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// Mentors: The Long Con 
// Story: Show Business 
// by Natedogg2006 
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Though it had taken the two a while to get an elevator, and the trip down had been slowed by more then a few stops to take on more passengers, it was still a small shock for Twilight to see that the stallion they had followed just a short way behind was already seated at a table with three plates of food and three steaming cups of coffee waiting. The pegasus apparently named Presto only motioned them to sit, while Beatrix motioned for Twilight to comply. They sat down and proceeded to begin their meal before any words were exchanged. 
It was Beatrix who, after a long sip of her drink, began the conversation. "I know Twilight has some questions, but I gotta get some of my own answered first." Presto had been taking a sip of his drink as well, but set it down by way of telling her to proceed. "What the hey are you even doing here?"
"Having breakfast and checking in on my number one protégé, obviously."
"I'm your only protégé, and you know what I'm talking about. What happened to Baltimare? You know; retirement, dream home, relaxing away the rest of your days?"
"Oh all that did happen, and I did thoroughly enjoy it. Then I got bored. Not to mention three months after I bought it, my dream home was suddenly worth three times as much, so I sold it and moved back here."
Beatrix gave a deep sigh while looking down into her coffee. "Always about the next score huh." She took a small sip of her drink before continuing. "Well, can't say I'm surprised, though I figured it would take a little longer then that. I think I owe some of your old running buddies some bits."
Presto smiled at this exchange, and as he responded his voice took on a dramatic tone, one Twilight noticed was not dissimilar to her marefriends stage voice. "But of course, you knew I couldn't stay away from this town long. After all, what would Las Pegasas be without me in it?"
"... Safer. I'd guess about a twenty percent drop in petty theft.
"Twenty three during the long months of my absence."
Beatrix had set down her coffee cup and rubbed her eyes like she was still trying to expell the exhaustion from them. With out looking up she said in a half hearted manner, "you really are something aren't you". She finally looked over to her still confused looking marefriend and addressed her. "As you've probably worked out by now, I have a fair bit of history with this guy here." She picked up her fork to stab a bite of her breakfast and used it to gesture at Presto. "As should be fairly obvious, this is the pony who trained me. He's my mentor who is currently going by the name..." 
Presto cut her off, bowing as exaggeratedly as possible from his seated position, "Presto Chango. Purveyor of the mystic arts and showpony extraordinaire. And you, young miss, must be," he placed his hoof against his forehead and made a face like he was concentrating hard, "Twilight Sparkle, former resident of Canterlot and a graduate of the princesses school of gifted unicorns."
Twilight gave a slight start at this display, but a look over to Beatrix saw her giving a death glare to her mentor as she suddenly lifted her forehoof over the table. "Presto, give."
With a roll of his eyes he reached under the table to retrieve a pair of bags very familiar to Twilight. Beatrix accepted her marefriends saddle bags and set them under her seat. "It's not as though I was planning to keep them," he said in an indignant tone.
Beatrix's response was only to reach her hoof back across the table and in the same tone as before say, "the bits too."
Shrugging, the seemingly non-apologetic stallion lifted his hat to reveal a smaller bag that should have been inside one of the larger ones and hoofed it over to the mare as well. "All of them." 
Rolling his eyes again he reached into the inner pocket of his jacket and dropped a hoof full of bits into the bag Beatrix was now holding open. "Are you done?"
"Did you get your sticky hooves on anything else?" Presto gave a huff that seemed to show he did not approve of the accusation that from what Twilight could tell so far Beatrix was perfectly justified in making. "I told you you wouldn't like dealing with him." Beatrix gave her marefriend a suffering sigh as she returned the bits to the saddle bags. 
"Well.. since I met you I've certainly had the chance to experience meeting some very.. colorful types of ponies. I don't really like that he was apparently going through my stuff just to pull off some kind of mind reading trick, and attempted to rob me in the process, but I am curious as to when and how he even got ahold of my bags. As far as I can tell you never let him out of your sight, and I'm pretty sure he was never within hoofs reach of them anyway," she turned to Presto to direct the question at him, "sooo?"
"Twilight, honey. Remember when I made it down to Ponyville and actually met the rest of your friends," Twilight gave a nod, "well the same guidelines you gave me for understanding Pinky Pie kind of apply to him. If you try to figure out how he does the stuff he does it's just gonna make your head hurt."
