"Tia?"

I blink, taken aback by the gentler nature of this new voice. Whoever this is doesn't exactly sound like one of those guards from outside. While the few of them before had spoken to me with a sort of stiff and obedient tone, this one comes off much more... informal, and relaxed, though there is still a trace of apprehension lining it.

"Tia?" The voice repeats, a little more shakily this time. "This... this is no time for games, my sister!"

I gasp quietly. Sister? That guard from my room earlier said something about 'my sister' sending him to check on me. Another princess too. Princess, uh, uhm, Luna? Lunaria? Gah, I know it starts with an 'L' at least. How am I even supposed to remember that, it was brought up once and I was completely out of it at the time! That's two princesses so far in this castle. What is this, a Disney convention? And where the hell are the king and queen? Ugh, well, unless there's any more princesses hanging around here, then it should be safe to assume this is Princess Luna, which is even assuming I got the name right anyway. Fifty-fifty.

The hoof steps resume, tracing a circle around the clearing in the middle of the room. "It has been over an hour since you normally raise the sun, and rumors have are already begun to spread all across Canterlot and even between our own castle staff. Some of the royal guard are afraid Discord might have returned once more." The voice scoffs and takes on a slightly more defensive edge. "We even overheard a few of them thinking that I had something to do with it! As if I would even dare to do that ever again!"

Do what again? My curiosity finally getting the better of me, I slowly edge myself closer to the side of the bookcase I've been pressing my back to this whole time, which is a hard thing to do when staying careful to keep my hooves from smacking the ground. These things aren't exactly as stealthy as hands and feet unfortunately.

After struggling for a moment to keep my balance even this close to the ground, I decide to take inspiration from the many times I've seen dogs and cats sitting and position myself on my haunches so I can use my front legs freely without falling flat on my face. I can imagine this position would be a pain to maintain normally, but with this body, it's surprisingly comfortable.

Finally, I give a cautious peek around the bookcase towards the middle of the library, where this 'Princess Luna' appears to be anxiously trotting in a circle, almost as if she were pacing. My first thought is that she looks exactly like me, but it's immediately dispelled once my mind registers colors.

Indeed though, if it weren't for the colors, I'd say she's the closest thing resembling the body I first saw in the mirror after waking up. She stands considerably taller than the guards, with a hint of regality in her stance. She dons a long horn on her forehead, as well as a fluffy pair of wings folded tightly to her side that bristle occasionally, much like my own wings and horn. Her muzzle also protrudes forward a little more than those of the guards too. Atop her head rests a shimmering black crown, one that follows a similar shape as the one on my own head, but noticeably smaller. Her mane and tail also seem to flow behind her by some unknown means.

However, wherever on my body there is white, on her body there is dark blue, from her fur to her feathers to her horn. Some black, metallic breast plate of sorts rests on her front, with a white, crescent moon plastered in the middle. While her mane and tail flow much like my body's, instead of trails of pink, green, and blue, there is some dark blue mass filled with glittering specks of white. It is as if her mane and tail are literally made of the night sky itself. If the situation of our encounter was much less tense, I'd probably easily get caught just staring at it for a whole minute.

I note her piercing, cyan eyes flickering across the room, and I subconsciously edge backwards to keep myself in the shadow, away from the enchanted glow of the hourglass. I hear what sounds like sigh, followed by a low, frustrated growl, and then—

"Celestia!"

I jump, startled as Princess Luna's voice suddenly booms with unexpectedly, immense power, sending a shock wave across the room and reverberating between the circular walls of the library. I swear I could even see the top layer of dust on all the books and shelves lift into the air. I slink backwards a little further into the shadows, trembling in fear and silently praying my reaction went unnoticed. My mysterious flowing mane shifts in front of me, and I make a desperate grab at it with my front legs to keep it from alerting

"I know you're in here! The hallway guards outside, and the one who is supposed to be stationed outside your room, have all attested to your presence in the archives! I don't know if this is some kind of prank you're trying to pull, but please, you know this is the wrong time for it! Our subjects have barely made it through a whole day of Discord's utter tomfoolery with their sanity intact, the last thing they need right now is to start the following day with the morning sun missing without explanation!"

She huffs and stomps a hoof to the ground hard, shaking the whole room and sending a chill up my spine.

"Now please, for the love of Harmony itself, quit your hiding, get back out here, and fix this!"

