and all.

“Is this your card?” Top Hat asked ”It is, isn’t it? I can tell by the look on your face” he laughed as he placed his hoof atop the rest of the ash pile “Might as well put you back with the rest of your friends, queenie” Top Hat slid his hoof to the side to reveal fifty one of the other cards as he fanned them across the ground for Twilight to see that deck had also been reform from the dust. He placed the queen back into the deck and began counting the cards, just to make sure he didn’t miss anything.

“Odin, dva... pyat’desyat odin, pyat’desyat dva. There we go, all fifty two cards” Top Hat put his cards away back into his tuxedo as he took note of Twilight stuttering and stammering like she had been struck across the head with a 2X4.

“B-b-b-bu-bu-but-but” was all Twilight managed to get out as her mind overloaded from something that was illogical. She began to feel a cold seat come on, she felt dizzy, like she was on the verge of passing out. That is if she doesn’t suffer from a brain aneurysm first from experiencing such... magic. No, it wasn’t magic. It was all tricks, tricks of the eye, smoke and mirrors, sleight of hoof. She refused to believe that what she saw was really magic.

She began doing her breathing exercises. It calmed her down marginally but she wasn’t going to suffer a brain aneurysm today. She steadied her nerves and made herself more presentable than when she was going to lose a couple of screws.

“Are you alright, miss Sparkle? You look rather... pale” Top Hat noticed Twilight’s anxiety and wanted to check up on it. Maybe that last trick was a little too much for her to handle.

“What!? No, no. I’m fine, totally f.. f-fine” said Twilight with a nervous looking grin. Top Hat thought she was fine so he decided to move on.

“Okay then! I have one last trick for you, and this one is my favorite” Top Hat announced as he took his hat off and showed the inside to Twilight “As you can see , there is nothing inside, correct?” he asked.

Twilight looked into Top Hat’s top hat. It was empty, nothing but silk and strong felt made up most of the magician’s signature cap. But just to be on the safe side...

“Excuse me, may I see it?” Twilight quickly snatched the hat away from Top Hat’s hooves and ran a full check on it. She used her magic to try to track even the slightest enchantment that may or may not be present on the hat. Five minutes and one thorough search later, she return Top Hat’s hat back as he grinned at her.

“I see you are interested in my hat, no?” said Top Hat “Heh heh, we shall see if it is really empty or not” Top Hat waved his hat around one last time, making sure Twilight got a view of it as well.

“Remember, Twilight. It’s all a trick. just a trick! He says it’s magic but it’s all an illusion! I know it’s an illusion, there’s no other explanation!” she practically screamed in her head.She was far too busy having an argument with herself that she didn’t notice that she was sweating on a cool and breezy day.

“Now! Watch, as I pull a rabbit, out of my hat!’ without missing a beat, Top Hat brought his entire arm into the hat, like he was reaching inside a long silk pipe. He wiggled his arm about for a few good seconds before he reached out a furry little... wait “Oops” Top Hat didn’t pull out a rabbit, he pulled out an adorable bunny on accident

“Heh heh, my bad” he grinned nervously “Let me try again” he set the bunny down beside Twilight whose jaw was on the ground again while he rummaged through his bottomless hat.

“Aha! Here we g- nope, that is not it either” Top Hat sighed, it wasn’t a rabbit that he pulled out. He pulled out a hare, a larger species of the lepus genus “ *Sigh* today is not my day with rabbits” he set the hare right beside the dumbstruck Twilight. Top Hat was too preoccupied looking for his rabbit that he wasn’t aware of Twilight’s vegetative state.

“What was saying again? Third times that charm?” said Top Hat as he pulled out another “Behold! A rab- no, wait. That is jackalope” he sighed again as he set the little critter with antlers aside next to the others.

