//------------------------------// // Getting to Know One's Audience // Story: Stars in the Making // by Borsuq //------------------------------// “You’re all crazy!” “Right, we’re crazy,” Candy replied sarcastically. “Going out with an arch-rival of your ex for whom you obviously still have feelings for is totally normal.” As Whirlwind groaned, Starburst felt like echoing her. All she wanted to do was get back home, away from her friends. After they had finally stopped pestering her with advice as to how she should behave at her date with Starfall, she hoped she would finally be free. However, after the few obligatory teases, Annie, Candy and Claire had turned their attention to Whirlwind. Starburst, as a good friend, was demanded to stay as well, even if she didn’t have much to say. She let her mind wander as the others discussed just why they considered Whirlwind’s behaviour to be silly. The advices she had received, while probably useful on a normal date, were of little use for her. Starburst had no idea just where exactly Starfall was planning on taking her, but it was most certainly not a cinema, coffee house or a restaurant, neither was it any sport event or a celebration of some kind (unless somepony had added a new holiday to the calendar when she wasn’t looking). No, Starfall was taking her to some secluded place, where nopony would interrupt them and she could work out, for example. Starburst also didn’t know what Starfall was hoping to do on that date. Was his plan for her to practice while he would laze about? That didn’t seem quite like him… and the idea of him working out alongside of her also seemed unrealistic. Although Starburst could easily believe that his near perfect sense of balance and agility came after years of practice, it was a different sort of workout that she would be doing. Despite not knowing what to expect, she wasn’t nervous. Well, too nervous; this was, after all, her first date ever. However, Starburst had gotten to know that troublesome unicorn well enough to know that he wouldn’t have asked her out if he wasn’t confident to make the date enjoyable for her as well. Which was why she was really looking forward to tomorrow… despite some of the advices she had received from her friends. The first date serves for getting to know your significant other, Claire told her, about half an hour ago. Ask each other about your interests, goals, dreams, past- Yeah, great advice, Starburst thought, resisting an urge to facehoof. Should I first ask about his past, or maybe his family? She sighed. I suppose I could ask him about how he got that cutie mark... and try not to think about how he felt when he burned out the one on his right flank… As problematic as that part was, it wasn’t the worst of it. Learning about a significant other would mean that he would be asking questions as well. Even though they had gotten to know each other fairly well during this crazy week, Starburst knew that he couldn’t have picked up on every detail of her personality. And due to him interacting with her mostly when she was fighting him (Or cuddling, she thought, almost blushing), he hadn’t seen the side of her that some of her friends often summarized as “buzzkill”. Well, he did call me that one time at school… she thought, scratching her head. But… when he discovers just how serious I usually am about training and becoming a guard… will he think I’m boring? “Star?” Hearing her name pulled her out of those unpleasant thoughts. Starburst shook, and saw that while she was pondering, her friends had finally stopped their discussion and had raised from their seats. “We’ve finished talking,” Annie continued; how she knew she wasn’t listening was something Starburst could only guess at. “Thought you might wanna know.” “Finally!” Starburst commented, jumping out of her seat and stretching. “Decided anything interesting?” she asked, looking at the others; Whirlwind was red on her face, Claire looked annoyed, and Candy amused. “Not really,” Whirlwind started. “Well, Wind admitted that she might have some feelings left for Prism, but it doesn’t matter as he is dating Nidra right now,” Annie cut in. “And that she wasn’t using Hot Head as a means of revenge, he simply had asked her out two days ago and yesterday on his own. Whether he is using her to get back on Prism for something due to their silly rivalry is a mystery for the moment and will not be brought up during our camping trip, which will start the day after tomorrow.” “Thanks Annie,” Whirlwind said, glaring