“Woah! That was amazing!” A six year old boy in the audience said, “Did you see how she flew around like that, and blocked those bullets?”
“Yeah, I did, it was pretty impressive,” the boy’s teenage brother whispered back “The flight after the obvious fake was pretty elaborate. I wonder what they used for that flight.”
“She’s a bat, of course she can fly.”
“Oh, right, how could I have forgotten?” The older brother, Ryan, chuckled, deciding to keep his speculation on the tricks to himself. He may not have cared for fantasy or enchantments himself, but he didn’t want to ruin the magic for his brother (literally), and spoil what was probably their last trip to the carnival together. And even if he tried, his younger brother, Adam, would probably just insist it was real magic anyway; the kid had said he wanted to be a wizard when he grew up, mostly because he liked the idea of just waving his hands around and having cool stuff happen for him.
His brother’s fascination with magic aside, Ryan found himself wondering how the magic show got the budget for such realistic costumes. The eyes and mouths moved flawlessly, and the suits weren’t bulky in the least. He had to wonder how anyone, even a kid, could actually fit in them, they seemed so small.
The older boy’s mind wandered as the rabbit woman and the ‘sorcerer’ cleared up the props from the bat girl’s act, thinking back over the acts they had seen so far. Adam had asked Ryan if the puppet in the opening act had been alive, and Ryan didn’t blame him for wondering. The movements were so lifelike and precise, not to mention incredibly difficult to manage without getting the marionette tied up in its strings. The magician truly had to be commended for his puppetry skills.
He knew how snake charming really worked, so while he didn’t find the controlled movement of the snake as neat as his younger brother, he did find the flexibility of the girl in the snake costume very impressive. He never heard of any contortionists that young.
Adam had also enjoyed how flashy the “acro-cat’s” act had been. Ryan, meanwhile, had found it a little strange for a magic show to have an acrobatic portion, but hey, maybe the carnival didn’t have an extra tent for that.
Ryan still had no clue how the Totem pole animals worked. Their movements seemed too smooth to be animatronic, yet they all looked to be made of solid wood. Were they more costumes? They seemed perfectly motionless before their performance actually started. All he knew for sure was that Adam got a laugh out of it, and that was okay for him.
Adam had also found it really funny when Spectra had not only pulled a rabbit out of a hat, but that he had pulled out a rabbit woman about five times as tall as the hat itself. Ryan however, having recently entered puberty, had gotten a bit… distracted... by O’Hara’s physique.
Adam had loved the weasel’s escape act, and Ryan had been impressed with the lengths that had been gone to to disprove the idea that a trap door had been responsible.
The fire-walking, and fire breathing “Tommy the tiger” had piqued Ryan’s curiosity; he had to wonder what material the fur on that costume had been made of, to not catch fire when the performer went up in flames, while Adam was awed by the pyrotechnics.
Both boys had also had a good laugh at the two kids from the audience hypnotized to think they were otters. All in all, Ryan was happy he had brought his brother along.
Spectra took center stage once more, the jewels in his mask and the glitter on his robes shimmering under the stage lights.
“My next trick… Will not be mine,” he said, “this time, a volunteer from the audience will get to perform magic all on their own.”
O’Hara smirked knowingly.
Dozens of hands in the audience flew up, but Spectra could tell right away which one… or rather, which two would get the most out of the next performance. “You there, the blonde boy in the second row!”
Adam gasped and gazed at the magician, seeming to wonder if he had really been picked.
“Yes you, come on up! And the taller boy next to you, bring him too.”
Ryan looked far more surprised, as he hadn’t even been raising his hand. But as the younger boy grabbed his hand, he found himself being pulled out of his seat and toward the stage.
“Welcome, you two. Please, tell us your names.”
“My name’s Ryan,” said the older boy.
“I’m Adam,” said the younger.
“Well, Ryan, Adam, tell me a little about yourselves. What brought you to the carnival tonight?”
“My big brother!” Adam said, pointing to Ryan. “He told me it might be the last time we could go here together ‘cause our parents are gonna-”
“I think that’s enough Adam,” Ryan interrupted. “Sorry about that,” he whispered to Spectra, “don’t want to ruin the mood for the other kids."
Spectra nodded, not even needing the power to see others' fates to guess why the two brothers might be seperated. “Don’t worry about it, young man. Why don’t you tell me a little about your interests?”
“I’ve been thinking engineering is pretty cool,” Ryan said. “I like figuring out how things work, and finding ways to improve them.”
“And I wanna learn to do cool magic, like you do,” Adam said. “Show people that it’s real! And all the crazy stuff you can do with it!”
