//------------------------------//
// Chapter Eight - "Top of the World" 
// Story: A Great and Powerful Comeback 
// by PrecogLaughter 
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The sweat that dripped down Starlight’s forehead was being illuminated by the stage lights. The wide smile she forced was beginning to hurt her cheeks. She couldn’t let up though. That’s not what a good assistant would do during a live show, especially right after an entrance as spectacular as that.

Unbeknownst to Trixie and the audience, however, was a bit of magical interference on behalf of Starlight. As Trixie was crashing down after being launched into the air, Starlight used her magic to land her friend as gently as possible. Trixie had built up so much momentum that she still hit the stage hard, but without Starlight’s help she knew the magician would have likely been seriously hurt. Thankfully the smoke was still thick enough at that point to hide Starlight’s magic aura, therefore maintaining the illusion of Trixie’s control. Starlight knew she would have to be on top of her game for this show. Who knew what was coming next?

Well, Trixie obviously knew what was next, and she was on top of the world. “I know what you’re thinking, everycreature,” she said. “You think you’ve seen all that magic has to offer. You think there’s nothing left to be impressed by. Well think again!”

With a flick of her hooves, two ropes fashioned from multicoloured handkerchiefs came shooting from behind her back. They soared over the heads of the audience who gaped up at them as they seemed to stretch endlessly.

“Watch in awe!” the magician proclaimed. With a stomp of her hoof, one of the handkerchiefs exploded in a burst of sparkles that shimmered over the crowd, all of whom gasped in amazement. Once again, they applauded. However, the second handkerchief rope was still suspended in the air, unchanged. Trixie cleared her throat. “Watch in awe … again!” She stomped her hoof a second time, but there was no change. 

“C’mon,” she hissed under her breath. She took hold of the rope with one hoof and began to shake it. “Watch. In. Awe!” she punched her words with each shake. On the word “awe” the rope pulled back toward Trixie just as fast as it shot from her, like a fishline being reeled in at rapid speed. “Oops,” was all Trixie could get out before the rope wrapped around her tying her from head to toe. This unpleasant experience only lasted for a second before the entire wrapping of handkerchiefs burst in the same glittery mess as the first one.

Trixie inhaled some of the glitter and started coughing hysterically, waving the glitter from her face and eyes. A burst of laughter escaped from the audience while Trixie was still coughing. Unable to get any words out, she turned to Starlight for assistance. Starlight, leaning into the situation, said, “Boy, they sure don’t make magic handkerchiefs like they used to. Do they, folks?” Another burst of laughter came from the audience, followed by applause.

Trixie’s cough subsided and she nodded gratefully to Starlight. She knew how to play into the crowd’s behaviour and was thankful she was by her side through this. The magician regained her composure and turned back to the audience. 

“Next I’m going to need one lucky member from the audience to pick a card.” She pulled out her deck and used her hooves to shuffle the cards. She learned years ago that certain tricks were more impressive if no magic was involved at all. Her slight of hand was just as impressive without any additional flourishes or magical accompaniment. Plus, she could show off her ability to toss her cards over her head with one hoof and catch them in the other, without keeping her eyes on them; a skill she had been practicing since she was a filly. As she did this, the audience let out a few “oohs”.

“You, young stallion,” she directed at a younger pony in the front row. She leaned toward him, holding out her cards splayed face down. “Pick a card. Any card.” The pony pulled out a card and examined it. Other ponies around him leaned in to see what he had just chosen. “You can show your card to anycreature you’d like. Just don’t tell me what it is and make sure I don’t see it.” 

The pony lifted his card up and showed it to as many audience members that could see it. “Please return the card to the deck once you’ve committed it to memory.” The pony did just that and Trixie shuffled the cards again.

“Any great and powerful magician worth her salt can find your card without any challenge. All it takes are a few trick shuffles to keep the selected card in plain sight. I’ll let you in on a little secret too, folks, some magicians even like to cheat by marking the backs of the cards.” Trixie shook her head in disapproval, which lead to the audience booing those magicians. “Trixie likes to do things a bit differently folks. Trixie likes to use real magic. And to prove Trixie’s great and powerful abilities, I will pass this newly shuffled deck of cards to my great and powerful assist.”

