//------------------------------// // Welcome to the Show! // Story: Stars in the Making // by Borsuq //------------------------------// “You know,” Valiant started, “I can understand why Nighty would be so excited about this magic show, but you look as if you are very interested about it as much as he is.” “Why’s that so surprising?” Starburst asked her cousin (who had Illusion remove his disguise after deciding on staying close to his kin), sitting down at the table with her parents. She wasn’t sure why Starfall had all those tables and comfortable cushions placed before his stage, but it was even more puzzling as to how he convinced Mayor Mare to have this all done. The stage alone seemed to her as pushing his luck enough. However, the answer came soon enough; waiters from a nearby restaurant Lettuce Souprise You started picking orders for drinks. Okay, so he also got... ‘sponsoring’ from them? she pondered. She wasn’t sure if she should be impressed or worried. I guess I’ll ask him about how he did that later… The drinks, though, weren’t free, so it was more probable that Mayor Mare was behind this. Either way, it was nice for somepony to think about letting the audience order something to drink. “I can’t think of one instance when you had been interested in magic through all the years I had known you,” Valiant replied to her question, using his magic to move the straw in his drink around. “Aside from how the enchantments in the guards’ armor worked and stuff like that, I mean.” “Well, true,” Starburst replied carefully; her parents were sitting right next to them, so she had to watch what she would say. And besides, she wasn’t sure if she wanted her cousin to know she was in a relationship with Starfall already as well. “But it’s not the magic itself I’m interested in. I’m curious to see how much Starfall had changed. Since, you know, I’m mostly responsible for that, seeing how I first kicked his tail and later got my mom to pardon him for all his crimes.” “Hmph,” her cousin snorted, looking at the stage. The curtain was still dropped. To kill time before the show would start, ponies talked between themselves at their tables. Nighty was sitting with his friends beside one right next to the stage. Starburst’s friends, though… “Looks like almost all your friends are sitting at tables for two,” Valiant noticed. Starburst had noticed that, too. With Candy dating Del, Nidra dating Prism, Whirlwind dating Hot Head and her herself now dating Starfall, the only one in her group of friends that was not currently in any form of relationship was June. And Valiant. Alright, maybe Candy’s on to something… Starburst thought, taking a sip of her drink. “How about you, Starburst?” he asked, raising an eyebrow. “Are there any colts you have an eye on?” For the second time today, Starburst nearly choked on her drink, taken by surprise. Valiant chuckled while her dad patted her on the back. Once she got her breathing back to normal, she glared angrily at her cousin. Before she could give Valiant an angry retort (like commenting on his unsuccessful love-life), Starburst noticed that the ponies around them had grown quiet. She looked at the stage. The curtain was lifting. Once she told her dad that she was fine and poked Valiant to make him stop laughing, Starburst had her full attention on the stage. She watched as the curtain had lifted, revealing in the light of the torches… … the standing on his hind legs, clad in his cloak and a top hat that obscured his eyes, and using a golden cane as a support Starfall. Starburst deadpanned. Seriously? She forced herself to relax. After all, he had warned her that she would see him acting immature… “♪Muskurate hain yeh♪” … but he said nothing about singing. Starfall, his eye still obscured by the top hat, had began singing softly in yet another foreign language. “♪Tu bhi toh aa muskarale, jagamagate hain yeh, chooker sitare banale, la zameen pe sirpha isa ēka samaya ajaa!♪” he finished, lifting the cane, doing a twirl and throwing his hat in the air at the last line, all which was accompanied by the fireworks that exploded around him. Being already familiar with his spells and the way he moves, Starburst managed to notice that he cast the spell for the fireworks in the exact moment when the thrown hat hid his horn from the view of the audience. “Welcome!” he called out, smiling. “Welcome, Ponyville, to the show of the Great and Powerful Starfall, the Magnificent God who- pleh!” he stopped, clearing his throat. “That’s a mouthful. I’ll need to think of a shorter title later. Anyways,” Starfall started again, raising his voice. “welcome! As most of you knew, this show is a form of apology from me to you for what I did over a week ago.” “If some of you don’t remember,” he said, once again leaning on his cane, “I stole some goods, moved other goods, caused a commotion in the middle of the town, blew a hole in the ground and destroyed a fountain, all while putting lives of several ponies in danger.” Starburst blinked, surprised how quickly he counted