Princess Celestia slowly awoke again from another long sleep, this time to see her sister looking down at her, an all too familiar smirk on the dark blue alicorn's face.
She bent down to Celestia's ear and whispered, "hey, it's time to wake up."
The Princess of the Sun in turn gave a yawn, and lifted herself up from her bed and stretched her limbs.
"So dear sister? What do you want to do today with my powers?""
Having fully embraced her mischievous side Luna slowly trotted over with a devilish grin. “Oh, I have so many ideas... but I'll let you know what I'm thinking when we go outside."
Letting off a muted chuckle at the possibilities as she drifted off to go take a shower while Luna sat on her sister's bed.
Celestia hummed happily as she let the warm water come down over her new scaly body. Without missing a beat several hands appeared on the walls each scrubbing another part of her body, allowing Celestia to simply stand and enjoy the sensation.
However, her moment of bliss was interrupted by her sister's voice managing to penetrate the walls and water.
"Sister, do you want to go out for a luncheon with the other mares before the big meeting tomorrow!"
"Oh, that sounds positively lovely" Celestia exclaimed as she turned off the faucet and burst through the bathroom door. With a flick of a claw, all the moisture disappeared from her body. The result left her mane bright and colorful, falling around her, and she even applied some eyeliner on her eyes.
Luna clapped her hooves, seeing her sister all spruced up and seeming ready to shock the world. The Princess of the Night flew over and hugged her sister close to her chest.
"Oh, it's so great to see you like this...I have to admit...ever since you became a draquenous, you've been a lot less stuck up."
The comment earned a look of mild surprise that quickly shifted to amusement at the comment.
”The implication being that I was stuck up to begin with? I was always under the impression I was quite flexible when around others.”
“Be honest sister,” Luna said knowingly, causing Celestia to twitch ever so slightly. “You can be rather rigid at times. Though I will concede you have certainly mellowed out quite these last few centuries. And I imagine I am at least partially to blame for that.”
The allusion to their bitter past merited a slight flinch from Celestia, though she was quick to simply wrap her wing around her sister’s shoulders. “I’d hardly call it blame worthy and I’m mature enough to admit I had my rough moments, but I think I’ve softened up over the centuries.”
While the intent was meant to be one of comfort, the sight of her sister’s smirk immediately made her realize just what exactly she’d said.
“Luna don’t you….”
“Oh you’ve most certainly softened up these last few years dear sister.” Celestia was then greeted by a poke in her abdomen, her sister’s hoof actually sinking in as though it were a pillow instead of flesh.
“Though I do believe we can attribute that more to your love of pastries then my past misdeeds.”
Celestia’s face remained still, under normal circumstances she’d have yelled or possibly been offended by the remark as it was an easy joke to make, especially now. However, the Princess of the Sun opted to take the proverbial high road.
“I suppose it’s possible, though with all the work I have to perform each day I’m fairly certain everything is evened out.”
This lack of an explosive response had the desired effect as Luna looked positively annoyed at being denied a Celestia overreaction. Naturally being the slightest bit vindictive herself, Celestia would’ve been all too happy to milk this moment for just a bit longer, sadly other events required their attention.
“Come now sister, we have much to do today.”
Still bothered but ever eager, Luna nodded and the pair headed out to start their day.
Setting off down the halls of the castle together as the Princess of the Sun entered the gardens once again for another spectacle of her crazy raising of the sun (many ponies now stood together to watch like before, but this time many had on sunglasses and some even had welders masks on).
“Seems everypony decided to come prepared this time around,” Luna whispered to her sister, now red in the face at being reminded of her prior fiasco.
“Well, hopefully, it won’t be necessary,” Celestia said as she ascended the podium.
“Given what we have planned I’d say that’s more than a safe bet,” Luna spoke looking sly at her word choice. “You do still remember what we agreed upon don’t you sister.”
Celestia’s prior embarrassment was replaced with annoyance, grinding her teeth together as she nodded. “I fully remember exactly what you suggested, sister. But is that really necessary, haven’t I humiliated myself enough?”
Luna could only respond with a flat expression she’d become quite fond of, "You turned me into an infant for the better part of a day for many to see and forced me to re experience things no pony should have to endure. We are far from equal in terms of humiliation.”
By that alone Celestia knew there was no talking her sister down at this point, that bridge had been well and truly burned courtesy of a temporary return to dirty diapers.
“Now come on,” Luna gestured with her wing. “The sooner you get it done, the better."
Once again defeated by her sister, Celestia grumbled as she slowly levitated the sun.
Naturally, apprehensive, many more ponies immediately pulled out sunglasses along with buckets of ice, ready for the possible heatwave to hit. However, to their surprise, that wasn’t what happened.
