Through the Eyes of Nightmare

by Mister E-Nonymous

Chapter 9

Twilight was trying out some new spells with Moonlight by her side. Moonlight was learning some spells. But she was already at Twilight's level. She was learning things so fast.

"Wow!" Spike said in awe. "You two have been learning a lot of new spells."

"Indeed," Twilight said. "Moonlight might be a filly, but she's also an alicorn. Now, we've done 24 spells."

Spike was listing down all of the spells the two have been doing in their magic. Spike then said, "Alright. Time for one more spell." Moonlight was panting heavily.

Twilight put a hoof on Moonlight's back and asked, "Why don't you rest for a bit? I think you've done enough magic."

"Okay," Moonlight said, walking over to the side.

"Alright, Twilight, time for a growth spell," Spike said. "Come on, Twilight. You can do it!"

"Okay, here goes," Twilight said before lighting up her horn. She then concentrated, and then a black mustache grew out above Spike's lips.

"Ha ha! Ya did it! Growing magic, that's number twenty-five," Spike said as he turned to check off the last box on the list. "Twenty-five different types of tricks and counting. And I think this is the best trick so far." Spike then looked in front of a mirror. Imagining that he was alone with Rarity. "Hello, Rarity. What's that? Aw, it's nothin', just my awesome mustache." He then laughed.

Twilight smiled and said, "Sorry, Romeo. As attractive and enticing as you look, it's just for practice, and it's gotta go." Twilight then used her magic to undo the mustache.

"Wait!" Spike shouted, trying to block the spell from getting rid of his mustache, but it didn't work, and Twilight used her magic to remove Spike's mustache. "Aw, rats!" That made Twilight giggle.

"Wait a minute," Moonlight said. "You said 'Romeo'. As in Romeo and Juliet? That was an old romance book back in my world."

"Really?" Twilight asked. "Huh. Must be some weird coincidence." Twilight then walked over towards Moonlight and said, "Perhaps there are some other links from your world to ours. We'll have to tell the princesses about this. But for right now, how about we get some sun?"

Moonlight nodded, got up and then the three of them headed on outside.

Twilight, Moonlight and Spike were walking through the streets of Ponyville until two unicorn colts ran past the three of them. They were the two colts, Snips and Snails. They said that there was a new unicorn in town, who claims to be the most talented unicorn in all of Equestria. But Spike said that Twilight deserves that title.

They headed over to Town Square where a bunch of ponies were gathered in front of a cart. Twilight, Moonlight and Spike went through the crowd as a mare was making an announcement from the cart, which it unfolded into a performance stage.

"Come one, come all! Come and witness the amazing magic of the Great and Powerful Trixie!"

In a puff of smoke, there came a blue unicorn mare with a purple cape and magician's hat with blue and yellow stars and dots.

"Watch in awe as the Great and Powerful Trixie performs the most spectacular feats of magic ever witnessed by pony eyes!" The mare boasted as a bunch of fireworks came out of the cart. The crowd was standing in awe, but some ponies weren't too happy about what the mare just said.

"My, my, my! What boasting!" Rarity said.

"Come on, nopony's as magical as Twi— Twi— Twi— Oh!" Spike tried to say Twilight's name, but was too caught off by Rarity. He then tried to come up with something to make Rarity think that he looks cool.

"There's nothing wrong with being talented, is there?" Twilight asked, watching the performance.

"Nothin' at all, 'cep'n when someone goes around showin' it off like a school filly with fancy new ribbons," Applejack said.

"Oh, come on," Moonlight said. "I've seen stuff like this before back in my world."

"You have?" Twilight asked. That also got the attention of Applejack, Rainbow Dash and Rarity.

"Yeah," said Moonlight. "On TV."

"T... V?" Rarity asked, confused. "What are you talking about?"

"Right," Moonlight said. "The closest thing you have to a TV is a movie projector. Well, anyway, it's this box thing that shows a bunch of shows and plays made up by many humans and has multiple choices of entertainment. Anyway, there's this show that involves a pair of great stage magicians called Penn and Teller. They know hundreds of magic tricks."

"Oh, tricks," Twilight said. "They don't use real magic, but they give off the illusion to impress the audience."

"Exactly," Moonlight said. "They have a show where a bunch of magicians try to fool Penn and Teller with a trick that they have no idea how the performer did it, and then try to perform with them in a show. But, usually, it's one performer that fools Penn and Teller. It seems that Trixie is just trying to impress the ponies of the show. She's just saying that she's really powerful just to get the crowds attention."

"Oh, I get it," Rainbow Dash said. "She's just trying to get attention. I know the feeling."

"But, is she really all that powerful?" Twilight asked.

"How about we keep quiet and watch the show?" Moonlight asked.

"I heard what you said, little filly," the voice of Trixie came when Moonlight was looking up at Rainbow Dash. Moonlight's eyes dilated when she was being talked to by Trixie. "And I must say, I appreciate that you make some naysayers not say any nays when I'm performing. Although, I was a little taken back when I saw your... appearance."

"My... appearance?" Moonlight asked.

"Yes," Trixie said. "I heard about you, Moonlight. I read the newspapers about you. And I cannot believe that you aren't really the dreaded Nightmare Moon. So, how about I make this a special performance, with you as my volunteer for a performance?"

That made the crowd gasp. Moonlight was taken aback by that, and then she went up to the stage. Twilight was getting worried that Moonlight might get hurt, but she tried to hold back her protective instincts.