The final two words come with yet another powerful blast of energy, and a few of the looser books and scrolls across the library tumble from the shelves to the floor. I feel my ears reflexively twitch, and I shake my head from the weird, unfamiliar sensation. I tense up at the ultimatum, slowly realizing the dilemma I'm in.

Shit, shit, shit! What am I supposed to do? What the hell can I even do?! Is raising the sun a real thing that this Princess Celestia does? And on a daily basis? That doesn't even make any damn sense, stars and planets don't work that way! Maybe it's just a phrase and I'm actually supposed to just rotate the planet so the sun looks like it's rising, when actually it's just— wait, what the heck am I thinking, that doesn't make it any better!

"Or I swear I'll... I'll...!" Her voice returns, then freezes for a moment, followed by a tired sigh. "I'll throw out the castle's entire cake supply!"

I... I... huh?

My eyes dart around my side of the library, desperately seeking out some alternative means of escape. There's a single window several bookshelves away, but there doesn't seem to be a way for me to get there without crossing into Princess Luna's rapidly moving line of sight. The only other exit that I can recall is the door that I came in through, but that's on the other side of the library, on the other side of the princess.

Maybe if I make a run for it, I could catch her by surprise, but that would just make me look way more suspicious, if not completely expose me right then and there! That's assuming I can even outrun her at all, which seems totally impossible with how recent I just got used to walking with these new legs.

Part of me actually considers just walking out into view and try to help fix whatever is going on, however I can. But how the hell could I even hope to understand where to begin? This 'Princess Celestia' I look like has gotta be some experienced leader at this point. I'm just some eighteen-year-old dude who was supposed to be starting his first day in college. Well, eighteen and a half... but that doesn't help jack shit in my situation, I couldn't lead to save my life in all those group projects in high school!

I feel my heart starting to race in my chest again, thoughts swirling in my head like a whirlpool threatening to pull me under. I don't know what to do. I just want to wake up already, please. Just let me just open my eyes, back in my dorm room, all sweaty and half an hour late for class. Actually no, I'd rather just be back home in my own bed. I can't do this. I can't. The library around me begins to fade as the edges of my vision darken.

"Celestia! Quit your playing around and— huh?"

The sudden shift from anger to confusion in Princess Luna's tone snaps me out of my thoughts, dragging my mind back up from the depths and into the light. I shake my head to fix my eyesight and slowly peek back from behind the bookshelf. Princess Luna has stopped trotting around, frozen in place as she stares upwards at skylight.

At first, I think she's just noticing something in the night sky, but upon squinting my eyes, I notice a small trail of what appears to be sparkling smoke phasing down through the skylight. Small wisps of green fire burst from within as it floats fully into the room, coalescing into a small cloud of glistening and glowing smoke that Princess Luna slowly approaches with a curious look. She cautiously reaches one of her hooves up to touch it when, suddenly, it makes a beeline straight for my head.

"Gah!" I yelp in shock and reflexively raise my hooves to shield my face, squeezing my eyes shut. I brace myself for the inevitable impact, but when the inevitable doesn't come, I lower my hooves and peek my eyes open. The trail of sparkly smoke has coalesced into a small ball hovering right in front of my face. I stare at it for a second, mesmerized by its mystical appearance, and then it quickly begins spinning and compressing. Not a moment later, it lets out a pop and a bright flash of yellow light before disappearing.

In its place, a small paper scroll floats in the air briefly before falling to the ground. I blink, confused by what I just witnessed, and turn my gaze down at the scroll. It's wrapped in a thick, red ribbon, held together by some sort of gold medallion with an imprint of a horseshoe embedded in the center. I give it a careful poke with a hoof, but nothing out of the ordinary happens further.

Huh. Did this... come from someone? Is this how mail is sent in this world or something?

I glance back up towards the center of the library and spot Princess Luna, wide-eyed, staring straight at me. Relief briefly washes over her face, before swiftly being replaced with anger.

Oh fuck.

"Celestia! There you are!" She begins to stomp agressively towards me, wearing one of the most intimidating, pissed-off expressions I had ever seen in my life. I'm not ready for this yet! I scramble backwards in fear until my back slams against the library's circular walls, again raising my hooves protectively. "What is the matter with you?! You and your magic were perfectly fine when you went to rest last night! So you better explain to me what is going on or you... you... wha— what are you—?"

Her voice quickly trails off, losing virtually all of its strength like a mighty castle wall crumbling to dust before me. I carefully creep my eyes open. Princess Luna stands right in front and above me, looking down at my quivering form. Her jaw hangs open and her ears are splayed back against the sides of her face. I look into her eyes and am immediately hit with a wave of déjà vu with the guard in my room from earlier. But while his expression had just been one of shock and confusion, Princess Luna's holds a trace of... hurt. But not just any hurt. the deep, stinging hurt that usually sits atop a mountain of personal history.

