Brotherly Bonding Time

by Sketcha-Holic

8.3--It's Going to Be a Long Day

Meanwhile, at the manor of Fancy Pants, everypony--who had gone outside to see if the sun would rise that morning, had taken a dip in the yards-long water fountain after the near miss with the sun. The water level had been half the usual level before, but the plumbing of the fountain had quickly filled it back up. A lot of Fancy's servants were grumbling about how close the sun had been, forcing them to jump into the fountain just to cool off. Tomato and Celestia were among those who had taken a dip, and Celestia especially had dunked her entire self in, thanks to being in a body not as heat resistant as her normal body was.

Fancy Pants wiped his brow as he looked in the sky. "My, that was a close call, wasn't it?"

Tomato scowled at the sun. Gee, Cheese, way to nearly kill us all. With a sigh, he said, "Well, we Sandwiches are off to a good start--we burn the walls of your guest room with firecrackers, destroy a lamp and a mirror, and jump into your fountain..." He gazed at Celestia holding her breath underwater. "...and the Prin--er, my brother hasn't jumped out yet."

"I've had worse damage done to my guest rooms--those things can easily be replaced and the scorch marks painted over. Just be careful in the future." Fancy Pants simply looked down at his clothes, which of course were dripping wet. "And of course, all etiquette is put aside when our lives are in danger. No worries, I have plenty changes of clothes in the manor. We want to be dry before we start the day and set things up for the celebration, hm?"

Celestia came back up with a gasp, and panted and coughed as she wiped the water from her face. Fancy Pants turned and said, "Are you cool enough, Mr. Sandwich?"

Celestia nodded, and climbed out of the fountain to sit on the edge. She bunched the sopping wet mane with her hooves and started to squeeze the water out of it. Calmly, she replied, "No need to worry, Fancy Pants. I'm well enough to set up the party."

Fancy Pants nodded, and then turned around. "Well, let's get our clothes changed, gentlecolts. We have a busy day ahead of us!"

Tomato grinned uncomfortably wide, and waved nervously as the unicorn. When Fancy Pants was out of earshot, he turned to Celestia and asked, "Are you all right? I'm sorry that Cheese's body isn't accustomed to extreme heat like that--no normal pony is. Well... as normal as Cheese can be..."

"There's no need to apologize, Tomato," Celestia replied, hopping off the fountain's edge. She put some distance between her and Tomato and shook some water off herself. "Sometimes I forget how delicate my subjects are. They're not nearly as resistant to hazards such as this or lethal magic as Luna and I are."

"So... you two are invincible?"

Celestia walked to his side. "I wouldn't say that. We're still liable to harm and temptations like everypony else. It's just harder to take an alicorn down."

"I could believe that." Tomato noticed that one of his sleeves was sagging too low, and shook some water off it. "So... have you planned any special events or parties before? Or do you have event planners to do it for you? Because if you want to be a convincing Cheese Sandwich, you'd at least know what you're doing."

Celestia giggled. "Of course I've planned some events. Why, the last Grand Galloping Gala was a blast!"

Tomato blinked. "Uh... wasn't there a lot of slime or something? That's what I had read in the news."

"Oh, that was Discord's plus one, the Smooze." She smiled and nodded. "Inviting Discord made for a Gala that was a lot more interesting than normal. Best one in years, I wish all Galas had been that exciting instead of the boring ones of years before the first time I invited Twilight and her friends."

"Uh... do you ever worry about what the nobles would think?"

"More often than not, they're worried about what I think." Celestia sighed and shook her head, rolling her eyes. "Still, that doesn't prevent the silly complaints about this pony or that pony or that acre of land or the sun being too hot. Even on holidays they complain, even when I think the ceremony or celebration is nice and that they should just relax."

Tomato glanced at the owner of the manor. "Well, at least Fancy Pants seems to be taking every mishap in stride. But how long will that last?"

"He's a very patient stallion." Celestia then started to stride toward the manor. "Now, we better change out of these wet clothes now. And don't worry, if I'm doing something wrong, don't be afraid to tell me. And I'm sure you've picked up a few things from your brother in this party-planning trip you two are on."

Tomato chuckled nervously and glanced at the ground, as he started to trail behind her. "...right."

---

In the throne room, Twilight was sorting letters from the public and suggested laws from other officials, so that she could have an excuse to be in there to make sure Cheese didn't mess anything up. While the public apology went smoothly, she was still worried. After all, to her, plenty of them looked ready to start a rebellion after the whole sun fiasco.

Cheese was sitting on Celestia's throne, awaiting the session of hearing the nobles' concerns. He hated the thought of hearing ponies complain for two hours before the Summer Sun Dinner--which to him was just lunch with a fancy name. "Are you sure about this, Twilight? I mean, couldn't we just cancel this whole session and let Celestia handle it after she and I switch back? What about the holiday?"

