//------------------------------//
// Birth of the Circus 
// Story: Circus Days 
// by The Dragon Warlock 
//------------------------------//

Spike followed Marik through the tent flap and saw a huge arena. In the arena were some unicycles, some juggling balls, a high wire rope with a net below it, a few animal cages, and some hoops. He also saw three ponies who looked like they were practicing their acts for the upcoming show. One was riding one of the unicycles, and juggling. Another was pulling a rabbit, ribbons, and a flock of butterflies flew out of a hat. The final pony was on the high wire and was walking across it with his front hooves while his rear hooves were in the air. 

"Attention everypony!"  Shouted Marik. "Please stop practicing, we have a guest with us." 

The three performers stopped what they were doing and walked over to the ringmaster. Spike finally got a closer look at the three performers. 

The one on the unicycle was an earth pony who had white makeup on his face with a painted on red smile and was wearing a rubber red nose. He was also wearing a polka dotted tuxedo and seemed to have one of those squirt flowers. He had a very poofy orange mane and tail, was on the chubby side, had brown eyes, and he had a teal coat. Spike looked to see that his cutie mark was a mouth open and seemed to be laughing. 

The one doing the magic tricks was obviously a unicorn and was wearing a silk white cape with a matching while silk hat to boot. Spike saw that the cape though wasn't covering her cutie mark and saw that it was a black top hat upside down with magical sparks coming out of it. She had a dark blue coat, had the same body build as Twilight, purple eyes, and had a long flat mane and tail that was brown. 

The one on the high wire rope was a pegasus who was very skinny, had a spiky green mohawk and spiky mane as well, with blue eyes, and a gray coat. He was only wearing a red headband on him. Spike saw that his cutie mark was a pony on his front hooves with his rear ones in the air doing a split. 

"Spike, I want you to meet my friends and performers."  Marik said. "This is Larry, the clown pony. He always wanted to bring a smile to other ponies so he is a clown until he can become a comedian." 

Larry gave a smug smile and shook Spike's hand with his hoof. "A pleasure to meet you Spike."  He said in a thick Manehattan accent. 

"Here is our lovely magician, Alexis."  Marik said pointing to the unicorn. "She may be a unicorn, but she always wanted to dazzle the audience and be a performer. She can pull many things out of that hat of hers. I keep thinking it's a portal, but she keeps telling me a magician never reveals their secrets." 

Alexis blushed, and muttered in a soft voice that was almost on level with Fluttershy's, "Hi there Spike, I'm uh....hoping you're having a great time here."

"Last but not least, this is our most agile of the group, Pierce."  Marik said. "He loves doing dangerous stunts, and acrobats. He's a very talented high wire walker and loves living on the edge. He always has his wings tied up so he won't fly and I have seen him walk across that high wire with his front hooves, do a cartwheel across it, and even a unicycle across it with no safety net. He's a legend amongst us." 

"Ah cut it out Marik."  Pierce said in a deep voice. "You're embarrassing me." 

Marik gave a haughty laugh, and slapped Pierce on the back with a loud clopping sound. "Nonsense my friend, you are very talented just like the rest of us."  Pierce scratched his head and looked away to try to hide his embarrassment. 




"Um...Marik?"  Spike asked. "You said that you and your friends know what it feels like to be lonely. Why? It looks like you all have been friends since you first met each other." 

All the circus performers and Marik gave a sad smile. The ringmaster stepped forward and placed his right hoof on Spike. "Well, when we were all eight we lost our parents, and we all were at the same orphanage in Fillydelphia."  Marik said. "It was such a terrible place; the walls were peeling with old yellow wallpaper, the floors were always dirty, the food was disgusting, there was barely any play equipment, the headmaster was a cruel old stallion, and the beds were as hard as rocks. We were always harassed, picked on, and made fun of all the time. Each one of us was afraid to make friends since we didn't know who to trust at all and it was like that for six long years." 

"One day though I saw that Alexis was crying near a tree, and decided to go over to see what was wrong. She told me that one of the unicorns used magic to trap her hat at the top of the tree, and she wasn't skilled enough to get it back. I decided to give her a hoof by hitting the tree with my rear hooves, and after a few tries I got it down. Alexis hugged me, and then Pierce and Larry came over after seeing what I did. They all liked what I did for Alexis. We all talked amongst ourselves, and we each had a lot in common; we lost our parents, had no friends, and were always beaten up. We hung out with one another everyday from that moment on." 

"So how did you all get your cutie marks?"  Spike asked. "It must've taken you a long time."