at the blind unicorn with annoyance. “No problem!” Annie asked cheerfully, smirking. Starburst shook her head, heading towards the door of the shop. “I said interesting.” One of her friends - probably Annie - chuckled at her words, but Whirlwind bristled. “Do you wanna talk about your oh so interesting love life?” “No,” Starburst replied, glaring at her. She stopped by the door, waiting for others. “Neither mine, nor yours, or anypony’s. You dragged me here, remember?” “Oh, c’mon Star, it was fun!” Candy exclaimed, bouncing towards her while others simply trotted. “Closing the shop already?” Starburst asked Claire, who was also walking as if about to exit her shop. “Well, considering how it’s only a few hours before your coltfriend’s performance,” Claire accented the ‘coltfriend’ part, making Starburst blush, “and I already lost some precious hours, I might as well call it a day. You’re gonna get used to calling him that, darling.” “S-shut up,” Starburst murmured, opening the door… … and blinking as she saw her brother, Candy’s sisters, Claire and Echo’s respective cousins, as well as Del’s cousin Api, all standing before the Hearthfire Jewelry, with balloons full of water in their hooves in in the baskets around them. Api, a white and brown earth pony with reddish mane and pink bow on her tail, who was the smallest of the group, pointed a hoof at Starburst and the others, yelling: “Attack!” Before Starburst could process what was happening, the kids threw their ammunition at them… … she briefly felt a strange sensation, as if something was pulling her through a very narrow space… … and she was no longer amongst her friends, but rather, on a roof of a nearby building. “Would you like something to drink?” a familiar voice asked, though it was nearly obscured by the sounds of water balloons exploding and shrieks of four mares. Starburst looked at Starfall, who was laying beside her on the edge of the roof, overseeing the wet carnage. He was levitating two juice boxes, one that he was drinking and the other which he was offering her. It didn’t take a genius to put the two together. “You made them throw water balloons at them,” Starburst said, laying beside him and accepting the juice box. She looked down at the scene below; the army of squirts had forced her friends back into the shop. Claire had tried to close the door with her magic, but Pixel Bit threw a balloon right at her horn when she was channeling magic. Annie, who would have been of more help had it not been for the missile that must have struck her similarly (as there were some plastic scraps hanging from her horn) was using Whirlwind as a shield. Candy, after the initial shock, was laughing… that is to say, until Nighty’s balloon hit her right in her face. The little kids moved their battle into the shop, much to Claire’s terror. Starfall nodded in reply to her question and smirked. “It’s amazing what your brother and his friends - well, aside from that blue pegasus, he said he was ‘too cool for something so foalish’ or something - will do for a stranger when he offers them bags of candies.” He looked up and poked his chin. “Wait, that came out wrong. You might want to talk with them about this,” the unicorn added. “Oh, I will have a talk with my nerdy brother alright, don’t you worry…” Starburst replied grimly; she wouldn’t have been in this mess if the little twerp wouldn’t report everything she would do or say to Candy like some sort of a spy. “Ough, sounds serious,” Starfall observed as she poked the straw into the juicebox. “I assume he had something to do with that kidnapping I bore witness to and came to claim vengeance on your behalf?” “Yeah,” Starburst replied. “You didn’t have to do that, you know.” “Oh, I know,” the colt retorted, smirking. “It did cross my mind that you aren’t exactly a damsel-y type; unlike another pegasus we both know.” Starburst was glad she hadn’t yet taken a sip of the juice, because she was certain she would had spilled it just know. She recalled with amusement how Starfall had taken to calling Prism “Damsel”, due to him being a villain and her being a “Knight” when they first met. Which, of course, annoyed the pegasus colt to no end. “But I figured that you wouldn’t want to hurt your friends,” Starfall continued, turning back to the shop; though they couldn’t see what was happening anymore, they could still hear water splashing and angry shouts from the older ponies, “so I decided it would be fun to pull some innocent vengeance on them for you. Besides,” he