Starlight breathed in the fresh spring air. The sky was clear, the flowers were blooming, her allergy medication had kicked in. Truly a jog through the woods was the best way to make use of this weather. Also popcorn. She took a few kernels from her bag and tossed them in her mouth, the salt and butter flavors adding to her appreciation of nature.
She looked around, noting the birds chirping happily. One squirrel even stopped in front of her and chittered. Starlight slowed down and smiled at it. “Hey there, little guy. What’s up?”
The squirrel jumped on her face.
At Fluttershy’s animal sanctuary, the mare in question rubbed the back of a large seal relaxing on the bank of the river. She leaned over to look in his eyes and said, “Feel better?”
The seal barked in the affirmative. Fluttershy smiled and walked back to her checklist. “Well, that’s all for my morning tasks. Now I can just relax a bit.”
She found a nice spot in the shade, where some other critters had gathered, and settled in with a sigh.
“Fluttershy! Help!”
With a yelp, Fluttershy jumped up. From the entrance of the sanctuary came Starlight Glimmer, charging with a squirrel gripping onto her face and followed by several other creatures, including a bear and even a penguin sliding on the wet grass. Despite all this, she guarded her popcorn with a cocoon of magic, making sure none spilled out. She stopped in front of Fluttershy, and the animals took this opportunity to surround her, roaring and squawking. Starlight put a barrier around her, as she tried to pull the squirrel off her face.
Fluttershy called out for the animals to calm down, but after no response, she stomped her hoof and shouted, “Enough!”
This got the animals to finally stand down, and they backed away from the unicorn. Except for the squirrel, who stubbornly stayed on.
Fluttershy looked over everyone. “Starlight, did you do something to upset all these animals?”
Starlight ripped the squirrel off and held him in the air. “No! I didn’t do anything. All I did was say hello to this guy, and he jumped on me. Then as I was running to you, all these other critters followed after.”
The squirrel angrily cried out.
Fluttershy put a hoof to her chest. “Starlight stole your acorns? And turned them into popcorn? Oh my, that doesn’t sound like her at all.”
The bear roared.
“She stole your honey? And used magic to turn it into a big cup of soda?”
“That’s ridiculous!” Starlight declared. “If I wanted a big cup of soda, I’d just buy some soda. Same with the popcorn.”
The other animals called out their own grievances, from the penguin’s shiny rock being stolen, to a badger having the exit to her burrow being blocked by a magically-summoned chair.
“Everycreature, Starlight wouldn’t do any of these things!” Fluttershy affirmed. “She’s a good and friendly pony! She wouldn’t just go around casting all these random spells in the middle of the woods like—” She stopped and squeezed her lips shut. When Starlight raised her eyebrow, Fluttershy continued, “Sorry, it’s just that now that I said that out loud, casting random spells in the middle of the woods does kind of sound like you.”
Starlight gasped. “I do no such thing!”
Fluttershy cowered. “Sorry! I mean, just, you have kind of a reputation for...” Starlight rolled her eyes, and Fluttershy quickly changed the subject. “Anyway, uh, Tony, can you please describe exactly what happened, and what the pony you saw steal your acorns looks like?”
Still in Starlight’s grip, the squirrel chittered, and Fluttershy translated. “I was minding my own business, attending to my acorn collection when I heard a pony walking on the path and talking. I didn’t think to pay attention, but the pony said, ‘I am Starlight Glimmer,’ and then zapped my acorns. They turned into popcorn and the pony moved them into a box she was holding. I yelled after her, but she ignored me and ran off. She was a unicorn with a purple coat and a blue mane. Oh, and she was already carrying the soda cup that the bear mentioned. By the old laws, I demand recompense.” The squirrel pointed. “I demand her horn.”
Fluttershy hummed.
Starlight blinked. “OK, I’m just going to pretend I didn’t hear that last part. About that description, well, sure, you could say my coat is purple.” She waved a hoof. “Though Rarity says it’s more of a lilac. But my hair is not blue!”
“What about that stripe?” Fluttershy said, translating the squirrel.
Starlight rolled her eyes. “Alright, fine, part of my hair is blue. But way more of my hair is purple.”
The penguin jumped into the conversation with a squawk.
“She wants to know how you can say both your coat and your hair are purple when they look different,” Fluttershy translated.
