“And now, with my lovely volunteer inside, it is time to prove that this barrel is indeed imbued with the magic of The Great and Powerful TRRRRRIXIE!”

All eyes were on Trixie as she brought several sharp-looking swords to the stage.

“Trixie knows what you’re thinking: Those are just fake rubber swords!” Trixie took off her hat, pulling several apples out. “Ha! These blades are as sharp as Trixie’s wit! Observe!”

She tossed the apples into the air, and each blade took a swing at one of the apples, slicing them clean in two.

The crowd she had gathered oohed at her demonstration, and were starting to feel considerably nervous for the poor pony that volunteered.

“Now, observe as Trixie plunges these swords into the barrel, but my assistant will emerge unharmed!”

As the tips of each sword pointed towards the barrel, the crowd watched with bated breath. One by one, the swords struck the wooden sides of the barrels, far enough that the tip stuck out from the other end. The crowd let out gasp after gasp with each sword that went through.

Once she used up all her swords, Trixie walked over to the barrel and popped the top off, using her magic to levitate it and show the interior to the audience. “Behold! The swords have gone through, and yet, what’s this? It seems our volunteer has disappeared!”

The crowd looked on confusedly, swearing that there was a pony still in that barrel only a few minutes ago.

“Now, you must be wondering where Trixie’s volunteer went!” Trixie mused out loud, pulling out each of the swords with her hooves. “After all, you all saw the inside of the barrel, and it was empty, right? But perhaps you didn’t look hard enough! Because that volunteer was still inside the entire time!”

She gave the back of the barrel a firm kick with her hoof, sending it falling forward towards the crowd, where a mare spilled out from the barrel.

The audience roared with applause as Trixie took her bows.

“Thank you, thank you! I hope you enjoyed the jaw-dropping, mind-blowing magic show of The Great and Powerful Trixie!” The unicorn struck a dramatic pose as fireworks went off above her stage.

Once the applause started to die down and the crowd dispersed at the end of the show, Trixie walked out from backstage, wiping the sweat from her forehead. “Whew! Another successful show done with!” she said to herself. “You’ve really outdone yourself this time, Trixie!”

“I’ll say!”

Trixie’s heart skipped a beat when she saw who came to meet her backstage. “C-Coloratura? You were watching Trixie’s show!?”

Coloratura gave Trixie a warm smile as she walked towards her. “I couldn’t keep my eyes off it! You’re a pretty talented magician, Trixie!”

Trixie was struggling to stay her usual theatrical self when she wanted to scream like a little filly. “Well, of course Trixie knows that! …But it’s also really nice to hear it from a fellow performer!”

“Oh, you’re just buttering me up!” Coloratura giggled. “Besides, it’s been a while since I’ve performed live…”

Trixie did a double take. “Wait, seriously?”

“Mmhm! I’ve been busy trying to make some new songs, but I’m having trouble finding inspiration, so it’s been kinda rough,” Coloratura admitted, nervously scratching the back of her head. “I’d probably be really rusty if I stepped hoof on stage right now.”

Trixie immediately came up with an idea to help Coloratura out and use her for her own self-interest. “Well! Maybe we can shake some of that rust off if you come and do a special performance with Trixie!”

Coloratura was intrigued, but still cautious. “Me? I’m not exactly…equipped for a magic show, you know,” she said, tapping her forehead.

“You won’t have to be!” Trixie stood on her hind legs, pointing to her. “With that amazing voice, you’ll be making magic all by yourself!”

“You want me to…sing for your magic show?”

“Of course!” Trixie stuck her chest out. “What could be better than the lovely dulcet tones of The Lovely Coloratura accompanied by the dazzling magic of The Great and Powerful Trixie? A performance as spellbinding as Trixie’s deserves a voice as captivating as yours, wouldn’t you say?”

Coloratura still had her reservations, but Trixie’s idea sounded appealing, at least in concept. “Well, I guess it wouldn’t hurt to try…”

On the streets of Manehattan, Cozy Glow was grumbling to herself as she forcibly pushed her way through all the hoof traffic.

“How the fuck does she even live like this?! Rrgh…Just gotta get through…! Just…think of something else! Okay…what about Chrysalis and Tirek…Nope that’s working too well!”

Her attempts at mentally distracting herself were cut off when she saw a unicorn whose appearance was very easy to pick out of a crowd.

Maybe this was the distraction she needed. With mischief on her mind, she immediately switched to her cutesy, friendly guise and started approaching. “Golly, fancy seeing you, Tempest! What are you doing here?”

“I could ask the same for you,” Tempest coldly replied, quickly turning her back on the pegasus.

Cozy flew over back in front of Tempest. “Aww, is that any way to treat me after all I’ve done for you?” she cooed.

Tempest felt an immediate stir just from the old memories coming back. “...Just keep those wings to yourself…for now.”

“Whatever you say, Fizzy!” Cozy said with a mock salute.

“You don’t get to call me that.”

Cozy cocked her head with a smile of disbelief. “You’re not seriously still mad at me for what happened last year, are you?”

Tempest turned her head up in disdain. “I think you’ll find I’m quite good at holding a grudge.”