added, rolling his eyes, “considering what had happened the last time somepony I cared about was tied up, I sort of felt obliged to do something.” His last comment caused Starburst to feel two conflicting emotions. On one hoof, she felt sad as he brought up his troubled past; on another, however, she felt as if something fluttered in her stomach when he mentioned that he cared about her. Unsure how to respond, she took the straw into her mouth and took a sip… … and her eyes shot wide open as a familiar, delicious flavor hit her taste buds. She pulled the juice box a bit further from her face so she could look at it. As she had realized, the box said “watermelon juice”. Watermelon - Starburst’s favorite fruit. No, not just fruit; it was her favorite food. Starburst looked at Starfall, to see him smiling at her. “How did you know?” He shrugged. “I asked your brother. Had to promise I will teach him some magic trick in my spare time in return. Oh, and don’t worry - I asked about it in a way that suggested you were pissed at me and I needed to sooth you in order to talk about something.” Starburst wasn’t about to say anything, but when he mentioned it, she felt relieved - it wouldn’t do any good if Nighty would tell her parents that the ex-criminal had asked about their daughter’s preferences when it comes to cuisine. “Which brings me to my next point: embarrassed to mention me to your parents?” Unlike what happened in the morning, this time Starburst, instead of spitting out the liquid she was drinking, had choked on it. Starfall patted her on her back, helping her catch her breath. “N-no…” she stammered once she could speak, feeling very nervous. “I don’t… w-well, I just, um…” She stopped once she realized that she could hear Starfall chuckle. Starburst looked at him, confused. “Star, don’t worry, it’s okay,” he said, smiling. “I think I understand. Also, truth to be told, I’m sort of relieved actually.” “R-really?” she asked, surprised. “Yeah, I mean, until a few days ago, I was a wanted criminal, I made fun of your mother publicly, and used dark magic against your father,” he counted. “And if they would learn out of the blue that their daughter is going out on a date with me? I do like that, despite all the things that sick bastard put me through, I still have my b-” Starburst blinked, surprised, as Starfall instantly covered his mouth before he could utter that last word… until she realized what that word was going to be. Then she blushed, about as embarrassed as he. He coughed and smiled awkwardly: “Good moment to recall I’m talking with royalty, huh?” She jabbed him with a wing. “If you start treating me like one, I will hit you.” Starburst said, though half-playfully. “Oh?” Starfall replied in the same tone. He scootched closer to her. “Then how should I treat you, Lil’Lioness?” he asked, taking her hoof into his. A part of her became self-aware just how this must look, and was about to move away, before anypony would see them… but she quickly calmed down that part, realizing that nopony could see them up on the roof. “Well…” she started slowly, her heart beating faster. She slid her wing across his back, embracing him. “You could start where you left off in the morning…” The last words she said quietly, barely above a whisper. As much as she… enjoyed this weird sensation she was now feeling, she was still nervous. The fact that they were in a public place wasn’t helping. Starfall smiled and leaned closer, whispering: “My Beloved Nemesis…” Starburst also leaned towards him, closing her eyes- “Sweet Celestia, it’s really true!” Both ponies sprung away from each other, startled by the voice. Starburst shook her head and turned towards the source… Prism. The dark blue pegasus was hovering in the air above them, his face a mix of consternation and amusement. Beside him was T, also in the air, though obviously not as comfortable as Prism. Whether it was because of what they caught her and Starfall on doing, or simply because of being in the air, Starburst didn’t know. “Prism!” she growled, both embarrassed and angry. “The hell do you want!?” She could scarcely remember the last time she was this pissed at him. Prism, along with Candy, was the top prankster of Ponyville; that, and he was also annoying and lazy. Because of that, he and Starburst rarely saw eye to eye in the past. And although she could easily kick his tail, or simply intimidate him, Prism continued to make fun of her from time to time, as his superior agility and speed allowed him to escape