“Okay, this time, for sure!” shouted Top Hat as he reached in once last time. With a hop, skip and a jump he finally pulled out “Aha! Fluffy! I’ve been looking all over for you!” in his hooves was an a white rabbit with very fluffy fur, hence the name Fluffy” he set Fluffy aside with the bunnny, the jackalope and the hare as he bowed before Twilight “Ta-da!” he announced

“Huh whuah?” Top Hat’s shout broke Twilight out of her stupor as she finally took notice of all the rabbits and rabbit subspecies that were cuddling around her like a small ring of cotton “Where did they come from!” she yelled as the little bunny rubbed itself beside Twilight’s leg.

“Awww, I think he likes you” said Top Hat as he set his hat back to the ground “Alright, time to go back home. We must be prepared for next rabbit out of hat trick, I don’t want to reach into hat next time and pull out jackrabbit in front of audience” he said with a blush. With that, all the rabbits made their way from Twilight and each one individually hopped back into the hat like a warp pipe. Top Hat did one last bow before he put his hat back on, not noticing that it was shaking a bit.

“I... how... rabbits... hat... you” Twilight’s word got jumbled around in her mouth from sheer confusion. She wanted to end this before she began to doubt her views on reality “I... I think we should call it a day now” said Twilight.

“Da, is good idea” Top Hat replied with a smile “I hope you enjoyed reward” he said.

“I did... sorta...” Twilight said beneath her breath “How did you... nevermind”

“I know what you were going to say, miss Sparkle” said Top Hat in a gentle voice “Unless you are very close to me, my answer will always be a good magician never reveals his secret” he smiled gently at her.

“R-right, sorry” said Twilight, feeling quite foalish trying to ask him about things that were clearly private. Top Hat took his hat off to Twilight only to perform one last trick for the nice mare. As he took his hat off, a group of doves flew out of the silk confines of his hat and circled around the two before gracefully returning back into his hat. He laughed joyously into the air as he wore his hat and began to walk around town.

“It had been a pleasure meeting you, Twilight Sparkle! Dasvidaniya!” Top Hat shouted as he left the dumbstrucked Twilight to her own devices after an entire day of tourism.

Top Hat eventually disappeared into the crowds of Ponyville and Twilight stayed where she was until the sun reached the horizon. She was... what’s the word I’m looking for here... flabbergasted, for lack of a better word. She didn’t move a muscle because the moment she saw those doves fly out of his hat:

her brain broke.

Chapter 3: Smoke and Mirrors

It's Magic

By: Zelkova48

Chpater 3: Smoke and Mirrors

It was a brand new day for the denizens of Ponyville, the circus ponies and the rest of the ponies in town were getting along nicely after their recent arrival just yesterday. For the very first time almost ever since Twilight moved here from Canterlot, a group of strange guest that came into Ponyville didn’t want to wreak havoc in their quaint little town.

Ravenous parasprites, stampeding bunny rabbits and gargantuan ursa minors aside everyone was having a great day. With all of the circus ponies practicing and performing the overall feeling was generally positive and electric. It’s really too bad that there was one disheveled lavender unicorn who was acting quite spastic on such a riveting afternoon.

Twilight was currently at Sweet Apple Acres, she was trotting back and forth trying to explain the unexplainable to Applejack as she went about her duty bucking the apple trees. All the time that Twilight was trying have an engaging conversation with Applejack about how Top Hat’s tricks were really just smoke and mirrors, she didn’t realize that her constant, subconscious trotting helped to plow an entire field into neat and precise columns and rows. Big Mac managed to get the whole day off because of that. Anywho...

“I know that it’s fake, Applejack! I know how magic’s suppose to work, after all, I am the element of magic” said Twilight as she continued to move about while Applejack worked “But what he did was impossible! He’s an earth pony, there was no way he could’ve stuff all of those animals into his hat without some kind of enchantment, and he let me double check his hat too! There was nothing, nothing at all but I don’t know how he did it! There has to be some kind of logical explanation for this...”

“Yeah... uh huh... eeyup” Applejack flatly droned as she continued from one tree to the next with a bushel of apples always at her side. Applejack had been working hard the whole time since Twilight starting talking to her. At first she thought it would be a nice little talk, but instead it turned out that it had everything to do about Top Hat and his impossible tricks. Honestly, the talk became very monotonous after the first few seconds so she decided to drown out Twilight’s voice with some apple bucking while uttering a few words of acknowledgment every so often as to keep her facade.