Twilight made a questioning face as she looked between the two ponies. "But if he trained you then don't you know how he does it?"
Presto cut in before Beatrix could answer. "My dear, a good mentor, much like a good magician, does not reveal their secrets. I gave her the tools she needed and set her on her way. What she has managed to do with the tools I gave her is a testament to my skills as a mentor."
"What he's saying is he wasn't a very good mentor." Presto gave another disapproving glare which only caused Beatrix to roll her eyes. "It's not like it's a big deal though, I may have wanted to be just like him at one point, but since then I've seen more then a few lesser scam artists like him end up getting some pretty harsh comeuppance." She stabbed another bite of her food. "Presto, you may have done a lot for me, but I think Equestria is better off with only one lowlife scoundrel like you in it."
"Humph, well as long as your keeping the quota on two bit hacks filled I think it's a good exchange." They both gave each other intense glares which made Twilight suddenly become concerned.
"Now now, I don't think there's any reason for those kinds of words..." Twilight trailed off as she noticed her marefriend and her marefriends mentor chuckling lightly. "What?"
"Oh Twilight, honey, you know me better then that by now," Twilight only gave her a questioning look. "I am a two bit hack."
"And 'lowlife' is practically a compliment to me." They both chuckled some more.
"..., ... Oooooohkay. You two certainly seem to have an, interesting relationship. I guess if I'm not going to find out about your... tricks? Then I guess I'd like to know about you two, like I guess how you two met." Twilight looked back and forth between the two wondering who would start. 
Beatrix finished chewing on another bite of her breakfast before it was her who did. "It's really not all that special of a story. In fact it's really anticlimactic when you get right down to it." Twilight gave her a smile to show her she was interested. "Ok, well I believe I told you that I was thirteen when I left... home to try to make something of myself." Twilight nodded. "Well the part I didn't tell you was that I failed hard." She went to take another bite of her food but suddenly realized that part of the meal included brussel sprouts. She made a face before asking, "Twilight, did you want these." Twilight nodded as Beatrix floated them over to her.
"Beatrix." Presto's voice had taken on a commanding edge as he gave his former student another disapproving stare. 
"Oh please, why did you even order them for me. It's not like you can make me eat them any more." She took the last one in her spoon and gesture to Twilight, "you're just lucky she's weird and loves them." Twilight watched the spoon closely as Beatrix gave it a flick. With practiced ease Twilight moved and caught the offered treat in her mouth. The two smiled at each other, Presto just let out a light grunt at the display. 
"Yes well, I do believe you were just telling her how you couldn't even manage to run your own life," he said with an indignant tone.
"Yeah yeah, I was getting to that." She washed down another bite of food with a drink from her cup. "Well I came to this city figuring I could make my own opportunity here..."
"And she learned how cruel this city can be."
"Yeah. Inside a year I was performing cheesy card tricks with a falling apart deck of cards in the streets just to try and get the bits I needed to survive." Her voice took on a somber tone that Twilight recognized as one she usually used when talking about her past. "Then one day some random old pegasus showed up where I was performing. He just sat there and watched nearly my whole routine without saying a word. Then he gave me the extra sandwich he had gotten from the shop down the street, which I gotta admit I wanted more then bits at that moment. I started eating it right then and there, dropped my cards on the ground and everything." She gave a meaningful look over to Presto. "When I finished all he did was tell me to follow him. When I asked why, he just said..."
"Do you want this other sandwich or not!" Presto cut in with gusto and the two shared a laugh, one which Twilight was able to join in on. The two magicians looked at her as her laughter subsided. 
"So I guess you've always been easy to win over with food." She gave a knowing look to her marefriend. As realization dawned on Beatrix another wave of laughter over took her.
"Yeah well, it was a little different back then. At that time I figured there was a good fifty fifty chance I was gonna be abducted or something, but I figured I'd take my chances."
"You always say it like that. What made you think I was gonna abduct you."
"You gotta admit, it was kinda creepy Presto." Presto only gave a shrug. "But all he did was take me to his place,  and I ended up living there for the next two years while he trained me." She took another sip of her drink. "To this day I don't know what he saw in me that made him do it."