“Well then, I think I have just the trick for you two,” Spectra smiled. “O’Hara, bring out the costume."
“Yes sir!” O’Hara said, disappearing backstage, before re-emerging with a large, white, two-person unicorn costume, which she set in front of the two brothers. “Climb in, boys!”
“Cool!” Adam said, getting inside quickly, “I call the head!”
“Er… Do we have to be in the costume for this trick?” Ryan couldn’t help but notice that it was far less realistic than those used by the earlier performers. Not to mention that instead of the usual spiraling horn he’d expect from a costume, the horn seemed to be two tall, thin cones so close to each other that from a distance, one couldn’t tell they weren’t one piece.
“It’s vital,” Spectra said. “And besides, I have a feeling the two of you would like to make memories together tonight, right?”
Ryan sighed, and got into the back half of the costume, awkwardly bending his body down to fill the suit’s middle. His little brother hadn’t been nearly tall enough to work the head, which drooped as they shuffled around, getting used to the suit.
“So,” Ryan said, his voice muffled by the costume, “What sort of trick are we doing?”
“I have a few classics in mind,” Spectra said, as O’Hara brought out a series of three linked metal hoops, and set the middle one around the costume’s horn. “With the little twist that you’ll be using your costume’s unicorn magic. Just focus on separating the rings, and the rest should come on its own! We’ll leave you to it.” With that, the magician and his assistant stepped offstage.
“All right!” Adam cheered, as he stared at the dangling rings through the costume’s eye-holes just under the neck. He pictured the rings phasing right through each other in his mind, and raised his arm up in the costume head as best as he could, trying to wave the horn around like a magic wand. He was so ready to try out some real magic, that he paid no attention as his legs grew longer, while his toes fused into a rounded hoof, that began to merge with and replace the costume over it. Nor did he see a soft blue glowing pulse rise up the front cone of the two part horn.
Ryan, meanwhile, tried to figure out what the magician had been talking about. The ‘costume’s unicorn magic?’ Was the wizard going to do something himself, or was he honestly expecting the two boys to do something special with the costume. He didn’t notice his feet growing far longer and thinner, or his toes thickening and fusing into a hoof on each foot. He pondered if maybe the costume had some trick to it, as his calves got shorter, and his thighs wider, filling out the back of the costume. If only he were up front, he might be able to figure out how it worked. Unknown to either of them, a little blue pulse began to rise up the other half of the horn, at the same pace as the first.
Adam hadn’t questioned why he was suddenly tall enough to work the unicorn head, he was just having fun dramatically waving it around, while the metal rings clinked. He tried to think of some good magic words to say as his upper body began to grow taller and bulkier, curving forward slightly to look like a horse’s neck. It suddenly occurred to Adam that there might be some kind of trick to separating the rings. A MAGIC trick, but still, a trick. He’d need to do more than just say some magic words to get it working. He shook his head, to try and get a better look at the rings, and see how they were designed, not really noticing that the costume’s eye-holes were now in the actual eyes.
Ryan, suddenly KNEW exactly what the rings looked like, despite not seeing them himself. He could picture them clearly in his mind; three metal rings, probably aluminum. All of them seemed perfectly smooth, no signs of a trick area where they could be seperated. How were they supposed to solve this? That question so preoccupied him that he didn’t consider how he had received that information in the first place, nor did he notice his arms slowly shrinking away to the point of non-existence, while the rest of his body grew larger, and wider, fusing with the sides of the costume just as his legs had. As a long, furred tail, ending in a fluffy tuft, slipped out the back of his spine and into the tail of the costume, bringing it to life, Ryan began to consider, what if it actually was a MAGIC trick? After all, if magic was real, that meant that it had to follow rules just like any other physical phenomenon. He just needed to figure out how to channel it properly.
AdamRyan suddenly became much more methodical in his movements, even as his jaw began to stretch out to fill the long snout of the costume, his nose growing larger as it moved along with him, and his ears stretching out above his head slightly. Of course magic was real! And of course, it followed rules. But that didn’t mean it wasn’t impressive, and it certainly didn’t mean you couldn’t put on a show worth watching with it. AdaRyan began to concentrate on his horn, which started to glow brighter, energy flowing through it. The invisible forces of the magic linked to the rings, which began to glow a soft blue as well.
