Hoofdini looked between his frightened assistant and the rude unicorn stallion standing in front of his stage with a frown.
He levitated the threaded needles back to the table behind him as he trotted over to the auburn coated pony. The angry stallion himself only had eyes for his assistant and hadn't even seen Hoofdini approach.
"...told you to wait for me and I come back to find you gone!" the stallion was yelling to the shaking blue filly, "thought I was gonna have to search this whole bucking city to find you, and let me tell you, girl, things are not going to be pleasant for you when Abby finds out what you--"
"Excuse me, sir."
Father snapped his gaze to the tall grey stallion trotting over to him and glared.
"My name is Harry Hoofdini and I'm terribly sorry to interrupt, but my assistant and I were in the middle of a show before you so rudely cut in," Hoofdini said, planting himself in front Beatrix, "tell me, what business do you have with young Beatrix here?"
"Business?" Father replied incredulously. He pointed a hoof in Beatrix's direction, "that's my daughter up there, you two bit hack! And the only business I have is to get the little troublemaker back home so me and her Mother can teach her a lesson about obedience!"
Hoofdini's ear twitched at the sound of a small whimper coming from behind him. He turned to see Beatrix shrinking away with a look of dread -- tears beginning to run down her face.
Suddenly it clicked for the magician and a flash of anger crossed his features before he set his calm demeanor back in place. He turned back to the other stallion and spoke in a measured tone.
"Very well, Mister..."
"The name's Lu," Father finished, "that's Luciano to you, ya hack."
"Luciano then," Hoofdini continued with a small nod, "If you must take my assistant away, I've no right to stop you. Before you enact whatever terrible punishment I'm sure you have planned for the poor filly however, would you allow me a brief word with her?"
Beatrix looked at Hoofdini through wide watery eyes -- a bit of surprise and curiosity breaking through the fear and dread.
"A brief..." Father shook his head, "buck you! I got places to be, and I ain't leaving without the little runt!"
"Really now?" Hoofdini replied with a raised eyebrow, "you seemed perfectly fine with leaving her alone on a street corner before. Surely a few more moments of her time couldn't hurt?"
"Oh it's gonna hurt when I knock all your teeth in pal!" Father responded, starting to climb onto the stage. Beatrix cried out and backed away further, but Hoofdini held his ground and raised another eyebrow.
"Surely you're not going to cause even more of a scene than you already have?" Hoofdini replied looking past Father, "not in front of these fine folk I hope?"
"Wha--"
Father turned around to see several ponies in the crowd glaring at him -- a few looking like they were ready to charge the stallion if he made a move. The rest just looked scared or unsure. He growled and looked back to Hoofdini who frowned at him.
"These ponies came to see a magic show, Luciano, not a street brawl," Hoofdini continued, "and I'm fairly sure they don't appreciate the vitriol you've been spouting towards me and -- more importantly," his calm demeanor fell away and was replaced with a scathing glare, "your own daughter."
Father didn't say anything as he clenched his teeth and gave the magician a venomous glare of his own.
"Please," Hoofdini said, schooling his features once more, "a few minutes is all I ask -- not so unreasonable a request if I may say so."
Father was about to respond when a voice behind him spoke up.
"Let the stallion speak, plothole!"
"Yeah ya jerk!" cried a colt from somewhere in the crowd.
"That poor filly..." a mare muttered.
"You disgust me!" shouted another stallion.
The outraged voice grew in number and Father ground his teeth in frustration and whipped around to face the crowd.
"Would you all just shut the -- ooph!"
Father stumbled back as he bumped into what felt like a solid brick wall. He looked up...
and up.
and up.
And his angry glare turned to open mouthed shock as he took a step back to fully take in the massive brown coated, blonde maned earth pony stallion standing before him. The giant stallion leaned down to Father's eye level and stared at him with a lazy half lidded gaze.
"Name's Apple Granita, stranger," the stallion said in a deep rumbling drawl, "ah'm a proud member o' the Apple Family visitin' the big city on an' errand fer mah Ma."
Father didn't say anything -- still struck dumb by the sheer size of the pony. Granita straightened up and turned his sleepy gaze to the stunned blue filly huddled near the red curtains as he continued speaking to Father.
"While ah was in town, ah thought ah'd take some time ta see the sights -- maybe bring Ma back a souvenir or two, an' then ah go an' stumble upon this here magic show," he cast a side glance at Father, "ah figured ya don't get ta see sumthin' like this everyday, so ah decided to take a gander, an' ya know what? I was enjoyin' mahself."
Before Father could react, Granita raised a foreleg and brought it down on the smaller unicorn's back -- slamming him to the ground and pinning under a gigantic hoof. The unicorn cried out in pain, but the larger stallion ignored him as he continued to speak as though nothing had happened.
"Ah enjoyed watchin' Mister Hoofdini an' his adorable assistant perform their fancy magic tricks," he finally turned his full attention to the unicorn beneath him -- though his half lidded expression hadn't changed, "but then you came along an' started makin' a fuss, scarin' that there poor filly who -- if ah heard correctly -- is your own daughter."
