It was a bright sunny day in the land of Equestria, the warm light of a sun reflected off the shining crystals of the Friendship Rainbow Castle, leaving behind a harmonious glow for all to see. 5 of the Mane 6 were socializing in the central hub of the castle while Pinkie Pie was coming back in from shopping in Sugarcube Corner with bag full of sugary treats as well some muffins from mailmare Derpy. Pinkie approached the others and said:
"Hey girls, have you heard that the circus is in Ponyville" she said with pure excitement. She bounced around the castle, knocking down some items in a hyperactive rampage much to the annoyance of the others.
Fluttershy flinched at the mention of the circus and said "The circus....eek I am scared of clowns, they look too scary" to which she hid under one of Rainbow Dash's wings.
"Fluttershy, you do know clowns are not there to hurt you, just make you laugh and besides it is the acrobats that are the real entertainment in any circus" Rainbow Dash said while pretending to perform tricks on an imaginary tightrope.
Twilight who had been listening was almost done with finishing some work she was doing for Princess Celestia. She had been working on it all week and after about five more minutes, Twilight had finished the documents and given to Spike to be given to Celestia. After sending the documents away in his green flame, Spike noticed Twilight was mentally exhausted from all that work even though she was normally used to work that was very complicated.
"Gee Twilight, you look tired, you should take a break" Spike said
"I will Spike, I have decided to go to the circus, are any of you coming with me?" Asked Twilight
“You can go along without me darling because I have an important order that needs to be sorted out as soon as possible” said Rarity who was eager to get it all done.
Applejack said “I should really get some more apples bucked as well as help Big Mac repair the roof of the barn since the old thing isn’t able to shelter very much”.
Rarity along with Applejack headed back home to finish off their work but will meet Twilight at the circus while Rainbow Dash and Spike were going to stay behind in order to try to convince Fluttershy to come along to the circus. Pinkie in her wisdom decided to go back the Sugarcube Corner and get even more treats for the circus. Twilight tidied her books away and set off for the circus which wasn't very far. Twilight saw the huge tent, it was a typical circus tent with the red white strips covering the entire exterior and likely the interior. She found that she was about an hour early as the circus was to start at 2pm but the clock tower in Ponyville said 1pm.
"I wish I brought a book with me to pass the time" she said out loud to which she heard someone else talking behind the tent.
"Is someone there" the voice of a mare said, Twilight jumped before saying hello to the voice. The tent opened, revealing a pale green unicorn mare.
"Hello, Princess Twilight, I welcome you to the circus". The mare bowed, she had a light green and purple mane, dark green fur and light green eyes. She was also wearing a black cloak with many stars and dots patterns on it. She also had four bracelets around her front left leg as well as a star with a ruby in its center holding the cloak together.
Twilight replied "Thank you, what is your name"
"Magic, Magic Star the magician, please do come in, there is no need for you to stand out here" Magic said holding the tent open for Twilight to enter. Again the tent was like a typical circus tent, there were stands for the audience and a stage in the center as well as equipment such as juggling balls, hoop, unicycles, tightropes, top hats, wands, a bunny or two and of course chainsaws, lots of them. There were also areas where costumes and unused props were stored.
"Where are the performers, this seems rather empty for a circus" Twilight asked.
"They are getting ready for the show, the dressing rooms are behind the stage." Magic replied, pointing towards the stage and using her magic to lift the curtain behind it, reveling a large row of what look like small houses. They were all custom colored, likely representing the owner of that. Twilight noticed that each door had a circle shaped plaque made of what looked like gold and all had names and occupations the residents on them. The exterior of Magic's house was decorated with the style of her cloak and the door nob resembling her star brooch but what caught Twilight's eye the most was that the majority of houses seemed to be inhabited by clowns, often indicated by the names like Clown Stripe and Silly Filly.
Twilight frowned and said "You sure do have a lot of clowns working in the circus"
Magic merely laughed and replied "Why of course, this is a circus and what is a circus without its clowns"
Twilight shrug, hiding her annoyance at getting laughed at asked "Who is running the circus"
Magic who had recovered from her laughter replied "My friend runs this circus as its ringmaster. Her name is Sasha and she lives her home is there". Magic pointed to the odd one out of the small houses which was due to it looking more like a small version of the circus tent than a house. It has a door with an image of a clown but Twilight couldn't tell what creature it was although she assumed it was an image of Sasha.
"Although Sasha is the ringmaster, she prefers being a clown and I will admit that she is a little obsessed with them, heck if it wasn't for me she would likely have only hired clowns. She won't even be something else for nightmare Night unless forced to much to the annoyance of her personal maid". Magic said in an amused tone.
Twilight wondered a second and asked "Are you going to hire any more clowns in the future even though you already have so many." Magic ignored the question as an inquisitive expression formed on her face.
"Have you ever had done clowning before?" She asked
"Well I have dressed as one but never acted as one. Why did you ask" Twilight said with curiosity as to why the magician asked the question
"O just wondering. It would be funny to see you or the princesses as clowns." Magic smiled.