It worked out fine... for the first few hours. After that, Applejack couldn’t handle it anymore. Applejack was surprisingly patient and very level headed during Twilight’s little (and I use that word very loosely) speech, but enough was enough. It had been four hours, four hours of nothing but baseless hypotheses and dribble about things that were deemed impossible by pony standards. She was the element of honesty and she was going to give it to Twilight straight.

“Twi!” Applejack shouted at the top of her lungs in front of the frazzled unicorn “Land sake’s girl, it’s been over four hours! Don’t you have anything better to do then to turn my brain into mush with all of yer fancy gibberish!” she exploded.

“Gibberish!?” Twilight snapped back, sounding positively offended by her friend’s rudeness “My word’s are anything but gibberish! And for the record this is incredibly important, life changing even! The fate of Equestria hangs in the balance and it’s all because of I can’t figure out Top Hat’s methods!” she cried out.

“The fate of Equestr- Twilight, are you even listening to yerself anymore?” Applejack huffed “You’re letting this whole magic thing get to yer head sugarcube. He’s an entertainer, not knowing is the best part of his performances. Why can’t you just let this go?”

“I can’t let this go, Applejack!” Twilight angrily shouted “There is something suspicious about Top Hat and his so called... magic, and I intend to find out! Think about it, Applejack, he’s hiding something, I know it. Why else would he keep telling me that he can’t tell me his secrets?”

“It’s because he’s a magician ya dunderhead!” said Applejack “He can’t tell his secrets because that would ruin his career. A magician’s tricks and his secrets are his lifeblood, kinda like how apples are to my family or how magic is to yours. You can understand... can’t you?”

“No, this is different” Twilight defended herself “The things that he can do aren’t normal, Applejack. I know for a fact that only unicorns can perform magic, but then Pinkie’s cousin comes along and he tramples all over my knowledge about magic. Science, magic and logic dictates that I must dissect his methods for the good of all! I have to know, I must know” she said as her eyes began to nervously twitch about.

“Oh, for the love of- It’s like speaking to a boulder” Applejack grunted “But according to Rarity, boulders can at least hold up a decent conversation without driving each other over the wall!”

“Hmph, and here I thought you were the only one who would back me up on this. But as it turns out, I was wrong!”Twilight snapped back “Well, if that’s how you’re going to act then fine! I’ll do everything myself! I’ll expose the truth, you’ll see, and I shall be vindicated for it! Eh ha ha ha ha!” she began to laugh maniacally. Applejack just facehoofed herself. She was glad that the circus was in town, because right now Twilight would fit right in.

“Just promise me you’ll go home and sleep on it before you go on another one of yer eck spoh zits shuns” Applejack used air quotes on the crudely pronounced exposition “ At least if yer gonna do this, be sane when you do it”

“What!? I’ll have you know that as of this moment I am the sanest pony in all of Equestria!” Twilight exclaimed as a few more locks of her mane sprung themselves out of place to further her accentuate her slow descent into madness.

“Twilight, if ya ain’t got anything else you want to say, please, get off my farm before you end up throwing Ponyville into another one of yer crazy schemes” Applejack stated rather bluntly.

“Oh, you’ll see. You’ll all see...” Twilight eerily whispered as she backed away from the farm in a very dramatic fashion. Eventually, she faded away onto the horizon and back into town as Applejack thought of some home remedies to cure the raging headache that was she was currently suffering from. Applejack just let out a loud sigh, this was going was going to be another one of those days.

“Big Macintosh!” Applejack called out.

“Eeyup” her older brother exited the farmhouse upon hearing his name.

“Even though the fields have been plowed, can ya cut up some wooden planks?” Applejack asked “I have a feeling we’re gonna be needing them sometime this month” Big Mac silently nodded and proceeded to the tool shed where he retrieved a large logging saw before leaving to find some spare lumber around the house.

