Ovation and Limelight

By Alaborn

Standard disclaimer: This is a not for profit fan work. My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic is copyright Hasbro, Inc. I make no claim to any copyrighted material mentioned herein.

The Ovation Theater. Three stories tall. Capable of seating two thousand ponies. A state of the art sound and light system. A projection system combined with a curtain of enchanted beads, capable of displaying two levels of images simultaneously. In short, the perfect venue for a mare of her talents.

The azure-coated mare scoffed at the big musical production advertised on the poster outside the theater. The theater would be wasted putting on that show. But sadly, she wasn’t the pony in charge of the entertainment for the cruise line.

She couldn’t be too angry, though. After her original stage show was ruined by an ill-fated performance in Ponyville years ago, she had by necessity started a new act, one without the props and special effects, one better suited to smaller audiences. Rather than just one-up ponies’ talents with her own magic, in a way to ensure the greatest reaction from the volunteer and the crowd, she wowed her crowds with a magic that many ponies didn’t believe existed: the magic of the mind.

Unicorn magic couldn’t read minds. Not even the princesses had that power, or if they did, they didn’t reveal it to anypony. So when she demonstrated on stage that she knew the word a pony was thinking of, or revealed from an envelope the same number the crowd had just given her, they were amazed.

It wasn’t magic at all, but mentalism, a form of performance that worked well with the mare’s well-honed powers of observation. Reading body language, making suggestions, and a few clever distractions combined to wow the crowd, connecting with them in a way her old stage act didn’t. And this new act impressed an agent with the Equestrian Cruise Lines, who hired the mare as an entertainer seven years ago. And now, she was performing on the cruise line’s new flagship.

Just not in the Ovation Theater.

Trixie sighed and turned around. Mentally reviewing the details of tonight’s performance as she walked towards the aft of the ship, she nearly bumped into another distracted pony.

“Come on, Mom, Dad!”

An indigo unicorn colt, dressed in a tuxedo, was walking backwards out of the dining room, trying to urge on his parents. Both parents were also dressed formally, the stallion in a tuxedo, the mare in an understated yet elegant gown.

“I want to get good seats for the magician’s show!” the colt urged again.

“Sweetie, your dad and I are going to head back to the room and change,” the mare said. Dressing up, in this case for the ship’s formal night, was new and exciting for the colt, but old hat for his parents. They were more interested in being comfortable while on vacation.

“Hurry! And don’t pick up another book when you get there,” the colt said.

“I promise, no books,” the mare said.

“We’ll change out of these clothes and join you in the lounge,” the stallion continued. “Save us some seats, Midnight!”

“Okay!” Midnight replied eagerly, before dashing off.

“Reading?” wondered the mare.

“To be fair, you have read quite a few books on this vacation,” her husband replied. “I’m just glad he’s still of the age when the first thing he thinks we’ll do when in our room alone is read.” He smiled.

His wife playfully nudged him. “You’re the one who’s going to have to give him that talk, you know.”

The Limelight Lounge, at the aft of the ship, was a lot smaller, occupying only a small portion of the fifth deck. A salespony would term it intimate. Its stage was little more than a slightly raised area. The lighting and sound systems were rather basic. But it was still a place to perform.

Trixie took note of the growing crowd. The lounge was only a third full, but hopefully ponies just finishing dinner would soon fill the venue. The crowds were nothing like those in every performance in the Ovation Theater. But there was little time to worry about the differences. The azure mare headed backstage.

Midnight liked the Limelight Lounge a lot more than the Ovation Theater. For one, the smaller venue had these round chairs, in addition to the more common benches. The round chairs felt much more natural for a pony to sit on. The bench seating was more efficient, which is why it was used exclusively in the larger theater, but they didn’t feel right. He hoped some of the round seats were still available.

More importantly, however, was the size of the room. He really hoped this magician was one who called ponies to stage. And it was a lot easier to get picked in a smaller room!

