Chapter 1: On First Sight

So my first Dumbo fic. After many years of not seeing and then recently seeing some clips of the movie online, I fell in love with it all over again. And thus I decided to show my appreciation of the movie through my work. I predict this takes place after the movie, Dumbo still is the world famous flying elephant in the circus and he lives happily with his mother and everyone treats him much better than they did before. Also he also has some developed speech patterns.

I own nothing. The movie Dumbo and all its content belongs to Disney. I don't own the cover image either. I only own my OC's, Gem and Dahlia.

Enjoy the story!

The circus. The bright lights, the scent of wet dust in the ring, the crowds anticipating with excitement for every new thing to happen. The smells of sweaty animals and performers as they perform fantastic tricks and the cotton candy, popcorn and snowcones they have to enjoy while watching. Trapeze artists swung above, clowns did their humorous antics for hilarity and all sorts of animals performed feats of trains abilities. But the most exciting part of this circus was none other than the elephants. And the star attraction of them all, the world famous flying elephant, Dumbo.

The crowd watched in hushed silence as they watched the pyramid of pachyderms stack higher and higher. Some had already seen this trick before and were crossing their fingers as they hoped it wouldn't end like the first time it did. About a year ago, the stack of elephants had toppled down, bringing the big top down with it and caused mass hysteria in the audience, all because of one elephant's clumsiness by tripping on his own ears. But now this night would put ot all behind them.

A voice called out in the audience as the climax came forth. All eye looked up to the ceiling and a spotlight turned on and shone at the figure soaring through the air. The crowd immediately roared with happiness as their favorite flying elephant soared through the air, decorated finely with a colorful yellow and red collar, pilot goggles and hat with a little flag waving in his little trunk. He circled around the top of the stack and everyone held his breath as he grew closer and closer.

Suddenly, he alighted down. The stack wobbled a bit from the extra weight, but then... kept still. A fanfare played and the audience went onto their feet with applause as the pyramid of pachyderms was complete with the little flying elephant on top, waving his flag proudly above all the rest.

It was such a fantastic act to see. The elephants in the stack and the circus performers were proud that their idea had finally come to a success, and no one was more prouder than the lone elephant and mouse standing beside the curtain, cheering Dumbo on.

The two were the first to greet him when the curtain went down and the show ended. Timothy, the little brown mouse and Dumbo's manager, ran up to him and scurried into his hat, praising him for a job well done. Dumbo beamed with happiness and came rushing towards his other supporter, his mother, Mrs. Jumbo. She immediately outstretched her trunk and entwined it lovingly with his.

"You were magnificent out there, son," she said softly to him. He nuzzled into her warm embrace even further. He had grown a little taller over the past year and now came up to her knee in height. His ears still remained as large and functional than ever, though he still had to bat them harder to make up for his extra height and weight. She smiled gently at him.

Then came the other elephants, the other ones in the act. If by instinct, Mrs. Jumbo shielded her son from them as the other walked past them. Now it wasn't like they mistreated the either of them now anymore, but in the past both of them, especially her son, had been ridiculed by the other lady elephants in the circus. The gossiped, looked down upon and most of all outright insulted him in the past and even now Jumbo still believed them to be a bad influence to hang around now, so they typically stayed to themselves.

The small herd of them disappeared behind a curtain in the tent to where some hay was pitched for them. Dumbo, Mrs. Jumbo and Timothy had there own special part in the circus just for them, but since the other elephant's talking now was so loud and going onto an interesting subject, they decided to stay for a little while and listen.

"Oh my. What a performance. You know for a second there I thought for sure that the stack was going to fall down again and bring the big top down with it like last time," one of the ladies said, receiving much agreement with it. Mrs. Jumbo and Timothy narrowed their eyes at the topic while Dumbo looked shamefully down at his feet at the painful memory.

"Oh yes, same here for me too. You know, when I felt the weight from the top come down on my back, I was sure my legs were going to give way," said another. Her prefered choice of decor on her head and back was orange with yellow tassels.

"Yes, yes. Glad that's all over now. For the sake of all us proud elephants, let us hope that we never have to go through that ever again," said another. She was an older lady who preferred to wear bright magenta with gold tassels and big, light blue feathers in her costume.

"Agreed. Well girls, now I have a mouthful for you," said another younger one who wore a more vibrant lime with mint colored feathers and several gold tassels in her outfit. The other ladies murmured and leaned in closer to hear. "Well, word on the street is that another circus is coming to town and since we can't reschedule ours there's going to be some competition trying to see who gets the most audience."

The talking continued, Mrs. Jumbo stretched her trunk down to go over her son's back and Timothy scoffed. "Pfft, as if they could beat us. We got the world famous, flying elephant on our side, what do they have," he said proudly.

"Well, why the competition, dearie," asked one.

