Lost & Found

by False Door

Only Me

At next day's dawn, Celestia dropped into Twilight's room unannounced to find her bed tousled but empty and cold. She and Luna had managed to coax her away from the library and into bed, largely due to her losing consciousness and being unable to keep a book open.

It was too early for Twilight to truly be up. She didn't show at her briefing and she wasn't in the breakfast nook. Perhaps she awoke in the middle of the night and left to continue thrashing the library. Celestia frowned to herself. That was a best case scenario, she supposed. Hopefully she wasn't engaging in some other, more destructive, prank.

She teleported back to the library which was still in total disarray. There was Twilight, slumped over an open book on a table, snoring.

Celestia creased her brow in hesitation. Ever since their big falling out, Twilight had been jerking her around. She'd been conditioned to be preemptively mistrustful of everything the princess said and did for many years now. This was the first time in quite a while where she was seriously beginning to second guess herself. Something about this wasn't sitting right.

“Twilight,” she called flatly. When the alicorn did not stir, she called again, louder this time, but she continued to snore. “Twilight?” She shook her by the withers with one hoof.

Twilight started in surprise but lifted her head slowly, the page peeling off of her cheek with an audible sound.

Although she was frustrated with her continued tardiness, Celestia's instincts were telling her the moment called for a softer approach. “And how are we doing this morning?” she asked in a tentatively kindlier tone than she'd used the previous day.

Twilight swallowed, batting her squinting eyelids. “Um… Am I still trapped in the universe where all my friends are dead?”

“Yes.”

“Then… not good.”

“You're missing your briefing again, Twilight.”

She shifted in her seat. “I- I can't go to my briefing. The briefing isn't actually for me.”

“But you've been attending it every day for the past week.”

“I know. I was trying to help out the other me but now she's stranded me here and I have to find a way back home somehow and you don’t even believe me.” She feebly threw up her forehooves in despair.

At that moment Celestia still wasn’t sure about any of this but could it hurt to placate her a little. “I believe you,” she replied.

“You do?” gasped Twilight

“Yes,” she nodded. “But there will be time later. Belong here or not, you are the only reigning princess in this castle and Equestria always comes first, Twilight.”

Twilight buried her face in her hooves. “You're right,” she groaned. “Thank you. I knew I could always count on you.”

Twilight teleported to her room and tackled her frazzled mane with a brush. She even put on a tiny bit of makeup to hide the haggered darkness under her eyes. She aparated to the briefing room where, much to her dismay, she found two generals, two intelligence officers and a security expert all waiting for her for untold minutes.

Her stomach dropped. “Oh, good morning everyone,” she began, promptly taking her seat at the table. “I apologize for keeping you waiting like this.” Her face heated up in embarrassment. She couldn't remember the last time she'd felt so irresponsible and ill prepared for something important like this but she hadn't planned on being in this dimension at all, much less the meeting. - - -

---

Celestia returned to her, now room temperature, breakfast at the little table in the cloister. Luna sat across from her, reading a book, her own plates already cleared away. Celestia quietly took a seat but ignored her food, opting instead to just stare down through the table.

After sensing a prolonged and uncanny span of inactivity on the other side of the table, Luna finally looked over the brim of her book to see her sister apparently lost in thought, not eating anything, not saying anything.

“Is something wrong?”

Celestia looked over both shoulders to make sure they were alone. Then she licked her lips. “I went to rouse Twilight and do you know what happened? I found her passed out in the library again with her research books. She still insists she's not supposed to be here but I told her she was missing her briefing and that it was important and she… agreed with me and then just went to her briefing without a fuss despite being exhausted. I believe her attitude is genuinely radically different. I don't think she's crazy or even pretending.”

Luna blinked. “Are you saying she really switched places with herself through that mirror?”

Celestia screwed up her face. “Anything's possible.”

“Well, you're the expert,” she shrugged.

“I suppose… Though admittedly, if I knew precisely what she was talking about regarding this enchanted mirror, I might have already dabbled in trying to replace her with another her by now.”

Luna snapped the book shut and set it on the table. “Then what are we to do about this?”

“Nothing,” Celestia chuckled in euphoria. “This is exactly what we want. She was a better leader over those six days than the other her was at any point during the last two hundred years. She is the Twilight I want ruling. The only real issue I see here is this obsession with going back home. It's just a distraction to her right now. But we need to be helpful and understanding of her situation but get her to accept her role as a sort of interim princess for the moment until we can get this sorted out.”

“Sorted out?” shrugged Luna. “But you just said you wanted her to rule.”

“I do but in order to do that, we need her docile and compliant, unlike the old Twilight. We are only to appear helpful to her cause. Behind the scenes we will do everything in our power to sabotage her efforts and keep her here through the remainder of her reign. The promise of getting back home will simply be a carrot on a string. In time her project will become a quirky side hobby and then eventually she will give up entirely and accept her new life here.”

Luna pursed her lips. “Seems quite cynical. Is that… the right thing to do?”

Celestia picked up her fork with her magic. “It is what is best for this country.” - - -

---

Twilight attended to her duties as responsibly as she could considering the circumstances. She found time toward the end of the day to hit the books again. The library had been picked up somewhat in her absence which caused her significant agitation. Her organized chaos had been reordered in unfamiliar stacks which she had to go through again to separate the books she'd already skimmed and discarded.

The feelings of betrayal and frustration hit harder this time as she opened the next new book. Was she naive to have trusted herself? She never would have done such a thing to her but trying to predict the other her’s behavior in that way was flawed reasoning. It was clear that though they shared the same DNA, they were very different ponies at heart and it was all because of the contrast of their environments.

