Brotherly Bonding Time

by Sketcha-Holic

8.4--Royal Pain

Back in the castle, Twilight was pacing around Celestia's room, with nearly everything quaking inside of her. While her hooves remained steady, she felt as if her barrel was ready to implode. After all, Cheese Sandwich had already nearly torched the country with the sun, juggled ponies, confused nobles with cheese metaphors and lack of economic knowledge, burned the carpet in a fit of anger, and started a food fight. She hated how the news about that food fight was going to spread throughout Canterlot, with some implications about Princess Celestia. On the way to this room, she already heard some ponies murmuring about how odd Celestia had been acting.

Cheese had been kind enough to let her wash up first--even after an argument about how Celestia should be first--and now, after Twilight was all clean, he was in the private washroom, singing a little ditty as he scrubbed off the gravy and mashed potatoes.

"Oh, I fended off an army of monster geese!
With a stringless banjo painted polka dots!
Celestia's rubber duckie is looking at me funny!
As if I'm a puppy dog wearing socks!"

That song only served to make Twilight even more nervous. Why did it have to be Cheese Sandwich? Why couldn't the dream gremlins have left Celestia alone--or if not, switched her with somepony with more political knowledge and grace? Cheese was clearly more interested in Celestia's rubber duck (she has a rubber duck?) than in the goings on of the day. Aside from the festival that was being planned for tonight, of course. Even then, she had a hunch something else would go wrong.

"It's like he's not taking any of this seriously," Twilight groaned. "I swear, once he's back in his own body, I'm going to slap him."

There was a knock on the door, and Twilight sighed. "Who is it?"

She heard a few giggles from behind the door, and and a raspy voice forcing deepness bellowed, "It's the Royal Guard! Something has escaped from Tartarus and is turning everypony into plants!"

Twilight giggled and answered back, "Oh no! I better gather my friends so we can fight the evil plant monster!"

"There's a problem with that, Princess! All your friends are plants now! Rainbow Dash has become jungle vines, Rarity has become a white rose, Pinkie Pie is now a watermelon--"

A high voice squealed, "Ooh! I love watermelons!"

"--Fluttershy is a tree, and Applejack is a... cactus."

A low voice then drawled in an unimpressed tone, "...a cactus?"

Twilight giggled some more. "Oh, no! Whatever shall I do without my best friends to help me? I better open the door so that I can see this Royal Guard face to face!"

She hopped forward and sprung open the door, and was promptly caught in the middle of a group hug. A mixture of cooing, giggles, and excited mutterings filled the room as Twilight and her friends squeezed each other in their warm embrace. Twilight herself felt less of the pain of worry and steadily relaxed.

When the hug was broken, she backed up and asked, "But, really... plants?"

Rainbow Dash shrugged. "Hey, it was the first thing I thought of."

Applejack stepped forward. "So, what are ya doing in Princess Celestia's room, anyhow?"

Rarity added, "I thought we agreed to meet in the courtyard. What's the reason for this... odd change in plans?"

Twilight gulped, and the feeling of nearly exploding with stress was returning. How was she supposed to explain the situation at hoof? She felt like she was stuck in some corny fiction novel using a cliche plot device for cheap laughs. She wanted to believe that it was just a bad dream, but sadly, the events of the day were just too real.

Fluttershy held a look of concern. "Is Celestia sick?"

Twilight took a deep breath and grumbled, "I wish. But this is far worse."

"Does it have anything to do with what happened with the sun this mornin'?" Applejack asked.

At that moment, Cheese had opened the door to the washroom and stepped out, with a smile on his face, a deep whiff, and a blissful moan. He acted as if he had received a cleansing after ages of not bathing--which wouldn't have surprised Twilight. Still, seeing him step out which such grace was quite surprising, given how the rest of the day had been. If it hadn't been for the sun incident and the food fight, she would have thought that was really Princess Celestia striding out of the washroom.

However, the moment Cheese opened his eyes and saw Twilight's friends there, he jumped and yelped. The wings popped open, and the white face turned pink with embarrassment. "Okay, girls, when did you get there?!"

The group collectively grimaced at the sight before switching into forced grins--with the exception of Pinkie, who narrowed her eyes and scratched her chin. Applejack rubbed the back of her head, and answered, "Er... five minutes ago?"

Cheese grinned back nervously. "Oh, good, good! You're here to do the, uh... thing."

Twilight groaned. "Yeah... the 'thing'."

Rarity frowned. "Is there anything wrong, Twilight?"

"Ugh... I've been having a bad day..."

Pinkie continued to stare at "Celestia", a pout on her face and scrutinizing eyes. Cheese found himself a little uncomfortable under that glare, especially when Pinkie came closer and scanned him up and down, paying close attention to the wings and how stiff they seemed. She stopped, and then started to bounce on her tail in order to ascend high enough take a look at Celestia's eyes. She bounced again, and again, and again, still holding that look of suspicion and tapping her chin.

