“Are you sure you want me to do this?”
The question brought a smile to Soft Mane’s lips. “I’m sure, Pixie. You were only supposed to take us to River Bank, and strictly speaking you did that, even if we couldn’t talk to her.” Her smile faded as her expression turned more serious. “If you got cursed or locked up or something else because we drew you into our fight with Lex, I’d feel awful. Especially after you figured out how to get us out of there without being seen.”
Pixie smirked at that. “As far as disappearing acts go, it wasn’t exactly a difficult one,” she chuckled, pointing at the window that they’d just exited. “‘Open the window and go outside’ probably won’t get written into the stage magic history books.”
Soft Mane gave a rueful snort. “It was still better than anything we were able to come up with.”
Starlight’s room, as it turned out, had been on the first floor of River’s manor. In hindsight that hadn’t been much of a surprise; when setting up an ad hoc medical facility, it made sense to avoid needing to carry sick or injured ponies up and down stairs. Fortunately, it had also made for a convenient escape route, one so obvious that Soft Mane, Fluttershy, and Starlight Glimmer had completely overlooked it, the three of them having been in various stages of panic at the thought of River coming back at any second with an army of angry ponies behind her. While Pixie had been no less anxious, her years of experience with vanishing acts and misdirection let her easily pick up on what everypony else had missed.
But now Soft Mane was insisting that Pixie had done enough, and that it was time to end their partnership, something which made the unicorn nervous. “Are you sure you don’t want me to at least help you get back to where the rest of your friends are waiting?”
Soft Mane shook her head. “I’m pretty sure we can manage that much on our own. That parlor is the first door on the right after you walk in the front entrance, so all we have to do is circle back around and we should be able to slip inside without anypony seeing us.”
“Just be careful,” cautioned Pixie. “Hug the side of the house, and make sure you stay low enough that no one looking out the windows from inside will see you.”
“We will,” Soft Mane assured her. “But while we’re doing that, you need to get back to wherever you’re supposed to be, before River figures out that you helped us.”
Pixie’s ears folded down at that. “Some help I was,” she muttered, suddenly morose. “If it wasn’t for me leading you to the wrong room, you wouldn’t be in this mess.”
“You’ve got it wrong.” Reaching out, Soft Mane put a reassuring hand on Pixie’s shoulder. “If it wasn’t for you, we wouldn’t have been able to rescue Lex’s prisoner.”
Rather than cheering Pixie up, however, Soft Mane’s words made her grimace, looking past the half-pony to where Fluttershy and Starlight were conversing quietly a short distance away, the latter pointing at the former’s cutie mark. Biting her lip, Pixie hesitated for just a moment before stepping closer to Soft Mane, lowering her voice. “Don’t heal Starlight Glimmer anymore,” she murmured.
Soft Mane blinked. “What? Why? I can still use a couple more healing spells, and if it comes down to a fight-”
“It already came down to a fight with her,” interrupted Pixie. “That’s why she was tied up. Look, I didn’t see what happened with her, and I’m not saying you shouldn’t listen to her side of the story. But you heard what River said about her brutalizing ponies and stealing cutie marks. If you heal her enough to where she can use her horn again, I’m concerned about what she’ll do.”
“I think you’re worrying over nothing.” Now it was Soft Mane’s turn to glance at the other two ponies, as though she could read Starlight’s intentions with a look. “I think she’s somepony who was in the wrong place at the wrong time, and that Lex’s minions started picking on her because they didn’t like what she was telling everypony about equality, and now they want Lex to make an example out of her because she defended herself from their bullying.” Her expression turned sour then. “Which he’ll probably do. He might save people, but he’s not what I’d call a nice guy.”
Pixie held her tongue, knowing they didn’t have time to get into a debate. At some point somepony would think to look for them outside the manor as well as inside, and they needed to be gone by the time that happened. “Just…just wait a little while before you fix her horn, okay? Let her explain herself and then make a decision, together with the rest of your friends.”
Despite not looking convinced, Soft Mane nodded. “I suppose that’s not a bad plan.”
Smiling at the concession, Pixie pulled Soft Mane into a quick hug. “Give my best to Fluttershy. And look me up if you’re ever in Las Pegasus, okay? I’m telling you, casting spells is nice and all, but you don’t know what magic really feels like until you’re doing it up on a stage, hearing an audience cheering you on.”
“I will. Take care of yourself, Pixie.”
“You too.”
With nothing more to be said, Pixie turned and galloped away, heading around toward the back of the manor. As worried as she was about what would happen with Starlight, she knew full well that it was out of her hooves now. The only remaining way she could help Soft Mane and Fluttershy was by not getting caught, and that would mean slipping back inside and coming up with an alibi before somepony realized that she was gone.
Luckily, she had an idea of how to do exactly that…
“Surprise!”
The unexpected yell made Piggy squeal in fright, his little legs kicking as he rolled off the couch in a heap. “What’s going-?! Oh, it’s you…”
Keeping her smile firmly in place, Pixie gave a grand bow, as though she were in an auditorium filled with hundreds of ponies instead of a solarium with one ill-mannered stallion. “Thank you for your patience! The second act of Pixie’s stupendous and astonishing magic show is about to begin! Prepare to be amazed, as you’ll witness feats of wonder that-”
“Did you get my ice cream?” interrupted Piggy, crawling back onto the couch with a huff, crossing his stubby forelegs over his chest as he pouted. “Because I’m tired of waiting! I was promised ice cream and I want it NOW!”