Trixie then used her magic to pass the cards to Starlight, who now held them with her magic aura. She gave a trusting nod and a smile to Trixie, who reciprocated the gesture.

“I know what your thinking,” Trixie continued. “‘What’s going to stop her from cheating while she holds all the cards?’ Well, Trixie has complete and total trust in her assistant.”

This line was just a part of the act but Starlight couldn’t help but feel a comforting warmth inside her. Trixie meant what she had said.

“In order to demonstrate this trust, Trixie will now blindfold her assistant.” Trixie used her magic to tie a black blindfold around Starlight’s head, covering her eyes. Starlight turned downstage, facing the audience to let them see that her eyes were now completely covered. Some audience members muttered to themselves, trying to work out the trick before it even happened. Their curiosity made Trixie smirk in delight.

“Can you see anything, Starlight?” she asked in a theatrical manner.

“Nope, I’m totally in the dark,” Starlight responded.

“Turn back to face me now,” said Trixie. Starlight took an uncertain step back toward her friend, then another step, and then one too many; she turned too far and was now facing upstage. The audience laughed in amusement. She really looked blind.

“No, that’s too far, Starlight.”

“Oops, sorry,” Starlight chuckled.

“Just follow the sound of my voice,” said Trixie as Starlight turned back to face her properly. “Now, if you please, raise the cards in the air.” Starlight complied, using her magic to lift each card one by one so they were individually hovering over her head. “Now spin them for Trixie,” commanded the magician.

The cards began to spin around Starlight’s head, each one keeping equal distance apart as they made their orbit around the headmare. Starlight made sure to keep the back of each card pointed toward Trixie so that she couldn’t see which one was which.

“Trixie will now use all of her capabilities to determine which card was chosen. Watch in awe!” Trixie raised one hoof to the side of her head, squinting her eyes as she contemplated each card as it passed by. 

The seconds ticked on and still no card was chosen. The audience leaned in, wondering how the trick would be accomplished, if she could accomplish it at all. Other than the sound of Starlight’s magic keeping the cards afloat, the entire theatre was dead silent until, without warning, Trixie shot out a beam of magic that snatched one of the cards out of the air. The audience let out a gasp of surprise as Trixie pulled the card in to examine it.

She turned it around so that only she could see it. She squinted her eyes at the card, keeping the audience in suspense. “Was this your card?” she asked as she flipped it around revealing the five of clubs. 

It was an unimpressive card, sure, but the reveal caused the selected audience member to jump out of his seat screaming “YES!” The audience cheered along with him, stomping their hooves and whistling at a spellbinding trick, executed perfectly.

Now that’s more like it, Trixie thought. Starlight sorted the cards back into a neat stack and lifted her blindfold as she returned the props to Trixie. The two of them stood side by side as they took a bow. As they raised their heads, the two mares made eye contact. Trixie winked. “Told you this would work,” she whispered to her friend.

The entire trick had been just that: a trick, and the steps needed to pull it off were quite simple. The hardest part was the shuffling of the cards once the five of clubs was selected and returned to the deck. Well, it would have been hard if Trixie were not as skilled with slight of hand as she was. She made sure to use a trick shuffle to keep the card at the top of the deck by the time Starlight received them. This type of shuffle looked like any standard shuffle to someone with untrained eyes, or any audience members too far back to see these details.

Once Starlight had the cards, she put on the blindfold and, much like the shuffle, this was also a trick. The blindfold was made from a special see-through material that was transparent when you held it right up to your eyes, but which appeared to be totally blinding from a distance. Starlight sold the trick as best she could, pretending to turn too far, and the audience was completely fooled. 

Seeing through the blindfold, and after being instructed by Trixie, Starlight knew the correct card would be on the top of the deck, so she kept an eye on it as she lifted the cards one by one, facing her and not Trixie. As the cards spun around her head, she gave the subtlest of nods as the selected card passed in front of her eyes, indicating to Trixie the one she needed to select.