Fluttershy took notice of Pinkie's behavior. "Um, Pinkie? What are you doing?"

Pinkie stopped her bouncing, and then ran a few laps around the alicorn. After skidding to a stop, she peered at him one more time, searched her memory, and then her eyes widened as something clicked. With a gasp, she exclaimed, "Cheese Sandwich?! Is that you?"

The others snapped around to her, and looked around the room to see Pinkie's party pony buddy. With the exception of Twilight, they all sighed when there was no sign of him. Rarity then said, "Pinkie, dear, I'm afraid that you might be seeing things."

"No, she's right, Cheese is in here," Twilight said. She pointed to Celestia's body, laughing nervously. "He and Celestia switched bodies!"

Applejack blinked and raised an eyebrow. "Say what?"

Pinkie pulled out an accordion, and gave it to Cheese. "Play a tune, Cheesy."

Cheese stared at the instrument in his hooves, and breathed a sigh of relief. "Oh, it feels so good to hold an accordion again." And with that, he started playing one of his favorite songs, a song first created by none other than the mare in front of him. It always felt good to either sing or play it, especially after a stressful day. He looked up at the rest of the girls, who were wide-eyed at the sight of Celestia playing the accordion, and playing a song of Pinkie's so well. Cheese didn't know if Celestia had ever heard the song or knew how to play the accordion, but he was certain that the song had never been written down.

"Come on, everypony, smile, smile, smile
Fill my heart up with sunshine, sunshine,
All I really need is a smile, smile, smile
From these happy friends of mine!"

It was weird singing in Celestia's voice. At least she had a lovely singing voice.

Once he finished, he smiled at them, who were all still gaping at him after that performance. The room was silent for a moment, before Cheese said, "You know, it's funny to think that Tomato's spending the day with the princess, whether he knows it or not."

Pinkie giggled. "I'd love to see the look on his face."

"Oh, my..." Applejack muttered.

Rarity's eye twitched. "It was Cheese Sandwich... Cheese Sandwich... being a princess..." She turned to Twilight, her teeth clenched. "Is this some kind of cruel joke?! He doesn't even have the appropriate poise and grace for royalty!"

"Wait, wait, wait," Rainbow said, her brow furrowed. "So when we stopped at Fancy Pants' place to say 'hi' to Cheese, it was actually Celestia there? That is insanely freaky."

"Does his brother even know?" Fluttershy asked.

"I don't know," Twilight answered. "But I don't doubt that he'd see Cheese's behavior being a little off."

"How did this even happen?" Applejack asked.

Twilight took a deep breath. "So, last night dream gremlins were running around the dreamscape and thought it'd be funny to switch ponies' bodies. Apparently, two of those ponies happened to be Princess Celestia and Cheese Sandwich! And I've been babysitting him all day while Luna rounds up those gremlins so they don't cause any more problems, and let me tell you, it is a pain watching him! Between nearly burning Equestria, starting a food fight, and either scaring or confusing nobles, he is not acting like a princess! And all the while I'm wondering why this even happened. What lesson could either Cheese or Celestia learn from this experience? Is this some kind of Princess and Pauper story? Or is it nothing but just a cruel joke?! And the worst part is, it's the Summer Sun Celebration!"

Twilight sat down, hung her head, and panted. "And the day's not even over..."

Cheese rubbed the back of his head. "I'm sorry for making this day stressful for you. I'm not used to having to act like royalty."

Twilight sighed. "At least overseeing the festival setup with the event planner will be easy for you while I go and find Celestia. But, just in case, my friends will help you with anything you need."

Cheese glanced at Pinkie and smiled. "That'd be great."

Twilight scratched her chin. "Now... where does Fancy Pants live?"

Rarity stepped forward. "Oh, no need to worry, Twilight, I know. I've visited his manor on several occasions to talk business with him." She eyed Cheese warily. "Anything to fix this mess before things get worse."

Twilight smiled. "Great!" She turned to the others. "Now, when Cheese needs help with anything, you do your best to provide it. He's kind of unable to do party pony... things while he's Celestia." As she and Rarity trotted out the room, Twilight paused and said, "Oh, yeah, almost forgot! Make sure he doesn't use Celestia's powers--he doesn't know how to control them." And with that, they left the others alone.

Applejack adjusted her hat and started walking out. "Well, we better get to the fairgrounds. That fair ain't gonna set itself up, yanno?"

Pinkie bounced out of the room alongside Applejack. "Well, come on! We can't let those ponies have all the fun! They need to save some for us!"

Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy followed, and after he took a deep breath, Cheese was the last to leave the room.

