There was silence between the three of them. Sunset wasn’t quite sure what the best thing to say was and both Trixie’s were just staring at each other. This is really, really, something she didn’t want to happen. Maybe she could just joke around and skirt the issue? But her Trixie already knew about magic and everything and would definitely be curious about this. Maybe she could lie and say this is a robot Twilight or Micro Chips created? No, that doesn’t make any sense. Ugh, she really hoped her Trixie wouldn’t do anything stupid now that she’s met her double. Sunset though had the sinking feeling that out of all of the counterparts to meet each other these two would cause the most trouble from it.
She was about to just give up and explain things when the human Trixie shakily raised a hand and pointed her finger at pony Trixie, her eyes and body language expressing fear.
“S-Sunset! The government has found out how amazing I am and they’ve created a robot of me to take my place!” She outrageously claimed.
“Oh for the love of-” Sunset facepalmed before frowning at her Trixie. “Trixie, that would never happen. For so many reasons.”
“Then it’s a clone! Or me from the future! Or an alien that’s taken my form to try and convince everyone that she’s the real me for some nefarious purpose!” Human Trixie would not be dissuaded from her wild theories so easily.
“Excuse me?!” Pony Trixie looked annoyed now and she pointed a finger of her own at her counterpart. “I am not some clone or cheap knockoff. I am The Great and Powerful Trixie!”
Human Trixie’s eyes narrowed, fear replaced by anger and her attention drawn from Sunset to the mirror-image standing beside her. “Preposterous! There can only be one truly Great and Powerful Trixie and that’s me!” She held a hand to her heart, humphing in disapproval.
“You guys...” Sunset groaned, trying to stop the arguing.
But they were both having none of it and the fiery-haired girl was now being completely ignored.
“I am the real Great and Powerful Trixie, you fraud!” Pony Trixie said.
“Hah!” Human Trixie dismissively waved a hand. “Then I am the Even Greater and More Powerful Trixie!”
Pony Trixie was not about to be undone, her balled up fists angrily shaking at her sides. “Well then that makes me The Greatest and Most Powerful Trixie!”
“Puh-lease! I am The Greatester and Most Powerfulest Trixie Ever!”
“I am The Greatester and Most Powerfulest Trixie Ever Times Infinity!”
“Times Infinity Plus One!”
“Times-”
“SHUT UP!” Sunset yelled, nearly tearing out her hair. “Shut uuuuuppp!” She growled and lowered her hands, breathing heavily and angrily looking at the two very annoying Trixie’s.
Both Trixie’s looked at her with flummoxed expressions as if she had lost her mind. Which kind of annoyed her even more. Sunset knew she could get a tad overheated sometimes but on this occasion she felt she was more than justified. Still, Sunset decided to calm down, she took a deep breath and straightened up before looking to the human Trixie.
“Trixie? I’ll explain everything, can we all just go to my house first? I don’t want other people to walk out here and see this,” She reasoned.
“Ohhhh, you’re the pony me from Equestria. Now I get it,” Human Trixie nodded along as she sat with her double on Sunset’s couch.
“Well, I would put it as you being the human me but I suppose that’s fine,” Pony Trixie snidely responded.
Sunset groaned and rolled her eyes, leaning on the pole beside her wastebasket. “Okay, please. No more arguing. Please,” She said before a new round of stupidity and one-upsmanship could start again.
“It’s only natural though, isn’t it?” Pony Trixie scoffed. “I mean I can do real magic after all back in Equestria.”
“Ah! The nerve!” Human Trixie shouted in indignation, standing up from the couch. “First of all that is an insult to all the hard work I put in to make my shows as magical and amazing as possible! Secondly who says I cannot perform real magic as well? Behold!” She fished into one of her skirt’s pockets and pulled out a couple of smokebombs before throwing them onto the ground.
Pony Trixie coughed and shut her eyes, fanning away the smoke as best she could. When it was gone she opened up her eyes to see that her human counterpart had vanished into thin air.
She sharply inhaled. “She’s gone!”
“Seriously?!” Sunset was incredulous and she rapidly pointed at the couch. “She just jumped behind the couch.”
Pony Trixie blinked and leaned over the back of the couch where, sure enough, human Trixie was crouching to avoid being seen by her. “Oh.”
The other girl scowled at her doppelganger before glaring at Sunset. “Sunset! You don’t reveal a magician’s tricks!”
“That wasn’t a trick!” Sunset yelled, getting on her last nerve.
“Actually I must agree with my human self,” Pony Trixie said. “It’s simply rude to point out the way a trick works in the middle of a performance or try to undermine the magician.”
Human Trixie grinned, standing up, and raised a hand to get a high five from pony Trixie with. “Exactly!”