“What? What kind of question is that? They’re very obviously different tones!”
“Animals aren’t the best with colors,” Fluttershy said, with a neutral expression.
Starlight shook her head. “Look, I know how we can resolve this. There’s a spell I can cast on Tony to project his memories and—”
The animals erupted in outrage. Having a good idea what they were saying, Starlight frowned and said, “This is not a random spell, this is a perfectly normal and useful spell.”
Fluttershy waved her hoof to calm down the animals, then stroked the squirrel’s cheek. “Give her a chance, Tony. I’ll be here with you. You shouldn’t worry about Starlight hurting you.”
“I’m not going to—” Starlight pinched the top of her snout with magic and sighed. “Fine, let’s just do this.”
She set the squirrel on the ground. Fluttershy gave him a comforting smile, and then his eyes bugged out as Starlight cast her spell.
Magic flowed out of the squirrel’s head and formed a rectangular screen. “Now, just think of what happened when your acorns were stolen,” said Starlight.
The screen flickered, and then formed into a view of a pile of acorns in a tree’s hollow, with Tony’s front legs on either side.
Fluttershy sat next to Starlight and looked at her popcorn. “Oh, Starlight, do you mind if I have some?”
Starlight tilted the bag and Fluttershy snatched a few kernels with her hoof.
On screen, the squirrel continued examining the acorns, but then the voice of a pony could be heard behind him.
The deep yet nasally voice hummed, then said, “Dodedoo, gonna do some magic, gonna date a mare, because I’m Starlight Glimmer.”
The humming got closer, then the same voice said, “Wait, I forgot the popcorn. I guess acorns are close enough.”
There was an explosion of magic, knocking Tony back onto a branch. He watched as the acorns magically turned into popcorn, then flew away. He turned around, looked through the leaves, and saw the culprit trotting away.
“Starlight, there!” Fluttershy excitedly leapt up. “There’s the real culprit.”
Starlight paused the playback and narrowed her eyes. The unicorn had a bright purple coat, a pure blue mane, and notably, a yellow horn. Plus, they were larger than her and had an elongated muzzle.
The bear groaned, and Fluttershy translated, “Yup, that’s Starlight Glimmer right there.”
Starlight pointed a hoof at the screen and looked back at the animals. “Are you kidding? They look and sound nothing like me!”
“Like I said, animals aren’t good with colors,” said Fluttershy. She paused. “Or telling pony voices apart.”
Starlight groaned, then addressed the animals again. “Look, I’m just as invested in finding this imposter as any of you. I promise you I’ll track them down and bring them to justice. And you trust Fluttershy, don’t you?” She squeezed Fluttershy to her chest with one hoof, making her squeak. “She’ll come with me to verify the real culprit is caught.”
Fluttershy nodded.
The animals huddled into a circle and chattered amongst themselves.
Starlight raised an eyebrow. “What are they saying?”
Fluttershy’s eyes darted side to side. “Oh, uh, they’re agreeing to split up your horn amongst themselves if we fail to find the real culprit.”
The penguin pulled out a saw and looked at Starlight with a dead stare.
“Damn, they’re serious about this,” Starlight said with wide eyes.
Fluttershy furrowed her brows. “Are you sure you can find them?”
Starlight smirked. “Of course! From that memory, our culprit was going down the trail leading to the School of Friendship. I’m sure we’ll get a better eyewitness there.”
She started running off, but then Fluttershy grabbed her. “Uh, Starlight, what about Tony?”
The squirrel’s eyes were still bugging out from the spell over him.
“Oh, right.” Her horn glowed, and the spell was dismissed. Tony fell over, making a light squirrel-scaled thud. After a few seconds, he still remained prone. Starlight waved her hoof. “He’ll be fine.”
“Not exactly helping you win over the animals,” Fluttershy said under her breath.
The School of Friendship was on a weekend break, and many of the student residents were still sleeping in. However, Fluttershy and Starlight were able to spot two early risers hanging out together.
Starlight smiled. “Oh good, it’s Ocellus and Silverstream. They’ll definitely have some reliable information about my imposter.”
Fluttershy nodded. “Ocellus is studious, and Silverstream always notices new and interesting things. And a yellow-horned purple unicorn saying they’re Starlight Glimmer is definitely new and interesting.”
