It has been three days since Trixie has gone into the box.
She looked down the clear flexible glass like material and made note of how far the ground was below her, and looked up at the solid wood top above. A small smile crept upon her face as she saw the gathering ponies below her begin to flash pictures.
This was it, time for Trixie to begin her escape.
The cloud holding the box from above was bucked away from existence, and the box began to tumble to the ground...
A Week Ago...
Trixie sat across from Twilight at the Books and Branches library, both were sipping politely on tea as a silence filled the air. Not a tense silence, but one of those comfortable silences that only could be found in a library.
Twilight looked up from the piece of paper before her and looked Trixie in the eye, "So, let me get this straight, you designed this trick all on your own?"
Trixie nodded as she smiled with pride, "Yes I did. The design is based loosely on the great Hoofdini's famous escape box, but I added these elements to make it more... today."
Twilight looked at the detailed blueprints with an impressed expression on her face, "And you want me to...?" She let the question hang in the air, and Trixie picked up instantly.
"I need you to help me get the publicity machine rolling. While I am great and powerful, and Trixie could easily craft this perfection, I want everypony to know that the only unicorn that bested Trixie built this for me to escape out of."
"So, its a trick."
Trixie sighed a little bit before shaking her head, "Not a trick, its more like... A distraction of the fact. They think you are better at magic than I, and you sealed me so I can not escape! Its called false proof, or slight of hoof. A false hope that simply because somepony else traps me, that I can not get out."
Twilight raised a hoof in protest as she glared at Trixie, "But that isn't how magic works!"
"Not magic!" Trixie exclaimed as she slammed a hoof to the table, "This is entertainment! It has nothing to do with what you learn at unicorn school and everything to do with placing the crowd in suspended disbelief!"
Twilight gave off a small sigh as she rubbed a spot on her forehead, "Ok, but if you want to pull off this stunt we need supplies and I can't just pull bits from thin air to buy the materials. How are you going to pay for this?"
The Great and Powerful Trixie rubbed her hooves together as she smiled, "We get a sponsor..."
An hour later Twilight and Trixie found themselves in Ponyville's east end of town. Here the river ran around behind the thatched roofed cottages and shops, and the streets were twisted tight alleyways. Twilight was leading the way through the streets as Trixie followed and tried to look as inconspicuous as possible with a wizards hat and cape. "Where are we even going Twilight Sparkle? This neighborhood doesn't seem so, savory."
Twilight smiled to herself as she kept leading the way, "There is a store here that just started out a few months ago. Its doing well, but has been looking to advertise more."
"How do you know that she could even afford to sponsor us Twilight?"
"Trust me," Twilight said as they rounded another corner, "This pony is on the verge of success! All she needs now is a little nudge and it could benefit you both."
Twilight stopped in front of a clean little shop and smiled, "Ah where here!" She pointed up to the sign of the unassuming store.
"Lyra's Music Exchange and Artifacts Boutique." Trixie read aloud, "A music shop? What would a musician know about magic?"
Twilight opened the shop door and stepped in, "I think you would be surprised."
Inside the shop, guitars, cellos, lyres, drums and an assortment of wind and brass instruments lined the walls. On the back wall was a black painted sign with crimson scrip that read as follows.
Music is the magic that all know, any can learn, and few can master.
S.S.
Under the sign there was a high polished counter with a brass cash register and several of those last minute things a musician might need, like a guitar pick, or strings for there violin, drum keys and sticks, and those little screws that were impossible to find anywhere other than here that held the pick up for your electric guitar.
Behind the counter sat an aquamarine unicorn. She was wearing a little vest with a million pockets filled with little tools for fixing and tuning musical equipment. At the moment she was leaning over the counter from her seated position, carefully soldering together the inner working wiring of an electric bass guitar. The mare didn't even look up from her work as she greeted the pair, "Welcome to Lyra's Music Exchange and Artifacts Boutique, I'll be right with you."
Trixie opened her mouth to protest having to wait when twilight placed a hoof over her barrel and shook her head. After a few more minutes the mare behind the counter placed the soldering gun in its holder and looked up at last, "Oh, hi Twilight! Can I help you?"
Twilight smiled politely, "Yes you can. Tell me, do you remember The Great and Powerful Trixie?"
Lyra looked over at the blue unicorn and frowned, "Aren't you the one that took over Ponyville and ordered me to make a lyre without a body and only strings?"
Trixie rubbed a hoof behind her head, "Maybe..."
Lyra gave off a sigh and pulled out a set of strings ranging in size out in a glow of magic. Using the magic she pulled the strings taught and plucked out the basic music scale, "Thatt'le be four hundred bits."
"Wait, I didn't actually want the thing!" Trixie started as she backed away slightly, "It was meant to keep you busy!"
"Too bad, I made it, you pay it."
"But The Great and Powerful Trixie doesn't have that kind of money!"
"Well then looks like you don't get it now do you!" Lyra said as she placed the strings back in a drawer, "Now how can I help you Twilight?" She said in a much kinder tone.
Twilight shuffled her hooves a bit as she talked, "Well you see, Trixie here has a new trick, but she needs a sponsor to make the trick work properly, and we thought maybe if you loaned us the cash, we can advertise you as the sponsor of the trick?" It came out like a question, even though Twilight did not mean it to.
Lyra looked at the two ponies and frowned, "If you want to talk business like that, you have to come into the back room." She then opened a door behind her reveling a dark room with no windows or lamps. As she walked in, the darkness enrobed her.
Trixie and Twilight looked at each other and shrugged as they followed into the room, only for the door to slam shut behind them.
A soft light glowed across the dark room, bobbing and weaving about. Lyra was sitting up in a big arm chair with her forehooves tapping together as she sucked on a novelty lollipop with a red light glowing on the tip of the stick, "Please, have a seat."
The two ponies gulped and made there way to the desk and sat on the floor before it. "No no no, in the chairs upright, I want to see your faces."
The two ponies got up and sat upright in the slightly cushioned chairs, as there eyes adjusted to the dim lighting they looked at Lyra, who was now wearing a black pin striped suit and fedora. "So, you want me to loan you money."
Twilight nodded and began to speak up, "Yes so she can-"
"Don't answer for your friend. I want to hear the proposal from Trixie herself."
Trixie gulped and tried to give off her signature smug smile, but it came off more as a worried grimace, "I need money, to build a modern version of Hoofdini's glass box so I can escape from it."
The silhouette of Lyra leaned back in the chair and lightly tapped her hooves together, "Good, now... How much money are we talking here?"
Trixie began to sweat in her seat as Lyra calmly sat before her, acting like a mob boss, "About a thousand bits for the equipment and to pay for help."
"Enough, I have come to a decision." Lyra then pulled out the lollipop and was able to speak more clearly, and as a result less menacingly, "I'll sponsor the event. I'll front the cash, you put my shops name out there. Be it on the box itself, or on the stage, or on a sign nearby letting them know who brought this to them. Got it?"
Trixie and Twilight nodded, "Yes I got it, you got it Twilight?"
"I got it, you got it?"
"I got it, we got it."
"Good. Now, as a sponsor I am paying for good advertisement, if it fails to bring me customers I will garnish half of your payment for this gig. Clear?"
Both ponies before Lyra let off a yes as Lyra stood up, "The lets shake on it."
The two ponies took turns shaking Lyra's right hoof before heading out again. "Remember good advertisements."