---

After all the tables had been set up and decorated, nearly everypony went inside in order to start preparing the meals and hors d'oeuvres for the party. Tomato and Celestia had opted to stay outside and lay on their bellies in the grass, looking up at the sky and just relaxing and talking.

Celestia let the breeze caress her cheek. "It's nice to have a moment to relax and sit in the sun."

Without thinking, Tomato responded in a flat tone, "Do you absorb sunlight, Your Highness?"

Celestia put a hoof to her mouth and chuckled. "You don't know how many times ponies actually thought I did that--I've had to correct them and tell them that plants do that, and I'm not a plant."

Tomato sighed. "Yeah, I've had that joke applied to me a couple of times, and I've said it in regards to my friend Flora when she rolled in the grass when I took her to the park once."

"Did she take the joke well?"

Tomato rubbed one hoof with the other one and stared at it. "Well, with me being a wet blanket, she was surprised to hear me make a joke. She surprised me back by laughing and playing along with it, just meditating there and claiming she was doing photosynthesis. She took it better than another pony, who emphasized the importance of chlorophyll in that process and told me off in thinking that ponies did photosynthesis, when in fact it's plants that do that." He shook his head. "And ponies say I can't take a joke."

Celestia sighed. "I've known a lot of ponies like that. Many of the nobles tend to be stuffy sticks-in-the-mud that fail to find humor in a situation. Big events such as the Grand Galloping Gala have been boring for years because they're so uptight..."

"You seem quite relaxed and even humored at this whole body switch thing. I mean... I'd be pretty high strung if I was in a body with powers I had no idea how to use, while somepony else was piloting mine. How are you not angry that Cheese almost burned the country? Or worried that he's ruining your reputation?"

"I have a feeling Luna knows, and if Twilight knows, I'm sure they're doing everything in their power to keep things under control."

"Still... you're so calm... do you even get angry?"

"Managing my anger helps me make better decisions in my position." Celestia looked up at the sun, wincing at how bright it was to the eyes of Cheese. "I also don't want my little ponies to fear me. I'm here to protect and guide them, not to have them forcibly bow to me to avoid my wrath. My anger is reserved for the serious situations."

"And this doesn't count as serious?"

"If someone--pony or otherwise--behaves in a manner that intends harm to my subjects, that's when I get angry. Most are lucky not to have seen me reach the level of my fire form. And if we're all lucky, none of the members of this generation will have to see it."

Did she just say she can light on fire? I hope Cheese doesn't get mad for whatever reason. Tomato pursed his lips. "In any case... well, you're surprisingly easy to talk to. You're a nice princess, I like that." He lightly tugged at his forelock with one hoof and strummed it with the other. "Still, are you planning to at least talk to him about the sun thing after this whole mess is over?"

"Oh, I will. I'm also going to talk to Luna about how she let the dream gremlins even do this."

It was then that Twilight Sparkle and Rarity came to the gate, looked in, and spotted the two on the grass. Twilight took a deep breath, paused to remind herself of which name to yell, and then hollered, "Cheese Sandwich!"

That got the attention of both, and Tomato muttered, "Looks like Twilight found us."

"She wouldn't go out of her way to come here and ask for your brother if she didn't know about the switch." Celestia stood up. "Best start making the plans for the right time to switch back."

Celestia trotted to the gate, and met a half-relieved, half-still worried Twilight pacing nervously in place. She was forcing a smile, which caused an uncomfortable looking Rarity to scoot away a little. By the time the two reached the gate, Twilight started laughing.

"Are... you in there, Celestia?" she asked.

Celestia smiled and nodded. "Indeed you have found me, Twilight. What took you so long?"

Twilight's eye twitched. "Oh, nothing... except I was babysitting Cheese, and the first thing he does is nearly destroy Equestria."

"Eeyeah, we saw that one, and heard about the food fight," Tomato said, approaching the girls. "Sorry to butt in, but Celestia made sure I was in the know about this body swap thing."

"Oh, thank goodness," Rarity said. "I was wondering how we were going to break the news to you if you didn't already know."

"I had my moments of doubt." He blew on his forelock and looked at Twilight. "Anyway, Celestia told me how it happened, with those dream things pulling a prank. You have any schedule for naptime so that they could be switched back?"

Twilight shook her head. "Not yet. Still need word from Princess Luna. And well, my day was terrible, how was yours?"

"Interesting things happen when I sneeze," Celestia replied. She turned to Tomato. "Does he have allergies?"

Tomato clicked his tongue. "I assume not, since he travels around all the time."

Celestia coughed and then rubbed her throat. "Does he ever stop to rest?"

"We recently had a rest stop in Ponyville a few days ago."

"Hm." She turned back to Twilight. "Anyway, it was mainly setting up tables and decorating--though I did get a kick out of being lifted into the air by bubbles and then balloons."

