Cirque du Cutie

by Nerniply

Rating: everyone
Tags: Alternate Universe, Slice of Life
Length: 2806

The circus comes to town and brings with it something strange.

Behind every curtain, during every performance, dark secrets lie, waiting patiently to be released. They huddle at the back of stages, in the empty void of the magician's top hat, in funhouse mirror mazes…planning silently. They fear the spotlight, and will flee from it tirelessly. If trapped, they will stretch and grow to try and convince you that you are looking at something else,

but don't be deceived!

Behind every curtain, dark secrets hide.

Equestricus is no exception…

Published 1970-01-01 00:00:00 UTC
Last updated 2014-10-11 16:14:15 UTC

Chapter 1

Twilight narrowed her eyes as she brought them level with the test tube in front of her. This part of the experiment required absolute precision and she didn’t want to have to clean up the mess if something went wrong. She took a bottle of blue liquid and slowly poured it into the test tube until it reached the single teaspoon mark. Letting out the breath she had subconsciously been holding, she put the bottle back on the shelf above her and carefully levitated the test tube out of its stand, preparing to slowly pour it into another bright green solution before her. She wiped her brow, it had suddenly become twice as hot in the library, and slowly tipped the test tube over, the blue liquid slowly inching toward the edge and—

Furious pounding from her door suddenly snapped her out of her concentration causing her to jump in surprise and release her telekinetic grip on the test tube. She watched in horror as the test tube fell, almost in slow motion, rapidly nearing the surface of the bubbling green mixture. Thinking quickly, Twilight enveloped the test tube in the purple aura of her magic, stopping it mere moments before it hit the surface. Setting it back in its stand, she turned her attention to the door as another series of blows threatened to send it flying off its hinges. Angrily, she stomped across the room and opened the door preparing to berate whichever pony was foalish enough to disturb her during her studies. Instead, she was met with a blow to the chest as whoever was outside slammed into her, sending her careening across the library to slam forcefully into the opposite wall before sliding on her stomach to the floor. As her head spun, Twilight felt another pony jump on top of her and when she turned herself over, she was met with excited magenta eyes and an unkempt rainbow colored mane.

“Twilight!” Rainbow Dash exclaimed in excitement “The circus is coming to town! They are some of the COOLEST ponies EVER! They have this thing whe—” she stopped as she looked up and noticed the scientific equipment spread throughout the library, the blackboard that was covered in scientific equations and diagrams, and the still open bottle of blue liquid that had been knocked on its side and was steadily emptying its contents into the beaker of bubbling green solution beneath it.

“Oh…” She said, turning back to Twilight, “were you busy?”

As if in response, the beaker flashed once and then promptly exploded.

• • •

My little pony, my little pony

Ahh, ahh, ahh, ahh, my little pony

I used to wonder what friendship could be (my little pony)

Until you all shared its magic with me

Big adventure, tons of fun, a beautiful heart, faithful and strong,

Sharing kindness, it’s an easy feat!

And magic makes it all complete, you have (my little pony)

Did you know you’re all my very best frieeeeeends

My Little Pony © Hasbro and Lauren Faust

• • •

“Whooooooo-weeeee! This sure is excitin’!” Applejack remarked as she and her five pony friends stood in line to enter the enormous red and yellow circus tent that had been set up just outside of Ponyville. “I remember always wantin t’be part o’the circus when I was real little, but mah pappy never let me; said it was no way t’make a livin.” She continued, her eyes growing large in reminiscence “I always thought they were pretty darn special. I bet yer gonna love em, Twah”

The purple unicorn rolled her eyes and looked up from the brochure she was reading. “Well I hope they’re worth the trouble they caused.” It had been nearly a week since Twilight had first learned of the circus’s impending arrival in Ponyville but she still regarded the memory with annoyance.

“Oh come on Twilight!” Rainbow Dash said in reaction to her comment. “It was just one teensy explosion! And it wasn’t like I didn’t help you clean up.”

“You made a hurricane inside my living room.”

“Well it put out the fire, didn’t it?”

“OHGUYSLOOK!” Pinkie Pie yelled as she popped up between the two and wrapped her forelegs around them. “We’re going in! We’re going in!” The group had made it to the circus tent and as they entered, they couldn’t help but gasp in surprise and amazement. The tent seemed even bigger on the inside than it was on the outside! Near the entrance, stalls were set up where ponies were buying concessions. Closer to the center, bleachers were arranged surrounding an empty circular area which was to be the stage of the event. Trapezes hung from the ceiling and a tight rope was strung between the two balconies attached to the wooden pillars that held up the tent. And everywhere was the excitement and the atmosphere of the entertainment.