Marik chuckled and said, "Actually it didn't take us that long little one. A few days after I became friends with the others, we all discovered that the orphanage was having a talent show and there was to be a special prize. We were all forced to participate and do whatever category we were given. Our category was circus, and we decided who would be what. I was voted to be ringleader and animal tamer since I was always leading the group and had a way with animals. Alexis learned more about magic and how to do tricks, so she became the magician. Larry was always joking around with us with his silly pranks, so he was the clown. Pierce always said he was very flexible, and it was true. He managed to do several back flips while on the ground, and stood on one front hoof, so he made himself the acrobat."

"We practiced what we would do every day until the night of the talent show. I announced in my loudest voice about the greatest show ever in the orphanage, and dazzled them with my ability to tame a stray dog that the headmaster found, and allowed us to use it. I think he was hoping that it would kill us. He put up a big fight, but thanks to my skills I was able to make that dog obedient and lovable in just 2 minutes." 

"Alexis was next, and at first she was very nervous, but we managed to convince her to give it her all. She pulled out of her hat not only a bouquet of flowers, but she also pulled out a book, some apples, and so much more. She even sawed me in half, and for her first time she did wonderful. She felt so happy when she saw that the crowd loved her act. Larry came on next in a polka dotted suit, and while his jokes weren't the best he wowed the crowd with his ability to not only ride a unicycle, but juggle at the same time as well." 

"Pierce was the last one, and went bigger than all of us. He set up a high wire tight rope on the roof leading to a tree that was as tall as the building. To ensure he wasn't cheating he tied his own wings up, and instead of walking across it normally he used his front hooves to walk across. The crowd was shocked, but when he made it across he received a round of applause that was so loud it could have woken up all of Fillydelphia. Pierce did a huge finale that involved riding a unicycle across the tight rope again. The crowd was once again lost in shock, and when Pierce got across the rope again he received applause and cheers so loud some say that Canterlot thought that Fillydelphia was in danger and sent the Royal Guards to check on the city."

"When the talent show was over we won, but we didn't care about that. We looked on at the cheering crowd and loved how we made others happy. That's when we all saw something glow, and we looked at our flanks to see our cutie marks." 

Spike looked in awe, and couldn't believe what he was told. "So how did you all leave the orphanage?"

"I was actually going to get to that."  Marik said. "Since we won the talent show, we found out our prize was a field trip to Canterlot with the headmaster. We saw huge historic buildings, artwork that was as beautiful as the sun setting in the mountains, and much more. While there we saw that there was another circus there called Cirque de Equestria. We all snuck away from the headmaster to take a look, and saw it was nothing like out circus act, but the crowd was entertained nonetheless. We decided at that moment that with our skills we could become big and entertain others." 

"When we returned to Fillydelphia, we got off the carriage we all let the headmaster in the front gates first. He thought we followed him, but we actually fled down the street and heard him cry out in frustration. Thankfully, he never attempted to track us down, so we decided to join another circus that was located right outside Fillydelphia called Fantastic Fred's Circus. He showed us how to run a circus, and we even got to perform a few times to improve our acts. Sadly though the other performers died in a terrible accident shortly after we joined. We decided to take charge of the circus and continue the legacy of Fred to this day. It has been four years since that incident, and we are still going strong." 




When Marik was finished Spike was left in complete awe and he couldn't help but clap at the story and how hard Marik and the others had it. Compared to this, being Twilight's assistant was a cake walk.

"Here you go, a token of our friendship and thanks for listening."  Larry said handing Spike a red flower.

Spike took a whiff of the flower and smelt a sweet fragrance. All of a sudden, his nose felt like it was burning, and scratched it. Before Spike could react, he let out a huge sneeze and his mouth spewed out a huge column of green fire that went across the large arena, and caught every pony off guard. 

Spike's eyes were wide, and felt himself blushing from embarrassment. "I'm...I'm sorry, I didn't mean to do that!" 

Instead of being yelled or lectured, Spike heard some clapping and looked to see Marik was applauding with the others. 

"Spike, that was amazing! You never told us you could do that!"  Marik said happily. 

Spike felt embarrassed, but felt proud as well. "Well I am a dragon after all, of course I can do that."

"You don't understand Spike."  The green stallion said. "You're a baby dragon, but you already can do stuff like that and you aren't even a young adult. You have a special gift for this, and a wonderful talent." 

Spike couldn't believe what he was hearing. He not only made new friends, but he was being praised for a talent he had. He felt a balloon swell up in his heart.