They approached, and the two students waved.
“Hey there, Principal Glimmer, Professor Fluttershy,” said Ocellus, looking up from her book. She turned to Starlight and said, “You’re back already?”
Starlight stopped and lifted a bent leg, concern spreading instantly on her face. “Uh…”
Failing to notice this, Silverstream flew up to Starlight excitedly. “How’d your date go? Wait, was Professor Fluttershy your date?! That’s crazy!”
Fluttershy blushed lightly. “Uh, no, we weren’t dating. More importantly, who told you Starlight was on a date?”
Ocellus hesitated, and said, “Um, Starlight did. When she came here earlier.”
Starlight looked at them with narrow eyes and said, “I feel like I’m going to regret asking this, but did the Starlight you talked to look like this?” She magically summoned a freeze frame from Tony’s memories.
Still smiling, Silverstream said, “What a weird question to ask! Anyway, yes, that’s what you looked like.”
Ocellus slowly nodded too.
Starlight took in a deep breath. “Why in the world did you think that was me?!” she roared, and the two students shrank back. “I could maybe understand this from Smolder. Heck, Silverstream isn’t a huge stretch. But you, Ocellus? You’re supposed to be the smart one!”
“I, uh…” Ocellus hid part of her face behind her book. “Well, you—they said they were Starlight Glimmer, so…”
Starlight rolled her eyes up. “Is that really all it takes?”
Fluttershy flew to Starlight and touched her back. “Alright, Starlight, calm down. Breathe.”
Starlight’s breathing slowed down, and she took deep slow breaths. Fluttershy turned to Ocellus with a smile. “Ocellus, can you explain why you thought this pony was Starlight?”
Ocellus blushed. “Well, it might not make too much sense to you…”
Fluttershy put her hooves together. “Ah! It’s because you’re a changeling, isn’t it! It’s completely normal for you to run into a changeling with a different appearance, so when this strange pony comes to you claiming to be Starlight, you didn’t think anything of it.”
Ocellus smiled. “Oh wow, you got it exactly right. No wonder you’re always Teacher of the Month. With changelings, there’s also pheremones involved which allow us to identify each other when we get close, but I haven’t quite figured all that out with ponies.”
Silverstream chimed in. “I actually did think that pony was kind of weird, but Ocellus acted like everything was normal, so I did too. I don’t know, you ponies can be weird sometimes, with those cutie marks, the way you suddenly become alicorns, and the weird things you make like rugs—I mean, who comes up with something like rugs?—so completely changing how you look and sound didn’t seem too out there.” She threw up her arms. “Look, it’s weird up here.”
Starlight sighed. “OK, I can understand your confusion, and I apologize for my outburst. It was uncalled for. But just for the future, ponies generally… don’t do all that.”
Ocellus and Silverstream nodded.
“It’s important that we find out where that pony went,” said Fluttershy. “Tell us everything you can remember.”
Ocellus hummed. “Well, first of all, I greeted them as they walked by, and they said they were Starlight Glimmer. As we established, I didn’t find anything strange about this, so I instead asked them why they were so dressed up. Since, you know, that’s what I thought was happening. They said they were going on a ‘hot movie date with a hot mare’.”
Fluttershy put her hooves together. “Oh, the popcorn and soda. Of course.”
“That’s right, they did have those. Right after that, they turned a bench into a book with their magic.” She lifted her book. “That’s what I’m reading now. It’s… interesting.”
Silverstream jumped in. “Then I said, ‘Wow Principal Glimmer, you’re going on a date?!’ and they said, ‘Yes, I am Principal Starlight Glimmer, going on a date.’”
“Well there goes any chance of this being a misunderstanding,” Starlight said through gritted teeth.
“Did they say who they were dating?” asked Fluttershy.
“I asked, and they said it was the hottest mare in school. Then they walked into the school while humming.”
Starlight stomped her hoof. “They dated a student while pretending to be me? That’s it, we have to take this pony down.”
Fluttershy looked at the students urgently. “Are they still in the school, or did they leave?”
“I heard them humming again a few minutes later,” said Ocellus, “though I didn’t see them. They must have left for the movie theater. This all happened about an hour ago, I think.”
