//------------------------------//
// 1 
// Story: Showtime 
// by Shingo 
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Nearly three dozen ponies sat in front of an outdoor stage that had recently been set up. A series of dim lights outlined the stage, lighting up a lilac curtain. Two spotlights stood beside it shining light into the sky. Murmurs of curiosity moved around the crowd. Some of these voices were ecstatic while others were bored. The spotlights turned to the stage, silencing the entire audience. The curtains rose revealing a podium with two lanky unicorn stallions behind it. Both were a pale olive colour with a red and white mane and tail. They had straw hats over their heads, black bow ties around their necks, and stripped vests secured on their torsos. The unicorns were identical in every detail except the one standing closest to the edge of the stage had a red mustache. They smiled out at their audience.

“Good evening fillies and gents!” the left stallion exclaimed. “And welcome, to our humble stage. I am Flim, and this is my brother Flam.”

“You may have stumbled across our caravan by accident,” Flam continued. “You may have come here to be entertained, to see something beyond your wildest imagination, or you may be here because a significant other dragged you along. Whatever the case, I can promise you that you will see something spectacular.”

Flim walked to the left side of the stage. “We however, will not be the ones to show you that,” he said. “Oh no, we are but the assistants of the most magical unicorn in Equesetria. A unicorn whose magic can make you question the nature of magic.”

“As insane as my brother sounds, he’s right,” Flam said. “Here you will see feats of magic that not even the princesses can recreate. Here, you will see magic beyond comprehension.”

Flim and Flam took off their hats. “So without further ado, allow us to introduce the pony who can accomplish the impossible. Fillies and gents, the Great…”

“And Powerful…”

“Trixie!” the twins cheered in unison. A puff of sparkling navy smoke appeared at the center of the stage. When it faded away, an azure unicorn mare with a silver mane and tail stood where the smoke had appeared. She wore a purple pointed hat and cloak, both with a star pattern embedded on them. The audience clapped as she made her entrance. 

“Hello my little ponies,” Trixie greeted. “Welcome to our show. Though I adore the introduction that my assistants have given me, I must admit that they are wrong.” Flim and Flam gasped in fake shock. 

“You will not see magic tonight, no. I do not do magic,” she continued. A cheshire grin stretched across her face. “I do something better than magic.” Flim walked towards Trixie. He reached into his hat, pulling out a small stone ring with arcane characters on it.

“This, is a magical nullifier,” Flim explained. “As the name implies, it cancels out all magic.” He placed it on Trixie’s horn. Magenta light radiated off of the ring’s characters. Trixie attempted to light up her horn. Instead of an aura forming around it, sparks flew around the base of the ring. “You can all plainly see that it is impossible for her to use her magic.” Flim produced a second ring, placing it on his horn.

“And yet, you will see things tonight that only magic can explain,” Trixie boasted. Flam mimicked his brother, placing a magical nullifier over his horn. Trixie tapped the stage twice. A table with a box the length of a pony on top of it slid behind her and Flim. Trixie walked behind the table, picking up a hacksaw behind the box. “So, let’s begin. Which one of my lovely assistants is willing to help?”

“Him!” Flim and Flam yelled, pointing to each other. The audience chuckled. Trixie bent down under the table.

“That’s alright.” She pulled up a second box and pushed it beside the first. “I brought two.” The twins sighed. Flim climbed into one box while Flam approached the table.

“The things I do for love,” they said. 

The show continued as one would expect. Trixie, along with Flim and Flam, performed stunt after stunt that could only be done with magic. She removed the twins’ heads letting their bodies to roam around on stage on their own, made a rope move around as if it were alive by doing nothing but play a flute, made Flim and Flam walk above the audience as if they were walking on solid ground, and she got a few children in the audience to fold origami animals before bringing them to life. With each trick, the audience’s applause grew louder and louder.

She removed her cape from covering Flam, revealing a marble statue sharing his likeness. Trixie punched the statue, wincing in pain as she pulled back. Flim placed a pick on the statue and gently tapped the end of it with a mallet. The marble crumbled revealing a still living Flam. The audience cheered.

Flam shook the remaining rubble from his coat. “Well,” he said. “I say you captured my likeness perfectly seeing as you did it literally.”

“It was the only way to proper way to do it, love.” Trixie pulled Flam down for a kiss. Flim shuffled a few steps away from them. He coughed into his hoof, making them break apart. 

“As much as I enjoy seeing you two kiss, we have one last thing to do,” he said. Flim turned to the audience. “And unfortunately, it is the saddest part of the show. We must end it.” A few of the audience members moaned in disappointment.

“I know, I know, but all good things must come to an end,” Trixie admitted. “Lucky for you, we like to end things with a bang.”

