It's Magic

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.