Pink clouds with sparkles suddenly appeared, then cleared off, and Rufus appeared as a magician, floating in front of a crowd of ponies.

"Behold! The awesome power of The Great Hoofdini!" Rufus announced to the crowd that only Izzy, Knuckles, and three fillies from each tribe were looking at their phones since they found Rufus' tricks boring.

"Oh, hey, Rufus!" Izzy greeted, smiling and waving her hoof.

"Hi!" Knuckles greeted as well with a smile.

"Oh, that he floats in the air! Yes, as he levitates objects," Rufus said as he floated around and lifted a bunch of bushes and plants in a pot. "How does he do it? It’s Mare-aculous!"

"Wow!" Izzy cheered with a smile, awed at his tricks.

"Nice!" Knuckles added.

"He clearly uses his wires," the earth pony filly named Seashell said with a blank expression.

"Ponies have, like, real magic now," the pegasus filly named Glory said blankly while she and the other fillies walked off.

"Okay, that was just rude, especially for kids of that age," Knuckles commented with a frown.

Rufus dropped his allusions, revealing the wires and plants tied to him. "Ugh. Who am I kidding?" he said as he lowered himself back to solid ground with a sad expression. "Since real magic came back to Equestria, nopony is interested in my tricks," he said sadly.

"WHAT?!" Izzy said, zooming right in front of Rufus while Knuckles came closer as well."That can’t be true, Ruf… I mean, Hoofdini!" she said with a smile as she placed a hoof on his shoulder.

Then Rufus remembered some other times he tried to impress other ponies with his magic tricks.

First, he made the bunny trick in the hat in front of an earth pony stallion and a unicorn mare, but they gave unamused expressions, and the bunny flew away since it had wings.

Then, he made the trick of the rose behind the ear to an earth pony mare, but the mare rolled her eyes and stomped the ground two times, making appear many bushes of roses, which left Rufus in shock while the rose on his hoof died.

Finally, he made an apple levitate with invisible wires, but he turned around and saw a unicorn mare levitating a whole house with little effort.

The mare noticed that and chuckled a little. "Oh! Just helping them move house," she said to Rufus. "So where do you want it?" she asked the earth pony couple moving the house.

After Rufus told them about the flashbacks, Rufus, Izzy, and Knuckles walked together.

"See? All washed up," Rufus said sadly as he looked at the ground with sadness.

Izzy and Knuckles gave him a sympathetic look, feeling bad for him.

"Man, that sucks. I've seen many magicians retiring before but never forced to retire against their will," Knuckles said.

"Come on, Rufus. You’re an Earth Pony. Why don’t you use your growy-growy plant magic? It is so cool!" Izzy suggested with sparkling eyes. "Whenever I try to grow plants, it takes forever when I forget to water them, and they all die," she added, remembering that she always forgets to water her plans.

"That would not happen if you write a reminder on your phone or your calendar, Izz," Knuckles said to her with a bored expression. We have talked about this... 16 times!" he pointed out. But yeah, why not use your magic, man?" he asked Rufus, getting back to the topic before they took the conversation in the wrong direction.

"I don’t have any magic," Rufus revealed with a sad look. "All I have are my tricks. And now, they belong in the garbage dump," he said, then lowered his head in depression.

Izzy and Knuckles looked at Rufus sympathetically, then at each other before giving Rufus a comforting smile. "Lucky for you, my specialty is giving all kinds of things a second chance," she told Rufus.

"I may not be an expert on helping someone find their place, but I would do what I can to help you with your problem, pal," Knuckles said with a smile as he touched one of Rufus' shoulders.

The three arrived at Izzy’s scooter while the unicorn opened her compartment. "See? Garbage…" she started, taking out a bike steering piece and twirling it around. "... Into a fabulous… uh?" she continued, then stopped to think about what to turn the steering piece into. "Bow tie!" she announced, bending the bike steering piece into a bow tie. "Ta-da!" she cheered and placed the bent metal bow tie on Rufus, but he fell into the ground because of the weight of the bow tie.

"Little heavy," Rufus pointed out with a little strain.

"Well, you get the point, don't you?" Knuckles asked as he ducked to face Rufus.

Then Izzy suddenly got in between their faces, and their cheeks smooshed together. "Come on! We're gonna turn you into something new and awesome, too!" she cheered with a smile.

A bit later, Izzy and Knuckles took Rufus with Hitch to the Police Station at Maretime Bay.

"So, a wannabe sheriff, eh?" Hitch asked with a smirk. "Well, it's an amazing job but very demanding," he advised them, opening his jail cage to show Rufus around. You have to be hyper-aware of your surroundings," he added, looking around.

But then Rufus closed the cage door, locked it with the key, and swallowed the whole key chain in one gulp.

Hitch, Izzy, and Knuckles looked at Rufus with shock after he ate the key. "Was that... Did you just swallow the key?" Hitch asked Rufus, who gave a sheepish smile in response. "Why would you do that?!" Hitch asked in shock.

