The Deeper Side of Magic

Being a human it was quite a shock ending up in a world where intelligent colorful ponies were the majority and dominant species. The way you arrived in this world was quite an unexpected shock to say the least. You were just lying out in the woods on a personal camping trip to get away from your job and the society of idiots that lived in your neighborhood. Your relationship status was rather bleak being that most of the girls you ever cared for betrayed you when someone “better came along” or just wanted a one night stand that you refused to give them. You had done a little fishing and overall were enjoying the peace and quiet of the wilderness. After a decent meal of the fresh fish you had caught and cleaned earlier, along with some wild greens you picked when you were hiking, you had begun to grow sleepy and decided to set up the tent and go to bed early, so as to get an early start on the day in the morning.

When you awoke you were in a pitch-black area of a forest you didn't recognize. Your campsite was completely gone, all your food and supplies had all disappeared as well. All you had left were the clothes on your back. The most unusual thing you noticed was a vanilla colored pony with a bright pink mane staring at you. Her teal colored eyes were as big as the headlights of a car, and her mouth was gaping wide open in either shock or fear. You couldn’t tell which.

“H-Hello.” You say trying to hold in the urge to freak out.

“...”

“Where am I?” You try to ask the pony standing before you.

“...M-M........MOOOOONNNNSSSTEEERRRRR.” The pony screams out at the top of her lungs before turning and running off at full speed.

“Where’s she going? Bingo?”,you say chuckling at the thought of your favorite videogame.

You scramble to your feet and take off in the direction the yellow mare went running. The exit of the forest comes into view as well as a small cottage on the edge of the dark forest. You exit the forest and look back at how dark the forest is.

“Damn, luckily I had a trail to follow or I could’ve gotten lost for a while.” You say to yourself.

You scope out the cottage and it looks fairly small on the outside. You also notice lots of animals from bunnies to robins and even a rather large bear sleeping next to a small spring of crystal clear water.

“I sure hope he doesn’t wake up any time soon or I might end up becoming his dinner.”

You walk cautiously up to the cottage door and politely knock three times. You lean forward and put your ear up to the door. You can hear a quiet rustling noise coming from inside the small cottage.

“Um miss are you in there? I’m not a monster, I’m a human.” Like a pony would know what that is dumbass. You think to yourself. “Look I’m not a monster and I need some help.” You hope maybe you can convince her to at least talk to you.

You see the curtains move in the right window and suddenly get the feeling she’s watching you. The currents move again and you can hear the same rustling noise again coming from inside the cottage.

“W...What do you want?” you hear a quiet voice squeak from inside.

“I just want to know where I am and how I got here.” You tell her honestly.

You hear the sounds of a chain lock sliding and a deadbolt slowly unlocking. The door slowly creaks open and you see one eye and the top of her pink mane poking through the cracked door.

“Will you help me?” You ask her.

The vanilla colored pony slowly scans you up and down before stopping at your eyes. You can tell she’s trying to make sure you don’t have any harmful intentions.

“ok.” She whispers quietly and nods pulling the door open for you to step inside.

You scan the cottage and notice a couch in the corner along with a kitchen spreading across the back wall. You notice the cabin’s wooden floors with a rug lying in the center of the room. The stairs catch your eyes, which you quickly discern as probably leading up to her bedroom. Looks like a fairly nice place, very comfortable you decide.

“May I sit?” you ask her with a smile.

The yellow pony simply nods at your request. You sit down onto the couch slowly never breaking eye contact and continuing your friendly smile.

“What is your name?”

“I..it’s....F...Fluttershy.” she squeaks .

You and Fluttershy quickly become fast friends and she decides to let you stay in her home and sleep on the couch. She becomes very interested in your human anatomy as she spends most of the time poking at your ribs, arms, and legs. Fluttershy introduces you to her friends a few days after you and her met. They all seem very appealing and quite fun to be around. Definitely more than you can say about your friends back on Earth.