from her. Most of the time. Readying herself to spring at him when he would get too close, Starburst gnashed her teeth while he smirked. “Well, T and I were wondering where you girls had run off to. I gotta say, while I had expected to see that you ditched them, it was quite a surprise to see you have some lovey-dovey time in the middle of the town.” Her cheeks were burning with shame as he mocked her. She looked over to Starfall, but though she noticed a slight blush on his face as well, he was looking calmly at Prism. T, on the other hoof, looked really awkward. No doubt he wasn’t taking well being so long without Annie; the two were inseparable. Also, knowing him, he was probably almost as embarrassed about this situation as she was. Forcing her voice to sound more gentle than she felt, Starburst turned to him. “Annie should be in your sister’s shop.” He brightened up and flew down at once, leaving Prism behind. The pegasus looked a bit disappointed to lose his company, but he shrugged it off. “So, can I start singing ‘Star and Star, sitting on a tree-ee’?” “Sure,” she growled, “I will even do you a favor and help you raise your voice by an octave or two…” “Yeah, I don’t see that happening,” Prism replied, surprisingly smugly considering just what she warned him she would do. “You wouldn’t want your parent’s to know about you swooning over the little thief over there, wouldn’t you?” Starburst gasped as he pointed at Starfall, too shocked to even reply. Before she could find a proper description of what she was going to do to him if he would tell them (which included a few things she had a feeling were not physically possible), Starfall took a step forward and smiled. “Didn’t take you for a snitch, Damsel,” he said casually. “Well, it’s not something I usually have to resort to,” the pegasus retorted, frowning briefly hearing the nickname. He quickly recovered, though, and returned to smirking. “But, in order to preserve my hide from more violent friends who have no sense of humor and are unable to laugh at themselves, I sorta have to.” “Sounds reasonable,” Starfall agreed, nodding. When Starburst looked at him with disbelief, he winked at her. “But tell me, Prism, are you familiar with the saying: he who laughs gets cut in half?” Wait, what? Starburst thought, looking at Starfall. “Ye- wait, what?” Prism asked, tilting his head. “He who laughs last laughs best,” Starfall answered, his face neutral. “Did you hear this saying?” Prism continued to look at him with confusion, but he must have decided he heard him wrong. “W-well, yeah, sure I heard it. What about it?” “Oh, nothing , just wanted you to be in two.” “What?!” Prism asked again, and this time his eyes were wide. “To keep that in mind,” Starfall replied calmly. He raised an eyebrow. “Is your hearing okay?” “I-I,” Prism stammered. “Y-yeah I just... thought I heard you say something different.” “Really? Oh well, I’m sure it was the wind,” Starfall said dismissively. “Anyway, Prism, you’re gonna split.” Starburst doubted if he could convince him this time he misheard. “WHAT?!” he shouted, beginning to sweat. She also doubted how long she would be able to stop herself from laughing. “I said ‘I gotta go’,” Starfall said, sounding impatient. “Seriously, go check your hearing.” He turned to Starburst and smiled. “See you at my show?” “Of course,” she replied, and, taking advantage that Prism was still processing what had happened, she leaned closer to Starfall and kissed him on the cheek. “You’re not really gonna hurt him, right?” she asked in whisper, just to be sure, having realized what he intended to do to Prism during his show. “No, I just plan to give him a little scare,” he replied in the same tone, kissing her cheek. Then, as if fearing she wouldn’t believe him, he added: “I swear by my mother’s soul.” Before she could assure him that she trusted him, he pulled away, waved to Prism, winked to her, and disappeared. “S-s-starburst,” Prism stammered. Starburst turned to him; the pegasus wassmiling nervously. “He didn’t mean.. you know, those things he said?” She managed to keep her face neutral long enough to turn around. “I have no idea what you’re talking about.” she said, stifling a laugh. She spread her wings and flew back home before he could ask her again. Once she was certain she left him several miles away, she landed heavily on a cloud and started laughing. “Come on, sis, we don’t want to be late!” Nighty exclaimed excitedly as he all but bounced around them. Starburst, still angry at