After two rough starts, the card trick went off without a hitch and Starlight calmed down a bit while Trixie was riding the high of the applause. 



The show went on smoothly after that with Trixie finding her old rhythm again. She broke out her old disappearing act, magic rings, trick knots, and they were all met with a warm reception from the audience members. This was everything she had hoped for, but the act was wearing thin on the crowd. They’ve all seen tricks like this before,Trixie thought. They’re going to get bored. She needed to bring out something they’d never seen before. She knew it was time to bring out the big guns.

“Now it’s time for you all to meet some very special friends of mine,” Trixie said out to her crowd. “They’ve all been dying to meet you so please give them a warm welcome!”

She gestured toward stage right as the audience applauded whatever guest she was welcoming. The spotlight illuminated the stage entrance by the curtain, but no one entered to meet it. This was all a part of the act and Trixie leaned into it.

“Huh, that’s funny,” she exaggerated. “Now where could they be?” She scratched her head with her hoof in performative confusion. She looked around the stage and below her hooves before finally looking upward to her hat. “I remember now.”

Trixie took off her hat and flipped it upside down. Looking inside she called out. “Hello? Anyone in there?” Reaching a hoof deep into the hat, deeper than it seemed physically possible, she rummaged around for something. Without much delay, she pulled out a small white rabbit and held it in her hoof.

A soft “aww” echoed through the theatre, accompanied by an even softer “yay” which could only have come from Fluttershy.

“I was looking everywhere for you. Where have you been?” Trixie asked the rabbit. The small creature obviously wasn’t trained and just looked out to the audience, frozen in the spotlight. Trixie leaned an ear in next to the rabbit, pretending it could actually answer her. 

“I see,” Trixie said, responding to nothing. “And where are your friends?” Again, Trixie leaned in an ear. “Oh, they’re in Trixie’s hat too? Well why didn’t you just tell me?”

Setting the white rabbit on the stage, Trixie reached back into her hat and pulled out another rabbit. She held it up as the audience cheered. Then she reached in and pulled out another. Then another. She produced more rabbits out of this hat than could ever possibly fit inside. This was all accomplished with teleportation magic. The rabbits were actually kept in a pen backstage with Sunburst, who was instructed to teleport them into the hat one by one until the pen was empty.

After producing a dozen rabbits out of her hat, Trixie returned it to her head and took a bow. The audience clapped as the rabbits hopped about the stage freely. Trixie turned to her left to see Starlight, still onstage with her. Starlight clapped for her friend with the crowd.

“Thank you, fillies and gentlecolts! Now for Trixie’s next trick…” But before she could continue, a cute furry face poked out from below her hat as she was wearing it. Another bunny had come out of it and was now sitting on Trixie’s head. She looked up to see it. The bunny peered down and their eyes met. This was not a part of the trick.

“Heh, I guess I miscounted,” Trixie chuckled, lifting her hat up and placing the rabbit on the stage with the others. She glanced over at Starlight and tilted her head as if to ask, “what gives?” Starlight just shrugged and shook her head in response.

“As Trixie was saying, this next trick is something I have been working on for years…” As she paced the stage explaining her trick, she turned to her side. The audience could see yet another rabbit, this time poking it’s tail out from the back of her hat. They all started laughing, which confused Trixie, but she continued with her explanation, nevertheless. 

As she trotted back and forth, the rabbit slid down her neck and sat on her back. This sensation startled Trixie and she jumped in surprise, which only made the audience laugh louder. Trixie reached behind her and scooped up the rabbit, placing it on the floor with the others.

“How many of you are there?” she asked. Lifting her hat to look underneath, another rabbit fell out and landed on her face. “Aaahh,” cried a muffled Trixie. She dropped her hat and tried to pull the rabbit off her face, but it was clinging to her. The audience was starting to lose themselves in their laughter. As Trixie stumbled around the stage, trying very hard to pull the bunny off her, more rabbits emerged out of the hat until there were nearly two dozen hopping around. Some hopped off-stage and around the audience’s seats.