The white pony Rarity said her name was took quite a liking to the idea of making clothes for a human. Twilight Sparkle, whom you quite liked, sat you down one day and gave you a lesson on the history of Equestria and told you of the possible reason on how you arrived in this land of magic and ponies.

“You probably arrived due to a large magical energy in the Everfree Forest which caused a gateway between worlds to form. You just happened to be in the right place at the right time.”

You had to admit she was very knowledgeable about pretty much every subject. She explained that you weren’t the only human to ever arrive in Equestria, but the number was rather small. Only a few hundred known humans live in Equestria, but they all are in the big cities like Manehatten or Las Pegasus.

Rainbow Dash you had to admit was the one you could have the most fun with. The mare would never back down from a challenge whether it was a race, wrestling, or drinking she’d take you on any day.

After about three weeks of living in Equestria, Rarity gave you a job at the boutique. Turns out you have quite the attention for detail that she admired. While you were no good at sewing, she loved having your opinion on one of her completed dresses.

Pinkie Pie you didn’t want to even try to understand because nopony, not even Twilight Sparkle, had ever succeeded. Though she was always ready to give you some new treats and candies to try when you came around Sugarcube Corner.

Applejack you enjoyed talking to because of her honesty. She is never afraid to tell exactly how it is or what’s going on. Plus you enjoyed having dinner with her family. You found out Big Mac was a little more talkative then he let on when another guy was around.

You enjoyed Fluttershy’s company the most. She was always so sweet and kind. You loved to help her around her house by doing simple chores like feeding her animals. You wouldn’t go near the bear until Fluttershy showed you that he’d rather hug his friends then kill anything. He almost crushed you the first time he hugged you.

Three months had passed now since you arrived in Equestria and you had finally earned enough bits to buy your own house in Ponyville. Needless to say Fluttershy was rather sad to see you move out.

“Hey I’ll still come around to see my best friend.” You say giving her a hug and a quick kiss on the cheek. “Thanks for putting up with me for three months.” You say waving goodbye to her.

Moving took an additional two weeks to get all your clothes Rarity mad you hung up. All the food AJ had generously donated as a welcome to Ponyville present had to be put up. Pinkie gave you tons of candy that you didn’t know what to do with. Fluttershy gave you a small bluebird, which you humbly named Tsunami for his bright blue colors. She also gave you several pounds of bird feed and a pretty wooden birdhouse to hang outside.

Twilight gave you plenty of books to read about the history and mythology of Equestria. One of your favorites was a book about conspiracy theories that had a specific part that talked about how Princess Celestia was secretly an evil tyrant. Needless to say it wasn’t true, but it was still a fun section to read. Rainbow’s gift was by far your favorite. You and her had been talking about different kinds of alcoholic drinks and you mentioned Crown Royal was one of your favorites. Turns out Rainbow pulled some strings with Berry Punch and got you a bottle of Crown. You happily placed the bottle on the countertop intent to save it for a special occasion.

“Finally after three months and a couple weeks of craziness about this new world, the talking ponies, and moving in I can finally get some peace and quiet to myself. I’m still lonely and don’t have a girlfriend or marefriend now, I guess, but I must admit my life is considerably better now. “ You say to yourself as you lie down to spend the night alone in your new bed

~-~

“WATCH IN AWE as the Great and Powerful TRRRIXIE performs the most amazing magic ever SEEN!” Trixie says giggling to herself as she walks to her caravan after her recent magic show.

Her stride is true and confident as she starts into a slow trot down the streets of Baltimare. The crowd’s smiling faces beaming with delight and awe drifts through her mind.

“I love show business. It’s always so exciting and wonderful to see the crowd’s smiling faces when I blow their minds.” Trixie says with another giggle. “I couldn’t imagine any other life than traveling Equestria and pleasing the crowds of ponies with a little magic. Some say I’m arrogant, but it’s not so I’m just confident, and I know how to please the crowd.” She says out loud to herself.