"Now, my little volunteer," Trixie said to Moonlight. She then used her magic to pull out a total of 13 cards. "Pick a card, any card." Moonlight used her magic to pick out a single card. "Look at the card, but don't tell anypony what it is."

Moonlight took a look at her card. It was the Jack of clubs. Moonlight then put it back in.

"Alright," Trixie said as a glass box with a small water tower comes out of the back. "Now, I am going to get into this glass box. When I go into this box, the box will be filled with water, and before the water fills up completely, I am going to figure out which card you have chosen." Trixie then got into the tank, and used her magic to lock the box, which the lock was on top of the box. Then water started filling in the tank, making the crowd go out in shock.

"What is she doing?" Rainbow Dash asked.

"She's going to drown!" Rarity shouted.

Trixie smirked, and used her magic to pick up the deck of cards, which was outside the tank, and decided to shuffle the cards. She then said, "Now, it's time to pick out the card you picked." She then decided to pick a random card. Remember, Moonlight picked out the Jack of Clubs. Trixie then pulled out a random card, it being the 5 of Hearts, showing it to Moonlight and the audience. "Is this your card?"

Moonlight looked at the card, got confused and said, "No."

"What?" Trixie asked, slightly surprised. She then started picking out some more cards, trying to find the card that Moonlight picked. She picked out every card, but the Jack of Clubs was not there. But she then tried to unlock the cage, but the cage filled with water.

"Oh, no!" Twilight said. "We need to get her out of there!" Twilight then tried running up on stage, but then a puff of smoke came in, covering the glass box, and when the smoke cleared, Trixie disappeared. "Where'd she go?"

Then a puff of smoke came up from behind Moonlight, and Trixie appeared with a giant playing card, which was the Jack of Clubs. Trixie then asked, "Is this your card?"

Moonlight was surprised by that and said, "Yes! That's my card!"

The crowd then started applauding at Trixie's performance. Trixie then bowed and said, "No trick is impossible for... The Great and Powerful... Trrrixie!"

Spike was preparing dinner for the three of them. Twilight was looking through many books on stage magic. Twilight was smiling as she was reading it while Moonlight was reading some comic books.

"I can't believe that Trixie did such a really complicated trick," Twilight said. "That trick must've taken her years to perfect."

"Most magicians take years of practice just to perform certain tricks," Moonlight said. "Even Penn and Teller had practice on tricks similar to that. I've seen Penn and Teller do a trick like that on the internet."

"Internet?" Twilight asked. She then smiled, shook her head and said, "Now I believe you're making up words."

"Aren't all words made up?" Moonlight asked.

"Touché," Twilight said, smiling.

That made Spike laugh. But then, the ground started shaking. Moonlight then asked, "What's happening?!"

"I don't know!" Twilight said. Then the three of them headed outside to see what was going on, and they saw a giant, blue, starry bear rampaging through town.

"What is that?!" Moonlight asked, her legs shaking.

"Gah! An Ursa Major!" Spike said.

"I don't think that's an Ursa Major, Spike," Twilight said. Just then, they saw Trixie trying to subdue the beast with a rope. But the rope was tied against two toes of one of the paws.

"C'mon, Trixie!" Snips said. "You beat one of these Ursa Majors before."

"Yeah," Snails said. "You can do it!"

"I can't!" Trixie shouted. "I made up the fact that I beat an Ursa Major! I just wanted more fans for my magic tour!"

"What?!" Snips and Snails shouted.

Twilight looked around to see what she can do. She got an idea and used her magic for a wind spell. Some plants started playing some music, soothing the beast.

"Nice use of number 16, Twilight," Spike said.

Twilight then used her magic, straining herself, and lifted a water tower off of its pedestal, and taking it through a barn, and a bunch of cows were mooing.

"That's new," Spike said.

Twilight then gave the water tower full of milk to the beast, then she lifted the beast, sending it to the cave where it originally came from. Twilight was then exhausted.

"Mom?! Are you okay?" Moonlight asked, worried about her adopted mother.

"I... I'll be fine," Twilight said.

"Wow," Trixie said. "That... was the most fascinated thing I have ever seen in my life. I've seen a lot of things happen, but for you to tame an Ursa Major like that was just... Wow!"

"Yeah," Twilight said, getting her composure back. "But, I have something to tell you all. That wasn't an Ursa Major. It was actually an Ursa Minor."

"That... was an Ursa Minor?" Trixie asked.

"Than what does an Ursa Major look like?" Moonlight asked.

"You don't wanna know," Twilight said. "At least nopony got hurt, physically by the way."

Spike then turned towards Snips and Snails, and shouted, "Why would you two want to endanger the town by bringing an Ursa Minor into town?!"

"We just... wanted to see Trixie vanquish one like she said she did," Snips said.

"We thought that nopony would get hurt," Snails said. Both of them were ashamed of what they've done.

"You can't get whatever you want," Moonlight said. "Sometimes... you have to think about your actions before you do things, and ask yourself, is it the right thing to do?"

"Wow," Twilight said. "That was really wise, Moonlight. Where did you learn that?"

"I overheard one of the caretakers at my orphanage say it to one of the other orphans in my world," Moonlight said.

"You know what?" Trixie asked. "I think I'll head on out and try to perform without making ponies mad at me. I got a lot of things to think about when I'm on tour. Until next time." Trixie then threw down a smoke bomb and she disappeared.

Moonlight turned her head towards her right and saw Trixie loading up her cart. She then smiled and said, "At least she learned about humility."

"Yeah," Twilight said. "Now, let's head on home." Then all of the ponies went back to their homes.