“Glad we can see eye to eye on that,” Trixie instead bumped her open palm like she was giving a hoof bump. But the sentiment was the same and both Trixie’s got the point.
“Okay, so maybe you can please get along now? You have a lot in common and clearly share a love of performing magic tricks,” If it meant ganging up on her it might be annoying but Sunset still tried to get them to get along.
Both Trixie’s eyed each other, pony Trixie getting off the couch so she could be level with the counterpart she had just met not ten minutes ago. There was a natural enmity between the two, to prove which of them was superior. It was just in their personalities. But at the same time their love of magic, theatrics, and putting on elaborate shows gave them a lot of common ground. Both also were not particularly interested in caring about the consequences. There was a lot of potential fun to be had here and they both knew it. As long as neither one of them tried to say she was in charge they could probably get along pretty well.
“Think of all the stuff we could do in a magic show together? All the identical twin tricks...” Pony Trixie grinned.
“Not to mention just that, there are so many amazing things in this world I’m sure you’d love to see...” Human Trixie grinned right back.
“Wait. Hold on,” Sunset held up a hand. “I want you to get along. I don’t want you to start doing something crazy together. The two of you aren’t leaving my house without my permission, okay?”
“Oh come on,” Human Trixie rolled her eyes. “We totally wouldn’t cause any trouble.”
“Yes you would. I know you two,” Sunset narrowed her eyes at the both of them. “We’re going to sit here and I’m going to call Twilight-”
“What?! I said no Twilight Sparkle, remember?” Pony Trixie walked over and poked Sunset in the chest.
Sunset batted her hand away. “Yes. I remember. But it’s not Princess Twilight I’m going to be calling and asking for help from. It’s the Twilight who lives here. She’s just a normal human,” Her eyes wandered. “Er, aside from the magic power she has, but that’s different.”
“Oh. Well I suppose that is acceptable,” Pony Trixie folded her arms. “She’s not like, a princess here too or anything?”
“Nope, just a normal high school student who happens to know a lot about magic and technology. I’m going to see if she can help us track down any residual signs or traces of the portal that dumped you here,” Sunset said. Not deigning to tell Trixie that there weren’t really things like princesses here in the first place.
“She’s a nerd,” Human Trixie whispered into her counterpart’s ear, getting her to giggle.
“She’s our best bet,” Sunset glared at the human Trixie and pulled out her cell phone. “I’m calling her now.”
Pony Trixie tilted her head. “Calling her? What’s that thing you’re holding?”
Sunset looked at her in surprise for a second before realizing that despite most people in her world having their phones surgically attached to them, a pony from Equestria would have no idea what they were looking at. “Oh, this is called a cell phone. It lets you instantly communicate with people long distance, as long as they have a phone too.”
“Ooooh,” Pony Trixie walked up to take a closer look. “Interesting. I can already think of what I could do with that...” She got a glint in her eye thinking of the sort of magic tricks it might help with, not to mention that sort of long range communication would be amazing on its own to the people of her world. “Can I take one with me?” She asked Sunset, reaching her hand to the phone she was holding.
“No you can’t take one with you!” Sunset pulled hers away. “It wouldn’t even work. And I’m not letting you take anything back with you, that’s not what the portals should be used for in the first place and foreign objects that don’t belong in Equestria could cause problems.”
“You’re so boring sometimes, Sunset,” Human Trixie yawned, sitting on the back of the couch.
“And you are so frustrating sometimes,” Sunset glared at her. “Now I’m calling Twilight so just sit still, the both of you!”
The Trixie’s rolled their eyes together but allowed Sunset this moment of silence so she could call Twilight. Sunset was already annoyed enough as she made her call but the quiet on the other end only added to her frustration. The Trixie’s heard her grunt in annoyance and redial, “Come on Twilight, pick up the phone!” She said into her cell phone. But no matter how many times it rang the purple girl on the other end didn’t answer.
“Ugh, great! Just great!” Sunset stomped her foot on the ground in anger. “Okay, new plan.” She said to the Trixie’s. “I’m going to go get Twilight and the two of you are going to stay here until I come back with her.”
Sunset turned to go out the door. And stopped.
The fiery-haired girl turned around with a hard look in her eyes, holding up a threatening finger as she looked at the two obnoxious magicians. “I mean it. You two better stay here. Promise me.”
“Oh fine,” Human Trixie got up from the couch and threw an arm around Pony Trixie’s shoulders. “We wont get up to any trouble. I’ll just show her how to play videogames or something until you get back.”
Pony Trixie smiled and nodded along. “Don’t worry about us, you’ve done a lot to help The Great and Powerful Trixie. I’ll be good.”
