“Are you ready?”
“No. Yes. Let’s find out!”
With a flourish, Trixie stepped through the curtain separating herself and Luna from the cheering crowd outside. Silence quickly swept through the crowd as the gathered ponies noticed the showmare’s presence.
Trixie had parked her wagon in the middle of Canterlot Square, and the Princesses had secured temporary bleachers and a ticket booth through their assistants. Basic tickets were selling tickets for 5 bits while a “VIP” section sold tickets for 200, despite the area being only slightly elevated than the rest of the square with a thin velvet rope securing it. That didn’t stop the nobles from dropping bits to be able to sit near the princesses of course. Staring out at the crowd for a second, Trixie estimated roughly 3000 ponies, with a few hundred pegasi watching from the clouds above the square. As soon as Luna was seated next to her sister, Trixie began the show.
“Welcome, one and all to the show of the Century! No boasting, no Trickery, just straight magic!” Trixie yelled, fire exploding from the sides of the stage as she stomped a hoof. Her cape fluttered in a sudden wind, and she pressed a hoof to her hat to keep it from blowing away. “We are here today to donate money to the less fortunate ponies of Canterlot, and hopefully, the rest of Equestria! With that said, Trixie would like to introduce her assistant for today… WELCOME SILVER STAR!”
She waved a hoof at the front of the stage where a cloud of smoke suddenly appeared, clearing a moment later to reveal a small filly wearing a similar version of Trixie’s own cape and hat, standing atop a box with a slot at the top. The pegasus filly smiled adorably, her tiny wings buzzing with excitement as she leapt from the donation box onto the stage. She shyly waved at her mother in the stands as she galloped to Trixie’s side, standing with her chest puffed out. Grace wore a smile that stretched from ear to ear, eyes glistening with unshed tears as she smiled at the pair.
Before she could even get started, several ponies trotted up to donate some bits, starting the show off in an amazing way. Trixie nodded to the ponies, assuming they were families close to some other struggling families.
“Now, Trixie is sure you’ve heard of her, because let’s be honest, Trixie draws attention anywhere she goes…” She said, winking suggestively at a massive pegasus at the front of the crowd. The stallion blushed fiercely, but flexed his muscles at her attention, drawing laughs from ponies throughout the crowd. “For those who haven’t had the pleasure, I am Trixie Lulamoon! Magician extraordinaire, and student to our lovely Princess Luna, ruler of the night!” A cheer went up as Princess Luna stood, waving a hoof at the ponies assembled around the square. Beside her, Celestia sat with a bemused smile on her face, silently appreciating the attention directed to her sister for once.
“Without further ado, let’s begin the show!” Trixie announced, bowing and throwing her cloak over her back as she beckoned Silver to her side. “We will start off with a classic! A card trick! First, Trixie would like to ask for a few volunteers! How about you first, sir?” She asked, extending a hoof to the pegasus from earlier. With a broad grin he stood, the bleacher beneath him straightening without his considerable bulk pressing down on it. As he approached the stage, Trixie turned her attention to her assistant.
“Silver Star, can you hand Trixie that deck of cards?” She held a hoof out, smiling at her tiny assistant. The filly tensed up, frantically patting her sides before flipping around to look into her cloak for a pack of cards.
“I.. I don’t have any cards..” Silver whispered, a panicked look on her muzzle. She squeaked as her hat floated off her head, revealing a plastic sealed deck of cards. As they floated toward Trixie, Silver snatched her hat back, sneaking a peek into it before reluctantly pressing it back onto her head.
“Thank you very much, Silver!” The magician responded, drawing a laugh from her crowd as she handed the deck of cards to the stallion for inspection. “As you can see, this deck of cards is completely new, unopened, untarnished and unshuffled. If you don’t mind, go ahead and open the deck.” She sat patiently as he did as she asked, nodding her head as he set the cards into his hoof. “Trixie wants you to make sure that they are unshuffled, and that all 52 cards are in the deck. When you are finished, choose a random card, and shuffle the deck several times, until they appear random.”
“Now, while our wonderful stallion shuffles the deck,” Trixie said, stroking his jaw with her tail and giggling to herself as he blushed deeply. “Trixie will explain how this trick works. Using her amazing powers of the mind, she will look deeply into our stallion’s head and will pick the exact card he chooses. She will throw this deck of cards into the air, and with a single dagger,” She explained, horn alight as she caught the small throwing knife Silver had just tossed her way. “Trixie shall pierce his card out of the very sky!”