Starlight hurried over to Trixie and gripped the rabbit, still clinging to her face, and started pulling. With one last pull, it came free, causing Starlight to stumble and Trixie to summersault backwards into a particularly dense grouping of rabbits. The creatures flew up into the air and landed in a heap on top of the embarrassed magician.

The audience was in tears, hooting and hollering at the chaos. Starlight used her magic to simultaneously teleport each rabbit backstage.

Trixie gave a tired yet appreciative look to Starlight. “How about another round of applause for my great and powerful assistant?” The audience responded accordingly. Starlight slightly bowed her head in thanks. She exited the stage to prepare for the next trick, right after shooting Trixie a concerned glance.

Trixie straightened her disheveled mane and smoothed her cape. She was embarrassed she let such a simple trick get so out of hoof. The audience’s laughter was absolutely not what she wanted to hear. She wanted to be seen as a respectable performer, someone who could command the stage, not some sort of clown to be made a fool of.

“Time for my next trick, everycreature,” she said, trying to keep up her energy. She wanted to move on from this blunder as quickly as possible. “You’ve seen Trixie’s cute and cuddly friends, but now it’s time to feast your eyes on a ferocious beast. The imposing king of the jungle himself. Bring out … THE LION!” she called offstage.

The spotlight shone toward stage right but once again no animal appeared. “We aren’t doing that bit again just bring him out here!” Trixie hissed toward the wing.

Starlight entered the stage lights with another frozen smile on her face. She was holding a leash which was attached to a collar worn by Leo the lion. Leo was taking some timid steps onto the stage, a bit too slow for Starlight who gave a few encouraging tugs on the leash to bring him up to centre stage.

Of course, his entrance brought a chorus of “awws” from the audience. Passing the leash to Trixie, Starlight whispered, “sorry, he was a little shy,” before crossing the stage and exiting stage left.

Trixie turned her eyes back to the audience who thought her “ferocious beast” was an adorable cuddle bug. She knew that if she followed a cute act with another cute act, her integrity would be lost. She had to convince them there was real danger here. She had won them back before and she knew she could do it again.

“Those of you with small children needn’t be afraid. Though he may look dangerous, Trixie has him under control.” The audience responded with laughter. “Although, do not be mistaken, he is incredibly dangerous. A mere swipe of his claws could rip a full-grown stallion in two.” Leo scratched the back of his ear with a paw, leading the audience to “aww” at him.

“Isn’t he precious,” said one audience member.

“And,” continued Trixie. “And a crunch of his jaws can break… uh… something really hard to break.” Leo rest his head in his paws and closed his eyes. Trixie ran over to him, lifted his head up to face the audience and, using both hooves, pulled his lips apart to reveal a wide set of teeth. 

“Take a look at these chompers,” said Trixie. A few teeth did look sharp, but not nearly as intimidating as she made them out to be, and certainly not as dangerous as a full-grown lion or a manticore. The audience let out another “aww.” “Alright, enough of that,” said an impatient Trixie.

Trixie let go of Leo, who now seemed quite content and a little sleepy sitting centre stage. “Could Trixie’s wonderful assistant please bring out the second element to this act?”

Starlight entered once again, from stage left this time, pushing a large red cannon resting on two large wheels. Trixie heard an “ooh” from the crowd. That’s better, she thought.

The cannon looked very similar to Pinkie Pie’s party cannon. It towered over the little lion cub and it had a barrel wide enough to fit an entire pony in, which was precisely what Trixie had in mind.

“Fillies, gentlecolts, and everycreature, you see before you a cannon. This is Trixie’s special cannon which has been modified for professional use and I advise you not to try this at home. For I am about to do something unspeakably dangerous. Trixie will shoot herself out of the cannon and into the…” 

She paused looking at Leo’s mouth. There is no way she would ever fit inside it, even if he did decide to keep his mouth open for her.

