Harry Houdini: The Great and Powerful

by CrackedInkWell

Chapter 11: The Door to Nowhere.

Author's Note:

I know some of you wanted to read about the Houdini's side of the story, so think of this chapter as a kind of set up for me to do so.

With her eyes closed, she took in a few calm breaths. Trixie stood before the curtain that hid her adoring audience from her sight. There was a hint of nervousness in her breath, but as a magician, she knew that she had to have a clear mind before her performance. But unlike all of the other shows she performed on this stage, she knew that this one was vastly different considering who she’d invited.

“Fillies and gentlecolts!” the announcer declared, cueing the blue unicorn to light the fuses of the fireworks. “The Clare de Lune Theater is proud to present the legendary magician, and former Queen of Diamondia…” With a quick glance at her assistants, her horn lit up as she channeled a short distance teleportation spell aimed for the other side of the curtain. With a puff of blue smoke and the sparks of fireworks, the announcer presented: “The Great and Powerful Trixie!”

“Greetings, my wonderful audience!” she welcomed the evening’s spectators. “Who’s ready for some magic?” There was an inward sigh of relief as she heard the familiar applause and cheers from her audience. As the smoke cleared in the light of the welcoming fireworks, she scanned the crowd to see if she could find her guests.

Then, she spotted a couple of tall shadows off to her right. “What’s this?” she asked as the fireworks died down, putting a hoof over her eyes. “Do my eyes deceive me? Who is that standing over there?” A spotlight glided over the audience to search for the figures, falling onto two very familiar looking humans. “Why yes, it is! Mr. and Mrs. Houdini, I presume?”

The equine spectators applauded as Harry and Bess waved with smiles on their faces. “Evening folks,” Houdini nodded, turning his attention to Trixie. “That was quite the entrance you made. A bit flashy for my tastes, but it was very good.”

Trixie waited for the laughter to die down before responding. “Thank you, but aren’t you two going to sit down somewhere?”

“Well we could,” Mrs. Houdini spoke, “except we’re a little too big to fit in any of the seats. But don’t worry about us, we’ll be fine standing.”

“Are you sure?”

“Not to worry,” Harry replied as he leaned back. “Let’s get back to your show. We’re curious what you can pull off.”

“Very well.” Trixie returned her focus back to her audience. “Let's not waste any more time. We have some tricks that we’d like to show all of you. Would you like to see them?”

With a collective “yes!” from everypony, Trixie smiled and raised her hoof, signaling to raise the curtain. On the stage were a platform and a backdrop of misty mountains, with the stage lights illuminating a carved wooden door that featured armored gryphons. The door itself was held up by two painted stands of ancient Gryphstonian symbols.

“Let’s talk about doors,” the midnight magician said, slowly walking backward. “There is a legend among the Gryphons that, at the height of their kingdom, there was a king who was so paranoid about his treasure that he placed his entire treasure behind this very door.” She hopped up on the platform and opened the door. “So what’s so special about this door, I hear you ask? To the Gryphons, this is known as ‘the door to nowhere’.” The unicorn went through and around the door in figure eight.

“And why is it called that? To demonstrate, my two assistants and I will enter through this wonder of the world as it slowly spins in place.” She turned to one of her assistants standing next to a switch. “Peppers, would you kindly start the turntable?”

With a nod, she pulled the lever, causing the door to slowly spin counterclockwise. Peppers Ghost and her twin quickly joined their boss’s side, all three of them stepping up onto the spinning platform. At just the right moment, Trixie opened the door, allowing her and her assistants to walk through it.

Meanwhile, the Houdinis were rather curious what the unicorn had in store until the three ponies suddenly went through the door and closed it. As the carved door slowly revealed its other side, the two humans blinked. There was nothing there! Then, the door opened back up to reveal one of the assistants sticking her head through the doorframe while the other peeked through. The one peeking through the frame went back inside as the other walked around the door, closing it from the front.

Harry studied the routine carefully. Sometimes, the assistants would walk out from both ends. Other times, Trixie would walk out with a jeweled necklace around her neck, or an assistant would walk in only to disappear on the other side.

From where he stood, he tried his best to figure out how it was done. The spinning platform was too low to the ground, with not enough room for a trapdoor nor a hiding space. He also noticed that it was too far away from the backdrop, otherwise, he might have spotted them already. Even the spectators seemed completely mystified, just as unaware as he was.

“I’ve never seen anything like it,” his wife whispered.

Harry nodded. This was certainly original enough that even he couldn’t debunk it.

In the end, he was left with just one particular guess. Although he couldn’t see for sure, it was all he had to go off of.

In the end, all three ponies walked through the door together, carrying precious jewels and strings of gold as the audience applauded.

_*_

Once the show came to a close with Trixie’s final trick of making both her and her assistants disappear underneath a curtain of fireworks, the audience finished their applause and began heading out of the theater.

The Houdinis followed the crowd out until a pegasus came up to them. “Um, Mr. and Mrs. Houdini? I was told to give these to you two.” He hoofed over a couple of small envelopes before walking away without another word.

The two humans opened them, finding notes with a blue stamp on the bottom of each.

Thank you both for seeing my performance. Show the stage guard the stamps and come see me backstage. I’d like to speak with both of you.

Comments

[Wanderer D]

Huh, this looks pretty interesting. I'm adding it to my read later list.

[Southern Moon]

Very well,” Trixie returned to her audience, “let’s not waist any more time.

Just noticed that error there while reading. Can't wait to see what's next!

[CrackedInkWell]

6354858 Thank you, I shall correct that immediately.

[DracoDarastrix]

I have no opinion about this chapter so far. I mean I have nothing news to report yet. Keep on the good work.

[Emperor]

I feel this chapter does a decent job of showing off the difference between Trixie's show and what Houdini does. A lot of what Trixie does is the run of the mill sleight of hand and escape tricks that Houdini does, but she embraces her magic to add flair to the show, such as the entrance she makes, and presumably to tell stories using illusions for images. Of course, she still uses magic to assist in her tricks, making it perhaps too easy sometimes (as mentioned in the earlier chapter where her blindfold was see-through), so something Trixie might end up taking from Houdini is respect for the tricks themselves, working to to do them without real magic, and then enhance the trick through that real magic. Also, I saw that comic book reference

That's it for the night for me, I'll finish commenting in the morning.