“I really hope we don’t have to use those...” said Applejack as she resumed her work.

* * *

Meanwhile...

Top Hat and Pinkie were busy enjoying their time together baking at Sugarcube. Even though the talented magician was on vacation he had decided to spend some time with his beloved cousin by assisting her in the kitchen along with the Cakes. During the time that they would bake, they casually chatted amongst themselves to catch up on past events while tending to almost the entire town with their orders.

Ever since he had asked to work alongside the Cakes business had been booming, and the sales figure had past into quadruple digits after only just a few hours of work. It was so successful in fact that Carrot Cake had collapsed more than once from both exhaustion and from shock once he saw how much money that they were making.

Ais it turns out, practicing your magic tricks while baking confectionary creations and chatting with your distant relative can draw in a large crowd. Top Hat making his signature dessert, the crispy on the outside and creamy in the center surnyky, for the locals to partake in probably had something to do with it as well. It was like some kind of publicity stunt, only it’s not. A dinner and a show, why didn't the Cakes think of that?

It was now late in the afternoon and the little bakery was starting to calm down. Serving over a couple hundred orders have completely exhausted the bakery’s staff as well as their food stock so they had to close down early. In place of where all the flour and eggs used to be were nothing but bags full of obscene amounts of bits, there was so much dough that it literally replaced the dough inside the bakery itself. It was a good day for everyone who worked there, well, almost everyone.

Top Hat sat by the counter of the dim bakery and sighed in exasperation. He enjoyed talking with Pinkie Pie, listening to all of her tall tales and adventures with her friends. He in turn talked about how he traveled the world and the look of awe that he would experience each and every time he went on stage with his co workers, whom he would always refer to as his family.

Everything he said had such warmth and happiness to it, but it was really all just to mask the deep depression that he was actually feeling on the inside. Nothing but smoke and mirrors.

Top Hat reached into his top hat and pulled out a small flask that had his cutie mark emblazoned on it. Out of that same hat he also pulled out a small shot glass with his name on it. He unscrewed the cap to the flask and poured out what some would assume to be vodka into the tiny glass. He looked down into the shot glass, his eyes heavy and full of regret and sorrow. Without even thinking he lifted up his glass and downed the liquid fire.

He waited, and waited, and waited for the burning sensation to fill his throat and to numb whatever pain he was feeling deep within his heart. But it never came. He looked up into his hooves only to find that his glass was gone along with the contents within it. He slowly turned his head to see a disapproving PInkie Pie staring at him in sadness. In her hooves was the liquor and in her eyes were questions. Questions about why he was drinking like this.

“Heh, hello there kuzina” Top Hat weakly droned with a shaky grin “I didn’t see you there. I thought you were seeing the children to bed”

“They’re already fast asleep so I thought I came down to check up on you” Her sad eyes began to bore itself into the very core of Top Hat’s soul, and that killed him on the inside for her to see him in such a state “Cousin, Top Hat... you never told me you drank”

“Heh, I started a few months ago” he replied “It’s nothing serious, I’m just... drinking for fun, that’s all” he lied through his teeth.

“Around me there is no such thing as drinking for fun” Pinkie Pie trotted over and sat beside him, hoping to come to a compromise with such a dirty habit “Is something the matter?” she asked kindly.

“No, kuzina Pinkie... there’s nothing wrong” Top Hat poorly defended himself, his response was anything but convincing to Pinkie and she desperately wanted to help out her family member.

“Top Hat, you know better than to lie to family” Pinkie said in the caring tone. With that, Top Hat broke down almost immediately. Tears began to well up and he began to quietly sob as Pinkie pulled him into her for a gentle hug. He hugged her back, his tear trailing off of his face and soaking both of their coats. He quietly whimpered to himself for the next few minutes as PInkie stood by him the whole time, trying to find the root of his issues and a solution to it “Top Hat, tell me, what’s wrong?”

“I... I can’t say, Pinkie” he said as he pulled away from Pinkie “It’s too hard. I can’t relive the memories” he spoke quietly as he unraveled his bow tie “Please, just let a poor magician keep his secrets. Please?” he pleaded as his emotions threatened to overtake him again. Pinkie looked at him with discerning eyes, she smiled gently and gave him another hug.

