//------------------------------//
// Now you see me 
// Story: A Matter of Perspective 
// by BorealStargazer 
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Lyra was making supper when the door bell rang.

"Now that's odd," she muttered, taking the oven sock off. "Bon Bon shouldn't be back so soon... A minute, please!"

She double-checked the stove and trotted into the hall.

"Who's there?"

After making a pause for an answer (and getting none) she swung the door open and peeked out into the thickening gloom. Darkness responded with a gust of biting winter wind in her face.

"Psst," a bush of dogrose on the lawn near her whispered. "The Great and Powerful... ouch!"

"Trixie Lulamoon?" Lyra inclined her head. "Since when did you decide to take up gardening?"

"We shouldn't be... ow!.. seen! Can you let The Great and Powerful Trixie in? It's cold out here!"

Lyra giggled and moved aside.

After closing the door the unicorn examined her guest curiously while the latter picked thorns out of her mane and cloak. They haven't been acquainted — not personally, at least, — but Lyra's been to some of the magic shows, including the last one, Moonshot Manticore Mouth Dive. Truth be told, most of them were quite thrilling to watch.

Yet what could the sorceress possibly want from her?

"Trixie hates to admit it but she needs your help," the illusionist forced out, taking her hat off. She was clearly upset. "Your telescope, actually."

"My... telescope? Wait, how do you know I have one?" unicorn's eyes narrowed in suspicion.

The sorceress snorted.

"What a dumb question for Trixie? I have my ways of knowing things," she caught her distrustful look, sighed and bluntly admitted. "It's sitting on your roof."

Lyra facehoofed.

"Okay, I suppose. But why do you need it? Oh, sorry," she suddenly remembered and motioned an invitation. "My pie has just finished baking, and you must be freezing. Want a bite?"

When slices of cobbler were sitting on the plates, teacups steaming from hot tea, her guest sighed again and grudgingly began talking.

"It's for the new show. Didn't you see the posters? Homecoming from the Humble and Penitent Trixie's Equestrian Apology Tour?"

"I barely left my home this week," Lyra chuckled. "Isn't that a mouthful."

Trixie rolled her eyes.

"It's a working title," she grumbled through clenched teeth, then breathed out and continued. "Rather fitting for Hearth's Warming. I'm going to reenact a quite difficult performance of one famous sorcerer. Not as dangerous as Hoofdini's jump into the jaws of a pony-eating monster, but no less Great and Powerful! And... I need your telescope for that," she ended quietly in a sputter.

"I'm flattered and all. But why mine? We're not exactly the best of friends."

"Coming here wasn't Trixie's first idea..." sorceress began, then hesitated. She clearly tried to keep her cool, but her serious distress didn't evade Lyra's trained eye.

"My friend Bon Bon always said, if you got a problem that you can't solve, helps to get out of your head. Pie, it's good. Come on," Lyra pushed a plate to her and decided to show an example by tasting her own bit.

"After returning to Ponyville I was going to ask princess Twilight... Such a star pupil of the School for Gifted Unicorns and a fan of magic sciences must have had a telescope for sure. We're not the best in terms of relationships but her student, Starlight, is my Great and Powerful Assistant... I had hoped she'd put in a word for me," the sorceress grew silent, looking into the ghostly streams of steam over the cup. "And all that only for me to learn that she and Starlight had left a moment before I arrived. And not just anywhere. The Crystal Empire! Who would possibly go to the Crystal Empire on holiday's eve, at the very same day when the Great and Powerful Trixie returns from her Tour of Penance?"

"If this makes it any easier, Bon Bon is out of town, too," Lyra said, then mentally cursed her blabbering mouth. "A mis... I mean, a business trip. I'm all alone here. Feels almost like missing a part of myself."

"You understand, then. Now Trixie has no best assistant nor a telescope," — her guest continued, despaired. "And I've already put out the posters!"

Lyra shook her head.

"I sense you're not embracing the concept here," she said sententiously. "Pie don’t work unless you let it."

Trixie was going to object, then stopped and took a bite, unsure. Then another one.

"Mmm, that's tasty."

"Told ya. Listen. You have your telescope, I'm going to lend you mine..."

"Really?" her guest started. A flicker of hope flashed in her eyes. "I mean, the Great and Powerful Trixie is much obliged for your help!"

"...with one condition," Lyra smiled slyly.

"And that condition would be..." the sorceress began, unsure.

"Can you make me a little "present in advance"? I want to assist in your show."

Trixie stared at her suspiciously.

"Trixie has a choice?"

Lyra's smile grew wider.