The twin assistants turned to their boss as Houdini began setting up his next trick. “Um, are you alright?” Miss Direction whispered, carefully judging the confused scowl on Trixie’s face. She looked down at the card in her hoof as if she expected it to suddenly burst into flames.
“Did either of you see anypony putting this card on my seat?” Trixie questioned both of them.
They shook their heads. “No, Madame,” answered Peppers Ghost, “we didn’t even notice it was there until you sat on it.”
Trixie remained silent in thought. Somehow, without detecting a single spell going off, two of her cards were sent into the audience. Perhaps someone had put them there… yes, that had to be it! He somehow misled the audience when he was burning and chopping the deck. He’d had plenty of time to shift the cards to an accomplice to sneak them into the mare’s purse and on her seat.
But there were several major problems that were nearly giving her a headache. She saw the cards being shuffled back into the deck, and at no time did he come close to the edge of the stage or the side-curtains, so how did those two cards with her autograph get to where they were?
A heavy chest was currently being brought onstage, along with a violet curtain hung upon a rod. “For this next trick, I will need the assistance of my beautiful wife. Bess, would you come out here please?”
He was joined onstage by another human, nearly as tall as her husband, wearing a familiar red circus costume that was similar to what Trixie’s own assistants wore during their show. Her makeup made her a tad pale with a wide, scarlet lipstick smile and her short, wavy brown mane curled like the waves of the sea.
“Evening honey,” Houdini grinned as he gave his wife a quick kiss on the lips.
“Hey Harry,” she replied.
“So, do you want to introduce yourself or shall I?”
“I’ll do it.” Bess turned to the audience. “Hello everyone, I’m Miss Houdini, Harry’s most faithful assistant. I’ve been helping him out in magic for nearly as long as we’ve been married. In fact, this upcoming Friday will be our thirtieth anniversary.” The equine spectators applauded to the news.
“Say hon,” Harry pointed to the trunk, “you remember this?”
“Ha, how could I forget? That’s the first magic trick you taught me when we were still with the traveling circus.”
“I know, so what do ya say, dear? Do you want to do the Metamorphosis act, like in the old days?”
“Well…” She turned to the audience as they made a collective mumbling sound, all of them curious as to what the trick was. “Okay, but just this once.”
“How about I go in the box first?” Harry asked, his wife agrees. Soon, assistance from the side curtains came with handcuffs, shackles, and ropes. The trunk was opened before the assistants began locking Houdini up, placing cuffs around his wrists and ankles, padlocking his shackled feet, and tying him up with rope. Another assistant soon came on stage with a burlap sack and a rope. The assistants tied it up one last time before placing the bagged man in the trunk and closing the lid.
Bess took out a heavy-looking padlock, securing the trunk’s lid. She then walked to the edge of the stage with a key in her hand. “Excuse me,” she knelt down in front of a filly, “what’s your name?”
The filly hopped out of her seat, walking up to the giant before her. “Um… Lily.”
“What an adorable name.” Bess smiled before handing the key over to the filly. “Now Lily, could you do a very important job for me? I want you to hold onto that key because it’s the only one that can let my husband out of that trunk and I don’t want to lose it. Can you do that for me?”
The little Earth Pony nodded as she took the key into her mouth before hopping back into her seat.
Bess walked over to the trunk, taking a rod that held a curtain before jumping onto the very chest that her spouse was trapped in. “Now, on the count of three, all of you are going to get a very special surprise. Ready?”
She threw the rod over her head before catching it again. “One.”
She threw it over her head again. “Two.”
But when the curtain came back down, it was Harry who caught it. “Three.” The audience gasped in surprise before erupting into applause.
Houdini jumped off of the box, letting the rod hit the floor. “But where is my wife? Oh, where could she have run off to?” He strode over to the edge of the stage where the filly sat. “Excuse me, little girl, but may I have that key please?”
Trixie saw the filly give him the key before he rushed back to the trunk, unlocking the padlock and opening the lid to show the audience the tied-up burlap sack. The human untied the rope, letting the bag drop to show the crowd his wife bound in the very same handcuffs, shackles, and ropes.
After the applause died back down, the Great Houdini called out to his audience. “Wanna see that again?”
“YES!” The theater cried.
“Alright.” He gave his wife a quick kiss before putting her in the bag, tying it up, closing and locking the lid, and returning the key back to the filly in the front row.
When all of this was done, Houdini picked up the curtain rod and held it to his shoulders. “Alright everyone, on three.”
He threw it over his head, only to be interrupted by his wife catching it. “Three!”
She got down from the trunk and walked over to the filly, asking for the key back.
Bess headed back over to the heavy lid, opened it, and untied the bag to reveal her husband in the same position that she was not a few minutes ago. The audience’s applause was just as loud as before, if not louder.
“Thank you,” Harry and his wife said as they took a quick bow. “And now, mares and gentlecolts, we shall be taking a very short intermission before moving on with the second act. We’ll resume the show in ten minutes.”
The crimson curtain fell as the equine audience’s cheers of approval began to die down.
Trixie got up from her seat, looking cross. “Miss,” Peppers inquired, “where are you going?”
“If either of you or anypony else needs Trixie, she’ll be outside getting some fresh air.” Before her assistants could say anything further, she swiftly teleported outside into the warm June air. She found a nearby alleyway where she could have some privacy, as well as a wall to vent her frustrations against.
“How…” she banged her head against the brick, “is *bang* he *bang* doing *bang* that?”