Sunset’s eyes narrowed but she continued to slowly back out towards the door. “Okaaay...”
She reached the door and headed outside, loudly slamming the door shut, the two Trixie’s could hear her pretty much instantly start running down the street presumably to Twilight’s house or wherever she might think she would be. They listened until the sound of her footsteps disappeared completely and pony Trixie turned to her double with a cheeky smile on her face.
“We’re not listening to her at all, are we?”
“Of course not.”
For now the two Trixie’s walked down the streets of the city, no particular destination in mind, merely enjoying each other’s company while pony Trixie got to see the sights and human Trixie got to explain every little nuance and difference of this world. Pony Trixie also was more than happy to tell her counterpart about Equestria in detail and all the magic that could be found there. And both of them were quite adept at ignoring anyone staring at them. Of which there were quite a few. To people who didn’t know Trixie they were just surprised to see identical twins wearing identical outfits walking around. To those who did know Trixie… they were even more confused.
(As an aside, Rainbow Dash happened to see them out but chose not to get involved in whatever mishap had caused the appearance of two Trixie’s)
Human Trixie thought of taking her double from Equestria to the mall but if they were going to go somewhere so public she’d want them to do something. And unfortunately neither of them had props for a show and pony Trixie would likely take a while to get used to putting on her magic tricks without the help of any magic of her own. So they continued to just walk around aimlessly.
Presently, pony Trixie was regaling her human self about her recent adventures in East Glade.
“Wow, you actually fought off some huge, evil, griffon monster? I don’t even know what a griffon is but that sounds impressive,” Human Trixie said, and then coughed as her eyes wandered upwards. “I mean, not like I haven’t totally done some equally amazing and heroic things on my own either.”
“Hehe, well I couldn’t call myself The Great and Powerful Trixie in my world otherwise now could I?” Pony Trixie smugly cupped her chin, ignoring her counterpart’s empty boast. “After all with so many other great magic users there I have to be truly special to stand out and be the hero I am.”
Human Trixie wasn’t quite persuaded by that though. “I get the feeling that you aren’t being quite honest.”
“How insulting!” Pony Trixie stopped and put her hands on her hips. “You dare question Trixie?!”
An unimpressed arm fold and a raised eyebrow was part of her answer. “I question you because I would do the exact same thing.”
“Oh,” Trixie’s arms fell. “Yeah, we probably would both do the same exact thing if our positions were switched.” She furrowed her brow in annoyance. “I am amazing though.”
Human Trixie grinned. “Oh I don’t doubt that at all. I’m amazing too,” She bumped her counterpart’s hip and the two girls giggled, continuing their walk into the city. But not a few more steps were taken before human Trixie squealed in excitement and wheeled around to face her double with a big smile on her face. “Wait! I just thought of something! Next time you’re fighting another villain or monster or whatever you should say a catchphrase or some sort of cool one-liner!”
“Hmm...” Pony Trixie considered that. “It would make me even more heroic looking if I had a spiffy catchphrase or something...”
“Right?” Human Trixie nodded exuberantly. “You can like, strike a pose and say-” She got a much more serious look on her face and waved her arms around before stopping and pointing them at Trixie. “In the name of the Lulamoon, I shall punish you!” Her happy smile then came back in full force. “Something like that would be awesome!”
“I must admit that something theatrical like that appeals to me, I’ll think about it next time I face off against some evil villain. I’m sure the villagers would get a kick out of it,” Pony Trixie nodded.
After that a growl from pony Trixie’s stomach brought a destination to the two of them. Food. The two partners in crime ended up going back past that diner pony Trixie had seen earlier. But human Trixie said someone annoying she knew worked in there so if they were going to get a bite to eat they should do it somewhere else. And that’s how they found themselves at the frozen yogurt place. Pony Trixie being positively delighted at everything she saw in the store, the mechanisms, the toppings, the other customers and employees who absolutely gawked over the identical twins.
Which included the five Shadowbolts. Quite a few others as well were Canterlot high students who knew a thing or two about magic and Equestria and had either put two and two together or thought some other sort of Equestrian magic was at play. But much like Rainbow Dash no one else wanted to deal with two Trixie’s.
“Want some more ground up peanut butter crackers?” Human Trixie asked as she held a spoonful of the topping over pony Trixie’s yogurt.
“As if you even need to ask.”
The bell to the store dinged as the two walked back onto the street and now they resumed their trip around the city with their snacks in hand. Pony Trixie was savoring every little bite she took of the yogurt.
“This is better than the stuff back home...” She murmured.
“That’s because there’s a ton of fat and sugar in everything. So just be careful you don’t eat too much while you’re here,” Human Trixie told her.
Pony Trixie shrugged and continued scarfing down her yogurt. “Worth it.”