"Had to get her down both times because there wasn't time to fetch a pegasus," Tomato grumbled.

"Well... at least one of us is having a good day," Twilight said with a forced tone. "So... do you mind finding the soonest you can leave Fancy Pants' party? I mean, you and Cheese really should be switched back before the ceremony tomorrow morning."

"Don't worry, Twilight, I'll see how early Tomato and I can leave."

Twilight sighed. "All right then, we'll be at the fairgrounds. Knowing Cheese, he wouldn't dare do anything that'll mess up a festival."

"I'd imagine that he'd be absolutely horrified if he did," Rarity said. "He and Pinkie are ponies who take parties seriously, after all."

That was when Fancy Pants walked on the scene. "I hope you don't mind me interrupting, but I see you're chatting with a friend of mine, boys."

Upon hearing the word "boys", Tomato glanced at Celestia and shifted his hooves uncomfortably, as he was suddenly reminded of another reason that the switch was so awkward.

"Fancy seeing you here at my gate, Rarity," Fancy Pants said. "And Princess Twilight? May I ask for the reason for this call?"

Twilight and Rarity glanced at each other. Rarity cleared her throat, and answered, "Oh, we, uh... were just in the neighborhood, looking around and seeing what ponies were doing to prepare for the festival tonight. That dinner party in your yard certainly looks grand. Of course, seeing that you have Cheese Sandwich here planning it, why wouldn't it be? I'm quite surprised that he can plan this kind of party."

Fancy Pants scratched his chin, looking at the tables. "It doesn't seem as grand as he promised it, but it's too early to judge. If you'd like, Rarity, you can join the party."

"Oh, I'd love to!" Rarity answered. "But... I'm afraid I have other engagements."

"Ah, I understand. Well, then, I wish you a happy Summer Sun." He started walking away, saying, "Come along, Sandwiches, I have another task for you boys to do."

Celestia glanced at Twilight and Rarity, and said, "Don't worry, this isn't the first time I had to clean up the mess somepony else made when I switched bodies with them. And frankly, I'm certain that this mess will be easier to clean up."

They parted ways, and Celestia and Tomato followed Fancy Pants. As they did so, Tomato asked, "Who did you switch with last time?"

"I can't remember his name, but he started a war."

---

Cheese felt his spirit soar at the sight of the carnival being set up. Stands and stalls were lined up around the fairground, each with a sign boasting their treat in bright letters, with a picture of said treat to boot. His stomach quietly rumbled upon seeing the pictures of popcorn, ice cream, snow cones (made with actual mountain snow!), funnel cakes, fruit and vegetable kebabs, and so much more. He especially resisted drooling over the nachos, as well as the cotton candy, as fluffy, sweet, and pink as one of his favorite ponies. Within the stands, ponies were busy tweaking and tuning up the machines that would help them make the food.

Those of Twilight's friends that were tasked with watching him were doing some work around the fairgrounds as well. Applejack was delivering some apples to a candy apple stand. Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy were placing decorations on some of the higher structures with some other pegasi. And Pinkie Pie was hopping from stand to stand, making five second inspections of each one before moving on to the next one, adding balloons and streamers along the way. Cheese found himself annoyed with the fact that he was only strolling around and looking pretty as the princess he currently was, but at least he could see everything was going swell so far.

His attention was diverted to the carnival games and rides, which were also under their check ups before the evening carnival began after the big feast. Whether it was the high striker, throwing ping pong balls into goldfish bowls, or the ferris wheel, Cheese felt giddy just thinking about the fun that ponies were going to have that night. He also spotted some well known musicians, such as Sapphire Shores and Starsong, singing a few practice notes, and a couple of magicians getting ready to entertain ponies for the night. They hadn't been at the Magic Expo, as far as he could tell, but he was sure that they were thankful they weren't after the whole vampire fiasco.

His muscles tensed upon thinking of what happened that night, and he breathed through his teeth. Some pegasi flew above him, and he flinched, looking up cautiously. He kept looking up at the flying beings, still tense as he checked each of their wings for feathers. His rapid breathing grew slower as he counted each wing, and he slowly exhaled, thankful that a repeat wasn't happening.

His gaze then fell to the big platform between two fancy buildings, bearing statues of the sun and the crescent moon, and he frowned. That was where the ceremony was going to take place, with the simultaneous sunrise and moonset tomorrow morning. He hoped that he and Celestia would be switched back before he'd have to raise the sun. He didn't want to endanger Equestria a second time, especially during a holiday. Neither did he want to burden Luna with both celestial bodies.

He took a deep breath. Don't worry, Cheese. If all goes well, you and Celestia will be able to slip away from our respective events, take a quick nap, and then badda-bing, badda-boom, we're back in our own bodies!

