Bumbles the clown has failed to entertain for the last time. Facing the music, she heads to the ringmaster's tent, not knowing that he has a better role suited for her... a very big part. Created by the always amazing  zezil

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BONUS STORY

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BUMBLES the clown nervously walked between the rows of tents at the back of the circus, where the performers resided after the show. The area was dimly illuminated from some ad hoc floodlights placed haphazardly along the path. She could hear drunk merriment coming from inside most of the tents, as the crew and cast celebrated their successful performance. But Bumbles knew she could have no part of it: as much as she had desired to join the circus, and be a clown all of her life, once she finally got the nerve to run away from home, she found that performing was much harder than it looked. After a string of warnings from the assistant ringmaster, she was finally told to face the ringmaster for her failures.

Bumbles nervously rubbed her gloved hands together as she stepped, wondering what would happen. She ran her hands through her bright hair, and attempted to massage away her anxiety through her scalp. Up ahead, on the left of the path, Honko the Clown and assistant ringmaster Sebastian smoked and conversed with each other.

“... and yeah, I’ve never seen more crying kids in my life. She completely bombed out there,” Honko explained to Sebastian, gesturing his smoking hand outward.

“A real shame. Seemed to have a lot of passion, that one. I wonder what he’s going to reassign her to,” Sebastian replied, shaking his head.

“Oh shit, here she comes; shut up,” Honko whispered, noticing Bumbles.

As Bumbles approached, Honko nodded his head at her, as solemnly as a clown with a bright orange wig and striped trousers could. Sebastian turned to Bumbles too, and eyed her as she passed. Bumbles just tilted her head downwards, trying not to cry from embarrassment. She watched her big, bright yellow shoes as they pushed ahead, one after another; it was such an exciting day when she first arrived, and picked out her costume from the circus wardrobe. Like a dream that had now turned into a nightmare.

At the end of the path, a large striped tent loomed. A wooden sign with the word “Ringmaster” carved into it hung over the entry flap. Bumbles placed her hand on the flap’s handle and closed her eyes. After a moment of building up her courage, she sighed and pushed the flap open. Inside, several folding tables were set up on the left side of the room; the Ringmaster’s bed and a chair were located on the other side. The ringmaster himself was staring at the back of the room, with his hands crossed. A few lightbulbs strung on the ceiling of the tent dangled as Bumbles disturbed the tent, causing the ringmaster’s long shadow to flicker.

Bumbles meekly crawled into the tent, carefully closing the tent flap after her. She turned back to the ringmaster, and gave him an easy glance, with her worried blue eyes framed by her diamond-shaped eye makeup.

“Y.. you asked to see me, Ringmaster?” she asked, in her soft, high-pitched voice.

The ringmaster lifted one of his hands to his face, still facing away from the clown. “Bumbles, bumbles, bumbles… What should we do with you?” He turned to face her, revealing his hand stroking his long, curled moustache.

Bumbles looked away from him as his gaze bore into her. She searched her mind for a response, but she couldn’t muster a proper one. “I… Uh...”

Continuing to twirl his moustache around his finger, the man shook his head, frowning. Already a tall man, the ringmaster’s large black top hat made him even more imposing- that along with his considerable girth, barely contained in his red jacket.

“Often, we cast aside those who are unable to perform their duties adequately,” the ringmaster spoke, approaching Bumbles. She looked back up at him with tears forming in her eyes, ready to stream down the white makeup on her face. He tilted his head and placed his hand on her chin, holding it upright.

“But I can feel passion burning inside of you. You belong here, but the path of a clown is not meant for you. Someone like you desires to be seen, but can only deliver a slower, more labored performance,” the mustachioed man continued.

What does he mean by that? Bumbles wondered. She continued to ponder, but felt optimistic enough about his statement to keep her enough to affirm it.

“I… I will try, Ringmaster,” Bumbles responded, sniffling.

The ringmaster dropped his hand and stepped back from her. “Very well, then. The reassignment is complete. Welcome, my new elephant!” he declared, spreading his arms apart and opening his palms.

E.. Elephant? Bumbles’ jaw dropped in confusion as she watched the suited man in front of her gesture. She felt a curious rumble in her gut, as if she hadn’t eaten in a while, but the sensation was greatly amplified, and it caused her entire belly to vibrate. She clutched her stomach with her hand, feeling her flesh underneath the soft fabric of her short dress. As the rumbling in her stomach continued, she felt the dress tighten; her midsection was starting to fill up like a balloon! Looking down, Bumbles gasped as her waistline grew, pushing her fingers outwards as it increased.