“I’ll promise to stay out of your business only if you promise me you won’t drink anymore” said Pinkie “That is unless you’re using this stuff for cooking” she added. Top Hat returned the smile before replying.

“I promise” he said with utmost sincerity.

“Pinkie promise?” Pinkie asked with a raised eyebrow. Top Hat chuckled a little, he hadn’t performed a Pinkie promise in a long time since he last talked with Pinkie.

“Cross my heart and hope to fly, stick a cupcake in my eye” he performed the ritualistic actions and received a smile from his cousin in return “Do you trust me now?” he asked.

“I trust you” said Pinkie as her bubbly mood returned “Now get rid of that stuff will you? It’s gonna give you a tummy ache if you drink it” she said before leaving for her own room. Top Hat simply smiled and waved as he waited for Pinkie to leave the room before he turned his head back to the flask that was on the counter. He took a couple of looks around the room to see if he was truly alone before he grabbed the flask.

“Breaking a Pinkie promise...” Top Hat quietly whispered to himself “It’s probably going to hurt... but right now, I’m already hurting. Might as well dig the hole a little deeper” in an act of complete defiance against his own word to his cousin, he lifted up the flask and downed the whole thing before letting out a loud belch “Well, that wasn’t... so... *hic!* bad...” Top Hat could feel the effects of the alcohol taking over his systems. His eyes grew heavy and his mind lost track of itself.

Now he isn’t that great when it came to alcoholic beverages. A single shot would’ve already gotten him tipsy. But a whole flask full? He went down faster than a boulder over a cliffside. Within the span of only a few seconds he was in the realm of dreams as a river of drool streamed out of his slacked jaw. The pain that he was feeling was gone, he’ll probably feel terrible in the morning but at least for now the pain was numbed entirely.

* * *

Little did the unconscious stallion know, he was being spied on the whole time. Pinkie came out of the corner that she was hiding behind, she walked over to Top Hat and frowned deeply. She wasn’t angry that he had broken a Pinkie promise nor was it about his drinking. She was sad about how he could do such a thing without regards for others. Something really bad must’ve happened to him if he would drink himself unconscious.

She sighed heavily, it’s not like she didn’t see this coming. They were both at fault to be honest. Even if Top Hat drained away the vodka in the sink, Pinkie would’ve gone and investigated the cause of his depression anyway. She was willing to break her own sacred vows to see Top Hat smile again. She trotted on over to the poor sleeping stallion and prodded him a few times to see if he would stir. It was no good, Top Hat was out like a light.

“Come on, let’s get you back to your room cousin” Pinkie tried to lift Top Hat up and carry him to the local inn where he stayed, but it might be a little harder than she originally thought. Despite how lanky Top Hat actually was, he was a bit too heavy for the Pink pony to pull around. She needed some help, a wheelbarrow perhaps?

Just as Pinkie was coming with a solution to carry Top Hat, the door to the bakery wildly swung open to reveal Twilight, whose dark silhouette by the doorway looked outrageous given her bedraggled mane and creepy yet determined smile.

“Top Hat! I have come to discover your secret, and I won’t take no for an answer!” she flamboyantly proclaimed before she finally took in the sight before her. Top Hat was on the floor unconscious while Pinkie was trying and failing at trying to move him.

“Oh! Hi, Twilight!” Pinkie exclaimed “I’m really glad you’re here! Do you think you can help me out? Top Hat’s out cold and I need some help with getting him back to the inn” she asked. Twilight was taken aback. She had this amazing speech and plan all laid out when she confronted Top Hat and his magic tricks but now it was all for naught since Top Hat was sleeping off a tough drink.

“Bwuah?” Twilight babbled “But... my vindication”

“Twilight, you can vindicate yourself all you want when my cousin is in a warm bed and not on the cold floor of the bakery” said Pinkie “Come on, use your magic or something and levitate him for me, that would be really helpful” Twilight just stared slack jawed at the two before conceding with Pinkie’s request. Applejack was right, she should sleep on her ideas first before putting them into action. Otherwise, her target would just be drunk out of their minds.