Twilight looked up from the letters she was organizing. "Well, excuse me if I can't fast forward time so you can skip it. You just need to hang in there until the Summer Sun Dinner, and then we have to survive that. From there, we'll handle the preparations for the festival tonight, and be there in case any problems arise. Knowing you, you can handle the preparations just fine, so that's when I'll go out and find Celestia and Tomato."

"Okay..." Cheese flipped himself over and sat on the throne upside-down, bouncing his leg. "So, what do I say to these ponies, anyway?"

"Just let them know that their complaints have been heard, and you should be fine." She scowled at him. "And for goodness' sake, sit normally! Princess Celestia does not sit like that!"

Cheese stuck his tongue out at her, and flipped himself back right side up. His wings popped open, and he sighed. "How do you live with these things, anyway? They seem to have minds of their own!"

Twilight giggled and shook her head. "Tell me about it. You wouldn't believe how many times my wings popped open on me, or how many times I crashed when trying to fly. It took time, but I eventually got the hang of it. Sort of."

Cheese had one wing in his grasp and was examining it. "At least I have some idea of how Tomato felt when he had wings... granted those were bat wings." His eyes widened as something dawned on him. "Hey, wait, how did he even have enough knowledge of flight to--"

The clock chimed, beginning its toll of ten for the time of morning. He let go of the wing, and fidgeted on the throne, awaiting the first pony. He took a breath, trying to imagine what kind of complicated issue that he'd have to ignore so that Celestia could address it later.

The doors opened, and the first noble, a mare wearing exquisite jewelry and a dress that would make Rarity jealous, strutted in. She walked until a certain point, bowed, and then rose back up. She looked up, and awaited Celestia to speak.

Cheese glanced at Twilight in the corner, who was urging him to speak, and then he cleared his throat. "So... uh... what kind of concern do you have today, lovely citizen?"

He ignored Twilight facehoofing as the pony answered, "Your Royal Highness, it is of great concern to me and my acquaintances that your sun's temperature is too high. Could you perhaps turn the heat down so that we may not sweat so much?"

Cheese couldn't help but give her the most incredulous look.

---

Luna strolled through the Dreamscape, the starry path beneath her gleaming like crystals and the sky above her bearing the warped mist of multiple tones of blue and violet. The doors of the realm were sparse, as was expected when she entered in the daytime, and she was certain that those doors belonged to tiny foals that slumbered often. There was no need for her to check on them, since their dreams were hardly as developed as ponies who were older.

Her eyes swept the landscape back and forth, trying to find any sign of those tiny bipedal creatures that had caused the Celestia-Cheese Sandwich mess in the first place, and possibly even more body swaps. Her ears were open, and she listened for those ever mischievous giggles.

Haunting echos and chimes filled the realm, but not even a snort of tiny laughter was heard. She hated how empty it felt during the day--at least it was much less boring at night, where she could see what her subjects were dreaming, whether they be nightmares that she could soothe or just a bizarre dream that could give her a good laugh.

"Why they thought it was a good idea to target my sister I'll never understand," she muttered, shaking her head. "That'll only bring forth my wrath on them."

Those things always loved to inconvenience her. She figured it was because they wanted to see the waking world, but couldn't without possessing a body. And unfortunately, pony bodies only accept pony spirits, which were attached to their dream avatars, until the body was close to dying. The dream gremlins often expressed their displeasure at not being able to possess a pony's body until their spirit had been away for too long and the body was open to any other, especially those that were non-equine. They had tried to switch Discord with a pony a few nights prior, but found it impossible since the pony body rejected him and vice versa.

As she continued to search, she wondered what her sister was doing, and how Cheese was doing during Celestia's duties.

Then, her ears picked up distant, high-pitched chatter, and she leapt forward to fly toward the source. She flew for a time before she found them.

They were blue-headed and black-bodied creatures, with three digits upon their hands and no sign of a nose upon their face. The males had legs, while the females had a wispy body resembling a dress. They differed with their eye color and their kinds of hair. One had fire for hair, another had water, and the others among them were purple slime, clouds, glowing spiky blond hair, streamers, a bush, bubbles, a beehive, and one was bald.

They were playing poker with cards that bore images of Celestia and several other ponies. Figuring that those were the images of ponies that they had switched, she found it fit to interrupt their game and interrogate them about it.

She flew above them, and shouted, "Dream Gremlins!"

They looked up, and their blue faces turned white.

"Thou hast made the bodies exchange spirits! What did I say about committing that cowardly annoyance?! Do you want me to imprison thee? Surrender and tell me the names of the ponies you have switched, and none of thee shall be harmed!"

The dream gremlins stared at her blankly for a moment. And then, when they had processed what she had told them, they screamed and started running away, spreading out in different directions through the Dreamscape. She merely watched them as they did so, unimpressed with their escape method.

