Parachronal

by Mare Macabre

Waking Up

Lilac eyes opened wide. Satin sheets folded and fell away from a rising alabaster body. An ethereal breeze caught a messy mane and set it gently and perpetually flowing. The alicorn was silent, scanning the dark room with eyes, ears, and magic, then hissed a long forgotten swear and leaped to her feet.

The sound of frantic packing drew her groggy companion from the next room.

"Your Majesty?" Rarity yawned, rubbing her eyes. "Why's...Haaaah, having trouble sleep "

"I'm afraid I will have to miss your show," Celestia said hurriedly, throwing several trunks onto a cart. "I am needed in Canterlot."

Rarity scowled sleepily, still not fully awake. "Now Princess Celery, Twilight was very specific when she demanded that I not let you back before the..." she paused to yawn again and prop herself against the doorframe. "Before...what time is it?"

The Princess of Dawn finished her packing and turned on her tired chaperone, her face and tone gravely serious.

"I would not disobey Twilight's orders unless it were absolutely necessary," she nearly growled, scaring the sleep out of the comparatively small unicorn. "Understand this is a matter of the utmost importance."

Rarity faltered for a moment before regaining a mask of composure and quietly nodding. Celestia felt a tiny knot in her chest at noticing the fear she'd induced in her subject, but blocked it from her mind as she took the cart in magical tow and stormed out of the hotel room.

The sight of an alicorn rushing through the halls with a determined stride was one the various nocturnal residents of the hotel were far from prepared for. Ponies and gryphons leaped from her path, some bowing deeply as she passed. Drakes and dogs took double-takes as she approached and again as she passed by. Hotel staff rushed to keep up with her, offering in broken Equestrian to carry her trunks or assuage her in some way.

The mistress of sunlight heard none of it. She did not notice the stares or annoyed shouting of those she unbalanced as she rushed by. The only thing she was aware of was her panicked assumptions and the deep desire that they were wrong.

---

Indigo eyes sluggishly fluttered open. Silk sheets folded and fell away from a rising cobalt body. An ethereal breeze caught a messy mane and set it gently and perpetually flowing. The alicorn was silent, scanning the dark room with eyes, ears, and magic, then hissed a long forgotten swear and flopped back down into her bed.

The sensation of something striking her mattress roused Princess Luna from her odd dreams. She yawned heavily, slowly rolling over and re-situating herself, then groggily opened her eyes.

"You are still here," she said flatly.

The other princess groaned and rubbed her eyes. "You are still here as well."

"I was not the one that wandered in at all hours of the day totally drained of my magic," the still-waking Luna retorted, yawning again. "But the fact that either of us could make such a remark means that something is wrong."

"Indeed," the first-woken Luna nodded. "I am afraid I may have upset the Timeline somehow. Changing locations as I reverted to an earlier point must have kept us from integrating fully."

"Mm... mnnngggg~!" the sleepy Luna mewled with a mighty stretch. "That is a problem if I have ever heard one. How can we integrate if we are already on the same temporal plane?"

"Haven't the foggiest. I doubt I'll be of much good applying any solution we find for a while though. That botched synchronization spell took a lot more out of me than I imagined it would."

The other Luna sat up and glanced at the bedside clock.

"...What you mean to say is that you're too tired to change the day," she corrected with a bemused look.

The temporally displaced Luna's lips curled into a sly grin as she snuggled back under the blankets. "So much more. So tired. No strength. Have to sleep."

Princess Luna cocked an eyebrow at the shit eating grin her doppelganger flashed her, then returned it a moment later.

"Well, that quells any lingering doubts as to our shared identity," she thought aloud as she got to her feet. "If it takes more than the night to reach a solution, though, you will start the day."

"I expect you will be a proper ass until I do," the bedridden Luna mused.

"You know me so well," the standing Luna shot back.

A knock at the tall door to their bedchamber distracted the two Lunas from their banter.

