Celestia's Circus

by MoltenXKid

Don't Tug My Heartstrings

The circus tent’s entrance closed, leaving Twilight and Spike on the outside. Twilight tried to touch the tent, but a magical barrier covered the entire surface. Both were shocked by what they had just experienced. A cold, awkward silence resonated between them. Spike chose to speak first.

“Uh Twilight…” The words wouldn’t come out his mouth.

“I know Spike…I know.” Twilight whispered.

The young dragon jumped off Twilight’s back. He walked around, so he could look the unicorn right in her eyes. Slowly, he put both his hands onto Twilight’s cheeks. His claws dug into her skin, but not enough to cause a discomfort. His emotions turned serious as a shadow came upon his face.

“That…Was…The …Most …Awesome…Thing…Ever!” The dragon yelled out. He let go of Twilight’s face and started to jump around.

Twilight’s jaw dropped. For the second time today, she couldn’t believe what she was hearing. She used her magic to hold Spike still, then brought him closer. Even within the grasp of Twilight’s magic, the dragon still moved with bliss.

“Spike, you can’t be serious,” The unicorn’s voice beginning to rise, “Celestia just tried to cut you in half with a beam of light! That was not awesome."

“Twilight. Think about it. Do you actually think the princess would let that happen?” Spike began to smirk, “It was just a game. There is no way she would have let the laser actually hit me if your magic dome didn’t protect us.”

Twilight thought of about what her dragon said. There was a possibility that it was just game. There was also a chance that the princess was serious. She wasn’t sure about which possibility was true. She let go of Spike and pondered.

Moments passed and the dragon became restless. He walked back and forth. For a while, he even practiced his fire breath. His green and purple fire barely reached five feet from his mouth. Soon, Boredom crept upon him. Enough was enough. He wanted to go enjoy the Circus. Not just sit around and think.

“Twilight, let’s go enjoy the circus!” whined Spike, “It is boring just sitting here”

Once again, Twilight pondered, but this time reached an answer. “No, Spike. We have to wait for the bell. We can’t miss the next show.”

Spike grew annoyed. He grabbed Twilight’s hoof and began to drag her towards the other booths and activities. She tried to use her magic to stop him, but something didn’t allow her to. When that plan failed, she proceeded to plant her back hooves firmly into to ground. Even with the added resistance, Spike did not stop dragging the unicorn. The superior dragon strength had her beat. With her options exhausted, Twilight decided to take a good look at her surroundings.

She hadn’t notice it before, but outside the decayed circus tent was actually a thriving environment. The grass had the lushest color of green. As far as the eye could see, not a cloud could be found and the sun shined bright. Then, Twilight looked straight ahead to see the rest of the circus. There were booths, made form the same material as the big top, were located every where. The only difference was that these were newer and cleaner than the actual circus tent. Many different activities ranging from water blasters to strength testers could be found. The only thing that ruined the scene was the fact that the mist ponies were about.

“Spike, I’m not so sure we should do this.” said the unicorn. She finally started walking.

“Stop being a wimp, Twi. These ponies aren’t even real,” Spike looked around and found a perfect target, “I’ll show you.”

Spike went over to a female looking mist Earth pony and tried to show Twilight that his hands would go right through it. Instead, he ended up pushing the poor defenseless pony onto the ground. Realizing his mistake, Spike raced to help her off the ground.

“Hey! What’s the big idea?!” yelled the mist pony.

“I’m so sorry! I...was only trying to...uh...um..” Spike fumbled to explained while offering his hand out to help.

The mist pony rejected his help and raised herself up. Twilight quickly ran over, after recovering from shock, and brushed off the Earth pony. While doing this, Twilight noticed that she actually could feel fur on the mist pony. It made her uneasy, but she continued to brush.

“We’re both so-“Twilight tried to speak, but was interrupted.

“Look…I appreciate your help, but…” The mist pony stopped talking and turned to Spike and Twilight, “Wait. You’re the performers from the show! All apologies accepted!”

In unison, both Twilight and Spike said, “Really?”

“Of course! I was on the edge of my seat the whole time!” cheered the mist pony as she stomped her hooves, “It was amazing!”

“Uh…thanks.” Confused, the lavender unicorn sat down.

Spike on the other hand, smirked and said, “It was nothing…It’s all the raw talent we have.”

Becoming slightly annoyed, Twilight levitated Spike unto her back. She then walked towards the mist pony and asked a question.

“Not to cut the conversation short, but do you any ‘fun’ activities to do around her before the next show?”

The mist unicorn rubbed her chin while she pondered. When she thought of an answer, she pointed down a row of abandoned booths. She giggled a bit then explained.