“They should be in the middle of their movie, then,” said Starlight. She turned to Fluttershy and said, “Come on, I’ll teleport us there.”
The mares gathered up, waved to the students, and disappeared.
Ocellus thought for a second. “So wait, another pony was pretending to be Principal Glimmer? That’s so strange. Why would they do that?”
“Didn’t changelings used to disguise themselves as ponies to steal love? This is probably like that,” said Silverstream.
Ocellus paused. “Huh. Huh. I would have never made that connection. Now I think I’m starting to get it.” She smiled. “Thanks, Silverstream.”
Silverstream nodded with closed eyes.
Fluttershy and Starlight appeared in front of the Ponyville movie theater. A brown teenage earth pony mare stood at the ticket booth, and they ran up to her.
Fluttershy examined the movie listings while Starlight put her hooves on the booth. “Excuse me, but did a unicorn that looked like this come here?” She summoned the image of her faker.
The ticketmare’s eyes widened. “Oh yeah, I did see him. There aren’t many of these morning shows, and he and his friend kept yelling out their names.”
“I can guess what the pony in the image said,” Starlight said, rolling her eyes. “But the pony with them, what was their name?”
“I kind of made a point of not remembering,” said the teen. “They were so annoying. Brought in outside food even though I told them not to too.”
“Starlight!” Fluttershy exclaimed. “I found a movie that started about an hour ago.”
She pointed to the title: No More Horsing Around.
Fluttershy kept her hoof raised. “That title is exactly right! Horsing around time is over! Let’s go!”
Starlight put her hooves on the ground and both mares darted forward. Before they could storm the entrance, however, the ticketmare waved her hooves. “Wait, hold on! First of all, no outside food.”
Starlight stopped and looked at her bag of popcorn. “Oh, right, I forgot I was still carrying this.”
“And second, you need to buy tickets.”
“You don’t understand!” exclaimed Fluttershy as she put her hooves on the booth. “There’s a dastardly fiend in that theater who steals from defenseless critters and imitates good friends for clearly uncouth reasons!” She thought for a second. “And also snuck popcorn and soda in.”
The ticket mare rubbed her chin. “I don’t know, I still don’t think I can let you in.”
Sighing, Starlight said, “Fine, here you go.” She activated her magic, only for her eyes to widen. She stood close to Fluttershy and said in a low tone, “I don’t have my bit bag.”
Fluttershy quickly searched herself and shook her head. “Well if that pony used your name to trick somepony into dating somepony important, then we can’t let them get to the part of the movie where they ignore the movie and start smooching instead. I’ll distract the ticketmare, and you teleport.”
After Starlight nodded, Fluttershy put on a forced smile and said in a louder than usual voice, “Oh yes miss, we’ll take two tickets. But wait, that movie title there is clipped off. What is the full title?”
She turned around, and at that exact moment, Starlight struck her with a blast of magic, sending her to a town roughly three miles away.
Fluttershy blinked. “Oh… uh, I meant teleport us. Into the theater.”
Starlight looked to the side. “Ah… right.” She rubbed the back of her head. “That would have made sense.”
Fluttershy rummaged behind the ticketmare’s booth and put an “out to lunch” sign on top. “We’ll deal with it later.” She raised her hoof. “Now, to the theater!
They galloped inside, past the concession stands and toward the screen their culprit was likely at. Starlight grabbed the door with her magic, but then Fluttershy put her leg in the way.
“Starlight, hold on!” she said. “I was thinking, and I believe I know who the fake you brought on their date. I just need you to mentally prepare for this.”
Starlight huffed. “Fluttershy, there’s no time for this. We’re right at our goal!”
She pulled harder on the door and Fluttershy pulled her leg back. Starlight ran in, and Fluttershy followed after.
The theater was packed, and with the lighting, it was difficult to tell ponies apart. The screen displayed a pony carrying a large sword on her back riding a missile. The camera zoomed in on her and she said, “No more horsing around.” A stylish action sequence followed as she jumped from missile to missile. Fluttershy and Starlight snuck down the leftmost aisle, taking a careful look at the rows. There was a loud explosion from the movie, and Fluttershy briefly cowered while Starlight continued ahead.
Upon hearing a “Dohoho” that sounded like their culprit, then spotting their oddly colored horn, Starlight narrowed her eyes and closed in.