down those things. “Since then a lot had changed in my life,” she tensed, alarmed, “but I won’t bore you with all the details.” Starburst relaxed. “Suffice to say that my priorities had changed a bit, and I began to realize that I acted like a jerk. So I decided to try and make it up for Ponyville by what I do best, and that is entertaining!” Another burst of fireworks surrounded him. “Now, let’s go on with the show… but first things first,” he changed his tone. Starfall smirked, “Though not necessarily in that order. I just want to say that I understand that this doesn’t exactly makes up for some other things I had done. In this town,” he emphasised. “If I were to try an make up for all the days of mischief I had been making this past five years, I would have to put on eighteen hundred and five shows like those.” “Did he just…” Valiant murmured, pulling Starburst’s attention from the stage, “say the number of days there are in five years?” “No,” she heard her mom reply, sounding annoyed. “He’s sixteen days short. I’m beginning to have second thoughts about giving him that pardon…” “Heck,” Starfall added from the stage; Starburst immediately switched her attention to him, “I even ‘borrowed’ this cane right here a few years back when I was in Canterlot briefly,” he said, waving his golden cane in the air; it had a ruby, of all things, on one end, and on the other… Starburst couldn’t tell from this distance, but it looked like a miniature pony head. “Long story. I will probably end up returning it one of those days, given how I am trying to turn over a new leaf. But let’s get back to my more recent crimes,” he said, growing more serious. “I do realize that some of my actions regarding certain ponies require from me a personal, face-to-face apology, and I will be sure to visit them and see if I can somehow atone for that; even if ‘getting hurt in case of incompetence’ is in their job description, but who am I to judge?” Starfall added in a lower voice (though still hearable) and looking to the side. Starburst didn’t need to think much about it to realize he was talking about the guards he had trapped in their worst nightmare with the dark magic, which included her father. She wondered uncomfortably if he planned to apologize to him before or after her dad would learn about them dating... As she pondered that, Starfall had recovered. “Of course, there are also those who will not receive an apology, as they say mean things without even thinking about possible consequences.” Uncle Spike, Starburst rolled her eyes. It’s not as if he had much to apologize to him, anyway… “Because, seriously, if I would ever resort to such low blows, I would have a bunch of things to say about him alone.” He extended a forehoof from under his cloak. On it, there were a bunch of tiny white cards. “Wrote all those in my spare time sometime around noon,” Starfall added as the cards, one by one, shot from his hoof and flew above his head to fall into his other forehoof. Starburst quickly looked at her uncle and his family. Spike looked both angry and embarrassed, while Aunt Rarity appeared calm as ever. Claire, who sat a bit away from them with Illusion, seemed to feel the same way her father was, though more angry. T, on the other hoof, sitting at the table with Annie and her mom, was looking between Starfall and his father, concerned. “Anywho,” Starfall continued, throwing casually the white cards - filled with Celestia knows what kind of comments regarding the dragon that offended his mother - away… right into one of the torches. “I believe that’s all I wanted to say… so on with the show!” he shouted, smiling, and grabbed the edge of his cloak. As he did so, he began to twirl around, covering himself with the cloth. The very next second, his dark gray cloak erupted into many different colors, and… rendered itself into many tiny parts, that scattered away into the air, leaving an empty space on the stage where Starfall had stood. What in the… Starburst thought, her eyes on one of the colorful pieces of the cloak as they flew around the amazed ponies. It kinda looks like… A stifled scream came from the direction where Del and Candy were sitting. There was one thing the big strong stallion feared: bats. Those are fruit bats, Starburst realized, looking in fascination as the magical critters began circling around the audience. How the heck did he get them from Sweet Apple Acres? Or when did he train them to do… whatever he wants them to do? Starburst put those thoughts away for a moment, enjoying the show. The fruit bats were flying just above the heads of the assembled ponies (Candy had to hug poor Del), so that they were visible in- Wait, where did all those lights come from?! Starburst thought, realizing suddenly that in the empty spaces between tables there were small spheres of light now. It didn’t take a genius to figure out that they were conjured by Starfall, but she had no idea when they had appeared. Was it at the same time his cloak changed into the fruit bats? But… wasn’t he way over there