It was surprisingly easy to find Trixie. Starlight just looked for the angry gray earth pony who didn’t dance with anyone, sat by herself, and sipped martini.
“Shall we dance?” Starlight asked.
The earth pony measured her with her purple eyes and her nose furrowed. Starlight clenched her teeth. Of course, to Trixie, she must have been nothing less than a painful reminder of her companion vanishing for the evening.
“You may not!” she spat. Starlight’s smile grew wider. As she thought, she could tell Trixie by her inflection alone.
“Furthermore,” the earth pony continued, “I will have you know your disguise is an insult to both my friend and myself!”
Starlight blushed with regret. She shouldn’t have left Trixie alone. But if she hadn’t… she shook her head.
“Oh yeah?” she asked. “What if I told you I was the real deal, Trixie?”
The earth pony blinked.
“How did you –” she blurted out. “Starlight?!”
She stood up and frowned again.
“You left me –”
“Yes, I know,” Starlight replied. “I left you hanging. I got confused, thought you were somepony else.” She closed her eyes. “I’m sorry, Trixie,” she said.
“I lost track of you after the transformation," Trixie muttered. "Somepony bumped into me and when I looked, you were gone..."
"That somepony was me," Starlight laughed. "I should have realized it was you by that glare alone."
"That was you?" Trixie's eyes widened, and then she frowned. "You turned into me..." she said slowly. "Was that intentional?"
Starlight chortled. “No,” she admitted. “But I’m glad I did. I’m myself again, as you can see. I had a very, very long evening, and I’m sorry I didn’t come sooner. I was setting some things up with… an old friend.”
“A friend more important than Trixie?” the other pony asked flatly.
“Never,” Starlight replied firmly. “I don’t know anypony as Great and Powerful as you.”
Trixie gave her a little smile.
“Look, Trixie,” Starlight said. “I… did a lot of thinking. I want to talk to you. Alone.”
“We can leave,” Trixie offered. “You know how much Trixie despises this place.”
“Let’s not,” Starlight shook her head. “Not yet. I have a better plan.”
Trixie cocked her head and squinted.
“Which is?”
“Let’s make sure this evening ends with a real bang.”
She reached out with her hoof.
“But first,” she asked again. “Shall we dance?”
“Trixie has to admit,” the earth pony hummed, “you are not a bad dancer, Starlight.”
“Thanks, Trixie,” Starlight replied softly and gave a small chuckle.
She pushed her partner away, each mare balancing against the other’s front hoof, and stepped forward, pirouetting Trixie into an embrace.
“I had some practice tonight,” she added.
“I see,” Trixie replied. Her voice sounded deeper, huskier, and she leaned into Starlight with eagerness. The purple unicorn pulled at her partner’s hoof and sent her spinning clockwise. They separated again and continued with simpler steps while they both caught their breath.
“Should Trixie be jealous of this… other pony?”
Starlight moved in closer. Even though she didn’t smell or feel like Trixie, Starlight couldn’t help but blush.
“The other pony?” she asked stupidly.
“The one you danced with before Trixie,” the magician clarified. Her eyes pierced Starlight again.
“Oh no,” Starlight snickered. “I actually stepped on a few hooves back then.”
“Poor filly,” Trixie said mockingly. “Or was it a stallion?”
“A mare,” Starlight said. “About my age. Maybe a couple of hours younger. Don’t worry, she stepped on my hooves too.”
“Will you dance with her again?” There was jealousy in her voice.
“One last dance tonight,” Starlight replied softly and felt Trixie stiffen. “It’s all part of the plan. You’ll like it. And I promise I will take you dancing next time.”
“Go on…”
“About the dancing or the plan?” Starlight asked.
“We can talk about dancing later. You asked Trixie for a smoke bomb?”
“Yeah,” Starlight nodded. She pushed and turned them, then moved across the floor. Trixie followed her lead. While obviously out of practice herself, the magician was surprisingly steady on her hind legs. Must have been all the pose-striking.
Starlight stopped and turned them around.
“Do you see that sign?” she asked. “Back in there, over my shoulder.”
“Trixie sees it. Bathrooms?”
“I will dance with the other pony around the middle of the room,” Starlight said. “I want you to stay close by, between us and the bathroom. Be ready for a swift exit.”
“Is that why Starlight needs Trixie’s smoke bomb?”
“Yes,” Starlight nodded. “I want to show these nobles an evening they won’t forget.”
Trixie’s response was a subdued, evil laugh. “Trixie likes that plan…” she muttered, then looked up. “But what about the other mare? This whole thing doesn’t seem nice to her, even though she stole you from Trixie for the whole evening.”
Starlight bit her lip and thought.
“She’s…” Starlight paused. “Let’s say she’s in on the joke. Or she will be, at least. She pranked me like this before.”
“Oh? You never mentioned anything like that…”
Starlight felt the music wind down.
“It would take too long to explain,” she said. “I will tell you the whole story – later tonight. Right now, I want you to trust me. Do you trust me, Trixie?”
The music stopped and they separated.