Trixie bumps into the door of her caravan unaware of how close she was due to her being lost in thoughts of the crowd’s smiles and the cheers. She shivers at the thought of the crowd chanting her name.

“I can’t wait for my next show. I’m so excited.”

Trixie unlocks the door to her caravan and steps inside. With a spark of pink magic her caravan folds up and begins to roll down the dusty road. She levitates her hat and hangs it on the rack by the door. She uses her magic to slowly undo her cape letting it slide off her back before levitating it to hang on the coat rack next to her hat.

“I’ll count my bits from this show later first things first.” She says walking over to a map of Equestria she keeps hung up on the wall. “Ok next town I must amaze and dazzle looks like...hmmmm. Ah here it is Ponyville! Looks like a fairly small town. Oh, this will be fun. I might do more than one show since the town doesn’t look that large. Looks like it should only take a few days to get there, too. Hang on Ponyville here comes Trixie.” She says with a big smile.

~-~

A loud doorbell rang through the house as you try to stay in bed and ignore it by putting a pillow over your head. The doorbell rings again with a loud “RIIIING” “Ugh.” you grumble reluctantly throwing the covers off of you and stumbling to your feet. “Just a MINUTE!” you yell downstairs hoping that whomever was at the door could hear you. The oak stairs creak slightly as you move down step by step. After hitting downstairs you make a beeline for the coffee machine. You pour the grounds in and fill the machine with hot water. You start some hash browns in the solar powered microwave and throw together a couple grilled cheeses onto a pan. You set the stovetop to high to cook them quickly and place the pan with the grilled cheese sandwiches onto the hot eye.

“RIIIING” The doorbell goes off again. “Hang on a sec.” You say a bit irritated now. The coffee pot goes off signaling it’s done. You grab the pot and pour the hot liquid into a mug and load it up with cream and sugar.

“Ok coming!” You holler from the kitchen. You walk as fast as you can manage wanting to avoid the hazard of hot coffee spilling on your clothes. You twist the knob and yank the door open a little more forcefully then you should’ve.

Fluttershy was at door waiting with a happy grin on her face. “Oh, I’m so super sorry to bother you, but I just couldn’t keep from it. I was just wondering if um you’d like to come and walk with me to the market? Since I was going into town to pick up a few things.”

“Eh sure Flutters I don’t mind walking with you. I’d like to eat first.”

“Ok, that’s fine. I’m just ever so glad you said you’d come along.”

“Hey no problem. Anything for my best friend.” You say rubbing her head and ruffling her mane a bit.

You go back to the kitchen while Fluttershy takes a seat at the table. You come back swiftly carrying two-grilled cheese sandwiches and three hash browns on a plate.

“So why do you want me to come with you to the market?” you say putting the now empty coffee cup into the sink, and turning towards your breakfast.

“Well I have trouble some times with the colts and mares in the shops trying charge me a lot of bits for food, because I’m too shy to stand up to them. I was just thinking that since you’re a human and you’re much taller than they are, they might not be as mean to me.”

“That’s as good a reason as any.” You say to her with a smile as you finish off the last hash brown, and put the plate into the sink with the coffee cup.

“I’ll just wash those later.” You think to yourself. “Let me change clothes and I’ll be ready to go.” You tell her as you run up the stairs and into your room.

You throw on a new pair of blue jeans and a fairly decent pullover shirt. You loop your belt up and grab the sunglasses sitting on the nightstand.

“Ok, ready.” You say walking down the stairs and opening the door for Fluttershy.

~-~

“Ah Ponyville. I’m finally here.” Trixie says to herself

The caravan stops a fair distance from Ponyville Square. With a blast of her pink magic the caravan unfolds into it’s housing form. Trixie opens the door and steps outside to look at the small town.

