The first rays of the morning sun flooded through the window, they fell upon Twilight's sleeping form. Given enough time, the rays of light would work their way upwards, and fall upon her eyes, which would rouse her from sleep. However, upon closer inspection, one would see that the alarm clock on the stand beside the bed was only a few short seconds away ringing, and thus beating the early morning light at the task of rousing the slumbering alicorn first.
Right as the second hand started to move towards the ninety degree angle signaling a minute having passed, the incessant ringing starting.
RIIIIIIIINNNNGGGGG
Twilight's face contorted into discomfort at the sound, she let out a groan as she started to wake.
The alicorn slowly became aware of the ringing. It was immediately silenced by the lavender glow of her magic, which had enveloped it. She reluctantly opened her right eye, and the left followed shortly thereafter. She stretched her hooves out over her head, letting out a content moan while doing so. She turned her head towards the right, glancing at Eclipse.
Or where she had slept, apparently. Twilight blinked, the bed was empty. 'Eclipse must have risen early.' Twilight surmised. She briefly wondered how long Eclipse had been awake, then pushed it aside as she sat up.
After yawning, she extended her wings outward to their full extent, stretching them. As she slid onto the floor, she folded them back to her sides. A quick glance around the room confirmed Eclipse was not in the room with her. She pushed the thought aside as she walked towards the bathroom. She stepped inside and closed the door behind her, locking it.
Her eyes immediately glanced at her reflection in the mirror, taking in her disheveled mane, and then to her toothbrush. Multitasking, she turned on the faucet with a hoof, and used her magic to turn the shower on. Once more using her magic, she took her toothbrush, put toothpaste on it, and began vigorously cleansing her teeth. After she finished brushing her teeth, she put a quick check on her mental list, crossing that out.
Using a hoof, she checked the temperature of the water. Finding it pleasantly warm, she stepped into the shower, and began to soak her fur. She grasped the bottle of shampoo with her magic and squirted a generous amount onto her body. She rubbed the shampoo in with her magic, thoroughly lathering it even as the water washed over her body.
Several minutes later, she put a towel down on the marble floor to soak up and water which might drip off her, and stepped out. She quickly lit her horn and cast a spell to dry herself off, then made her way back to the mirror. Her brush soon found it's way to her mane, thanks to her magic, and began running through it. She was careful to avoid yanking out any knots that might have been there, caused by showering. After going through her mane, she began brushing her tail, eventually looking presentably.
'Almost.' She thought as her attention was drawn to her wings. She extended them out, and using the mirror, navigated her magic to straighten her feathers out. She payed close attention to her primaries, making sure they were properly aligned, and then moved onto her other feathers. She shook her head, 'I don't know how pegasi do it without magic...'
She unlocked the door with her magic, then opened it with a hoof, and stepped out. The room was empty, save for herself. Once more, she payed it no mind. With a quick spell, she cleaned and remade both their beds. She frowned, 'Why didn't Eclipse take care of her own bed? Oh well.' A quick glance at the clock informed her that she could still catch Princess Celestia having her early morning tea. It was a habit for her, and somewhat of a tradition for Twilight as well. It came from the personal protege of the Princess of the Sun, having early morning tea with her after she raised the sun. 'Who knows, maybe Princess Luna or Eclipse is there.' she thought with a smile.
She made her way to the door and out the door, setting her sights on morning tea with the Princess. The longer she walked towards the dining room, the more she felt like she was forgetting something, a dark foreboding took hold in the back of her mind, slowly replacing her cheerful smile with a even expression.
Other than her shift in mood, the journey from her room to the dining room was uneventful. The guards she met along the way bowed their heads towards her as she passed, and she would nod at them. She once found herself wondering if she was becoming more like Eclipse everyday, or if this was what Eclipse secretly felt like all the time.
The dining room doors were opened by the guards as Twilight approached, she quietly nodded her thanks to them, then entered. Both Princess Celestia and Princess Luna smiled at her as she entered, she returned the smile, though the bad feeling lingered in the back of her mind.
"Ah, Twilight. I was wondering when you would show up." Celestia's motherly tone helped ease her mind. Twilight casually walked over to Princess Celestia and embraced her.
To Twilight, it felt like ever since Eclipse had given her the Elements of Harmony that Princess Celestia had been hugging her more tightly. She briefly panicked when she considered that Celestia might know what happened, but immediately crushed that thought. She pulled back, "Sorry, I would have been here quicker but my wings took longer than normal." She smiled sheepishly.
"That's quite alright, Twilight." They both sat down, Celestia doing so first, closely followed by Twilight, who took a seat beside her. Princess Celestia levitated a teacup over to Twilight, and filled it with tea.
"Thank you." Twilight took the teacup in her magic, and brought it to her muzzle. It smelled of cinnamon and an assortment of other flavors she could never place.