"So is that the game that thou wants to play?" Luna muttered. She smirked. "I love a good hunt."

---

"Rolling out the tables is easy enough," Celestia said as she did so, panting all the while. "Though I'm not used to this aching in my front legs..."

Beside her, Tomato was carrying another table with his tail. Both were clad in spare white button shirts and black bow ties that had been in the manor. "Sometimes I forget alicorns have earth pony in them. The unicorn and pegasus parts are so obvious that you forget the earth pony. Huh, so how does it feel to have the powers of all kinds of ponies?"

Celestia pursed her lips, her eyes on Tomato's tail. "Well, I wouldn't say all. My sister is the only pony with power over dreams, and I could never figure out jester magic--all I've learned over the years is that if you openly question it, there are consequences."

"What kind of consequences?"

"The kind that make a pony the butt of a joke."

Tomato grimaced. "Do I even want to know how you learned that?"

Celestia chuckled. "Well, there was this one time when Lun--ah... ah..." She covered her nose, and then sneezed, bubbles appearing from her person, and creating a bed that began to lift her up and slipping her table out of her grasp.

Her surprise was palpable as she stood up, amazed at the bubbles not popping under her--or rather Cheese's--weight. After a moment of her silence, she giggled, finding the sheer impossibility of her situation amusing. She poked a bubble and it popped. "Oh, my goodness... I didn't expect this!"

Tomato jumped and put down his table. He took a deep breath and yelled, "Hey! Can you please get down from there?"

Celestia groaned, and muttered, "Oh, all right." She prepared to jump off for her descent--but then quickly remembered that she didn't have her wings anymore. She grimaced and looked down, noting that she was being lifted higher and higher, and she wasn't sure how Cheese would even make this stop. At the moment, she could only think of popping the bubbles, one at a time, to make it stop. "Oh, dear..." She looked down and shouted, "I'm afraid I'm going to take a while to come down!"

Tomato groaned, put a hoof on his forehead, and dragged it down his face. Do I have to get you down myself, Your Highness? He jumped onto the table, and the first thing he tried to do was fly. He fell face first onto the grass. Spitting out blades and wiping dirt off of his face, he cursed himself for forgetting that he didn't have wings. How the heck did he even forget that detail?

He looked back up, and he could barely see Celestia laying down on the bubble bed, poking at it and making the bubbles pop one by one. He started looking around for a pegasus to help, only to see just unicorns and earth ponies in the yard.

Fancy Pants approached him. "I dare say, what is your brother doing?"

"Uh... enjoying the view?"

Fancy Pants sighed. "Dear, dear, doesn't he know that it's not time for fun and games right now?"

"Well..." Tomato watched as Celestia kept popping the bubbles for a slow descent. "At least he's trying to get down."

"I've noticed that he's a little slow today compared to his exuberance yesterday. Is he coming down with something?"

"Right now I'm just concerned with him coming down from the sky." Without even thinking about it, he pulled a straw out of his front pocket. "I think I'll help him along."

Fancy Pants blinked at the fact that Tomato had somehow fit a straw in his pocket without bending it. Still, he was silent as he watched Tomato trot to the path, grab some tiny pebbles, and then aim for the bubble cloud.

A pebble shot through the cloud, popping several bubbles and nearly making Celestia jump. Several other bubbles drifted away from the cloud, and she descended faster toward the ground. She blinked, and then smiled at her progress, and then popped some more bubbles to draw closer to earth. She even giggled as the bubbles popped to a little tune, and she started to pop them faster and send more on their way upward. As she drew closer to the ground, she stood upright and helped the bubbles go along.

Tomato put the straw back in his pocket, and then galloped to where the bubble cloud had finally reached the ground. All the bubbles popped upon touching the grass, and Celestia had plopped on her hooves, chuckling to herself.

"Hahaha, that was a ride!" she exclaimed.

Tomato sighed, glanced back at where Fancy Pants was standing, and said in nearly a whisper, "If you say so, Your Highness. I mean, I'm sure Cheese's body could handle a high altitude like that--I imagine him travelling with balloons sometimes. Though getting down must have been a problem..."

"Normally I just would have flown off, but a lack of wings prevented that solution."

Tomato closed his eyes and nodded. "Well, at least that crisis is--"

"Hah-CHOO!"

His eyes snapped open to find that Celestia had now accidentally summoned balloons, which were inexplicably tied to her barrel, and was being lifted up into the sky once again. Her face was full of surprise at this new development, and she could only blink as she stared at the balloons.

Tomato's eye twitched, and he pulled out the straw once again. "Why do you keep sneezing?"

---

Cheese was getting a headache from all these nobles and their complaints. He had always hated complaints, especially since that usually meant he was doing something wrong with a party of his or his magic was being messed up in one way or another. Most of the complaints and concerns he had heard thus far he wished he didn't have to listen to.

