Flipped

by zyr1987

Comings, goings, and guards

Luna and Nocturnus left the Crystal Empire for Canterlot by air shortly after dinner and returned with Celestia in tow shortly after midnight. Twilight, Cadance, and Shining Armor were awake and ready to receive her, as were Dusk Shine, Crescendo, and Shimmering Shield. Cadance said, “Thank you for coming so quickly, Celestia, and my apologies for sending your sister to get you.”

“That's okay. Anyway, I have the reagents for the mail system here,” Celestia said, passing several bags to her niece.

“Thanks. I'll try to remember to order more next time I'm running low.”

Celestia nodded in acknowledgment, then asked, “So, do we know why the population of the empire suddenly doubled?”

“No. All we know is shortly before breakfast this morning, a strange light was reported as appearing in the throne room then extending throughout the empire, transporting opposite sex versions of every pony present here from another dimension before disappearing. If you have any theories as to what it was, I would love to hear them,” Shining Armor said.

“Unfortunately, I do not. However, I believe I do have a way to get them home. It will take several days and the help of all of you and several of your guests, however. Specifically the unicorns.”

“We'll be happy to help. Just tell us what to do,” Twilight said.

“Okay. There is a spell that I can teach you that will open up a portal to our visitors' home dimension, but in order for it to take all of all the ponies present here home, we will need to be able to keep it open for several hours at least, which will require a vast amount of magical power,” Celestia explained.

“More than even you can put out, princess?”

“Yes, much more, which is why I will teach you this spell. When my own power falters, I need you to be able to take over for me in maintaining the portal, and when each of you falters, the next one must be able to take over in his or her stead until the last pony from the other dimension have returned home. Cadance, how many unicorns are staying in the castle as your guests?”

“Between both dimensions, and counting Twilight and Dusk Shine, um...eight,” Cadance said.

“That should be enough to give us some breathing room if all six of you are willing to help,” Celestia said.

The six other alicorns, as well as Shining Armor and Shimmering Shield all gave affirmative responses. Celestia then said, “Okay, we will begin preparations in the morning. For now, I would like to rest.”

“Of course. Let me show you to your suite.”

The next morning, all of Cadance's and Crescendo's guests were told what would be happening over breakfast. The unicorns were then asked if they would be willing to help, and all gave affirmative responses. This was followed by Elusive saying, “Before I forget, I just wanted to thank you, Princess Cadance, for finding all of us suites to stay in until we can get home.”

“You're quite welcome, and please, call me Cadance.”

Celestia, sitting near the head of the table, said, “anyway, I will teach Luna, Cadance, Twilight, Nocturnus, Crescendo, and Dusk the spell after breakfast, and they will teach it to all of you over the next few days. The spell should only take an hour to learn at most.”

“Why can't you teach it to all of us at once?” Fleur asked.

“Well, I could, but the nature of the spell makes small group teaching easier. Also, I need to return to Canterlot in a few hours to make arrangements for a longer absence, and can't afford any delays. I will return however, when it is time to open the portal.”

The rest of breakfast was occupied by other questions about the portal, like if there were any dangers in opening it (not if everyone was careful) and what it would feel like to go through it (no straight answer given).

After breakfast, as the seven alicorns went to a side room, Fleur asked Rainbow Dash, “Can I talk to you for a second?”

“Sure, what's up?”

“I was just wondering if there was any special significance behind a pegasus asking somepony to preen their wings?”

“Lemme guess. Fluttershy asked you to preen her wings last night, you said no, and now you think she's mad at you,” Rainbow said.

“No, no. She asked me two nights ago, and I agreed to do it. I simply wondered why she was so nervous about asking me.”

“Did you ask her?”

“Yes. She said it was a sign of deep trust. A sign that she trusts me enough to trust me with helping her with the thing that makes her a pegasus, if I recall,” Fleur said.

“That's pretty much what it is, actually. It's a pegasus' way of saying they feel close to and very trusting of you. Even the sluttiest pegasi, who will sleep with anyone who asks, usually only has two or three ponies they trust to preen their wings. I only trust three, personally, and you're not one of them. No offense.”

“None taken. Anyway, it's not a sign of love or anything like that?”

“Not really, no. For example, Fluttershy and me aren't lovers, yet we preen each others wings,” Rainbow said.

“I see. Thanks for explaining it.”