"Hold on, I'm getting to it. They saw in the circus right next door they have a new elephant calf, Dahlia they call her. She's the daughter of a former one of our own elephants that they bought over, Gem." As several elephants started griping about her 'betrayal' to the other side, Mrs. Jumbo brightened up at the mention of the name.

"Gem," she whispered quietly. A image of her friend when they were calves playing together came into her mind. After the other circus bought her and took her away, she hadn't heard hide or hair since then. She wondered if her childhood friend still remembered her.

"Anyways, they're saying that her calf is the just the cutest, most adorable and talented thing there is. It makes me sick to think about it, any traitor to our circus can't have an offspring that is that praised." Murmurs of agreement followed. Mrs. Jumbo narrowed her eyes of the insults being given at her old friend. She started leaning her head down to Dumbo's head where Timothy stood.

"Timothy, do you think you could do me a favor," she asked softly. Said mouse turned up and gave her a crisp salute and a nod.

"Anything, Mrs. Jumbo. What do you need," he asked. Her trunk pointed to the curtain where the other ladies were behind.

"I think our 'friends' might need a reintroduction to you, don't you think," she replied. Timothy nodding, knowing very well where she was going with this.

Mrs. Jumbo took her son's trunk into his and gently lead him away as Timothy went to work. As soon as the pair was out of the tent, the loud, frightened screams from the other elephants could be heard throughout the big top.

"Mother, where we going," Dumbo asked as he held onto his mother's tail as she lead him out into the great, big field outside the circus.

"Over there dear. Remember the other circus the ladies were talking about? Well, I have an old friend there who I haven't seen in awhile. I thought you and I would like to go visit her and her daughter," Mrs. Jumbo replied. Dumbo quickly let go of her tail and flapped his ears till he was above his mother's back where he landed and looked over her head into the distance. Sure enough, on the other side of the meadow he could see the big top, but like the one where they lived. Skylights blared and illuminated the sky above, even though the show was over.

Something about the brilliance of the circus they were approaching told him they were going to find something really special indeed there.

"Gem," called out a soft voice in the night. A light grey elephant with forest green eyes and wearing a silver and red veil over her head and blanket looked up to the source of the voice. There, over the fence that kept she and her friends in for the night to graze, she saw another elephant with a calf on her back approaching. She narrowed her eyes to discern through the darkness who it was, but then widened with shock and hope.

"Jumbo dearie, is that you," she asked and immediately came over to the fence to greet her. Mrs. Jumbo nodded and came over to embrace her friend. Their trunks curved over each other as they pulled their heads in for a hug.

"My, my, my, it is you! It certainly has been so long since I've seen you last. You look absolutely mahvelous, darling. How've you been," she said as she pulled away but still held on to old her friend's trunk.

"Fine, thank you. Same to you I hope," Mrs. Jumbo replied, smiling widely.

"Oh wonderfully, thanks. Of course the other elephants here aren't much of healthy conversationalists, if you know what I mean by that, but they're still better then nothing. Thank you for asking anyways." She then caught sight of the calf on her friend's back. "Oh, and who might this be?" Mrs. Jumbo smiled widely and slowly used her trunk to place him down next to her.

"Gem, meet Dumbo, my son. Dumbo this is Gem, my good friend." He bashfully hid behind his mother's leg while Gem stared in surprise at him.

"Dumbo? As in the world's first flying elephant, Dumbo," she asked in shock. Mrs. Jumbo nodded proudly as Gem's face broke into a wide grin.

"Oh my word, Jumbo. I am so happy for you," she said as she reached out to hug her friend again. "I always knew you were special, but this... this is just unbelievably amazing. You must be so proud," she said.

"I am. Now what's this I'm hearing about you having a famous calf of your own, hmm," Mrs. Jumbo playfully said. Gem quickly turned away and blushed.

"Oh Dahlia. My little daughter. Well she's not as famous as your son, but what can I say. She's just the most darling thing you've ever seen. Want me to go get her?" Mrs. Jumbo nodded.

"I would love to see my best friend's daughter," she modestly replied. Gem's grin grew even wider if that was even possible.

"Nice to know you haven't changed a bit over the years. Still the same sweet and kind elephant I knew back in our childhood. Wait here, I'll go get her," she said as she took off a bit towards the tent, quietly not to disturb her fellow elephants and possibly cause a ruckus.

She wasn't back a minute later, holding her trunk by her left front leg to another smaller trunk behind it. "Dear friends, I'd like you to meet Dahlia, my precious daughter."

Dumbo peaked his head a bit behind his mother's leg, just as Dahlia poked her head out. As soon as his eyes met hers, he felt his heartbeat accelerate in his chest.

And I'll leave you there until the next chapter. Until then you can think of what Dahlia looks like. Thanks for reading, please leave a review with some feedback and I'll see you again next. Sincerely, v.t.7