AdaRian’s memories began to swirl together, though the unicorn in the making was too focused on his magic to realize even if he could have. A love of fantasy and a love of reason began to weave into each other even as both halves of the costume’s horn started to curl up. Enjoyment of the flashy, and appreciation for the practical, joined forces in the unicorn’s mind, while petty arguments about who got to use the TV, who started the argument, and who was getting on who’s nerves just seemed nonsensical. The fear of being seperated grew ever more distant, while a feeling of brotherly love grew stronger, as the two halves of the horn twisted and spiraled around each other, becoming a single, distinct, horn, its blue glow growing ever stronger.
The three rings lifted off Adrian’s horn, enveloped by the blue glow as they rose into the air, prompting a soft “Ooh!” from the audience. ‘Now then, just play with the atomic bonds a little bit...’ Adrian thought to himself. With a gentle mental tug, the three rings passed straight through each other, prompting a little “Ah!” from the children.
“Pretty nice, eh?” The unicorn said, surprising quite a few of the children in the audience. Despite all the performers in animal costumes this evening, they hadn’t expected the four legged animal to start talking. The older kids were pretty impressed by the lip synching, and the effort the magician had clearly gone to to make the unicorn horn and tail look so flawlessly natural on what had to be a mundane horse. Not to mention how calm the animal was, given how easy it was to spook a horse.
Adrian smiled at their shock. “Now, I’d like the members of the audience to feel over these rings. Try to bend them, or feel for any openings.” The three rings each floated out to a different audience member, the kids feeling them over and passing them around, finding them to be sturdy, solid metal, with no tricks to them they could make out. Not to mention they couldn’t find a trace of the string that must have been used to make them levitate.
“So, as you can see, there’s no trick to the rings themselves, I’ll start to work my magic on them,” Adrian said, his horn and the rings glowing blue as they gently lifted out of the children’s fingers. When one young boy refused to let go of the ring he was handed, he felt it tug against his fingers for a moment, before suddenly watch it slip right out of his grasp like vapor. He gasped, doing a double take between his hand and the ring. Had he missed something when he felt it over?
Adrian smiled and let the three rings hover above him, the blue glow around them and his horn getting brighter. One ring shrank, then straightened out into a thin rod. A little spell to manipulate the light, and the middle of the wand stopped reflecting, while the ends started reflecting all colors, creating the classic black and white tipped magic wand. The next ring’s opening was filled with black silk, before a smaller circle pressed upward into a cylinder, creating a top hat just the right size to sit atop the unicorn’s head, which it promptly did. The last ring then turned red as he altered its atomic structure, before collapsing into a rolled up ribbon, which levitated around the unicorn’s throat and tied itself up in a little bowtie.
“There we go! Pretty cool, right? Now that I’m looking my best, I’m ready for the next trick.” He looked out over the audience. “To assure you all that there’s no trickery involved here, I’d like to borrow a balloon from the audience. Don’t worry, I won’t let it anywhere near my horn. Would anybody like to share?”
One of the boys that had brought a balloon in with him raised his free hand.
“Ah, thank you,” Adrian said, his wand floating over toward the boy, the end of the balloon’s string wrapping around the tip of the wand before it returned to the unicorn. “Ah, a nice red shine. Reminds me of those balloon animals we bumped into during one of our tours. A great bunch of guys, not nearly as airheaded as you would expect,” He remarked as he magically untied the balloon, a soft glow at the bottom of the string keeping it from rising to the top of the tent.
The bottom of the string was suddenly less taut, as if the point the magic had 'gripped' it had moved up the line.
“Okay,” Adrian said, “I know I said I wouldn’t pop it, but I’m afraid this balloon isn’t leaving completely unscathed.” The little boy that had leant the balloon gasped, as the “shing” sound that played in cartoons whenever something sharp was seen could be heard in the tent, while a sword levitated onstage. He gave a sigh of relief when said sword only cut off a few inches of the string. The cut piece was held up by an invisible force for all the audience to see, showing that is was indeed cleanly severed. The process was repeated, the sword cutting a few inches off the end of the string, which was then held aloft for the audience, then repeated again and again until only two inches of string were left attached to the balloon.
“Well, it seems like I’ve almost ruined the balloon I was given. I’m sure all your parents have told you to be extra careful with things that belong to other people, and I really haven’t been. But the good news is, I know how to fix it!” The many pieces of string were lifted up to the end of the balloon. “Most magicians who fix ropes like this have hands to help along the process… And to hide any complete ropes they might’ve been holding. Unfortunately, I’ve only got hooves to work with, so I’m afraid you’re going to see the secrets behind my version of the trick…” The unicorn sighed, as the magic released the cut strings.
But as they fell, each end attached to the other. If one could get a closer look than the audience, they would have seen the frayed ends weaving back together, uniting as if they had never been cut in the first place. The audience could be heard oohing and aahing.