As Twilight lifted Top Hat into their air, she began to rethink her plans. Perhaps she was being a bit too blunt with this one. Maybe she should take it slow, examine his wares one at a time before openly exposing Top Hat in front of him. She mulled over some thoughts as they were walking towards Ponyville’s local inn.

Once inside Top Hat’s room, Twilight gently settled down Top Hat into his bed before Pinkie personally tucked him in. They made sure that he was alright before leaving, but just as Twilight was leaving, a small glint off the corners of her eyes piqued her interest.

Twilight walked over to the source and found it to be Top Hat’s deck of playing cards, the exact same one that he used during her personal performance. A wicked grin crept it’s way onto her face as she quickly swiped the cards before hiding it behind her neck. She quickly covered the card with her mane before calming trotting out of the room with a successful grin plastered on her face.

“This will explain everything, I just know it” she quietly whispered to herself. however, just as she was about to leave the premises, Pinkie ran up to her face with a stern look in her eyes. Twilight swallowed a lump in her throat, had she already been figured out? “Listen, Pinkie, I can explain! It was all in the name of logic, I swear!” she pleaded.

“Huh? What? I was just going to ask you to meet me at the traincarts tomorrow, that’s all” said Pinkie “I want to talk to some of the circus performers to see if they know anything about why Top Hat’s feeling so glum” she pulled out he detectives cap and bubble blowing pipe “Meet me there tomorrow my plucky assistant, so that we can investigate together”

Twilight was about to object to being her plucky young assistant again but then an idea popped into her head. She could examine the cards and then go to the circus with Pinkie tomorrow to ask if any of the performers knew anything about Top Hat’s method. In Twilight’s mind, it was a win win situation in her case.

“Of course, I guess I’ll see you there tomorrow then, Pinkie” Twilight replied before Pinkie dashed off towards the bakery. Without missing a beat, Twilight hightailed it outta there and teleported herself all the way back to the library with the cards in tow.

The moment she was inside her home she went and locked all of the doors and closed all of the blinds before rushing past a confused Spike as he wondered what the heck had Twilight feeling so jumpy. She ran all the way into her lab and locked the the doors in there as well as she threw the deck of cards onto her examination table. Her face had a devilish grin on it as she opened up the packaging and carefully pulled out all of the cards.

“Heh heh heh heh... time to find out what makes you so special...”

Chapter 4: The Closer You Look, The Harder You See

It's Magic

By: Zelkova48

Chapter 4: The Closer You Look, The Harder You See

Twilight’s head was lying face down atop of her examination table after a full night of fruitless experimentation and dissection of a simple deck of playing cards. Needless to say, she found absolutely nothing out of the ordinary with them, only the fact that the have been frequently used in Top Hat’s so called... magic tricks. She tried everything in her power and knowledge that would lead to some sort of plausible explanation with cards, but always came up short every step of the way.

Seconds turned into minute, minute inevitably turned into hours, and the exhausted unicorn found herself scratching her head in confusion on more than one occasion. Soon, the hands of sleep found their way into the mind of Twilight, and they grabbed on vigorously when the opportunity arise. Without knowing it, Twilight Sparkle slowly drifted away into the realm of dreams, where clouds as plush and soft as fluffy balls of cotton were laid out for her to rest her weary head upon.

She began to dream about success, success upon understanding and exposing Top Hat for the mysteries that he held, and the secrets that he hid. She could envision it all so clearly, She was standing by the podium on a massive stage in front of several prestigious ponies of higher standing as she presented her findings in what appeared to be an audaciously massive auditorium.

The sheer ridiculousness of her dream was only accentuated further by the fact that there was confetti being thrown everywhere and a large cake at the center of the room. She saw herself in her dreamlike state, she was joyously waving to the throng of ponies and scientist who cheered and revered with adoration that rivaled those who were fanatical about Celestia herself.

