It's Magic

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!”