Double the Greatness

The Humble and Pious Trixie paced her private chambers, anxiously fluttering her downy new wings . One hour left until her inauguration. One hour until she would formally be crowned as a Princess of Equestria. It still felt like a dream to her. That she, the most lowly of all the earth's creatures, might have ascended to such heights.

She glanced over at the newly framed stained glass window as it caught the sunlight. Trixie. Alicorn Princess Trixie Lulamoon, stared back at her. A glorious and glimmering tribute to Equestria's newest royalty. As much as it pained her to criticize somepony else's hard work she would have to have that window removed. Such garish displays of self aggrandizement would keep her awake at night. She made a mental reminder to go and apologize to the artist personally. The rest of the room was perfectly to her liking. Simple wooden bed, free of such greedy adornments as bed sheets, pillows or blankets. Nothing else furnished the empty stone room. What more could a pony possibly need?

She took a deep breath to calm herself down. King Sombra had assured her repeatedly that there would be no need for her to make a speech during the crowning ceremony and yet the prospect of appearing before hundreds of other ponies filled her with dread. She had always suffered from crushing stage fright, a paralysing affliction that had greatly hampered her journey as Sombra's apprentice. But all that was behind her now. She firmed her resolve, scolding herself for her own gross timidity. All her dearest friends would no doubt be there to lend an encouraging hoof and she owed it to them to put on her bravest face. Flim and Flam, the two most just and scrupulously fair friends a mare could ask for. Sweet Gilda, almost as timid as Trixie herself but with such a gentle heart, a friend who is always willing to lend a helping hoof, or claw as the case may be. Chrysalis, that kindly loving-

"Ahem!"

Trixie was startled out of her reminiscing. She turned to meet the keen and focused gaze of Ditzy Doo, Sombra's personal advisor.

"I take it that you're ready?" snapped the grey pegasus, "No more stumbling about  or making a buffoon of yourself as you did during the rehearsal? We certainly can't have you disgracing Sombra any further than you have already."

"N-n-no, I'll be fine... Miss Doo," she stammered. Ditzy was always hunting for a chance to stab her sharp tongue at anypony who displeased her, which was everypony. With her mean attitude and massive intellect, the King's personal advisor was not a pony that it would be wise to disappoint.

"Then perhaps you can stop wasting my time and get to the throne room post-haste.  We've had about as many mishaps today as I can bare!" snarled Ditzy, kicking open the door and gesturing dismissively down the hall.

"Um... w-w-well... I w-w-was hoping to m-m-maybe use the b-bathroom before I... w-w-well..." Princess Trixie slowly trailed off, her determination withering beneath Ditzy's sharp and cruel glare.

"Go to the bathroom then. And see if you can find a Princess there who doesn't have a nervous bladder!" Ditzy whirled elegantly, turning on her hooves and storming off into the darkened halls of Sombra's Castle.

"Psst!"

Just as Ditzy turned a corner and disappeared from view a loud hiss echoed through Trixie's chamber.

"What? What was that sound? Who's there?" Trixie called out as a shadow slipped out from behind the door, "Wait... this... this can't be possible! You're... you're... me!"

It was her. Or at least... it was a pony who looked a lot like her. This Trixie was wearing a shabby patchwork cloak that seemed to hide her wings from view. A wizard's hat sat lopsided on the doppelganger's ears. The council of magi had suggested that Princess Trixie wear a similar hat when she had ascended to the rank of arch-mage all those years ago but she had refused. It was ill-befitting and boastful of a master of the magical arts to wear something that might render them visually distinct from the general populace.

"That's right! Trixie is Trixie!" declared the mirror image that stood before her, proudly tossing back her head and laughing conceitedly and then hurriedly hushing herself as she glanced back at the hallway in fear of having alerted some nearby guards, "Trixie is you... from... um... from the future! Trixie has travelled back in time because she... um... she needs your... she needs Trixie's help!"

And with that everything clicked into place for the Princess, "Ahh, of course! I should have thought! I've used magic to travel back in time and meet my past selves before. It stands to reason that I might meet another me from the future. Wait... you need my help?"

"That's right! The very fate of the universe rests on your shoulders! Quick! Follow Trixie! We have much work to do!" grinned the second Trixie, who then promptly became aware of her own facial expression and deliberately picked a more serious looking façade.

"But... you know as well as I do that I can't help you! Time travel magic can't change the future or the past. It's the self fulfilling prophecy syndrome. If there was anything I could do to alter the future then you would not be here to speak to me now! Destiny cannot be rewritten with magic!" Princess Trixie exclaimed in exasperation. Had her future self already forgotten her many failed experiments with chrono-magic?

The other Trixie blinked back at her.

"Oh... no.. uh... Trixie fixed those problems... with magic... We can totally change destiny now... so come on! We have to go before any of the guards Trixie alerted on her way in find us," the magician gave her alternate self an encouraging shove out the door.

"B-b-but... what do you mean you fixed the problems with magic?! Surely that would involve rewriting the very script of the universe itself?! How could such a thing be possible?!" squeaked the Princess as he was jostled down the hallway.

"The Great and Powerful Trixie is the greatest magician to ever live! She makes the impossible possible! Now... hurry... up!" Trixie gave a push to punctuate each of her sentences. Sneaking into Canterlot Castle had been hard enough but Sombra's Castle was more like a fortress. She didn't have much time left to get back to the mirror portal.

"The g-g-greatest? B-b-but... no! That can't be right! I'm nopony special... I mean... I may have some small talent for magic but to even suggest that I might be the greatest is simply preposterous! I'm..."

"Trixie IS the greatest! The best! The ultimate!" there was a fire in this mirror mare's eyes. A fire that caused something to stir deep within the confines of the Princess' heart. A yearning that she had suppressed for far too long, "Trixie is the most powerful unicorn to ever live! And anypony who says different can bite Trixie's flank! Now are you going to help Trixie save the universe or whatever or is Trixie going to have to drag you herself?"

"I... w-w-well... I'd certainly never turn down anypony who sincerely needed my help... certainly when its a m-m-matter of grave importance but... wait... did you say... unicorn? Aaaaaaagh! Wait! Wait! I'll come with you just let me go to the bathroom first! Wait!"

The Great and Powerful Trixie gripped her counterpart's tail firmly in her teeth and dragged her on down the hall.

"Step two complete!" she growled through gritted teeth, "Hard part's over! Only... smooth sailing from here on!"