A small smile crept its way onto her unconscious self as she continued to sleep, but her sweet dreams all came crashing down like a burning building when a certain pink party pony bursted out of the cake in a hilarious fashion. The pony in question was wearing her detective’s cap and had her novelty bubble pipe on the edge of her mouth.

“Twilight, come on! We have some investigating to do!” Pinkie exclaimed before Twilight’s dream bubble popped like a balloon.

* * *

Twilight’s head shot upwards as she groggily attempted to make sense of her surroundings. She noticed that there was a blanket over her, most likely from Spike who possibly sensed that something like this was going to happen and got prepared for it. She also noticed that she left a sizable puddle of drool upon the table that left some of her notes soaked with saliva.

With a great big yawn and a brief stretching of her limbs, she turned over to the wall clock to see that it was twelve o’clock in the afternoon. With a quick smack of her dry lips, her horn glowed with a sudden flash and the table in front of her was all neatly cleaned up, not a drop of embarrassing saliva to be found. She yawned once more, as she made her trek from her lab into the foyer. Casually, she continued with her usual morning routine like normal, all while trying to shake off the lingering feeling of failure from last night.

As she brushed her mane, and her teeth, she felt as though she was forgetting something, something important, like a promise of sorts. Was it for Spike to get a break for working so hard yesterday? No, that wasn’t it. Was she expecting some kind of package to arrive on this day? No, the last time she did an inventory check she made sure that she everything in order for the next few weeks.

“What was it?” she asked herself with her toothbrush hanging out of her mouth. Her answer came in the form of a pink blur crashing through her front door wearing the exact same hat and blowing upon the exact same pipe from her dreams. Pinkie was all dressed up and prepared to find out why her beloved cousin was so depressed.

Twilight could only stared with eyes wide in disbelief as she experienced her front door become nothing more than a pile of toothpicks as Pinkie flamboyantly made her dramatic entrance into her home.

“Heya, Twilight! Sorry about your door, but we have more important things to think about than doors!” said Pinkie “Come on! We can’t investigate with you like this!” she ran up to Twilight and pulled the befuddled unicorn right from out of her own home and out into the streets with the toothbrush still in her mouth and a trail of foamy toothpaste right after her.

Being hauled across town at mach speed with mint flavored paste in her mouth was not the most enjoyable experience. Before they even past Sugarcube Corner, Twilight enveloped both of them in a bright pinkish glow that teleported back all the way back to the library with a bright flash. The moment the light faded away, Twilight and Pinkie Pie found themselves falling to the floor with a loud THUMP!

“Pinkie, that was uncalled for!” Twilight shouted as she wiped away her foamy toothpaste “What was that all of about!”

“You promised me yesterday that you would come with me to the circus tent so that we can talk to them about Top Hat’s mood, remember?” Pinkie sharply retorted “Now are you coming or not?”

Twilight was stopped dead in her track when she finally remember what it was that she was suppose to do. Without a moment to lose, she dashed right back into her bathroom in a manner not unlike Pinkie and returned back in a literal flash, all primped and prepared with a wry smile on her face. She had her saddlebags on that was all filled to the brim with all manner of research tools and notepads.

“Ahem, sorry about that. Now, by all means, lead the way Pinkie” said Twilight, her million dollar smile never once leaving her face. Pinkie nodded to her friend and left right away, with Twilight right behind her. Her mind was preoccupied at the moment as she felt her dream was starting to becoming a reality “It’s finally happening...”

* * *

Nearby the train station, in the plains beside Ponyville was a massive yellow and red striped circus tent that had already been set up hastily to accommodate the premier performers as well as allow them to practice their future performance in private, or in public to get the locals excited for a show. Like a big sore thumb, it was entirely out of place yet equally fitting for a town such a Ponyville.

Pinkie and Twilight held their ooh and aahs however, and instead chose to focus upon the task at hoof. As the two mares approached the tent, they were greeted with the acrobatic display and talents of the spring family, who bounced and hopped all around them like a colorful group of superballs. As the group of children passed by, Twilight and Pinkie decided that it would be best to split up so that they could gather more information about Top Hat’s behavior... or about his secrets.

