//------------------------------//
// 53 The Magnanimous and Magnificent Moonie 
// Story: Moonie shorts [Filly Nightmare Moon] 
// by Eighth 
//------------------------------//

	You sign off the letter for the princess and place it in an envelope before tucking it away into a draw when you hear someone stepping into your study.
“How goes work?” Trixie nonchalantly asks from the doorway.
“Just finished off the last few bits of paperwork, I’ll need to deliver them but that can wait. I thought I could sit in on your lesson with Moonie today.”
“W-Why? Do you think Trixie is... Somehow unable to teach?”
“Not at all, things seem to be going well. I just thought it’d be nice.”
“Do you think she’s up to something?” Trixie whispers, her head hanging low and eyes fixated on the hallway.
“She’s always up to something mischievous.”
You give a brief chuckle as you ruffle Trixie’s mane, who immediately backs away from you with an irritated glare. 
“Very well, Trixie will permit you to sit in on the lesson if you promise never to do that again.”

Without a word, you follow her outside to her still broken wagon resting in your backyard. She’s arranged some of her things outside, various props and tools for her performances. The kind of things you’d expect a magician to have, boxes, hats, rings, canon, and so on. Moonie was already here, giddily hopping on the spot and generally being positive about the upcoming lesson.
“What’s he doing here?” Moonie sneers, still hopping.
“Behave,” you reply as you take a seat that’s out of the way.
Trixie clears her throat as she brings out a pony-sized box, “For today’s lesson we will try learning the disappearing trick.”
“This won’t somehow end up like the firework trick, will it?” You interrupt.
“Trixie does not need to explain herself to some slackjaw ape.”
Her nose points high in the air and for a moment you swear there is an actual cloud of superiority around her but then Moonie barks up. 
“Hey, that ape is mine to verbally abuse,” Moonie states, trying to defend your honour in her own way you guess.
Teacher Trixie throws an unimpressed look your way so you give a quick signal of surrender before leaning back.
“Now, it’s a simple spell to cast. It works best if you cast a few extra things for flair like mist and glitter to really wow all the simple ponies in the crowd but we won’t worry about that for now.”
“I think I’ve got it. I was going over it last night.”
Just now is when you notice Moonie has massive bags under her eyes that have darkened pretty badly even compared to her usual colour. She must have been up real late. It’s great she’s enjoying this so much but you roll your eyes anyway as you know you’re going to have to set ground rules.
“Moonie is going to love that,” you mutter under your breath.
Trixie glances your way for a moment but quickly returns her gaze to Moonie who is pep-talking herself up.
“Are you sure you’ve got it? Trixie can demonstrate if it helps.”
“I’ve got it,” she confidently beams.

