Twilight the clown

by TechnoPagan9

A lively concert to remember

It was 7pm in the Hoofgang memorial concert hall in the heart of the city of Canterlot. Grinning Marionette and Silly Spinner were setting the place up for the concert happening within an hour. Spinner was working on decorating the stage and seating area despite a sign saying that the seating area is not to be tampered with while Marionette having knocked down the door to the tool storage room (with a trumpet no less) and started to wire and fuse the many instruments they had brought with them together. Eventually she linked them all to Spinner's mobile DJ table and some amplifiers to her dubstep cello.

"This should brighten up the night and be a barrel of laughs" Marionette said with a chuckle before hearing Spinner calling to her.

"O Marion, come look at what I managed to build" Spinner said. Marionette made her way to the seating area where she noticed a strange grid on the ceiling. She looked further to find a set of strings hanging from one part of the grid close to the entrance and looking down them she saw Spinner waving while standing next to a strange creature which was held up by the strings. It had a face which was chalk white and purple lines under the eyes, the eyes and smiling mouth were hollow and had red dots on the cheek area while having small red lipstick. The rest of the body mostly black in colour with the arms and legs having whites stripes on them and the buttons being white and it looked somewhat like a very lanky human.

"Is that what I think it is" Marionette said with excitement,

"Yes indeedey, it is a real marionette on strings, it can be set to entertain or to serve. Its a marionette for my Marionette" Spinner said with pride. She switched it on and white dots became visible in the marionette's (or puppet's) eyes, it turned towards Spinner while waiting for a command.

"I would like a rainbow brownie please" Spinner ordered. The puppet stood still for a moment and after a few seconds, the ding of a microwave was heard and a tray with a brownie came out the mouth and the puppet grabbed it with his hand and gave it to Spinner. She ate it and the usual effects happened.

"Sick burn as always, also Marion, if you want to know where I got the recipe I engaged in a bit of pick-pocketing on that pony named Magic. Recipe also had a note telling Magic not to give it to anyone but I guess who every made these should think about who should safe guard their stuff" said Spinner. Marionette wasn't overly pleased with the theft but knowing it will be something new for the audience to try, it could help the show.

"This thing could be revolutionary, why have pony waiters when you can have this serving you. I wonder at times why you never went into the technology industry give all this crazy stuff you have made" Marionette said while hugging Spinner, nearly strangling her. After few pokes, she loosened her grip before Spinner opened her mouth.

"Thanks Marion but say, have you managed to make your little project with those instruments. The train conductor didn't like the mess we made when we dropped them and that alchemist you visited before we got here was getting a little suspicious as to why you....bought her entire stock" Spinner said out of curiosity. Marionette smiled and dragged Spinner behind the stage curtain where she showed her the musical invention. In the center was the DJ booth with amplifiers on each sides, the amplifiers were glowing a bluish red as they were being filled with an unknown substance through tubes linked to a large tanker. The cello was also linked to this tanker while the instruments that were brought in had been fused in different ways with other objects. Brass instruments had been fused with different colour laser lights and controlled air tanks so that when a note is played, the lights will change colour according to the notes played. This manipulation of colour and light was capable of mimicking illusion magic and drums were linked to bubble machines which when hit by the automatic drum sticks will cause bubbles to be rapidly fired with the size of the drumquake determining the size of the bubble which can trap ponys inside.

"Well you have been busy Marion, do they work?" Spinner asked

"Let me show you" Marionette said as she pushed a button on the DJ booth causing it to start playing music, she beckoned Spinner to have a go and Spinner started DJ-ing. She found buttons on the dash board to control the linked instruments and as she continued to DJ, the disks and amplifiers began to glow blue as a nose started to spawn. Spinner stopped and grabbed the nose and looked at Marionette.

"You said I was good at technology, you are not bad yourself" Spinner said in amazement.

"Why thank you Spinner, I hope this will help show tonight's audience how we do things now" said Marionette with a wide grin. Spinner knew what was on her friends mind and smiled back before returning to do work on the seating area and stage.

"Yo, puppet lets get this place finished up" Spinner said to the puppet as Marionette watched on.

One hour later

The concert hall looked a lot different from how the two clown musicians found it. The plain red stage curtains now had the comedy mask on the right curtain and tragedy mask on the left curtain. All the seats had a whoopee cushion built in to them, there were three addition puppets in the seating area and Marionette had given the interior a circus paint job. The audience started to come in, there were two notable ones in this crowd. They were both grey in fur colour with with the mare having a brown mane and the stallion having a black mane. They wore unimpressed expressions and walked with an air of superiority with the mare's cutie mark being a conductor's stick and the stallion having a violin cuties mark. These were Octavia's parents Mainus and Lara Melody whose cruelty and criminal nature mixed with stereotype high class personality is only match by the Bluebloods. They were accompanied by their aging earth pony butler Helping Hoof, a stallion who did his best to protect Octavia from her mother's beats and gave her love when her father did not during her childhood. He always enjoyed listening to her play even when her parents merely saw her skill as a means to an end.