The fake Starlight lobbed popcorn into their mouth and chewed loudly. Kernels spilled out as they yelled, “Dohoho, this part’s great!” to the annoyance of the ponies around them.
“The Great and Powerful Trixie agrees, though I could do it much better,” their date boasted.
Starlight’s ears perked up and her eyes widened. She hastily made her way down the row, hoping against hope it was another faker. However, she soon saw her friend, cape and hat and all, sitting to the left of the fake Starlight. The School of Friendship counselor munched on a bucket of crackers. Starlight’s cheeks puffed up, and soon she erupted, raising front legs. “Trixie! Are you fucking kidding me?!”
Starlight was met by shushing, making her blush and clam up, her cheeks puffing up again.
Trixie turned to her date with an eyeroll. “Sheesh, some ponies don’t know how to act in a movie.” She took another bite of crackers as the pony behind her craned his neck to look around her hat.
Fluttershy walked to Starlight and said softly, “I’m so sorry, Starlight. I—”
The pony that Fluttershy was standing in front of made a grunt of annoyance and waved his hoof, making her immediately duck down.
Starlight continued standing, and tried to stage whisper. “Trixie,” she said to no response. “Trixie!”
After Starlight got shushed again, she clenched her jaw and the veins in her neck throbbed. Fluttershy got close to her and said, “Maybe you can teleport them out of here, then you can talk to them more easily.”
“Good idea.” Starlight built up magic, then proceeded to teleport everypony else to another town.
Fluttershy looked around. “... I meant teleport Trixie and the culprit out of here.”
Starlight showed little sign of caring as she shook Trixie’s shoulder. “Trixie, what the hay is going on?”
Trixie at last truly saw her and did a double take. She looked at the ponies on either side of her. “Huh—What? Wha-what’s going on? Two Starlights?”
Both Starlight and Fluttershy stood there aghast for a moment.
“Seriously?” Starlight exclaimed. “Did everycreature turn into Ember when I wasn’t looking?”
Fluttershy put her hoof on Starlight’s shoulder. “I don’t think you and the fake look alike.”
Trixie again looked to her right and left. “This is all very strange for Trixie,” said the confused and powerful unicorn.
The fake Starlight finally took notice of the situation and their eyes widened. “Babe, I can explain.”
Starlight started toward them but was held back by Fluttershy. “Oh you better!”
Fluttershy took a deep breath, and Starlight followed suit. She let her go, and Starlight continued breathing slowly.
“Trixie,” Fluttershy said in a calm voice, looking at her with friendly eyes, “could you explain why you think these two ponies look alike?”
Trixie waved her front legs. “Look, it’s dark, and there’s kind of a purple and blue… but which one is the real Starlight?”
Taking the tone of a teacher explaining a difficult subject to a student, Starlight said, “Trixie, I literally just teleported the entire audience away. Not many unicorns are capable of that.”
Trixie stroked her chin. “Hmm…”
The faker lifted their bin. “Look at this high quality popcorn, babe. Only the real Starlight would have artisan kernels like this.”
Trixie nodded. “Starlight does have some nice popcorn.”
Starlight shook her popcorn bag. “I have popcorn too! Meanwhile—” she charged up her horn “—our friend here doesn’t have any popcorn at all.” She fired, and the faker’s popcorn turned into acorns.
Trixie gasped.
“Babe, you know that sometimes I like to turn acorns into popcorn,” explained the fake. “I told you once.”
“Hmm,” Trixie wondered aloud, “did she tell me that?”
Starlight stomped her hoof. “No! My popcorn is always popcorn! Theirs isn’t!”
The faker stammered, then said, “Oh, well same to you!” They cast a spell of their own, hitting Starlight’s bag. Her popcorn reverse-popped into acorns.
Trixie gasped again.
Starlight shook her bag of acorns. “Hey! You just enchanted my popcorn into being acorns. I disenchanted yours!”
The faker shook their hoof at her. “No, I disenchanted yours!”
“So much craziness while I’m trying to watch the movie,” Trixie lamented. “Can’t we just say you’re both Starlight and move on?”
Starlight put a hoof on her shoulder. “Trixie, be straight with me. Are you drunk?”
