A Matter of Perspective

by BorealStargazer

Now you don't

"Come on, come all and behold the unforgettable miraculous show of the Humble and Penitent Trixie!"

Lyra swallowed hard and pondered once again if it was really worth it. Taking part in a show, especially in a complex stunt such as this one, was no small feat. Illusionists and their assistants could practice for years to achieve flawless precision. That little amount of time she spent preparing for the big event didn't feel even remotely adequate.

Still, each stage magic show has a mystery to unfold, the key to that mystery only available to the selected few. She wouldn't forgive herself if she'd missed the chance.

After all, didn't Trixie herself mention she needed an assistant?

The unicorn let her breath out and concentrated. As with many other stunts, picking the right moment here was paramount. Trixie relied on her. She simply could not fail!

"Each and every one of you knows how important the Moon is for ponies. It causes rising tides and ebbs, boggles our imagination, lights the way for travellers after dusk and occasionally serves as a place of exile for the less fortunate."

The sorceress paused, and there were several distinct chuckles in frosty air above Ponyville's village green. They quickly subsided, however. She cleared her throat, feeling the attention of dozens of pairs of eyes focusing on her again, and smiled confidently.

"One of our Royal Sisters, Princess Luna, is the patron of lightless hours and the master of the Moon. She bestows on us her night, the time for soothing and rest, she alone controls the movement of the Moon though the celestial spheres. So it is said," she swung her forelock to the side and gestured with her hoof, drawing around the square. "But is that true? Tonight we will uncover the truth. Tonight the Great and Powerful Trixie will make the Moon disappear!"

This time the silence that overhang the crowd was absolute. The ponies, hardly distinguishable in the gloom, looked at each other in shock and confusion. Soon the murmurs rose, apparently some could hardly believe what they've just heard. The posters promised them an "unforgettable holiday show" but were vague on the details.

"Please, hold your astonishment for a moment. Now pay attention and don't avert your eyes. Maybe there's a chance one of you is able to uncover the mystery behind the sorcery of the Great and Powerful Trixie?!" the illusionist raised her voice and smiled triumphantly. "Or maybe not. We shall see."

She raised her hoof, and all the spectators looked up following her gesture, to the freckled pancake of the full Moon hanging above the top of the stage's wooden frame. Tonight it seemed especially close.

"And now I need your help. Let us count to three!" Trixie stepped forward. "One!"

"Two..." a few forward rows picked up, and the sorceress pressed her eyes shut, her muzzle visibly straining.

"THREE!!!" screamed everypony in unison.

Say what you will about her, but the young sorceress knew a thing about keeping the tension. Lyra herself was so caught up in the act, she'd almost missed the right moment. Trying to steady her crazy beating heart she tugged the rope and put out the light at the telescope that they have transformed into an improvised gobo projector. The flash of floodlights that she momentarily uncovered blinded the onlookers, pyrotechnics near the stage thundering in accompaniment. And when the rumbling was over...

"It's gone!" somepony screamed.

"It's gone! The Moon is gone!"

Cries rolled over the crowd, covering a whole spectrum of reactions: bewilderment, shock, fear. Sounded like many couldn't believe what they just saw. Trying to put her own emotions in check, Lyra took a glance at Trixie and was amazed by her self-restrain. Not a single muscle trembled on the illusionist's muzzle. Anxiety of the public grew by the minute, however, and there was a rather serious reason.

There was no Moon.

Winter was late this year. If Lyra remembered it right, there were rumors that the farmers had trouble with their usual schedule, and Mayor Mare asked Cloudsdale authorities to postpone snowfalls for a while. Still, there was no way around the calendar. The air was winterly chilling, the dome of night skies peppered with stars crystal clear, resonant even, sure sign of a frosty morning thereafter.

And not even a hint of the Moon in it.

Lyra smiled in satisfaction. Everything went smooth, it seemed...

"Wait a minute," a familiar doubtful voice rose from the crowd. A moment later Lyra recognized it, even before the pink pony wearing a scarf and a knitted earflap hat came into the light near the stage. Pinkie Pie stretched her foreleg, pointing upwards. "Is that a smoke cover?"

The sorceress on the stage seemed to shift to a lighter shade of blue but still tried to look unmoved.

"Don't know what you mean, Pinkie Pie. You're just jealous that it was the Great and Powerful Trixie who sole the Moon, aren't you?"

"No way, Trixie!" Pinkie Pie proudly stood straight. "Come on everypony, let's make some wind!"

Lyra swallowed. Looked like the whole event was derailing quickly. How did Pinkie even see the smoke in this darkness? Was it her famous intuition? The unicorn couldn't remember a single Pinkie-sign talking about smoke covers or magic shows.