She smiled as the stallion glanced up, holding a single card in his hoof. He held it behind his hoof to prevent her from seeing and showed the crowd the card before placing it back in the deck and nodding at her, signaling he was ready and waiting. “Now then, we shall shuffle the deck a few more times, and Trixie will show you your card when she's done.” Her magic surrounded the deck of cards and they split evenly, flipping over and under and around each other until there was no way of knowing what order the cards might be under.
With a grunt, the mare launched the cards into the air, her tongue sticking between her lips as she took aim with the knife in her hoof. However, before she could launch the knife, there was a bright flash of light, and the 52 cards that had previously been fluttering in the sky morphed into 52 white birds. Trixie’s shoulders slumped dejectedly, a frown on her face as she tore her eyes away from the sky and back down to her crowd. She shrugged. “You’ve got to hate when that happens. Trixie guesses she will just have to ask you to show the stallion his card!” She declared, staring at one of several palace guards standing around the square.
For a moment, the earth pony stallion ignored her, before his eyes widened as he realized the entire square had turned in his direction. He pointed at himself, drawing a smile and a nod from the magician on stage. He shook his head slowly, bewildered.
“Check your breast plate if you don’t mind.“ She called out, horn lit up as she gently tugged on the straps of his armor on his belly. As it loosened, he shrugged his way out of the plate mail, his mouth open in shock as he revealed paint on his coat. Where his coat usually stood as a pale grey, it now was a stark white, with 8 black clubs, and a large number 8 in the center of his chest.
“Was that your card sir?” She prompted, after she allowed the moment of silence to stretch on for what she felt was an appropriate amount of time.
“It was!” He declared, his hoofs thundering as he began stomping his massive forelegs. “That’s amazing!” The rest of the crowd stomped alongside him, even drawing some amazed glances from much of the stuffy upper crust nobles.
Trixie bowed low, a smile on her face as she reveled in the adoration of an adoring crowd once again.
“Please, please, you haven’t seen anything Trixie has planned for you today!” She called, drawing the attention back to herself effortlessly as she waved the stallion back to his seat. “For this next trick, we’re going to need one lucky colt or filly from the audience!” Trixie put a hoof to her mouth as young ponies throughout the crowd jumped up and down for her attention. After several tense seconds, she pointed to a young orange unicorn colt in the front of the crowd, just on the inside of the velvety VIP ropes.
As the colt climbed the stairs up to the stage, Silver Star quickly finished placing a small box down behind Trixie. Trixie beckoned the colt to come stand at her side, as Silver ran behind the curtain on the stage to retrieve a small step ladder.
“Alright, young colt, what is your name?” Trixie asked, horn alight as she cast a simple amplification spell on the colt's throat.
“Berr-” The colt jumped at the loudness of his voice, looking sheepish as he smiled. “Berry Crown.”
“Well, thank you for helping me today Berry! If you don’t mind, hop up on the ladder and we will get started.” As he climbed onto the stage and sat beside her nervously, she faced the crowd once again. “Alright, for this next trick, Trixie needs to make sure everypony can see Berry here! Is he visible to everyone?”
After giving everyone in the audience a few seconds to nod, she turned toward the young colt. “We are going to do something, nopony has ever managed before. We are going to turn this young colt… into a filly!” She yelled, giggling as the colt’s eyes widened and he shook his head frantically. “However, the real kicker here is… Trixie will not use an ounce of magic!”
The colt froze, halfway off the stage as he cocked his head at the unicorn. Trixie nodded, pushing her hat back so that the crowd could see her horn. She waved Silver Star forward, lowering her head so the filly could place a small black band around the base of her horn. She stood, a frown on her face as she shivered slightly.
“As you can see, Trixie is wearing a magical inhibitor, rendering her magic useless. At the moment, She couldn’t lift a single feather if her life depended on it. However, using the ancient magic of Runes, I shall turn this colt into a filly! Do not fret Berry, it will only last for a few moments!”
Silver raced forward, applying a special silver mixture to the end of Trixie’s hooves. She closed her eyes, forelegs stretched out above her head as she slowly waved them through the air. The paint hovered in the air glowing faintly as she drew several arcane symbols. The various unicorns out in the crowd shifted uneasily, their horns itching due to the immense pressure radiating outwards from the mare. Out in the crowd, Luna and Celestia leaned forward, sharing a quick glance as they waited with their breath held.