“Quite right,” Flam agreed. He walked to the podium. “And what better way than defying death itself?” Flam pressed a button on the podium. A series of gears started turning underneath the stage. The audience mumbled as something moved from behind the curtain. A ramp stood beside a suspended glass tank. The tank was full of water while there were heavy locks on its lid. Trixie and Flim walked up the ramp.

“I laugh at the face of death,” Trixie cackled. “Fillies and gents, I am going to escape from that locked tank in a minute.” They stopped just over the opening of the tank.

“But escaping from a locked space is child’s play for her.” Flim wrapped five chains around Trixie. All of her legs were bound when he placed six locks over them. Flim pulled a sack up her, leaving her neck exposed. Again, he wrapped and locked chains around her. Trixie sat on the edge of the tank.

“Why don’t we make things more interesting?” she asked. Trixie nodded at Flam, who pressed another button. Forty sharp spikes rose up from underneath the tank. “If I do not escape from my watery prison in fifty seconds, the crane holding it will let it fall onto those spikes, giving me an appointment with the grim reaper.” The audience gasped. “Don’t worry fillies and gents, I’ve never done this before, so you know that I’m safe.” 

Flim pushed his lips forward, pressing his against Trixie’s. She pulled back with a smirk. “Just a little something for luck,” he said. Flim pulled the sack over her head and pushed her into the water. The sack sunk to the bottom while he closed the top of the tank. Like with Trixie’s restraints, Flim locked the tank. He jumped down the ramp to the stage where his brother stood.

The sack wriggled and writhed as the audience stared at the tank. Something dropped against the glass.

“And it seems like Trixie has just removed her first lock,” Flam commented. “We’re ten seconds in and she’s working on the second.” Two more objects hit the bottom.

“My brother seems to be mistaken, she’s working on the fourth as we speak,” Flim chuckled. There were two more hits against the glass. “My mistake, she’s working on the last. Seventeen seconds and she’s nearly finished with her first restraints.” The final lock hit the glass. The bag moved around freely, rolling around in its confined space. The audience held its breath. The opening of the sack faced the bottom.

“Don’t worry folks, everything’s fine,” Flim assured. “Trixie knows what she’s doing. Though we’re twenty nine seconds in, she still has plenty of time.” Bubbles floated from the sack’s opening.

“Something’s wrong,” Flam panicked. “Dear Celestia, something’s wrong!” The audience followed Flam’s example and started worrying. 

“No need to worry folks, have a little faith, we still have...” Flim moved his hoof in the air. He stopped and his eyes widened. “Five seconds.” As he finished, the top of the crane released the tank. Ponies screamed in terror as it fell towards the spikes. The glass shattered over it leaving the frames circling the spikes. Many of the spikes had punctured the bag, letting a dark red substance leak through it. Everypony stared in horror. Flim and Flam removed their hats.

“Fillies and gents,” Flim trembled. “W-we regret to inform you that Trixie has not escaped, and that she’s gone.” Flam dropped to his knees, tears freely flowing from his eyes. Flim tapped his brother’s shoulders. “I know, I loved her too.” 

Flam wiped his tears away. He hopped up with a wide smile. “Oh well,” he said in a cheery voice. Flam rolled his hat back onto his head. “Tis better to have loved and lost then to have never loved at all.” Every pony, except Flim, stared at him in shock. He jumped off the stage to the front row of the audience. Flam walked in front of them with his hat out. 

“Tips would be greatly appreciated for this night so that we can…” Flam stopped. He turned his head to a midnight blue unicorn stallion with a cornflower blue mane and tail. 

“Hello there, you’re the most beautiful pony I’ve ever seen.” Flam pressed his lips against the stallion’s. His eyes widened while a green pegasus stallion fumed beside him. The blue pony’s eyes closed as he happily returned the kiss. Other audience members stared slack jawed.

The green stallion pulled a hoof back. He attempted to punch Flam but was stopped by the blue pony. They pulled back, each smirking at him.

“I’m sorry, dear,” the blue stallion said. His voice became lighter and lighter with each word. “But I’m afraid that I’ve become quite fond of these two in the short time we’ve known them.” At the end of his speech, his voice mirrored Trixie. He stood up, reaching to his left. When he threw his hoof up, a white cloth hid his appearance. The cloth dropped to the ground, revealing a perfectly healthy and hatless Trixie. Flam placed her hat back on her head. The green pony and audience members stared at them dumfounded. 

“Confused?” Flim asked. Everypony nodded. “Then we’ve done our job. Your boyfriend is right here.” Flim threw a small pellet in front of the stallion. A small explosion of smoke burst upwards, revealing the blue stallion, just as confused as everypony else. Flim, Flam, and Trixie all removed the rings on their horns while the audience roared with glee. The latter two climbed back on stage. 

“And with that final feat of magic, we have to end our show,” Trixie said. They each raised their right foreleg. “We hope you enjoyed it. Goodnight everypony.” The three bowed in unison as the curtain lowered itself.