He caught a glance of the pony who planned the event, a mare named Lemon Hearts. Smiling, he approached the yellow coated, blue maned unicorn and told her, "This carnival is great! I bet you'd make other event planners jealous."

Lemon Hearts looked up and beamed. "Oh, thank you, Princess. I've been planning the Summer Sun events for months, and while the Dinner was... kind of messy..."

Cheese gave her a sheepish grin. "Sorry about that... I don't know what came over me."

Lemon Hearts chuckled nervously. "Oh, well, things happen, we all have our bad days..." She cleared her throat. "Anyway, everypony's making sure to have careful maintenance on every device, machine, and carnival ride on the fairgrounds. No ride is going to break down this year!"

Cheese nodded. "Don't I know the importance of maintenance. Believe me, I've had to make sure my party tank was in working order."

Lemon Hearts tilted her head and blinked. "Party tank?"

Cheese wanted to slap himself for saying that. Shoot! Celestia doesn't have a party tank! "Uh... I mean... I've had to, uh, maintain the country... and I've had other ponies maintain... things." After an awkward moment of silent staring between him and Lemon Hearts, he pointed in a random direction and shouted, "Look, a distraction!" When Lemon turned to see what he was pointing at, he sped off, his face heating up over his stupid remark.

He ran to the cotton candy stand, and sat against the side, taking deep breaths and wiping his forehead. He looked back at Lemon Hearts, and then around at the fairgrounds again. He smiled at it once more, but after a few moments, the smile faded into a frown as his heart sank. Here he was, on the Canterlot fairgrounds, surrounded by a wonderful carnival that he knew ponies were going to love--and he had done nothing to contribute. It may have been more acceptable in this case, as he was currently Princess Celestia and few ponies knew about the switch, but he hated the feeling of having not done anything.

He reached behind his back, trying to grab Boneless 2 so that he could confide in him. But, the pats he ended up giving himself on the back reminded him that he was without his magic--it was back with his body, along with the rubber chicken, under Celestia's control. And it was likely that she didn't know how to use it. At least she was less likely to use his magic on accident.

With a silent sigh, he looked at the grass, drawing with his hoof in little circles. With a furrowed brow, he scoffed at himself. He had none of his own magic to use; he had Celestia's magic, but using it was a recipe for disaster. And, frankly, he was a terrible princess.

That was when he noticed Pinkie Pie hop toward Lemon Hearts, squealing, "This carnival is going to be great! A lot of ponies are going to be having lots of fun here!" She tapped her chin and added, "Although... it could stand to have a pony making balloon animals."

Lemon Hearts sighed. "I used to have a neighbor who took balloon modeling to amazing levels that nopony else could match. I'm sure he would have loved to be a part of this fair."

"Where'd he move to?"

"Nopony knows--not even his family. He left because he didn't quite fit in with Canterlot society and nopony appreciated his talent."

Cheese crossed his front legs. I know how that feels. To not fit in, have no respect for your talent... He huffed and started to grind his teeth. If this guy they're talking about has any siblings, I bet they were liked better by their peers than he was.

Pinkie frowned. "Not feeling like anypony takes your talent seriously really stinks."

"I hope he's okay. I wonder how he'd feel about his brother committing that horrendous crime in Las Pegasus," Lemon Hearts continued. "I mean... you can only equate vampires with bad intentions, am I right?"

Cheese's heart nearly stopped at the sound of that, and in his mind appeared the image of Kazam, with his sadistic grin as he ordered the death sentence for Cheese. Curling up into a ball, he grinded his teeth and breathed rapidly, looking up at the sky for any signs of the vampires. His heart rate increased, and his mind started to plead with them to stop talking about that and move on to another subject.

"Yeah!" Pinkie exclaimed. "I have a friend who was there, and he saw the whole thing!"

Cheese nearly jumped out of his skin when he heard Pinkie say that. Why'd you tell her that?!

Lemon Hearts' eyes widened. "Oh, dear, is he okay?"

Pinkie nodded. "He wasn't hurt, but he did tell me that it was a nightmare. I don't know many of the details, but it must have been really scary! All those vampires flying around him..."

That image came into Cheese's mind, and he clutched his head.

"...having to fend them off so they don't bite him and turn him into a vampire..."

He remembered hitting some of them with his accordion, and fulfilling his statement of doing the Pony Pokey violently. He still wished that he hadn't needed to do that.

"...watching other ponies turn into vampires..."

He remembered staring at that door in the convention center in disbelief, hearing the screams of terror and agony, combined with the cracks signifying the growth of wings and the hissing of unnatural hybrids. He tensed up even more upon thinking of the one who had been the head vampire.

"...and seeing that a crazy pony is controlling their minds and making ponies attack their friends and family!" Pinkie huffed. "That meanie-meaniepants thought it was fun! How is hurting ponies fun?"