“Hey, it’s not like I made you hook up with a pegasus and a parrot, okay?” Cozy said in her own defense. “You did that on your own. All I did was give you a little nudge down a path that’d spice up your sex life!”

Tempest could feel her lower eyelid twitch. “And am I supposed to thank you for that?”

Cozy coyly grinned and fluttered her eyelashes. “Well, I’m ready to say ‘you’re welcome’!”

Tempest grit her teeth, “Do you have any idea how humiliating it is to be…turned on by-”

“Oh no, you have a harmless kink that’s perfectly suited for your two girlfriends to help you explore!” Cozy interrupted, dropping the act to make her sarcastic remarks. “Really sucks to be you, huh? At least Fluttershy’s brave enough to admit she likes it.”

Tempest could feel her face turning red from the shame. The comparison to Fluttershy stung, but it piqued her curiosity.

Cozy still wasn’t done, though. “So, how many times have they indulged ya with it?”

“...A lot…” Tempest shamefully admitted, her head bowing low.

“I bet their feathers felt reeeeal nice, didn’t they?” Cozy egged on.

“...Mmhm…”

“Better than mine?”

Tempest looked up, more confused than aroused. “Why do you care? Don’t you already have a girlfriend?”

“Oh, I just think it’s fun seeing you all flustered,” Cozy smirked, fluffing her wings out. “Something I’m sure gets said a lot by your two new girlfriends…”

Tempest said nothing, but the startled look on her face told Cozy everything she needed to know.

“Speaking of, I’m gonna go chill with her for a bit. Lemmie know if you need any more of that ‘stress relief’, though. Sure looks like you need it!”

Tempest watched Cozy walk off, tilting her head curiously. Cozy talked about stress relief, but when her guise dropped for that brief second, Tempest swore there was far more strain in her eyes than she let on.

“Are you ready?” Fluttershy gently asked Shining Armor.

“Yeah…I think I am…” the stallion said, though there was a clear tremble in his voice.

“Alright, then just step forward…”

Shining took a deep breath and lifted his hooves up, stepping up onto a cloud, a feat usually only performed by pegasi and other winged creatures, but thanks to a magic spell, it was possible for Shining to treat the cloud as more than just floating water.

Once Shining was fully on the cloud, he nodded and gave a signal to Fluttershy. “O-Okay, I’m ready…”

Fluttershy started lifting the cloud carrying Shining off the ground. She went slow to ease Shining’s ascent, and because she wasn’t exactly used to lifting the weight of a fully-grown stallion.

Shining could feel the cloud under his hooves, but no longer felt the ground under the cloud. The slow movement was a gentle transition, but he could tell he was rising higher and higher.

Fluttershy was straining her wings to push the cloud up higher, and they were only a dozen feet above ground.

Shining bravely took a peek downwards, seeing the tops of the trees and Ponyville houses. “Okay…this is fine! It’s not that different from looking down from the castle...!” he said, hastily trying to assure himself.

Fluttershy was breathing almost as heavily as Shining, still trying to raise him higher and higher at a slow and safe pace.

“Yep…! Just really high up and looking down!” Shining said, starting to feel light-headed as he kept looking down. “And…getting higher, which means I’m still…moving…hhrrk…” Shining felt something building up in his stomach, trying to rise up through his throat. “Okay…down…! D-Down!”

Fluttershy let out a short cry as she started bringing Shining back down to earth, her hooves feeling immense relief once the cloud was brought back down to where Shining could safely jump down.

“Ugh…I’m sorry, Fluttershy…” Shining groaned, taking deep breaths to feel level-headed again.

“It’s alright, you’re making good progress!” Fluttershy reassured him.

“I should’ve grown out of this ages ago!” Shining grumbled.

“Is it really that important for you to grow out of your airsickness so fast?” Fluttershy asked.

“Well, given how many participants this year have wings, I’d like to be a little more open to the mile-high club,” Shining explained.

Fluttershy took a moment to think. There was herself, Rainbow Dash, Pharynx, Chrysalis, Gilda, Celestia, Luna, Spitfire, and more. So many that could fly, and so many from that list with those soft, feathery wings…

Shining noticed how quickly Fluttershy started blushing. “And I see you’ve started thinking about their wings, too,” he gently teased.

Fluttershy nervously laughed and rubbed her warm cheek. “M-Maybe a little bit…”

“Heh, you think you’ll get the same thing from me and Celestia if we all make it this year?”

The idea only made Fluttershy blush harder. “Oh…I don’t know! I feel so…so…selfish asking for it!”

Shining softly ribbed Fluttershy. “Aw, come on, there’s no better time to indulge in what you really want! Besides, I was having a lot of fun myself last year.”

Fluttershy’s embarrassed smile became a coy grin. “So…you wouldn’t mind being the ‘lee this year? I’ve always been curious to know how sensitive a prince is…”

“Oh hey! What do you know, the cloudwalking spell might wear off soon!” Shining nervously blurted out, eyes darting to the side. “Why don’t I get on that cloud again and you lift me up as high as you can go?”

Author's Note

Don't mind me, just pushing things in motion over here...