“This is a nice little town. My show will absolutely make everypony’s day tomorrow. First I must ready the stage and fireworks before morning.” She says smiling at the thought of all the excited faces in the morning.

Trixie begins humming to herself as her magic flares to life making the stage for her performance begin to take shape. The stage finishes its formation with a bright flash of light.

“Ok, what’s next? Ah, fireworks.”

Trixie begins making boxes of fireworks appear. The fireworks levitate to their hiding places in the stage so the crowd won’t see them.

“Now all that’s left is to AMAZE!!!” Trixie says jumping in the air out of sheer excitement.

~-~

The trip through the market was like a typical day with Fluttershy. You and her talk, laugh, and she tells you about the special person she’s been seeing.

“Oh, finally found somepony, huh? Care to tell me his name?” You ask her.

“Oh, he’s a really sweet human like you named John. Turns out he likes me and I really like him back.” She says blushing a little.

Nopony seemed to try to take advantage of Fluttershy’s kindness that afternoon. Maybe that’s because you had a gaze that seems to peer into a person or pony’s soul. It could be because you are considerably taller than everpony else, at six-foot-four you were probably an intimidating sight to behold.

You see a large display of fireworks go off in the center of town.

“Huh, I wonder what’s going on over there?”

“I don’t know, but let’s go see.”

You and Fluttershy walk in the direction of Ponyville Square. A small stage begins to come into view. Standing atop it a light blue mare with a beautiful mixed white-blue mane and bright rose-colored eyes preforming a magic show right in the center of Ponyville Square.

“Hey I’m going to stand with my friends. I can see them from here.” Fluttershy says pulling on your sleeve.

You nod at her before going back to watching the mare on stage make flowers appear out of nowhere. You move closer to the stage, and can hear your friends talking about the magician on stage. You can easily make out Spike’s voice bragging about Twilight being better at magic than any other pony, as his voice is loud enough sometimes to pierce steel. You can also hear Rainbow sarcastically shout boo. As you move closer you can hear the magician say her name is Trixie or rather the Great and Powerful Trixie, which you easily assume is just a stage name.

“Ok, Trixie now to excite the audience by challenging them to come up for the show.” She thinks to herself.

“Oh pffft. Just who does she think she is?” You hear Rarity spout.

“Yeah since we all know Twilight is....” You hear Spike yell out before Twilight shushes him.

You watch as Trixie stands on her back hooves and throws her fore hooves out as another dazzling wave of fireworks go off.

You see Rainbow shoot up to the stage and comes face to face with the showmare.

“Ok, Trixie. Time to erase their doubts and see the excitement with the Ursa Major story.”

You can’t make out some of what is said but you do hear something about an Ursa Major. You see another wave of fireworks as a bear like creature with a star on its head forms in the sky. You hear Trixie tell a tale about how she vanquished the Ursa of Hoofington.

You see Snips and Snails jump up to the stage and brag about Trixie.

“Those two are a few bricks short of load.” You say to yourself.

“How do you know? You didn’t see it.” Spike yells out accusingly

At this point you’re just hoping Spike will stop running his mouth off. You see Trixie utter a challenge to her audience that anything they can do she can do better.

“Ok, Trixie, it’s time for the finale. Some more fireworks then challenge one audience member directly to wow the crowd, but which one? Ah that dragon seems to enjoy bragging about that purple unicorn, and he keeps making fun of me.”

You see Trixie point a hoof at Twilight and once again saying her challenge.

“Hmmm I wonder what Trixie is up too?” You say to nopony in particular.

“That’s it Ah can’t stand fer no more of this. Can yer magical powers do this?” You hear AJ yell angrily.

Applejack begins twirling a lasso on her tail forming a hoop and jumping through it going back and forth. She finishes by catching an apple on a nearby tree with her lasso and pulls it down, eating the entire apple in one bite.

“Top that missy.”

“Oh ye of little talent watch and be amazed at the magic of Trixie.”