Moonie steps up to the box beside her teacher. It’s a large purple cube, that is exactly the right size for Trixie, decorated with blue and golden stars. Looks like most things in her possession really. Moonie steps inside and takes a deep breath as Trixie closes it behind her.
“Trixie will now count to five. One… Two… Three…”
A glow peeps out from the sides of the box followed by a strange fizzing sound that you’ve heard a few spells seem to make before.
“Four… Five!”
She thrusts open the box to reveal a dark blue mist flowing around Moonie.
“I need couple more seconds, hold on.”
Before Trixie can agree, the box is slammed shut.
“O-One,” Trixie nervously states as her eyes dart between you and the cube, “... Two… Three… Four… F--Five?!”
Once again the box is opened and the frustrated filly of flair is summoning fog and glitter but her horn sparks up like some kind of appliance shorting out.
“WHY!”
In a fit of frustration the mare of the night loses what little patience she has and begins to shake the box with her magic and flailing her hooves about. Or maybe she’s trying to kick, it’s a little hard to tell with Trixie now towering over her.
“Moonie,” Trixie sighs, “Your great and powerful mentor suggests only focusing on the teleportation spell. Save your energy.”
“But--”
“No. First you learn HOW to do a trick, then you learn how to sell it.”
Moonie is still in a huff but she retreats into the box, slamming it behind her. Trixie rolls her eyes then walks your way.
“Take your time,” she calls out to Moonie before speaking to you in a more hushed tone, “Trixie would like to know you’ve managed to deal with her for so long.”
“I’ve grown to like the cute little menace,” you shrug.
“Perhaps you should get your head checked,” she replies as she jokingly knocks her hoof on your forehead.
“It’s been… Oh, 3 years now, I think. I’ve gotten attached, I forget 
“Regale Trixie with the story of how you two met some time,” she dismissively answers.
While Trixie has that ‘I don’t care attitude’ you can tell it’s the opposite. You’ve spent long enough with Moonie to read into things more. Trixie is always asking about you, Moonie, and your life surrounding. She’s incredibly curious about it but you figure this is as close as she’ll get to saying anything directly.
“I don’t mind.”
You catch her raising a brow and smirking ever so slightly as she stares at the box Moonie is still residing in. You know she’s still in there because of all the yelling coming from the box.
“I thought teleporting was a difficult spell or something… Or at least, Twilight is the only pony I’ve known to do it.”
“It is.”
“Then… Why have you got Moonie doing it? She clearly needs more training.”
“Trixie knows. But she has been adamant about doing something worthy of her unbridled immortal power,” she mocks, “So Trixie is going to teach her a lesson. She has been talking up her abilities and downplaying the difficulty of this spell.”
You spy a devilish grin on her as Moonie bursts out and just bellows out a roar. Moonie is clearly exhausted. Beads of sweat are flowing off her and her breath is quick. Using her magic she lifts up the box, it’s barely a centimetre off the ground when you stand up.
“Enough!”
Your voice isn’t angry or anything, you were just loud. And it was enough to startle Moonie, causing her to drop it and look over to you.
“Moonie, if you can’t do something then it means you need practice. Quit trying to--”
“I can do this--”
“No, you can’t... Not yet,” you reassure her, running your fingers through her mane once.
There’s a pause as nobody says a word. Now that you’re closer to her, you can hear exactly how heavy her breathing is. Trying to do teleportation is quite the strain it seems.
“Would you like a break?” Trixie states, finally breaking the silence.
“No,” Moonie huffs.
“Are you sure?”
“Yes!”
“Here, let me try.”
“Anon, you… You can’t do magic,” Moonie points out.
Trixie’s face screws up as she tries to put together what you’re up to.
“Trix, go get Moonie some water.”

You wait a moment, once she’s inside you ask Moonie for the tools you need. Once she learns you’re out to throw Trixie for a loop, she hastily grabs what you need. After a short while, Trixie returns and gives a glass of water to Moonie as you step up onto a table.
“Greetings,” you boom in your best Trixie impression as you throw some shredded paper, “I, the awesome and almighty Anonymous, have decided to grace with backwater town with my magnificent presence to bring you awe with a sprinkle of wonder.”
“The pompous showboating is kind of annoying,” Trixie whispers to Moonie who giggles at the irony.
“Now you see me--”
You hold up a curtain from Trixie’s wagon in front of you so the audience can’t see you and shake it.
“Now you don’t!”
As you release the curtain, you dive backwards and under the table where you’ve placed an angled mirror to reflect the grass.
“HE CAN DO MAGIC!” Trixie leaps up.
Moonie immediately gives up the performance by bursting into a laughter that her sides will not recover from soon. She falls from her chair and her legs are in the air uncontrollably flailing about.
“Wh-What’s so funny? Trixie demands to know,” stomps Trixie.
You stand up from behind the mirror with a light chuckle. After you put the mirror aside a slight rose tint spreads on her cheeks as she begins to understand.
“She needed it.”
Moonie continues to laugh as Trixie works on regaining her composure. Which she does quickly, as you’d expect from a professional performer.
“You’ve given Trixie an idea. Can you teach her some of those… Tricks?”
“I only know a few, but sure,” you shrug.
“We can devise more if we need. In a world where ponies can disappear, these tricks aren’t needed but… They could add some very nice humour to Trixie’s performance. The crowds would eat it up. All she would need is an assistant to play the part of a fool in between Trixie’s real show.”
She turns to Moonie who is catching her breath as she pieces her sides together.
“What?” She obliviously asks.
“Trixie wants to know if you’d like to be a part of her show?”