When hearing "inflation", his first thought was that of a balloon. Why that word was applied to money, he didn't know, and would have to ask Tomato about it later. He rolled his eyes at some complaining about panhandlers in the city, and suggested that they give those folks jobs. Another came to complain about taxes, and he tried to get the pony to make him understand with a metaphor about cheese, confusing that pony. Another came to demand an explanation for the sun incident, which he came up with the excuse of he was tired from staying up too late last night because he was worried about Luna coming down with the Weasel Flu.

One pony got into a yelling fit, and a panicked Cheese grabbed two random guards and Twilight Sparkle and juggled them. That left the pony even more confused and angry, and thus the guards had to escort him out. Twilight glared at Cheese after that and lectured him about it.

As far as Cheese was concerned, they were were all mumbling and screaming. He didn't quite get the messages they were conveying, and and he wanted Twilight to tell him what they were saying. He was just happy to tell them "sayonara" when each session was through.

After a long two hours, the final noble marched in. He was a cornflower blue unicorn stallion, with a mane of two-toned purple, and eyes matching the hair. He was clothed in a dark violet suit, wearing glasses, and had a neatly trimmed mustache and goatee upon his muzzle. He strode forward until he was several meters away from the throne and bowed.

"Ah, yes..." Cheese began, glancing at Twilight for help with this pony's name. He read the flashcard she held up and nodded. "So, Quasar Rune, what concern have you brought to this room today?"

Quasar stood up. "I've heard that you have my son Kazam in the dungeon, awaiting trial."

Cheese blinked, and his brow furrowed. "Yes, he is." He closed his eyes. "I am sorry that your son has to be in prison, but that's what we do to criminals."

"But this must be a mistake. My son has given up those experiments years ago; surely he must have been framed."

"We have plenty of eyewitnesses saying that he did indeed launch a vampire attack on the innocent ponies of Las Pegasus. Even his own sister testified that yes, he did it, and even hypnotized her to be his minion in the process. He's a magical prodigy, I don't doubt that he was able to do it."

Quasar cleared his throat. "Silk Shimmer has always been jealous of her brother--it's such a shame that she has to defame him so."

Cheese's eye twitched, and he glared at the unicorn. "Look... we're having the trial, you can try to get ponies to defend him there. But you don't have to put your daughter down to raise your eldest son up. Maybe she wouldn't be so jealous if you didn't compare them!"

A wide-eyed Twilight shook her head, and repeatedly drew a hoof across her neck to try to get Cheese to stop. Unfortunately, she was ignored, and a Cheese with boiling lava within him was at the helm.

Quasar stepped back. "Now, wait, Your Highness, let's be reasonable--"

"Says the pony not willing to accept that maybe his prized son stepped outside the boundaries of decency and lawfulness in order to attempt treason!" Cheese stepped off the throne and marched toward him, backing him toward the door. "You weren't in Las Pegasus! You don't know what it's like to watch somepony you love turn into a monster, fall under a spell, and try to kill you! And you have to hurt them in order to get them to stop! And then agonize over whether or not you could have prevented the disaster by just one little action that could have avoided the whole mess! Do you even realize how traumatizing it is just for that to happen, especially on a wider scale for hundreds of ponies who watched that happen to their loved ones before their very eyes?"

He snorted and turned away. "Maybe you should just face facts. Your eldest is not doing anything to please you; he's an infidel." He walked back to the throne, staring ahead at it. The carpet was singed with Celestia's hoofprints, but for now, he didn't care that he just ruined the carpeting. Cheese Sandwich was not going to stand for that arrogance.

Quasar Rune blinked, and backed toward the door. "You've made your point, Your Highness. I'll... see myself out."

Cheese didn't even look back; he only heard the reverberating thud of the shutting door. He took a deep breath, and kept marching until he reached the throne and sat in it. He leaned in his hoof and squeezed his eyes shout, breathing through his teeth.

Twilight galloped to the place in front of the throne. "Cheese, what was that?! Why did you lose your temper like that?"

Cheese snorted. "Does Celestia never lose her temper?"

"Well, kind of, I rarely ever see her angry enough to burn anything..." Twilight shook her head. "But... weren't you taking it a little too personally? Because you're supposed to be unbiased about situations like that."

Cheese sighed. "I'm sorry, Twilight. I guess I'm letting my own experience in Las Pegasus get to me. For him just to minimize it like that... that just set me off."

Twilight stared at him for a moment, and looked at the floor. "Love for your family tends to do that--believe me, I've had an episode like that when my brother was in danger. But outbursts like that tend to paint you in the wrong light."

Cheese looked at the white foreleg he was currently possessing and poked it. "Or in this case, paint Celestia in the wrong light."

