Circus Days

by The Dragon Warlock

Come one! Come all!

Spike woke up early the next morning and went downstairs to see what needed to be cleaned from Twilight's latest study session. When he reached the lobby, he saw a lot of books that were scattered around like last time, but he did notice that there weren't as many as yesterday. Just as Spike was about to start cleaning, he heard a knock at the door. The baby dragon walked over to the door, wondering who would be at the library so early.

He opened the door to see nopony was there, and thought it was a prank by Pinkie or Rainbow, but he found it strange that they were pulling pranks this early. Spike looked around and noticed a yellow piece of paper on the doorstep, and picked it up to read it. The paper was actually a flier for a new place Spike never heard of before. The flier had a big tent with red and white stripes, and was surrounded by confetti and balloons. There was a message at the bottom of the flier.

COME ONE! COME ALL!
SEE DEATH DEFYING STUNTS, WILD ANIMALS, AND SO MUCH MORE!
SEE THE SHOW ALL OF EQUESTRIA IS TALKING ABOUT!
MARIK'S MARVELOUS CIRCUS OF WONDERS!

Spike felt overjoyed seeing this. He had always wanted to go to a circus, but Twilight always refused to take him. She believed that circuses were a waste of time, and thought studying was more important than going to see a show of, as she put it, "crazy ponies". Spike thought of a way to make Twilight take him, but as he walked he accidentally tripped over a book and remembered he had to clean up the mess.

Just as he was getting back to work he heard Twilight give a big yawn from the stairs. "Spike who was that?" She asked in a very groggy voice.

Spike turned to the lilac unicorn while clutching onto the flyer. "I don't know, I just found this on the ground near the door." Twilight levitated the flyer out of Spike's hands and brought it over to her, she looked at it and shook her head in disapproval. "Come on Twilight, you've never even given the circus a chance at all." Spike whined.

"Spike, you know how I feel about the circus." Twilight said in a stern tone.

"I know Twilight, but you act like circuses are worse than Nightmare Moon."

Twilight was about to say something, but was interrupted by somepony knocking on the door. The unicorn went over and opened the door. She was instantly tackled by a blue blur and felt disoriented. As her eyes, cleared up the lilac unicorn looked to see a rainbow maned pegasus with joy in her eyes. Twilight recognized her instantly as her pegasus friend, Rainbow Dash.

"Twilight, did you get it?" Asked the sky blue pegasus. "Did you get this flyer?"

Twilight saw that each of her friends had a flyer just like the one she and Spike had. She used her magic to push Rainbow off of her, and got up. "Yes, Rainbow, I did." Said Twilight, a bit dazed. "I could care less about the circus though." The ponies let out a gasp upon hearing this.

"What!?" Rainbow shouted in disbelief. "Twilight, you mean to tell us you never went to a circus!?"

Twilight shook her head. "I see no point at all to them. I can't understand how anypony can be entertained by a bunch of ridiculous looking ponies using slapstick jokes and gags that are older than Princess Celestia's ruling."

"Why Twilight, I am appalled at what you are saying." Rarity said. "I will have you know that I have designed several outfits for circuses, and have been given a free show in exchange for my brilliant designs. They are quite entertaining."

Spike was watching Twilight argue with her friends. He suddenly got an idea of how to end this. "Twilight you owe me one remember?"

The six mares stopped arguing amongst each other and turned to look at Spike. "What do you mean I owe you one Spike?" Asked Twilight raising an eyebrow.

"Twilight you said that since I was so busy with cleaning up all the time, you would make it up to me."

"Well yes Spike, but I..."

"But nothing!" The baby dragon shouted cutting Twilight off. "You said you would make it up to me, and I've never been to a circus anyway."

Applejack stepped forward. "Spike. Y'all mean to say that you have never been t'ah circus b'fore?" Spike nodded and felt Applejack slapped him on the back. "Well, y'all are gonna have a great time. It's funner than mud wrasslin' with a hog."

Pinkie bounced around Spike and gave a large smile. "Oh, and the sweets they have there! Caramel apples, cupcakes, and *GASP*...cotton candy! Oh cotton candy is so deliciously superously sweet! I haven't eaten a bad thing of cotton candy yet well except for that time I found some inside the walls of Sugarcube Corner, and I ate some and got sick from it. I mean it was so..."

"PINKIE!" The other ponies and Spike shouted.

"Hey I was just telling you all to not eat any of that cotton candy you find in walls."

