Celestia's Circus

by MoltenXKid

The Second Show

Author's Note:

Her's the update. I didn't completely forget about this, but you know, I had other things to work on, so this did not take priority. O well. Let's rejoice that's it is here now.

Twilight, with Spike on her back, ran into the dimmed circus bigtop. Her lungs begging for air. Luckily, she made it before the last ring of the bell and before the smoke fully entered the tent. As the smoke blew past her, she felt strangely cold, and drained of emotions. The feeling went away when the smoke filled the stands, and formed into sentient smoke ponies. Twilight continued to walk forward making sure to watch her step. The next show was about to begin and Twilight didn’t know what to expect.

In that instant, stage lights flashed in center ring to show Celestia, wearing a blue Ring leader outfit, and a lion. She used her whip on the lion to get it riled up. In its anger, the lion let out a might roar, with swipes of its claw.This caused the smoke crowd to cheer in excitement, or cringe with fear. Then, a hushed silence fell over the crowd as Celestia raised a hoof. Slowly, she reached for the lion, and opened its jaws. Hesitantly, she moved her head into the lion’s mouth. Her head remained there for a couple seconds as the crowd held their breath. Celestia then started to bring her head out of the lion’s mouth. Unfortunately, part of her ethereal mane flowed across the lion’s teeth. Without warning, The jaws of the beast snapped shut.

Celestia’s body went limp.

“Princess!!” Twilight screamed in horror. Even with the all the princess had put her through, Twilight still felt a connection to her.

Twilight galloped to center stage. With slight discomfort, she shot magic bolts at the lion which caused it to walk away. The lavender mare kneeled by her mentor and lifted the headless body. Tears formed in her eyes from the loss of her teacher. She was to busy feeling sorrow to notice the lack of blood, or the weird indention where Celestia’s head should be. Unexpectantly, the body jumped from Twilight’s grasp. It walked before dancing to some unknown song. Celestia’s head popped from the chasm in the body, shocking the entire crowd. Some of the smoke mares fainted.

“Hello, mares and stallions! Welcome to the Second show!” The re-headed Celestia announced, “Please welcome our returning star, Twilight Sparkle!”

As the crowd cheered, Twilight felt her stomach churn, and had to stifle a feeling to vomit. Celestia indulged in the crowd’s cheers. She continued Dancing feeding off energy until she noticed her student, Twilight, recovering from the incident. Celestia took some empathy, and walk to her student. She wrapped her in a wing, trying to comfort the distraught mare. Instinctively, Twilight cuddled in the warm embrace, until she realized what was happening. Immediately, Twilight broke the embrace.

“What’s wrong, my faithful student?” Celestia asked. For a moment, Twilight sensed the old Celestia.

“Don’t…Don’t call me that!” Twilight replied, “I’m no longer your student. Let’s just get this show over with.”

Celestia, visibly hurt by Twilight’s words, said, “If you insist…” She lit her horn, and the lights flashed off, then back on, “Ladies and Gentle! The Show is about to begin!”

In the middle of the Circus was a titanic sewing machine. In its grasp was a giant, sharp needle used for piercing. In front of the machine were mirrors with hammers in front. Slowly, a whining piece of cloth slid across the floor until it was positioned underneath the sewing machine. Twilight heard the cloth whine and speak, “Someone, please get me out of this cheap cotton…it’s so scratchy!” Twilight went to help her, but was stopped by Celestia’s wing.

The machine screamed alive, and the needle rapidly went up and down stabbing the dirt floor of the circus leaving behind a medium sized, deep hole. A whole big enough to kill a pony. The loud noise form the machine drowned out the crowd, yet Twilight could still hear her friend’s whining, and Celestia’s speech.

“Okay Twilight. This is another easy task. Trust me…” Celestia giggled, “ You see, it is as simple as smashing three of those mirrors ,and boom! Your friend is free. You better hurry. The machine is getting hungry.”

Twilight looked toward the machine to see that the cloth was moving towards the needle with her friend, Rarity, now fully in view. “Don’t worry ,Rarity! I’ll save you!” The Element of Generosity looked to her lavender friend, and smiled with relief. Twilight went to the first mirror, picked up the hammer, and went to smash it, yet stopped when smoke swirled in the mirror to reveal something dear to her heart.

Mirror one: Filly Twilight played with her baby sitter, Cadance, on the front lawn of her house. It had been a day of fun, and relaxation, but Twilight’s brother ,Shining Armor, had come to pick her up. As usual, every time he got around Cadance, Shining turned into a bumbling fool. His words were jumbled, and he sweated profusely as he tried to ask Cadance something. Twilight sensing he needed help, used her still developing magic to create a message.

“uh..uh…Hey…Cadance…” Shining struggled to read, “Would you like…t-to go on a… date with me?”

“I thought you’d never ask! I would love to go!”

Twilight Then ran to each of the mirrors

Mirror two: Filly Twilight struggled to get her magic to work in front of the board of judges. Try as she may, only spark flew from her horn. After futile attempts, Twilight decided to give it on more go, and that’s when a loud boom cause her magic to explode from the depths of herself, causing the egg she was aiming at to hatch and grow into a mighty dragon...

Twilight ran to the next mirror. She already knew the rest of that story…

Mirror three: This mirror wasn’t a scene in her life , but more of a picture slideshow of her first adventure with her friends: NightMare Moon. Twilight saw pictures of her meeting her friends, Rarity opening the curtain to reveal the Shadow mare, the manticore, the group falling off the cliff, the manticore, Steven, Shadowvolts, and even the final defeat of Nightmare Moon. Twilight couldn’t help, but smile. Those moments intertwined their lives ,and formed an eternal friendship. Unfortunately, Rarity’s whining broke her train of thought.

