「啊啊啊！」崔克茜尖叫着举起蹄子检查。它不仅在发光，而且现在变得完全透明了！

星光飞奔过来。「崔克茜，怎么回事？你没告诉我这部分！」她惊慌地低声说，「这是表演的一部分吗？」

「不不不！」崔克茜难以置信地摇着头，这真是她在舞台上表演魔术时发生的吗？这就像一个令马尴尬的梦，只不过它是真的。崔克茜向观众席望去。她的蹄光越来越亮，小马们都遮住了眼睛。「星光，帮帮我！」她从嘴边挤出话来。

「我有个主意！」星光时不我待。她炫耀似的飞奔过舞台取来水管，用魔法打开水流，将之扬起，喷洒出漂亮的水雾。

水雾和崔克茜的蹄光一同遮蔽舞台，形成一道充满露珠的彩虹帘幕，足以暂时分散观众们的注意。

星光熠熠在想下一步该怎么做时，一条红色巨龙突然落到了舞台上方！它发出尖锐刺耳的鸣叫，向观众的头顶俯冲而下，遮天蔽日的翅膀卷起的气流穿过每一匹小马的鬃毛。他们惊讶地抬起头。只见巨龙径直俯冲过薄雾，冲破舞台后方腾空而起。

观众们啧啧称奇。哪怕龙要流出滑稽眼泪的戏码没有发生也无关紧要了。

这对崔克茜来说是好消息，让她完全忘记了自己发光的蹄子。她踏入水中接受赞美，并鞠了一躬，接着做了个招牌式旋转，溅起水花。「神通广大崔——克茜的又一次令马印象深刻的表演！」

顷刻，一小团金色水珠喷洒到了马群中。它在半空中凝固并落下，就像是下了一场晶莹剔透的冰雹。离舞台足够近的小马把它们从鬃毛上扯下或是从地上捡起。他们用蹄子捧着石块，脸上映照着敬畏的光芒。

「这是什么？」一匹小马问。

「太漂亮了！」另一匹喊道。

「是耀晶石！」一匹淡粉色的飞马胜利般地举起一块大的碎片喊道。

她旁边的水蓝色陆马笑了。「这是小马国最珍贵的宝石之一！」剩下的小马开始争先恐后地寻找着耀晶石的下落。

「呃呃……」崔克茜紧张地笑了起来。「瞧？」她瞥了一眼舞台，与星光的目光相遇。她朋友的目光像是在说：刚才这里到底发生了什么？崔克茜向她微微眨了个眼，并保持着她那百发百中的笑容。不管崔克茜刚刚变出了什么奇怪戏法，对魔术师本马来说，也都算是一个重大揭示。

崔克茜艰难走到她最喜欢的无尽之森边缘时，小马镇的天空已经暗了下来。「呃！」崔克茜咕哝，努力抬起沉重的马蹄。豆大的汗珠顺着她的鼻口往下淌。她开始感到深深的恐惧。尽管崔克茜已经实现了让所有小马刮目相看的目标，但她知道自己的蹄子绝对出了大问题。如果能到达那个她最喜欢的思考地点，或许就能对今晚发生的怪事有所眉目。

终于，崔克茜看到了那片地方。那是一片幽静的草地，树木向内呈拱，溪流的弯道处从中间穿过。崔克茜路过小马镇时曾多次在那停留。这里非常适合忙碌了一天的崔克茜梳洗打扮，而崔克茜现在正急需梳洗打扮。

与瑞瑞间的麻烦互动仍困扰着她，但她真正想不通的是表演时发生的古怪事。她一边拖着铅般重的蹄子走在泥地上，一边在脑海里回放着这场离奇表演的经过。

崔克茜筋疲力尽，瘫坐了一会儿。她把她沉重的蹄子抬到面前检查：它还在发光，只是稍弱了些。起初，她看到自己的蹄子发光，吓了一跳，但她无法否认自己的水戏法给观众留下的深刻印象，这是她从未感受过的观众反应！崔克茜让他们震惊了、让他们惊呆了！对她来说，「巨龙之泪」没有按原计划进行几乎已经不重要了，或许这个发光蹄子戏法会比她原来的想法更好！这将真正使她与其他希望赢得星鬃协会青睐的魔术师区别开来。

她脑海中浮现出星鬃亲自将协会胸针别在崔克茜斗篷上的画面。有了这个新才能，她将势不可挡。

但崔克茜来到水边的时，光芒几乎微弱了。「不，不，不！」崔克茜悲哀道。光芒逐渐消失了。她轻松地抬起蹄子，沉重感神奇般的消失，蓝色也恢复了。她很失望，她发光的想法泡汤了，她甚至不想再把蹄子浸泡在清凉的溪水里，只是草草沾水便垂头丧气地走了。「我想我还是回城堡吧，」崔克茜喃喃。于是她飞奔回城堡，没注意到，河里正在形成一小团闪闪发光的耀晶石，就像黑暗天空中的小星星。

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原文：

“Ahhhhh!” Trixie screamed as she held up her hoof to inspect it. Not only was it glowing, it was now completely transparent!
Starlight galloped over. “What’s happening, Trixie? You didn’t tell me about this part!” she whispered in a panic. “Is this part of the act?”