“… Trixie will shoot herself over the vicious lion … who could leap up and snatch me out of the air if he wanted to so … so yeah. Dangerous.”

A few ponies clapped but mostly there was a confused silence. There came a “psst” from the upstage side of the cannon. It was Starlight, urging Trixie to speak to her out of sight of the audience.

Trixie turned back to the audience. “If you will spare Trixie a mere moment, she needs to instruct her assistant on the details of this stunt.”

She turned and met Starlight behind the cannon. “Yes, my assistant?” she asked, maintaining the cadence of her stage persona.

“Yeah, um, what’s going on? You’re going to fire over Leo? Look at him! You could do that without the cannon, you’d just need to hop.”

“It’s not about what I’m flying over; it’s just about the act itself. The cannon is the act. Leo’s just the cherry on top. The audience only cares about the action.”

“It doesn’t sound like they care at all. They’re all confused.”

“I’ve got it under control. Just make sure you get a safety net secure for me to land in. The cannon has a long fuse so you should have enough time to get to the other side of the stage and set it up.”

Starlight was about to say something but couldn’t get the words out. She, instead, sighed heavily. “Well, let’s not keep them waiting.”

The two unicorns made their way back to the stage. Starlight boosted Trixie up to the mouth of the cannon and the show pony climbed in, turning herself around so that her head was still poking out. “Once again, Trixie cannot stress this enough, do NOT try this at home,” she said to the audience again.

Starlight, meanwhile, did some last-minute checks on the angle of the cannon. The trajectory would send her clear over the lion, with a landing point in the stage right wing. “Ready, Trixie?” she asked with a hint of real concern in her voice.

“Light the fuse!” called Trixie in response.

Using her magic, Starlight ignited the cannon’s fuse and then rushed off behind the curtain. Trixie felt the tension building again as she visualized her flight path in her mind. She would sail in a clear arc over Leo, landing softly in the net suspended out of sight from the audience.

After a few seconds, Trixie saw Sunburst and Starlight setting up the net in its place: perfect. She had plenty of space over the lion to get some considerable airtime: perfect. And Leo was right where she left him in the middle of the stage: perf- wait…

Leo was staring off to his left toward her wagon. He was looking at a rabbit, sleeping under one of the wheels. It must have been missed when the stage was cleared of the others. Leo took a few tentative steps toward it, moving himself out of Trixie’s flight path.

No! Trixie thought. If he’s not directly under my path, the stunt doesn’t work!

Trixie slammed her body against the inside of the cannon. Using her body weight, the cannon began to pivot ever so slightly to the right so that she could keep it pointing above the lion cub.

Starlight and Sunburst could only watch in horror from the other side of the stage. “What is she doing?” Sunburst hissed. “She’s not going to land anywhere near the net!”

The rabbit awoke, suddenly aware of the lion’s presence. The furry creature hopped away from it, encouraging Leo to give chase. The lion only wanted to play and had no intention of harming the rabbit, but the rabbit didn’t know that, so it hopped away out of self-preservation.

The two creatures circled around until they were on the cannon’s left, downstage. Trixie grunted in frustration and panic as she lost track of how much fuse was left to burn. She slammed her body into the other side of the cannon to turn it back. She hit the side again and again with her body, making it shift a little each time. The audience laughed once again at the chaos, not knowing how this bit was going to end.

Sunburst and Starlight waved their hooves with urgency, trying to signal to Trixie to fix the cannon’s aim so that she could land in the safety net. Trixie had her focus on the animals however, who took their chase, again, to the cannon’s right.

Trixie began shifting the cannon back to the right, grunting and muttering unintelligibly. She hit the side of the cannon harder and harder, getting tired with each strike.

Then after one last, powerful hit, the cannon shifted too much and started to drop. All the pivoting back and forth had loosened the axel too much and the barrel of the cannon plummeted until it hit the stage with a thud. Trixie was shaken and at a loss of what had happened. That is, until she could no longer hear the fuse burning. “Uh-oh,” she said to herself.