"I have an idea Spike."  Marik said. "The show starts in another hour, so how would you like to practice your fire breathing skills, and join us in the show?" 

Spike's jaw dropped to what he heard. He was going to be part of the show. "Are you serious?"  The ringmaster gave a nod. "I'll do it!"  The baby dragon yelled happily. Every pony cheered and chanted Spike's name. That baby dragon couldn't help but blush again. 

"Come on everypony."  Marik interjected. "We need to practice and get ready. Spike come with me so we can get you ready for your act."

Spike nodded and went off with Marik while the others went to practice their acts. "So what do I do?" 

"Give me a few minutes please."  Marik responded. The ringamster went over to a part of the arena and set up some logs standing up straight, each column had ten logs each and there were ten rows of them. When he was done Marik went back to Spike to instruct him. 

"What you need to do is you burn these logs with your fire breath like you did before, understand?"  Marik asked Spike. 

The baby dragon looked down crestfallen, and muttered something to Marik. 

"Speak up, my friend, I couldn't hear you." 

Spike then blurted out, "I haven't really learned how to shoot my flames out like that yet. That sneeze I did was the only way for me to do that."  He looked up expecting a disappointed face, but instead saw the same gentle smile from the ringmaster. 

"I would have thought with what you did earlier you were already an expert."  Marik said. "You have so much potential and you never got a chance to use it?" 

Spike nodded sadly and said, "I was always taught by Twilight to never do anything like that at all. She would always scold me for doing that and told me to use my fire breathing for delivering messages only." 

Marik frowned upon hearing this. "Your friend may think this is right for you, but for her to suppress such a skill as you have is a terrible waste of talent. There is one way though for you to do what you did earlier though." 

Spike looked in to anticipation. "Well what is it?"

"You must let the flames build up in you and then let it all out." 

Spike thought this over for a minute. One part of him said it was wrong to use his skill like that, but another side said that he was always being repressed by Twilight. Spike then remembered what happened to him when the others left him by himself, and felt a surge of anger at them. Disregarding his conscious, the baby dragon made his decision.  

"Okay Marik, I'll do it."  Spike responded. 

"Very well then Spike."  The ringmaster said with a small smile. "The best way to use your power is to let it build up in you, and then when you feel you can't handle it anymore you let it out." 

Spike nodded and decided to give it a shot. He pretended like he was going to deliver a letter to Princess Celestia, but instead of the flames coming out after a few seconds he let the flame in him build up. Spike felt some sort of fire burn inside his chest, and felt sick. He tried to hold on for it as long as he could, but the longer he did, the more pain he felt. He couldn't take it anymore, and spewed out a huge column of fire at a row of logs. 

Spike turned to see Marik giving a smile. "Very good Spike now just do what you did too the other columns of logs." 

Spike gave a nod, and concentrated hard. He not only burned one column of logs, but he was quickly learning how to keep the spark going by arcing the flames to burn all the other rows as well. When he was done, he saw Marik coming over and smiling. 

"You have done very well my friend."  He told Spike. 

Suddenly a bell rang out and an announcement went through a speaker. "FILLIES AND GENTLECOLTS!"  A voice Spike heard and recognized as Pierce's. "OUR BIG TOP SHOW IS GOING TO START IN FIVE MINUTES. PLEASE MAKE YOUR WAY TO YOUR SEATS AND ENJOY MARIK'S MARVELOUS CIRCUS OF WONDERS!" 

Marik looked at Spike again. "You've done a great job Spike. I've never seen such improvement in so little time. Tonight, I want you to give it your all for the audience, understand?"

Spike nodded and was escorted to the area where Spike first met Marik. He went in to see the other performers stretching and warming up. Larry was putting on some new powder white makeup, Pierce was stretching his limbs, and Alexis was looking at some rope and locks on a table. As he looked on, Spike started to hear a crowd growing out in there performance area that got louder with each passing minute. The baby dragon felt a little intimidated and shaken in fear that he may fail. 

"You're going to do great Spike."  A voice suddenly said. 

Spike turned to see that it was Larry, and the others were standing behind him as well. 

"Don't sweat it."  Said Pierce confidently. "Everypony gets stage fright on their first time performing, but I know you'll make it." 

"You can do it."  Said the soft voice of Alexis. "We'll be here to support you all the way." 

Spike nodded and said, "Thanks...all of you." He looked back at the entrance to the arena and felt his confidence soar as he was ready to go out there.