"Helping Hoof, I don't want to see you running off to my daughter backstage. She is not to be corrupted by your stupid views of 'charity' and 'giving back to other' you understand" said Mainus.

"Understood master" Helping Hoof said while speaking in his head "hey I also know somepony else called Mainus. He just spells his name differently and is part of my own body". Lara looked at the concert with clear disgust at its more cheery appearance.

"What a disgrace, that mare has no sense of class anymore, maybe a few more beatings should knock sense into that mud pony" Lara said. Helping Hoof cringed at the racist insult but hid it from view before making threat in his head "One, Octavia has a little something called imagination to actually make music not that 'proper' stuff you conduct and two, I maybe old but that doesn't mean I can use that mud pony strength to tear that horn off and shove it up your flank".

Helping Hoof noticed Fancy Pants, the noble who can truly be called a noble, had entered that concert hall. He seemed to be bewildered at the puppets who were offering the audience some brownies. Fancy took one and ate it leading to his head flashing different colours before he ran to the nearby fountain to cool his throat down. Helping Hoof approach Fancy to say hello causing him to jump with shock.

"Well hello Helping, I didn't see you there, how have you been" Fancy said still trying to cope with spicy taste.

"I could be a lot better given I am still with these flank lickers" Helping Hoof said while pointing towards the Melody couple. Fancy wasn't surprised, he heard a lot of shady things about them such as bribing guards and ordering the deaths of many just to climb the political ladder or gain more stuff that they don't need.

"I have to admit, I am glad you were in their service Helping despite what they done as without you I doubt Octavia would have had any happiness in her childhood. Heck I am surprised that you didn't kill them given your history of offing those who exploit what they have" Fancy said, causing Helping to feel a little conflicted.

"Out of all of them, those two and your own were the only ones to have children and I am thankful for you using your influence to protect me but I feel you shouldn't have. I am a murderer through and through." Helping said. Fancy nodded no before pointed out an event in past.

"Helping, you were my family's own butler and you told me about how your own life had been as well as how the nobility was. It taught me how what they do would never benefit or improve Equestria so I decided that once my parents passed away, I can use the money and influence to help shape Equestria for the better as well as undo the damage my parents greed had brought" Fancy said in order to comfort Helping.

"I guess you are right anyway lets find some seats, given the changes to the hall I am guess Octavia has something interesting prepared" said Helping Hoof as he and Fancy found some seats. Upon seating on them, a loud farting sound was made, leading to the rest of the nobles frowning at them before they too sat down and their own chairs gave off a farting sound causing them all to feel embarrassed. Fancy and Helping quietly before a spot light aimed at the stage curtains and Spinner began to speak.

"Hello you boring old creeps in suits, there has be a slight adjustment to the show so please remain seated and enjoy" Spinner said as the curtains opened. Everyone stared with confusion as they saw Marionette and Spinner bow to them with Helping struggling to tell if the grinning mare with the strange cello was Octavia herself.

"Are my eyes playing tricks or is that Octavia....dressed as a clown" Helping said with Fancy giving a smile.

"I think so, she certainly is creative and seems to have that 'dubstep' loving friend which helps given that most musicians don't seem creative nowadays and prefer to play on their own for status sake" Fancy chuckled. Spinner and Marionette began playing a mix of dubstep and classical music and everyone was either is disbelief or angry that they were not getting what they wanted. None however were more angrier than Marionette's parents who knew this would do harm to their 'great' social status and began to shout at her.

"Octavia, stop this charade at once. You are mention to be playing proper music not this circus rubbish" said Mainus

"And get rid of that trashy 'mare-friend' of yours, she isn't worth it" said Lara. Marionette just smiled and continued playing while others started complaining although Helping and Fancy were more or less enjoying the show. Marionette suddenly heard a voice in her head.

"Marion, shall we send them now, the amps are fully charged" said Spinner through telepathy. Marionette turned her head towards the DJ booth amplifiers and noticed them glowing brightly and looked at the amplifiers on her cello before nodding towards Spinner. The amps began blasting red glowing light, mass producing clown noses which proceeded to attach themselves to the audience. Some tried to run but the brass lights create an illusion causing the main door to appear invisible leading to panic. Marionettes parents decided that enough was enough and attempted to get to her and take her back to their mansion for 're-training'.

"You get here right now you stupid mudpony" Lara said ready to hit her daughter with no restraint. Mainus used his magic to grab a hold of one of the chairs and was ready to throw it but was stopped when Helping charged into him.

"How dare you hit me, don't you remember who I am" Mainus said in disbelief. Helping was in no mood to hide anything.

"Yes you are racist greed pathetic excuse for a father who never cared for anyone but yourself under a deluded view of superiority due to having a horn as well wealth that you don't need. You are a clot who is always in tempertanturm when he doesn't get his way and could never just how much more his child is compared to you. I serve you no more and will protect the one I consider my own daughter while showing you just what a 'mudpony' can truly do" Helping said with fire in his eyes. Clear fear showed on Mainus's face while his wife tried to stop Helping, the puppets suddenly grabbed hold of her.