The clock hit twelve, and the bells began its tolls. With a deep breath, Twilight murmured, "I have a feeling the Summer Sun Dinner is going to be awkward..."

Cheese clicked his tongue and trotted off the throne. "Well... maybe a few tricks would get these ponies back in the holiday spirit! And maybe get them to stop being wary about the Princess' behavior."

Twilight groaned. "I just want this nightmare to end..."

---

Down at the great dinner hall, the nobles were chatting away at the white-clothed and carefully set tables, over the the music of the small orchestra that was playing on the nearby stage. They all had a air of enthusiasm about them, since they were excited for the all night festival that was coming up and the all night parties they would attend. While technically the Summer Sun Dinner was a luncheon, the real dinner was the Summer Sun Feast, which was going to be part of the evening's festivities that marked the night before the celebration.

Among the nobles was Fancy Pants, who had left the Sandwiches and his servants to continue setting up his party. While there had been a couple of incidents involving Cheese Sandwich being lifted up by a bed of bubbles, the balloons right after, and Tomato Sandwich squeezing through a gate to catch a runaway table, things seemed to be going swimmingly. After all, a little wackiness didn't hurt.

Suddenly, the fanfare blared, and everypony stood up, to honor the Princess. After all, even if she was acting a little strangely today, she was still their ruler.

And then the doors burst open, and Celestia marched in, shouting, "Howdy, fellas!"

Everyone turned and stared at her, unaware of the facehoofing Twilight Sparkle beside their ruler. And for some reason, there was a distinct lack of Princess Luna--didn't Celestia want her sister by her side? Fancy Pants looked around, seeing the others force smiles and stand up straight. They all held this position until she sat down at her seat, and then fidgeted a little until she was comfortable. When Twilight sat down next to her, Celestia's wings popped open, and smacked the lavender alicorn in the face. The smaller princess then moved the wing away, a scowl on her face.

When everypony was seated, the food began to be served. As it was, Celestia had suddenly announced, "I hope nopony minds, but..." She produced three ping pong balls from under her collar. "I'm going to juggle for your entertainment."

Fancy Pants blinked, while everypony else held looks of confusion. Twilight herself grimaced, and then with a forced smile on her face, made a motion to hiss at the elder princess through her teeth. He could have sworn that he heard something along the lines of "I thought you were going to the bathroom."

Celestia flushed at that and hissed something back. With a snort, she started to juggle the balls, and said, "Please excuse my sister Luna--she has some unfinished duties to attend to."

The mare beside Fancy Pants, Fleur de Lis, muttered, "What kind of nightly duties did she neglect so that she had to miss the dinner?"

Fancy shrugged. "I haven't the faintest idea."

Celestia kept on juggling as the food was served, and only stopped when the plates were full and Twilight had nudged her and whispered something in her ear. Celestia had dropped the balls as her eyes widened, and she grimaced as her sights fell on the goblet in front of her. She glanced between the cup and Twilight, gulped, and then shakily lifted up the goblet with her magic.

She cleared her throat. "So... uh... how are you all doing? I hope you're all fine and dandy... having fun sticking your noses up in the air and using that third eye in your horns to guide you."

Fancy Pants looked at his horn. He didn't recall having a third eye in there. He looked around, seeing that everypony was just as confused as he was. He had heard that Celestia was acting odd; now he was seeing it for himself.

"So, I'm glad you all came so that we could eat this feast of fancy foods and stuff that will make us full. I hope we can digest it all before we eat again during the evening feast for Summer Sun--and then we digest that before the big after-sunrise breakfast! Yeah, digestion... a function that's good for the body. Unlike Weasel Flu and earbleeds."

There was a moment of silence, and a cough, and then some forced chuckles. Celestia sighed and continued, looking cautiously at the trembling goblet in her magic, "Anyway, for years, this was the celebration of when I defeated Nightmare Moon and prevented eternal night. However, a couple years ago, the celebration changed from that of Moonie's defeat, to the return of Celes--I mean, my sister, Princess Luna! Again, I apologize that she's not--"

Suddenly, the goblet was thrown, and there was a shriek. The beverage within had splashed all over one of the mares, soiling her white dress and sagging her hat. Her jaw was slack as she stared at Celestia, silently screaming, "Why?"

With a grimace, Celestia twiddled her hooves. "Um... that was... I... I-I..." She shut her mouth, and then without looking at her plate, she swiped some mashed potatoes off it with both hooves, and chucked them both in different directions. "Food fight!"

One part of the mashed potatoes splattered right on Prince Blueblood's face; the other splattering over Jet Set and Upper Crust. All three of the ponies gnashed their teeth and ended up throwing their plates in anger, hitting other ponies as well. Those other ponies threw some food and hit others, and soon enough, the battle of food had commenced. Food of all kinds flew around, soiling dresses and suit jackets and ties and hats and the coats of the little ponies. Previously refined mares and stallions were now engaged in an all-out food war, reasoning that if their dress was ruined, so was the others'.

