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// Never A One Trick Pony! 
// Story: The Magician 
// by Nidle 
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	"Ladies and gentlecolts, I bring you...Mike the Magician!", the announcer screams, causing the whole area to light up with cheers. The curtain rises and more ponies scream out incoherently. I smile to myself, knowing that this show will be my best one yet. Standing up, I do a couple warm-ups and slowly walk towards the middle of the stage. I raise my left hand, and doves start to fly out of my sleeves. I then raise my right hand, causing fire to spew out of my palm, making the giant crowd cheer even harder than before. I give a simple bow, causing my head to fall, gaining a gasp from the audience. My body acting comically and looking for its missing piece, laughter erupting from the foals.

I can't help but laugh as the body misses me by a couple inches, then finally takes me and screws me back on. Pretending to sit on an invisible chair, I put my finger and thumb to my chin, mimicking a famous piece of art, then snap my fingers together. Creating balls of flame in both my hands, I spin around, making a ring of rainbow fire. The crowd looks on in wonder at how beautiful the ring was, then quickly start to cheer once more. Spinning my left hand, a magician's hat appears with a puff of smoke. I do the oldest trick in the book, but instead of a rabbit, I pull out a manticore instead. The crowd gasp in horror, some screaming. I simply look on with indifference, then snap my fingers. The manticore bursts into smoke and leaps onto thin air around the crowd. Slowly dissipating near one of the fillies who wanted to see if it was really there.

I smile at her innocent curiosity, taking in the moment of happiness and bewilderment that is the aura of the crowd. The next few minutes were just me playing with the four elements and doing different tricks. The stage went dark, and the crowd was starting to get a little worried, hoping that nothing went wrong, but I knew. I knew that it was time. I light up two torches and spin them around in my palms. I stop, lift them up, then swallow one at a time, the crowd looking speechless. Then I burst into flame and disappear from the stage. A few seconds later the whole area fills with cheers and words of praise. This goes on for a few minutes before the announcer from before steps back onto the stage, giving his usual speech and directions. I watch from the crowd, no one taking notice of me.

"Boy, that was a wonderful show wasn't it folks!", the crowd cheers wildly, "Let me tell you all something, in all my years in the entertainment business, I have never seen such a variety of simple yet powerful magic come into play like this! Not even from the most talented unicorns from Canterlot can do the tricks he can! It's simply amazing!"

The crowd simultaneously agrees, some even taking the time to cross their forelegs and nod their heads. The announcer pauses for a second, then coughs.

"Ladies and gentlecolts, I thank you for making this performance one of the best we've ever had. Now if you look to your right, there's an exit to the signing booth for those of you with merchandise that want it signed by the great mage himself. To your left is another exit filled with snacks of every kind. You can help yourselves and thank you for a wonderful show!"
The crowd cheers with gusto, then file out. Some going left, and some going right. I take the right exit, sneaking past many just to get up to the front. That's when one Mare with a cream colored coat notices me, then announces my presence to the whole crowd.

"Oh sweet Celestia, there he is!" They all screamed in unison, causing me to jump a bit.. They all crowded around me, pulling out the merchandise they bought out of their saddlebags and shoving it literally in my face, demanding that I sign theirs first. With my hand up defensively, I could only think of one thing to do at a time like this.

"Everypony please, calm yourselves! I'll sign all the merchandise you have, so please just let me get to the desk in one piece!" I screamed, which caused all the fans to immediately line up in a single file. It left me wide-eyed and confused for moment, but I quickly shook myself out of my own stupor. While most equines here are well behaved and orderly, I didn’t expect all of them to just stand in a straight line. Especially with how much chaos there was a second ago.

"Well, that went way~ better than expected." I walked to the desk and sit on one of the wooden chairs. Though they may seem comfortable from a certain perspective, they were well far off from being considered seat material,and to top it all off, they are freakin’ small!

'God these are so freaking small. Can't they make one a one-size-fits-all like they do with most of the beds they have around Equestria?'

I called up the first pony, which happened to be two fillies. They both looked quite young, so I couldn’t help but believe them to be sisters. The younger one handed me hand me a mage hat, gaining a smile from me. While most of my merchandise sells well, the mage hat is never really sold. I gave them a bright smile and happily signed it. With my signature on the hat, the two fillies’ smiled brightly, like they had just won a million bits. It brought metaphorical tears to my eyes, because I simply love seeing ponies smile like that. It's what makes my job worth doing and If I couldn't see their smiles, then it wouldn't be worth jack putting on the shows I spend hours coming up with. The signing process lasted most of the night, most of the time wasted by two stallions fighting over who’s colt was in line first, to which both were simply lifted up by magic and sent to the very back of the line by one of my hired bodyguards. I still see no point in them when I could’ve defused that situation without the need for using magic.

I leaned back and let out a long suppressed sigh, stretching my hands up into the air and popping a few joints. Feeling relaxed, I looked around the signing area. Not a single pony was in sight, so I simply get up and walk towards the dressing room, at least that was the plan, until I overheard a private conversation between the a wealthy business colt and a dangerous looking mare. It looked like the stallion was giving the mare a stern talking to.

“We need this job, otherwise everything we worked to build will come crumbling down! Do you not understand the severity of this situation!?” The stallion questioned. The only response he was given was a long blade pointed at his throat.

“And what part of ‘I got this’ do you not understand? I do my job and you do yours. That was the agreement we came to when you built the business. Don’t tell me how to do my job, capiche!” She removed the blade and sheathed it. The stallion mumbling out of fear.

“Then what are your means of protecting the moon dust? We still-” He was cut off by a swift smack across the cheek.

“You imbecile! Don’t ever speak about that in public! You never know who or what may be listening in!”

The stallion only hung his head and apologized, leaving the area while his accomplice stayed behind for a few minutes before doing the same. I just stood there, shaking with excitement.

‘This could be one of the biggest heists I will ever pull off if executed right! Moon dust is so valuable and dangerous that if you were even caught with a sprinkle of it, you could be jailed in Canterlot for a century!’

I laughed silently for a bit before composing myself and walking away, but if anyone was there watching me, they would’ve thought I was wallowing in a pit of ecstasy. This is what I do; this is my midnight act!