"Do you happen to know if Eclipse is awake yet?" Luna asked. She had a question to ask, and patience was still not exactly her strong suit. Celestia's eyes briefly glanced at Luna, before returning to the cup of tea before her.
"Well, she wasn't in bed when I woke up. But I haven't seen her this morning. I thought she might have been with you?" The sense of worry got stronger.
Luna shook her head, "No, we have neither seen her nor heard from her this morning." Her brow furrowed, "I did not find her in the realm of dreams last night. She didn't use the spell to block me again, I am sure of it, I would have at least found her."
Celestia's eyes narrowed, "Luna?"
Luna turned to her sister, "If she had blocked me from viewing her dreams, I would still have been able to find her. Last night I couldn't."
"Are you sure you would have been able to find them? When she first arrived, you couldn't find her dreams."
"That was before I knew what I was looking for, sister." Celestia's muzzle drew into a line, she slowly turned her head towards Twilight.
"Is... Is this a bad time to mention that I've had a bad feeling all morning?" Twilight gulped.
"We... Should not jump to any conclusions..." Luna spoke carefully.
Celestia quickly glanced towards the nearest guard, "Search the castle grounds for Eclipse. If you find her, inform us." The guard saluted, and galloped off, the doors barely opened before he was out them.
"So much for not jumping to any conclusions." Luna spoke to nopony in particular.
"Your friends should be joining us for breakfast shortly," Celestia glanced at a clock, "perhaps Eclipse is with one of them."
Twilight regarded her teacup, "Yeah... Maybe."
One by one, or two, in the case of Rarity and Spike, Twilight's friends arrived at the dining room. Each of them answered the same, they had not seen Eclipse this morning. Each answer made Twilight more concerned, and then the guards reported no signs of her in the castle or surrounding area.
"I'm sure she's fine, darling. Eclipse can take care of herself." Rarity comforted. Twilight merely prodded her pancake with her fork.
"Yeah, Twilight!" Pinkie shouted, then stuffed a large piece of cake into her mouth. Twilight's eyes glanced towards her in time to see her swallow.
'How Pinkie can do that, I'll never know...' Twilight thought.
Princess Celestia eyed the pink mare wearily, while Luna starred daggers at her. Pinkie was completely oblivious as she devoured another slice of cake.
"Remind me never to challenge Pinkie Pie to a cake eating contest again..." Princess Celestia mumbled.
Twilight started to space out as she eyed her pancake, the sounds of conversation were drowned out by her thoughts, 'Okay, no sign of Eclipse... There's a crazy version of me running around, and she just massacred an entire race. Scenarios?'
'She could be somewhere they didn't check, or they could have just missed her.' the logical part of Twilight's mind reasoned.
'She may want to be alone, perhaps she is with Discord?' another part suggestion. Twilight shuddered at that thought, 'Why would I spend a night with...' Twilight shuddered as the image of Discord and herself running around causing chaos popped into her mind, and immediately purged that line of thought from her memory.
"Princess, what if Eclipse was ponynapped?" Applejack asked.
Celestia furrowed her brow, "It is a possibility that she was abducted, and that the other... May have her..." Celestia shook her head, "We're not jumping to any conclusions. Besides, there's no evidence she was abducted."
The conversation between Princess Celestia and Applajack, while not the focus of Twilight's mind, still had an affect on her thinking, 'What if the other me has her?' her breathing quickened.
Princess Celestia's eyes fell upon her former student, she looked.... Distressed. Her eyes narrowed. "Twilight?" she asked in her calm, motherly tone, hoping it would break Twilight from her worry.
'That would not be good...'
'You think!?' She berated herself. Her face began to take on a frown.
'She...' her expression softened, 'She could be... Dead...' Her mouth suddenly felt very dry.
'Would that count as suicide?' part of her wondered. 'Because technically that would be me killing myself...' her brow creased.
"Twilight?" Princess Celestia spoke slightly louder. Speaking louder, while not accomplishing what she hoped, did draw attention to Twilight.
'Well, yes, but, we're all separate ponies.'
'Of which two of them are me from the future.'
'I-'
"Twilight." Princess Celestia lightly placed a hoof on her shoulder, breaking her from her thoughts.
Twilight opened her mouth to say something, but she was cut off by the sound of the door opening. Everypony turned to see Rainbow Dash nonchalantly walk in. It came as no surprise that she was the last to arrive, nor did it come as a surprise that she was alone. Rainbow paused briefly to look around the room after the doors were closed behind her, her eyes fell on Princess Celestia standing beside where Twilight was sitting. She payed it no mind, and glanced around the room for an empty chair. Her eyes fell on the seat between Rarity and Pinkie Pie, she quickly made her way over and sat down.
"It's nice of you to finally join us, Rainbow." Rarity's voice had a slight edge to it, but the pegasus was preoccupied with the pancakes that had been placed on her plate.