Realizing I'd been staring for a bit, I clumsily scramble back up on all four legs, realizing I actually stand just a tad taller than her. She backs up a little to give me space, her eyes still frozen onto mine with that same expression. As scared as I am myself, that look in her eyes triggers my own natural worry. Plus, this might be a good way to confirm her name. If I'm wrong, I'll just brush it off as messing it up due to still being sleepy... people do that too, right?

"Uhm... I'm really sorry about that, Princess Luna... uh... are you alright?" I mentally smack my forehead. Wow, real smooth there, Sam. Great job.

Princess Luna's eyes widen. "Huh?" She quickly averts her own gaze to the floor. "I am sorry, I just... have not seen you that frightened in a... very long time."

Alright, so it's Princess Luna, got it the first time! Damn, there must be some sort of history between these two. I mean, they're sisters, so that goes without saying. "Ah, I just had a... really awful nightmare last night, so I'm a little jumpier than usual."

"What?" She pauses and turns back to me, her face screwed in confusion. "Bu— but your dreams were pleasant last night! I would have felt if you were having a nightmare!"

How the fuck would you have—? I clear my throat just in time to stop my thoughts from blurting themselves out. "I... guess you just missed them this time?"

Luna blinks and opens her mouth to speak, then freezes for a moment. She shifts her eyes to the ground, her expression becoming suddenly downtrodden. "Oh... I see."

What's that supposed to be about?

We stand there awkwardly, avoiding eye contact, for what feels like forever. Soon though, her ears perk up and she turns her gaze back to me, head tilted. "Wait a minute, did you just use my title?"

Oh crap, right, they're sisters, they might not use their titles with each other, that'd probably get a bit weird. I don't think I heard her using 'Princess Celestia' the whole time, it might be the same the other way around, at least when it's just the two of us, I'd imagine. "Oh, did I? I, uh, guess I'm a lot more tired than I thought." I close my eyes and feign a long yawn.

Luna raises an eyebrow and looks me up and down. "You seem much more than just tired, Tia." Okay, so 'Tia' is apparently a nickname for Celestia. Hmm. I guess I can see that. "Where are your shoes? Have you been walking around the castle bare-hooved this whole time?"

I take a glance down at my front hooves, bare indeed. My eyes flicker over to her hooves and notice them covered in some silvery blue glass. Are those... glass slippers for horses? Looks painfully uncomfortable, I honestly think I'll pass. The ones in my room seemed like they were made of gold anyway, isn't that, like, super malleable?

"And why are you not wearing your regalia?"

I blink. "My what?"

"What do you mean, your 'what'?" Luna raises a hoof and pokes it against my chest. "You know, your—" She pauses for a moment. She growls and shakes her head before turning back to me, her eyes locked onto mine with the same steely glare from earlier. "Ugh, why am I even talking about this? This is supposed to be about you, not me." She pokes my chest with her hoof again, this time more forcibly. Her voice takes on a harsher, more commanding tone.

"Barely twenty minutes ago, Lieutenant Steel Spear reported to me that the delayed sunrise was a result of a lapse in your strength after yesterday, but you and I both know it can't be as simple as that. You already had the mental and physical energy to spend over an hour yesterday evening discussing to a standstill with me what we are to do with Discord. And right after that, your lowered the sun for the day as easily as you do every day, so your magic had to have mostly recovered from shielding much of Canterlot from Discord's influence. And I would know, I helped you with that, and my magic was already fully restored a mere hour after his defeat!"

Her eyes widen, and she lowers her voice to a whisper. "Did... did the Elements fail? Has Discord already broken free of his statue, so soon too?" She looks away nervously. "After almost losing dear Twilight and her friends to him yesterday, when I noticed the sun remaining below the horizon long past its due, I... I truly feared the worst for just a moment." She turns back to me, a sort of pleading look in her eyes. "Tia, what is it? Is something wrong? Please, you haven't been acting like... yourself..."

Her voice slowly trails off, her eyes narrowing as her expression shifts from one of worry to one of deep suspicion. Shit. I try my best to feign confusion. "Wha— Luna, what do you mean?"

"No!" She jumps back a distance from me and crouches down in a predatory stance. "You've been acting off ever since I walked in here— nay, since the moment you woke up! Now answer me, what is the matter with you?!"