Trixie fluttered her lips then laughed uproariously. “Drunk? Me? Starlight, you know I don’t drink alcohol.” She closed her eyes and nodded sagely. “I did load up on recreational magic potions, though. School was really slow today for some reason.”
Starlight narrowed her eyes. “That’s because it’s Saturday, Trixie.”
Trixie paused. “Oh yeah.”
Fluttershy spoke up. “Starlight, we don’t have to do all this. Teleport the faker out of here and we’ll talk to Trixie once she’s sober.”
Starlight waved her off. “No, we can do this. Even on magic potions, Trixie has to be able to tell I’m me!” She pointed to the screen. “And I don’t want to have broken into a movie for nothing! We’ll watch it together once this is all cleared up.”
Fluttershy frowned. “Oh.”
“It won’t work!” exclaimed the faker. “I found seven four-leaf clovers, I walked under a double rainbow, I had a ladybug cross my path, I got a coin minted in my birth year, my horseshoes are new, I got a cat’s eye stone from a penguin, and—” they shook their bucket “—I got a whole bunch of acorns. My luck is unbeatable today!” They smirked.
Starlight took a moment to parse this, then said, “Trixie, are you hearing any of this?”
Trixie was focused on the movie, which now featured an epic sword battle between the protagonist and a black-clad villain. “What? Oh, sorry, what were you saying?”
Starlight started to literally have steam come out of her, so Fluttershy stepped in. “Alright, just sit down over there and watch the movie for a bit. I’ll try to handle this.”
Starlight obliged, and Fluttershy cleared her throat. “Look, you! The jig is up! We have evidence of you robbing several innocent creatures, and I can have this building surrounded with animals who aren’t pleased with what you’ve done.”
The fake nodded. “I am sorry to hear that animals were robbed, but Trixie knows I would have never done something like that.” They put their front leg around their date. “If those animals came here, they’d be sure to pick out that faker over there.”
Fluttershy frowned. As much as she loved her animals, this day showed the faker was right.
“Let’s take a different approach then. No matter how much luck you have, you can’t truly understand Starlight and Trixie’s relationship.” Fluttershy smirked. “Tell me, ‘Starlight’, what are you and Trixie doing here at this movie theater?”
Without hesitation, they said, “We’re on a date, of course!”
Trixie turned to them with wide eyes. “A date? With Trixie?”
“Yes?” They twisted their face. “This is a date, right?”
“I thought this was just a best friends outing,” Trixie said, making hoof-quotes.
Fluttershy pointed her hoof and declared, “Aha! This interloper has misread the status of your relationship with Starlight.”
“Starlight wouldn’t misunderstand this as a date,” said Trixie. “She knows that when I say I love her, such as during what I have masterfully named the All Bottled Up incident, that’s just in a best friends sense.”
“Gah!” shouted the faker, with their head reeling back like they were hit.
Fluttershy continued smiling devilishly. “While we’re on the subject of your relationship, are you frustrated by Trixie right now? You did just have your romantic date blown up by her.”
The fake shook their head. “No, I’d never be frustrated by Trixie.”
“That’s not right,” said Trixie. “Starlight gets frustrated by me all the time. Starlight gets upset at me and sometimes needs time away from me, but she’s always ready to fight for me. Just like that mare sitting over there.” At that, Starlight turned to Trixie and smiled.
“Gack!” the faker yelled as they fell to the ground. They stumbled back into their seat.
She was doing it! Fluttershy was the master of both animal and pony observation. “Just one more push,” the pegasus said to herself. “How about a memory, ‘Starlight’? Why don’t you tell us how you two met?”
“Oh, that’s easy, uh… dodeeda… dumdedee…” The faker paused for a few seconds. “We met at a… spa… or something?” they guessed.
Trixie leapt up with her hooves spread. “This Starlight is right! I knew you were the real one!” She fell onto the fake in a hug.
Fluttershy and Starlight were knocked over the tops of their seats and fell into the row behind them.
“How?!” exclaimed Starlight.
The fake laughed maniacally. “No matter how much evidence you bring against me, I’ll continue to be Starlight unless you prove once and for all I’m not her.” Trixie sat back in her seat to watch the movie, and the fake wiped their forehead. “Had me sweating for a bit there, but my luck wins out!”