Their state of amazement was broken when a large cloud of purple smoke suddenly exploded into existence in front of them, accompanied by the sound of deep, resonant laughter. Fluttershy yelped in alarm and hid behind her friends as out of the cloud emerged a red coated stallion with an electric yellow mane who Twilight recognized from her brochure as Lazarus, the ringmaster of the show. He was wearing a large top hat, a black cape, and a suave grin that covered his entire face, and as lively music started up, he began to sing.

Now what do we have here?

Excited ponies filled with cheer?

It can only mean one thing: we’re at the cir-rr-cus.

And if you follow me,

I’ll be sure to let you see,

all the things that make life special here with us!

With the last line, Lazarus started to dance towards the stage as behind him, out of the cloud of smoke that was still hanging in midair, emerged a whole parade of ponies. They followed close behind him as he danced, playing instruments, singing and dancing, or simply jumping around to encourage the ponies watching to join. Pinkie Pie didn’t hesitate and immediately jumped atop the nearest elephant and started to dance with wild abandon. Her five friends laughed to each other before galloping after her into the confusing chaos of the parade.

As she entered the throng of ponies moving toward the stage, Twilight’s senses were bombarded with sounds and colors and movement and she quickly lost track of her friends. She was vaguely aware of the Lazarus’s singing although she couldn’t tell where it was coming from. All around her was the same movement and confusion and the deafening noise coming from… everywhere at once, preventing her from focusing on any specific thing. It was in no way unpleasant however. In fact, Twilight found herself laughing in joy at the marvelousness of it all. It was all so stimulating that Twilight thought her heart was going to pop right out of her chest.

Suddenly Applejack was next to her yelling something, but because of the noise and commotion, Twilight couldn’t make out what she was saying.

“WHAT?” Twilight yelled back trying to make herself heard over the percussionists that were nearby. Applejack merely shook her head, grabbed Twilight by the forehoof and started pulling her through the wall of excited ponies. Finally they broke out of the parade and made their way over to their friends who were all sitting in their seats on the bleachers.

“Twilight, darling, you simply mustn’t run off like that!” Scolded Rarity as the two approached. “Something absolutely dreadful could have happened to you! It’s a good thing Applejack here was able to track you down.”

Twilight’s ears went back in embarrassment but before she was able to respond, Applejack came to her rescue.

“Aww, quit yer fussin’ Rarity. She’s just excited is all.” Then she turned to back to Twilight, raised her ears back up and said “Don’t you worry none sugarcube, I reckon I did the very same thing mah first time at the circus.”

“Thanks you guys,” Twilight said to her friends as she made her way to her seat, “I guess I got a little carried away.”

“It’s all good,” replied Rainbow Dash, “no harm, no foul.”

Twilight made it to her seat and sat down. The performers had evidently made it onstage and were apparently finishing up the opening act. Lazarus stood in the middle of the stage, dancing and gesturing about as he sang the final verses of the song.

… With fanciful musicians,

and mysterious magicians!

Welcome ponies to Equestricus!

As the music reached a crescendo, the Lazarus threw his hooves out and everything onstage with him, the animals, the acrobats, the musicians, all of them burst into purple smoke and disappeared. The circus tent erupted in applause as the red coated ringmaster bowed low. When the applause had died down he straightened up, flashed his audience a huge smile and began to speak once again.

“Good evening, fillies and gentlecolts,” he said in his loud commanding voice, “and welcome to Equestricus, the most amazing circus in all of Equestria!” He stopped as more applause arose before continuing. “We are all so glad you could come and spend this evening with us. We have many wonders to show you tonight, each more amazing than the last.” He stopped again for more applause. “And fear not, my little ponies, the concession stands will remain open throughout the show.” At this, a loud WOO-HOO briefly drew everypony’s attention to a little pink earth pony who was somehow dancing in place 10 feet above the ground. She was soon yanked forcefully out of the air and deposited on the ground by a nearby blue pegasus and everypony turned their attention back to Lazarus who chuckled before continuing. “But enough introduction! The night won’t last forever, and we have so much to show you! So give a warm welcome to the biggest, the strongest, the only, Pony Forklift!”

With a flourish, he burst into a cloud of purple smoke which billowed and expanded, until it had consumed the entire stage. It then contracted in on itself and the performer was revealed. The whole tent gasped in alarm for, along with various heavy metal objects, a chocolate brown...thing had appeared.

“What is that?” yelled a stallion who was sitting behind Twilight “My god! Is it moving? I think it’s alive!” In his excitement he knocked into Twilight, who frowned in annoyance but said nothing as her attention was quickly drawn back to the stage. The brown thing was getting into a standing position and revealing itself to be a chocolate coated earth pony stallion with a dark grey measuring weight stamped upon his flank. However, in standing up, he showed the audience his true height. He was MASSIVE, easily three times a normal pony’s height. In fact, Twilight realized, even princess celestia would’ve had to look up at him in order to talk to him. He walked with a great lumbering gait over to where a huge wrecking ball and a refrigerator were resting beside a single pony snowplough much like the ones used in Ponyville during winter wrap up. The crowd gasped as he hoisted them up in his huge forelegs, and then once again when he started to juggle.

