Starlight took an enormous gulp as the lights of the Canterlot castle ballroom dimmed, signaling the beginning of Trixie’s planned entertainment for the Duke and Duchess of Maretonia. Starlight had never felt so nervous in her entire life, and the lecture that Twilight had given to her was now playing over and over again in her mind.
“Come one, come all,” Trixie cried as she walked in front of the stage. “Come and see the Repentant, Great and Apologetic Trixie’s Repentance Tour!”
“That is quite a mouthful if I do say so myself.” Celestia whispered to Twilight.
Trixie was quick to hear the eldest Princess’ remark. “It’s a working title, Princess Celestia,” Trixie muttered, moving on with the rest of her act. “Behold, your fears come true, a pony eating manticore!”
On her cue, Starlight opened the curtain to reveal the caged manticore, growling and snarling to the small audience gathered. In fact, the Duke and Duchess of Maretonia couldn’t help but feel a little scared at what they were seeing before them!
“For tonight,” cried Trixie, moving around the stage like a proud magician. “The Great and Powerful Trixie will be performing The Moonshot Manticore Mouth Dive!”
“Amazing,” Luna gasped in surprise. “Nopony has ever done The Moonshot Manticore Mouth Dive, and lived to tell the tale.”
“Except for Hoofdini,” Twilight replied. “He did this trick many times.” As she spoke, Twilight noticed that Aurora was looking rather uncomfortable. Her purple coat seemed to turn white with fright over the situation. “Aurora? Is everything alright?”
“She’s going to try it,” Aurora sharply commented. “She’s actually going to try what my father and that pathetic excuse of a husband killed themselves on! I don’t know why the magic circuit hasn’t banned that trick yet!”
Twilight suspiciously glanced at Aurora with that statement, a look of shock and confusion registered on her face. Up until this moment, Twilight wouldn’t have suspected that Hoofdini was related to Aurora, or Starlight herself. But Hoofdini couldn’t possibly be related to the Glimmers, he’d died years ago of a ruptured appendix or so it had been said. Was it possible there had been a cover-up to the real cause of death?!
“Now now, save your gasps for later,” Trixie declared in a theatrical tone. “When I defy the beast’s jaws of doom, and appear inside that black box!” The young stage magician used her magic to display the black box that just appeared on the right side of the stage. “For tonight,” Trixie went on. “The Moonshot Manticore Mouth Dive will be performed with the help of my great and powerful assistant, Starlight Glimmer!”
Now, Starlight didn’t want to show her face as long as her mother in the audience, but standing Trixie up in front of royalty was the last thing she wanted. So, reluctantly, she jumped out from behind the curtains, forcing the best smile she could under the circumstances. “I don’t know what to think you of any more, Mother,” she thought to herself. “Right now, all I care about is helping Trixie with her performance.”
Aurora couldn’t believe her eyes when she saw her daughter, her Starlight Glimmer, acting as Trixie’s assistant! “She must be crazy! Doesn’t she know what fate befell the other ponies who performed it?!” she thought, as she eyed the magician her daughter was helping. Trixie was most definitely no Hoofdini, and neither was Starlight.
“Watch carefully, as the fuse is lit and the manticore awaits its meal,” Trixie declared, as she took off her wizard’s hat and placed a cone shaped helmet with a star on it over her head. “Or at least that’s what it thinks it’s hoping for.” she said with a wink.
Starlight watched as Trixie climbed into the cannon to prepare herself for the launch. Knowing that she was the pony who would have to light the fuse, Starlight took an enormous gulp and lit the fuse. However, as she did so, her eyes locked on her mother! For some reason they were reflecting a look not of disappointment, but of genuine concern! Confused by this, Starlight’s attention began to drift!
“Oh, boy! This is so exciting!” Pinkie Pie commented. “I’m so nervictied, I can’t wait!”
“I sure hope everythin’ goes smoothly this time,” Applejack nervously observed. “Last time, I thought for sure Trixie was a goner!”
The fuse went out and the cannon fired, sending Trixie right towards the Manticore, as the beast opened its mouth, ready to devour Trixie for dinner! However, as she was launched through the air, Trixie could see that Starlight was not paying attention. This to Trixie, was a sign of trouble. Sure, the magician had taken the necessary precautions in case her assistant should fail, but the method was not without its drawbacks! “It’s too late to stop what will happen,” Trixie thought frantically to herself. “I just hope Starlight won’t be too mad with me when she finds out the truth!” “STARLIGHT!” Trixie shrilled, causing Starlight to break free of her trance just before the magician she was supposed to be assisting was engulfed by the Manticore.
Everyone in the audience gasped at the manticore, which took an enormous gulp and belched out loudly while beating its chest.
“How rude and deplorable!” cried Luna, angrily as she rose to her feet. “That creature does not…” But Celestia stopped her sister from saying another word. It was obvious to her that something was terribly wrong, judging from the look on Starlight’s face.
Nevertheless, Starlight managed to use her magic to put Trixie back in the box. But once the box was opened, a loud series of gasps came across the ballroom when Trixie was found unconscious, lying in a pool of saliva
“Oh no, Trixie!” yelled Starlight as she darted over to her unconscious friend. “Trixie, speak to me! Please!” Starlight grabbed her unconscious friend and shook her wildly, trying to get her to wake up, but Trixie was not responding. “No, please, Trixie,” sobbed Starlight. “Live! Please live, I beg you!”
Immediately Twilight ran up onto the stage and used her magic to push the manticore back into the cage! She then darted over to Starlight, trying to calm her student down. “Starlight, there’s nothing you can do! She’s out cold!” Twilight declared, attempting to pull her student away.
“But it’s my fault!” Starlight snapped, breaking free of Twilight’s magical control. “I should have been paying attention, Twilight! And now, Trixie’s…” Starlight’s sentence was interrupted when she saw Aurora standing at the table, a look pure disbelief displayed towards her daughter.
A look of sadness turned into a look of pure anger as Starlight attempted to storm over to Aurora. “You,” she seethed with fury while Twilight struggled to hold her back. “How can you look at me like that?! It’s because of you that I lost my focus and missed my cue! Trixie almost died, because of you!”
“Starlight,” Trixie called, finally waking up. Her hat and cape were torn and covered with manticore saliva, but otherwise she seemed unharmed. “It’s alright, Trixie wasn’t going to leave anything up to chance. I coated myself with that stuff I told you about earlier, it worked a little too well.”
But Starlight wasn’t listening, she was too full of anger, anger directed towards her mother who was now standing before her! “I didn’t even want to come here in the first place! If it wasn’t for Trixie’s insistence that we perform, I would’ve skipped this dinner all together! I almost lost my newest friend, because of you!”
“Starlight.” Aurora pleaded, hoping to appeal to her daughter’s sense of reason.
“Just… go away! I don’t want to see you right now! I don’t want to see anypony!” Starlight snapped, rushing out of the ballroom. “I just want to be alone with my thoughts!”
“Starlight, wait! There’s something you need to know about The Moonshot Manticore Mouth Dive!” Aurora called, but it was too late. Her daughter was too far away to hear. But everypony else in the room did hear, and all eyes immediately fell upon her.
“Ms. Glimmer, you have a lot of explaining to do,” Twilight said seriously. “How does that trick relate to any of this?! Hoofdini had no family at the time of his death, and the official cause was unrelated to his performance of The Mouth Dive!”
“Unless you’re saying there’s more to that story than meets the eye?” Trixie asked in a weary tone. “The official report of Hoofdini’s demise was rather short.”
Aurora sighed. “I suppose this was going to come out sooner or later.” she said to herself, a look of regret crossing her face.