Even the chamber orchestra was in on the action, alternating between playing an upbeat and exciting tune and swatting away the food with their instruments. Meanwhile, Celestia and Twilight were crawling away from the hall, with Twilight voicing complaints all the way.

Fleur De Lis ducked under the table, while Fancy Pants ended up with a face full of mashed potatoes. Taking a napkin and wiping off the spuds, he looked around at the chaos and murmured, "Well, this took an interesting turn."

---

"Get back here!"

Tomato couldn't believe that out of all the things that could happen, the table just had to magically slip through the gate after an accidental push. And now here he was, stuck chasing it through the streets of Canterlot. He didn't know why it didn't stop after so long; but he was certain that if it had a voice, it'd be laughing at him.

As it bounded and rolled along, ponies jumped out of the way of the table, and watched a red-orange stallion pursue it. That same stallion was already dampening his clothes with his sweat, and his lungs were burning from the sharp breaths he had to take while running. His heart was pounding, his legs were aching, and he felt like he was going to drop dead any second.

Still, he pushed on, hoping to catch that table.

However, he didn't quite notice it suddenly stop, and he crashed into it and stumbled back in a daze.

"Whewee! That table was faster than a hungry dog smellin' a mountain of meat in a butcher shop!" a drawling voice hollered. "It's a good thing my leg stopped it real quick."

"It looked like somepony was chasing it..." a quiet voice said.

A raspy voice groaned. "And it's him. What's he doing here?"

Somepony bounced over to Tomato and said in a high voice, "Hi, Tommy, how are you?"

Tomato turned to none other than Pinkie Pie, and muttered in a slurred voice, "What's the matter with the clothes I'm wearing?"

Pinkie blinked and said, "Uh, nothing. Nothing at all."

Rarity trotted up next to her and scratched her chin. "Did you get some new clothes? You're not wearing your usual brown jacket and green tie combo. Your new outfit is simple, yet it still has that Canterlot charm to it."

Tomato shook his head, and looked at his shirt. "Oh, I'm just borrowing this from Fancy Pants while my clothes dry."

Rarity blinked. "Wait... did Cheese's Cheesy Sense bring you two to Fancy Pants' home?"

Tomato nodded. "Yeah, we're currently setting up a fancy party for him in his yard for the Summer Sun Celebration. Right now, Fancy Pants is just at that Summer Sun Dinner at the castle, so it's just me, the servants, Celes--I mean Cheese." He pointed to the table. "That table escaped."

"Yeah, we can see that," Rainbow Dash said.

"I reckon we oughta help ya push this table back to the place, right?" Applejack asked.

Tomato smiled. "That'd be nice. Thank you."

Pinkie squealed and jumped. "Oh, I'm happy to get a chance to say 'hi' to Cheese again so soon! Lead the way!"

Rarity smiled and trotted to the front beside Tomato. "I know where Fancy Pants lives, just in case you cannot retrace your steps."

"Well, I suppose..." Tomato said, scratching his ear. "I don't have time to memorize the layout of this city anyway." He turned and raised an eyebrow. "What are you girls doing here, anyway?"

Rarity chuckled. "Oh, Tomato, we know Princess Celestia! Twilight was her student before her ascension."

Tomato blinked and then put a hoof to his face. "Oh. Duh."

---

Once they reached the manor, Tomato pulled the table back through the gate, and rolled it to an empty spot in the yard. He glanced up at Celestia, who was draping tablecloths over the tables, and then glanced back to the girls at the gate. While he was thankful for their help, he felt a little awkward over the simple fact of the body swap. He wasn't sure how he would explain that to them.

Especially Pinkie, who had hopped over the fence, and tackled Celestia in one go. She had her pinned down, grinning at the pony she thought was Cheese Sandwich. All the while, Tomato was mentally begging for Pinkie not to suddenly decide that now was a good time for a first kiss.

Thankfully, it didn't happen, and Pinkie just climbed off, and once Celestia sat up, the pink pony gave her a tight squeeze, squealing, "Oh, Cheesy, it's so great that we get to see each other again!" She broke the hug and bounced back. "Isn't the Summer Sun Celebration just the most fun thing? Ooh, maybe when you're done here, you can come find me and we'll all have lots of fun during the festival together!"

Celestia blinked at her, and then smiled. "That would be wonderful, Pinkie Pie. Hehe, it'd be nice to witness the actual ceremony for once."

Pinkie bounced for a few more seconds, and then gradually stopped as gears started turning in her brain and she got the sense that something wasn't right. She scratched her chin, tilted her head, and narrowed her eyes. As far as she could tell, there was something just a teensy bit off about Cheese's smile and the tone of his voice.

