4. Holmes unmasked
Her appearance was prefaced by a sudden bang and a burst of intense light, so that I could not say whether she teleported in front of us, or simply galloped in while we were deaf and blind. The Great and Powerful Trixie proved to be a aquamarine mare with snow-white hair – in the literal sense, having just a touch of blue to it. Her stage costume was covered in stars, and her cutie-mark, I realized with a start when she unfurled her cloak and it was briefly visible, was a cross between the stars of Arch-mage Sparkle and the half-moon of Luna herself.
She regarded us with an indifferent eye, as though our presence were an unfortunate necessity and our opinion of little value, then began begrudgingly to perform a series of unusual and alarming tricks. Her manner reminded me immediately of Holmes.
It was not the sort of magic show one would hope to see at a filly's birthday party. Any parent who unwittingly hired the Great and Powerful Trixie for such a performance could rightfully have sued for emotional damages. A good stage performer impresses the audience, but also forms a bond of mutual, if perhaps unequal, respect with them. Trixie's methodology was instead to shock and awe her audience into submission. The intimacy of the cafe, which could have been used to enhance rapport by a more sensitive performer, only made Trixie's performance more terrifying. One young colt began neighing uncontrollably in fear when Trixie burst into flames a few feet away from him, and had to be removed by his parents. The audience, for its part, appeared not to be enjoying the show so much as attempting to spite Trixie by proving that they could endure it.
After another disturbingly powerful display of magic followed by shocked gasps and a smattering of pro-forma hoof-stamping, Trixie relaxed her tense, aggressive posture, and stood calmly facing the audience. She lowered her horn penitently, and looked at us for the first time with inviting, sympathetic eyes.
"Trixie is sorry if she has disturbed you. Let everypony take a few moments to relax. Breathe deeply. That's good. Look at Trixie. Listen to the sound of her voice. Take another breath. Everything is fine, you are perfectly safe, and comfortable, and – WHAT ARE YOU DOING ON THE CEILING?"
I saw with horror that Trixie was standing on the floor beneath me, while I, my table, and my partly-eaten sandwich were suspended from the ceiling of the cafe. Ponies neighed in terror and twisted and threw their hooves up – or rather down – to catch themselves as they fell. I may possibly have been among them.
Then I realized that it was Trixie who was standing on the ceiling, laughing. She must have gradually levitated and rotated herself as she spoke, without my noticing, leading to the illusion that I was standing on the ceiling. I held a hoof to my head until the vertigo and disorientation went away. Ponies who had fallen down in their panic stood up and resumed their places sheepishly, or in some cases headed for the door.
She spun in the air and landed on her hooves before us like an acrobat, smiling broadly.
"It seems some ponies can't tell up from down. Perhaps Trixie should do something simpler for them." An uninflated balloon appeared in one of her hooves, and she held it to her mouth and blew it full of air. She then held it up triumphantly. A few audience members who did not get the joke applauded half-heartedly.
She pushed the balloon aside and suspended it there by magic. She then produced another balloon, of a darker color, and inflated that to a smaller size, then tied it off and held it next to the first. The balloons then moved apart and together, bouncing off each other several times, until they came together and did not bounce, but merged; then I saw the smaller, darker balloon inside the larger one.
"Remarkable," Holmes said.
"What, that?" I muttered. "It didn't seem very impressive to me."
"That is because you are ignorant of magical theory," Holmes said. "The starting and ending points of any teleportation must be connected by a magical line of energy. Imperfections in this line temporarily disrupt the space around it. To teleport anything through the stretched surface of an inflated balloon without breaking it requires near-perfect discipline. There are only a few unicorns in the world who could do that. Assuming it was not a more mundane trick, such as having a balloon constructed with a thick, non-elastic patch."
I raised my eyebrows in appreciation.
The mare on the stage looked about her triumphantly, but her expression quickly turned to disappointment, and then angry contempt, as she saw the bored audience shared my initial opinion of her balloon trick.
"Incidentally," Holmes added, "detecting and suppressing these nearly-inevitable disruptions are among the key principles of magical defense fields such as the one protecting the museum."
Trixie impelled the balloons rapidly out into the audience, where they stopped in front of an orange unicorn filly, who blinked at them uncertainly. Trixie released them, and the filly watched as they dropped slowly to the floor. She watched them roll away, then looked back up at Trixie, who sighed and looked down. I almost felt sorry for her at that moment.
"Trixie has been greedy," she announced. "Trixie is up here having all of the fun. Would somepony else like to play?"
Mr. F., who appeared to be the only member of the audience genuinely enjoying the show, raised a hoof excitedly, and Trixie called him up. She asked his name. He told her, and added that he was the museum curator, and also that he was enjoying the show very much, and had been persuaded to come by his companion, Mr. Fetlock Holmes. At this he gestured to Holmes.