“A-greed.” Her double smiled.
After that the girl native to this world was thinking of any number of places she could show to the visitor. That music store Vinyl worked at might be fun, but she’d rather just show off her own guitar skills if possible. Museums were boring, Equestria Land and the beach too out of the way, the mall, the park, and anywhere else she could think of to put on an impromptu show were out too. It would just be a waste.
“You know I almost want to take you back to my place, you could see my home and then we could gather all my props together and maybe put on a show somewhere,” Human Trixie mused. “There’s just so much you’re missing out on because it’s a waste not to use this opportunity to its greatest and fullest potential!”
“Then let’s go back to your place?” Pony Trixie tilted her head in question of why they just hadn’t already.
“Far side of town,” Human Trixie sighed. “And by the time we got all the stuff and came back to put on a show of truly epic proportions that we need to with such an opportunity, Sunset will have already found Twilight and she’ll be pretty angry to learn we ditched her house.” Her eyes wandered as she tapped her now empty yogurt cup with her spoon. “Oh well, maybe we can just go see a movie. I bet you’ll think that’s cool.”
“Don’t know what that is but it works for me,” Pony Trixie smiled at her double and tossed her cup in the nearest trash, the other blue girl doing the same.
“Prepare to be wowed and amazed by the greatest spectacle of the modern age!” Human Trixie grabbed the other’s hand and pointed down the street. “To the movie theater!”
Slightly down and across the street from the two Trixie’s another pair of nearly identical people were having a bit of a problem. Two middle-aged men with red and white hair wearing identical blue pin-striped shirts stood outside of their store. Or former store more accurately. The mustache-less one stood with a frown on his face and arms folded as his mustachioed brother hammered in the last nail needed to affix a large wooden sign to the front of the door.
The sign read: Permanently Closed
“I wish we could sue whoever invented lawsuits,” Flim said as he took a look at their closed down emporium.
“That’s just the way the cookie crumbles o’ brother of mine,” Flam said as he wiped a bit of sweat from his brow after finishing with the sign. “It’s not the end of the world though, we have our other business ventures now don’t we? How are those going?”
“Poorly. It’s not the season for visiting Equestria Land and those cheap binders we made for back to school day melted in the sun before we could sell any. The store was our one reliable source of income,” Flim huffed in annoyance. It was the most down on their luck he could recall them being in a long time.
“Well even then we’ve always got each other. Through the good and the bad,” Flam winked at his brother. Something then caught his eye across the street and he looked over his brother’s shoulder, a smile growing on his face. “And how’s the saying go? When one door closes another one opens?”
Flim turned around to see what had caught his brother’s attention and saw two completely identical girls walking side by side down the sidewalk across from them. With a dangerously twinkling eye a grin came to Flim’s face and he started subconsciously rubbing his hands together.
“Well, brother of mine, what does that look like to you?” Flam asked as he walked up to stand shoulder to shoulder with his brother.
“That, brother of mine, looks like opportunity.”
The duo of Trixie’s were meanwhile halfway to the movie theater. Human Trixie had pushed any thoughts about Sunset out of her head since it’s not like she would find them in there anyways and they could just call her afterwards once they finally got bored. She had wisely turned off her phone right after they left Sunset’s house earlier. Pony Trixie was still looking around at anything that caught her attention like an animal distracted by shiny objects.
“So how fast can those things go anyways?” Trixie asked while she pointed to a car speeding down the road.
“Depends on what kind of car it is,” Human Trixie shrugged. “Doesn’t really matter in the city anyways, you’re only allowed to go certain speeds. You probably see pegasi that fly faster all the time.”
“Yeah but that’s magic and this is technology. We don’t really have motorized carriages that drive themselves in Equestria.”
“That’s… not exactly what’s happening,” Human Trixie said. She was about to explain cars in a bit more detail when the two girls were interrupted.
“Well hello there, young ladies.”
“Hello indeed.”
The two girls looked to see a pair of fairly strange guys, not that they really had any business judging that, blocking their path down the street. They almost looked like twins aside from a few differences, least of all the mustache that one sported. Any other passersby that saw the group of four would have to do a double-take to make sure their eyes weren’t playing tricks on them.
“Can we help you?” Human Trixie raised an eyebrow at the two strangers.
“Oh, perhaps, perhaps you can!” The clean-shaven one said, grinning with a not particularly well-intentioned mirth. “I am Flim and this is my brother Flam, together we are the Flim Flam brothers extraordinaire!”
They both gave the two Trixie’s a thumbs up and smiled wide, the light sparkling off their perfect white teeth.
