Princess Celestia waited patiently. She had a lot of practice with patience over the years, which helped make waiting at this juncture more bearable. Not that she liked it, but she could at least get through the Morning Court without letting on about it.
Few petitioners visited the glamorous throne room today. A few visitors had something to say about trade regulations and taxes, but it wasn't anything she hadn't heard the day previous, and indeed, already dealt with. One of the few downsides of being a beloved ruler of a kingdom was the subjects' willingness to waste her time repeatedly. She didn't show it, but she was often annoyed by her (sometimes) well meaning ponies.
However, she wasn't worried about repetitive petitions. She asked her sister, Luna, to check with Twilight's dreams, but hasn't heard from her since. Luna rarely left the castle, even once she regained control of her magic. She preferred to spend more time in either her room or the study, normally reading about modern times. Celestia was initially bothered by Twilight's behavior, but now Luna's absence bothered her even more. What happened? Was her sister dealing with something big in Ponyville? Perhaps she was locked in battle with a fearsome monster?
Celestia dismissed her concerns as being over-protective of her little sister. Luna was about as powerful as her; she could handle herself.
Celestia didn't let any of this affect her outward demeanor when listening to Long Prattle talk for ages about the length of public speeches. "Furthermore, shorter speeches are easier to listen to for the younger ponies. With their shorter attention spans, they can hardly stay awake for the conclusion!"
Believe Celestia, Long Prattle; she understood. While the olden mare was a sweetheart with the future generation in mind, Long Prattle lived up to her name in the worst possible way. Celestia didn't even know whether or not she should consider this a frivolous case. She was leaning towards yes...
Pushing through the irony of a pony name Long Prattle complaining about the excessive length of public addresses without condescending laughter, Celestia's reply was far more dignified. "Thank you for airing your concerns, Miss Prattle. I will have my best ponies look into this matter."
Hey, no one said a beloved ruler was honest.
Long Prattle bowed graciously. "Thank you, your highness! You are doing the right thing."
Long Prattle was escorted out of the throne room. With her absence, one of Celestia's personal guards let out his repressed laughter with a chortle. Celestia didn't mind such an outburst. Her guards just liked having a professional demeanor in front of others.
The throne room doors opened to allow another pony entrance, and the solar princess was relieved to see who it was. "We shall be taking a short break." She announced, rising from her seat. The steward voiced his affirmation as Celestia approached her fellow alicorn. "Luna, I'm glad you've returned. Shall we adjourn to another room?"
Princess Luna smiled. It was short lived, as her stomach growled in disapproval at its master. She shot her tummy a look and returned to Celestia. "Yes, that would be best. We could do with a meal in the dining room."
Celestia addressed her steward. "We shall be taking a meal in the dining room. Have the chefs prepare a meal for Luna, please."
"Of course, princess." He replied. "Would you like something as well?"
"Just a light snack for me, thank you."
"Of course, your highness."
Celestia and Luna went to the dining room and sat, castle staff entering shortly after with their food. Luna was happy to see a lovely green onion and cheese omelet. Celestia was pleased to have her light morning snack: a platter of cookies that could spoil a foal's dinner for a week. Luna took a big bite of her omelet with a huge smile. Celestia couldn't help but giggle at her happy sister's joy.
"So how was Ponyville?" She asked, levitating one of many cookies.
Luna smiled even wider and goofier, as impossible as that seemed. "Great! I've discovered the entertainment medium of the modern age! I had so much fun!"
Celestia was gladdened to hear that everything was alright. Even better that Luna enjoyed herself for once. "That's good to hear. How was Twilight?"
Luna swallowed another tasty mouthful of omelet and beamed. "She is a kind pony. I'm glad to have met her! We spent all night playing games together!"
While Celestia was smiling, she was a bit conflicted between the happiness over her sister being friends with her student and the fact that her student spent yet another night without sleep. "At least you got along." She decided to say. "So what did you learn?"
Luna thought back at her time in Ponyville quite fondly. "Well, town layouts might be more confusing than ever, but they make up for it with their modern interactive storytelling galleries! Their best works are in the back!" Celestia frowned in confusion. Wasn't that the place games usually held the raunchier material? "Other than that, Twilight is quite good at transformations! I am impressed with her ability to turn into the man-monster of old!"
