Harry Houdini: The Great and Powerful

by CrackedInkWell

Chapter 15: Sabotage on the Manehatten Bridge.

Houdini Attempts to Jump off Manehattan Bridge

Manehattan, Equestria

The human illusionist Harry Houdini has announced that, in preparation for his show for Princess Celestia, he plans to do a public stunt by jumping off of the Manehattan Bridge at 11 o’clock. Mr. Houdini has asked for help from the city’s police to restrain him with cuffs, chains, and heavyweights before being plunged into its waters.

“At first, we outright refused,” Officer Law Abiding told the press. “We expressed our concerns for doing something as foolish as this, along with the risks that it presents. Mr. Houdini then told us that he’d done this sort of thing before in fast-current rivers in the middle of winter. We ended up making a compromise: we will allow him to make the jump, but only under the condition that the depth he’s diving into is at least two hundred feet, and that we’d have a diving team ready if something went wrong.”

Mr. Houdini declined to make a comment.

The public escape is to promote Harry’s new show at the Gryphodrome Theater at seven tonight. Tickets for the event are priced at 10 bits for adults and 5 for children.

According to Mr. Houdini’s philosophy, if you post a notice in the newspaper that says you’re about to do something insane, hundreds of thousands will come to see you do it. Before eleven, a crowd swarmed the only bridge connected the island city to the mainland, all watching the chained-up individual standing on the railing.

From young fillies to old stallions, the swarm of equines was packed tight. Some of the officers hung around the edges, making a few last minute checks. Harry stood in his blue swimsuit, his front arms held up to showcase the three heavy-duty cuffs that had been placed on him. Attached to his arms were two thirty pound iron balls, while a shackle around his neck was connected to his ankles with chains.

Among the crowd was Trixie, who after reading the article in the paper knew that she had to see this stunt for herself. The blue mare tried to get as close to the humans as possible, which landed her right in front of a police line that was trying to keep the spectators back.

“Thank you for coming folks,” Houdini announced to the crowd. “I appreciate you all for coming out here to see an old man jump to his death.” His morbid joke got a few chuckles. “For those who don’t know, I am promoting my upcoming show tonight at seven. I am about to attempt to jump into several hundred feet of freezing water, from a height of at least sixty feet. As you can see, I’ve been restrained with heavy duty chains, cuffs, and weights for good measure. For those of you with weak hearts, I advise that you look away, as there’s still a chance that I may not make it.” With that, he crouched down before springing off into the dark blue waters below with a splash.

From where Trixie was standing, she noticed something odd as he hopped off the stone railing. An orange aura permeated the spot he was previously standing, levitating a small piece of twisted metal attached to a piece of fabric.

“Ha, I knew it!” She looked to the side to find Hoof Cuff in the crowd. The red unicorn levitated the piece of metal over to himself. “A lock pick! That’s how he gets out.”

“What are you doing?” the blue magician pushed her way over to her rival. “Where did you get that?”

“He’s a fake,” he said. “See? I knew I noticed something strange when he was walking around. This thing was at the bottom of his hind leg.”

Trixie looked at the pick before a look of realization crossed her face. Her rival had just taken the only means of escape the human had, and he was now sinking even further underwater.

“You idiot!” She shoved him over. “Do you realize what you’ve just done?! He’s locked up right now and sinking to the bottom! Give me that!” She snatched the pick from him and galloped over to the guard rail.

‘Oh, I can’t believe I’m even doing this!’ she thought as a sense of vertigo hit her.

“Hey, stop!” she heard a police pony yell out, but thoughts of her new friend underwater and of all the times she was called a villain rang through her head. Those thoughts motivated her to throw off her starry cape and hat before clenching the pick in her hoof and jumping into the icy waters below.

She briefly heard screams coming from above, but that was quickly replaced with the feeling of her hind legs hitting the icy water and the sudden drop in temperature. She fought off the urge to scream from the shock, quickly opening her eyes and spotting a blurry figure moving around beneath her.

Without thinking, she dove further downwards as quickly as she could. When the water got too dark, she lit her horn for some light. Sure enough, she spotted the struggling human who was searching his legs for the pick. She started to feel pressure on her lungs but forced herself to keep swimming until she reached Harry.

Even in their blurry vision, they both took notice of each other. Harry quickly grabbed the pick and began to work on the cuffs and locks that bound him.

With that done and her lungs desperately screaming for air, Trixie swam upwards as fast as she possibly could. She managed to break through the surface with a large gasp.

“Ma’am,” a Pegasus officer called out, “are you alright?”

“It’s Houdini,” she yelled. “He’s been sabotaged!”

“What?!”

“Hoof Cuff,” she pointed to the bridge, “took away his only method of escape! I don’t know if he’ll be able to get out in time!”

