A Metal World

by ToneCraft

The Show of the Amazing Steven Arcana

"Ladies and Gentlemen! Homo Sapiens and Equus Ferus Caballus alike! Please gather round and see the show of the Amazing, STEVEN ARCANA!" The announcer called into the microphone. The audience around the stage was crowded, but nowhere hear full. As they applauded, a young man stepped out from behind his red curtain. He was dressed in black penny loafers, black slacks, a black button-down shirt, and a light blue sportcoat.

"Hello everyone!" Steven spoke into his microphone. "I'm here to show you all a good show, all the way from my shoes to my hat!" He tapped his head, before his icy blue eyes widened. Instead of a hat of any kind, he only felt his platinum blonde hair. "My mistake, I seem to have forgotten my hat."

He placed his hands together, and seemed to conjure a light blue top hat out of nowhere, pulling it up to put it on his head. After the hat passed his face, he was suddenly wearing a large red nose.

Roars of laughter erupted from the audience as Steven stared blankly, feigning ignorance about his new facial feature. "What?" He asked, "What's so funny?"

Steven crossed his eyes, "Oh, the nose," he said, "What do you think, everyone? I'm apparently good enough to do it on accident!" He took off the nose, leaving a large mustache, which prompted more laughter.

This time, the performer pulled a mirror out of his sleeve and looked, "I dunno, it looks kinda cool. What do you think, kids?"

A small boy in the front of the audience whispered something to a filly next to him, and she voiced it immediately, "Mister Arcana, it's pink!"

Steven smiled again, "Don't be silly, that's my job," he said to her, "Besides, it's not pink. It's desert rose."

The laugh was primarily from the parents in the audience this time.

"Yeah, yeah, I know. Martha Steven," he said, "but you didn't come to hear cheap jokes. You came to watch my magic tricks, yes?" More applause.

Steven nodded and took the mustache off before starting his true performance while some blue pony wandered into the audience. He kept an eye on her for the first couple minutes. Was she wearing a fake horn? He didn't let it distract him for too long as he continued, going with classics like taking a rabbit out of his hat, and making juggling balls disappear while he juggled them.

"Alright," he said, "for this next trick, I'll need a volunteer. Species doesn't matter, but I think you should pick them so that I can't be bringing some assistant on stage."

------

Trixie was intrigued by this things act, even though she could tell it wasn't real magic. What she didn't expect was that several of the ponies and the bipeds would send her up to the stage for the magician's trick. "What? I don't think that's a--"

"Don't worry, madam. I'm not going to saw you in half or anything. I'm just going to play a little guessing game with you," Steven said to reassure her, "I won't even touch you."

"Then what exactly do you plan to do?" Trixie asked him, to which Steven responded by pulling a small white pocketknife out of his coat.

"I plan to make this disappear and reappear in my pocket. For the next couple seconds, you just stand there and look confused." He waited a moment, examining her face, "perfect."

------

Some slight of hand was enough to impress the audience. Now it was time to confuse them. "Now then, I'll just pull the knife out here.. And--what?" He acted like something was wrong when he pulled out the knife, which was now black. He showed the mare both sides, "It changed color. That doesn't usually happen."

He pulled another white knife out of his pocket, "At least I've got a spare." He put the black one in his right hand, and the white one in his left, hiding them from view, "Now, madam, this is where you come in. What's your name?"

"My name is Trixie," the mare responded.

"Good name if you plan to go into show business," Steven said with a smile.

"I've been in show business since I was a filly," Trixie said pridefully.

"Well, the stage is open after my show," Steven said, "Now, where is the black knife?"

Trixie raised an eyebrow, "I know about this one a bit. It's in your left hand now."

He opened his left hand to reveal the white knife, "Try again."

"Right hand," Trixie said.

Steven opened his right hand to reveal... The white knife. "Wrong. Try again."

"It's not there."

He opened his right hand. The black knife, "Again."

This went on for a couple of minutes, with Trixie getting increasingly flustered, before he concluded, "Alright everyone, I'm finished with my show. I'll leave you with the blue mare here."