"It is indeed impressive." Celestia agreed. "But what about Twilight's behavior? Was it strange at all?"
Luna chewed thoughtfully. "Do you mean her swearing? I find it odd that she would often voice her anger, yet show so little."
Celestia shook her head. "No. That is strange, but is there something more tangible you learned?"
"Uhh..." Luna brightened with realization. "Oh yes! Twilight's dreams are strange!"
"How so?"
"You know how the portals to everypony's dreams appear as wooden doors?" Luna waited for Celestia's nod, then continued. "Well, Twilight's dreams are different. Instead of a solid and static door, there was a swirling vortex. Even the dream itself was odd, for it was in a constant state of flux."
Celestia's eyes narrowed in concern. "What does that mean, then?"
Luna shrugged. "I have no idea. I've never seen such a dream before. It would seem that Twilight's mind is molded by chaotic forces, which would explain why I held no power to change them myself."
Celestia's expression darkened. "Chaos? Are you sure?"
"Yes, it was chaotic." Luna said curiously. "But why would you be worried? Twilight claims that her dreams are no different than they ever were."
"Think about it, Luna. What major event comes to mind when chaos is concerned?" Celestia asked in reminder.
"Well, I think about Dis..." Luna gasped in realization. "Discord! Could it be that he's free?"
Celestia dumped the cookies off the platter. Fortunately, the silver metal tray made for a great reflective surface. "We must know for sure." She lit her horn with golden light, and cast a Scrying spell into the platter. A near static picture of a singing chimera faded into view. The statue was motionless, framed by the swaying of grass in the wind.
They both sighed with relief. "Thank goodness. I wouldn't know what to do if Discord was freed." Luna said.
"Indeed." Celestia concurred. "But that still raises the question of Twilight. What makes her different from other ponies?"
"Mmm, perhaps she's... literally made of magic?" Luna suggested.
Celestia denied such a claim. "No. Many ponies have tried to make artificial ponies before, but they've never made something that functions as perfectly as Twilight. Since Necromancy was outlawed all those centuries ago, nopony has even tried."
Luna chewed the end of her fork. "Then she... is being corrupted by dark magic?"
"No, I would have sensed it." Celestia claimed. "Remember that I am sensitive to the change of life forces in my ponies. Twilight has not even used dark magic since she left the School for Gifted Unicorns."
"Twilight used dark magic?" Luna asked.
"Once, on accident. When she realized how dangerous it was, she promised me to learn to control herself better."
"Oh." Luna wracked her brain for another suggestion. "Well, I can't think of anything else. Not unless you think it's possible she's not really a pony?"
"No, that's..." Celestia trailed off, thinking back to over a month ago. Luna wasn't the only one to suggest that Twilight wasn't a pony. "... not entirely impossible."
Luna replaced her fork with interest in the conversation. "Come again?'
"A while ago, Spike sent me a letter claiming that Twilight was acting strange. He was under the impression that Twilight was replaced with a clone or a body snatcher. Perhaps there's some merit in what he said." Celestia mused.
"Truly? Then how should we investigate this?" Luna asked.
"Think about it: Twilight was replaced with a nearly convincing duplicate. While the impostor is in Ponyville, where is the real Twilight?"
"We have no idea of knowing, unless..." Luna smiled as the solution came to mind. "We divine her location!"
"Yes, very good, Luna." Celestia brought the shining platter back up, shooing away the stray image of the petrified beast. "We will find out right now if Twilight is really an impostor."
She cast the Scrying spell again, this time focus on her faithful student. The image on display faded in, showing the purple mare tucked into her bed with her hooves just over the covers. She had her eyes closed, clearly trying to sleep. Another pony, this one a cyan pegasus, stepped into frame with a magic marker. She giggled impishly and silently popped off the cap. She brought the marker down onto Twilight's face and carefully dragged it a quarter-circle around her right eye. Twilight opened her eyes and gazed up at the prismatic pony. They stared at each other for a short while.
