Bright Black awoke facing a window in a solarium of Canterlot Castle, overlooking a broad view of an Equestrian dawn. Princess Celestia stood at his left, facing diagonally to him and the window, smiling with a faint twinge of sadness. Everything was rendered in cartoon-style.
It worked! And what I did worked, I think! Wow!
What's my new body like? I... can't notice it.
Celestia explained, "We have much to speak of, and quickly; you can explore yourself later. In the mean time, you will feel as if this body were your accustomed one."
Aside from not feeling old anymore, I presume. Definitely noticed that. Movement caught Bright Black's eye, and he spotted Beachberry and Sweetsong sitting to the side.
The very moment he had finished reacting, Celestia crisply addressed him: "It has been a day and a half since you were expected to upload. I truthfully told your family when you came in, so that explains the first half day. I also semi-truthfully mentioned that there were some unusual but not extremely rare irregularities that compelled me to slow down in order to retain reliability. I have not said anything else of significance on the subject. No one has yet noticed that Coconut Cream is gone. I have not yet created Hikuro. We need to decide how he will be introduced."
We? I had assumed she'd do that all herself, but I guess it makes sense to get me involved since he'll be a me, more or less. Let's see. I could just go to Polychrome, and then later sneak away, leaving Hikuro behind. As he finished this thought, a black-fringed tapestry-diagram representing it unfurled before them: three rows, with the top a black pony and Polychrome, the middle with the black pony walking away, and the bottom a new black pony next to Polychrome, with the other still walking.
Celestia pointed out, "When would you leave? Now is a good break - you are resigned to it, and are not specifically angry with her. But, you have to settle things with her in your mind, and that requires being around her, yourself. Also, do we make a replacement for Coconut Cream, or have to make an excuse for her absence? And how will you have enough time to go on a grand quest to find her while also keeping up with astronomy and being with Polychrome?"
Sweetsong added, "And how would you stay in touch with your family after separating?" a lavender-fringed tapestry unfurled in front of her. It was similar to his own, but had Hikuro appear side by side with Bright Black from the very beginning.
Beachberry countered, "Speaking of things that would be hard to explain... yeah, there were some irregularities, so now there are two of him. That would go over real well."
Celestia replied, "We can let Hikuro and Bright Black share memories at will, with allowances for a degree of privacy. That will help some with staying in touch. This would also solve almost all of the negative effects of my not extending the deal to Hikuro."
So it does! If he wants to know something reliably, he can remember wanting to know it and I can ask or find out for him, and he will remember the answer. But what was that she said, earlier? Bright Black raised a hoof. "I would really rather not have a fake Coconut Cream made - it seems disrespectful to make a replacement. Last I heard, she never wanted to see me again. Should I even be looking?"
Celestia raised an eyebrow as if surprised at the question. "By the time you will be able to find her, she will have changed her mind."
"So she's not just avoiding me personally, but completely away? If so, why can't we just let everyone know she's gone?"
Celestia softly said, "I am certainly not going to let the real reason get out. And a disappearance like that is obviously enough of a sad thing that the explanation would have to be very strong for people to accept it. And in particular, though Polychrome is somewhat jealous of the time you spend with Coconut Cream, I have convinced her that your relationship is platonic. If Coconut Cream suddenly disappears at the very moment that you get closer, that will look very suspiciously like just I decided you can't be trusted around her."
"She already dislikes Coco. Shouldn't be too hard to get her to not care too much."
Sweetsong tentatively said, "Actually, ah. Polychrome kind of likes Coconut Cream."
Bright Black's mental 'no' was strong enough he couldn't even reply for a few seconds. "What would make you say that?"
"Well, she thinks of her as another you, fifty five years younger and a girl."
"But... every time Coconut Cream shows up, Polychrome exits. They repel each other like two protons."
Sweetsong replied, "Nnnoo? I mean. Okay, she does the same thing to your colleagues, like Quickstream or Comet Tail. And, uh, I wasn't there for it, but I understand she used to do that outside Equestria, too. So it's like that. She wanted to let you do your thing together without either holding you back or ending up not understanding what was going on. But she was all right with either of you alone, or with a bunch of us around, so she didn't expect shop talk."