by the stage then, and busy teleporting away? The fruit bats began dropping small flowers on the tables before each pony. … Why am I bothering to try to make sense out of it? Starburst wondered as the fruit bats began gathering at one spot above the audience. Once again, their bodies molded into one shape. Starfall grinned down at everypony, his body whole but his cloak looking as if it was still in the middle of transformation, which could sort of explain how he was hovering in the air. However, that soon stopped, as the spheres of light all rose up, and once they were on the same level as the blue unicorn, they shot at him, causing an explosion of fireworks. Fireworks and teleporting? Starburst thought, amused, as Starfall re-appeared back on the stage while everypony was still looking at the light show in the air. Can’t you do something more original? Despite her inner comment, she did enjoy that trick, and joined everypony in applauding Starfall. Still, though, she expected something new from him... Her jaw dropped. She stared in awe at the five spheres of water, held together by Starfall’s magic above him. Of course, Starburst had seen him perform much more complicated tricks with water, but that alone wasn’t what had caused her bewilderment. What caused it was Starfall using them as a musical instrument. He stood on his hind legs (as per usual), and was moving his forehooves in circling motion. Whichever orb of water he was pointing at at the moment, it began emitting colorful waves from its center towards the surface. And as a result, somehow, Starfall was making the sphere emit sounds. It’s like… Starburst thought, trying to place where she heard similar sounds. Like the sounds crystal glasses made when ponies use them for playing! she finally realized, recalling how she had seen one pony play on such a strange instrument when Candy had dragged her to a carnival a few months back. What was it called? A… a glass harp? “Fascinating,” she heard her mom murmur to her dad. “Starfall must be causing the water within the spheres to vibrate at the same frequency as the glass harp does… and he’s probably helping himself focus by gesticulating with his forehooves...” You know Mom, the commentary sort of spoils the experience, Starburst thought in annoyance. She quickly returned her attention to Starfall, watching the rest of his little concert. She had to admit, between that and the singing, he was quite musically talented. To be honest, he was really multi-talented, come to think about it. Magic, acrobatic skills, singing, some knowledge about foreign languages… Well, I suppose that’s a given, seeing what he had been through, she thought, shivering. How fast would everypony learn if they would have a much bigger than you half zebra standing above with a whip? Also, his cutie mark, which was still visible on his right flank, a multicolored combination of stars and moon that formed a smiling face. It was quite possible that it meant that his talent was entertaining others. Oh, dear Celestia, Starburst thought as the realization hit her, don’t tell me he discovered his special talent when he was that monster’s slave!? That’s just… cruel! “You alright?” Valiant whispered to her. She shook her head and looked at him. “You were shivering.” “Just… thought of something unpleasant,” Starburst quickly explained, not wanting to dwell into details. Her cousin, thankfully, accepted that explanation, and turned back towards the stage. Starfall, who kept changing that sphere on which he was playing, had now spread his forelegs, making all five of them sing the last note, each emitting a different color. After it had passed, the music had ended and was replaced after a second of silence by a thunderous applause. “Thank you, thank you,” Starfall called out, taking a bow. “Now, for my next trick… I’m going to need a volunteer from the audience! Any takers?” At once, a lot ponies raised their hooves, wanting to be picked. Starburst could see her brother with his friends joining them. Unfortunately for them, Starfall was looking in the opposite direction. “The gentlecolt over there, how about you?” he asked, pointing at one of the few ponies who did not raised their hoof. Prism’s eyes shot wide open. “No, I didn’t-” “What are you, a chicken?” Starfall swiftly interrupted him. “Yeah, are you?” somepony from the audience called out. Starburst glanced briefly where the voice was coming from. The pony who called out at Prism was a red pegasus stallion, sitting together at the table with Whirlwind: Hot Head, Prism’s old rival. Prism shot him an angry look, but his comment caused him to rise from his seat beside Nidra and fly over to the stage. Starfall blinked as he landed beside him. “Huh, easier than I thought… now then!” he called out, the cane appearing in his hoof once more. Starfall looked back and hit the empty space behind him with the cane. A small explosion of smoke happened, and when it cleared, behind him was a box with a few holes that laid on a table on wheels. “Would you, our