Trixie slowly approached the colt, her hooves waving through the air faster and faster before lashing out suddenly and pressing a dot of paint on the colt’s forehead. A flash of light burst forth from the colt, clearing to reveal a full grown stallion. He glanced down, studying his forelegs and barrel before speaking. The crowd gasped in surprise, impressed by the mare's use of magic.
“I… I don’t think it worked right?” The stallion said, looking toward trixie, who sat tapping her chin for a moment. She studied the symbols that were slowly rotating in the air around the colt before nodding.
“Trixie sees what she did wrong.” She waved her hooves across the symbols, nudging a few of them in ways the crowd couldn’t quite follow. She then darted forward, pressing against the stallion’s forehead again.
A flash of light later, and a small orange filly sat in Berry’s place, a deep frown on her face as she glanced over herself, and looked over her back to study her own tail. The crowd was stomping in amazement, with the princesses even sitting shocked. Princess Luna appeared to be the most shocked, with her mouth hanging open as she stared at the unicorn.
“Ca-Can you turn me back now?” Berry whined, stomping an adorably tiny hoof. “I don’t wanna be a stupid filly!”
“Relax kid,” Trixie assured, smiling as she ruffled her hair. “All you have to do is smear the dot off your head.” She giggled to herself as the filly scrubbed at her forehead, vanishing in a flash of light to be replaced by the origional male Berry Crown.
He galloped off stage before Trixie could decide to change him into anything else, and into the waiting arms of his mother. She cooed over him, teasing him about what an adorable filly he would have made. Trixie smirked, forcing herself not to giggle at the colt’s face. She sighed as Silver tugged the inhibitor off her horn, relief flooding her senses as she felt her magic return to her.
“For her last trick, Trixie is going to make her assistant… Vanish!” She drew a nervous glance from the filly, who obviously was not told of this before the show.
“Oh no!” A voice interrupted, from the bottom of the “VIP” section. “Your assistant has been in on every one of your ‘tricks.’” Blueblood declared, a wide sneer on his muzzle as he passed under the rope separating the sections and leapt up onto the stage. “This time, you have to make me vanish.”
Trixie’s eyes tightened ever so slightly, but she kept her calm remarkably well. Luna appeared to be the only pony in the crowd who could tell that the mare was thrown off greatly by his sudden interruption.
“Very well, a slight change of plans is always good to keep the magic flowing.” Trixie said, shrugging worriedly. A flare of her horn, and a tall purple cabinet appeared with a small puff of similarly colored smoke. She pulled the door open and smiled at Blueblood, beckoning him to step up into the cabinet. With an unimpressed roll of his eyes, Blueblood stepped into the box. Without a word, she slammed it shut, lifting an eyebrow at the insulted grunt from inside the cabinet.
“Well, while our resident prince relaxes inside of our cabinet, Trixie thinks she shall explain her next trick. Considering we now have an adult involved, Trixie thinks she shall… enhance the act a bit. Guards, if you don’t mind joining Trixie on the stage for a moment?” She called sweetly, smiling in thanks as the five guards around the area glanced to their respective princesses and received approval before marching onto the stage.
“So, our original trick would involve me simply making Silver vanish, then me waving my foreleg around inside the cabinet to show that she was gone. Now however… We can have a bit more excitement! First, Would you mind demonstrating your weapons on these sacks?” Trixie prompted, a large sack of grain levitating out from backstage. She held it in the air as the guards released their swords, hesitating for a moment before they lashed out and sliced deeply into the terrycloth. Two of the swords cut clean through the sack, forcing her to get another one. Once it was shown that the swords were all as sharp as possible, she asked the guards to spread out around the cabinet.
“Blueblood?” She called out, knocking on the cabinet. “Trixie will make you vanish in a moment, and to prove that she can, Trixie will have the guards stab the cabinet after you vanish.” She could just make out a mumbled curse before he began thumping on the door, trying in vain to escape the cabinet now. “Ready?” She was sure even the crowd could hear him screaming in denial at this point, but she ignored him.
“Alright gentlemen… At my word.” Her horn lit up with a powerful light, and as it reached a climatic flash, she beckoned them forward. They slammed their swords into the cabinet, piercing through the wood like it was butter. Trixie laughed as they stabbed the wood with less hesitation than they did the sacks of grain, showing their true feelings about Prince Blueblood.