Pinkie chose to investigate around the outside of the tent, while Twilight chose to investigate the main circus tent. Without missing a beat, the two went their separate ways, each with their own goal in mind.

* * *

Pinkie wandered around the outer ring of the tent, waving and greeting some of the performers with a ready made cupcake for them whenever she met someone who she didn’t know, which was technically everyone except for her cousin. As she continued to wander around the tent, she came across Sir Leon and his good friend, Leo. They were practicing a quick trick before Leon took notice of the bubbly mare.

“Ah! Well, hello there! You’re Top Hat’s cousin, aren’t you?” Sir Leon reeled his head out of Leo’s mouth. Pinkie trotted up to him with a curt nod, a sincere smile, and a bran cupcake to help with his digestion to which Sir Leon munches upon with content.

“Eeyup! My name’s Pinkie Pie! Nice to meet you mister Leon” said Pinkie “Um, if you don’t mind, can I ask you a question” her mood suddenly began to sour as part of her mane deflated “It’s... about Top Hat”

“Ah, I see you manage to catch him in the act, I believe” Leon replied with a stern look as he finished up his cupcake “It’s sad, really. For half a year now, the face that Top Hat shows in front of the audience and his friends is nothing more than a mask. A mask to hide the pain that is festering deep within his very being. To help numb that pain, he turned to the bottle. Unless something happens soon, I fear your cousin may never recover from this experience”

“What... what happened to him?” Pinkie asked.

“He was betrayed by the woman that he loved” said Sir Leon with a deep, exasperated sigh “In all my years as an entertainer, I’ve never seen someone suffer such a severe case of heartbreak as much as your cousin, Pinkie. Such a shame too, those two were a match made in heaven, until Top Hat got his heart smashed into pieces. Poor fellow, he didn’t deserve any of this”

“Do you know exactly what happened?” Pinkie inquired “I want to help him truly smile again, not just hide behind a fake. Please, anything would help. I can’t stand to see my cousin lose himself like this”

“I’m sorry, Pinkie. I’m afraid that I don’t know about the details. All I know was that Top Hat was heartbroken, and that I never saw that witch of a mare ever again” Sir Leon angrily grunted as he barely mentioned Top Hat’s old lover “I do, however, know of someone who does. Speak to Bilancia, she knows everything that happened the day that Top Hat got his heart ripped out and stomped upon”

“Thank you mister Leon, you have no idea what this means to me” Pinkie went on to hug the old stallion with a heartfelt death grip that nearly broke his spine. He gasped and wheezed for air until Pinkie realized that she was hugging him too tightly. He wasn’t mad about it though, if anything, he returned her hug with strength that deceived his aging body.

“Think nothing of it child. I’m glad to see that Top Hat has family that cares deeply for him” Sir Leon performed a polite curtsy with a playful twirl of his moustache “Now, go on, you can’t help your cousin by standing here now”

Pinkie nodded with Sir Leon and proceeded to find Bilancia post haste. This was a wonderful development for her, she now knew why Top Hat was feeling so depressed. Now she just had to get to the bottom of it before she can hatch some sort of crazy plan to cheer her cousin up. Hopefully, Twilight was having as much luck as she was with her investigation.

* * *

Meanwhile, inside the circus tent

“So, what can you tell me about Top Hat’s tricks?” Twilight asked one of the many performers with a notepad in held tightly in her hoof. This was the very first step in her quest to expose Top Hat for the mysteries that he held. And she would do so by pestering every single individual within the tent until she came up with conclusive results for some experiments.

The clowns within the tent became wary of her presence and remained uneasy whenever they walked by Twilight, so much so that the even the clown shoes that they were stopped squeaking so that they can walk by undetected without catching her attention. From the look of things, she seemed absolutely determined to pry whatever answer that she could receive from them, and they weren’t going to honk away anything that’ll catch her attention even in the slightest.

This was going to be a very long day.