Twilight cast a glance towards Presto by means of learning said reasons. "Now Beatrix, I've told you that many times." He took one of the last bites of his meal. "There was nothing special about you and there was no real reason I picked you up." Twilight gave him a disapproving glare. "What? It's true. She had and has no significant magical talent. The tricks she was doing when I found her weren't even good ones. The only thing she really brought to the table was that she was desperate enough to take the reigns of my persona even if it meant she'd be hated."
Twilight's disapproving glare intensified as she set her fork down to wrap a comforting foreleg around her marefriend. She heard her marefriend give a small sigh and nuzzle into her slightly. "It's ok Twilight. Something you need to know about Presto is that he will never tell you anything straight. He likes it if ponies don't know where they stand with him. So I might not know what he really thinks about me, but I know it's not that. At least not totally."
Twilight gave a small smile and a quick kiss on the cheek to the mare before removing her foreleg in order to continue eating her own meal. Before she did though she decided to ask, "if what you say is true, then why would you give her your persona? You must have had some kind of faith in her."
"I had faith in my own teaching. The reason I decided to take her in is because age does weird things to you." Twilight quirked her head inquisitively. "As I was starting to get up there in years I started to feel that when I retired I wanted to do so being beloved. I think you know by now that that can be a little hard for my character." Twilight looked back to Beatrix before giving a small smirk and a nod. Beatrix stuck her food covered tongue out at her. "But that character was my legacy. If I just let it die then my legend would end. So I decided I needed somepony to pass it on to. And I just so happened to stumble onto somepony who had nothing to lose and everything to gain."
"And now I'm more famous then you ever were," she gave a smug smile as she finished the last bite of her food, "so thanks."
"You are very welcome." They both exchanged what looked to be combatitive glares at each other before they both gave almost identical smirks and slipped into what Twilight saw as being a companionable silence. A waiter came over with a fresh pot of coffee and refilled all their mugs. Twilight watched as the two made almost the same adjustments to their drinks while passing the cream and sugar back and forth in a manner that seemed well practiced. 
"Umm, Beatrix, sweetie." Twilight broke her marefriend out of the moment she seemed to be having as she took to blowing on her coffee while looking over to her. "This might seem weird.. but have you ever noticed how much alike you two are." 
Both magicians glanced to one another before giving a shrug. "I lived with him for two years, and usually stayed with him whenever I came back to this city. For better or worse he is more or less responsibile for the pony I am today."
"So you have my utmost apologies". Beatrix stuck her tongue out at the older pony yet again.
Suppressing a laugh Twilight continued. "But it kinda seems like more then that. The way you both get along, your mannerisms, your coats are even kinda similar. I know you usually don't like talking about your past but is there maybe something more you want to tell me abo..."
"He's not my dad Twilight." Beatrix gave a suffering sigh that told Twilight that she had hoped this subject didn't come up. "I already told you all I want to say about my parents but I will confirm that Presto is most definitely not my dad." Presto seemed to confirm this by letting a low chuckle escape him as he sipped his fresh coffee.
"Well I suppose that make sense. But I mean, umm, is it like a...
"And no he's not my foster dad, or even the dad I always wanted. He's just the old coot that trained me."
"But didn't you say you wanted to be just like him once."
Beatrix sighed again as she responded. "Yeah, when I was fourteen and had nopony else." She gave a glance over to the stallion still chuckling at the two into his coffee. "Maybe at some point, on some level, but Presto made it clear that that was not a real option."
Twilight looked back and forth between the two hoping for an explanation. Presto set his mug down. "My dear, since from what I hear your mostly performing her bigger shows with her you might not have noticed, but being in show business is hard. Even more so if you're going to travel. Combine that with the fact that I was teaching her to make ponies hate her, and it would stand to reason I wouldn't want to teach something like that to anypony I saw as my own blood. Not to mention that I'd probably be about the worst father figure imaginable. It's hard for a pony like me to try and teach right from wrong." He seemed to gesture to the bags below Beatrix's chair. Beatrix gave him a suspicious stare before reaching down and checking the bags again. She didn't seem to find anything missing but still kept the look on her face. 
Twilight was somewhat deflated by the comments of the two. "Sorry, I didn't mean to imply anything, not really at least. I just, well..." 
Beatrix had broken the stare at Presto and instead decided to give Twilight a small peck on the cheek. "It's ok Twilight. It's sweet of you to want that sort of thing for me, but even you can't change the past.
