//------------------------------// // magics // Story: Clandestine // by gloamish //------------------------------// "And now, Trixie the Great and Powerful and Redeemed and etcetera, will perform... the Vanishing Act!" The aforementioned Trixie reared onto her back hooves, cape billowing behind her. The ponies of Ponyville who had come to see her act applauded lightly, hooves stamping on grass in quiet approval. She grinned to herself, the usual warm assurance that came with a crowd focused on her flooding her body, with the added spice of knowing she had a few new tricks to show off. Incorporating 'real' magic in her magic act had certainly made things confusing for Trixie to explain. Of course, the impressive part of her magic wasn't the magic itself — teleportation was a mid-level spell, requiring only a moderate amount of energy, a light scattering of glyphs, and a very clear idea of your target's destination. The work of magicians (even those who were also mages) was instead in misdirection. A gryphon's sleight of talon acts could be broken down to simple manipulation of the digits, but it was their composition and context which formed the act. So: making a pony disappear? Foal's play. Not magic at all. Making a pony disappear without any of the flashes, sparkling, or 'poof' noises that typically signaled magic? Now that was magic. Jeez, why was magic even called magic, when magic was already called magic? It made Trixie's head spin. Okay, from here on, Trixie decided, proper magic would still be called magic, and the inferior, boring kind of magic would be called... blagic. She nodded to herself, glad to have cleared up her internal monologue a little. Twilight looked up at the stage with a puzzled expression. She leaned over to Starlight. "Is standing totally silent while nodding to herself normally part of the act?" she whispered. "Yeah," Starlight responded, "she does this." Despite that, Starlight hadn't taken her eyes off the stage, excitedly waiting for the act to begin in earnest. "For this trick, I will need a volunteer from the audience!" The showmare's gaze roved across the ponies in attendance, before landing on Starlight Glimmer. This was planned, of course — how could she perform this trick without her faithful assistant? "You there!" She thrust a hoof out, meeting Starlight's eyes. "Just one?" Starlight responded with a raised eyebrow, not getting up from her seat. This was not part of the plan. Trixie scowled at her assistant and her incompatibility with plans. It was no wonder that she and Twilight didn't get along, the former always being dragged by the latter to bedrooms or pantries or supply closets to be delivered a firm talking-to. "One whole pony! Not half a pony, not a quarter-pony, one whole pony, vanished!" "Oh I mean, sure, impressive, but... Vanishing two ponies at once, that'd really be something." The crowd ooo'd in anticipation. Trixie's eye twitched. Refusing to let herself be upstaged, she blustered, "Very well! Tonight, you shall all bear witness to the Great and Powerful Trixie vanishing not one, but two ponies into thin air!" She wasn't going to let Starlight get one over on her. And just to ensure her 'friend' wouldn't get a chance to hit her with that trademark smug grin, she'd make this uncomfortable. "You! Purple pony!" "Twilight," the purple pony said flatly. "We've dueled. Multiple times." "You shall be my second volunteer!" "I don't think you understand how volunteering works, Trixie." "My name," Trixie growled, horn sparking, "is Trixie the Great and Powerful!" Rolling her eyes, Twilight stood and, with a shimmer of her own horn, teleported onto the stage. A moment later, Starlight joined her in the same way (by teleporting, not rolling her eyes. Although Starlight's eye rolling was likely powerful enough to be classified as a form of blagic.) Tentatively, then with growing enthusiasm, everypony began applauding, some even whistling at the incredible feat of vanishing two ponies into thin air. "No!" Trixie squealed at them, waving her forelegs in the air. "That wasn't the trick!! Teleportation is boring!" The applause died down and she grumbled, stomping over to a box the height and width of a single pony. "My," she ground her teeth, "lovely assistants, please, step into this box." She opened the door, revealing a small space inside the depth of a single pony. Twilight and Starlight looked at each other, then back to the box, then back at each other, then yelped in unison as Trixie moved behind them and began shoving. They tumbled into the box in a tangle of hooves, only saved from falling out by Trixie slamming the door in their faces. "Mares, gentlecolts, and ponies miscellaneous, teleportation is the simple act of being in one place, and then being in another place. Any among you are capable of that! Vanishing, however, involves a span of being nowhere at all, something nopony can manage! Except for Trixie, in her wisdom, her might, her lookoverthere!" She thrust a hoof off stage right, the audience all whipping their heads around hard enough for a susurration of manes. With a flash, a sparkle, and a 'poof' noise, all covered by a well-timed smoke bomb, Twilight and Starlight vanished. The muffled stampede of applause. "Agh! Get your hoof out of my face!" "Didn't know you were into that, Twilight." The audible sounds of kerfuffling and pony spit. "Ugh. We're under the stage, I guess? I was worried, there." "You doubt my teaching, teacher?" "I doubt your student. Remember the first time she teleported something? We could've ended up in Tartarus." "Why would Trixie be thinking of Tartarus?" "It's where I think of when I picture Trixie." A muffled snort and giggle. "Be nice, Twilight!" "You're her friend! Tell her to be nice to me!" "But it's so cute when she annoys you and your muzzle gets all scrunched up..." A growl. "Yeah, like that! And..." A whisper. "I think it's hot when you get jealous." A scandalized gasp. "Well, do you think it's hot when I refuse to kiss you?" "Noooo!! I set all this up so we could do makeouts! You have to reward me like a good teacher!" "Manipulating Trixie isn't a class, Starlight." A snort. "If it was, it'd be in Friendship Kindergarten. I... shouldn't be getting jealous, anyway. I'm sorry." "Pffft. I get jealous all the time! Remember when you went out on that overnight birdwatching trip with Fluttershy?" "Not clearly, but I definitely remember how much attention you gave me after I came back..." A dreamy tone. "Exactly! We're both bad ponies. Just for each other, so it's fine, right?" "I don't know..." "Awww, c'mon Twilight. I had a whole town! Is it so evil to want just one little pony all for myself??" An eep. "Could you have found a better target for your possessiveness than the Princess of Friendship?" A snicker. "I can't help myself. I'm a mare of ambitions." A hum of breath. "Now c'mere." Finally, the familiar sound of sloppy pony makeouts. All too soon, a shimmer of magic and coughs from the depths of a smoke-filled box. Gasps from the audience, though not those of impressed ponies. Starlight and Trixie, in unison: "Ta-daaaaa!"