“And the two of us just couldn’t help but notice that you girls happen to be identical twins! Not a sight seen around here too often to be certain, in fact my brother and I thought we were the closest thing to identical twins in the entire city,” Flam explained.
“Yes, and when the two of us see something so amazing and special it just screams to us that there’s quite a good deal of fame and fortune to be had there,” Flim said. “It’s not just your looks but your fancy clothes that are the same too. Can I believe that the two of you have some special reason for your outfits?”
Human Trixie narrowed her eyes at them, the two brothers had an unpleasant aura about them and she thought she recognized them from somewhere but she couldn’t put her finger on it quite yet. “Well you are correct. We’re magicians. But why do you care and what do you want?”
“And what do you mean about fame and fortune?” Pony Trixie asked, arms folded in front of her chest. Like her human counterpart she was unimpressed by the brothers.
“Glad you asked!” Flam said, stepping forward. “You see my brother and I are unparalleled businessmen and entrepreneurs. And as you can see we look nearly identical. Think of the draw to your shows we could get if you were managed by us? The twin magicians and the nearly twin producers? Why it just rolls right off the tongue!”
“Indeed it does!”Flim stepped forward now too, holding his arms out wide. “Why I can already imagine the size of the crowds, can’t you? With frontmen like us you simply can’t lose!”
“Do you girls perhaps have a name to market yourselves under?” Flam asked them.
The Trixie’s looked at each other for a moment, pony Trixie was about ready to tell the two hucksters off but human Trixie grinned and spoke up first.
“Why yes, we’re the Lulamoons!” She winked at her double, wanting her to play along for now.
“Oh, what a catchy name that is. Right, brother?” Flim said, playfully elbowing his brother in the ribs.
“Oh, catchy indeed!” Flam mimicked his brother.
Pony Trixie grinned, stroking her chin she closed her eyes and walked between the two brothers. “Yes but with all this said and done… what would we even use you two for? After all, the Lulamoon sisters are already amazing at drawing crowds and putting on the most greatest and powerful of shows,” She turned back to them and smirked, opening up her eyes. “I don’t think we need two gold-diggers for anything.”
“Hold on just one minute,” Flim said, quick on his feet as ever. “We’d be part of the draw too if you’ll recall what we said. Not some simple money-grubbers profiting off your talents.”
“That’s right,” Flam said, puffing air out of his nose and regarding pony Trixie with a cool look.
“It would be like the seventh wonder of the world, I’m sure I could even convince Flam to shave his mustache to get everyone to think we’re twins too,” Flim grinned.
Pony Trixie scoffed and dismissively waved her hand. “Please. Being a charlatan myself I know one when I see one. And you two are definitely charlatans.”
“Slanderous! We are perfectly respectable businessmen,” Flim said defensively, although he couldn’t help his eyes from wandering away, trying to avoid her gaze.
“Perfectly respectable businessmen don’t dress like you,” Pony Trixie gestured to her own wizard cap and robe. “I mean, I would know again after all.”
“We’re perfectly respectable businessmen who like to dress nicely,” Flam tugged on his bowtie for emphasis.
“Now I remember where I know you from!” Human Trixie suddenly exclaimed and walked between them to join her pony double. She put her hands on her hips and glared at the two pin-stripe wearers. “You ran one of those rigged games at Equestria Land, didn’t you?”
“Several actually,” Flam stated with a smile, then coughed. “Those weren’t rigged though. They were completely legitimate.”
“Likely,” Both Trixie’s said and rolled their eyes at once.
“Look, the simple fact is that we think we have a great business opportunity for the two of you,” Flim bargained with a patronizing smile on his face. “There’s nothing to lose and so much to gain. For all of us.”
By now the two Trixie’s were more than annoyed and tired of these lazy opportunists trying to make money off of them. It’s not like what they wanted would come to pass anyways since the Trixie from Equestria planned to return there whenever she could, and while she was still here she didn’t want her time taken up by these guys. Human Trixie was of the same mind, her fun day with her double was now being squandered and she was about to throw down a smokebomb so the two of them could run off to the movie theater in peace.
None of that needed to be done though.
"There you are!”
“Oh great...” Both Trixie’s muttered and looked across the street to see Sunset Shimmer angrily stomping towards them.
She was followed along by a somewhat mousy looking purple girl, with slightly messy violet and magenta hair. Even if Trixie didn’t know she was who Sunset was trying to find she would have recognized her as this world’s Twilight Sparkle. The glasses were strange to see though. In her hands she was also holding some kind of beeping metallic device with a bunch of wires and antennae coming out of it. Pony Trixie thought it might be another “cell phone”.
“What did I say? What did I say?” Sunset angrily shook a finger and looked back and forth between the Trixie’s. It was possible she didn’t know which was which right now.