"Where did you find this one Beatrix, you seem to have changed a lot since I last saw you, if the changes in the act are anything to go by. But this pony, wow, she's way too sweet for you."
Ignoring what could easily have been seen as an insult, Beatrix gave a small laugh to shrug off the previous topic of conversation before responding "Believe it or not, she found me. And wouldn't let me go, even after thinking I really was the great and powerful Trixie when we first met."
"Now this sounds like the story I want to hear. Please, continue." Presto made an over elaborate gesture.
Beatrix's lips made a puddering sound as she huffed a breath out before she responded. "What did you actually hear about what happened to me. You must have at least heard I had fallen on hard times if you thought I was dumping the act."
"Ha, well the usual rumor sources were turning out quite a few tales about you for a while there. The most prominent had to be that you had met your end at the hands of a rampaging Ursa Major, devoured whole while trying to prove your draw story was actually true."
Beatrix gave a little snort, "and when the rumors started to not be so dumb?"
"I'm afraid they never did. I think the best and most ridiculous I heard was that some rando bested you by easily beating an actual Ursa Major right in front of you while you tried to subdue it with limp noodles."
Beatrix gave a much deeper snort and started laughing deeply while Twilight tried to hide her gentle giggling behind her hoof. Getting her laughing under control Beatrix finally responded, "oh sweet Celestia, Presto, your sources are the best."
"Yes, they do at least entertain, but actually learning about something that could have actually happened would be nice as well. So what really happened?"
Both mares gave each other a look before hysterical laughter overtook both of them. "No, they actually did a fairly good job this time around." Beatrix got out through her laughter. Presto quirked a questioning eyebrow. "It was actually an Ursa Minor, though it still broke my ropes like they were wet noodles."
Presto now looked thoroughly surprised. "Wait, are you saying you actually fought with an Ursa?"
"Not sure I could call what I managed fighting, but yeah."
Presto blinked slowly. "Young lady, that is ridiculously dangerous. Why in Equestria would you think that was a good idea?"
"Didn't really have a choice. Some kids took my story seriously and wanted me to prove I could do it. And it turned out the town I was in just happened to be right next to a creepy magic forest where stuff like that are a dime a dozen."
Presto blinked slowly again. "So you really fought an Ursa?" Beatrix nodded. "And you survived?"
"Only because somepony else defeated it."
Presto's eyes went wider. "Wait, the part about the rando beating it with ease was true too?"
"That wasn't a rando," Beatrix took another sip of her coffee and nodded in the direction of her marefriend while she swollowed. "That was Twilight."
Presto's jaw went slack as his gaze fell on the purple unicorn also sipping her coffee. "And it definitely wasn't easy. Atherial mass is actually heavier to lift via magic then physical mass is. The Ursa may have been the size of a four story house, but it's proportional mass was like lifting a small mountain." Beatrix couldn't help but smile when Twilight went into lecture mode.
Presto must have realized the way he was staring as he snapped his jaw shut and straightened up in a dignified way while taking another sip of his coffee. He was obviously not sure how to respond, but he was determined not to show it. 
"You probably figured out she attended Princess Celestias School for Gifted Unicorns because of her old student ID in her bag, but that's not half the story. The whole reason she wouldn't let me go when we ran into each other again was because she was trying to teach me some kind of friendship lesson." Presto creased his brow in question. "I know, weird. But apparently it's a thing. And it's also kind of her responsibility," Beatrix's showmareship shown through as she took another sip to pause for dramatic effect, "as an element of Harmony and princess Celestia's personal student." 
Presto could once again only sit and blink slowly at this information. He opened his mouth to respond a few times but no words came out. The mares gave him time, but Beatrix started to snicker as it became clear that no amount of time would help. 
"Thank you so much for this Twilight. I almost never manage to get one over on him like this." The happy couple shared a small snicker at the stallions expense. 
Noticing this, Presto's face took on a challenging expression. Picking up his coffee he decided on his counter attack. "Well, it does seem that you are doing very well for yourself Beatrix. You two put on a very good show and seem to be very happy together," he finished off his mug in one deep gulp, "so when should I expect my wedding invitation?"
Both mares had been sharing loving gazes when both of their faces instantly went bright red and Beatrix turned back to her mentor attempting to sputter out a response.
"What... Why would you even... It's not like we... I mean..."