Trixie uses her magic to make AJ’s lasso come to life and sway like a dancing cobra mesmerizing the orange mare. The other end of the lasso shoots out and snatches up an apple. In a second Applejack is upside down on her back with an apple in her mouth.

“Huh, a little mean but still impressive.” You think

Rainbow Dash comes flying up to the stage next with several insults and all of her usual arrogance apparently following her.

Rainbow quickly takes off into the sky spinning into a windmill and throwing her into the sky at top speed. She punches through several clouds along the way stopping just long enough to show off her figure in the sun before barreling back down. She flies back through the holes she punched in the clouds, dragging the built up water with her. She quickly flies back into the windmill spinning it again and throwing herself back onto the stage just as the water catches up to her making a bright rainbow appear above her.

Trixie retaliates by causing the rainbow hovering above Dash to quickly spiral into a tornado. The tornado encompasses Dash in less than a second spinning her off the stage in humiliation.

“I can’t believe I had to do that, but I need to stay confident. I can still win the crowd over.” Trixie thinks to herself.

Rarity takes the stage next by using her magic to pull a curtain from the stage and spin it into a stunning dress and completely restyle her look causing the crowd to look at her in amazement.

Trixie doesn’t utter a single word this time instead a flash of pink magic erupts from her horn causing Rarity’s perfect hair to turn green.

You look on as Rarity runs off the stage crying.

"That was really mean of Trixie to do that.” You think to yourself

“Why did this have to happen to me? I need to end this show NOW!” Trixie tells herself.

Trixie again challenges Twilight, but that falls mute as you see Twilight flee away from the faces of the watching ponies.

Night is beginning to fall on Ponyville as you meet up with Fluttershy after the end of the show to talk about everything that happened.

“What did you think of Trixie’s show?” you ask her

“Well I think the show was good, but she didn’t have to do that to my friends.”

“Yeah, that was a little bit uncalled for. Except Rainbow Dash needed to humbled a little.” You say laughing.

“I guess so.” She says distantly.

“Hey, you ok?”

“Yeah I am. I think I will go check on the others. See you tomorrow.” She says waving to you before trotting off towards Sweet Apple Acres.

“Huh it’s getting pretty late.” You note before walking in the direction of your house.

You stop when you notice a wizard’s hat lying haphazardly in the street. You run to grab it before the wind blows it away or gets stolen. When you pick it up the unique star pattern catches your eye.

“This is the same hat Trixie was wearing in the magic show. Why is it just lying here in the middle of the street?” You look around for Trixie thinking she dropped it, but there isn’t anypony normally out after nine. A quick check of your watch confirms that it’s ten after nine. You peer down the street and notice something twinkling in the moonlight. You break in to a sprint as the object begins to blow away in the breeze. You reach out a hand and barely catch it before it escapes. You feel the silky material and examine it has the same starry pattern as the hat along with a gemstone buckle in the front.

“This is Trixie’s cape, but where is the showmare these belong too?” You scan the area but see nothing.

You comb the street for over an hour before finding her caravan. You walk up to the door and politely knock several times without answer.

“Dammit where could she be?” You say with an irritated tone.

You decide to check the outskirts of Ponyville next. You check your watch again and notice it’s almost midnight now.

“I’ll search a little bit longer then I’ll give up for tonight.”

The last place you decided to check was a lake pretty far from Ponyville. You scan the lake and see nothing until you look over at the dock. You can just barely make out a blue mare sitting on the edge of the pier all by herself.

song for the next part

“That must be her.” You think running around the edge of the lake towards the pier.

You’re breathing heavily when you finally reach the pier. You stop to regain your breath careful to not mess up Trixie’s hat and cape. As you begin to walk down the pier your mind races about what might happen. After she was so mean to your friends how would she treat you? You walk further down the street and you begin to hear what sounds like crying and sobbing. You can’t help, but wonder what’s got her so upset. You stop walking and just watch as the blue showpony cries and whimpers.