Holmes rolled his eyes. Then he dropped the tourist act, removed the hat and the glasses, and favored Trixie with his usual enigmatic smile.
I have been present on many occasions when some criminal first became aware of the personal presence of Fetlock Holmes, the great sleuth whose ability to see into the criminal mind must have seemed god-like to those it was directed against. No matter how hardened the criminal, their first reaction, without exception, was to flinch away from him and take an involuntary step back.
The Great and Powerful Trixie leaned towards Holmes with a hungry smile, locked eyes with him, and took a step forward.
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The fact that this has gone unnoticed is a travesty.
912800
Thanks! But I haven't submitted it yet. Still revising. How did you find it?
912961
Oh, derp. Wow. I'm an idiot.
Yeah, I liked it a lot. Guess I've tipped my hand now by doing such a stupid thing, but oh well.
The first paragraph is from a Scandal in Bohemia. I recognize the second paragraph, but I don't have the time to go through the stories and find it.
953207
Correct! PM me with your deviantart account, if you have one, & I'll send you
i.qkme.me/35ze3t.jpg
... Well, no. But you will get
100 DEVIANTART POINTS!
(This is evil on a budget.)
953321 Holy crap, really? I feel validated now. I actually read your first comment as 100 internet points.
This is relevant to my interest, keep up the good work.
[strike]Comments from a week ago. Front page today.
Not sure what's going on, but I'll refrain from pointing fingers due to the possibility of me being wrong.[/strike]
Nevermind; I just read the comments. I'm a retard.
I am so following.
I'll consider reading it when it's finished.
I'm rapidly running out of reasons to not read the source material.
BRB, googling "Arthur Conan Doyle"
I've had the exceptional pleasure of helping pre-read this lovely thing. I can't recommend it enough. Also, since I know how the rest of the story goes allow me to share a not-really-spoiler: It gets even better. Seriously. The story goes to a very interesting place that took me by surprise. Read it. You won't be sorry.
953892
The name is "Mr. F." This is a Victorian way of writing - the premise was that the viewpoint narrator is telling a true story, and making real-life characters semi-anonymous by using only their initials. Unfortunately the F came at the end of a sentence. I think that's the correct way to write it. It is jarring, though, so correctness is a poor excuse, and I changed it.
Wow This story is SOOOOOOO good! Cant wait to read more!
OK, I'm baffled. Why isn't this story called "A Scandal In Equestria"?
955452
Hmm. On one hand, it doesn't involve anything I'd describe as a scandal. On the other hand, that title would give readers familiar with A Scandal in Bohemia an idea where the story is going.
Plus, I could lure in readers hoping for some Twilestia... How would this do for the cover art?
img831.imageshack.us/img831/7677/twilestiabysbshouseofpa.png
UH Oh! A clash of egos the size of Holmes and Trixi might cause a sigularity to form. I suprised they do not knock heads together when the both enter a room :)
Loving this so far.
Mystery that not only doesn't shy away from magic but brings it to the forefront, and well-written Trixie, and earth pony/unicorn tension? Instant follow.
"It is the dregs, the leavings, the last resort. It is, in a word, ours, Watson."
Just wonderful. Cannot wait to see where this goes.
I liked this the first time I read it and I still enjoyed reading it a second time!
Congratulations on the excellent story and the feature on EqD!
958122
I'm committing the oft-committed sin of making Trixie more competent than she is in canon. Let's say she's had time to improve. She's more generally useful as a character this way. But you're right - I assumed by default that Holmes had done his homework, but Doyle would have stated that explicitly.
956919
No, no. That's,
Is this the real life?
Is this just fantasy?
Caught in a landslide,
no escape from reality...
I should've mentioned this when chapter 4 was new, but I have to say, as you've described Trixie's show I think I would enjoy it. It sounds exciting! Sometimes it's really fun to be scared.
I wonder if Mr. F recognized the teleportation trick's difficulty? Since it fell flat on so much of the crowd and all...
958331
958122
Well... The thing is that Trixie's canon abilities are pretty debatable. Here's what we know: She can't beat an Ursa Minor, she's less powerful than Twilight Sparkle. She can summon tornadoes that can defeat Rainbow Dash with what appears to be zero effort. Her stage show is good enough to make a living off of even though other unicorns exist where she travels.
From that you could argue anything from slightly below average but very good at showy sleight of hand to exceptional but still below the freakish power of the Element of Magic. I lean towards at least above average because I find defeating Rainbow Dash more impressive than failing to defeat a Ursa Minor is unimpressive.
She definitely knows something about magic as she was able to figure out which spells Twilight would instantly recognize as most impressive when using the amulet but that's not a sign of practical ability. She lies when she's on stage but that doesn't mean anything about her actual abilities, either.
The presentation of Trixie in this story is not outside the upper boundaries of what her talent could be from what canon shows us.