Human Trixie shrugged and smirked at her friend. “Sunset, if you really think about it, it’s kind of your fault for thinking we wouldn’t do something like this.”
“That’s just what I was going to say,” Pony Trixie high-fived her, getting it right this time.
“You two are impossible!” Sunset yelled at them. “First I tell you not to go and do anything like this and not only do you completely disregard that and get up to who knows what kind of trouble but now you’re dealing with these two hustlers?!”
“Hey! We’re not hustlers, we’re charlatans—er—respectable businessmen...” Flam again coughed into his hand and whistled nonchalantly.
“Yeah, and isn’t it a bit unfair of you to be so mad at us? You two got your parakeet didn’t you?” Flim tapped his foot impatiently at the new interruption.
Sunset turned her glare towards them. “You two be quiet,” and then she rounded back on the two Trixie’s. “And this is irresponsible even by your levels. We have no idea what kind of consequences there could be for this or if whatever magic that sent Trixie here might have other effects to it and you still just dallied off to mess around!”
Flim and Flam shared a quick glance, the brothers raising a surprised eyebrow at each other. Did that girl just say magic?
Now that sounded like opportunity.
“Oh come on, Sunset. We didn’t even really do anything. Just hung out and walked around for a bit,” Human Trixie told her.
“That’s. Not. The. Point!” Sunset exploded.
“Well you’ve found us now haven’t you?” Pony Trixie said while absentmindedly picking out her ear. “And we weren’t dealing with these annoying guys, they just started talking to us and tried to rope us into a bad business deal. But The Great and Powerful Trixie is savvy when it comes to bad business deals.”
Sunset was not nearly done being angry yet and she was more than ready to tell off the foreign Trixie but a certain purple girl accidentally came to the rescue.
“Er, Sunset?” Twilight Sparkle cut in, not looking up from some screen on her device. “Sorry to interrupt but my magic finder is picking up some unusual readings from the Equestrian Trixie. There’s a trace of magic on her, definitely Equestrian in origin, and it’s leaving a faint trail in the air.”
“A trail?” Sunset asked.
Pony Trixie gasped in shock. “Does it lead back to the portal that sent me here?!” She pushed her double and Sunset out of the way and asked Twilight.
Twilight backed up, startled by Trixie but regaining her bearings quickly. “Well, that would certainly be my guess...”
“Then let’s go! You can track it down with that thingy can’t you?” Trixie said to Twilight, almost shaking her by the shoulders.
“Stop that,” Sunset pushed her off. “But actually that’s exactly what I want to know too. The sooner this is done with the better.”
Twilight nodded. “I can definitely trace the magic back to its origin, as for activating the portal when we find it… well, that’s something we can deal with as it comes. But for now the magic signature is creating a trail to the park. I assume it’s the same park you told me the Equestrian Trixie first came from.”
“Let's head out then,” Sunset said and the four started off.
But found themselves blocked by Flim and Flam.
“Now hold on there, young ladies. We were in the middle of discussing business with the Lulamoons,” Flim said with a nefarious looking smile on his face. “And I believe the two of us also just heard some very interesting things. Seems the four of you have some secrets and know about something that sounds like it could make some people very rich and happy. You wouldn’t perhaps be trying to edge us out of it now would you? After all if we hadn’t stopped the two girls on this street who knows when you might have found them again?”
“My brother is exactly right. The way I see it if you’re going to interrupt our already very lucrative business deal and waste the time we spent broaching our grand ideas to the two lovely magicians here we’re entitled to some compensation. So how about letting us in on whatever it is you’re doing?” Flam said.
They had no idea what they were even talking about and that just annoyed Sunset further. The two brothers were chasing even the barest scent of money. “We don’t have time to deal with you jerks,” Sunset scowled at them.
Twilight adjusted her glasses as her eyes wandered off to the side. “Well actually it’s not like we’re on a time table or anything. We just probably should get this sorted out as quickly as possible just in case. That being said I agree with Sunset that we aren’t wasting anymore time being inconvenienced by the likes of you cheats.”
“Too bad then, cause we aren’t leaving here empty-handed,” Flim frowned and narrowed his eyes at the girls.
Human Trixie however wasn’t worried in the slightest. She reached into her skirt’s pocket and pulled out a smokebomb. “I believe that’s my cue.”
Before the Flim Flam brothers could react she threw it to the ground and a cloud of smoke enveloped the sidewalk. The brothers were hacking up a lung while the better prepared, and much more used to dealing with Trixie’s smokebombs, girls were already running off to the park.