I’m… getting fat? She pondered this question as her shoes started to become uncomfortable. Her feet felt like they were pushing against the sides of her footwear, and the pressure quickly grew more intense until, with a rip, her yellow shoes ripped apart, revealing her misshapen feet visible underneath her now very tight striped stockings. Her heels felt extremely swollen, pushing the back of her feet upwards, so it felt more like she was on tiptoes. Looking down past her distended stomach, she saw the changes to her feet were even more severe, and they looked closer to cylindrical blobs. They continued to expand in size, along with her ankles and legs, until another rip could be heard, this time in her stockings. The tear in the elastic leggings revealed a change in her skin: her normally pale skin now appeared rough, dark and grey.

“What’s happening to me?” Bumbles cried, moving a hand down to feel the change in her skin underneath a stocking tear. She felt the vibrations in her stomach travel up her body, and she let out a unladylike belch as a pocket of air escaped her belly. As Bumbles burped, a sensation of swelling enveloped her face, and her clown nose felt like it was slipping off.

“Nghhh.. Ahh!” she moaned as the red bulb slipped off her face, revealing that her once petite nose had now grown wider and rounder, with its shape changing to push her nostrils upwards slightly as the nose merged with her upper lip. Crossing her eyes together, Bumbles could see the top of her transforming nose as it stretched out in front of her face. She brought a hand up to touch the lengthening protrusion on her face, and she gasped in amazement as she felt it up and down through her glove; it was all real! In fact, her nose now felt even more sensitive, and with some pins-and-needles sensations like a waking limb, she found that she could even will her lengthening nose to move around as if it were an elephant’s trunk.

Elephant’s trunk? Oh, God; is that what’s happening to me? Looking up from her trunk, Bumbles could see the ringmaster was watching her, looking solemn with his arms crossed. He must have done this! But before she could think much more on it, she felt another wave of rumbling, and her chest started to expand, catching up with her midsection. It happened so fast that she only felt a brief feeling of pressure before her dress completely tore off, revealing her breasts, which had flattened and separated on her wide grey chest.

Bumbles moved to cover herself with her arms; her arms had also become thicker, and as she bent them inwards, the fabric of her sleeves tore. She started taking faster, breaths as she started to panic, and she could feel each gush of air travel through her lengthening nose. As her body bloated, its weight was too much for her legs to bear, and she fell forwards, catching herself on her hands. Her gloves ripped on the impact, as her hands puffed out and deformed, leaving her with stubby fingers that she could now easily balance on the tips of.

Another ripple moved from Bumbles’ gut to her mouth, and she burped again, followed by an intense pressure in her head. She felt her ears rub against her hair as they grew; as they increased in size, she could feel the added weight tug at the sides of her head. She groaned loudly as a sensation like a really bad toothache developed to each side of her nose, and suddenly bright white tusks erupted from the sides of her face underneath her trunk.

On the other end of her body, Bumbles felt a pain on her tailbone, and a grey tail started to grow out of her backside. At its tip, small hairs poked out that lengthened as the tail stretched outwards. Bumbles closed her eyes and moaned from the pain, as her body expanded and contorted; the noise of her cry grew deeper and more feral, until it was completely unrecognizable as human. The changes continued in a more uniform way, until a full-grown elephant stood over a tattered pile of clothes in front of the ringmaster.

Breathing heavily, Bumbles opened her eyes again, finding her vision stretched out into a wider panorama. At the front of her vision she could see her giant trunk and some of the surrounding grey wrinkly skin still covered with patches of white makeup. Oh God, this is really happening. She turned her head left and right, feeling the heft of her nose and ears as they swung about. Seeing the ringmaster now below her, she felt a desire to punish him for her transmogrification, and with all her remaining strength, she reared up on her hind legs, attempting to stomp him with her giant front feet.

But the rotund ringmaster moved with surprising speed, pulling a bullwhip from behind him, and whipping Bumbles across the chest. The blow didn’t draw blood, but it stung with an electric shock that surged through her gargantuan form, causing her to stagger backwards and nearly fall over. She cried out in pain, a deep elephantine wail, and clenched her head against her shoulder, pressing her tusk against her side.

“Now, now,” the ringmaster scolded. “You may be upset now, but I know you will come to love your new role.” He turned to a nearby table and grabbed a headdress that Bumbles hadn’t noticed before: one just the size for her massive noggin. Bumbles meekly turned her head back to him, knowing he had the upper hand. She resigned herself to her fate, tears in her eyes as he placed the garment over her temple.

As the ringmaster led her out of the tent, Bumbles looked back at the shredded remains of her outfit. She sniffed as she cried, feeling the bizarre rush of air traveling all the way from the end of her extended trunk up to her lungs. The ringmaster pulled on the reins attached to her headdress, and led her outside through a side flap. The night air felt chilly on her wrinkled gray skin. She felt a moment of self-consciousness, as if she had been in the same position with her human body, leashed and nude on the ground, such a conspicuous sight would have been lewd and embarrassing. For an elephant, though, it was entirely unremarkable.