Fluttershy narrowed her eyes. “Trixie really needs to lay off the magic potions.” She flew back into Trixie’s row and took a deep breath. She told herself, “This is fine, Fluttershy, you just got sloppy for a moment. Perhaps I need to approach this another way.”
Fluttershy smiled. “You know, I just realized we never introduced ourselves. I’m Fluttershy, pronouns are she/her. How about you?”
The fake stroked their chin. “Oh, uh, let’s see, name’s Ube Heart, pronouns are he/him? That’s how it goes, right?”
Fluttershy blinked. Was it really that easy? She wasn’t even trying to be tricky there.
Ube Heart realized what just happened and his eyes widened.
Trixie turned back to them, “Sorry, was watching the movie, what were you say—”
“Gaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhhhh!!” yelled the fake Starlight as his horn flared white, saturating the room. The mares shielded their eyes, and when the light faded away, his mane was disheveled and his face was swelling in places. He lifted his hooves. “Fine, you win. I’m not Starlight Glimmer. My name is Ube Heart.”
Trixie gasped, and Fluttershy and Starlight released a sigh of relief.
Ube Heart continued. “I’m a bit of a nomad, you could say. I go town to town relying on my luck to get by. I saw I was especially lucky today, and when that happens…” He waved his hooves. “This is just a harmless habit, you know, but I like to date the marefriends of famous ponies.”
Starlight and Fluttershy gave him a face of absolute disgust.
“Look, I said it’s harmless! There’s always some contrived way the marefriend thinks I’m their special somepony, and I get out before anyone knows any better. I’m just having some fun.”
Starlight was about to say something, but Fluttershy was first. “I can’t believe this! You have such an amazing and strange power, and you use it for—for this. Have you no shame?”
He cowered. “Well, I mean—”
“And harmless?! Even putting aside your identity fraud, you stole from animals! And turned random things into random things!”
Ube looked away. “Well, first, they’re just animals. Second, I was just trying to get in character a bit. I know I shouldn’t just rely on my luck, so to be a better Starlight, I went around casting random spells and—”
Starlight erupted, “I do not go around casting random spells!”
The faker hid behind his legs, but Fluttershy wasn’t done with him. With uncanny strength, she lifted him over her head and shook him. Various trinkets stolen from animals fell onto the ground.
During this, Trixie looked to Starlight. “Well, after all this excitement, I’m pretty sure my potions wore off.” She rolled her eyes. “Gotta see my dealer about that; she’s a tiny me from another dimension, though I’m sure that makes it sound like they didn’t wear off.”
Starlight sighed. “Honestly, after today, that doesn’t particularly shock me.”
Trixie winked. “I will say, I’m glad my best friend was here to save me. That’s proof enough that you’re real.”
Starlight smiled, and they hugged, nuzzling into each other’s necks.
“Although,” Trixie added, “Trixie is still a bit confused.”
Starlight pulled away and nearly punched herself in the face. “Celestia’s grave, Trixie! How can you still be confused?”
“I missed so much of what’s happening in the movie. Why is there a giant robot now?”
Starlight paused. “Oh, that.”
Fluttershy turned to them, with a neutral expression. “Yeah, the reviews said the movie doesn’t properly set things up.”
Ube Heart, sprawled on the theater ground, looked up at them. “So, are we cool? Can I go?”
Starlight took a breath, then looked at Ube. “Sure.”
She teleported him to Tartarus.
Fluttershy tilted her head. “So, should we head back to the sanctuary?”
Starlight shook her head. “Well, we’re already in the theater, and assuming Trixie hasn’t learned a lesson today—”
“Indeed, Trixie has learned nothing,” she proudly declared.
“—then we have no reason to take the moral high ground. Let’s finish this movie.”
Fluttershy shrugged, and the ponies all took their seats.
Despite all the explosions earlier, the movie had shifted to a nice calm, and Fluttershy appreciated all the fantastical creatures that appeared, especially the big yellow flightless birds. However, she soon heard strange noises coming from her side.
“Mmm, you’re such a good best friend,” Trixie said, as her and Starlight’s lips parted.
“Thanks, best friend,” Starlight said, then she passionately kissed Trixie and started pecking at her neck.
As this continued, Fluttershy blushed heavily and lifted a wing to guard her vision. Hopefully the movie would have a fight scene soon.