She could have come back here and made a big turn around. It wasn't so bad in this Equestria. Celestia wasn't bad. She was simply trying to look after the country while dealing with an obstinate ruler. But if it wasn't so bad here, then why did she want to leave it herself? It was sad and strangely different in too many ways to count but most of all it just wasn't hers. She admitted the idea of life without the other princesses was absolutely soul crushing. It was difficult to conceptualize that besides Cadance, she assumed, there were no other princesses out there. It was just her, alone. It felt so empty. She couldn't blame her for wanting to escape this Equestria but this was the Equestria she’d earned.

There came a zap from over her shoulder as Celestia entered the room.

“Any leads so far?” sighed Celestia, filing idly through one of the stacks.

“No. Not really.”

“Don't despair. There must be a way for you to return.”

Twilight nodded absently. “With as many books and scrolls as there are in my library and the archives, the answer has to be here somewhere.”

“Indeed,” agreed Celestia. “But don't overwork yourself on it. It would be for the best, I think, if you stayed on a regular schedule and saved this sort of thing for your wouldbe free time. Luna and I can devote some of our time to help while you're otherwise indisposed.”

“Yeah, that sounds like a good plan.” agreed Twilight. “Thanks.”

“We can answer any questions you have about your life here to hopefully spare you any awkward on the job moments from here on out. We should also keep this whole mirror thing underwraps. It wouldn’t do any good for ponies to question your legitimacy as their ruler.” She laughed weakly. “This would be a conspiracy theorist’s dream come true.”

Twilight nodded compliantly. - - -

---

Days went by. Twilight began to acclimate to her life in semi limbo but her determination to return home did not waver. She went about her business as a normal princess, though with the added turmoil and weight of the alternate world. Between meetings and events, she always had a hooful of books within reach to review. At nights she returned to the library and another fresh crop of more books gathered for her to sift through. She must have vetted near a thousand books so far but had yet to gain any helpful insight into unraveling the predicament she was in.

She had a trip coming up to Yakyakistan who had agreed to host talks between Equestria and Griffonstone. She would of course attend and embody the same level of professionalism she showed while representing her own Equestria. None of it would be happening if it wasn't for her. That was a small consolation but it also made her stop and wonder how the other her was treating her country. What was she doing right now? She hoped that somehow this horrible act against her was eating away at the other her and that perhaps she was working toward fixing it on her end but she kind of doubted it.

Twilight's schedule was clear the day of her departure so she of course used her free time in the morning researching in the library.

Noteworthy, the only other non princess pony who knew the full story behind the big research dragnet, floated around in her peripherals, gathering up the rejected books to be eventually reshelved.

“Have you taken a look at that grimoire yet?” he asked abruptly.

Twilight looked up at him in confused intrigue. “What grimoire?”

“One of the aides just found a fifth old world magic book, this one was lost and really dusty, fallen down under the shelving unit. It's like one of those things you don't find again until you move,” he laughed.

Her brow furrowed. A fifth old world magic book? She'd only come across two so far and she'd at least glanced over every book procured for her thus far.

“No,” she replied slowly. “I haven't seen it; where is it?”

He shrugged and looked about the room. “Should be here somewhere in the latest batch. Celestia always brings them in from the aides.”

Twilight already knew it wasn't here. She would have easily recognized it and its two unaccounted for predecessors for that matter. They were potential goldmines for detailing unconventional spacetime magic. She nervously tapped her hoof on the table as the pieces clicked together in her head, accompanied by a weird sinking feeling. Celestia would have given her those books immediately, even call attention to them for how valuable they might be to achieving her goal… Wouldn't she?

“Huh, you know what? I never saw it. I should probably go ask her about that.” Without another word, she teleported away, abandoning her current read on the table.

She reappeared right into Celestia's bedroom, her first guess but also a somewhat desperate one. She wouldn't usually just barge in on her like this.

Indeed, she was there, back toward her and seemingly basking in the heat of an unnecessary fire.

Twilight's eyes went to the glowing fireplace where they rested upon the immolated form of a book sitting atop burning logs, a shocking sight she never expected to see in her own castle. Acting on adrenaline, she yanked the smoldering tome from the fire with her magic and summoned an airtight bubble around it to snuff out the flames. The cover was blackened and still smoking but she could see a faint golden, embossed border with ornate old world flourishes. The pages crumbled to ash when she opened it, taking with them whatever knowledge she might have gained.

She looked back at Celestia, mouth agape. “You've been secretly screening my books,” she gasped in horror.

Celestia shook her head fearfully. “Twilight, please let me explain. You must understand this is for the good of Equestria. Your place and your ponies are here now and they need-”

“You don't need to explain,” Twilight’s voice cracked. The other Twilight already explained and I didn't listen. I've been so blind and stupid about everything. She was right about you.”

Before Celestia could utter another syllable, Twilight had vanished in a flash.

Comments

[Nova Star Sparkle]

I hope the other dimension Twilight told all of Equestria what Celestia did to her so no pony ever trusts her again. That's so vile and unforgivable...nobody should ever trust this white alicorn tyrant ever again. Sorry but that's not a thing you do for "the good of Equestria".

Also the other Twilight (the one without friends.) I can "understand" why she did it but also not. It was pure desperation and I can't imagine how it would feel to live a thousand years without your friends and then seeing them for a week just to loose them again. It's kind of understandable why she did it even if it is still totally wrong.)

It was a good read even if I didn't like the ending at all. I just could never enjoy sad endings but apart from that up to the point where the mirror is broken it was a solid read.