Cheese snarled under his breath, "Yeah... how is it any fun, Kazam?" The sensation of falling coursed through his body, and he remembered the helplessness he had felt in those slow, agonizing moments, unable to find any humor that could have been exploited to save himself. He blocked out the rest of the conversation, Kazam entering his mind and taunting him.

His blood boiled at the thought of the smug arrogance that had been on display since Cheese had first met him. The creepy air that had sent chills down his spine when Kazam had been given his assigned stage. The mere fact that he had not only repeatedly put Tomato in danger, but turned him into a monster. It was a slap in the face to think that he was related to the sweet and helpful Silk Shimmer and their missing party pony brother Party Favor (who he supposed that Lemon Hearts was talking about).

He felt every part of the body he inhabited heat up. That stupid father of those three had the nerve to defend Kazam when all evidence pointed to him! How incredible it was that somepony actually tried to deny that their son was a criminal, and Quasar Rune definitely needed a rubber chicken to the face. Cheese would not have been surprised if Party Favor left because of his father and brother.

How he'd hate to have a brother like Kazam. How he'd hate to be related to a sadistic jerkwad that thought that putting ponies through a nightmare like that was fun. He grew hotter and hotter, feeling as if he was going to burst into flame any moment, because he had never met a pony more detestable than Kazam, and there was no way that there was anypony worse.

Especially since Kazam had nearly stole Cheese's brother.

That was when he heard Lemon Hearts scream, "The cotton candy stand's on fire!"

Realizing that that was where he was, he leapt to his hooves and leapt out of the area, only turning around to see that the stand was, in fact, on fire.

He backed away from the stand and bumped into another. Behind him he heard a fwoosh and that unmistakable crackling, and ponies gasped and started to make a fuss by making all sorts of screams and shouts. In reaction to this, he spun around to find that the candy apple stand had lit on fire too.

He jumped back, only for his wings to haphazardly flap and direct him to another stand, where he ended up crashing, and then quickly finding that stand on fire too. As he jumped out of the burning rubble and brushed himself off, he noticed ponies running away, shouting, "The princess has unleashed her wrath upon us!"

Cheese blinked, wondering what the hay they were talking about. As he made a motion to scratch his head, however, he felt something hot lick his hoof. He froze, and stood there wide-eyed, trying to process what was going on.

And then Pinkie galloped up to him and gasped, "Cheesy! You're on fire!"

Hearing alarms go off in his head, his stillness gave way to a burst of energy spurning him to gallop around the fairgrounds, screaming, "Heeeellllppppp! Put it out, put it out, put it out!"

The wings started haphazardly flapping again, lifting him off the ground in spurts and launching him in directions he didn't want to go. He ended up crashing into another stand, and another, and another and then just kept on running in his panic, his head and tail still on fire. The wings then pushed him into another, this time headfirst. In a daze, he brushed past a few more, lighting them on fire as well.

All the helper ponies, seeing who they thought was the princess bolting around like a flaming comet, started to panic as well, and the whole area erupted in a cacophony of screaming and shouting. Ponies who had been in the flaming stands and stalls crawled out, coughing and then shuffling away from the fairgrounds to avoid the panicking alicorn. Ponies who looked back to see where the princess was going to run next ended up crashing into some attractions, with the high striker falling down like a tree and breaking into pieces and goldfish bowls shattering all over the ground.

As Pinkie watched the scene in horror, Applejack marched up up to her and shouted, "Pinkie! Why the hay did you scare him like that? He's runnin' 'round the fairgrounds like a dog who roughed up a hornet's nest!"

Pinkie bit her lip. "I just thought he needed to know."

Applejack groaned, and looked up at Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy, who had come down upon seeing what was going on. Rainbow asked, "Okay, can somepony tell me why he's on fire?"

"I think I heard Twilight mention that Celestia had a fire form," Fluttershy said. "Cheese must have accidentally accessed it!"

"What?!" Pinkie shouted. She hopped out of the group and shouted, "Cheese, turn the fire off!"

Cheese shouted back as he ran past, "How do I turn it off?!"

The girls winced as Cheese crashed into another thing. With a sigh, Applejack turned to Rainbow and said, "You think you can find a cloud to put out these fires?"

"On it!" With that, Rainbow zoomed away.

Applejack looked at the other two. "Now, let's calm him down before he wrecks anything else."

Pinkie jumped. "Ooh, I know, I know!" She spun around, galloped to a empty spot, and sang,

"Oh, Cheesy! Oh, Cheesy! My party pony friend!
I am super happy that you dropped by here today!"

As he ran, Cheese skidded to a stop, blinked, and at Pinkie's smile, he softly sang back,

"Oh Pinkie, oh Pinkie, my purest inspiration!
You are just oh so lovable that I wish I could stay!"