"But I would never be a good clown so if you think I am joining, I'm not" Twilight said. Magic grinned as her horn glowed and a round small object appeared.
"I don't take no for an answer, this nose will convince you to join" Magic said, her grin growing wider as she placed the nose on Twilight's snout causing her body to tingle.
"Why do I feel strange" Twilight said as she tried to pull the nose off which turned from red to light blue.
"You will see soon a magic trick you don't know princess" Magic replied in an amused tone. Twilight's vision suddenly turned to her old oak tree house/library.
"Wait, this can't be real. The library was destroyed during Trek's attack" Twilight thought. While this happened, her mane grew a little longer and curled up which was tightly held together by a pink and light blue bow. Her mane along with her tail turned blue with red and pink streaks. She noticed a hoof mirror in the middle of the room which she picked up and saw her reflection. Her reaction was pure shock as she saw her goofy manestyle that she almost dropped the mirror.
"What magic is this, what happened to my ma.....o this is perfect for my debut" Twilight shouted as she started to feel dizzy and her head hurt. She felt giggly inside as she started looking through the books in the library which she quickly realized were not organized in alphabetical order.
"Come on, where are the spell books!" She said desperately as a golden collar with a star that had a blue gem in it formed around Twilight's neck. She noticed and tried to take both the nose and the collar off but to no avail.
"Why don't you come off, I am no....I make such a good dress up doll, I should model more for Glimmer....no I didn't want to say that" She said, losing herself more to the transformation. She thought screw it and grabbed some random books and started looking through them.
"No, I need a book on curing this magic not joke books" Twilight said as she hit the table in frustration before she continued "Yes that is the book I was looking for '1000 jokes, clown tricks and acts of stupidity for idiots by Ponylicacco'" Which Twilight started reading. A pink and blue dress with rainbow streaks formed over her body, covering her cutie mark and tail which she failed to notice as she continued reading the goofy book.
"Why did the horse cross the road, because somebody shouted hay ha ha ha....No snap out of it" Twilight said as she slapped her face while blue shoes formed around her hoofs. She took the mirror and pushed a button on the back causing it to turn into a full body mirror and grew wide eyed at her appearance.
"Almost done but it needs something.....ow, just please stop" Twilight begged as she struggled to focus. She stamped her hoofs on the floor an a familiar green book fell to the ground. She ran to grab it and looked at the cover to see a familiar image of a plant which she hugged with joy.
"You will help me won't you, I don't judge books by their covers because of you" Twilight said to the book as she opened it. She found recipes for potions she already knew as well as herbal remedies such as poison joke cures but as read on she found remedies and potions that she didn't remember being there (and she has read the book 5 times) such as a potion that uses poison joke that seems to cause ponies to turn white with green and red lips as well as the affected pony to show off a menacing grin. Twilight shook her head as she found a page detailing a spell called 'Clownvanish' as well as an innocent grinning flower at the bottom of the page.
"Ok I hope this works" She thought as her horn glowed pink and she fired at the ceiling which opened at hole. Some magic blasted out of the hole and hit Twilight, preventing her from moving.
"Wait the instructi..." Twilight said before being cut off by maniacal laughter from the flower in the book. It called her an idiot and disappeared as two pink coated blush brushes floated out and painted her cheeks.
"Yes that is what I ne...No STOP" Twilight said weakly as she struggled to break out. A few seconds later, the brushes went back into the hole which sealed up. Twilight looked in the mirror to see her coloured cheeks but was unable to say anything as she held Her head. Her mind too numb to think. She closed her eyes and after minute, she smiled as she opened them again revealing that her purple pupils had vanished and had become completely pink and her eyelashes expanded then curled up. Her cutie mark though not visible due to the dress had gone from a star to a smiling clown face.
"Yes this is perfect" the brainwashed Twilight said as she posed to the mirror. She summoned a clock and realized she was late for her performance.
"Whoops how silly of me, I can't be tardy" She said as she ran to the front door and opened it causing her vision to turn back to normal. Magic grinned at the clownified princess.
"I think you will make a fine addition to our little 'family' so are you ready for your new life in the circus.....Twinkle Sprinkle"
"Yes silly, when does performance start?" Twilight Sparkle, now Twinkle Sprinkle replied with a giggle.
"In due time dear, but we better go to the ringmaster first" Magic said while leading Twinkle to the ringmaster's tent house. Magic knocked on the door. The door opened and out came what looked like a clown human who had rubbery white skin, a bright red nose, long blue with a rainbow bow tied to it, blue eyes and blushed cheeks. She was wearing a red shirt with a rainbow bow tie, a pink collar and buttons, a pink and purple skirt, striped purple leggings/socks and blue shoes.
"Sasha, I have a new one for you, she is called Twinkle Sprinkle and is very good at magic. She is also a princess of this land" Magic said
Sasha smile and gleefully said "She will make a fine addition to the circus indeed"