She saw the officer’s face turn pale before flying over to a nearby boat. “Get down there,” he told the diving ponies. “He’s in trouble! Go get--”

Before he could finish his sentence, a figure breached the water’s surface a few yards away from the blue mare. A hand with a pair of cuffs rose above Harry’s head in triumph.

“Mr. Houdini!” The officer flew over to him. “Mr. Houdini, are you alright?!”

The human escape artist was visibly out of breath. “What a rush,” he managed, holding up a pair of dripping cuffs. “Nothing can kill the Great Houdini!”

_*_

With the human and unicorn fished out of the freezing sea and being taken care of a nearby boat, the pegasus officer listened as Trixie explained what had happened to both him and Harry.

“This is just a new low for him,” the blue magician commented. “Being humiliated the other day was one thing, but taking away his only way to escape a deadly trick like that? That’s too cruel, even for me.”

“I just thought that it fell off,” the human said. “Even before I jumped, I knew something was off. It wasn’t until I was under and panicking that I saw her swimming down with it.”

“I see.” The officer jotted down their testimonies before putting his notepad away. “Rest assured that Hoof Cuff will be prosecuted for this. Although, neither of you told me what exactly he took that made it difficult for you to escape.”

“He had a hidden lock pick,” Trixie explained. “Once I saw it and realized what was happening, Trixie felt it was necessary to jump in and help Mr. Houdini out before he drowned.”

“A lock pick?” the pegasus blinked. “Where did you hide a lock pick? We searched you before you jumped.”

“Sorry,” Harry smiled, “can’t tell you that.”

The officer nodded and turned to Trixie. “Ms. Lulamoon, that was a very courageous thing you did.”

She shook her head. “I didn’t really think it through. I just realized what was happening and decided that something had to be done.”

“But it was that quick thinking that saved my life back there.” Harry patted her on the back. Soon, their boat came to the harbor and the pair stepped off onto the dock. “How about I give you a couple tickets to my next show?” Harry told the officer. “I really appreciate your help in saving my neck back there.”

The pegasus stallion shook his head. “No thank you. I’ll still be on duty by the time your show starts. In the meantime, we still have somepony that is in need of some questioning.”

“Fair enough,” Harry nodded. “Thanks again for all that you’ve done.”

The mare finished drying herself with the towel she was given. She began walking away until Mr. Houdini stopped her. “Where’re you going?”

“Trixie really needs a break,” she told him, covering her limp mane with the towel. “I really need some time to sort out what just happened. I mean, you almost died back there, as did I.”

“I've heard countless stories about heroes doing what you just did.”

“I’m no hero, I’m just a magician.” She turned to walk away, but the giant quickly followed beside her.

“Why not? You saved me--”

“I wasn’t thinking,” she cut him off.

“And yet here we are,” Houdini pointed out. “That doesn’t change what happened, and regardless of what you think, I have to thank you for what you did.”

She paused to look up at him. “You don’t even know me that well.”

“No,” he replied, “but I do know a good soul when I see one. One that is willing enough to try and make a friend out of.”

Another pause on Trixie’s part. “Really? Do you want to be my friend? I’m sorry, but I think I need some more time to slow down for a bit.”

“Fair enough,” Harry nodded. “I expect that you’re still coming to tonight’s show?”

“Indeed.” The mare turned to exit the docks. “If only to see what other clever tricks you’re capable of.”

Comments

[CanRock]

I like the story. Keep it up.
I did notice what seems to be a mistake.

“And neither do you,” he said, “But I know a good sole when I see one.”

Unless Houdini was remarking on Trixie's shoeiness. I assume you meant him to say soul.

[CrackedInkWell]

6369291 My mistake, thank you for pointing it out. I shall fix it immediately.

[JFalk]

I'm really enjoying how you are developing this story - Trixie dealing with Houdni respectfully, through competitive, turns things much more interesting (with both surprising the other).

Trixie saving Houdini's life was a great moment - Twilight would be proud of how far she came

I liked the touch of Houdini trying "debunk" the ponies magic when he arrived first - funny and in character

Houdini will try the bullet catch trick, isn't? One that he didn't try in his shows because it was considerated too dangerous... I really hope that there is no surprises!

[DracoDarastrix]

6369606

That's kinda going to be hard because so far we don't have seen firearms in Equistria. We did saw some crossbows and normal bows but no firearms. So unless Houdini has a gun of his own he can't preform the act.

Also as far as the story goes your doing really great. You manage to do character development not only for Trixie but for Houdini as well? Considering that he was a real person and not fictional one, the subtle character growth you wrote here is actually plausible considering all we know about him. That's kinda hard to pull off without breaking character. And yet you succeeded. Keep on the good work.

[CrackedInkWell]

6370291 Why thank you. With the coming chapters, this is where, I think, things are really about to get fun. I'm rather excited myself!

[Emperor]

And now we start to see a bit more backlash from the resident magicians towards Houdini, or at least from one of them anyways.

Looks like Trixie and Harry's companionship are developing a bit further now.