My eyes widen as I realize the rising danger of the situation. "I— I don't know what you're talking about!" I barely manage to sputter out. I quickly flicker my eyes around to gauge my surroundings, or more specifically, gauge an escape route.

I'm boxed in to my left and right by bookshelves, so sideways movements are off the table. Way in front of me is the clearing in the middle of the room, followed by the exit on the far opposite end, but Luna blocks my path. There's easily room to dash around her, but with her focus so harshly locked onto me, I doubt she'd let me make it even an inch past her. There is that ring of space along the walls, like a circular hallway surrounding the entire room. Still, I don't think I'd be able to sprint, or gallop now, along the edge without either tripping on myself or Luna catching up to me. "I told you, I'm just... still a bit tired to think clearly and—"

"Cease your lies!" Luna interrupts with a powerful burst of force, her voice shaking everything in sight. Her glare hardens, and a light blue aura of energy surrounds the horn on her forehead, only this time it's a whole lot brighter than the one the earlier guard had. While his had been about as faint as a glow-in-the-dark necklace at full brightness, Luna's shone with a steady, brilliant glow that temporarily blinds my darkness-adjusted eyes. "My frustration and worry blinded me earlier, but it's clear as day to me now. Your manner of articulation and inflection is all wrong, and I've known my sister's speech far longer than anypony who has ever walked this planet."

Shit, she can recognize Celestia's way of talking?? I stumble back a few steps, but put on a sheepish smile, trying desperately to turn this situation around. "Ple— please, just calm down, I'm sure this is just, uhm, some big misunderstanding."

Luna raises an eyebrow, narrowing her eyes further. "A misunderstanding, you say? Then, pray tell, where did you decide on the temporary placement of Discord's statue last night?"

Shit, what? "Uh— uhm..." I stutter out nervously. A statue dedicated to someone who's apparently caused a ton of what I assume to be national security problems? That's a... first. Ugh, I thought I saw some statues just below the castle when I glanced outside my window, but it was really dark. I'm not sure if those were really statues or just ponies walking around. Still, seems like the sort of place a statue would be on display. "The... castle gardens, right?" I grin innocently.

Not innocently enough, apparently.

"Hah!" Luna lets out a dry laugh and takes a threatening step closer, forcing me to take one backwards. "Discord's statue being in the Canterlot Sculpture Gardens has been public information for centuries!" Centuries?! The fu— "But only Celestia and I know she relocated him to the castle vault after his second defeat. You're a pretender!" Her mouth twists into a furious snarl. Small, white sparks begin to burst from the tip of her horn and fall towards the ground, and a somewhat high-pitched hum fills the air, getting louder by the second.

Crap, crap, crap!I rapidly shake my head, feeling beads of sweat drip from by brow. I glance around nervously for something, anything I can use. There's some loose books on the shelf beside me that I could probably use for a distraction, but with where I'm standing and how she's pointing that sparking horn at me, it feels like I'm being held at gunpoint. I'd probably set her off with any sudden movements. Cat's completely out of the bag now then, huh? "Look, I— I don't even know how I got here, I'm just trying to get home and—"

"Silence, deceiver!" Luna stamps a hoof to the ground. "Now, remove your disguise!"

She lowers her head, then suddenly whips it up, pointing her horn upwards. A dome of blinding, cyan light expands rapidly from her horn, reaching me within seconds. I shout in surprise and stumble backwards, lifting a foreleg to shield my face from whatever energy is washing over me. A tingling sensation spreads throughout my body as the light passes over me, and I squeeze my eyes shut.

Eventually, the feeling vanishes, and I cautiously peek my eyes open. The dome has completely disappeared, leaving behind small, cyan specks of light in its wake that gradually dissipate into nothing. I quickly scan over myself in anticipation but find, much to my surprising disappointment, that nothing has changed. I look back up to Luna and see her standing there, staring at me completely dumbfounded, her face contorted in utter confusion.

"Bu— but, no illusion could possibly survive that spell! How..."

She's distracted. Now's my chance! Keeping my eyes locked on Luna, I swiftly raise a hoof to the shelf beside me and feel the edges of a few loose books. With all the strength I can muster, I swipe hard towards her, sending a flurry of leather and paper flying into her face.

"Wha— ow!"