And when the pony in front of her suddenly sneezed, flags of all sports teams popped off of his person, and an air horn sounded. Pinkie blinked, and remarked, "I thought you didn't like sports."

"Cheese" glanced back and forth, and answered, "I don't?"

Pinkie shook her head. "No..."

"Hey, Pinkie!" Rainbow shouted. "You done catching up with Cheese yet?"

"Twilight wants us at the castle on time, darling!" Rarity hollered.

Pinkie stood up. "I'm coming!" She kept on staring as she backed up toward the gate, still searching for just what was wrong with her friend. She climbed back over the gate, still staring. She hopped back down on the other side with her other friends, still staring. And she walked away, still staring.

Tomato waltzed to Celestia's side and helped her up. "She knows Cheese. I wouldn't be surprised if she figured it out."

Celestia nodded. "Well, Pinkie Pie is a mare full of surprises."

Tomato blew on his forelock. "Gee, why isn't her name 'Surprise'? Is the name copyrighted or something?"

His ears heard the gate open, and he turned toward it to find Fancy Pants had returned. Much to everypony's surprise, he was splattered with mashed potatoes, gravy, hay, wine, and various other foods. After staring for a moment as the unicorn walked toward his house, Tomato put a hoof to his face and murmured, "Oh no..."

Celestia smiled and bit her lip. "Was there a food fight?"

"Looks like it... and I'm ninety-nine percent sure that Cheese started it."

Celestia started to laugh. "Aw... I wish I had been there..." She laughed some more.

Tomato raised an eyebrow. "You... really are finding the humor in this, aren't you?"

---

Luna galloped through the Dreamscape, chasing the little dream gremlin with the beehive for hair. She had already captured the others; now it was Hatu's turn. Getting all was mandatory; if one escapes, he or she would just free the others and start the body swap madness all over again. And she wanted to get Celestia back in her body as soon as possible without any worries.

As Luna tossed her head and made a magical lasso come from her horn, Hatu jumped and rolled out of the way. He summoned bees of all shades of pink out of his hair, blowing a trumpet and squeaking, "Charge!" He dashed off as the bees started to swarm toward her in a giant pink wave.

Luna simply put up a shield to deflect the bees away from her, and galloped through the swarm, not caring that the wave crashed down on top of her. She still chased the little dream gremlin, who had now summoned bees to be a flying carpet. She took flight toward him, and dashed toward him.

"Surrender, Hatu! I've caught thee many a night before!" she shouted. She swore that she was going to strangle that thing if she took too long in catching him. She always wanted to strangle the dream gremlins, but they were impossible to kill.

Hatu blew a raspberry. "Never!" He summoned more bees out of his hair, which took the form of seagulls.

Luna blasted the bee seagulls with lasers from her horn, making the dream constructs evaporate with wails of agony. She could not bring herself to care about dream bees, but those wails nearly spooked her out of the chase. However, she shook her head, and prepared another dream lasso.

She continued to follow as Hatu approached a mountain that had apparently been stolen out of somepony's dream and ascended it to the voices of a choir, shooting bees at Luna. She dodged the three blasts, only for said bees to turn around and chase her in turn. While she did groan, her heart was pounding out of imagining herself being stung. She hated bee stings, and the presence of a dream gremlin meant that they would hurt just like in the waking world. She wanted to catch Hatu before those bees got her.

As they flew over the peak and descended down the other side of the mountain, she finally unleashed her lasso. She watched as it looped around Hatu, and stopped him in his tracks. He was forced to watch his bee carpet crash into a tree and dissipate, and then was swung around to bat the bees away.

Once the bees were gone, he was put into a small shield, and Luna flew away from the mountain. They flew until Luna reached her own door, went inside, and then put him in the cage with his fellow dream gremlins. They were all silent as Luna glared at them.

"Now..." Luna said. "I know you've switched the bodies of my sister, Celestia, and Cheese Sandwich. But, I know you little demons have done more than that. You know how it goes: tell me who you have switched, or I'll put you in the deepest, darkest nightmare I can create." For emphasis, she summoned lightning and booming thunder.

The dream gremlins screeched and trembled at the sight, and then were too busy whimpering to talk. Luna waited patiently, knowing that it would take a little bit for them to calm down.

Finally, Hatu spoke. "I... I switched Creme Brulee and Flora Peace."

The bubble hair one said, "I'm the one who switched your sister and Cheese Sandwich."

Another confessed, "I switched Double Diamond and Diamond Tiara."

Another piped up, "Coco Pommel and Troubleshoes."

"Maud Pie and Muffins."

"Peanut Butter and Jelly."

"Cookies and Cream."

"Clear Skies and Open Skies."

"Cortland and Soarin."

"Wayer Rune and Pumpkin Cake."

Luna nodded at each and every one. Then she asked, "Is that all?"

Hatu muttered, "Well, there's only ten of us, so..."

