The picnic came and went without much fanfare for Spike after that. He now knew what had likely happened to the other Spike, the one he'd replaced either intentionally or unintentionally. Yet that still left him with no clue as to how he was going to get back to his own universe, how he would inform this Twilight that he was not her Spike as she seemed to think he was.
And of course, no one else was going to help him. Everyone he'd encountered so far believed him to be the Spike of this Twilight, an actual baby dragon younger than even the Cake Twins despite being hatched before they were born. It gave him the idea to look into the aging of dragons when he got back to his universe, if only so he could know if dragons always aged so slowly no matter what.
It wasn't until night had fallen and the moon was high in the sky that Spike was brought back to the castle by this Twilight. And he was so tired that he fell asleep as soon as he was laid in the crib.
This Twilight wasn't bothered or concerned, she just kissed him softly on the forehead and left the nursery. "He'll need all the sleep he can get," She thought to herself. "Can't believe it's been so long already since he was hatched. I feel so old."
Spike hadn't been asleep for long though when he suddenly found himself waking up again, or so it seemed. When he suddenly fluttered his green eyes open the little dragon discovered that he wasn't in the crib. He didn't have that baby blue pacifier in his mouth, and best of all he wasn't wearing a diaper.
To his surprise, Spike saw the familiar figure of Princess Luna standing over him. Not his Princess Luna, he quickly reminded himself. "Hi... Luna." He greeted, wondering if maybe she could understand him.
It appeared that she could considering that this Princess Luna immediately replied. "A warm welcome to you, Spike. My apologies for not being able to meet with you sooner."
At that, Spike stumbled back in surprise and confusion. "What do you mean? You know about me? About how I'm... not actually the Spike everyone thinks I am?"
This night princess firmly nodded her head, giving off what appeared to be a half smile/half frown. "Indeed I do. From the moment I couldn't initially access your dreams I suspected something was off. There is no way you would keep such defenses up willingly," And she explained. "Something magical was blocking me, preventing me from reaching out to you in your dreams."
"It must be a result of whatever it was that brought me here," Spike concluded as he scratched his head. "It's the same kind of thing that's been telling me I'm not who I think I am even though I know I'm not actually a baby."
This Luna nodded in agreement. "Indeed, you are not. The Spike you are replacing is."
The little dragon then inquired. "So, what exactly happened to him? I know he was still around during the Helping Hooves Music Festival. And that was just over a month ago in my universe. The next thing I remember happening was Starlight Glimmer coming back and messing with time."
"That is when the Spike of this universe disappeared," This Princess Luna explained. "Even after Starlight Glimmer was defeated, repented and allowed time to be restored, the Spike here did not return. He has disappeared, lost to the sea of time. Most likely, like you he has been thrown into a parallel universe."
Spike was quick to ask. "So, how do I get out of here? Am I supposed to find the missing Spike?"
This Luna protested with a shake of her head. "It would be impossible for you to do that. Twilight has already commissioned Starlight to do that, and it is a task that Starlight has been undertaking every day and night since her defeat. It was only just last night that she finally got the map to reactivate."
The little dragon said nothing, but mentally he recalled. "Now that I think about it, the map in my universe hasn't been working since the whole ordeal with Starlight."
"I would assume that she cast some kind of searching spell, and did not specify a Spike when she cast it," This Luna went on. "So the spell simply pulled the first Spike it could come across, and you must've met the criteria."
"And the barriers to my dreams?" Spike asked even though he really needn't have bothered to.
Sure enough, this Luna answered. "A byproduct of that spell."
Spike let out an unhappy sigh. "Great, so it's high level magic we're dealing with. And I think it's safe to say that my Twilight hasn't realized I'm missing yet. If she were I'd bet she'd know how to get me back."
This Luna firmly declared as she trotted over to the little dragon. "You must find a way to do it yourself, Spike. You will have to figure out some way of breaking the enchantment's hold on Twilight, no matter how painful it will be for her to realize she hasn't gotten her Spike back."
"But how am I supposed to do that?" Spike questioned with concern and let out a small puff of smoke in annoyance. "I've already tried to find ways of getting her attention and showing that I'm not her Spike. Nothing's worked."
This Luna put a hoof to her chin in thought. "I will try to reach out to Starlight Glimmer informing her of my discoveries. She may know more than I do how best to break the hold. But perhaps you need to consider a less direct method. Something that would make sense for a baby to do when they wanted attention but couldn't speak."
The little dragon just scratched his head. He had no idea how he would do such a thing.