The colt spotted three seats open near the front, around a small table. That was the best place to get noticed! He snagged the middlemost of the three seats.

The lights of the theater dimmed. “Welcome, fillies and gentlecolts! The Limelight Lounge is proud to present the amazing mental magic of… the Brilliant and Insightful Trixie!” the lounge’s host announced over the loudspeaker.

A spotlight illuminated the center of the stage. A confident Trixie strode forward into the light. No fireworks, no smoke. She missed these affectations, but now, she focused entirely on the crowd. The lounge was almost completely filled, and the guests looked eager to be entertained. Perfect.

“Thank you for the warm welcome, everypony,” Trixie said. “Prepare to be astounded by the Brilliant and Insightful Trixie’s many amazing displays of mental magic!” In the audience, ponies stomped their hooves or clapped them together.

“Not long ago, I attended the Grand Galloping Gala.” A lie, but a good way to set up her first trick. The glamour of the Gala subtly influences the listener, making the trick seem glamorous too. “And was it ever astonishing. So much food and drinks. All the entertainment and decorations, and then the extra staff necessary to put on the whole show. Celestia only knows how many bits were spent on the celebration, and she’s not telling.” The crowd chuckled.

“So let’s talk about the final tab. Now, I don’t know the bill. You don’t know the bill. But what I, the Brilliant and Insightful Trixie, do know is what you, the audience, will guess the bill to be.” Trixie levitated an envelope from a table holding her props and opened it, pulling out a sheet with five words and five four digit numbers written on it. She quickly returned the sheet to the envelope, and returned the envelope to the table. “I’ll be getting a five digit number from five different ponies in the audience. So, raise your hoof if you have me a number, from one to nine.”

At the front of the audience, the indigo colt fell into his own thoughts. “Number? I think she meant digit. A number could be a fraction. It could even be an irrational number!” he thought. Trixie called on various ponies in the audience around him. Five! Seven! Three! One! They weren’t confused about what the Brilliant and Insightful Trixie wanted. “Oh no, I’m missing the opportunity to take part!” he thought.

“I’m hearing several sevens from you all,” Trixie said. “A very popular number. But we’re talking about the bill for the Grand Galloping Gala here. If you read the newspapers, you’ll see estimates ranging from 10,000 to 20,000 bits. So as to avoid attracting Celestia’s wrath, I’m going to take the ‘one’ I heard from that mare over there.” Trixie looked to an easel set up on the side of the stage, with a large pad of paper set on it. Holding a marker in her telekinetic aura, she wrote a large 1 at the top of the paper.

“Now, I need a different number from one to nine.” Ponies again raised a hoof. “How about you, over there?”

“Four,” called an elderly stallion. Trixie wrote down the number.

“A third number, different from the other two.”

This time, Midnight was among the ponies raising a hoof. The young mare Trixie chose said seven. Next came a two from a large pegasus, and a unicorn in back gave Trixie an eight. Midnight scowled. Somepony should have chosen his favorite number, six.

“Now, let’s see how close I, the Brilliant and Insightful Trixie, was able to get to your number. I only saw the audience briefly before writing down my five numbers, but I’m normally able to get fairly close.” Make it sound like the goal is just to be close. When the result is exact, it will truly impress the audience.

“For this part, I’m looking for a volunteer from the audience.” Immediately, several hooves shot up. Midnight practically jumped in eagerness, waving his little foreleg furiously.

Trixie scanned the audience. A few good choices for an assistant, but the colt up front intrigued her. His enthusiasm would be infectious, and foals were normally easy to impress with a trick like this. Plus, he was already dressed like the stereotypical magician’s assistant, and his dark blue coat would complement her brilliant azure one.

“You, young gentlestallion, come up on stage with me. What’s your name?” Trixie asked.

“Midnight, ma’am,” he replied.

“Let’s hear it for Midnight!” Trixie called to the audience. Midnight smiled, hearing the ponies clapping and stomping for him. He looked out to the audience, but his parents still weren’t there. They were going to miss his time on stage!