With a loud “KABOOM!” the cannon fired Trixie, sending her soaring mere inches above the stage. Leo and the rabbit had chased each other offstage left at this point and were nowhere near the stunt any longer. Rocketing at the speed of a train, Trixie headed straight for the other side of the stage. The good news was that she was pointing toward the wing of the stage where she wanted to be. The bad news was that she was about to fly clear under the safety net.

Every head in the audience turned from right to left in an instant as Trixie shot by. Starlight and Sunburst had no time to react as the magician flew past them, underneath the net, and crashing into a nearby shelf full of discarded props.

All the audience could hear was series of clangs and clatters as Trixie collided with the props shelf, leaving a good-sized dent in the wall behind it in the process. This racket lasted a while as things kept clattering backstage, during which the audience did not stop wincing.

As quick as they could, Starlight and Sunburst cleared the props off Trixie and got her back to her feet. Her head was rocking from side to side as her eyes spun in circles in her head.

“Trixie! Are you alright!?” Starlight asked.

Trixie pointed out with her hoof. “Why are there birds flying around Trixie’s head?” she slurred. “Trixie doesn’t want to work with animals anymore.”

“There aren’t any birds, Trixie,” Sunburst assured.

“Oh, well then get Trixie back on that stage!” she commanded, pushing past the ponies who clearly had more investment in her well being than she did.

Stumbling over her own hooves, Trixie re-entered the stage. The audience laughed at her disheveled mane and staggering gait. Trixie’s ears were still ringing from the crash and her head was spinning. It took a moment before she was able to fully absorb the reaction, and she didn’t like hearing more unwanted laughter.

There was only one way she could bring them back. Her last two tricks had blown up in her face, but she still had a secret weapon to hit them with. Something nopony had truly ever seen before. A smile grew across Trixie’s face as her own excitement built.

“Fillies, gentlecolts, everycreature, it is time for something special,” Trixie said once the laughter died down. Her cadence had dropped to something more sinister than magical.

“Up until this point you’ve all seen what I would call my tame tricks. What I have to show you next is something completely different. What you are about to see is not an illusion or a trick. It is something very real.”

She turned to her right to face Starlight and Sunburst, watching her with bated breath. Trixie smirked and waved for them to bring out the pendulum.

After a moments’ pause, Starlight and Sunburst pushed pendulum onstage together. As Trixie stood downstage, she was dwarfed by the towering mechanism. The audience’s reaction was a mixture of awe and fear. Murmurings of anticipation filled the otherwise silent theatre. And there stood Trixie, manipulating the audience’s expectations with total control, and she could not be loving it more.

“It is time for the Great and Powerful Trixie’s most daring escape yet.” As Trixie explained the act, Starlight wrapped a chain around Trixie’s body and Sunburst placed a metal table below the pendulum. “Trixie will lie on this table below the pendulum as it swings above. The sawblade will get closer and closer to slicing me up, but I have just enough time to unlock these chains and get out of the way in time.”

As she finished, Starlight secured a large padlock on the chains. “Starlight, are the chains secured nice and tight?”

“Yes, they are, Trixie,” replied Starlight. She had dropped the fake smile and was no longer hiding her concern.

“Place me on the table,” the magician commanded. Her forelegs were bound to her body by the chains; she could no longer walk. Starlight used her magic to lift Trixie up and lay her flat on her back on top of the table. Trixie’s head was now downstage, facing the audience. “Your help is no longer required, Starlight. This is to be done by Trixie and Trixie alone.”

Starlight didn’t budge. She met Trixie’s eyes with stone faced determination.

“I said, you aren’t needed up here anymore. Get off my stage,” Trixie hissed in a tone the audience couldn’t hear.

After a beat, Starlight walked offstage left without letting herself show emotion. She didn’t look back as she passed through the wing.

Sunburst stood by the pendulum, unsure of what to do next until Trixie made her next order. “Sunburst, after you flip the switch, clear the stage. It won’t be safe up here.”

