It had all gone smoothly for Trixie. The truth potion had worked like a charm, delivering all of the missing information that she needed to fully assume the life of her nemesis, Twilight Sparkle. She had sent letters to the Princess of Equestria herself without arousing suspicion, and the awkward moments where she had “forgotten” her past exploits with the other Elements of Harmony were but a thing of the past. She had respect, power-real power, magical or otherwise-and best of all, she had proven her superiority once and for all over that little miss perfect Sparkle. Sure she had to pretend to care about things like Fluttershy’s stupid little animals, or Pinkie Pie’s obnoxious parties. But their time would come soon enough…
One evening, after eating, Trixie was lying in bed, browsing some of the more exotic spellbooks in Twilight’s library, as Twilight herself bubbled silently on the cabinet to her side. Her whining had started to annoy Trixie and so she had temporarily silenced their psychic link. Sometimes Trixie just needed a little solitude, after all, especially now with her new life. And it gave her a chance to catch up on her magic. Her body may have changed, but Trixie was still Trixie, and she couldn’t resist trying to learn the flashiest spells possible. And now that she had the Element of Magic’s power at her disposal, there was nothing to stop the Great and Powerful Trixie from reaching new heights of magical prowess.
Trixie giggled happily to herself in a way that could be interpreted as “maniacal laughter”, before sighing wistfully. Oh, she would love to put on a magical show now. Maybe she would. No one would find that suspicious, surely? After all, now that Twilight had made such good friends with the Greatly Misunderstood and Powerfully Repentant Trixie… Well, it was only natural for two good friends to do things together, right? And this time, those blithering fools in Ponyville would give her the cheers she deserved.
“Are you okay, Trixie?” said the second Trixie, appearing at the doorway to Trixie’s room in her blue cotton nightwear (and, naturally, her wizard’s hat and cape). “I heard what sounded like maniacal laughter.”
“Oh really? Well… fine. Good. Ahem.” Said Trixie 1, coughing, before fixing her eyes on the spells in front of her. “Trixie is just fine, thank you Trixie. I was merely… oh my…”
“Trixie?”
But Trixie the first did not reply, as her attention was now fixated solely on the page in front of her. If she was reading this right… she stood up suddenly, a glint in her eye.
“Yes! Perfect! With this spell, I’ll be able to duplicate myself without the need for that silly mirror pool! Er, no offense” she added, nodding at her clone who took that off-hand remark in her stride. “Let’s see… time for a test run.”
“Really? Already?” asked Trixie 2. Trixie Classic shot her a look of disdain.
“Are you implying anything?”
“Well… those are all high-end complex spells. Usually I would do some more reading first before trying something that complex.”
“Yes, but you are not the GREAT and POWERFUL Trixie!” said Trixie.
“Well… actually, yes I am.” Said Trixie 2, looking a little hurt.
“Oh, right. Yes” muttered Trixie. “Er… but you don’t have the power of the Element of Magic as well, is what I meant!”
“I see.”
“I was not implying that I am clearly the real Trixie or anything.” Continued Trixie, hastily. “What a silly thought that would be!” And accurate, she didn’t add.
“Of course. Go ahead and cast it.” Said the Trixie clone, taking a step back. Trixie looked back down at the page again. She was sure that she had this down. Well, pretty sure… no, of course she was sure. She was Trixie! Great, Powerful etc. Although… maybe she should ask Twilight first? No, that would be unacceptable. She would never live it down. Trixie would show them all her mastery of magic. She got out of her bed, stood in the center of the room, and cast the spell.
Then she exploded.
When the noise died down, Trixie 2 opened her eyes. Then she peeled off the loose length of entrails that had landed on her head. The room was splattered with gore and body parts, staining the room red with a hint of purple. A heart bet furiously on the pillow of Trixie’s bed, and several ribs had embedded themselves in the wooden walls and floor. The windows had shattered and Trixie rather suspected that some body parts had landed outside-she could heard panicked voices coming from outside, and at least one voice complaining about the mess. In the center of it all, surrounded by some chunks of white bone and red meat, was a pulsing blue brain, with two eyeballs still attached to it.
Trixie 2 considered her options. It had been a rather noisy explosion. She could hear Spike coming up the stairs to investigate, whereupon he would find Trixie standing herself next to a splattered pile of Twilight Sparkle. She could just picture the reaction. She might have been a clone, but she was still Trixie, and that meant looking after number one. Without a second thought, she turned around and legged it, sprinting past the approaching dragon on the stairway and out into the nighttime air.
Meanwhile, in her jar, Twilight sighed. At least she was technically free now, although seeing her body explode like that was not exactly filling her with a sense of relief. Once Spike was done piecing together what had happened with Trixie, he’d have to start piecing her back together as well, one chunk at a time. She watched the young dragon open the door. Then watched him gently faint. This was going to take a while…