"Sorry Pinkie, but you do have a tendency to go on and on." Twilight reassured her pink friend.

"Um, excuse me?" Asked the quiet voice of Fluttershy. Spike turned to face her. "Spike...the circus has wonderful animals like lion and tiger that you should see...um, I mean, if that's okay with you."

Spike finally turned to Twilight, giving her a hopeful smile. "Well, Twilight, can we go?"

The other ponies looked at Twilight with big grins and glittery eyes. Twilight knew she couldn't win and nodded slowly. "Fine, we'll go." Spike and Twilight's friends gave a big cheer upon hearing this. "Hold it!" The lilac unicorn shouted. "We need to know where it is and what time it starts."

Spike looked at the flyer and saw something on the back and looked at it and saw a map and show times. The baby dragon grabbed the flyer and looked at it. "Here it is." He said. "It's going to be outside of Ponyville, near the Whitetail Woods. It's got a show today at four."

Twilight looked at the map on the back and nodded. "Okay then, it's decided. Let's meet back here at two so we can get going." The other ponies each said their goodbyes as they left, leaving Spike and Twilight by themselves.

Spike hugged Twilight and smiled. "Thanks Twilight."

The unicorn hugged him back and smiled. "You're welcome."

---

For the next few hours Twilight was getting stuff ready for the circus. She was packing saddlebags for stuff to carry and trying to make a plan of what to do. Spike was helping with gathering stuff while lost in his mind. He was not only going to his first circus, but he was going to spend time with the other ponies as well. The baby dragon thought he could finally fit in with the other ponies, and make them his friends. He was so lost in thought that when Twilight taped on his shoulder he jumped a little.

"Come on Spike." She said. "It's time to go now."

Spike finished packing and made his way downstairs to see Twilight's friends down there.

"Y'all ready?" Asked Applejack. The group nodded and Twilight locked up the library before she and the others left for the circus.

Spike and the others made their way to the edge of the Whitetail Woods, and climbed a steep hill. As they got closer, they heard carnival music and a large group of ponies chatting amongst each other. The group climber over a hill to see right at the base of the hill was the circus. They could see a big tent that looked like the one on the flyer, surrounded by a bunch of stands that sold candy apples, cotton candy, popcorn, and more. There we even some stands set up that had games such as water squirt guns that shot into a clown's mouth, apple juice bottles lined up to be knocked down, and they were surrounded by stuffed bears and other animals as prizes. The whole group was amazed by this, Spike especially. They went to the ticket stand, and each pony paid to enter the circus grounds, except for Spike since Twilight paid for his ticket.

Spike looked around and felt speechless as he looked around the various stands and the big top. "So...what should we do first?" He managed to ask.

Twilight pulled out a piece of scroll to read and said, "Well I have a plan, so listen up."

"Oh look cotton candy!" Pinkie shouted jumping for joy. "It's all you can eat as well! Later girls!" The pink mare took off to the cotton candy stands.

"Hey Applejack." Said Rainbow Dash. "They have squirt gun competitions to win prizes. I bet I can win more prizes then you."

Applejack gave Rainbow a sly grin. "Yer on pardner." The two ponies raced off to the game stands.

"Um...Twilight?" Asked Fluttershy. "I'm going to go see the animals here, so um...bye." The yellow pegasus trotted off to the animals. Spike, Twilight and Rarity were the only ones left now.

Rarity broke the silence and said, "Well at least some of us stick by each other and not go off unlike some-WAHAHAHA!"

Twilight and Spike jumped when the white unicorn screamed. "Rarity what's wrong?" Asked the lilac unicorn.

Rarity pointed to a large wooden stage. Twilight and Spike looked to see a large white sign with red writing in it.

MAGICIAN DUELS: SEE UNICORNS TAKE ON EACH OTHER IN TESTS OF MAGIC AND SKILL AGAINST ONE ANOTHER! TOP CHAMPION WINS BIG! VOLUNTEERS WELCOMED!

"Twilight, we must try this out." Said Rarity. "You and I are the best unicorns in Ponyville, and besides we may face each other and see who the best is."

Twilight gave it some thought. "Well...I don't know Rarity. I don't want to boast or showoff my magic like Trixie."

"Nonsense darling." The white unicorn said. "This isn't boasting at all, it's just a little duel to see who is the best in magic. Besides, don't you remember about the Ursa Minor incident? You were saving Ponyville not boasting."