Pinkie giggled, and then they both sang,

"The super duper party ponies,
That is you and me
I am so glad that I know you
You're as fun as can be!"

The pair laughed, and as they did so, the flames on Celestia's mane and tail died down, going back to the blue, green, and light purple hues of her hair. Pinkie didn't fail to notice this, and she didn't hesitate in telling Cheese. Cheese patted his head, and breathed a sigh of relief, muttering, "Oh, thank Celestia... wait a minute, I'm Celestia..."

Fluttershy asked Pinkie, "How did you do that?"

Pinkie winked. "Cheese has to finish the song with me."

Applejack marched forward and said, "Glad that ya turned it off..." Then she gestured to the flaming stands, which Rainbow Dash and other pegasi were at work kicking at clouds to put out the flames. "Too bad you're too late, and already wrecked the fair."

Cheese's heart sank, and he looked around at the wreckage. Aside from the fire burning in several places, several of the machines that were to be used to make the carnival food were busted. Shattered glass from the goldfish bowl game scattered on one patch of grass, with the fish flopping around and gasping for breath. Every carnival game had something broken, and food being salvaged from the wreckage that had it's fire extinguished was all burned. Ponies were staring at him in horror, whether it was out of fear or anger. He could spot some coughing, and some sporting burns. But what really killed him was seeing Lemon Hearts, sitting on the ground and sobbing in her hooves.

He felt sick to his stomach. All that planning, gone to waste, because Cheese had no idea how to control Celestia's powers. He bit his lip, wanting to just disappear in that moment. He hated the cruel irony of a party pony ruining a party.

"What the hay did you even do to light on fire, anyway?!" Applejack yelled. "What part of not using Celestia's powers did you not understand?!"

"Applejack! Don't be so harsh!" Fluttershy hissed. "I'm sure it was an accident."

"Accident or no accident, he should know better than to run around while he's flamin' like a wildfire!"

Cheese backed away. "I'm sorry... I'm sorry... I-I don't know what came over me..."

"Is Celestia trying to kill us?" one pony asked.

Cheese looked up when he heard that. "What? No! She would never--I mean, I would never--"

"I thought she was protecting us, not wanting to destroy us!" another pony answered.

"Why would she ruin the carnival like this?" another asked.

"I'm willing to bet she's possessed."

"It's Nightmare Moon all over again, except with the sun!"

"Where are her advisers? For that matter, where is her sister?!"

"This is the worst Summer Sun ever!"

Cheese backed up some more, and then waved a hoof. "Calm down, ponies! Calm down! This is just a setback, I can fix--"

He stopped as he looked at his hoof--or rather, Celestia's hoof, wearing a golden slipper. He continued to stare at it for what seemed like hours, with the reminder sinking in that he was not in his own body. In his own body, with the powers that he was familiar with and had basically master, he really could fix this mess. But in Celestia's body, with powers that he had little control over? He couldn't think of anything that wouldn't make things worse. He couldn't fix it.

Pinkie turned to him. "...Cheesy?"

Fluttershy put a hoof to her mouth. "Are you okay?"

Applejack's brow softened as her anger turned to concern. "Can you fix it?"

Cheese gritted his teeth, staring at the upset ponies before him. What was he supposed to do? He had just shattered Celestia's credibility, and no remedy was coming up in his mind. His heart pounding and his lungs only taking shallow breaths, he decided to do the one thing he could only do when presented with a problem he couldn't solve.

He turned and ran away.

One pony in the crowd groaned. "Great, now she's running away! Does she not want to be princess anymore?"

Pinkie gasped and tried to follow. "Wait! Where are you going?"

Cheese stopped for a moment, turned to her, and shouted in an unusually loud voice, "Leave me alone!"

The force of the voice blew Pinkie back, and she flew right into Applejack's forelegs. Breathing heavily as she recovered from the blast, she opened her eyes, and watched Cheese gallop away and slip out of sight. As she stood back up, she could only stare in the direction that he had ran, her heart heavy and her brain numb. All she could think about was how much Cheese needed a big hug.

Rainbow landed beside them and asked, "What was that? I never thought he'd actually take off like that!"

Applejack shook her head. "I reckon them princess stuff's too much for him."

Author's Note:

Alternate title for this chapter--"The Chapter that the Author Took Too Dang Long To Write".

Still can't write Celestia worth a darn. I swear, I feel like I just fudged this entire thing.

On a side note, I liked the idea of Celestia having fire powers, so I added that in there. Made things worse, mwahaha...

Comments

[Goldfinch142]

Oh dear. Maybe it'd be better for Cheese and Celestia to just ditch what they're doing and take a nap anyway. Better that than even more destruction.

I see Cheese still has a habit of running away from his problems.