This Luna then began to depart from the dream. "I'm afraid I can't stay here all night to help you. As Princess of the Night I have a responsibility to oversee the dreams of others and intervene as needed. I'll do my best to help you, but the rest is up to you. If you wish to return home, you must find a way to get through to Twilight." And that was the last thing Spike heard before he returned to his dreamful slumber.
Next morning dawned much the same as the one before it for Spike. He woke up bright and early still in the crib, still in a diaper and still with a pacifier in his mouth. Nothing had changed.
Resigning himself to the inevitable, Spike just lay in the crib and waited for this Twilight to come in and check on him. He was already certain he'd need another diaper change, and then he was going to be spoon fed again. Chances were that for the foreseeable future it'd be a routine for him. An unpleasant one at that.
Sure enough, this Twilight came in as if on a schedule and soon approached the crib to pick up Spike with her magic. "Good morning, Spike," She cooed while checking his diaper. However, to the surprise of both mare and dragon it didn't need a change. "Wow, a dry night again!" She commented. "Guess maybe you waking up wet yesterday was just a coincidence."
Spike briefly found himself unable to keep from getting excited? Was this Twilight perhaps going to let him graduate from diapers? Even if it wouldn't necessarily get her attention, at least he'd have a bit more freedom.
Alas, this Twilight only carried Spike out of the nursery while telling him. "Well, let's see if you can go one more night without any accidents before we consider potty training. Besides, I don't think I'm quite ready for all the effort that'll require."
The little dragon's heart sank. "So much for that. At this rate I don't know if this Spike will ever stop being a baby," He thought. "Maybe this Twilight doesn't want him to?" He shook his head. No way would any Twilight ever be that crazy. And considering what he'd seen his Twilight do, he knew she was capable of some pretty crazy things.
This Twilight only smiled as she brought Spike into the kitchen, placed him in a highchair and tied a bib around his neck. "Breakfast is the most important meal of the day they say," She told Spike. "Mommy has to make sure you're getting your nutrition. All good mommies do."
And so Spike resigned himself to the humiliating process of spoon feeding once again. The food tasted only slightly less awful this time around and that was only because he was prepared for it. At least the bottle offered to him afterward helped wash out the awful taste like it did last time. That was one thing he was grateful for.
Once spoon feeding was done, Spike was taken to the castle library where he found a rather large (at least by his standards, though maybe that was due to his smaller size) playpen had been set up. It was clearly meant for one occupant, himself. He was soon placed into it as this Twilight smiled. "Go ahead and play with whatever you like," She encouraged him. "Mommy will be right here if you need anything."
But the little dragon just sat there. He didn't really know what to do and none of the toys in the playpen interested him, they were too babyish and he was not a baby.
Of course, just sitting in the playpen was boring and there wasn't really anything else for Spike to do. So eventually he caved in under boredom and started crawling around, looking for something he could do to pass the time.
Suddenly, as his green eyes eyed a stack of alphabet blocks, the little dragon got an idea! That Princess Luna's suggestion from the night before played back in his mind. Maybe the alphabet blocks would get this Twilight's attention and break the hold the spell had on her. It seemed worth a shot at the very least.
So Spike gathered up various blocks and began to lay them out so that they would spell out a message to this Twilight. He'd just have to be careful when getting this Twilight's attention so that he wouldn't destroy his message by mistake. "Please, oh please let this work!" He mentally pleaded!
At last, after a lot of careful planning and placement, Spike had spelt out the message he wanted to send to this Twilight. Now all that remained was getting her attention.
As if by fate, it was at this moment that this Starlight chose to enter the library. "Hey, Twilight," She called out, catching the alicorn's attention. "Just wanted to see if there was anything you needed my help with."
"Thanks, Starlight, but I've got everything under control," This Twilight replied as she stood up. "How are your studies coming along?"
This Starlight answered. "Oh, they're coming along alright. I'm still waiting for my first official friendship lesson though."
This Twilight just smiled. "Patience, Starlight. I'm still working on narrowing it down. You'll know what my decision is soon enough though, another week tops."
That seemed to satisfy this Starlight, before she happened to take notice of something out of the corner and let out a gasp! "Twilight, you might wanna take a look behind you! I think Spike has something he's trying to say!"
The young alicorn turned around as prompted, and her eyes befell a most unusual (and unexpected) sight: The words "Not Spike" spelled out via alphabet blocks. It seemed like she knew what the letters were intended to convey, as though some kind of spark that flashed in her eyes. "You're... not my Spike." She declared in a sad and somber tone, the realization creeping into her tone of voice.