Meanwhile there was some movement near the podium. Pegasi were stepping forward, stretching their wings. Some of them, like Blossomforth, Cloud Chaser or Derpy, Lyra even knew by name. They all started working their wings on Pinkie's cue, creating a flow of wind. The drapes flapped, sticking to the scaffolds, and the dark air above the top of it adorned by a large plywood symbol of crescent and magic wand started to shift, confirming what Lyra already knew. There was a thick layer of theatrical smoke hanging above the stage, obscuring the view of spectators.

"A-ha!" Pinkie exclaimed in triumph when the presence of the smokescreen became obvious even to the least attentive guests. "It seems I have solved... your... riddle..."

Image of confidence on her face was replaced by a puzzled frown, then by utter confusion. Now-clear sky directly above them was full of stars, there was no trace of smoke.

No trace of the Moon either.

"You know, Pinkie," the voice from the podium responded, making heads turn once again to it. The sorceress was shockingly calm. "A great magician of old, Hoofdini, once said, "Scientific magic is a list of instructions leading to a predictable outcome. Real sorcery is in gifting others with a miracle."

Pinkie seemed ashamed, while Trixie smiled and flapped her cloak.

"But enough about this. As I've been saying, the Moon is very important for us ponies. Let us not offend Princess Luna and return it to its rightful place."

Lyra frowned in confusion, ignoring the uncertain giggles from the crowd. What's on her mind? This flap of the cloak, as they agreed prior to the show, meant the flash of floodlights. But why? She couldn't switch their telescope-turned-projector back on, without the smoke serving as its screen it was absolutely useless.

"One!" Trixie suggested, closing her eyes and concentrating.

"Two..." Pinkie and the pegasi around her continued. It looked like the pink pony had already forgotten about her little failure.

"THREE!!!" the crowd concluded.

Still puzzled, Lyra nevertheless did what she had to do: she tugged the rope, uncovering the floodlights. Squinting in anticipation of the flash to avoid being blinded herself, she looked intently into the sky, trying to remember where the Moon should be. She almost succeeded.

Full Moon was hanging in the cold sky exactly where it was supposed to. Surreal feeling was amplified by overarching silence and bleak, ghostly moonlight. In that moonlight both town square, all of its lightposts dark, and ponies in it looked fake.

Then the cheering began. Ponies yelled in approval and stomped their hooves in admiration.

"Thank you, thank you all! Ponyville has a special place in my heart, you're a wonderful audience!" Trixie bowed. "It is here where I first met my best friend and my Great and Powerful Assistant. Although she's not here today, I always knew I could get some help from one of you. Meet my short-term helper, Lyra Heartstrings!"

Lyra swallowed and clinched her eyes when the spotlights (and then the heads of ponies) turned to the small tent behind the last rows where she hid. This unexpected attention was not at all like the one at her lectures or music concerts. Still, the instinct trained by a multitude of performances kicked in where the head had failed. She felt herself rising up and bowing politely to the public.

Fireworks, mandatory for the finale, painted the sky, giving her the salvation she hoped for so badly right now. While she was busy catching her breath, Trixie's final words flowed above the crowd.

"Happy holiday everypony! Happy Hearth's Warming Day!"

Lyra couldn't say she was left dissatisfied with the show. Delight of the public was contagious. Still, there was one question that was gnawing at her insides while she pushed through the multicolored crowd of onlookers.

How on Equus did Trixie manage to pull it off?

"It wasn't very fair!" she stated, diving behind the curtains. "Don't make such a face, Trixie Lulamoon!"

"The Great and Powerful Trixie has kept her word," the sorceress proudly raised her muzzle. "I have no idea what are you talking about."

"You didn't tell me how your stunt was performed, not entirely! Come on, Trixie, you can trust me! I'm..." Lyra paused for a bit, then swallowed her pride and continued. "I'm a famous conspiracy theorist, I can keep a secret! Who would believe me, anyway?"

"Trixie never promised you the secret."

"No really, she didn't," Pinkie intervened. "I keep track on all the promises here and there was no mention of the secret."

Lyra was taken aback.

"Pinkie Pie? Where did you... How did you get in here?"

"Duh," pink pony waved her scarf. "I went to the backstage, silly! It's about time for a "Happy-Homecoming-Trixie" party."

"You know," Trixie hesitated before continuing. "This place really becomes the closest to what I can truly call 'home'. Thank you for you help."

"Wait," Lyra frowned. "She was helping you, too? And who else was on the list? Half of Ponyville?"

"Come on, "half of Ponyville"," Dash retorted, pulling the curtain aside and joining them. She was wearing a dark purple costume with black patches and lightning-shaped golden cuffs. Lyra found it vaguely familiar. "I'm awesome, no doubt about it, but "half of Ponyville"? Seriously?"

"Rainbow Dash?" Lyra felt her head starting to swell. "You too?"

"Couldn't miss the biggest prank of the year," Rainbow Dash grinned. "Especially when the year as almost done."

"My head is starting to hurt," Lyra complained.