Sunburst knew Trixie was saying these things to play with the audience, but he couldn’t help but feel terrified for her right now.

Looking up to the audience, Trixie closed her eyes. “Flip the switch!”

Sunburst did what he was told and flicked the switch on the side of the pendulum’s support beam. As it began to swing, he ran offstage as quick as he could.

The blade swung down and flew over Trixie’s body. She could feel the air blow past her as it cleared over her. The entire audience gasped in unison as it made its pass. As it reached the apex of it’s swing on the other side, it swung back and cleared Trixie again. That’s when the sawblade started to spin.

Despite the overbearing sense of panic and dread that filled the room, Trixie’s mind was as clear as day. Piece of cake, she thought. All she had to do was follow the steps of her normal escape routine and she’ll be free in no time. Trixie wiggled her right hoof under the chains, worming it around each link as she looked for gaps in the interlocking. The pendulum above her swung faster and faster with each pass.

Trixie made a hole in the layers of chain, clearing a path to get her hoof out. It burst through the chains in triumph, inciting a cheer from the audience.

Starlight and Sunburst watched from the wings. Sunburst was peeking out from behind his hooves, jumping whenever the pendulum swung close to her. Starlight was angry with Trixie for the way she had just treated her. Even though it was for the sake of the act, it still hurt, and Trixie was getting too carried away; taking things too far. She had to admit though, the trick was working. She couldn’t take her eyes away.

Trixie began working on the left hoof, working her way through the chains. Her attention was drawn to a clicking sound above her, followed by a groaning sound. She looked to her left to where the pendulum had swung and she saw what was happening. The pendulum had dropped down a couple inches. She didn’t know how, but she could tell the blade was definitely lower than before. It swung back toward her and she could feel the air as it barely cleared over her.

The audience could see the difference too and they cried out. Some even shrieked in panic. Sunburst, still covering his eyes, was now too afraid to look. “What’s going on?” he asked.

“It’s supposed to drop down remember?” Starlight said with a roll of her eyes. “Let Trixie have her fun.”

The pendulum groaned again as its parts slid against each other, dropping the blade even lower. Trixie pressed herself against the table as flat as she could. As it passed over her, she could swear the blade grazed the chains. The wind from the passing blade blew the hat off her head, sending it sailing into the crowd and out of her sight.

Starlight’s eyes went wide. “Okay, it’s not supposed to drop that far.”

Sunburst’s eyes travelled up the machine, trying to identify what went wrong. He pointed to the top of the structure. “There are supposed to be guardrails at the top. Where are the guardrails?”

“They must have come loose. Nothing’s keeping the blade from dropping.” Starlight started to panic. “We have to do something!”

But before either of the unicorns could make a move, the blade dropped yet again as it swung toward the left side of the stage. Trixie was out of time, and there were still too many steps to take in order to free herself before the blade came back down. Using all her might, she swung her body away from the sawblade, rolling off the table and landing on the stage flat on her face.

As she made her landing, the saw collided with the table, cutting the metal frame in two even pieces. The force of the pendulum sent both halves of the table flying over Trixie’s head where they landed with a clatter on the right side of the stage.

Some audience members had realized that this was not part of the act and stood from their seats. They were filled with adrenaline but were unsure of what to do. Starlight and Sunburst on the other hand, made their move and entered the stage, keeping their distance from the unpredictable swinging sawblade.

“We’ve got to shut it off,” Starlight decided. “Sun, go see if that switch will turn it off!”

Sunburst nodded and headed back around to the support beam where the switch was. Starlight turned her attention to Trixie, who seemed unhurt as she used her one free hoof to roll her way toward stage right. “Trixie!” Starlight called from the opposite side of the stage.

Trixie looked back at Starlight, feeling completely helpless to stop the act. She looked up when she heard another groan from the machine as the blade dropped lower. As it made its pass, it cut deep into the stage, sending wooden splinters flying. Trixie turned her back to shield her face from the chunks of shattered stage.

“I flipped the switch, but the momentum’s too powerful. It won’t stop!” yelled Sunburst.