Registering an successful impact, I desperately barrel past her, not daring to make the mistake of looking back to my would-be pursuer. I hear her grunt in pain as she stumbles into a bookshelf while avoiding a collision. I reach the middle of the room, sparing a second to scan around the ring of bookshelves surrounding the clearing for the entrance. Finally I spot a corridor with a hint of golden light, likely pouring in from the outside hallway, and make a mad dash down it. There's the entrance! And the door is open too! I could've sworn that guard closed it behind me, but I guess Luna left it open for some reason.

I'm just about my body's length away from the exit when a cyan light surrounds the metal door, which suddenly slams shut in my face.

Shit!

I crash head first into it with a cry and collapse to the ground, a blinding pain emanating from my forehead. The room spins around me as my head throbs painfully, and I reach up to rub to massage the point of impact, finding it to be the base of the horn on my forehead. A few golden sparks flitter down my line of sight. I weakly turn my gaze back around, vision blurry, and spot Luna in the middle of the room, hovering high in the air as her wings flap slowly. The light around her horn grows brighter and brighter. Wait... is she flying? But those wings are way too small! There's no way those can— oh shit!

Not even bothering to try standing, I instinctively throw myself to the side just before a bright beam of cyan energy lances from the tip of Luna's horn and splashes against the ground where I had just been laying. I glance behind myself and see a small crater at the spot of impact, a weak trail of smoke rising from the center.What— I whip my head back towards Luna, my eyes wide in shock. "—the fuck was that?!"

"I'm not going to pretend to know what you just said." Luna's voice rumbles deep. I feel a wind begin to pick up around me. "Nor will I pretend to know how you managed to acquire a body physically identical to Celestia's. But I will give you one final chance to speak!" Her eyes shine with an angry, white light as her words carry a powerful rage.

"What have you done with my sister?!"

For what seems like the millionth time this last hour, I scramble backwards to get as far away as possible and wince as my back hits the wall not even a second later. I put my front hooves up and wave them madly to try to get Luna's attention. "I— I have no idea!" I try to shout over the now full on gale wind whipping around the room. "I'm not even supposed to be here, I just—"

"If you wish to keep this information to yourself, then so be it!" Luna floats even higher, the glow in her horn tripling in intensity. I'm so fucking dead. "I'll just pry it out of your mind myself!"

Another powerful beam of cyan light streaks directly towards me, and I narrowly duck out of the way with a yelp. I scramble behind the nearest bookshelf for cover, failing miserably to catch my breath. I feel my heart pounding in my chest. Am I... actually going to die here?

"You think you can hide?" The bookshelf suddenly glows with the same cyan light now illuminating the entire room, before being easily tossed aside as if it were mere cardboard. It slams into some nearby bookshelves, sending them all toppling to the ground. Luna slowly descends closer to me, fixating me with a glare that could freeze oceans. "Where is she?! Where is Celestia?!"

I desperately scoop up a nearby book in my front hooves and chuck it at her face, hoping to catch her off guard again.

It doesn't even manage to scrape the bottom of her hooves, and a part of me dies despite the severity of the situation.

"I don't know what scheme you hoped to accomplish by taking my sister's place." Luna lowers her horn towards me, the glow surrounding it once again growing. "But I won't let you continue any further!"

My eyes quickly dart around my immediate surroundings. All the bookshelves around me lie flat on the ground, with their contents scattered across the room. I don't have any cover. I'm completely in the open now. I grab a nearby book and hug it close to my chest. Anywhere but here. Anywhere but here! Let me wake up anywhere but here, please!

A giant blast of cyan light rockets towards me, but I'm too frozen by fear to move out of the way, my eyes and mouth wide open in terror. I raise a hoof in front of me in a desperate, but futile attempt to shield my face.

I'm not ready to go!

Someone, anyone, get me out of here!

Something clicks within me, like a spark, and my world is filled a blinding, golden light, before all goes black.

Author's Note

For those who thought Sam might be able to keep up the act for a while with Luna hanging around, I'm sorry haha. She knows her sister too well.

There was originally a different word in place of "pretender", but you can imagine why I decided to replace it.

Also, chapter titles! I may or may not occasionally change them early on depending on how I feel, but I'd rather do this sooner than later as I have future plans for chapters that are in a Part 1, Part 2 fashion. As advised, I'll try to make sure they don't majorly spoil events. Feel free to let me know your thoughts on the current titles I've settled with!

As you also may have already noticed, the last two chapters haven't been right on 7-day schedule. As the chapters inevitably get longer on average, so will the update schedule, but it's still too early to finalize that. For now, just assume between 1-2 weeks, though I'd like to hang closer to the "1". Enjoy the new chapter!