"Get... the buck... offa me you dirty backwater son of a -- gah!" Father cried out again as the large earth pony applied more pressure. He lowered his head down to Father's and the unicorn stallion's eyes widened in fear at the cold fury he could see behind the facade of lazy disinterest.
"Like ah said, stranger," Granita continued in his slow lazy drawl, "ah'm a proud member o' the Apple Family, and the thing you hafta understand about us Apples is that we hold our own above all else."
Father went to say something in response, but Granita silenced him with another push of his hoof.
"Now ah may be just a simple earth pony born an' raised in the country -- an' this may be none o' mah business -- but ah can't just sit around twiddlin' mah hooves when somepony is treatin' their kin like the dirt beneath mah hooves... an' speakin o' the dirt beneath mah hooves..."
He ground his hoof into Father's back on last time before straightening up and looking down on the auburn unicorn.
"Yer gonna stay right where you are until Mister Hoofdini an' the Little Lady finish their chat," he then turned and spoke to the patiently waiting magician, "ya'll go ahead an' do what ya need ta do. Ah'll make sure he don't do nuthin' ta stop ya."
"I appreciate the gesture, friend," Hoofdini replied with a kind smile. Granita nodded and gave a sleepy smile of his own -- once again ignoring the struggling stallion beneath him.
Beatrix, who had quietly watch the events unfold with a mix of nervousness and awe, turned to look at the tall grey magician who was trotting towards her with a warm smile.
"Sorry about the wait, my dear," Hoofdini said -- his smile turning somewhat apologetic, "had to have a small chat with your... father first."
Beatrix gulped and nodded silently before looking over to where her Father was.
"Is... he gonna be okay?" she asked in a small voice. Hoofdini raised an incredulous eyebrow at the question and briefly glanced at behind him before turning back to Beatrix.
"He'll probably be fine, but I hardly think the stallion deserves such sympathy from a daughter he's mistreated so badly."
"Well, um..." Beatrix shifted uncomfortably -- refusing to look Hoofdini in the eye as she spoke, "it's... it's just that Mother might get angry if Father got hurt. Father might..." Beatrix visibly shuddered, "Father might blame me, and then... a-and then Mother would... s-she would..."
Hoofdini's eyes widened as Beatrix curled up into a ball and shivered -- refusing to say anymore. He lowered himself so that he was face to face with the crying filly.
"Look, Beatrix," he began quietly, "I know you're terrified of your parents. I can see that clear as day, but you can't roll over and give in to your fear."
Beatrix sniffed and turned to the magician.
"Believe or not, I was in the same position as you are now when I was a lad," he said with a gentle smile.
"Y-You were?" Beatrix whispered -- her eyes wide with disbelief, "but... but you're not like me. You're... so con... confa..."
"Confident?" Hoofdini finished with a small chuckle, "believe me, Beatrix, it wasn't always that way," he looked off to the side with a small grimace as he relived old painful memories, "I was much like you were once. Scared, alone, fearing for the day my father would finally go too far and..."
He paused and shook his head before turning back to Beatrix.
"Well that doesn't matter now. What does matter is that I realized that I couldn't live in fear all my life, and so I set out to conquer it," he patted Beatrix on the shoulder before standing back up, "I never had the chance to show you or the other ponies here, but I've attempted and accomplished wonderous and dangerous feats.
"I've built up my reputation through performing dangerous and deadly feats and -- while I must advise you not to follow in my hoofsteps in that regard -- through these feats I was able to conquer the fear I had held onto for so long, becoming the stallion you see before you."
Beatrix listened with rapt attention, finding herself bolstered by Hoofdini's words.
"What I want you to do, my adorable assistant, is to remember," he continued, poking the filly in the nose, "in your darkest moments, always remember the thrill you felt on this stage today. Always remember the enthusiasm of the crowd -- how it affected you and brought about your own enthusiasm."
He turned and gestured to the crowd of ponies -- several of which were shouting words of encouragement to the little filly. Apple Granita gave his own encouraging nod and Beatrix's scared frown slowly began to change as she turned back to Hoofdini.
"Never forget the vibrant, confident little filly who entertained these good ponies," he leaned closer and gave Beatrix a small wink, "never forget that you were Trixie Lulamoon -- assistant to the Great Hoofdini."
He looked back to the audience before turning to Beatrix and speaking a bit more quietly.
"And most importantly, remember this," he whispered, "if I can move past my fear and accomplish this much, then I've no doubt you can do the same. It may take some time to heal the scars inflicted upon you, but no matter what your parents do, no matter how much they may hurt you, never give in to the fear and pain."
He rested a reassuring hoof on Beatrix's shoulder and nodded.
"Conquer your fear, Trixie."
Beatrix watched Hoofdini as he straightened up and trotted over to address the crowd. She finally noticed that she had stood up at some point without realizing it. As she stood there watching Apple Granita finally remove his hoof from her Father's back and witnessing her Father curse the stallion and the rest of the crowd, she allowed herself a small smile.
Turning back to Hoofdini, she tried to imagine herself standing there -- powerful, confident, and charismatic. To her surprise, the image came easily, and it gave her hope.
It gave her a small spark of courage.
It wasn't much, but Trixie knew that if she held onto that small spark, it could grow into a blazing inferno one day.