Starlight looked up at the blade as it crossed back over to her side. With one final groan, the pendulum snapped off of its support structure and came crashing down. Starlight dove out of the way to avoid being crushed as the audience screamed. “Starlight!” Trixie called as she saw her friend dive to safety.

A crackling came from the support beams as they lost their integrity and began crumbling down toward the audience. Sunburst used his magic to levitate the pieces to keep everyone from being flattened.

At the same time, the pendulum had landed on the stage, but it wasn’t finished yet. The strain on the sawblade caused it to separate from the pendulum. The momentum had not stopped it from spinning, and it dug into the stage. It spun like a wheel, cutting a path for itself toward stage right where Trixie lay. 

The sawblade cut a deep gash into the stage and it wasn’t showing any signs of stopping. There was no way Trixie could roll out of the way in time. She only had one hope of survival. Using all the magic she could muster, she cast her energy at the blade, urging it to turn upstage and away from her. 

Straining her muscles and grunting hard, Trixie forced the blade to alter its course as it passed close by her wagon, cutting into the two wheels facing the audience. The giant blade then made its way by Trixie herself, passing on her left before crashing into an offstage wall, sending dust and smoke pouring into the theatre.

As the dust settled, the screaming stopped, and the theatre was so quiet you could hear a pin drop. Sunburst lowered the support beams back to the ground as gingerly as he could. Starlight got back to her feet and Trixie took in the situation as best she could from her position, still in chains lying on the stage floor.

After a solid ten seconds pause, Trixie let out her breath, which she just now realized she had been holding in. 

Somewhere on the stage came another crackling sound. Oh, now what, Trixie thought, looking for the source of the sound. It was quite evident where the sound was coming from when the caravan shuddered. Upon a closer look, everything became clear. The sawblade didn’t just leave a scratch on the wagon’s wheels, it had cut right into the spokes.

With another shudder, the wheels popped right off the wagon and fell to their sides. The wagon, now lacking support, tipped downstage and fell completely on its side, the roof of the wagon now facing out to the audience. 

A faint fizzing could now be heard. Trixie and Starlight’s eyes went wide as they looked to each other, simultaneously realizing what was happening. The force of the wagon’s tipping had jostled the fireworks inside, activating the magic fuses. With the wagon now upturned, the fireworks would head straight into the crowd.

Starlight, wasting no time, jumped toward the audience and cast a force field around them all. With less than a second to spare, the fireworks shot out of the caravan’s roof, colliding or ricocheting off Starlight’s force field and exploding in impossibly bright colours and light, popping off with deafening cracks. One after another they shot off without leaving a break between the explosions. Everycreature covered their eyes as a blinding light filled the room. 

After the last of the fireworks had been shot and the smoke settled, the headmare of the very school they stood in let her force field disappear and she started breathing heavily. It takes a lot of magic to protect that many creatures.

It was dead silent. No one knew what to do or say, least of all Trixie. She had just had her entire act collapse around her, literally. One pony could be heard clapping, followed by another and another. No one else joined in. This wasn’t the type of applause that anypony made when they were impressed. This was the type of applause made when they do not know what else to do; slow and scattered. 

Trixie decided to just rip the band-aid off and put an end to this train wreck. Still wrapped in chains, she rolled herself back to centre stage and inched down so that she could see the audience. “Thank you for coming to see Trixie’s great and powerful comeback,” she said without a hint of performativity. “Have a safe travel back home everypony. Goodbye.” After a pause she added, “I’m sorry.”

She turned her head to face Sunburst and Starlight. “Bring the curtain down,” Trixie said. Sunburst trotted over to the curtain rope, tiptoeing over debris and gunpowder residue as he did. Starlight just hung her head and Trixie looked away. When the curtain started lowering slowly and with an annoying squeak, Trixie took one last look at the audience, all of whom looked confused. 

Right before the bottom of the curtain met the stage, Trixie caught a glimpse of the spot where Star Search had sat at the top of the show. His seat was now empty.