"All right, good." Her eyes narrowed at them. "Now you best stay put like I expect you to."

She turned and flew off, repeating the names over and over in her mind. She pitied poor Pumpkin Cake in Wayer's body, since that pony was imprisoned in Tartarus, with barely any means to escape according to Celestia. He was the monster with the least chance of escaping that terrible prison.

As they watched Luna fly away and out her door, the one with flaming hair scoffed.

"If Mara was out of that dumb cocoon, we wouldn't even be running away from Luna!"

Author's Note:

In which I finally get this chapter out!

Took a while because A, I had to figure out what Cheese had to do in Celestia's place, and B, figure out how Celestia would react to Cheese's powers randomly activating each time she sneezes. Blargh, I think I figured out the character that's tough for me to write. You'd think it'd be easier for her to drop the queenly mask while in Cheese's body, but apparently I can't help but write her as a subdued character.

Still, at least she's managing to find the humor on her side of the situation. Cheese on the other hand, is stuck with princessy stuff and he doesn't like it. Especially with naggy Twilight.

And dream gremlins have funny hair. It's true.

Comments

[Jordan179]

"... You don't know what it's like to watch somepony you love turn into a monster, fall under a spell, and try to kill you! And you have to hurt them in order to get them to stop! ..."

Ironically, the real Celestia also knows what this is like, too. At least once in canon with (Luna), and at least twice in my fanon (also with Discord).

[SageBrony07]

Go Cheese. I loved how he put that nobel in his place. Great job. I can't wait for the next part.

[madgirlmuahaha]

Tomato was mentally begging for Pinkie not to suddenly decide that now was a good time for a first kiss.

This line

[FanOfMostEverything]

"I've had worse damage done to my guest rooms--those things can easily be replaced and the scorch marks painted over. Just be careful in the future." Fancy Pants simply looked down at his clothes, which of course were dripping wet. "And of course, all etiquette is put aside when our lives are in danger. No worries, I have plenty changes of clothes in the manor. We want to be dry before we start the day and set things up for the celebration, hm?"

Fancy Pants: Twelve-time winner of the Annual Canterlot Unflappability Contest.

I'm having great fun imagining Weird Al and Nicole Oliver trying to do their best impressions of one another's intonations with this plot arc. And then trying to do impressions of the other doing impressions of themselves when interacting with those not in the know. It's a beautiful mental scene, and I thank you for it.

Tommy continues to demonstrate what could have been and may yet be. Very interesting, that.

I wonder, was Discord aware of the attempted swap as the gremlins were trying to carry it out? If so, it probably amused him to watch the futile struggle. If not, it implies that the vulnerability of sleep extends to all things, and that Luna's duty is even more important in this Equestria than I realized.

Luna, I know you love a good chase, but time is something of the essence. Sealing the exits before unleashing your righteous indignation might have been advisable.

Huh. I guess Cheese has never had to give a speech before. Makes sense; when's the last time he's ever been the guest of honor?

Hmm. If Wayer can control an infant unicorn's surges, he may actually be having fun right now.

In any case, the situation seems set to be resolved. The question now is how much of Celestia's political capital has gone up in flames.

[Goldfinch142]

"Hey, wait, how did he even have enough knowledge of flight to--"

Don't you know by now not to question things like that, Cheese?

"Your Royal Highness, it is of great concern to me and my acquaintances that your sun's temperature is too high. Could you perhaps turn the heat down so that we may not sweat so much?

Huh. That's a thing. Nobles will complain about literally anything and everything.

On an unrelated note, Tomato's got such an interesting tail, even Celestia wonders.

he cursed himself for forgetting that he didn't have wings. How the heck did he even forget that detail?

Looks like that bat piece still inside Tomato is showing through.

You go, Cheese! Tell that Quasar Rune who's boss!

As far as Cheese was concerned, they were were all mumbling and screaming. He didn't quite get the messages they were conveying, and and he wanted Twilight to tell him what they were saying. He was just happy to tell them "sayonara" when each session was through.

I guess Cheese has heard Smells Like Nirvana.

"Gee, why isn't her name 'Surprise'? Is the name copyrighted or something?"

Yes, actually. What an odd thing to say.

All those switched bodies. Those must be interesting experiences. Especially the ones who switched gender.

[Godslittleprincess]

Fancy Pants blinked at the fact that Tomato had somehow fit a straw in his pocket without bending it. Still, he was silent as he watched Tomato trot to the path, grab some tiny pebbles, and then aim for the bubble cloud.

Tomato, your inner goofy is showing.

She turned and flew off, repeating the names over and over in her mind. She pitied poor Pumpkin Cake in Wayer's body, since that pony was imprisoned in Tartarus, with barely any means to escape according to Celestia. He was the monster with the least chance of escaping that terrible prison.

Oh boy, is that going to bite her in the butt later!