volunteer, be so kind to get into the box?” he asked, putting back his top hat - that had disappeared a few tricks ago - on his head. Starburst smirked as the pegasus shot Starfall an annoyed look, but then was staring uncertainly at the box. He shook his head, though, and jumped into it. It wasn’t big enough to fit an entire pony, so Prism had to put his head and hind hooves through the holes. “Before I start this trick,” Starfall said, turning to the audience, as he closed the box, “I would like to assure everypony in the audience, as well as our brave volunteer, that this will be perfectly and completely safe.” “What is this trick, anyway?” Prism asked, loud enough to be heard by everypony. Starfall’s horn flashed. “Cutting you in half,” he replied casually, turning to Prism and lifting a saw that he had in his hoof. Even from where sat, Starburst could see how color was drained from Prism’s face. “WHAT?!” he asked after a second as his brain had processed this information. “GET ME OUT OF THIS!!!” Prism shouted, beginning to trash around in the box. “Did you miss that part about this being perfectly safe?” Starfall asked, leaning against the box. “I know we had our differences, but c’mon, use your brain; there are like three princesses in the crowd, four princes, a bunch of off-duty guards, two off-duty Wonderbolts, and a rude dragon. Do you think I am going to risk getting pardoned for basically everything I had ever done to murder you casually in front of an entire town? Not to mention a few things that you might want to scream out?” That last comment - which Starburst really hoped nopony paid too much attention to - made Prism stop his panic attack. He looked at Starfall, then at the saw. “Will it hurt?” he asked, frowning. “Not a bit!” Starfall promised cheerfully. “Although it would help if you could pretend to scream in pain.” “If I feel something, I’m telling,” Prism threatened. “Fair enough, I suppose,” Starfall replied with a shrug. “Oh, don’t worry about this,” he added, looking at the audience, “it doesn’t concern you. Now, is everypony ready to see the absolutely awesome magic that I am about to perform?” As he asked this question, he moved the box forward and he himself took a step to the side, so now the box with Prism was between him and audience. Starfall raised the saw with his magic and levitated it above the trapped pegasus. “Are you ready?” he asked, leaning his head to the side and giving Prism a wide, creepy smile. To his credit, Prism almost immediately replied. “Let’s just get this over,” he said with an unamused frown. Starfall rolled his eyes, and began to move the saw. Prism, seeing this, closed his eyes, probably expecting pain. The saw cut through the box. And went deeper. After a few seconds, Prism opened his eyes and looked down. His expression changed when he noticed how deep the saw had gone, but he quickly sneered. “Heh, doesn’t hurt at all!” he laughed, as the saw had completely cut his box in half. “I knew it had to be some lame trick.” Starfall, in turn, frowned. “Yeah, and you were supposed to scream in pain. You know, just for that,” he said, disappearing in a flash and appearing right before the box, “I’m gonna spin you round♪” The box behind him parted, and Starburst, along with the rest of Ponyville, watched in bewilderment, as two halves of Prism moved apart. And then, as if to make this situation more surreal, each half of the box started to spin around. “♪I spin you right round, right round like a record♪” Starfall sing-songed as the two boxes spun around swiftly. “Stooooooop it!” Prism shouted from the half where his head was. Starfall quickly listened to his plea, and the boxes stopped abruptly. Prism sighed with relief, shook his head… and looked back right at his hind hooves. His eyes widened, and after a second one hoof moved. Prism opened his mouth in shock as he tried to look down, then back again at his hind hooves, and it moved again. A second later, Prism was screaming. “PUT ME BACK PUT ME BACK PUT ME BACK PUT ME BACK PUT ME BACK!” In reply, Starfall rolled his eyes. “Wuss,” he snorted, tapping one of the boxes with his cane. Another explosion of smoke, and Prism was back together. He kicked the box open and flew out of it, feeling his body around to ensure he was really whole again. The audience gasped in awe, and began clapping. Prism, on the other hoof, didn’t quite have the same reaction. Once he assured himself he was alright, he flew down to Starfall. “That wasn’t funny,” he said, frowning. “I would beg to differ,” the unicorn replied calmly. “I thought it was hilarious.” “And would you think it’s hilarious if-” Prism started, but Starfall cut him off by tapping his muzzle with his cane. “Are you really gonna argue with somepony that cut you in half a minute ago?” he asked, raising an eyebrow. After Prism didn’t answer, he turned to the audience: “Big bravo for our brave volunteer, Prism!” Starburst, who had been doing her best to hold back laughter for a good portion of this trick, joined in the applause for