Trixie levitated the paper with the five numbers to her, keeping it facing her for now. “Now what I’m going to have you do is write down the five numbers on this sheet of paper on that big pad, so that everypony can see them,” she said, using a motherly tone that worked well with younger volunteers. Midnight nodded eagerly, taking the black marker in his telekinetic grasp.

Trixie showed the sheet of paper to Midnight and pointed to the first number. “For food, I wrote down 4,132 bits.” As Midnight turned to write down the number, she pulled the paper back.

The mare held out the paper, pointing out the second number. “Next, for drinks, 1,235 bits.” Midnight looked at the paper and nodded, writing down the number Trixie said.

For the third number, Trixie held out the paper for a shorter amount of time. “For entertainment, 3,604 bits.” Midnight barely looked at the paper, writing down the number Trixie said.

Trixie held out the paper briefly. “Next, for decorations, 2,140 bits.” The colt glanced back at Trixie, but didn’t even look at the paper before writing down the number.

Finally, Trixie showed the paper for a final time, holding it at an angle where it would be hard for Midnight or the audience to see it well. Her foreleg obscured the bottom of the paper. “And finally, for staffing, we have 3,617 bits.” Midnight wrote down the final number.

The paper was returned to its envelope, and Trixie turned to the audience. “Now, we shall see the power of my amazing mental magic. How accurate is the Brilliant and Insightful Trixie this evening? Midnight, would you do the honors of adding these five numbers together?”

The colt nodded, and started writing the numbers of the sum from the right. Eight, two, seven, four, one.

Trixie raised her hoof to the paper. “Behold! The Brilliant and Insightful Trixie predicted your number with 100% accuracy!” The ponies cheered and applauded.

Midnight was smiling, enjoying the feeling of being on stage. But then he frowned. “Wait a minute, that doesn’t make any sense,” he said.

Trixie scowled, before putting on her stage smile. “Let’s hear it for Midnight, everypony!” she announced. The crowd’s applause was minimal; the colt seemed to be holding their attention.

“No, the numbers on your paper. Their sum ended in six, not eight. So this doesn’t make sense. Did I add incorrectly?” Midnight wondered.

Trixie was now trying to gently move Midnight off the stage, but the colt was studying the five numbers intently. “No, I added correctly. Hmmm.” He refused to be moved from his study. “Oh, I see it now!” he announced.

Oblivious to the glower on Trixie’s face, Midnight addressed her. “The first four numbers add up to 11,111! That means you can say the fifth number is one less than each of the four rightmost digits, and it will add up to the number you got from the audience!” he explained. “And because of the way you asked for the number, it’s going to be easy to calculate on the fly, and it’s going to be four different digits, meaning it’s not easy to recognize them as different from the number on the page! That’s pretty neat!”

The crowd was murmuring at this point. Midnight turned to head off the stage. He saw his parents walking down the aisle. “Hi, Mom! Hi, Dad! Look! I helped the magician!” he called.

Trixie looked at the two ponies. The stallion was unfamiliar, but the mare was one she could never forget from that fateful day twelve years ago.

“Twilight… Sparkle…” Trixie hissed. Her horn started to glow and spark….

“And a good evening to all! This is your cruise director, Sunny Days, speaking. I hope you all enjoyed our fun day at sea today. We have another day at sea tomorrow. We will have a fabulous champagne art auction tomorrow at one o’clock. You do not want to miss it! Our shops will be open all day, with some fabulous savings on jewelry and accessories. And don’t forget our poolside cantina party tonight, starting at 10:30 PM.

“And one final note. Due to a minor electrical issue, the Limelight Lounge will be closed for the rest of the evening. Tonight’s karaoke is cancelled, and please check your daily planner tomorrow for any schedule impacts.

“Have a good evening, and thank you for sailing Equestrian Cruise Lines!”