Instead of a blinding fireball, they were instead greeted by the sun acting more akin to a theater screen, projecting a number of less than flattering pictures of their esteemed monarch.
Across the normally pristine surface of the sun, were many a picture of Celestia gorging herself on massive amounts of cake, less than graceful falls down the stairs and her far from majestic bedhead.
Seeing there was no threat of fiery demise the many ponies in attendance instead started laughing at the spectacle. Some simply chuckled at the spectacle while others went into full blown belly laughs, many others even taking pictures with their cameras to preserve the moments for future enjoyment.
"I never expected the sun to look so beautiful." Luna giggled as she wiped her tears from her eyes, while Celestia simply sat, body glowing red from anger with literal steam coming from her ears.
Mercifully the slideshow only lasted about two minutes, but each second dragged on for what felt like eons. With the sun now properly raised, the many ponies opted to disperse, both to enjoy their days and potentially avoid dealing with a still angry Celestia.
The still steaming sun monarch could only glare furiously at her still smiling sister, looking about ready to explode with rage. "So you want to tell me why you wanted to expose embarrassing pictures of me to the world?"
Calm as ever, Luna walked over to Celestia's ear and whispered, "Well, that's because you never really appreciated the moon. Especially when you showed my rump to the world. So now we’re even."
Celestia immediately cringed at the memory of that prior stunt. Suddenly the photos didn’t seem nearly as bad.
"Sorry about that."
"Well, I suppose it wasn’t the worst thing. Some ponies rather liked it, thought it was my way of showing I have a sense of humor. Some even wanted me to do it again," Luna snickered as her sister.
Celestia laughed in response at the shift in mood, happy things seemed finally square between the two.
“Another time maybe," She said as she nuzzled her sister, before the pair headed in for some breakfast.
Arriving in the kitchen, Celestia quickly snapped them up a pair of pancakes and eggs, along with some levitating syrup.
The two ate in relative silence, though it only lasted for a few moments before it was broken by many of the castle staff either snickering or talking to each other in hushed whispers.
Celestia didn’t need ears to figure out what they were talking about and was all to happy to voice her disapproval.
"I hope you are all aware I can hear you quite clearly!"
Not wanting to face her wrath, the staff immediately scattered like roaches, leaving the princess to eat her food with far less gusto than before.
Hoping to improve her mood, Luna opted to ask a question she’d been pondering for some time."Tell me sister...you only have two days until your return back to being a normal alicorn princess. Correct?"
"Indeed, you are correct sister,” Celestia mumbled to herself, waving her hand causing another stack of pancakes to fall on her plate along with a generous helping of whipped cream. “And while I can certainly say it’ll be nice to get back to normal, I will miss having this kind of power at my beck and call.”
Popping some pancakes into her mouth before leaning back in her chair, Luna decided to mull over something she’d been wondering about. "It certainly has its perks. Personally, I'm thinking of taking up a similar deal with Discord...you think I would look amazing as a draqquenous?"
Perking up quickly, Celestia waved a claw and exclaimed dramatically. "Oh, you would look positively stunning!"
The Princess of the Night laughed as she ate her pancakes. "Certainly something to think about. Mmmh, these are so good! You didn't infuse them with Chaos Magic, right?"
Celestia snickered as she took a bite of her food. "Nope, they were made by my finest chefs. Sometimes it's best not to use magic...save for using magic to teleport them from the kitchen to here."
"Right, I mean, they're probably still mad at you for making their healthy dishes look like something from a little filly's dream," Luna responded with a snicker.
Celestia burst into laughter, and then as she finished her coffee."Well, seeing how big your rump is getting, I had to step up my game a bit."
"Mmm, you have a long way to go before you can get to my level," Luna said, snapping her tail for emphasis.
The pair of Princess had another good laugh as they finished their breakfast before heading to the Grand Hall for Celestia’s court.
Luna sat by as her sister sat down on the throne and began her day going over the regular proceedings. As the nobles came by Celestia, it was mostly a long-winded discussion regarding the party tomorrow.
As expected there was still more in the way of proceedings that dragged the two well into the afternoon.
With the day quickly rolling down, Celestia rose up from her throne and clapped her claws to get the attention of the staff. "Alright, I think we're all good for the day! So why don't I and some of the mares go out and have our luncheon.
With seemingly no objections from the others, several noteworthy mares promptly entered the room, greeting the princess as they entered.
Among the party included Fleur De Lis, a blue-coated pegasus by the name of Rainbow Quill and a white coated earth pony named Snowflake.