"Sorry," Rufus apologized with a little smile. "I'm an escape artist. Swallowing keys is what we do," he said, explaining one of the many tricks he performs on his magic shows.

Hitch was not amused by this and glared at Rufus, seeing that his being a wannabe sheriff wouldn’t cut it, while Knuckles facepalmed in frustration.

Izzy looked between them and gave a sheepish smile. "Cards, anyone?" she asked them with a nervous chuckle.

Rufus took out his deck of cards and threw them around the cage.

Knuckles shook some of the cards and looked at Hitch. "Hitch, my man, I appreciate our friendship ever since we met two months ago, so I hope that what I'm going to do doesn't affect that," he said to the sheriff, as Hitch looked at him confused.

"What do you––" Hitch was going to ask, but then Knuckles literally ripped the cage door with his hands and put it aside as he walked out of the cage.

"I'll pay you later for the damage," Knuckles assured as he walked off the station, letting the three ponies with their jaws drop as they looked at each other in shock.

After that little mishap, they went to Zephyr Heights, where they told Queen Haven about Rufus and wanted to do something for his talents. Izzy explained the whole thing, making both Haven and Knuckles yawn since her explanation took too long.

"And Hoofdini will do the best job of guarding the crown jewels," Izzy explained.

Rufus cleared his throat and came close to Queen Haven. "What crown jewels?" he asked, then worked his magic tricks to poof Haven's crown and necklace away, which caused her to yelp in shock. "Where did they go? How did he do it?" he said with a smile, still repeating his act.

"Thief! Guards!" Haven yelled out as Thunder and Zoom came by since she didn't take this magic trick well.

Rufus poofed next to Izzy and Knuckles. Izzy began to panic, and Knuckles facepalmed again.

"Uh... Okay! Gotta go!" Izzy cried out with panic as she grabbed Rufus and zipped away.

"Just for the record, the jewels are back on your cabinet," Knuckles said before turning around. "He told me if you're wondering how I know," he added, and then he boosted out of the palace to catch up with Izzy and Rufus.

A little bit later, once they made it to Bridlewood, they went to the Crystal Tea Room, where Rufus tried out being a tea maker with Alphabittle. Rufus shook the tea mixer, then turned to Izzy and Knuckles, who winked at him, feeling that this would be the one job he could do perfectly.

Onyx and her bongo unicorn stallion friend were in front of Alphabittle. "Gimme a tea, Alpha-B. Peppermint B, pretty P," she ordered in a cool jazz tone as her friend played the bongos.

Alphabittle nodded his head and turned to Rufus so he could take the order.

"Comin' up!" Rufus called out as he brought a cardboard tube and lifted it to reveal a teacup. "Ta-daaaa!" he cheered. But before Onyx could get her tea, Rufus lifted a hoof to stop her and summoned another teacup. "Oh!" he said, then he thought for a minute, summoned another teacup, and chuckled.

Onyx clapped her hooves, but just before she could get her teacup, Rufus summoned more tea cups all over his side of the table.

"I ain't payin' for all these teas if you please," Onyx said, a little mad, while Alphabittle glared at Rufus.

"Uhhh…" Rufus groaned from summoning so many cups while Izzy lowered herself to avoid eye contact, and Knuckles banged his head on the table with frustration.

He then took a bag out of his quills, looked at the inside, took out 10 bits, and extended the rest of the bag to Alphabittle. "For the teas, thank you," Knuckles told the unicorn as Alphabittle levitated the bag with his magic. Knuckles slurped some tea from one of the cups to try and relax himself a bit.

After Knuckles paid Alphabittle for the teas and drank them all, the three of them returned to Maretime Bay, while Rufus felt depressed since his tricks didn’t seem to fit anywhere.

"Oh, this is hopeless," Rufus groaned in sadness and frustration. "My tricks never fit in anywhere. I might as well forget 'Hoofdini' and just be plain old Rufus," he added with sadness.

"Come on, man. We can't give up now. There has to be... litter!" Knuckles tried to say, but he saw some litter on the street, then quickly grabbed it and threw it in a trash can. "This disrespectful ponies throwing litter..." he muttered, then faced Rufus again. "Where I was?... Oh yeah! As I was saying, there has to be something that fits you and your tricks; we need to find it," he said to him, then looked around with one hand covering his forehead.

"Yeah! We just haven't found the right thing to uni-cycle you into yet," Izzy said in agreement with Knuckles.

While they walked around Maretime Bay, they walked past the three fillies from earlier.

"Ugh! Buffering?! We're missing Pipp's new livestream!" Seashell complained since their phones had been loading for an eternity now, and they didn't want to miss Pipp’s livestream.

"You gotta hold your phone way higher than that!" Glory said, and then she flew away to get a better signal, with her friends losing sight of her when she flew into the sky.

Rufus watched Glory fly off and sighed with frustration. "No wonder my magic doesn't impress anypony. Everypony can do it!" he pointed his hoof to Glory to prove his point while Izzy and Knuckles gave him a sympathetic look.