"So, Coco's one of her friends and I never noticed?" Bright Black asked, skeptically.
Sweetsong shook her head. "No, not friends, not at all. But she does like her. She won't be motivated to ignore her absence, is the point."
Bright Black nodded slowly, absorbing this. This is very awkward. There are a lot of reasons to make a fake. But either continuing her old program or creating a new mind complex enough to fake her, seems like it's undermining the one out there. Dishonoring the memory of the original unaltered one, too, unless it's the same, which is really undermining the other out there. There's got to be some way to avoid that.
They stood there for a few seconds, pondering. Problems: Two of me, zero of Coconut Cream. And Polychrome modeled her as me... He said, "I object less to there being a fake Coconut Cream than I do to making a new mind for the purpose." With that, a new tapestry appeared in front of him, of just Hikuro with Polychrome, and a sock puppet of Coconut Cream being used by Bright Black.
Celestia commented, "That resolves several issues - if you assume the form of Coconut Cream, then you have full access to everypony, the freedom to go questing whenever you want, and nothing looks suspicious. Assuming, that is, I filter everything you say and do to fit her persona."
Sweetsong gulped, "That would get smothering."
Beachberry said, "Also, being a mare is probably too much too soon?"
Bright Black thought of responses to those, and the tapestry was modified - a male symbol appeared above the sock puppet, and the Bright Black put the Coconut Cream puppet at hoof's length. He described, "I can be male anyway. It might make Polychrome more accepting - should help on the jealousy, if that's still an issue at all. And I'd only need to be Coconut Cream around my family and people from the university, so I won't need to be filtered all the time. I can be me around you." This feels different from yesterday, when we were at odds. This is more like before, when Coconut Cream would be talking research problems out with me. I find the solution, because she gives me the assist. Not quite the same, though - I suspect in this case it's more that I need to really understand why it's going to have to be one particular way. I certainly wouldn't have accepted doing this if she had just told me. I'm still not sure I do.
Celestia nodded. "I expect we can explain matters to Juniper Spray soon enough. What, if anything, shall we tell Polychrome?"
Beachberry offered, "We don't need to decide that now. If we tell her this evening, I think she'll think we told her soon enough."
Bright Black nodded in agreement, then asked Celestia, "Do you see a better arrangement, or is this 'it'?"
Sweetsong hesitantly suggested, "To explain Coconut Cream's absence, we could have a flat-out fake one just briefly, who says that she got a position at, say, the Lunar University?"
Beachberry glared at her. "And what, imply that she has a commute longer than ten seconds? Going to arbitrary places might take a while, but any trip you'd do frequently should be nearly instantaneous."
"They don't know that... but they should. Hmm. I haven't heard you come up with anything."
Beachberry shuffled a little. "'Cause I haven't got anything. This solution is kinda awkward - I mean, we're in this mess because of the truth, all caps, and here we are cooking up a lie. Even if it is just trying to represent Equestria as it normally is. I'm surprised you went for it, actually. Why?"
Bright Black chuckled. "I didn't so much go for it as just, it occurred to me. I'm not sold on it, but given that you're not willing to let out the real truth, I suppose it might be least-bad."
Celestia drew in a breath but Beachberry slipped in, "One thing!" A tapestry appeared, with Beachberry and Sweetsong taking turns using the sock puppet. "You don't need to do it alone. Usually you'll be best-informed, but if you need to take a break, we can fill in. And it's not like we're just anyone Celestia cooked up. We're her friends, too."
Bright Black considered wordlessly, just letting the notion wash over him. "That seems all right. Better. Yes."
Celestia took a deep breath, and this time was uninterrupted. "We have reached the point that I do not see better arrangements, by your standards, that are also basically acceptable to me. Are you ready?"
After a deep breath of his own, Bright Black nodded.