Trixie, in the guise of a gray earth pony, smiled and produced a small round pellet from behind her back. Like a magic trick.
“Always,” she said. “Make it count.”
“Consider it done,” Starlight took the smoke bomb and headed back to her younger self.
Starlight found herself still at the same table.
“It’s time,” she said quietly, and smiled. “Thorax will dispel the illusion after the next piece is done.”
She reached out.
“Would you like to be my last dance for the evening?”
Her other self smiled at her sheepishly.
“Yes.”
It pained her a bit to set herself up like this.
But without the mad scramble and journey to the past, without talking to herself and dancing with herself, Starlight might have never come to terms with her feelings. And without being there for her younger self, she would never have found it in herself to vow to reveal those feelings to Trixie.
And without Trixie…
She didn’t want to think of a life like that.
She let the other pony lead. The one-step waltz was a bit more involved, but it was growing on her. The younger self counted under her breath and the older complimented her skills.
“It’s not easy if you can’t lean against the other person,” her younger self noted.
“But you can look them in the face,” Starlight replied. “In fact, you should.”
The pony looked up with Trixie’s face. Behind her, Starlight saw the real Trixie, loitering at the edge of the dancing floor. She smiled back at her. Trixie rolled her eyes.
“But what if I don’t dance right?” her younger self asked.
“Don’t worry,” Starlight said gently. “You will.”
They danced more. The younger self shared her worries about Trixie not wanting to dance, and Starlight assured her she would love to.
“You don’t even know her,” the younger Starlight rolled her eyes.
“Maybe I don’t, maybe I do,” Starlight replied.
“Do you think your love would like to dance?”
“Oh, I know she would.”
They both blushed again.
“I have something else to tell you before we part,” Starlight said. “Do you know what the real Trixie would enjoy even more than a night of dancing without you?”
She smirked.
“Here and now, I mean.”
The younger self frowned, then smiled and replied: “She would enjoy a bit of… mischief.”
Starlight laughed.
“That is a good way to put it.”
The dance ended, and Thorax – disguised as reverse-maned Celestia – delivered his closing speech. Starlight couldn’t resist – she toyed with her younger self for just a few more moments.
The time drew closer. Starlight felt her heart beat fast as she checked her mane. The smoke pellet was still there.
Showtime.
“I know who you are,” she said firmly. “Starlight Glimmer. You’re not a good liar.”
“Does that mean…” past Starlight swallowed. “Does that mean you love me?”
“Oh Starlight…” the older unicorn chuckled. “You really shouldn’t make assumptions, you know? But I’m sure next time, you’ll have the whole context.”
“Wait, what? I heard you in the bathroom lamenting how you turned into the pony you love!”
Starlight chuckled again and shook her head.
What a dummy I was. And probably still am. Ah well.
“Now, dear guests,” Thorax spoke again. “It is time for… revelations!”
Starlight stepped to the side as her counterpart’s confused face drowned in cold green fire. She glanced to the side, towards the bathrooms. The gray pony came ablaze as well. When she looked back, her younger self had regained their shared form.
The past Starlight looked at her older counterpart and froze in shock. She couldn’t help but grin like an idiot.
“And now you know,” Starlight said. “Good luck!”
“Wait, what –”
Starlight reared back and shouted theatrically. “You call that an illusion? Behold! The Amazing Doubled Mare Trick!”
The crowd murmured as she pointed at her doppelganger. Behind her, Trixie’s eyes were wide and her mouth was agape.
“And now I will make the two mares one again!” Starlight declared, took the smoke pellet from her mane, and slammed it into the ground.
The smoke filled the vicinity and began dissipating almost immediately, but she was ready. She side-stepped her blundering younger self and jumped forward, her horn flaring up with magic. The room exploded in chaos as Starlight bounded towards Trixie and held her close. She felt the unicorn grip her and smiled.
The moment froze as her mind rushed into overdrive, calculating a pathway through space.
There it was.
A bubble of cyan magic enveloped them.
She heard Trixie exhale and smiled.
They dripped through space and appeared on a small hillock a few hundred yards due west. They landed on soft grass with a wet thud. Trixie coughed. Starlight gently put a hoof around her withers and pointed towards the dance hall.
Creatures of all kinds were exiting the building. Hasty but orderly, chatting and gesticulating vigorously. A few moments later, Starlight finally heard it.
The distant sound of their laughter.
“That was so irresponsible, Starlight,” Trixie hummed and nuzzled her. Starlight reached around her and smiled.
“It was,” she said. “But it made you smile.”
Trixie didn’t say anything else. She just smiled as she watched the creatures forming into groups outside with changelings darting between them confusedly. Their disjointed, joyful chatter carried all the way to the unicorns.
“I wanted to tell you something,” Starlight said finally.
“Yes…?”
Starlight swallowed. She thought it would be easy. But even with the whole evening behind her – twice – it wasn’t. Her chest tightened and the fire blazed once again in her heart, reminding her of the promise she gave herself.
Before the fire could consume her, she whispered:
“I love you, Trixie.”
A gust of wind blew past…
“And I love you too, Starlight.”
…but it didn’t tear their love apart after all.