Meanwhile, Glory looked at her phone in the sky and saw that she was high enough to get a connection since her signal bar went up to all five. "Yes! Full bars! Not going to miss a whinny of Pipp's new livestream!" she cheered as Pipp’s livestream started.

"Hey, Pippsqueaks!" Pipp greeted her followers. "Still haven't figured out my amazing, show-stopping entrance. Sad face!" she said, giving a sad face before returning to a happy one. "Hit me up with your suggestions in the comments!" she advised her followers.

"Ooh, I've got an idea!" Glory said, but before she could comment, a construction pegasus flew by and moved him out of his way.

"Hey! Watch it!" the pegasus stallion yelled, while his push caused Glory to spin around.

Glory gasped when she started to spin, and that spin caused her to drop her phone. She flew down to catch it, but once she got it, she twirled around and lost control of her flight. Then, since she was falling now, she started to scream.

"Whoa! That pony! She's fallin'!" Rufus said with worry, while Izzy and Knuckles also worried about that filly.

Seashell and her unicorn friend came to their side, seeing Glory falling from the sky. "Somepony! Do something!" Seashell cried out in worry, while Glory continued to scream while falling from the sky.

"I got her!" Knuckles said as he started to charge up his SpinDash and boosted towards the pegasi, now gliding in the air and extending his arms so he could catch the filly, but he started to descend a little and unfortunately got off track. He crashed against a wall and fell into the ground, a little dizzy.

"Knux!" Izzy cried out as she checked on the echidna.

"I-I'm fine, Izz..." Knuckles assured, still a little dizzy.

Izzy looked back at Glory with worry. "Look out!" she cried out and tried to use her magic to catch Glory to slow down her falling, but Glory was falling so fast that her magic wasn't working at all, and it ended up dying. "No use! She’s falling too fast! And Knuckles can't glide to catch her!" Izzy cried out as Glory kept falling and screaming.

Rufus looked around for something to help and saw three vines on a building. And ran towards them and picked one up. "If only these vines were longer!" he cried. But then his Cutie Mark began to glow, and so did his hooves, while the vine he touched spread to the other vines, and his magic made the vines longer on top. Rufus gasped as he realized that not only did he unlock his earth pony magic, but he could also save Glory now. "Saddle-cadabra!" he called out as he used his magic on the vines.

When Glory was about to hit the ground hard, Rufus caught her riding on the vines. He used the vines to move around on the vines, then jumped and summoned a bush on the ground that helped him land safely on the ground. He placed Glory down, and she smiled at her savior. Her phone landed safely in the bush as well.

"Whoo-hoo! I knew it!" Izzy cheered to Rufus at what he just did. "You had earth pony magic all along!" she said to him with sparkling eyes.

Knuckles arrived as he scratched his head a little in pain. "Auch..." he complained since his head still hurt from the hit on the wall. "Great job, man. I wish I could have helped more, though. My gliding is usually better." He felt bad for not helping out more.

"Aw, it's okay, Knuckles. You did your best," Izzy said to him as she hugged him, glad that he was okay after all. "And Rufus has earth pony magic now! Isn't that just great?!" she cheered with sparkling eyes.

"It sure is," Knuckles said, smiling a bit. "Congratulations, man. We told you you got it on you," he added.

"Guess so! Just needed a good reason for it to start workin'!" Rufus said to them with a smile, glad to finally bring out his earth pony magic.

Meanwhile, Seashell and Glory hugged each other, and Seashell felt glad that her friend was okay. "Hoofdini! You saved Glory! You're not just a magician! You're a hero!" Seashell cheerfully said to Rufus, thanking him for saving Glory.

Rufus started to tear up with joy as Izzy and Knuckles smiled at him, and Izzy wrapped a hoof around him. "What did we say, huh?" she asked him with a smile. "Nothin' belongs on the garbage dump. Uni-cycle!" she cheered out.

Knuckles then looked at Glory's phone, seeing that Pipp’s livestream was still going. He picked it up carefully since his hands were giant, and an idea popped into his head. "Aha! And for your next trick…" Knuckles said to Rufus with a smile.

Izzy looked at Knuckles confused, then at the phone, and then she understood his idea as she looked at Rufus with sparkling eyes.

Later that day, Pipp was still livestreaming, now in front of the stage of Mane Melody. "Shout out to my friend Hoofdini for this new, big, show-stopping entrance! It's magiiiiic!" she said with a big smile, singing the last part to her followers and pointing to Rufus, next to the stage with vines around him.

Rufus used his magic to control the vines and use the stage controls, flipping a switch as they played the instrumental of 'Believe it', as the lights shone and the ponies around and Sonic - yes, he was there cheering too - watched in awe as the vines keep the show going and pressed buttons and switch, playing the music.

Rufus, Izzy, and Knuckles - now an ice bag on his head to reduce pain from his head - watched with smiles at the performance while Rufus turned to his two friends. "What do you think, guys?" he asked them.

"I'll say you found the right place for your tricks, Hoofdini," Knuckles said with a smile.

"And it’s Mare-aculous!" Izzy cheered with a wink.

THE END

Author's Note

Thanks to JD1 for editing this chapter!