Taking a deep breath, Pixie trotted over until she was directly across from him, with only a small cloth-covered coffee table separating them. “Ah, but why worry about filling your belly when you can instead feast your eyes on Pixie’s marvelous magic tricks! Observe!”
Taking the tablecloth in her telekinesis, she yanked it into the air with a flourish. “An ordinary tablecloth,” she proclaimed, twisting it around to show that there was nothing unusual about it, before bundling it up into a ball as she held it just above the coffee table. “And yet, when subjected to the profound and primal power of Pixie’s potent prestidigitation” – she dropped the bundled cloth then, letting it fall open as it settled back onto the table – “it reveals…!”
“A top hat,” sighed Piggy, sounding supremely unimpressed as he looked at the felt-lined headpiece that hadn’t been there a moment ago.
“Ah, but top hats are the magician’s trademark,” cooed Pixie, her horn lighting up again. “For within them, we find…!”
Piggy’s eyes widened as Pixie lifted the right-side up hat from the table, revealing that underneath it there was-
“ICE CREAM!”
Licking his lips at the sight of the carton of frozen goodness, Piggy sat up so fast he nearly fell off the couch again. Rushing forward, he grabbed the cylindrical container, confirming that it was still cold as he turned it in his grasp to read the label. “Strawberry?” he pouted, his excitement fading at once. “Strawberry’s only good if you put it with chocolate and vanilla! That’s why I said I wanted at least five flavors!”
“Ah, ah, ah!” tsked Pixie, replacing her top hat on the coffee table. “The trick isn’t done yet! Observe!” Lifting the top hat again, she had the satisfaction of watching Piggy’s eyes widen even more as a second carton was revealed, his fat little forelegs grabbing for it. “Ooh! Fudge swirl!”
“And that’s not all!” Lowering the hat to the table, Pixie let it sit only for a moment before she raised it again, revealing a third carton.
“Vanilla with marshmallows!” squealed Piggy happily. “Wow! What else is in there?!”
Grabbing for the hat, the fat little stallion examined it for a moment, his brow furrowing as he couldn’t see anything else inside of it. Pouting, he turned it over and began banging it on the table, slamming it down over and over as if it was a jar of ketchup. “It’s not working!” he whined when his efforts failed to produce results, looking at Pixie. “Make it make more ice cream!”
“Well, I’m not sure I can,” drawled Pixie, trying not to feel too smug about finally getting the little brat invested in her show. “But maybe the two of us together can. Reach out and gently place your hooves on the brim of the hat,” she instructed, fighting back a smile at how fast Piggy complied, putting her own fore-hooves on the opposite side of the brim. “Now, concentrate as hard as you can on what you want the hat to make, and then, when I count to three, lift it up as quick as you can, Ready?”
“Ready!” replied Piggy, his voice filled with intense focus.
“One…two…three!”
The last word had barely left her lips when she and Piggy raised the hat, the stallion doing so as hard as he could, throwing it into the air so high that it almost touched the ceiling. But he didn’t notice, staring open-mouthed at his prize.
“Th-three cartons!” he breathed, looking at the trio of cylinders stacked one on top of the other, higher than the actual hat itself in a trick that Pixie was actually quite proud of. But the apparent impossibility of what he was seeing was lost on Piggy, caught up in reading the labels. “Cookies ‘n’ cream! Butter pecan! Coffee! Wait, ew, coffee ice cream?”
“Oh, uh, that one’s for me,” murmured River, telekinetically removing that one from the stack. Those six cartons had been the sum total of the ice cream she’d found when she’d raided the kitchen on her way back, and she hadn’t been able to resist snagging that last one, as it was her favorite flavor. After all the stress she’d been through recently, she’d figured she deserved a little something. And what better way to relax than with the same tasty treat that’ll make this kid serve as my alibi?
Of that much Pixie felt reasonably confident. Although she hadn’t known him very long, Piggy had made it clear that he was extremely self-absorbed. But as irritating as that made spending time with him, it also meant that so long as he got what he wanted, he was unlikely to be aware of anything else. And since he got his ice cream, hopefully he won’t think to mention to anypony that I slipped out for a little while.
“Hey, how do I make this thing gimme a bowl and spoon?”
Piggy’s question brought Pixie out of her thoughts, looking at where the pudgy stallion was banging the top hat on the table again, blinking as she realized what she’d forgotten to get in her rush to get the goods and get back here. “Oh, um…”
“And I still need chocolate sauce too,” whined Piggy, lifting the hat to put his hoof inside it, as though he could scoop what he was looking for out of its recesses. “And whipped cream, and some bananas, and sprinkles, and-”
A knock cut him off, causing both ponies to look as the door to the solarium opened, revealing the aged butler that had dropped them off at the solarium before.
“Master Piggy,” began Trotsworth, “Miss Pixie, I do apologize for the interruption, but Miss Bank is requesting that both of you join her in the manor’s medical area at once.”
“Finally!” sighed Piggy, struggling to gather up the myriad cartons of ice cream. “Go get me a bowl and some toppings!” he snapped at Trotsworth as he waddled toward the door. “I’m gonna eat all these right in front of Granola Bar while Mama makes her apologize to me!”
“Very good, Master Piggy,” replied Trotsworth, and Pixie fought down a grin as she followed the little stallion out the door, certain now that River’s son didn’t even remember that she’d left.
Once again, the magician’s secrets are safe, she congratulated herself, before her elation faded under the weight of everything else that was going on.
I just hope Soft Mane and Fluttershy are too.