Prism. The pegasus, though still annoyed, smiled and waved at the crowd. Starburst noticed that he leaned to Starfall and whispered something, and that the unicorn replied to him. She wondered what they could have said to each other… As Prism flew back to his table, Starfall called out: “Now, moving on with the show…” “And now, fillies and gentlecolts, we move on to the last part of the show,” Starfall said finally. Starburst found herself disappointed. She found herself truly enjoying the show, and not just because her... coltfriend was the one putting it on, or that Prism got what he deserved for his threats earlier. The tricks Starfall had been performing were really amazing. “Of course, this means that this trick will be simply fantastic,” the unicorn on stage added, as his horn flashed, making his cane, hat and cloak disappear. He rose on his hind legs and smiled. “It will be something that I haven’t shown to anypony in quite a while. I will ask you to withhold your applause until it’s over, as I will need my full concentration for this. Are you ready, Ponyville?” he asked. A very loud “YES!” replied to him. Starfall smiled, and waited for everypony to quiet down. He closed his eyes, took a deep breath, and lit up his horn. His right hind leg rose off the ground, and stomped the wooden floor loudly… and at the same time, all the torches around him began to burn in a multi-colored fire. The same as the color of his magic. Starfall raised his forelegs, and the flames flew out of the torches and towards him. He bowed and took a step forward, making them wrap around him, and as he lowered his legs, they spread around him. The unicorn whirled, hooves raised, as the flames flew upwards, around his forelegs. At the same time, he changed the color of his magic to give a green glow instead, and the flames also changed. Starburst watched in awe as Starfall was literally dancing with fire. She watched as he whirled, jumped, skipped, turned, all while tongues of flames, which he kept making change colors, swirled around him, almost touching his coat. It’s… beautiful. After about a minute, Starfall stopped, and raised his hooves high into the air. The flames all shot to the sky, gathering together, once again multi-colored. As Starfall’s brow furrowed, they began taking on a shape; they became a gigantic phoenix, burning with the flames of the Crystal Empire’s lights. And then it swooped down. Everypony gasped as the flames broke and spread around them. However, they gave each pony and table a wide berth, not causing any harm. Starburst looked at the flames so close to her that she could feel their heat, looking at the many colors that she had no idea fire could ever have. It was so tempting to just reach with her hoof… Before she could do that, the flames receded back to the stage. Starburst turned to look just in time to see Starfall do a pirouette, and rise in the air as the flames followed his hind leg and gathered below him. Once he rose a few feet, he stopped, and instead of swirling around him the flames shot back to their torches, slowly revealing a thin spire made out of ice. Starfall’s horn stopped glowing. He opened his eyes and smiled before he jumped to the side, grabbed the spire with his hoof, and slid back down. “So what do you think, Ponyville,” he asked once he was back on the floor. “Am I great or wh- whoa,” Starfall exclaimed as he wobbled. “Overdid it a bit there,” he added, chuckling, as he rubbed the back of his head. “Good thing the show’s over, cause I have almost nothing left. Anyways, I have a busy day tomorrow, so I gotta go recharge a bit. See ya,” he smirked and waved, his eyes meeting Starburst briefly. As he winked, he disappeared. “Wow, did you see how he made those flames dance around him?” Night exclaimed, excited, as they walked back to their mansion. “That was so awesome!” Well, there’s one member of the family that won’t have anything against me dating Starfall, Starburst thought. That still leaves mom, dad, Uncle Spike, Valiant… heck, Uncle Shining Armor and Aunt Cadence might have something against it as well... “So,” her cousin turned to her, “how exactly did you beat him, again? With the fire and all...” Starburst rolled her eyes. “You heard him, he hadn’t used that trick in some time.” “I wonder if he can control it like that because he is part dragon,” Starburst’s dad said. “Though he certainly didn’t use that spell earlier where we cornered him a week ago… what do you think, Twily?” Starburst glanced at her mom. She was walking with her face frowned; and expression that Starburst long since had learned meant that she was thinking about something studiously. “Could be,” she replied slowly, still frowning. “Star?” she called to her daughter. “Do you think you will run into Starfall soon?” “Eem… maybe?” Starburst replied carefully, hoping she wasn’t blushing. “If you do, could you perhaps try to invite him to our house? I would like to talk with him about a few things.” “Um…” she stammered, baffled, “sure, I’ll try.” … This will end well...