"Enter."

"Enter."

Whoever was on the other side hesitated at hearing the command in stereo, but pushed one of the great doors inward and stepped inside. The two Lunas cocked their heads as Twilight cautiously entered the room, her head down.

"It's time to lower the sun, Pr-...Luna," she quietly informed them.

"Why do you seem so crestfallen, Twilight Sparkle," the standing Luna inquired, turning to face her.

"I..." Twilight sat and rubbed her shoulder with the opposite hoof. "I just... thought I was better than I am, I guess. I was overconfident. I shouldn't have tried the vortex spell "

"Stop."

Twilight flinched. The word was firm, but not angry.

"The blame for what happened, or would have happened rather, lies squarely with me. It was my laziness that put you in a position of so much authority, not your overconfidence. I should have respected Celestia's decision and kept the knowledge from you, or at the very least recognized that you were not ready to apply it. You cannot blame yourself for my shortsightedness."

Twilight glanced confusedly at the now empty balcony, then looked to the princess in the bed. It took a moment for her words to pierce the confusion, and Twilight felt the weight that had settled in her stomach lessen slightly. "I... thank you. I mean... er..." She looked around the room before finding herself staring out the window. "Should I put the sun down? W-without any vortices, I mean."

Luna bowed her head. "Thank you for offering, Twilight, but I can manage."

She shot a glance at the curtains beside the balcony, where she could still see the cloaked copy of herself, and lit her horn after a nearly unnoticed nod. The hidden Luna turned her focus to the sky, taking hold of the sun and moon and passing them through the horizon in turn, then slipped further into the dark to remain unseen. Twilight could not help but be amazed that the blue alicorn had so much energy in reserve after the powerful display of magic earlier that day and bowed in reverence of her elder.

"I suppose I'll get to bed then," she mused quietly, turning to leave.

"Twilight, wait." The little alicorn looked back. "I was... hasty in my earlier declarations; I was emotional and afraid and I said them without much thought. If you see fit to study Partiki I will not ban you from doing so, but the Old Magicks of the Skye should be left alone. For now," she added quickly. "I will of course be happy to tutor you in them whensoever your understanding of the language leads me to believe you are ready for it."

Twilight's shoulders lifted and she smiled gratefully at the elder princess. "Thank you, Luna. I would love that."

The Night Mother bowed and Twilight took her leave, shutting the door behind her with a muted click. Once she was gone the hidden doppelganger stepped into the moonlight and nodded in satisfaction. Quietly, she strode over to the bed and sat beside her other self, bracing for an explanation. "What has happened?"

---

Celestia frowned as crimson twilight passed through the sky beyond her tiny plane window. Shifting timezones as she had disoriented her as to the cycle, but she had assumed it was nearly time to shift the day and night and was readying herself to do so—but then the sun and moon had traded places and dawn was fast approaching the land she had left behind.

Correct though she could guess that the timing had been, something—a minute something she might have missed were she not so on edge—felt off about the transition. The magic that radiated from the sun and moon was familiar, almost undeniably that of her sister, but there was the faintest tingling itch that something about it was different from the magic she knew. The long forgotten swear slipped out once again in her next breath and she reclined in her seat, willing the plane to fly faster and regretting not using her opportunity to use the Sunbeam Step.

After a few more anxious minutes of tapping her hoof on the arm rest the alabaster alicorn had had all she could stand. She teleported herself out of the plane and spread her wings, quickly overtaking her previous mode of transportation with a powerful stroke of her broad wings.

As she built a steady rhythm to her flapping the plane became a speck at her back on the horizon, and the windswept crest of waves rushed by in frigid waves below. Celestia struggled to quiet her worried thoughts as she pushed her muscles to carry her faster across the water, honing her focus into the faint, twinkling lights of civilization on the horizon.

"Please, light," she hissed, angling herself Northward as she approached the shores of Equestria, "please let me be wrong."