It's Magic

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.