“N-n-n-nooo!” Trixie shook her head in disbelief. Was this really happening to her while she was onstage, mid-trick? It was like an embarrassing dream, except it was real. She looked out to the audience. Ponies shielded their eyes as the hoof grew brighter. “Help me, Starlight!” she whispered out of the side of her mouth.

“I have an idea!” Starlight snapped into action. She galloped across the stage with a showy flourish as she retrieved the hose. Starlight used her magic to turn on the flow of water and tilt it up at an angle to create a beautiful, misty spray.

It obscured the stage with the combination of water and light from Trixie’s pulsing hoof, creating a dewy rainbow-filled curtain. It was enough to distract the crowd temporarily.

Starlight Glimmer was trying to think of what to do next when a gigantic red dragon landed on the stage! It screeched as it dove low above the heads of the ponies in the crowd. They looked up in surprise as the dragon’s massive wings caused gusts of air to blow through their manes. The dragon dove straight through the mist and burst through the back of the stage before taking off into the sky.

The crowd ooohed and aaahed. It didn’t even matter that the part of the trick where the dragon was going to cry funny tears hadn’t happened.

It was music to Trixie’s ears. She forgot all about her afflicted hoof and stepped out into the water to receive the praise and take a bow. Water rained down on her as she did her signature twirl. “Another impressive performance by the Great and Powerful Trixieeee!”

Within seconds, a small spray of golden droplets rained down onto the crowd, solidifying in midair like a sparkling hailstorm. The ponies close enough to the stage pulled them from their manes and retrieved them from the ground. Their faces glowed as they held the stone pieces in their hooves in awe.

“What is it?” asked one.

“It’s beautiful!” cried another.

“It’s Glowpaz!” shouted a pale-pink Pegasus. She held up a large piece in victory.

The aqua-colored Earth pony next to her smiled. “That’s one of the most valuable gems in Equestria!” The rest of the ponies scrambled to find a Glowpaz drop.

“Uhhhhhhh…” Trixie laughed nervously. “Voilà?” She glanced across the stage and met Starlight’s eye. Her friend’s gaze seemed to say, What exactly just happened here? Trixie gave her a tiny wink and maintained her hundred-watt smile. Because whatever odd spell Trixie had just conjured, it had been a Big Reveal to even the magician herself.

The sky was darkening over Ponyville as Trixie trudged to her favorite spot on the edge of the Everfree Forest. “Euuugh!” Trixie grunted, trying to lift her heavy hoof. Beads of sweat trickled down her muzzle. She was starting to feel a deep sense of dread inside. Despite the fact that Trixie had achieved her goal of impressing everypony, she knew that something was very wrong with her hoof. If she could only make it to her favorite thinking spot, she might be able to make some sense of the night’s odd events.

Finally, Trixie saw it. The trees arched in a frame over a secluded grassy spot that brushed a curve in the river. Trixie had stopped there on numerous occasions while passing through Ponyville. It was perfect for freshening up after a long day, which Trixie was desperately in need of right now.

The troublesome interaction with Rarity was still bothering her, but the truth was that Trixie couldn’t riddle out was the wonky performance. She  replayed in her mind the events of the bizarre show as she dragged her leaden hoof through the dirt.

Trixie plopped down for a moment, exhausted. She held her heavy hoof up to her face for inspection. It was still glowing, but more faintly. Originally, the shock of seeing her hoof glow had thrown off Trixie. But she couldn’t deny the way she’d impressed the crowd with the water trick. It was a response she’d never felt from any audience before! Trixie had shocked them. She had awed them! It almost didn’t matter to her that “The Tears of the Dragon” hadn’t gone according to her plan. Maybe this glowhoof trick was better than her original idea! It would really set her apart from other magicians hoping to woo the Starmane Society.

An image of Starmane herself pinning a Society brooch onto Trixie’s cloak danced around in her head. With this new talent, she was unstoppable.

But by the time Trixie had arrived at the water’s edge, the glow had pulsed to a faint light. “No, no, no!” Trixie whined as it faded away. She picked up her hoof with ease, the heaviness magically removed and the blue color restored. She was so disappointed that her glowing idea had fizzled out that she didn’t even feel like dipping her hooves into the cool stream anymore. She jumped in quickly and then stepped out again, slumping down in defeat. “Guess I’ll just head back to the castle,” Trixie mumbled to herself. So the pony took off back toward the castle at a gallop, failing to notice the tiny mass of glistening Glowpaz stones now forming in the river like little stars in a darkened sky.