“By the way, do unicorns do anything similar for your horns?”

“Not really. Personally, even as beauty-conscious as I am and protective of our horns as unicorns in general are, all I do is wipe it down with washcloth in the shower every night. It doesn't need any more than that,” Fleur said.

“Really?”

“Oui, why? What were you expecting?”

“I dunno. I guess I thought it would be more complicated than that,” Rainbow said.

Fleur simply rolled her eyes and turned to walk off, when Rainbow asked, “By the way, do you intend to help out with the whole 'portal to the other ponies' home dimension' thing?”

“Of course. The princesses need the help of several unicorns, so why wouldn't I offer my assistance?”

“Just curious, is all.”

Celestia returned to Canterlot a few hours later, having trained the six alicorns in the spell they would be using and, word was, another spell that would help them tune it to the proper frequency. The alicorns weren't speaking about the spell, only saying that the unicorns would be trained in its use the next day. Twilight, looking for an excuse not to talk about the spell, asked Rainbow Dash, “so, who won your little race, yesterday?”

“You heard about that?”

“Yep. Regal Splendor told me, but she didn't say who won.”

“Well, actually, we don't know because her spell, which was supposed to show who won, apparently didn't work or something,” Rainbow Dash said.

“That's odd. If it's the spell I'm thinking of, it should have been relatively simple and foolproof. Maybe there's some sort of dimensional differences causing an issue?”

“Maybe. Anyway, we're planning on trying again in a few days, if you want to help.”

“I'd be happy to. Just let me know when you intend to go again,” Twilight said.

“Alright, thanks!”

Shortly before lunch, Cadance and Shining Armor were discussing security with their guard captain, Stone Wall, after a few unnamed guards started showing some erratic behavior. Shining asked, “Do you think it has something to do with the cross-dimensional travel or the presence of ponies from the other dimension?”

“Maybe. There's no way to be sure unless we can identify them, and that's proving difficult, due to the illusion spells on their armor and the fact that they're appearing well away from any set patrol routes. Even then, it likely won't be possible to confirm the issue with 100% certainty.”

“Understood. Please begin investigating the guards' behavior regardless, and ask my counterpart for permission to investigate her guards. If she declines, let me know, and I will speak with her,” Shining Armor said.

“And if she wants a joint investigation?” Stone Wall asked.

“If she wants a joint investigation, I see no reason to say no,” Cadance said. “Any other questions?”

“No ma'am. I will speak with her right away.”

“Thank you.” As Stone Wall left, Cadance turned to her husband and asked, “Do you think he'll find anything?”

“Maybe. Either way, you have to admit that we've been getting too many reports to ignore.”

“True.” They walked out on to the nearby balcony, overlooking the empire, and Cadance said, “regardless, I hope this is solved quickly.”

“It will be, I'm sure of it.”

Around the same time, Fleur, Fluttershy, Butterscotch and Rainbow Blitz, were, at Rainbow Blitz's suggestion, taking a walk around the Crystal Empire together. At the moment, they weren't saying anything, partly because they wanted to take in the sights and partly because they weren't sure what to talk about.

After a while, Blitz broke the silence, asking, “So, how long have you two been together?”

“About a year now,” Fluttershy said.

“And a wonderful year it's been,” Fleur said with a smile, turning to look at their two male companions. “What about you two? Do you have a very special somepony?”

“No,” They answered simultaneously.

“That's too bad. Well, do you have your eye on somepony?”

“Um, yes, but I've been too scared ask them out,” Butterscotch said, and Fleur noticed him taking a small but obvious glance at Rainbow Blitz.

It was all Fleur could do to hide her reaction to this little glance and keep walking. She thought If that glance means what I think it means...Oh this could be such fun!

Rainbow Blitz said, “Yeah, I also have my eye on somepony, but I haven't found the right time to say something,” while also taking a brief but noticeable glance at Butterscotch.

Fleur, calming herself down a bit, nodded and looked back to where she was walking, forming a plan even as she chatted with her companions.

Author's Note:

Ah, the shipper on deck.

Anyway, apologies about this taking so long. Before two weeks ago I have no excuse, but over the past two weeks, I have had three doctor's appointments (one with a neurologist, one with an optometrist, and one for an MRI (seizures)), and I've been adjusting to my new medication (Celexa, for my Social Anxiety Disorder, AKA the reason I've not been reading comments) so it's been exhausting