"Doesn't sound very fun," Pinkie observed.

"Chillax," Rainbow shoved her with a hoof cloaked in dark. "We're going to a little afterparty at the Sugarcube Corner. Join us. There won't be another chance to try Pinkie's eggnog until the very celebration day! So whacha say, you're game?"

The unicorn sighed.

"Yeah, count me in. Can't believe I'm the only one in the dark about how Trixie did the trick."

Trixie smiled wickedly, wrapping her cloak tighter.

"You're the famous conspiracy theorist. Put it together."

Lyra's eyes narrowed in irritation but then the words sunk deeper. The sorceress had a point. Bon Bon won't be back till Hearth's Warming...

She smiled. There were mystery and eggnog, the Moon was shining peacefully in the sky, and midnight was a long, long time away.

Author's Note:

Told you to trust the pie.
(In all honesty tho, this thought never occurred to me until after I wrote this part).

This part was probably the most problematic. Devising mysteries is not my forte, so I didn't now how to untangle it myself until the very end. It was a last minute inspiration spark to add more characters to the mix. Not as clever as the String theory, but adding more variables helped.
I guess.

Also, Now You See Me 2 is trash.
Not really but it is significantly weaker than the first one, partly due to over-dependency on one plot device and too much exposition revealed with definitive certainty. I prefer the ambiguous finale of the first movie over the concrete linearity of the second one.
I really hope I've avoided this pitfall myself.

Comments

[_Moonshot]

Tonight the Great and Powerful Trixie will make the Moon disappear!

"Behold, as the Great and Powerful Trixie unveils a new creation!" *flings blanket off* "The 50 trillion-megaton nuclear weapon!"

The sorceress on the stage seemed to shift to a lighter shade of blue but still tried to look unmoved.

You know I've always wondered what the Equestrian equivalent to turning white would be :P
Also, a relevant image:
i.kym-cdn.com/photos/images/original/001/330/736/96f.png

telescope-turned-projector

Ahh. That is clever. I like that.

"I'm a famous conspiracy theorist, I can keep a secret! Who would believe me, anyway?"

Shockingly self-aware. (But also feelsbad)

Wishing Lyra best of luck in solving this mystery :)
Thanks so much for writing this (and if I've done my research right: Дуже дякую)! I appreciate it! Nice and light, and I always enjoy seeing uncommon character pairings (especially if they involve Trixie )

[BorealStargazer]

10004841
As much as I like Kkat's work I'm not going to invade FoE grounds.

"Turning white" was one of my last-minute finds. I was going to write "she grew pale" but then imagined it and thought she actually was kinda pale already, so...

You did your research right

I wasn't trying to make Lyra feel bad (at least, not intentionally) - I'm continuously putting together some headcanon about some characters, and when I got this request about Lyra and Trixie I was reading one particular chapter from "Summa Technologiae" where Lem argues that, while counter-intuitive and seemingly contrary to common sense of the majority, science considers emergence of intelligent life (read: humans) to be an ordinary event (science laws and theories describe patterns) while religion argues that intelligent life on Earth is unique.
So if we take common, over-simplified average-man understanding of astronomy and biology, scientific chances of intelligent life appearing "randomly" are negligible. But if we take into consideration the size of the universe, real, hard science (not pop science from tabloids) says chances for intelligent life are pretty high (even if it is spread very thinly, with hundreds, if not thousands of light years between each occurence).

My guess, since Lyra is interested in other life forms, she digs these things hard. And the irony is, while average ponies having "average popular" understanding of science consider her a weirdo at best, in the end (even if we ignore EqG) she is probably right. Humans (or some other intelligent alien species) DO exist.

Writing Trixie was easier and more difficult. She has a defined colourful personality. I wasn't very satisfied with "No Second Prances" because of the obvious magical solution but the episode was more about learning to make friends and trying to be a better person than about, well, stage magic, so it wasn't that important. In this one though I tried to give her some kind of a deeper motivation (in addition to liking being a center of attention).

Glad you liked it.

[NaiadSagaIotaOar]

Ooo, okay. I was ready to leave a comment complaining about Pinkie being a bit of a twat for ruining Trixie's trick, but that was a nice reveal at the end! Definitely in-character for both Pinkie and Rainbow, and a lovely way to show how Trixie's developed since coming to Ponyville. Pretty decent characterization all-around!

I think there were some rough edges, overall, with things like this paragraph:

"You know," Trixie hesitated before continuing. "This place really becomes the closest to what I can truly call 'home'. Thank you for you help."

Where it's, like, a topic that feels like it ought to be really serious and heartfelt, but it kinda pops out of nowhere and then nothing much comes of it--seriously, I'm looking at that conversation now and I think it works fairly seamlessly if that whole Trixie paragraph were just chopped out entirely. So it dragged the momentum of the scene to a halt and I don't feel like it added anything to compensate.