"Yeah." She took a bite, "Mmm, these are really good." She swallowed, "This was a great idea..." She glanced around the room, then frowned, "But uh... Where's Eclipse?" She took another bite of a pancake, allowing the syrupy goodness to fill her thoughts with bliss.
"We were hoping you could tell us." Princess Celestia answered with an even voice.
Rainbow swallowed, "I've not seen her since she dropped by last night."
Rarity's eyes lit up, and she turned to Rainbow, and opened her mouth to say something, but Twilight cut her off, quickly jerking her head towards Rainbow, "What for? What did she say? Did she say she was going to do something like this?" she rambled out her questions quickly, succeeding in confusing the target of her questions.
"Uh, she said she was having trouble falling asleep, so we talked for a bit."
"What did you two talk about?" Princess Celestia asked.
"Mostly mopey stuff, like how she missed us and how hard it was to make new friends once you outlived everypony you know."
A pang of sadness momentarily flashed across Celestia's face, but it quickly faded. "I see." she stated. "Anything stick out to you, other than that?"
"Not really. Well, actually, she was afraid that we wouldn't win, because we would be facing another version of her. Um, she was sad too."
"She didn't mention anything about not being here today?" Twilight asked.
"Nope." Rainbow replied.
Luna's eyes glanced to Celestia, her voice was but a whisper, "Sister?"
Celestia turned her head towards Luna. The expression Luna wore was one of determination. She furrowed her brow in thought, then slowly nodded. No words were needed. Luna stood up, immediately drawing attention to herself.
Luna spoke as she turned towards the doors, "You'll have to excuse me, there is something I must attend to." She swiftly crossed the distance between herself and the door, the guards opened it, and she strode out without another word.
Princess Celestia noticed that Twilight's brow was furrowed, 'She probably realizes what Luna is going to do... I will have to speak with her after this.'
"What was that all about?" Applejack asked.
"Probably just important princess business." Rarity answered.
Celestia glanced at Rarity, noting how right she was. 'If Fallen Twilight has Eclipse...' Celestia shook her head, she would not go there.
Princess Luna calmly strode out of the room, the doors were silently closed behind her by the guards. While she felt bad about leaving on such short notice, time was of the essence. Every second they delayed could prove harmful to not only Eclipse, but to the rest of Equestria as well. She looked around briefly, then started off towards the Guard Barracks, her hooves quietly echoing on the marble floor.
'Well, like they always say, hope for he best, assume the worst.' While Luna knew that assuming Eclipse had been abducted was dangerous, it was the best lead. If Rainbow was right, then she wouldn't just disappear. She frowned, 'Perhaps she is in the Forbidden Archive...'
Luna shook her head, 'Even then she told somepony that she was going to do something...'
'It has been some time since I have had a good battle.' Her lips curled into a smile. 'Perhaps the fallen Twilight would prove herself a worthy adversary...'
She slowly lost herself in her thoughts, laying the basic framework of plans to find Eclipse and bring her back. Of course finding her would likely be difficult. Luna paused mid stride. 'If fallen Twilight truly is a future version of Twilight... Perhaps she... No, I will not burden her with this.'
Slowly, breakfast was finished. The idle chatter was replaced by planning of what to do this day, one by one, Twilight's friends left. Eventually only she and Princess Celestia remained in the dining room. Twilight slowly looked around, and upon realizing that it was just Princess Celestia and herself, she slowly stood to her hooves, then turned to walk out of the room.
"Twilight?"
Her mentor's motherly tone gave her pause, she turned her head towards Celestia, "Yes, Princess?"
"Knowing you," she stood up and walked over to her, "You have probably already figured out that Luna is going to look for Eclipse."
Twilight slowly nodded her head.
Princess Celestia bit her lower lip, she could see that Twilight was worried, even if she was hiding it better than that time when she enchanted her... Princess Celestia suppressed a shudder, even when Twilight was a unicorn, she was exceptionally powerful. 'So why isn't Eclipse...'
"Princess, I..." Twilight closed her mouth, then sighed. "Eclipse... Had a point. We're not just facing another bad guy this time..." Twilight swallowed, "We-"
Princess Celestia leaned down and nuzzled Twilight's neck, the younger alicorn stopped talking and returned the nuzzle. "Twilight, no matter what happened... Or will happen between us, you will always be important to me." She smiled, "We will rescue Eclipse, and I promise everything will be alright."
"I... I trust you, Princess Celestia." Twilight replied.
"Twilight, don't forget we are both princesses now. You really don't need to use my title or Luna's." Celestia smiled, Twilight smiled weakly.
"Captain," Luna spoke, startling the young captain who had not noticed Luna's approach, "Expand the search for Eclipse, at least Canterlot. But do it subtly, we don't want to rouse alarm."
"Yes, Princess." he answered.
"And assemble a team to rescue Eclipse, I will lead it personally."
"Yes, Princess."
Luna turned and silently walked back towards the door.