“The secret being, of course, that this is no trick! It’s real magic.” The unicorn smiled, and magically pulled the balloon’s string back into its owner’s grasp.
“So far, I’ve been doing more traditional stage show magic. But I’ve got time for one more trick in my act, and it’s something truly special. Do we have a volunteer or three for the best magic spell you’ll ever experience?” Dozens of hands shot up in the audience. “Let’s see… You, you, and.. You!”
His floating wand pointed at three children, who quickly got out of their seats and down to the stage. A red-headed boy looking around five, a black haired girl who looked about ten, and a brown haired boy that appeared to be eight all stood beside the equine.
“Will you all line up facing the audience, please?” The wand motioned to positions for them, and the children followed. “Would you let us all know your names? And what your favorite animals are?”
“Phillip,” Said the youngest. “I like lizards."
“Margery,” the girl said. “Dogs are my favorite."
“Charles,” the brown haired boy said. “I don’t really have a favorite…”
“Really now?” Adrian asked. “No favorites whatsoever?” The boy shook his head. “We’ll find a compromise for you, then.”
Adrian took a deep breath. His earlier spells were simple parlor tricks, early-intermediate level stuff at most, but also easily explained away as sleight of hand. Indeed, he had seen plenty of illusionists pull off far more impressive-looking feats without an ounce of real magic in them. Adrian simply wasn’t satisfied with that. He hadn’t studied the science of magic for all his life just to pretend that he was pretending to do magic. Spectra may have been committed to keeping real magic a secret, but Adrian was going to make sure that, if nothing else, these three would know that what they saw… No, what they EXPERIENCED, was the genuine article.
“Gaze in awe at wonders you will find nowhere else and will likely not see again! A true metamorphosis spell!”
The unicorn’s horn glowed, its blue aura getting more and more intense. His horn reached out to the very essence of the three children. Before the spell went off, the unicorn stamped his front hoof, triggering a smoke bomb under each child. Adrian hated to do it, but Spectra had insisted that the audience, at least, should have a way to dismiss this spell as the usual misdirection.
After the smoke bomb went off, all three children began to feel a little strange. Phillip could feel his spine stretching out above his rear, his mouth pulling forward, and his toes getting longer and spreading wider. Margery suddenly felt very warm, and fuzzy, as if she had suddenly been wrapped up in fur. Plus her ears felt longer, and the smells in the room seemed to get much stronger, she felt a third appendage touching her legs! Charles, meanwhile, felt an odd sensation in his legs, and a huge growing sensation behind him and… Was he touching the floor in four places?
As the smoke cleared, the audience gasped, with several audible “Woah!'s” as well. In the place of Margery and Phillip were a beagle girl and a lizard boy, their clothing gone (though just like the other animal children performing that night, their fur and scales hid anything indecent). Charles, in contrast, looked just as he had before the smoke bomb… from the waist up. His lower half had been replaced by the body of a horse.
Margery looked at her paws and muzzle and let out a yelp. A couple more panicked glances at her tail and fur, plus a tug on her large, floppy ears followed. “H-how? Wh-what did you-? Why am I…?” The girl stammered.
Phillip, in contrast, was completely silent as he stared at his new claws, looking over his smooth, beige and brown scales slowly with apparent fascination. Charles first experimentally moved his back legs, then his tail, his eyes widening as he saw the new limbs react to his thoughts.
“Boys and girls! I present to you, a magic feat like no other!” Adrian cheered. He turned to Charles. “See, I knew we could reach a good compromise! I have to say, this is a significant improvement, if you ask me.”
“Does this mean I have to eat hay now?” Charles asked, still looking very confused by his sudden transformation.
“Well, it’s part of a balanced diet, with a nice mix of greens,” Adrian said.
“P-please change me back!” Margery pleaded. “I like dogs, but I don’t wanna BE one!”
“Are you sure?” Adrian chuckled. “Everyone adores puppies, after all.”
“Yes!” The little beagle girl crossed her arms with a pout.
“Well, I suppose I can’t argue with that. And I’m sure your parents don’t want to have to clean up the extra fur and scales off the sofa. Just stand where you did for the first change, and we’ll have you back to your old selves again.”
As the centaur and the beagle got back into place, Phillip finally stopped looking over his new tail long enough to speak up. “Hey, wait, can I-?”