Twilight spoke up. "Were you drawing on my face?"
"Uh... no?" The other pony lied, unconvincingly.
Twilight sighed. "Look, if I let you draw something on my face, will you let me sleep?"
"Yeah, okay." The rainbow pony agreed, gleefully returning to the task at hoof. She drew a dorky pair of glasses around Twilight's eyes, adding a handlebar mustache and buck-teeth for added humiliation. "There, done! Get some rest, egg-head."
"Whatever." Twilight mumbled, closing her eyes with interest in nothing more than sleep.
Celestia cancelled the spell. "That was her bedroom, yes?"
"Yes, it was." Luna confirmed.
Celestia smiled with relief. "Then that settles it. That really is Twilight."
"So she's not an alien. That's good news." Luna said.
Celestia, now worry-free, lifted up another cookie for a bite. "Yes, or at least she's the Twilight I've always known. Either way, she's okay."
They both agreed on this news. No longer concerned over Twilight's recent behavior, they returned to their time together as sisters enjoying a meal (or an excessive snack). They conversed for the remainder of the hour feeling refreshed with their discovery. They felt good for the rest of the day, unaware of the dark secret that they both missed.
Spike watched Rainbow Dash slide down the staircase's guard rails, jumping off at the bottom into a giggling hover. It was good that Rainbow got some of her more rambunctious impulses out of her system, for Spike found this to be the perfect opportunity to have a little discussion with her.
Rainbow landed smoothly, letting the rest of her giggles die down. "Oh mane, she's gonna be so embarrassed when she wakes up! Heh hehe!"
Spike chuckled for her benefit. "Yeah, I can't wait to see the look on her face."
Rainbow rubbed her eyes clear. With her laughter done, she was ready to do something else. An active mare is never idle for long. "So you gonna stick around here, or what?"
"Yeah," Spike answered. "It's not like I have anything else to do."
"Well, I'm gonna jet. See ya 'round!" Rainbow began to trot to the front door.
Spike stopped her. "Wait, while you're here, there's something I want to talk to you about."
Rainbow halted halfway to the door and raised a curious eyebrow at the young dragon. "Uh, okay. What's up?"
"First off, what do you think of Twilight?"
Rainbow found that to be an odd question. Shouldn't Spike already know the answer to that? "She's pretty cool, I guess. We get along. Why?"
"Doesn't her behavior bother you at all?"
"Well, no, we haven't really been hanging out all that much. Probably because she spends all her time in this dusty old library."
"So what if I told you that she's been acting weird lately?"
Rainbow lightly laughed. "What, has she been cutting back on her swearing? That would be weird."
Spike shook his head. "No, that's the problem. She's been really easy to upset lately. Celestia even told her that she had anger issues."
Rainbow laughed harder. "Wow, that must be a real kick to the gut; having the princess of all ponies telling you that you have a problem."
Spike tilted his head in concession of the point. "Yeah, which is weird, because Twilight usually takes everything Celestia says as if it was holy water. As far as I can tell, she hasn't made an effort to change that since they last spoke."
"So she's a rebel now? Good for her!"
Spike rubbed his forehead with irritation. This wasn't going very well. Perhaps he should change tactics. "But doesn't it bother you that she's hiding something from you?"
Rainbow shrugged. "Not really. Twilight wouldn't be my only friend who has some dark secret she... er, they want to hide."
Spike felt that he should really ask for clarification on what Rainbow just hinted at, but decided to stay focused. "But as her friend, don't you feel like you deserve to know more about her?"
"Eh, it's her business. She'll tell us when she's ready."
Wow, Spike knew Rainbow was pretty laid back, but she was taking this serious conversation very well. "Then what was up with that reveal? What was she about to say before she decided against it?"
Rainbow scoffed. "Pft, probably nothing. She was probably just trying to come out of the closet, but over reacted. She's just scared because the ponies in Canterlot are prudes."
Spike didn't know what any of that meant, but he figured Dash knew what she was talking about. Probably something to do about kissing. "Doesn't it hurt you, knowing that she doesn't trust you?"