"Get your hands off me you abominations" Lara said while trying to use her magic to loosen their grip. Marionette layed down her cello and ran to the puppets controls where she command one to tie her mother up and shove her in the tool storage in the back stage. Lara cursed at her daughter while Marionette continued to play her cello. Meanwhile Helping and Mainus fought each other in the chaos, clowned nobles were running all over the place, laughing and smashing stuff up only being kept under control by the puppets. Mainus used his magic to throw objects at Helping which he managed to mostly withstand and get close enough to land a few punches but during the fight Fancy had manged to grab one of the noses.

"Maybe this can help somehow" he said before placing the nose on himself. Fancy's body began spinning and causing more damage however he did not notice this as his mind had transferred to a 'being late board meeting' kind of thing. He felt himself running near a room containing another board meeting which had a sign that said 'Please be silent'. Fancy start to sneak while his clown nose turned green only for an old alarm clock to suddenly ring and pop out of his suit pocket. It bounced around while Fancy tried to stamp on it but after a few failed attempts, he took out a huge mallet and began smashing the area trying to hit the noisy clock all in the while his mustache became longer and formed into a handlebar style.

"What is going on here" a voice called. Fancy finally hit and destroyed the clock and smiled before looking the source of the voice. It was Blueblood who started shouting at Fancy for some random stuff.

"I think he wants to communicate" Fancy said to himself before taking a tiny clown horn from his pocket which said 'squeeze gently' and squeezed it with much force causing the windows (and any glass for that matter) to shatter from the noise generated. Blueblood fainted as a result and Fancy placed the horn back in the suit. His suit turned with half becoming yellow and the other half becoming red and his bow tie becoming rainbow coloured. He made his way to the board room he was supposed to go which was labelled 'Board Room of Silly Walks' to which he encountered Glimmer Joy and Grinning Marionette.

"Hello, we started the meeting without you" Glimmer said.

"No No that is alright, what did you talk about" Fancy said. Glimmer explained about some investment into the ministry of silly walks which will help clowns improve the silliness of their act and Marionette explained how Blueblood would rather stay boring and place the investment in useless rich folk.

"Now that won't do, what is a world without any creative silly behavior" Fancy said as his mane formed into an afro and turned red. Blueblood came in having recovered from fainting and directed his eyes at Fancy.

"Fancy I know it was you who stole the files for the money transfer, where is it" Blueblood said in annoyance. Fancy was unfazed by this and pulled open his pockets.

"Have a look, 'officer' He said. Blueblood checked the pockets and found many things that shouldn't fit in the pockets on their own let alone other objects. He found a rubber chicken, a large key, a diamond, a mallet, a rocket launcher (Fancy stating he has a permit for it), an entire wardrobe, an aquamarine and a signed photo of Blueblood's wife with a love note. Blueblood was as anyone would be furious. Fancy's monicole turned into a googly eye

"YOU FLANKHOLE" Blueblood said in anger

"Hey I thought you would have a sense of humor because after all". Fancy looked around before continuing "YOU MARRIED HER". Blueblood growled at this as Fancy spun like a tornado through the nearest exit. His eyes turned pink and his cutie mark turned into a green human head who was grinning. His vision turned back to the concert hall and he stopped spinning. Fancy Pants now Fancy Schmancy saw that during the fight Helping had manage to tear off Mainus horn causing to act berserk.

"You inferior mudpony, I will blow this place up and clean it of you scum" He said. Helping was disturbed and frighted as he saw Mainus pull out a bomb and set it to 10 seconds. Fancy however spun his way quickly to the bomb and swallowed it lead to it exploding in his body, causing it to briefly expand and slowly return to normal.

"What but how, you should have been blown to pieces" Mainus said, completely astonished. Fancy simply smiled and brought out a paint brush and some paint from his afro. He painted a switch saying 'Hole to Taurus' and proceed to pull it causing a hole to form below Mainus, dropping in a cage with what looked like a weak centaur.

"Well that is a wrap folks now time for me to leave the stage" Fancy said before spinning like a tornodo and leaving the concert hall. Helping Hoof sat down trying to recover some energy after the fight while Marionette and Spinner walked up to him.

"Thank you for what you did for me all those years ago. I never forgot you Helping". Marionette took a deep breath before asking "If you need a place to stay, you are welcome at our house" Helping looked at her and smiled.

"I will stay with you, I want to leave this joke of a 'great' city" He said. The three of them headed back to Ponyville......while Canterlot was left to deal with the strange clowned noble problem and Fancy's antics".

Author's Note:

To be honest I am not sure what to say about this chapter. I feel the tf with Fancy Pants wasn't very good and I felt that a focused a little too much on the parent conflict for Octavia/Marionette

Regardless, enjoy it anyway

Comments

[charliebrown921]

nice The Mask reference

[TechnoPagan9]

6719027 ty

[SLASH AN ASSASSIN]

Sounds like this marionette is the jigsaw puppet