him, bit back a retort and started trotting a bit livelier. As she didn’t want to be grounded tomorrow, she had decided against pressing the little twerp on what he’s been telling to whom. Also, there was a risk that he, and later by extension, their parents, would have been interested as to why she was angry at that certain bit of information he gave to Candy. Though if she was to be honest, it was the fact that he told Starfall what kind of fruit was her favorite was what had tipped the scales for her. Which was also why she didn’t lash out in anger at him as he hastened her up, fearing what she could say in rage. As to why she was trotting slowly when they were heading towards the stage Starfall had prepared for his show in the town’s square, the answer was simple. Their parents where coming with them as well. Based on what Starfall had told her, she doubted he would do anything to suggest that they’re going on a date tomorrow (even if it would have fit his character to create gigantic letters in the sky with his fireworks that would announce this). However, she was afraid that either she or her friends - who, as she had learned, were also coming with their parents - would let something slip, and her parents would learn everything. Okay, calm down, she thought to herself, falling a step behind them. Just be careful about what you say. And the others… as much as annoying they are, they probably do realize what it could mean to me, so they will watch out… right? “Is something wrong?” her mother, Princess Twilight, glanced at her, concerned. “No, nothing!” Starburst replied, a little bit too quickly. She cleared her throat and spoke more calmly, “Why would you think something’s wrong?” “You seem worried.” “W-well…” she mumbled, thinking quickly of an excuse. Luckily, a very good one was hopping around: “I’m sort of worried why Nighty is so… excited.” “Oh, that’s easy,” a familiar voice rang behind them. “Nighty had been riding Sugar Rush all day.” Starburst almost fell hearing that. Her parent’s reaction wasn’t any more collected. She looked back at Annie, trying to process what she heard. The blind unicorn was trotting together with her mother, Fluttershy. If her brain had been working properly - rather than spending its resources on blocking an image of her brother “riding” one of Candy’s sisters from appearing in her head - Starburst might have wondered how they managed to catch up with them without her noticing. “Annie!” Miss Fluttershy gasped, blushing with embarrassment. “What?” Annie asked, oblivious. She made a great show of looking around at all ponies, as if she wanted to see their shocked expressions. “Starfall gave him and the other kids bags of candies for attacking us with water balloons. It’s normal he would be a bit hyperactive after eating them, right?” She paused to put a hoof to her chin. “Wait, I’ve said  ‘been riding on a sugar rush’, haven’t I?” Starburst, who was the most experienced when it came to Annie’s comments, managed to say: “No, you haven’t.” “Ah, now I see how you might have gotten confused,” she said, faking innocence. “What’s the matter?” Nighty asked, looking at everypony with confusion. “What does it mean when you say it without ‘on a’?” Before anypony could figure out how to best answer that to an eleven year old, their mom stepped closer to Nighty. “Wait, why did Starfall ask you to throw water balloons at your sister and her friends?” “Um…” the young unicorn stammered, realizing that he might be in trouble. “He said he wanted to talk with Star in private about something.” Twilight glanced at Starburst, surprised. She winced mentally, although she was prepared for this possibility. “He even asked me what kind of juice would she like the most, because he was afraid she might be still angry at him,” he brother added. Flash Sentry chuckled. “I would have thought him more clever to think that she just might be still angry with him.” You’re really not making my life easy right now, Dad… “May I ask what he wanted to talk about with you?” her mom asked, raising an eyebrow. “Actually, I was going to bring it up before his show starts,” Starburst started. “Really?” Annie asked, her voice a mixture of surprise and amusement. It took every ounce of Starburst’s patience to not turn around and growl “Shut up!” at her. “He was concerned that you might try to interfere with one of his tricks,” she quickly explained to her mother the made-up excuse she prepared in case Nighty blabbed about Starfall’s request. “Starfall wanted me to assure