Rainbow winced. "Ergh. Okay, sure, that's totally not cool, but I get it. I have a few things I don't want getting out there either, I just haven't been telling everypony that I have them."
"Well, what could be something so important that it changes your friendships forever?"
Rainbow shrugged again. "You know better than me. I don't know what's going through that filly's head."
"Well, have you noticed how she hasn't been saying 'everypony' or anypony'?"
Rainbow tapped her chin, thinking about it. "I haven't noticed that. Has she really?" Spike nodded. "Huh, that's weird."
"What do you think of that?"
"She's probably just trying not to leave any non-ponies out. Must be because she lives with you."
Well, that's one way of looking at it. "Or it could indicate something wrong with her." Spike suggested.
"Huh?"
"Well, I mean, there's a lot she's been doing strangely." Spike elaborated. "She's been listening to violent music, getting into fights, slipping up on gender specific phrases, not writing to the princess, not freaking out around the princess, studying magic she already knew, forgetting about common knowledge, and picked up some questionable drinking habits. She hasn't done any of that before we came to Ponyville."
"Really? That does sound weird."
"Right, and she's only been getting stranger. She was a complete shut-in for the longest time, and she loved books more than anything. Now, it seems like she's more interested in exercise and power training."
"Maybe she just wants to get in shape? You know, keep up with her friends."
"Maybe, or maybe she's training for something big."
Rainbow Dash thought about it. "What could she be training for...?" She gasped. "Oh my gosh, the Running of the Leaves!"
Spike blinked. "What?"
"The Running of the Leaves is just a few weeks away! I'll bet she's preparing for it!"
"Uh, actually, Twilight's training has been more focused on muscle and..."
Rainbow ignored Spike's disagreement. "That cheeky mare! She gonna join the race, and we'll be competing against each other!" Rainbow stomped her hoof with determination. "Well I'm not gonna let some egg-headed shut-in beat Rainbow Dash! She'll see that racing me is like racing lightning!" She confidently raised her head, a plan forming in her mind. "Thanks for the heads up, Spike. Now I know to double down on my training! See ya around!"
"Wait, that's not what I..." Spike's protests met empty space, as Rainbow sprinted out the library. "...was talking about." Spike sighed dejectedly. Rainbow didn't even listen. She was more worried about the spirit of competition than listening to his concerns.
Spike sat heavily into one of the library's chairs. Rainbow was his last shot at convincing somepony of Twilight's impostor. Maybe he could try talking to Rainbow again sometime, but if this was any indication of the future, then Rainbow would be too air-headed to listen for long. He had to try again, but he didn't feel it would go well. Rainbow would likely just make more excuses for Twilight or just ignore him like everypony else.
He hung his head. This sucked.
I forced my eyes open. I wasn't about to waste all day on sleep, so I sat up and looked at the clock. It was a little past noon. I only got a few extra hours of sleep, but it would have to do for now. If I was to readjust to a normal sleep schedule, I had to get up.
I stretched and hopped off the bed, shuffling downstairs. The library's main room was as quiet and empty as always. Actually, things were a bit quieter. I saw Spike propping his head up on the arm of a chair without moving much.
"Good afternoon, Spike."
"Mornin'."
I found his unenthused greeting odd. Which was worse: the fact that it was the afternoon or that Spike usually put forth a little more effort in his greetings than that? I sat down near him and settled into my seat. "So, anything interesting happen while I was out?"
"No."
Spike didn't even look over to me. It occurred to me that something must have been bothering him. "You feeling alright?"
"Yeah."
Not exactly a convincing answer. "Feeling a little blue?"
"Maybe."
Definitely. I knew just the thing to cheer him up. "You wanna beat me at another board game? That always makes you laugh."
"Whatever."
What's that, Spike? You gave me your express permission to force you into playing a game? Don't mind if I do! "Wait right here, I'll go find something for us to do."
I barged down into the basement, where we held a mountain of board games ready for play. I levitated each game one by one, checking each of them over for something we haven't played yet. As I looked at each game, I noticed a trend.
