There was a small commotion outside the Golden Oak Library and Twilight was finding it increasingly difficult to focus on her studies over the noise. Her curiosity hadn’t been piqued enough for her to investigate, but her levels of annoyance were slowly increasing. A burst of laughter made her stand up and shut the window that the noise had been coming in through. It only helped in the slightest.
The laughter became a dull roar of amused cheers and shouts. Twilight decided she could take no more and threw the window open. Her eyes scanned the street below until she found the source of all the noise. A large portion of the town’s population had gathered outside the library to watch a street performer.
“Excuse me!” Twilight shouted to the ponies below. Her shout was ignored as more laughter came from the crowd. Twilight slammed the window shut and trotted out of her room. Even on the staircase, she could hear the crowd outside. Just what was so amusing?
She opened the front door to the library and pushed past several ponies until she was at the center of the crowd. There was a single performer entertaining the mass of ponies, and Twilight glared at the pony. The black and white pony paid her no mind as it continued its routine.
The pony got up on its rear hooves and began pushing against an unseen obstruction. It leaned all its weight into moving the object, but made no progress. The crowd snickered and Twilight simply tilted her head in confusion.
“There’s nothing there,” she said, failing to understand what the performer was doing. The performer raised its glove-covered front hooves and pretended to spit into them, then rubbed them together furiously. It tried once more to move the object and its rear hooves slid out when the object refused to yield. The crowd laughed at the pony’s frustration.
The performer looked at the object only it could see and tilted the black beret on its head so it was partially obscuring its painted face. With extreme determination, the performer charged at the object, stopping the second it made contact. Twilight stared in awe; it was like the performer had actually hit a solid object.
Twilight wandered into the performer’s area and waved her hoof where the object should have been. Her hoof passed through the air unobstructed and the performer looked up at her. The face paint made the performer have a perpetual smile, but it did not look happy at having its act interrupted.
“What are you doing? There’s nothing here,” Twilight stated. The performer stared at her as it slid off the object and hit the ground. The crowd laughed and Twilight looked around, still confused as to what they found humorous. The performer stood up and brushed off its black and white striped shirt. A grin slowly formed on its face and it took several steps back from Twilight.
The strange pony began acting like it was twirling around a lasso and the crowd cheered. Twilight just stared at the performer with a bemused expression. Her expression soon changed when the performer released the lasso and Twilight felt something land around her neck. She bucked back on her rear hooves and felt the unseen rope slide over her front hooves and wrap around her midsection.
“What-what’s going on?!” the bewildered purple unicorn shouted. The invisible lasso tightened and she tried using her magic to remove it. Her magic did nothing and she started to panic, all the while, the crowd was laughing hysterically.
The performer looked to its audience and smiled before lowering its beret in determination. Twilight started sliding across the ground as the performer reeled in lengths of the rope binding her. She planted her hooves firmly and began pulling against the rope.
Several cheers went through the crowd as the two ponies played tug of war with a rope none could see. The performer was a much a smaller mare than Twilight, and she slid through the dirt as Twilight resisted. She continued reeling in more of the rope, bringing herself nose to nose with Twilight.
“How are you doing this?” Twilight demanded, staring into the performer’s unblinking red eyes. The strange mare smiled, and without a word, released the rope. Twilight felt the tension around her midsection disappear, and watched as the mare ran around her.
The mare began pushing several unseen barriers around Twilight, and before the unicorn realized what was going on, she was trapped in an invisible box. After jumping up to shut the lid, the performer turned to her audience and bowed. Twilight could see them cheering, but could hear nothing. She tried to walk forward and bumped into one of the barriers.
The crowd began pointing and laughing at Twilight, causing the performer to turn around. She walked up to the imprisoned mare and smiled deviously. Twilight pounded against the walls of her prison and tried to break out. Panic began setting in, and Twilight felt the sting of tears in her eyes. She had no idea what was going on or why the ponies found it funny.
Her horn glowed, but she couldn’t teleport out of the box, nor could she do any damage to walls that somehow surrounded her. She curled up into a ball and sobbed helplessly. The noise of the crowd returned suddenly, and Twilight looked up to see the performer looking down at her. The mare was acting like she’d opened a door to Twilight’s cell, and she had a hoof extended out toward Twilight.
Twilight looked at the mare and then to the gloved hoof she was holding out. After a moment’s hesitation, Twilight allowed herself to be hoisted up by the performer. The crowd cheered and the performer bowed, indicating for Twilight to do the same. Her knees shook, but the unicorn took a bow for the cheering ponies.
Slowly, the crowd dispersed, leaving just the two mares outside the library. The mare lifted off her beret, tilted it toward Twilight, and gave a little nod before putting it back on.
“Wait a second, you’re not a unicorn,” Twilight said after realizing the mare’s head was devoid of a horn. “How did you do all that?”
The performer smiled, but said nothing. She trotted off into the town, leaving Twilight thoroughly confused. The unicorn turned to the spot she’d been put in a box and waved her hoof through the air. Her hoof passed through the air without hitting anything solid.
“There has to be an explanation,” Twilight said, returning to the library for some extensive research.