you that, although it might look dangerous, that trick will be completely harmless.” And hilarious. Twilight opened her mouth, but it was her son who asked the question, “What kind of trick would that be?” He even jumped into air in excitement. Starburst had to cover her mouth to hide her smirk. “Trust me, you’ll know what it is the moment you see it.” Her mother looked at her thoughtfully, and although she appeared to be a bit concerned, she nodded. “Very well, I will trust Starfall knows what he’s doing during the entirety of the show. And I must admit, I am too curious as to what it could be. Now,” she added, turning to Nighty and frowning, “could you tell me what your father and I told you about accepting gifts from strangers?” “But mooom!” Starburst facehoofed. Hard. “Well, I must say, he has a rather… high self-esteem,” her aunt Rarity commented. Once they reached the town’s square, they quickly spotted their friends and relatives gathered at the edge of the assembling crowd and went to join them. The scene itself was nothing extraordinary: it was a big, wooden stage, with curtains, and lit up by carefully placed torches. The poster advertising the show, nailed to a wooden board, was far more extravagant. It depicted Starfall, with his fore hooves outstretched and fireworks all around him, and read, in a gigantic, neon letters(How the hell did he made a poster with neon letters?!): “COME SEE THE SHOW OF THE GREAT AND POWERFUL STARFALL, THE MAGNIFICENT GOD WHO SHINES FOR THOUSAND MILES!!!” And below it, in smaller and not-glowing ones: “An apologetic show to make you laugh for bringing chaos a week ago. The audience is asked to not participate unless asked. Firebreathing ponies and critters of similar characteristic are asked to not… breathe fire.” “He actually wrote dots…” Prism’s mom, Rainbow Dash, commented, betraying that she wondered about Starfall’s mentality. “Really?” her husband, Soarin, asked. “That’s what strikes you the oddest?” Everypony was talking between themselves about similar things. Starburst’s friends uttered a few giggles and smirks in her direction, apparently amused that she was dating somepony with such a big ego. Uncle Spike, on the other hoof, looked more angry rather than confused or amused. “‘And critters of similar characteristic’…” he murmured, not happy with the description. His wife had a different opinion. “Well, that’s what you get for using such crude language,” she said coldly, glaring at him. The dragon winced; Starburst always found it a bit strange how her aunt could so easily talk down to him. “When you get a chance, I expect you to apologise to Starfall for what you said about his mother. Do we understand each other?” “Yes dear…” Starburst snorted, her mood improved. In her opinion, she and Starfall were far from being the strangest couple around- Couple! Starburst gasped in her thoughts, surprised. We haven’t even been on a date yet! She distracted herself (before she would start blushing) by looking around. There were still several minutes before the show would start. Out of everypony, only three were missing. However, it didn’t take them long to come; just about a minute later, Starburst spotted three ponies approaching: a charcoal earth pony, a dark pegasus, and bluish unicorn. To most around Ponyville, they were known as Coal, Jet Stream and Awestruck, respectively. In reality, though, they were Illusion, Nidra and Valiant. Since all three of them were easily recognizable due to their looks (one half-draconequus and two alicorns), Illusion long since started disguising them whenever they hung out using his chaos magic. Of course, Starburst and everypony else near knew them, and they smiled at their sight. Well, most of them. “Lulu?” Claire started, frowning. “Yes Crys?” Illusion in disguise asked, grinning. “What in the name of your mother have you got on your head?” she asked, glaring at the cylindrical red hat as if it offended her. Illusion shrugged. “It’s a fez, I wear fezzes now.” he replied calmly. “Fezzes are cool.” Claire looked at him, unamused and bewildered, for a whole two seconds. She then glanced at her mother, as if for confirmation. Rarity was clearly of the same opinion as her, given by how she shook her head. Claire turned back to Illusion, swiftly grabbed his fez with her claws, and threw it into air. She was so fast that all Illusion managed to do was say “Ough!” while she opened her mouth and with great precision shot fire at the hat, burning it to crisps. He looked at Claire, more