Twilight was in the lead holding her device in front of her as it directed them onward to the source of the invisible Equestrian magic that floated around Trixie. Nothing more than a faint trace of it was left on her body after she used the portal but it was more than enough for Twilight’s gizmo to pick up on and tell them where they needed to go. It seemed that while the portal had vanished after dumping Trixie in this world it still existed in some sort of slumbering state, likely unable to be interacted with but still giving off a magical signature that the very adept scientist could find.
“Oh boy, I really hope this thing is working properly. Even with all of the magic we’ve dealt with Equestrian magic can be so random and peculiar that I’m not sure we’re even doing the right thing by following it,” Twilight Sparkle scratched her head as they all ran along.
The two Trixie’s were right behind her and Sunset was pulling up the rear, the fiery-haired girl was panting heavily even though they had barely been running for that long thanks to easily being in the worst shape out of the four of them.
“You know you’re actually not as annoying as the Twilight I know back home,” Pony Trixie said. She was smiling obliviously like that was a real compliment. “She’s a perfect princess but you come off more like a normal girl. And kind of a mess, it’s refreshing.”
“Oh. Thanks,” Twilight rolled her eyes. “Like I didn’t already have a huge inferiority complex when it came to being compared to a literal princess.”
“She’s right though, you’re not intimidating at all,” Human Trixie added.
“Can you two please shut up?” Sunset growled from behind them while Twilight sighed.
Feeling they had done quite a lot to bother Sunset already the two Trixie’s decided to respect her wishes as they continued to race back to the park. It was a good idea, Sunset was close to exploding. So they all allowed Twilight to keep directing them on the trail of magic, going back down essentially the same way Trixie had come from when she first got dropped off here. They had been hustling a good deal and the park was finally coming back into view. If it was crowded that might be problematic… but there was so much strange stuff that happened in this city even if some people saw them it probably wouldn’t be a big deal.
The beeping from Twilight’s device started to get louder the closer they got and the glasses wearing girl grinned in satisfaction at it. “Great! Looks like it is working properly, the signal is getting stronger and I’m getting a more specific read on the portal’s exact location!”
“Awesome, I can’t wait to get home where I can actually use magic again,” Pony Trixie said as she sped up her pace.
Human Trixie pouted as she followed along. “You know, even though I think it’s totally more impressive to be a great magician without real magic like I am, I’m still jealous.”
“Come visit sometime,” Pony Trixie smiled back at her and offered her double a wink. “You’d love it.”
That got human Trixie to smile. “Oh I’m definitely taking you up on that.”
“No… no you are not...” Sunset said between harsh breaths as she ran along behind them. “At least not without… notice.”
“Killjoy,” Human Trixie muttered.
Oh the misadventures two magic-wielding Trixie’s could get up to in the land of Equestria. The thought of it filled half of the quartet with excitement and the other half with dread. Unfortunately for the excited half, such a thing wasn’t meant to be right now. The foreign Trixie would have to return on her own today and any future plans she tried making with her double would more than likely be shot down by Sunset or Princess Twilight. Maybe she could convince Starlight to help her…
The four made it into the park and quickly strayed from the set paths, running over the grass and through the trees following the now shrill beeping of Twilight’s device. If the noise was any indication they were getting very close. Still there was no light or other sign that the portal was active so none of them were sure what they would do when they arrived at the right spot just yet.
Finally the beeping from the device stopped and was replaced by a loud ringing. Twilight halted and looked down at the screen and then at the ground in front of them. They were in a normal part of the park, close to where Trixie had first “woken up” in. She could see the pond she used to check her reflection in right next to the grassy clearing they stood in.
“This is it. The portal, or what exists of it right now, is right here in front of us,” Twilight explained, pointing to the center of the clearing for emphasis. She switched off her device to give them some quiet too.
“But there’s nothing there so what do we even do?” Human Trixie asked. “That thingamajig can find magic but do you know how to get it to activate?”
Sunset and pony Trixie didn’t want to admit it but they were at a loss too despite ostensibly being the ones who should have the best plan or idea for this situation. In the end though it was really no surprise that after just a minute of thinking it was Twilight Sparkle who came up with the answer.
“Well it’s Equestrian magic and there’s still some of it around Trixie, that’s how we were able to track this thing down in the first place. Maybe we can activate the portal with our own magic? Or at least get some sort of reaction out of it,” She turned to Sunset. “Sunset? Can you use your geode with me right now?”
“Sure,” Sunset stepped up to stand beside her purple friend, right in front of where the portal would be.
The two of them grasped their geodes and pony Trixie watched in excitement as the unique magic bestowed to these two girls got into action. Human Trixie had seen it all before but was still curious as to what this portal would look like.
“Okay...” Twilight said as an aura of magenta magic gathered around her, she extended her hand out at the invisible portal and let her magic spread to it.
Glowing with magic of her own, Sunset put a hand on Twilight’s shoulder to help her out.