“Ok, she’s upset. Dammit, now this is really difficult. I can’t just give her things back and leave her by herself in this state.” You decide.

You slowly step up behind behind her and drape her cape along her shoulders.

Trixie freezes at the unsuspected contact. You could tell she didn’t know whether to scream or not.

You knew you had to seize the opportunity to comfort her before she completely freaked out.

“Hey, I’ve been looking for you all night. I found you out here crying and was wondering if you were ok.”

“Tr...Trixie is completely fine. She doesn’t need-” You cut her off before she can finish that sentence.

“Look, cut that out. This isn’t the stage showpony and I’m not stupid. I’ve been looking for you because I found your stuff out in the middle of the street. If you don’t want to tell me why you're out here by yourself crying, then fine, shut down the one person who is trying to care about you right now.” You didn’t mean those words, and it was a risky chance walking away to get her to open up to you.

You get up and begin to walk away when Trixie holds a hoof out to stop you “W...wait please.” She chokes out through a few quiet sobs.

“I wasn’t planning on leaving.” You say sitting back down on the edge of the pier. “So what’s wrong?”

“This s...show was a d...disaster.” She says through her stutters.

“Why was it a disaster?”

“T...those mares in t...town tried to ruin it.” A few more tears drift down her face and fall into the lake causing a few tiny ripples in the water.

“I want to hear everything you have to say.” You give her a reassuring smile to prove to her that you cared about why she was so upset.

“I...it’s all a show okay I...I..I never meant for any of that to happen. I do a show just like that in every town and no..p..pony has ever reacted that badly. I’m not a showoff. I’m just a magician. I’m supposed to impress ponies with my magical ab..abilities. I panicked when they returned my ch..challenge. Nopony has ever done that to me. They would have ruined the show. I didn’t know what else to do. This is the first town where anypony has come up and faced me like that. It’s just a magic show. I wasn’t boasting or being arrogant. Just nopony gets that it was all an act. I’m not better than anypony and I don’t want to be. That dragon talking about how that purple unicorn was better than everypony else at magic really hurt my feelings. What was I supposed to do? He badmouthed me in front of everypony. I had to call her out to save my dignity and prove myself. It took everything I had to stay calm and confident. I almost broke down in front of everypony.” Trixie finished her explanation and had stopped bawling now.

You could still hear quiet sobs and see tears streaming down her face. “I didn’t know all that. I can see why that upset you so badly, and for the record, I loved your show.”

“You were there. I remember you now. One of the only humans in Ponyville kind of stands out.” She says with a halfhearted smile.

“I’ll talk to them tomorrow I know the mares that almost ruined you pretty well. Don’t let it bother you too much. You were really good with all your magic.” You take her hat and put it atop her head causing her to turn and look at your face to see you blushing a little. You look back to see her smiling. The moon hits her body with a seemingly perfect amount of light giving her pinkish eyes the illusion of shimmering in the night.

You slowly snake an arm around her waist before she notices and pull her closer causing her to jump and giggle softly at the sudden contact.

“You’re really sweet. I hope I’ll see you a little more.” She says watching the moon’s reflection sway in the water.

“Well if you’re gonna be in Ponyville for a few days I’d love to take you out for dinner.” You say softly.

Trixie embraces having your arm around her and leans her head over onto your shoulder “That does sound nice how about tomorrow around seven.”

“Then it’s a date.”

“Of course.” She says with a slight giggle. “I guess we should get going huh.” She tells you.

“I suppose so.”

“Just one more thing while I’ve got you here.”

“What?” You ask confused.

“Thanks.” Trixie leans over and kisses you on the cheek before getting up and trotting off back towards town.

The walk back to your house is very exciting in your mind as you lightly jog down the road to Ponyville. Your heart is flipping with thoughts about your date tomorrow with Trixie. You arrive home and go straight to bed knowing exactly what you have to do tomorrow morning.