With a triumphant snort Presto cut in on her babbling. "It's ok Beatrix, calm yourself. Remember, three deep slow breath...."
"I am not a filly any more Presto". Beatrix hissed out as she attempted to compose herself. She very pointedly did not follow his instructions and instead very abruptly, and by Twilight's estimation very painfully, forced her breathing to be steady and slowly began speaking again. "Twilight and I have only been together a few months. I do love her dearly, but we only get to see each other every few weeks. And besides that," she took a second to straighten up in as condescending a posture as she could manage, "do you really think I'd invite you to something as classy as my wedding would be?" 
"Oh Beatrix, why do you wound me so?" Presto made a show of being hurt and offended, a display Twilight thought Rarity would be proud of. As soon as that thought hit her brain Twilight suddenly broke out in hysterical laughter. The pair of magicians snickered lightly at the display until she could manage to speak. "Oh sweet Celestia, you two are worse then Rarity and Apple Jack. Hahahaha, I can't even imagine how much you two must have bickered living together." The whole table joined in with the last bit of laughter as Twilight got herself under control. "You know Beatrix sweety, you may claim he isn't your dad, but on some level you two are definitely family." Twilight kept looking back and forth between the two.
"Yeah well, you don't stay together as long as we did without developing some kind of relationship. Maybe in some ways I do love him, maybe like a brother, or maybe a pet fish."
"I'd go as high as a favorite guinea pig for you, my dear former student."
Another round of laughter between them all. "But I believe I told you that there has always been some kind of barrier between me and the ponies in my life. Presto took me in and taught me to survive," Beatrix noticed the waiter coming over with the check for their meal, "but he would never do the sorts of things a parent would." 
Beatrix reached her hoof out instinctively to take the bill from where the waiter left it on the table, only to feel her hoof make contact with the table cloth. Looking down she noticed her hoof was in fact grabbing at nothing. Looking back up her features immediately went blank. In front of Presto was the bill while the stallion himself already had a small sack pulled from his jacket pocket and was hoofing over a very generous pile of bits to the waiter. Beatrix's ears had apparently gone numb as well as she could have sworn she heard her mentor suddenly say something that sounded like "keep the change" as the waiter smiled and left the table. 
The stallion now stood and gave a tip of his hat to both mares. "Thank you both for joining me for this lovely meal. It has been grand to get to know you miss Twilight. And it's good to hear your doing so well Beatrix. Keep up the good work, both of you. The better you do, the more you grow my legend." He gave a thoughtful look to his still gauking former student. "Take care of each other." With that he gave a turn on his hooves and left the dining room. 
Twilight watched him as he went, and only when he was out of view did she look back and see the absolutely stunned state her marefriend was in. "Beatrix, you ok?"
Snapped out of her stuper she finally looked away from the last place she had seen Presto, though as she looked to Twilight the dumbstruck expression remained. "I.. I.." she shuck her head to compose herself. "I've known that stallion since I was fourteen years old. I lived with him for two years, and I worked with him even longer. But in all that time I have never, not once, seen bits come out of his wallet for any reason. Much less voluntarily." Her gaze returned to the place Presto had disappeared. 
Twilight glanced back and forth between her and the spot she was looking before stealing herself and broaching the sensitive subject once again. "You know sweetie," the pony being addressed turned to her, "both you and Presto seem to agree on the nature of your relationship, but I believe you said he never lets ponies know what he really thinks about them." Beatrix managed to give her a slight nod. "I was just thinking about how Presto is apparently a major conartist, and yet despite teaching you how to get by, he never taught you any of that." She waited to see if the mare would respond but she seemed too far gone for that. "For some reason it just reminds me of something my parents always use to tell me; That their job as parents is to teach me enough that I don't need to make the same mistakes they made." 
Twilight didn't think it was possible at this point, but as her lover had time to register what she said the look on her face became even more shocked. As she watched she started to wonder if she might have pushed this conversation too far as her marefriend once again looked over to where the pony that had made her who she was had disappeared. With relief she noticed her eyes close and counted as she took three deep, slow breaths before turning back to face Twilight. 
"There is not enough coffee in Equestria to make it not way too early for me to think about that." She gave one last glance to the rooms exit. "I don't have to leave town until tomorrow. Let's go back up to the room, I need to snuggle something right now." 
Twilight just gave her a nuzzle, one which she leaned into appreciatively.