The Great and Powerful Trixie's Mystical Magic Wagon pulled into the parking spot, not far from the outdoor stage where this had all begun.

Yesterday.

It was kind of hard for Trixie to believe it. Less than twenty-four hours ago, she had been working on a magic show with Sunset Shimmer as her assistant.

Now she was back here, about to face a version of Sunset Shimmer in a battle of her magician skills.

Trixie thought that last part would make an awesome anime episode.

The Anime-ted Adventures of The Great and Powerful Trixie!

She really liked the sound of that.

Pushing the thought aside for now, Trixie climbed out of her van and made her way toward the stage. She made it a point not to look behind her as she did. After all, a part of being a stage magician meant confidence and misdirection. At the moment, there was not much need for misdirection since she was meeting her opponent up on stage, but she had plenty of reason to appear as confident as possible. The Great and Powerful Trixie did not know what The Spectacular and Amazing Sunset was capable of, so Trixie needed every edge she could think of.

Reaching the edge of the stage, she easily hopped up onto it and turned around, watching the magician Sunset Shimmer make her way there as well.

"We'll use this side of the stage, so we don't interfere with what they're doing," Trixie explained, motioning to Twilight, Daydream and Sonata. "Now, since I challenged you, you get to choose: do you want to go first, or do you want me to?"

"I'll go first," magician Sunset announced as she jumped up onto the stage. She gave her cape a flick. "And I'll even start simple. That way, you aren't too embarrassed too fast."

She slipped a hand beneath her jacket and into a pocket.

"Behold!" she announced as she pulled out an object. "An ordinary number two pencil." She held it out at arms length, letting Trixie get a good look at it. "A small rod of graphite, encased in wood with a ring of aluminum holding a piece of rubber on one end."

Pulling the pencil in close, she grasped it with both hands. With a loud grunt, she twisted her wrists, as though breaking something in two. In the opposite hand from before, she held up the pointed end of the pencil.

"Easily broken with a little strength. And normally, impossible to fix. But!"

Magician Sunset puts her hands together again, reversing the motion of breaking. She then holds up the entire pencil.

"With a little magic, it's as good as before."

The sound of clapping got the pair's attention. The pair turned to find that Sonata Dusk was watching, using the unharmed back of her bandaged hand against the palm of her uninjured one to applaud.

Magician Sunset smirked and gave a small bow.

"Shouldn't you be supervising the others?" Trixie asked. "You know, for your master plan and everything." It was totally just out of curiosity and had nothing to do with the fact that the applause were for someone else.

"They're doing a bunch of boring math stuff right now," Sonata answered, leaning back and rolling her eyes. She then straightened up, grinning. "Besides, this is much more entertaining to watch."

"Then please hold applause until the end," Trixie requested. Her eyes then narrowed. "Or, maybe not since that might be the only applause she hears."

Magician Sunset turned to face her again, glaring.

"Big talk for someone who hasn't even gone yet!"

"You were the one who wanted to go first and 'start easy,'" Trixie retorted. "Now, for my first trick," -- she held her hand -- "I would like the pencil, please."

Sunset's eyes narrowed as she looked at Trixie extended hand. Slowly, she lifted the pencil and gave it over.

"Thank," Trixie said as she took it. "Since you've already talked about what it's made of, we can skip that part." Bringing the pencil close to her, she held the eraser between two fingers of one hand, with the tip being held between between two on the other.

"Now, watch as The Great and Powerful Trixie makes it disappear!"

She quickly pulled her hands apart wide, then slapped them together fast and hard. Pulling her hands apart, Trixie held them out, fingers spread wide for all to see.

The pencil was gone.

She even flipped them back and forth to show that nothing was behind them either.

"Great," Sunset said in the flattest tone possible. "Now, can I have my pencil back?" She held her hand out.

"Sorry," Trixie replied with a smirk. "That's a trick for later. Maybe. You'll just have to wait." She ran a finger along the brim of her hat. "Anyway, it's your turn again. Hope you have something a lot more impressive up your sleeve."

Magician Sunset let out a huff, rolling her eyes.

"Fine." She pointed a finger at Sonata. "How would you like to come up and help me for a moment?"

With a squeal of excitement, Sonata jumped up and ran for the stage, leaping onto it. She was grinning far wider than humanly possibly as she looked up at The Spectacular and Amazing Sunset.

"Behold!" magician Sunset called out as she pulled out another a small box. "A deck of cards." She opened the box and pulled the cards out. "Fifty-four in total, with thirteen of each suit from ace to king, and two jokers." She passed the deck to Sonata. "Please shuffle these."

Sonata took the deck and did as she was asked. With her left hand doing most of the work, she split, shuffled, mixed, and cut the deck of cards before finally handing them back.