“That’s impossible!” The stallion behind Twilight remarked, shoving up against her once again to get a better look at the several tons of metal that were miraculously defying gravity at the hooves of the Forklift “It must be a trick!”

It would have to be some trick Twilight thought with an eyeroll. Even with magic, such a feat would have been extremely difficult. The huge pony onstage manipulated his awkward bundle in the same way Pinkie frequently did with rubber balls, catching them behind his back, through his legs, and even with his tail! The objects would fly through the air, obviously in no mood to obey the laws of physics, before he would catch them and send them up again. They were moving so quickly around him that Twilight was having trouble keeping track of one at a time, and she was starting to doubt that they were even made of metal. Suddenly, the Forklift chucked all three of his props up into the air, where they hung for a second before crashing back down and embedding themselves in the dirt around him. There was no doubt now, the height they had reached combined with the give of the earth and the depth they had sunk into it made it clear, they had to have been made of metal.

The whole tent erupted in applause as the Forklift cantered around the arena, flexing his muscles and waving to the audience. But his act wasn’t over yet, a stagelight suddenly lit up and shone down on a contraption that was set up at one end of the arena. There was a large square shaped hole in the ground with a steel cable extending up and out of it. Situated about 10 feet above the hole was a pulley that had the cable looped around it. The cable finally ended in a strong iron ring which the Forklift walked up to and grasped with his mouth. Digging his feet into the earth, he tugged on his end of the cable, and as the end leading into the hole grew taught, the wooden planks supporting the pulley began to groan under the pressure they were being forced to carry.

“I wonder what’s down there.” Whispered Applejack as the Forklift began inching his way backwards. “Ah bet its a whole cart full’a apples. They can get mighty heavy.”

“Apples?” Rarity remarked, raising an eyebrow “You think he’s lifting a bunch of apples?”

“Well, what do you think it is Rarity?” Applejack retorted “A big ol’ dress?”

“No,” Rarity scoffed, “I was thinking it might be a golden chariot encrusted in diamonds or something along those lines. But, in all fairness, if you used enough of the right material, you could make a garment that is simply abominable to lift.” Before Applejack had a chance to respond, Pinkie Pie popped up between them.

“Maybe it’s the worlds most GINORMOUS cupcake!” She guessed excitedly, eliciting a look of confusion from all of her friends.

“Pinkie Pie,” Rainbow Dash started, “why in Equestria would they be using a giant pastry?”

“I suppose you’re right...” Pinkie Pie said after she had thought for a moment “...a balloon would be waaaay more fun than a cupcake!” stunned silence followed her remark as her friends tried to process what she had said. Finally Rainbow Dash opened her mouth to respond but before she could get a word out, a commotion erupted at the other end of the stadium. The Forklift had almost made it all the way across the stage and the noise was because an object was rising out of the hole. At first, Twilight couldn’t tell what it was. It could have been a cart or a chariot. It most certainly wasn’t a cupcake. It was quite obviously rectangular and most of it seemed to be made of metal, but it wasn’t until it’s steel wheels rose up over the edge of the hole that she realized what it was and gasped in surprise.

“It must weigh over a hundred tons!” Twilight whispered to herself.

“Is that what Ah think it is?” Applejack asked uneasily.

“No, of course not my dear.” Rarity responded although she looked ready to eat her own words.

“I don’t know Rarity, it sure looks like one to me.” Rainbow Dash said, rising up out of her seat to get a better look.

“But, that would be impossible!” Fluttershy exclaimed.

“See, you guys...” Pinkie Pie said, a proud smile on her face. “I told you!”

“It’s not a balloon Pinkie…” Twilight said finally. “It’s a train.”

Out of the hole was rising the steel carapace of a train car, its sides emitting sparks as they rubbed against the sides of the hole. It was the sort of car used to transport cargo, with large side doors and plenty of storage space. The Forklift pulled it all the way up to the pulley, the crowd cheering in amazement and urging him on. Slowly the car inched its way upwards until finally it reached the top, its doors falling open to reveal a wall of colors inside and an almost palpable scent of sugar. They were cupcakes, thousands of them, and as the crowd cheered and the Forklift flexed his muscles, they rose up into the air and headed for the audience. Five ponies, their eyes wide in shock, turned toward their pink earth pony friend who was wearing a grin brighter than the sun.

“See, you guys...” Pinkie Pie repeated. “I told you!”