“Twilight, dear…not to rush you from looking at yourself, but I’m getting uncomfortably close to the needle…” Rarity. Fear was subtitle in her voice.

“Sorry…sorry…” Twilight apologized, “Celestia…exactly what will happen once I break these mirrors?”

Celestia appeared on the lion that supposedly bit her head off. It looked uncomfortable, and awkward, but Celestia didn’t seem to mind. She got off the lion, and poofed it away with a flick of her horn. Celestia laughed as she summoned another mirror. This mirror showed Twilight’s graduation memory.

“You see, Twilight. These mirror are attached to you mind which holds you memories. They are also attached to the power source of this machine.”

“Twilight Hurry!!!”

“Continue…”

“To stop the machine you have to break each mirror which in turn will delete the memory from your mind,” Celestia grabbed a hammer, and smash the mirror she summoned, “Now, do you remember graduating from my school of gifted unicorns, Twilight?”

“Uh…” Twilight searched for the memory she knew should be their, yet she couldn’t grasp it, “It’s gone…you took my memory…”

“No..no…I sacrificed it to slow down the machine. You better hurry.” Celestia’s eye twitched before she disappeared in a cloud of dust.

Without hesitation, Twilight ran to the first mirror, and grabbed the hammer. She watch as the memory repeated itself of Shining asking Cadance out. It was an important memory, but one she was willing to sacrifice. Twilight swung the hammer with little regret. The mirror shattered, and she forgot how Shining and Cadance’s relationship started. Fortunately, the machine slowed down.

Twilight then ran to the second mirror. As this memory replayed, Twilight sighed. This memory was more important to her. It is how her life started. The point in her life that changed its course for the better. Her first connection to her friends. The hammer shook in her hoofs. She swung the hammer which cracked, but did not shatter the memory. In Twilight’s mind, the memory went hazy, but still intact. She swung again, and the mirror shattered. The memory now gone, and the machine even slower.

Now, as she approached the third mirror. The most important memory of the three. Tears flowed from her eyes as she picked up the hammer. She could barely watch as she swung to hit the mirror, yet she dropped the hammer as she swung. The hammer hit the corner of the mirror causing Twilight to flinch. She couldn’t do it. This memory was too important. How couldn’t one sacrifice the start of their friendship?

Twilight looked up to see Rarity only feet away from the sharp needle. Her eyes were closed, and a single tear was being produced in her eye. She seemed to be saying prayers to some higher power. If she was praying to Celestia, her prayers would be in vain.

“Spike…I can’t…I can’t do it?” Twilight cried.

“Twilight...you just gotta!” Spike yelled from the audience, “To save Rarity! And prove that you’ll do anything for your friends!”

The words rang in Twilight’s head. She realized that one memory didn’t determine a friendship. Each on played a piece in the puzzle that was friendship. With new found determination, Twilight grabbed the hammer, and smashed the third mirror. Each time she hit, a different part of the entire memory would disappear. Meeting her friends: Gone. Going into the Everfree Forest: Gone. Realizing her friend’s elements: Gone. Releasing Princess Luna: Gone. With the last hit, the memory was entirely gone.

“I’ve been hit! The horror! The Horror!”

“Rarity!” Twilight ran to her friend to see the needle centered in the middle of Rarity. The needle punctured the poor , marshmallow mare causing some blood to arise, but with quick healing, Rarity would be alright, “Rarity, you’re alright. Spike! Come apply some pressure.”

“It’s going dark, Twilight…no…I see a light at the end of a tunnel! Oh! It’s my time.”

Spike ran to his damsel’s aid, holding her hoof, and her wound. Twilight could only sigh as she manually lifted the needle. Spike pulled Rarity from the needle’s clutches. Rarity used her magic to summon a fan to cool herself down after the horrifying ordeal. Twilight tried hard to remember something…something important. Something about friends. Her thoughts were halted, when Celestia’s voice rang through the Bigtop.

“Giving up precious memories for friendship, Ladies and Gentle! Can you believe it?” Celestia yelled as the crowd cheered, “See you at the next show.”

The smoke ponies all formed into one cloud, and exited the Circus. Celestia then walked to her former student and friend who went on the defensive. Taking aback by the show of aggression, Celestia kept her distance.

“It’s time to leave the circus, Twilight.” Celestia stated. She somewhat sounded sorry for what she did.

“We can’t leave with Rarity like this...” Twilight responded.

Celestia lit her horn, and Rarity disappeared from Spike’s armd. “Don’t worry about her. She will get the attention she needs. Now, it’s time for you to leave. Be back when the bell rings.”

Twilight levitated Spike, who seemed traumatized by the disappearing Rarity, on her back. She had a spiteful look on her face as she walked towards the exit, “I used to look up to you…”

Celestia’s eyes seemed to fill with tears, yet they quickly changed, and twitched as a insane smile appeared on her lips. She seemed to struggle to get the word out, “If…o-only you knew the full s-story…”

Comments

[PinkieLunaShy]

3980407

YES! YES! YES! UPDATE! Now to read it.... YES!

[PinkieLunaShy]

Ok now, WHAT THE HELL!??? If you will excuse me I need to burn all of my Princess Celestia figures. Soooooo now I'm curious, what issss the full story, and will twilight remember any of this? Any who good job mi amigo!

[MoltenXKid]

4466713 I can't tell you the full story because I dont know. I think as I go. And Twilight only forgot what she smashed.

[PinkieLunaShy]

4468668

Mmmok! I'm really excited now!!