Convinced he'd made a breakthrough, Spike quickly set to work on spelling out another message with the blocks! It took some effort, but he was able to spell out "Go Back".
This Twilight began to tear up again, wiping away said tears as best she could. "You're right... you don't belong here," She apologized as she trotted up to the playpen, sniffling a bit. "I'm... I'm so sorry, really. I didn't mean to take you away from your own universe. I just wanted my Spike back, I miss him so much. I was so hopeful when Starlight told me she'd found you."
This Starlight apologized. "I thought I had, originally. But Princess Luna just told me about your dreams, about how she couldn't get into them right away," She too seemed to start tearing up. "I... I'm not sure how things work in the universe from which you're from, but here I ended up causing Twilight's Spike to disappear. All because I wanted to get revenge, and thought time travel was the best way to achieve it."
Spike leaned over the playpen to give both mares a hug. "I know you probably can't hear me," He said to them both. "But I know you didn't mean for any of this to happen. I just want to go back to my universe, to my Twilight and her friends. I don't want to be a replacement for your Spike, though."
To the surprise of the little dragon, his comments were heard and acknowledged (probably a result of the hold breaking) as this Twilight wiped away her tears to the best of her ability. Then she hugged him back and told Spike. "You're right. I can't ask you to do that for me. This was all a mix-up. I'll... do my best to send you back now." And she lit up her horn, eventually pressing it up against his forehead.
Spike shut his eyes in uncertainty. He had no idea to know what to expect.
When at last Spike saw fit to open his green eyes, he found himself apparently back to his normal size. He wasn't wearing a diaper anymore and he didn't have a pacifier in his mouth, which was a great relief to him. A quick look around seemed to suggest that he was safely back in his own little bed, back in his own universe.
Just then, the door to the room Spike was in was opened. And in trotted Twilight, his Twilight. "Oh, good morning, Spike," She greeted him, seemingly unaware of his day long disappearance. "Surprised to see you up so late."
"What do you mean?" Spike questioned. "How long was I asleep for?"
Twilight just answered while shooting Spike a confused look. "Only a couple of hours, you went to bed pretty late last night. Why do you ask?"
"You... don't remember me being gone at all?" The little dragon questioned again.
"Gone where?" Twilight remarked as she scratched her head with a hoof. "Are you okay, Spike? Did you eat some strange gems or something?"
Spike immediately shook his head. "N-no, I'm fine, Twilight!" And he immediately realized something. "She doesn't have any recollection of my disappearance. Whatever spell was cast on me must've frozen time here or something like that. It's like I never left."
Twilight then noticed something about Spike. "Hey, what's that you have on you now?"
"What?!" Spike asked in horror! Terrified that it might actually be a diaper or something else babyish that he hadn't noticed earlier.
Twilight just pulled it out with her magic and held it up. "It's just a scroll, Spike. No need to act frightened." And then she unfolded said scroll and read it aloud:
Dear Spike,
I hope this scroll finds you well. And I want to again apologize for what happened to you. It was never my intention for you to be a replacement for my missing Spike.
You'll be happy to know that not long after I sent you back to your universe, Starlight and I were able to get a lead on my Spike's whereabouts. It would appear he ended up in the care of a Twilight in a parallel universe in which she never hatched her Spike. And just like you, she was led to believe she'd always had that Spike.
While Starlight and I will probably have to do a lot of restorative work on the various timelines to protect the multiverse, I at least hope that this scroll will survive until you can make it back to your own timeline.
Sincerely,
Other Twilight Sparkle
Twilight blinked as she read and re-read the scroll again. "What's this 'Other' Twilight Sparkle? Spike, is there something you want to tell me?"
"What is there to talk about? It sounds like everything worked out just fine," Spike nervously insisted. "Besides, you're not my mom."
"Well, maybe not. But that doesn't mean I'm not concerned about your well being, Spike," Twilight told the little dragon as she then gently and sincerely pleaded. "If there's ever anything you want to talk about with me, you can. I will always be here for you no matter what. And I hope you understand that."
Spike firmly nodded, before giving Twilight a small hug. "I know. I'm still glad you're a part of my life."
Twilight smiled as she returned the hug, lightly stroking Spike's scales. "I feel the same way, Spike. I know I probably don't always do the best job of showing it."
Spike just giggled. "Hey, nopony's perfect. Not even you."