She waved a hoof at the crowd as they began clapping, a large smile on her face. A smile, which was quickly wiped away as a mare in the crowd screamed shrilly. Trixie whirled around, a look of horror on her face as a red liquid spilled from the bottom of the cabinet.
“Oh no! Quick, pull the swords out!” Trixie demanded, frantically pulling on the cabinet doors. The wood was currently pinned shut by the steel of the swords however. As the guards pulled the swords out, Trixie was joined on stage by Luna, and less than a second later by Celestia. They looked on grimly as Trixie stepped forward, her hoof hesitating at the latch of the cabinet. She opened it reluctantly, gasping at the sight inside.
“You ruined my watermelons! Dang it..” She whined, opening the door to reveal the cabinet was stacked to the brim with large green watermelons, several of them cut in half and leaking watermelon juice. “I wanted to give out a snack to the crowd, and the vendor didn’t have enough space..” She explained, shrinking under the fierce glares shot her way from the princesses at her side. With glares of their own, the five guards left the stage.
“We will discuss this later.” Luna said quietly, turning and retreating to her seat with her sister at her side. Trixie frowned after her, but regained her smile a moment later.
“While we enjoy our little break from Prince Blueblood, how about some free watermelon!” Trixie exclaimed, levitating the fruits out to the crowd. “For anyone who doesn’t get some, vendors will be coming around to give out more!”
Several minutes of eating passed before Trixie continued. “Well, Trixie does believe it is time to return our wayward prince.” She made a show of facing the cabinet, slamming the door shut once again with a wave of her horn. Bright light appeared at the tip of her horn and a moment later, she opened the cabinet to reveal an ever so slightly disheveled Blueblood.
“What did you do to me!” He demanded, stomping a hoof in her direction.
“Trixie made you vanish! That is what she said she would do correct?” Trixie goaded, stepping closer to the stallion. “Remember your harsh words next time you’re feeling cocky Blueblood. I am the princess’s student after all, and I have powers now that you wouldn’t even believe.” She whispered to him, referencing their small run in several days before. In reality, she had slapped a sleep spell on him and teleported him under the stage they stood on, face down in the dirt while she had the guards stab the cabinet.
“It doesn’t matter what kind of ‘powers’ you think you have, you will never be worth anything.” He said quietly, waving to the crowd while flashing them a false smile.
“Well.. At the very least, Trixie can hurt you where she knows it will hurt you the most.” Trixie whispered, a cruel idea suddenly appearing as Blueblood shot her an uncertain look. Before he could utter a word she had moved away. She stepped forward, a loud bang erupting from her horn to draw the crowd’s attention.
“Before the show began, Prince Blueblood approached me with a most generous proposition. He wanted desperately to help the poor ponies of our great city, and was willing to make a ‘sizable’” She said, emphasizing the size. “Donation, but wanted it to remain anonymous. However, due to the size, I cannot let his amazing good deed go unrewarded.” She said, smiling as the crowd turned hopeful, and in many more cases, surprised looks toward the stallion beside her.
He waved a large white hoof, smiling and nodding along while leaning in to hiss at the showmare. “What in Celestia’s name do you think you’re doing?”
“I’m putting you in your place for once.” Trixie murmured, before speaking to the crowd once more.
“Prince Blueblood has generously donated one hundred THOUSAND bits to our new charity!” Trixie declared, drawing gasps and loud cheers from the crowd. She could just see the signs of anger setting into the stallion’s jaws, but she merely smiled and kept waving. Nobles all around the city square began fighting to climb over each other to be seen donating as much as the prince, not wanting to be the only nobles not showing there support for the new charity.
“You will severely regret this.” He snarled, slamming a hoof into the stage below him.
“Trixie is sure she will. But, take this money back, and you’ll only be making yourself look bad in front of your rich friends. So tell me Blueblood, what’s more important to you? Your money, or your reputation?” He grit his teeth angrily, but remained silent as he scanned around the square.
Trixie caught Luna’s eye in the chaos, earning a disapproving, yet mirthful smile from the princess. She bit her lip as Blueblood managed to grind his hoof into her shin as he walked off stage, flashing a charming smile at the crowd as he began waving and resuming his usual pompous attitude.
She felt a flash of worry, knowing he would have a wicked retribution coming her way, but as her eyes landed on Grace, tears in her eyes as she hugged a sniffling Silver Star, she felt that she couldn’t care if she wanted to. She had made the right choice, and in the end, a lot of ponies of Canterlot would be better off by the week's end.