“Down there is a booth where…where…you get to play a musical instrument.” She said clapping her hooves together.

“Well that doesn’t seem like much fun.” Spike stated matter-of-factly.

Twilight performed a spell that put a sound barrier over Spike’s mouth. She blushed a little at the embarrassed then turned her attention to the mist pony. “Shush, Spike! Sorry. We’ll go check it out. Thank you.”

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“Come one; come all! Win the game and win a prize!”

“Excuse me sure, but did you say a prize?” questioned Twilight as she walked towards a booth with two curtains.

The male mist pony jumped down from his pedestal and walked over to Twilight. “Why I didn’t know a celebrity would be among us today. “ He wrapped his hooves around Twilight. He began walking over to his booth and starting to explain.

“Yes, little lady, I did say you could win a prize!” He cleared his throat, “Are you interested?”

Twilight’s face scrunched. She was unsure whether to take play or not. On one hoof, she needed to relieve some stress and this would do it. On the other hoof, she needed to prepare for the next performance. She needed a third party, so she looked for Spike. When she located him, he was poking the mist pony to see if his claw would go through.

“Spike! Will you stop that and listen? What do you think about playing?”

The dragon looked up and shrugged. “It’s whatever you want. I say go for it.” After he finished talking, Spike went back to poking the mist pony.

“Well…what will it be Miss? I do have other customers.” asked the male pony. He moved over, so Spike’s claws wouldn’t bother him.

Confused, Twilight turned around to see a whole line of mist ponies patiently waiting in line. Most were surprised to see the show’s star performer outside among them. Others were becoming agitated by the wait.

“Yes, I’ll play.”

“Excellent!” The male mist pony trotted over to the first curtain and pulled it out the way. Behind it was a beautiful lyre. Twilight walked over to the instrument and levitated it with her magic.

“This looks familiar…” she said trying to remember where she had seen the instrument from.

“The point of this game is to play that instrument.” said the mist pony.

Twilight smirked. This wasn’t going to be hard at all. While at Princess Celestia’s School for Gifted Unicorns, she participated in many classes that involved musical instruments. The teacher always told her that she should move on to other subjects. It was probably because she mastered music.

“Let’s g-“

“Whoa there little missy…You didn’t let me finish,” he went over to the second curtain, “You have to play the instrument, correctly, in order to save this little pony. Over dramatically, he pulled away the second curtain. Behind it was a turquoise unicorn sitting awkwardly a bench. Beside her were two mist guards with spears.

“Twilight?! You don’t how happy I am to see you!” said the elated unicorn. She tried to run over to Twilight, but the guards crossed their spears to hinder her progression.

“Lyra! What are you doing here?” Twilight asked. She was stunned to see another pony that wasn’t made of mist.

The Carnie owner stepped into the conversation. “That’s enough talk. The time for play is here.” He handed Twilight a piece of paper with musical notes on it.

Twilight looked and took a deep breath. The paper was number from one to five. Beside each number was a random musical note. She squinted at the paper unsure of what each symbol meant.

“Twilight... please tell me you’re not playing the game.” pleaded Lyra.

“Yes I am. Why do you ask?”

“Well…” Lyra paused for a moment, “You were never the best instrumentalist in school.”

“I passed all the musical courses!” Twilight said defensively

“Pitch Perfect passed you so no one would have to suffer anymore…”

The carnie came between the two unicorns once again. This time he was more serious.”I said ‘The time for play is here.’ Now here are the rules. You must play three out of five notes correctly. If you do, then that fine mare will be set free.”

Twilight brought the lyre closer. She examined it thoroughly, and didn’t find anything out of the ordinary. Spike ran over then strummed the instrument. It made a beautiful sound which was followed by a blood curdling scream.

“AHHH!!!!!!”

Twilight and Spike looked in the direction that the scream came from. When they found it, the shock flowed over them. Lyra was lying on the ground. Tears streamed from her eyes as she clenched her chest in agony. She screamed in pain until her voice gave out.

“What type of game is this?!” Twilight asked. She ran over to the carnie and grabbed what felt like his shirt collar.

“Where are my thoughts? I forgot to tell you that if you don’t play the right notes, then our poor Lyra will have a nasty chest pain.” The carnie, with his free hoof, strummed the lyre.

“AHHHHHHH!!!”

“Stay away from this lyre!” Twilight pulled the lyre away from the carnie, “Try to touch it again and I’ll destroy you.”