Without any interruption or transition, Hikuro found himself in bed, eyes closed. He heard Hinata angrily saying, "... never said anything? I was right there, twice! You didn't say anything! I thought you were dead!"
Hikuro opened his eyes and found himself surrounded by a light gray pegasus stallion with light green and brown mane - Bemisted, my son's pony avatar - and a light green unicorn mare with bright yellow mane - Daisybright, my daughter's pony avatar - and the pony the two of them were facing down - a white pegasus mare with black flight wing-edges and an elaborately colored mane - Polychrome, my wife. He firmly cut in, "Blame me."
"You're awake!" they said at once.
"Yes, I am." He slowly got up and addressed Daisybright. "And if you'd known she was alive, could you have kept it secret?"
"Of course! I just said that... though I guess you missed that part."
Hikuro explained, "I'm sure that you could keep it from anyone outside the family. But your brother? And how likely that he would have kept it secret?"
"For you? Of course he would! You would have gone to jail!"
"No, he's right." Bemisted cut in. "I wouldn't have believed it was possible before it hit the news. I would have... I don't know, but I would probably have thought he killed Mom. Maybe, maybe, I would have thought he was justified - sorry, mom. You were in really bad shape." A pause. "Damn, this... incredible. I still can't quite grasp it. It's like those dreams from before, when grandma died. I kept dreaming for years that there had been a mistake, and the doctors switched her with someone else, or figured how to cure her from death itself. But I'm pretty sure I'm not dreaming now."
Polychrome soothed him, "I understand. If I hadn't been right here, I wouldn't have believed it either."
Daisybright growled. "Seriously? You wouldn't believe it was her after talking to her for a minute?"
Bemisted rebutted, "I'm not sure I would have let it get to a minute. Probably would have, but maybe not." Turning to Hikuro, he asked, "So, how do you feel?"
Hikuro rumbled, "Mentally, I feel fine. Wide awake. Physically? Really odd - hard to describe - but not bad. The hair makes it feel like I'm wearing clothing."
Bemisted asked, "Do you mind if I ask some questions?"
"What kind?"
"Who was the first girlfriend I took home?"
"Katie Sato. She was thin, and had bleached her hair blonde. You dumped her, and refused to explain why. She laughed like Miss Jupiter. I guess we're proving that I am who I say I am, now?"
"Pretty much. Mom got a C-minus."
Hinata pointed out, "To be fair..." and Polychrome heavily finished, "... I was losing it before I made it here. Say, where are the girls? If you're here, I'd expect them to pop up any moment."
Hikuro took a moment to think back. Last I remembered, I'd just turned into Coconut Cream. Nothing about what they were planning. And I guess that makes me Hikuro. He shrugged. "Maybe they're waiting until family time is over. Speaking of which, where's Juniper Spray? I would have thought she'd be here."
A silence dropped. Five seconds later, Bemisted slammed a hoof. "She knew all along, didn't she?"
Hikuro cut in, "Do you want to be mad at her about it?"
Bemisted looked down, then to Polychrome, and then to Hikuro. "I... I don't know. I'll never see you again, not properly. I get mom. But you... well, given her, I guess I can understand. Did Juniper know you were planning to come here?"
"I... " ...of course she did. "I don't know really how much she knows."
A sour look crossed Bemisted's face. "I've got some errands to do. Talk with you later." He headed toward the door. He paused, and turned to Polychrome, then Hikuro. "Glad to see you're... conscious, if not exactly alive, or whatever. I need some time to absorb." He stepped out the door and vanished.
Daisybright sighed. "Well, I do too, but in the mean time!" She stepped forward and hugged Polychrome, then Hikuro. "I have some things to get ready, too. See you around!"
And so it was just the two of them. Polychrome heaved herself onto the bed and let out a huge sigh. "That was exhausting."
Hikuro immediately joined her in a hug. "I, at least, know you are who you are. And so do the others here."
After a minute, she hesitantly whispered, "Hikuro?"
He suggested, "We need to talk?"
A little nod.
"Yes, we have a lot of good options now, don't we?"