Polar Ace held a hoof to his mouth as he tried his best to suppress a loud yawn. Despite working for the Day Guard, the unicorn stallion had a bad habit of staying up well into the night, leaving him exhausted for his duties. To make matters worse, he had been assigned to guard a restricted section of the castle for today, one that saw little to no guests on an average day like today. Standing alone for hours on end in a single hallway was proving to be maddeningly boring, even for a Royal Guard like him.
At least if he had another pony around he could try and spark up idle chit-chat to stave off his boredom, but for some reason this job was a one-pony duty. It was taking all his effort to remain awake, which was becoming a losing battle with each passing minute.
Another yawn bubbled up from his throat, his eyelids drooping slightly as he glanced out the nearby window at the sun. Only another half hour or so until my shift ends. You can do this, Polar! Giving a quick shake of his head to dispel his fatigue, Polar Ace stood tall and proud, just as he had been trained to do.
Minutes later, Polar felt the familiar feeling of sleep washing over him. A quick nap couldn’t hurt… he thought as he finally succumbed to sleep’s loving embrace.
Thunk!
Hmm? Slowly stirring from his nap, Polar Ace rubbed at his tired eyes, blinking away the lingering sleep from his eyes. He could just make out a fuzzy figure standing infront of him, a blob of black, grey and ice blue. Hang on… He thought as his body began to awaken bit by bit. Nopony else is supposed to be here…
“H…hey…” Polar groggily said, his vision clearing enough for him to just make out the image of a grey mare with an ice blue mane standing inches from his face. She appeared to be dressed in the uniform of the cleaning staff, and was looking at him with a confused look on her face that matched his own.
Probably a new hire that got lost on her first day. “You’re not supposed to be here…” Did my voice always sound like that?
The mare said nothing, just blinking at him as she stared back.
“H-hey! This is a restricted area!” Polar barked, his voice sounding oddly high-pitched all of a sudden. “You can’t–“ As Polar reached out his hoof, the mare did the same, the two connecting with a light *thunk*.
“Huh?” Now fully awake, Polar’s eyes widened as he looked down at his hoof, noticing that his armoured shoes had been replaced with lace socks and slippers. Lowering his hoof again, the mare copied his action.
Polar Ace tilted his head. The mare did the same. He stuck out his tongue. Still the mare infront of him copied his actions. Finally he raised a hoof and yet again the mare mimicked his movements perfectly. Which could only mean…
“…Oh,” was all Polar Ace could say as she realized that the mare standing infront of her was her own reflection, somepony having placed a mirror nearby while she slept. That wasn’t the only thing they’d done though, as the mare was now dressed in a maid’s outfit, her once short mane having grown out considerably.
Distracted by her new appearance, Polar Ace didn’t notice Princess Celestia peeking in through the window, giggling to herself as she watched the stallion turned mare. True, turning him into a mare might have seemed like an overreaction to falling asleep near the end of his shift, but this hadn’t been the first time Polar Ace had been caught asleep at the wheel. One more report and he likely would have been dishonourably discharged, so Celestia figured this was a good way to give him one more chance to straighten out.
The fact that Polar looked adorable as a mare was just an added bonus.
So shellshocked was she by her new appearance, Polar didn’t notice as another guard came to replace her until he was standing right next to her. He just looked at her with a sympathetic look and said, “Fell asleep again, huh?”
Polar Ace just meekly nodded her head.
Patting him on the back, the Guard Pony just sighed. “Better report to the maid’s quarters for your new assignment.”
Lowering her head in shame, Polar Ace reluctantly began the long walk across the castle towards the maid quarters, mentally chastising herself. At least the uniforms are comfy…