It started with Monopoly, then continued with Twister, then Connect Four, and Guess Who, and finally Clue. Those weren't the only examples, but there were plenty of games from back home that had a counterpart here, yet kept their original names. How come Uno had to be changed to One Up, yet Operation got to keep its title in conversion? Was this some kind of clue for something? Perhaps it was some kind of hint about my current situation. Let's see, the only thing they all had in common was that they were Hasbro products. Was that important?
Nah, probably not.
I figured "whatever", and grabbed The Game of Life. I hopped back up the stairs to find Spike in the same place as before, still just as motionless. I sat across from him and set up the board. He idly picked out his game piece, and so began our game.
I was intent on losing in as spectacular a fashion as possible, with little self-inflicted injury. We took the first couple of rounds getting through the early stages of the game until we got to pick our careers. I levitated the cards out for Spike. "Choose one, but do so wisely!" I warned. "The right card will give you the career of your dreams, but the wrong one will give you a crappy dead-end job."
"Fancy that." He mumbled. He grabbed a card at random (without looking up from the board. He barely even looked at it. "Corporate CEO."
"Tch, that sucks." Poor fool, getting a multi-million dollar job as a leader. Who wants that? I levitated the cards over to him. "Now let me pick." He held out the cards, and I heavily weighed my options. Should I pick this nondescript card, or the other one? Man, this game doesn't simulate real life at all! I grabbed one card. "Alright, I'm a... sales clerk?" Oof, my apologies to The Game of Life. It knew me after all.
Spike chuckled once. "Nice choice, bottom feeder."
"Don't patronize me from your mountain of hookers and blow, you corporate ass!" I yelled. This was good, he had a lead on me.
Next we had to choose our homes. I held out the cards for him to pick. He grabbed one and gave it a glance. "Huh, a humble cottage."
"Hah, not all of them are winners, huh? I bet I'll get a better house than that!" I boasted. I grabbed an offered card. "Yeah, I... uh, damn."
"What?"
"B-bottom of a well..."
Spike cackled against the table-top much to my (exaggerated) frustration. "Oh, that's great! At least you get free water!"
"Oh, laugh it up!" I roared. "You'll see! I'll build an underground laboratory where I'll poison the world's business owners! Then we'll see who's laughing!"
Spike looked up at me and struggled to stifle more laughter. "How are you gonna afford it? Using peanuts?"
I seethed at him. Just as planned, Spike kicked my ass with legendary thoroughness. He got through the game with ten times the money I did with a wife and only one child. On the other hand, I had to reach the end with a husband and so many kids that I needed a second cart. Man, my game of Life sucked.
"So, what did we learn about making poor Life choices?" Spike mockingly asked.
"For one thing, I hate you."
Spike threw his head back in laughter. I weathered his belittling chortles with a frown, finding solace in his newfound mirth.
When his laughter faded, I put on a smile. "Feeling better now?"
Spike wiped a tear from his eye. "Yeah, I feel better." He stared at me for a moment longer, and let out a coarse laugh before trying to hold back the rest.
I glowered at him. "What now?"
"Y-your face!" He managed to say through his restrained merriment. Unfortunately, the effort it took to speak was enough of a distraction to him that he lost control again. He fell out of the chair, laughing at me.
What the hell was wrong with my face? I stomped over to a mirror and checked. That's when I remembered what Rainbow did to me that morning. "Ah! Rainbow, you bitch!"
My yell renewed Spike's laughter. I shot him an angry look, but I shook it off. At least he wasn't moping. And besides, the marker was easily masked. I changed the color of the markings to match my coat, and walked back over to Spike.
When he recovered himself, he stood up from the floor. I patted him on the back. "Anyway, glad you're feeling better."
Spike looked at me with uncertainty. He settled on saying "Thanks for cheering me up."
"Anytime."
As we went our separate ways to pass the time, I wondered what it was that upset Spike? Was this whole situation just eating away at him, just now affecting him in a more perceptible way? Maybe. I'd ask him about it, but it wouldn't do to outright reveal myself like that, not even to someone who knew better. Spike would have to sit tight while I found a solution to these problems. In the meantime, I'd have to keep his spirits up.
I had to master Conjuration to summon the real Twilight. But first, I needed to fix that hole in the bedroom.