Spike ran over to Twilight and pushed her away. He looked her in her eyes and shook his head. He then pointed to Lyra and nodded. The look in his eyes was of determination and a bit of guiltiness, for when he strummed the lyre. Twilight knew exactly what needed to be done. She took one look at the paper then strummed a note. It rang throughout the area. Lyra eyes opened. She began to slowly rise.

“Good job, Twilight!” Lyra cheered. Her voice was still weak.

“Beginners Luck…” The carnie added.

The crowd cheered. Twilight didn’t care, though. All she was determined to do was free her friend. She looked down at the next note on the paper. She remembered the note, but wasn’t sure that she knew the exact fingerings for it.

“Hurry, Ms. Sparkle. Others are waiting.” rushed the carnie.

“Don’t you rush me,” Twilight warned, growing agitated.

She took a deep breath and strummed the next note. It sounded correct, but it was a little sharp. Lyra gripped her chest and stumbled. Blood started to flow from the corner of her mouth. She felt it and wiped it away.

“Way to go! Just make sure next time to be more exact.” Lyra cheered as she wiped the blood from the corner of her mouth again.

All Twilight needed now was one more note and Lyra would be free. Spike cheered as loudly as the crowd did. Perhaps a friendly competition? Who knew? The carnie looked distraught. This was the only unicorn he had. If Twilight won, he would be out of business. "Good" Twilight thought. Determined,she looked at note three on the paper. She downright didn't know this note. No amount of memorizing could help her. She looked towards Lyra with a desperate look.

"Look Twi, I can take a wrong note. " Lyra said, "Just one. Okay. After this. You have to get the next one right."

"But-"

"No buts...just do it."

Unsure, Twilight strummed a note. There wasn't a scream of anything, but a loud thump was heard. Lyra had fallen to the ground and remained there. No movement; no sound. Did Twilight accidentally kill Lyra? The crowd went silent and hovered in around the situation. Then, a miniscule cough was heard. The motionless unicorn shook before cautiously rising to her hooves. Where she laid was a pool of her own blood. "It'll take a lot more than one wrong note to do me in."

The next note on the paper was one she remembered but was followed by a symbol she couldn’t remember what it stood for. The symbol resembled a lowercase “b”. Did it mean the note was flat or was it sharp? Twilight new both fingerings, yet she didn’t know which one to do. It wouldn’t hurt her is she got it wrong; She just knew Lyra couldn’t handle anymore wrong notes.

Try as she may, Twilight couldn’t remember what the symbol meant. “Hurry, Miss Twilight. Customers are waiting.” mentioned the Carnie, once again. Twilight didn’t pay him any attention as she clenched the lyre in her hand, ready to play. She took a deep breath and began to strum.

“Wait!” yelled Lyra, “Make sure you’re absolutely sure about the note. Remember the symbol that looks like a ‘b’ makes the note flat and the one that looks like an octothorpe makes the note sharp.”

“HAY, SHUSH!” commanded the Carnie. He ordered the guard to push Lyra onto the ground.

It was all so clear now. The note. The flat. The fingerings. Everything. Twilight lifted up the lyre, a little too drastically, and strummed a note.
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Lyra stood in the sun brushing herself off. The push from earlier had gotten dirt all in her fur. Nevertheless, she still had a huge smile on her face.

“Thanks Twilight,” Lyra acknowledged, “I don’t know what would have happened if you hadn’t came along.”

“Let’s not dwell on it, Lyra.” Twilight offered, “ So how did you get here?”

Lyra rubbed her chin remembering the past. “Hmm, Bonbon and I were sitting on the couch when we received a note from Princess Celestia. Next thing I know, I was here. “ Lyra shrugged

“What are you going to do now?” Spike asked

“Well, Spike…I’m going to go look for Bonbon. If I’m here, she has to be. Celestia knows what type of torture she is endearing…” Lyra spoke depressingly.

“She probably does know…”Twilight whispered.

“What was that?”

“Oh noth-“

A loud bell sounded interrupting Twilight’s statement. Remembering what Celestia said, Twilight hoisted Spike onto her back and began to run off. “Sorry, but I have to run. The bell…crowd…next show…Celestia…can’t be late…explain later.”

“Uhh… Alright,Twilight. I’ll meet you later once I find Bonbon.”

Twilight nodded while running. She stumbled, yet quickly regained her composure. The bell rang for the second time and the black mist from earlier began to flow into the big top. She saw the end of it nearing and began trotting faster. She didn’t know what was in store for her, but whatever it was, she hoped Cele-…Luna would protect her.

Comments

[PinkieLunaShy]

Update! Please

[MoltenXKid]

3980183 Sorry, dude. ill get right on it.