Whatever curious nuances this portal might have had the double dose of Equestrian magic was more than enough to get the shining pillar of light to appear again. The girls had to wince and snap their eyes shut briefly because of how blindingly bright it was.
“That’s it! That’s the thing I came through!” Pony Trixie shouted as she held up her arm to block out the shine.
“Go back through it then,” Sunset told her, holding up a hand of her own. “We have no idea if this thing will stay open on its own or not.”
Trixie nodded, but she stopped for a second before touching the pillar. Looking back over at the other three, with all of their eyes now adjusted to the light, she smiled.
“It was fun you know? You had better believe that I’m coming back here someday. Even if I can’t use magic here the two Great and Powerful Trixie’s simply must perform a show together.”
Her human self grinned. “But of course. A shame we were so rudely interrupted from our fun.”
“Yeah, bye Trixie,” Sunset deadpanned. “Next time I would prefer to have some warning if you do come. Please.”
Twilight sort of awkwardly shuffled about, not having gotten to speak or really do much with the Trixie from Equestria. “Er, I guess it was nice meeting you? Say hello to the other Twilight for me next time you see her.” She waved goodbye to Trixie.
“Fine. If I remember,” Pony Trixie clicked her tongue.
“Now you hold on right there!” A voice yelled from the bushes.
The four girls looked over to see the Flim Flam brothers push their way out of some thorny rose bushes. The two looked pretty bad, with leaves and twigs stuck to them and tears in their clothes, their hair was unkempt and the swindling brothers looked even more exhausted than Sunset had been. Clearly they had ran here at full speed.
“A portal to a magical world? Now you wouldn’t be planning to cut us out of all the money that could be made from something like that would you?” Flim asked as he tiredly hunched over and rested his hands on his knees.
“That’s right!” Flam nodded, rubbing his back. “This is an opportunity for all of us, and we would so graciously allow you to keep 30 percent of the profits from anything to be gained from that portal.”
At this point none of the four girls were willing to entertain them anymore and a thoroughly worn out Sunset tiredly glanced to Twilight.
“Twilight? Can you take care of these two?”
“Gladly,” The bookworm replied as she activated her magic again to grasp the two brothers in a telekinetic aura.
“H-Hey, what are you doing?!” Flim shrieked, trying to break free.
“You know this is very unprofessional of you!” Flam yelled at her.
Both brothers were panicking and begging for forgiveness as Twilight lifted them up and tossed them into the nearby pond. The budding scientist smirking in satisfaction at a job well done. Flim and Flam pulled themselves halfway up out of the pond and promptly collapsed on the edge out of an even mix of exhaustion and exasperation.
“And that takes care of that,” She folded her arms under her chest.
Pony Trixie slowly clapped for her, a smug smile on her face. “Well done I suppose. But if I had my magic available they would’ve been dealt with even easier.”
“Oh quit bragging already and just head back home,” Sunset said to her, although there was an ounce of amusement this time and a shadow of a smile on her lips.
“Maybe I’ll practice using my magic more so next time you come here you’ll be appropriately wowed?” Twilight teased her.
Pony Trixie snorted and moved to touch the portal, expecting it to take her away instantly, when her human double hugged her. It was a bit surprising but as she looked at her Trixie could see she was honestly upset at the departure. They had barely gotten to know each other but how could you not have a connection with your doppelganger?
“I wasn’t going to do this since it’s embarrassing and this could just be narcissism talking but I’m going to miss you. Promise to come back soon?” Her human self frowned as she stared into the former unicorn’s eyes.
But Trixie smiled warmly and returned the hug briefly before letting her double go. It was a goodbye but it shouldn’t have to be sad. Far from it, she thought impishly. “Promise. And I’m gonna miss you too. Even if I am the more great and powerful one.”
She tapped the pillar of light just as she heard the other Trixie angrily yell at her.
Daylight Gleam was walking down one of the streets of East Glade when a startled shout rang out over her head and The Great and Powerful Trixie fell on top of her. The poor white unicorn was flattened like a pancake by the traveling magician and the two of them groaned in pain together.
“Why me?” Daylight moaned as she felt Trixie frantically shift around on top of her.
“Oh great, and now it feels weird to be back in this body...” Trixie muttered as she tried her best to right herself without accidentally stepping on Daylight’s head.
“What are you talking about?” Daylight asked as she extricated herself from under Trixie, shooting the blue unicorn a frustrated and confused look.
The magician patiently let her limbs settle as she stood on all fours again, thankfully she hadn’t spent too much time bipedal. “It’s...” Trixie glanced up to check on her horn and breathed a sigh of relief when she saw it safe and sound. “It’s been a long day.”