The green pegasus strode out onto the stage of Trixens wagon to even more cheers, gasps and wolf-whistles from the crowd. Only this time round, the performer didnt seem in the least bit frightened. He was in control of this.

Sorry fillies, you wont get a long look at this, he said with a smirk at a young mother pony covering her foals eyes up. She flushed profusely, getting an angry glare from her husband. Lightning Sand didnt seem to care, his eyes glancing over the crowd and into the sky.

Yo Trix! Wheres that lightning you promised? he bellowed backstage. The blue unicorn poked his head round the curtain, still flushing a little, and still dressed in only his briefs. He stared open-mouthed at his friend, and then swallowed, pointing his horn towards the sky and glaring at the lowest flying cloud he could find.

Sure enough, it began to sparkle and crackle, sending out jolts of electricity in all directions. The crowd gasped a little, and Trixen smirked. He still had that little ace up his sleeve.

Alright, fillies and gentlecolts. Now this is gonna be a treat for all of you. Im gonna take somepony up, and drop them right above that stormcloud. Then Im gonna fly down, and around it – while its still sparking! he let that sink in, the crowd gasping.

And Im gonna turn that stormcloud into a ring shape so my friend falls right through it. And then Ill catch him before he hits the ground. Who wants to see that? he roared. The crowd went ballistic. Half were screaming, claiming he could never do it, and half were crying out to see it. Lightning Sand smirked.

Alright Trix, lets show them whats up, he said with a wink at his friend. Before the underwear-clad unicorn could get in a word edgewise, Sand had launched himself off the stage, scooped up his co-performer in his forelegs and was flying high, high, high above the sky, maneuvering above the crackling stormcloud the magician had made.

What? Trixen asked, thunderstruck. We never agreed on this! Let me go! Let me go! The panic was in his purple eyes, and not least it was clear as day thanks to the lack of the third person. Lightning Sand grinned his cocky smirk, wings keeping him in position as he leant forward to press a kiss on the unicorns snout.

Sallright, dude. I got this. You trust me, right? I trusted you with the sawing a pony in half, you didnt let me down, he said with a smile, giving Trixens rump a squeeze. If anything goes wrong, its my fault, kay? Ive learned that much. Plus, Ill buy you dinner. You still into those frosted Pinecones at Pony Josephines?

Curse you, Lightning Sand. How do you know all the Great and Powerful Trixens secrets? he asked huffily. The pegasus winked, and gave another kiss to his friends nose.

Cause Im just awesome like that. And without another word, he dropped the speedo-clad unicorn towards the cloud. Trixen didnt manage to keep up the haughty appearance for long, yelling out in terror as he plunged towards earth. On the ground, the ponies gasped and screamed, covering their eyes or turning away – yet peeking. They wanted to see.

Sand realized too late hed forgotten to put his goggles on. Balls to that. Time was of the essence. His wings began to pound towards the cloud, overtaking the tumbling unicorn quickly. His heart thumped at the yelling – and he knew this trick had a real danger to it. It sent a shot of adrenaline through his veins, and he used it to pull up from the dive, circling the cloud.

It wasnt a real stormcloud. It was mostly a harmless stratus cloud converted into one that sparked and shot for magical purposes. But as a stray lightning bolt lashed out and caught his flank he winced. It was real alright.

He sped up, beginning to widen the circle around the cloud. On the ground, and above the spectacle, ponies could see the cloud becoming thinner, and wider like a chef rolling out a bun of dough into something flat. They gasped as a hole began to form itself in the centre of the cloud.

Trixen could see it above. His hooves came together as he pulled himself into a better position. He was the Great and Powerful Trixen. What did it matter if he got a bit of a shock from some stupid cloud? He adopted a diving position, just like hed done when he was younger, and learning to swim. He closed his eyes, held his body tight

and heard the roar of the crowd as he passed straight through the center of the cloud. He opened his eyes, and almost instantly regretted it as he was knocked off to one side, eyes watering from the change in direction as Lightning Sand caught him, a good mile up from the ground.

As the pegasus lowered the unicorn back to the ground bridal style, and dropped him off, the crowd was on its hooves, cheering and whooping without the pretense of stopping. Trixens legs were shaky, but he managed to wave, a smile on his face even though he was still in those glittery speedos hed been so embarrassed in. Perhaps the fact his friend was in his own underwear helped as well.

Still up for those pinecones, Presto? Sand asked with a smile, catching a bit coin from the air as it was thrown at the stage. Trixen scowled. He hated it when his friend called him that, but hed have to let him off.

Watching over the show, a pale blue pegasus with a mane as dark as an inky night lowered his binoculars from those angular glasses, smirking a little, clicking his radio.

Courser, you were right. Hes a good one. Well have to see if he can be tempted away from his coltfriend, said Captain Hellebore of the Shadowbolts.

(Mini-fic by Quantax)