Magician Sunset took the deck, fanned out the cards and held it out to Trixie.

"I believe you know the routine." Sunset's eyes narrowed. "Or do I need to explain it?"

Trixie stuck her tongue out before grabbing a card and looking at it.

Seven of spades.

She then slipped it back into the deck.

Magician Sunset cut the cards, then cut them again, and a third time. She started a fourth cut, but instead putting the cards back together, she held up half the deck, revealing the face of one of the cards.

"Is this your card?"

Trixie looked at the exposed card.

Queen of diamonds.

Trixie let out a chuckle.

"Well, that is a card I feel represents me quite well," she answered, "but it is not the card that I drew."

Sunset's eyes went wide. She tilted her head to look at the exposed card, then back to Trixie. A small smirk tugged at her mouth.

"Oh," she said dramatically. "You thought I meant this card?" She shook the queen of diamonds, then let out a chuckle and shook her head. "No, no. I meant this card!"

With a flick of her thumb, she revealed the top card of the other half of the deck.

Seven of spades.

Trixie let out a huff, scowling at the card and the other magician.

"Yes," she spat, crossing her arms over her chest. "That's my card."

Letting out a victory chuckle, The Spectacular and Amazing Sunset flipped the card back over before setting the rest of the deck back on top. She then held the deck out to Trixie.

"Your turn."

Trixie took the deck and passed them over to Sonata.

"Go ahead and shuffle them again."

While Sonata did that, Trixie considered her options. The pencil had been easy enough, but that was because Sunset had done a very simple and basic one. The card trick she used, however, had already been one of the more advanced ones. So, Trixie would have to come up with an amazing and rather complicated one.

The problem was that Trixie did not really know a lot of card tricks. Yes, she had learned the basic ones since it was a part of all magic tricks, but had not really gone past basics or even practiced those in quite a while. They were just not flashy or impressive enough for her liking. Plus, they were so common. Every two-bit hustler that called themselves a "magician" knew at least one card trick.

An idea came to her.

"I have to grab something, quickly."

She turned and headed for backstage.

"Giving up?" magician Sunset asked, eyes narrowing as she smirked.

"Ha!" Trixie cried out, turning to face her. "You wish." She struck a pose, holding up the cape with one hand. "The Grrrreat and Powerful Trixie doesn't know the meaning of 'give up.'"

She then resumed her walking.

"I just have to see something quickly, is all."

Sometimes, after a show, people would leave props behind. It could be because they were tired from performing, distracted with other matters, or just did not care. Usually, whatever got left behind would remain there until some other group would clear it out so they could store their own stuff for whatever was being done. If Trixie remembered right (and of course she did; The Great and Powerful Trixie had perfect memory), the last thing that had been done here was some Greek tragedy play or other. That meant that someone would have gotten stabbed, which in turn would mean prop knives. Normally, the retractable type, but some times it would include rubber knives, metal ones which were made dull, and even the occasional properly sharpened knife. If she could find one, she could use it in her trick.

Alas, it seemed that luck was not on Trixie's side. There was not a knife to be found.

There was a dart though. Maybe she could use that instead.

Pocketing the dart, Trixie made her way back to the stage.

Not only was The (so totally not) Spectacular and Amazing Sunset Shimmer and Sonata Dusk there, but Daydream Shimmer and Twilight Sparkle had joined them as well.

"Well, we've managed to reassemble it," Twilight explained as Trixie approached the group, "and Daydream and I even poured some magic into it, sort of like we were charging it up." She adjusted her glasses, looking back toward the magician box. "But, we won't actually know if it works until we somehow test it."

"That's great," Trixie said as she walked up. She took the deck of cards from Sonata. Fanning them out, she offered them to magician Sunset.

Magician Sunset took out a card, showed it to Daydream, Twilight, and Sonata, then slipped it back into where it had been.

Trixie then folded the cards back up, and cut the deck.

"I need a voluteer," she stated. "Someone who preferably won't flinch."

"I can do it," Twilight offered. "What do I need to do?"

Trixie handed her the cards.

"Wait right here."

She then made her way across the stage, counting off the steps. Reaching the spot she thought was best, Trixie turned around and pulled out the dart.

"Now, hold the cards up and at arm's length," she ordered.

Twilight gave a nod and took a hold of the deck at the bottom. She then held it out in front of her as far as she could reach, the images facing toward her.

Trixie took a step back, and -- hoping she had calculated everything close enough for this -- threw the dart with all her strength at the cards.

The dart flew through the air perfectly, heading straight for the deck.

Something else shot through the air, hitting the dart and knocking it to the floor.

"Hope I'm interrupting something," a voice called out.

The five of them turned toward the sound, looking up at the top of the stage where a figure stood.