Celestia's going to have a lot of trouble getting her reputation up to snuff after Cheese torched the festival. Ponies sure make a habit of assuming the worst of a situation. At this point, it might even be better to just publicly announce that Celestia switched bodies. At least then ponies wouldn't think that Celestia's turning into Nightmare Moon 2.0.

Also, Celestia having fire powers is pretty cool. And it makes a lot of sense. I wonder if it looks like anything like this.
orig03.deviantart.net/6137/f/2012/351/a/1/twilight_sparkle__rage_mode__by_sencatol-d5odzbv.png

Here's hoping somepony can save the Summer Sun Celebration.

[Blazing Song]

Nice! Emotional cheese is best cheese, I think :P

[Jordan179]

Cheese was clearly more interested in Celestia's rubber duck (she has a rubber duck?) than in the goings on of the day.

I find it quite plausible that Celestia has a rubber duck. It's like her, somehow.

Pinkie continued to stare at "Celestia", a pout on her face and scrutinizing eyes. Cheese found himself a little uncomfortable under that glare, especially when Pinkie came closer and scanned him up and down, paying close attention to the wings and how stiff they seemed. She stopped, and then started to bounce on her tail in order to ascend high enough take a look at Celestia's eyes. She bounced again, and again, and again, still holding that look of suspicion and tapping her chin.

Fluttershy took notice of Pinkie's behavior. "Um, Pinkie? What are you doing?"

Pinkie stopped her bouncing, and then ran a few laps around the alicorn. After skidding to a stop, she peered at him one more time, searched her memory, and then her eyes widened as something clicked. With a gasp, she exclaimed, "Cheese Sandwich?! Is that you?"

That Pinkie almost instantly recognized that "Celestia" was really Cheese Sandwich was both awesome and beautiful -- awesome, for what it implies about her capabilities of perception, and beautiful, because it implies that she can tell her True Love regardless of the superficiality of form.

Fire powers make sense for Celestia. Fire is a relatively cool plasma, and the Sun is largely made of plasma. My Celestia's powers go to the level of being able to make fusion explosions

Celestia is a hot babe! (*runs*)

[Jordan179]

6346870

To be fair, one's normal reaction to discovering that one-is "on fire" is fright, though if it had been externally-caused Cheese would have been doing the wrong thing by running around ("stop, drop and roll" is the best way to smother a fire on one's own body). On the other hand, wonderful and intelligent as Sketch (and I, too!) consider Cheese, he's not perfect. He can make mistakes. He did in this case.

It's hardly OOC -- he screwed up royally in "Pinkie Pride," to the point where he nearly got Pinkie to hate him.

[FanOfMostEverything]

Fancy seeing you here at my gate, Rarity,

Why yes, you are Fancy seeing her at your gate.

Oof. Some lasting trauma from the Magic Expo. It's going to be awkward next time Cheese meets a naturally born bat pony.

Damn it, Applejack, you aren't helping. Pinkie didn't, either, but rubbing Cheese's borrowed muzzle in it isn't doing anyone any favors. There is a time and a place for Honesty, and that was neither.

Wonderful. Cheese may yet beat that high score. Good luck, Tia. You're going to need it. And, of course, the two best PR ponies among the Mane Six are indisposed elsewhere. There's no way this one's going to end well in the short term.

[Goldfinch142]

6350042 Did I imply that I thought Cheese was OOC? If I did, I didn't mean to. You're right that everyone makes mistakes, including Cheese. Heck, a major plot point in this universe is Cheese and Tomato both making the mistake of holding a grudge for way too long. Setting the festival ablaze is just another (big) mistake, and an understandable one at that.

And yeah, I have to admit that I wouldn't exactly be calm if I found out I was on fire, either. Though as 6350477 pointed out, none of the Mane Six were exactly helping the situation.

[Chromio]

Dang it, I'm so eager for the next chapter now.

[Jordan179]

6351332

Oh, no. Just pointing out that Cheese isn't an arrant coward -- his fright was perfectly understandable, especially since he had no idea that Celestia's body could do that.

[Sugarcookie29]

"Oh Pinkie, oh Pinkie, my purest inspiration! You are just oh so lovable that I wish I could stay!"

JUST FRIENDS MY COOKIE CUTIE MARK!

[redmar]

Twilight is going to be extremely cross with Cheese. Even Pinkie will have a hard time calming her down.
The best solution is to reveal the swap after Tia and Cheese are back in their own bodies.

[Godslittleprincess]

Twilight gulped, and the feeling of nearly exploding with stress was returning. How was she supposed to explain the situation at hoof? She felt like she was stuck in some corny fiction novel using a cliche plot device for cheap laughs. She wanted to believe that it was just a bad dream, but sadly, the events of the day were just too real.

Meta humor.

It's like you predicted the appearance of Daybreaker.