The boy was interrupted as the smoke bombs went off once more and the unicorn’s horn glowed. Underneath the smoke, tails shrank, fur and scales receded, and clothing was restored. The smoke cleared to reveal the three children looking just as they had when they got onstage (save the looks of relief on Margery and Charles’ faces, and a hint of disappointment on Phillip’s when he looked back and saw the tail was gone, now).
The crowd cheered as Adrian bowed his head. “There you have it, ladies and gentlemen. Genuine metamorphosis magic! Let’s hear another round of applause for our wonderful volunteers!”
As the clapping continued, the children on the stage went back to their seats, and Adrian headed backstage while Spectra took his place in front of the crowd once more.
“Nice work out there,” Tommy said, as the Unicorn stepped backstage. “Three shapeshifting spells at once… I didn’t think you’d be able to pull it off.”
“I was more worried about Spectra letting me try it at all. He usually tries to discourage me from doing magic that’s too obviously real,” Adrian said. While Spectra had taught the troupe both sleight of hand and true magic, he insisted that they focus their efforts on traditional 'stage' magic whenever possible, and that any spells they did use leave room for some mundane explanation. Most of the performers were fine with this, using little, if any, real magic in their acts, but Adrian, who had joined his new family just as much to study spells as to put on a show, was not.
“I don’t really blame him,” Chelly said. “After all, if everybody knew magic was real, would they see magic shows as anything special?”
“People know flipping is real,” Adrian said, “And they still watch your acrobatics. It’s all about making it interesting! Show enough talent, or simply add enough flair, and you’ll still wow a crowd. At worst, the illusionists would have to up their game to stand out. I mean, you saw Betty’s act, and she didn’t use a single spell for that!”
“I guess so,” Chelly said. “But I wouldn’t want every stage magician in the world to have to do complicated routines like that just to keep people watching.”
Adrian paused, looking over at the sleeping Betty, remembering how exhausted she had looked when she had finished. “That’s a fair point.” The unicorn nodded. “But still, magic is my passion! I’ve studied it all my life. I just want to be able to show it, that’s all.”
“I can understand that,” Penny said, in a slightly higher voice than usual, moving Rosewood’s mouth in time with the words. “I love dancing on its own, but I’d hate not being able to show it to an audience.”
Setting Rosewood down in her seat, and taking her normal tone of voice again, Penny continued. “You know, since Spectra finally let you do a shapeshifting spell on a volunteer, maybe we should work together sometime. My hypnosis could help them get into character when you change them, which I’m sure the rest of the audience would love to watch!”
“I might take you up on that offer, if Spectra ever lets me do that again.” Adrian nodded. He looked at the Totem pole. "And, maybe as part of my next act, I could turn you three into 'real' animals on stage and back again. That would really have the audience in awe."
The three living wooden statues looked at each other, and Em used 'wing language' to say 'We'll think about it.'
“I still think you ought to at least try sleight of hand more,” Wesley said. Adrian silently raised one of his front hooves. “Oh, you know what I mean. It’s lots of fun to just leave people guessing how you pulled your stuff off when they can’t just say ‘oh he really did magic.’ Also… Do you REALLY need the bowtie? It makes you look like a nerd.”
“Hay!” Adrian snorted. “Bowties are cool!”
“Oh, don’t mind him,” Tommy said, “He’s just in a bad mood because I told him his cape was bland.”
"I know, I was standing here."
"Oh right."
O’Hara smiled as she watched the younger performers talk amongst themselves. Even if her position as Spectra’s assistant meant that she was one of the few that could remember the previous lives of the children in the troupe, she still recalled the past of their new lives, too. She was glad that in spite of Adrian being the only non-humanoid member of the cast, that none of the other performers looked down on him (or in Wesley’s case, didn’t look down on him any more than he did any other member of the troupe). Penny had even once joked that Adrian’s presence helped average out the number of legs in their little family to two-per-cast-member.
The rabbit woman did empathize with Adrian’s frustration of not being able to perform true magic as much as he’d like; how could she not, given her life before Spectra changed her? But still, he was getting more magic training from Spectra than he would just about anywhere else. That Adrian could perform multiple metamorphosis spells at once was a testament to the young unicorn’s new potential, and of course, Spectra and O’Hara wanted to encourage that as much as they could without upsetting the entire magical applecart. Spectra saw that O'Hara and Adrian were both of the newer generation's view (ironic given Adrian's chronological age as a unicorn) that keeping people ignorant of magic like it was some secret club caused more problems than it prevented.
But even with his potential, she and Spectra agreed to keep him in the dark about the two’s duty to alter the threads of fate with their transformations. Even if he was also a teacher to the troupe, Spectra was first and foremost a magician. And a magician never reveals his secrets.