The lilac unicorn smiled upon hearing this. "Thanks Rarity, I was just nervous is all." She then turned to Spike. "Spike, Rarity and I are going to try this out. Why don't you go take a look around the circus and we'll meet you in the big top?"

Spike just looked down at the ground and gave a sad nod. Twilight and Rarity took off, leaving the baby dragon alone again full of sorrow. Spike wandered around the circus grounds aimlessly and didn't care where he was going. He wanted to be with the other ponies, and yet they all just left him by his lonesome once more like yesterday. He looked to see other ponies talking and laughing with each other, angering him. The baby dragon picked up the pace to look for someplace to remain alone. He continued to walk around in what seemed to be like a trance.

---

"HEY! This is area is for circus employees only!" A voice shouted out.

Spike broke out of his trance, and looked up to see that he was inside a tent. The tent had striped red and white walls, a messy bed with blue comforters over it, and several black tuxedos hanging in a dresser. Next to the dresser was a desk with various makeups on it and a mirror sitting on the desk. He then turned around to see a stallion who was as tall as Big Macintosh, but a little less buffer than him standing near the open tent flap Spike thought he must have walked through. The stallion was an earth pony who had one of the black tuxedos. He had a forest green coat with a curly black mane and tail, yellow eyes and a cutie mark that looked like a circus tent that looked like the one on the flyer.

"What are you doing in here?" Asked the stallion in a serious, but smooth tone.

Spike felt intimidated by the large stallion standing in front of him. "I...I'm Spike." He said nervously. "I was just uh...wandering around the circus. I guess I wasn't looking where I was going. I'm sorry...I'll get out of here."

Spike turned around to leave, but felt a hoof placed on his shoulder. He looked up to see the stallion again giving him a warm friendly smile. "I apologize little one." He said in a soft smooth voice. "I didn't mean to scare you, and you seemed very distraught when I saw you enter the tent. What seems to be the problem?"

"Can...can I ask for your name first?" Asked Spike, sounding a little more calm.

"Oh how selfish of me! My name is Marik, the ringmaster of this circus." Said the stallion. "So tell me what troubles you?"

Spike looked up nervously and he saw the same warm smile and caring eyes. He couldn't help but trust him and decided to tell him how he felt the last few days. He told of how he felt abandoned by Twilight and the others, how he was always working and how they just leave him alone and don't seem to care about him. When he finished Spike saw that Marik had a mix of shock and sadness on his face.

"I'm so sorry to hear that little one." Said Marik. "It sounds so terrible and harsh. I know how it feels to be abandoned and lonely, but I have made friends overtime with these circus performers who used to be lonely as well. However, I think I know what to do to help you."

"Uh...what is it?"

Marik trotted to another tent flap with a sign over it saying Performance Area and waved a hoof. "How would you like to meet my friends? I'm sure they would love to see you, especially a baby dragon."

"You...you mean it?" Asked the baby dragon. Marik smiled and nodded. The baby dragon smiled with enthusiasm, and got up to follow Marik through the tent flap.

Comments

[TheMyth]

This is looking very promising
I'm definitely tracking this... Spike FTW

[The Dragon Warlock]

206748 Thanks mate! Expect more very soon!

Spike is best pony!

[Appleloosa2011]

You get 5 stars

[AL]

waaaaaaaaaa :DD yay spikee gonna make new friends !! awesomee awesomee

[APoeticHeart]

Let me get this straight, Twilight didn't want to go to the circus when only Spike asked, but her friends discovered the flyer as well and asked, and she agreed with a little push from her friends?! Well, at least Spike is about to make new friends. The Mane Six should be ashamed of themselves for how they treat Spike!

[Dark Colt Sabata]

I thought it was the Marik from from Yugioh, I even read his lines with the abridged Marik's voice

[bh18]

4716850
...Dammit now I am too!

[Carnation83]

4716850 Same here, LOL!

[Carnation83]

Even though I feel I can see the plot twist coming, this story does have a strong point in how Spike is ridiculously ignored by the Mane 6 in the show. He needs to hang with some of the guys in Ponyville.

[Dark92Enigma]

Marik? Must.....resist.....YGO Abridged joke---!

Something tells me i should have a ''Really, Mane 6?'' counter. Starting from last chapter up to this one, that makes two strikes against them.

[BlueStarred Spike]

4716850
Same here
And I took it one step further by reimagining the ringleader Marik's appearance as a ponified Yugioh Marik.