annoyed than upset. After a second, he elbowed Valiant. “See? This is why I can’t have anything nice.” “That and I keep stealing from you,” Nidra, who was standing not far away, with a wing wrapped around Prism, said carefreely. Illusion turned to her, surprised. “Wait, wha-” An ear-splitting whistle interrupted him. Starburst covered her ears and glanced around, searching for the source of the sharp noise. She didn’t have to search far. Nor had she needed long to identify the source. I should have figured, she thought, glaring at Starfall. The unicorn was standing right next to them. If by “standing next to them” one could mean “lying on his back on the wooden board, with one forehoof next to his mouth and the other behind his head and his eyes closed”. How he managed to lay on it without falling down, Starburst had no idea. His sense of balance was beginning to question the laws of physics. Starfall kept whistling for few more heartbeats. He finally stopped and removed his hoof. “You mind?” he asked, opening one eye and glancing towards Claire. His tail batted against the board, underlining the part of his poster’s print about firebreathing. “I hope you will keep my plea in mind during the show.” Starburst smirked. “What, afraid others might steal the spotlight?” He waved a hoof. “Au contraire, mon Petit Ami. I simply do not want a repeat of the Santa Ponyta incident.” Being a princess required Starburst to learn a few foreign languages, enough to get by at least. As such, she knew just what he called her. “Petit?” she frowned. “First strike.” Starfall smiled, flashing his fangs. “I didn’t know we were playing,” he said, teasingly. Despite being a bit irked, Starburst felt herself smiling. Somehow, he always knows what to say- Annie leaned to her, interrupting her train of thoughts. “You might want to not flirt so openly with your parents nearby,” she whispered. Starburst winced, and looked at her parents. Luckily for her, they didn’t seem to notice anything. However, her mother was looking at Starfall with confusion. “Excuse me, Starfall… by ‘Santa Ponyta incident’, you wouldn’t happen to suggest that you had anything to do with Prince Blueblood’s mansion catching fire, wouldn’t you?” “Princess Twilight!” Starfall exclaimed, rising; how he managed to do that without falling… “How dare you accuse me of something which I totally had done?!” he asked, huffing, one forehoof on the spot where his head had been for support. Starburst’s mom nodded her head in apology. “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean…” she blinked as what he had said registered. “Wait, what?” But Starfall’s attention was no longer at her. “What’s with the disguise?” he asked, falling on his stomach (still on that thin wooden board) and pointing a hoof at the three masked royals. Illusion seemed surprised and impressed. “How did you know?” “Oh please,” Starfall snorted, once again raising. “You might be the son of Discord, but ‘Trickster’ is my middle name. Yep,” he added, raising a hoof to articulate, “Starfall ‘Trickster’ Lulamoon shut up.” The last one, added without any pause or space, was directed at Prism and Nidra, who were just about to snort. “Besides,” Starfall continued, not taking any offense, “after everything that obnoxious female put me through, I’ve learned how to sense chaos magic. Plus, your scent stayed the same,” he added, scratching his nose. “You might wanna work on that. Oh, and also, shapeshifting is soo overrated,” he said, stretching his back like a cat (still on the freaking board!)... with a new limb rising from his back. Everypony stared in shock as a single wing rose from his back, about as long as his entire body. Starburst’s mom was the first to recover enough to ask: “I-is that a.. How… Did you just…” “Blew all your minds even before the show started, Princess?” Starfall asked, sitting down and straightening his wing before him. He winked. “Pretty much.” Before anypony could say anything else, his entire body shimmered. In the next heartbeat, in place of Starfall was a pony-sized blob of water, still shaped like him. Inside of it, there was a single orb, glowing with Starfall’s multicolored magic. He raised his wing to his head, pressing the point that a normal pegasus or alicorn’s wing would have its alula, in a mock salute. “Toodles!” The orb shot out of the blob of water, which thankfully disappeared rather than splashed all over them. The glowing orb flew towards the curtain of the stage. Well, this will certainly be interesting...