With her group assembled Celestia happily snapped her fingers, bringing the group to the gardens and an exquisitely set table adorned with all manner of food for them to enjoy.
Once the group had sat down, Rainbow Quill decided to break the proverbial ice. "So, Princess Celestia, we heard you put Silver Dollar in a dress not too long ago. Is that true?"
The question earned more than a bit of a glare from Luna, who angrily bit into a sandwich as if trying to tear into. "Yes, and I spent all day yesterday cleaning up after that little stunt."
Doing her best to be the more clear headed of the two, Celestia responded, "Yes, I did. It was a spur of the moment action I admit, but the arrogant stallion was stealing from the school. I couldn't just let him get away with it."
"Yes, but there were other ways of handling it!" Luna snapped as she brushed aside her mane. "Anyways, I’d rather not talk about work. Can we not simply enjoy today."
Her tone quickly shifted, she got out of her chair and moved to the head of the table., "I had an idea actually for us. In fact, I heard about the filly style tea party, and I thought that we can do something similar."
Fleur laughed, seemingly all too happy with the idea. "Oh yes, that was rather fun; in fact, what did you have in mind. Perhaps have us revisit our foalhoods?"
Luna now had a big smile on her face as she explained, "Well, while that would be appropriate, I’d prefer to stay an age with some degree of maturity. Thus I propose who host a sleepover, where all of us are teenagers again.”
Snowflake’s eyes widened excitedly as she clapped her hooves together. "Oh, that sounds like a great idea!"
. "I concur,” Rainbow Quill practically squealed.“I think that would be a splendid idea."
With consent given from all those in attendance, Fleur rose up and turned towards the white-coated draconequus. "Celestia, will you do the honors?"
The Princess of Chaos had been waiting for the signal and immediately snapped a claw. In flash she and the other mares were now wearing socks and looked ten years younger, or in the case of her and her sister, several centuries.
Though while the initial change was met with joy, the other mares quickly realized some things had changed beyond their ages.
Snowflake was surprised to see herself to now be rather pudgy. She wiggled her rump and gasped. "My goodness! Was I really so plump as a teen?"
Over with Rainbow Quill she was busy feeling her teeth and looking in a nearby fountain, finding some new metal additions to her teeth that made her cast a mild glare at Celestia. "You just had to put my braces back on, huh?"
Celestia lightly bowed her head in apology. "I’m sorry, but you said you wanted to be teenagers again."
While Quill continued to stew over her now metal mouth, the once radiant Fleur, was now a squeaking mess courtesy of a heavily frazzled mane and a face full of pimples.
"Ugh!? You had to bring back my acne!"
This time it was Luna who offered the retort. “Again, you wanted to be teenagers and that unfortunately includes all the little perils that come with them.”
Both Princesses let out short laughs at the mare’s misery, with Snowflake and Rainbow Quill sharing chuckles as well. Fleur in turn scoffed, "Ugh, let's just go and do this before I change my mind."
Eagerly excited, Luna guided the group towards the palace and went up to the princess's bedroom.
Befitting her royal status, Luna’s chambers were quite spacious, arguably larger than some ponies homes. However, for this day their attention was directed towards an extremely large T.V with a video game system was already set up.
Seeing they were still lacking in some party supplies, Celestia used her chaos magic to conjure up some sleeping bags as well as several tables brimming with snacks, fast food and all manner of drinks.
In no time at all Snowflake was already on the food, having apparently regained a more ravenous appetite in her younger self. along
"Oh, it’s been so long since I had any of this,” She moaned lightly while shoving down several slices of pizza, and enjoying being able to indulge herself again. Rather than follow her friend’s lead, Rainbow Quill opted to check out the gaming system and gasped, "wow!? Is this the new game Colt 64!? It's so cool!"
Luna squealed as she trotted over. "You think so? I didn't know you were into gaming."
As the two gaming ponies immediately started trading past virtual exploits, Fleur eyed the bathroom after catching her reflection in the TV. "Um, hey...you...you have any acne cream?"
Rather than answer, Celestia simply put a claw on the mare's shoulder. "Oh, stop, your face will only be like that for a few hours. Now go have fun with the rest of the mares and enjoy yourself."
"Ok…" Fleur whispered as she trotted over, despite some minor apprehension.
The group settled down together and opted to play the Mareio racing game, the same as the one before in the Everfree Forest castle.
Celestia couldn't help but smile seeing her sister and the other mares playing video games and looking so carefree. She herself had played a round or two but was more content to simply watch the teen mares enjoy their moment back in time.
Sadly, Celestia’s time was short as she had other things to do to prepare for the party tomorrow and went over to her sister and whispered, "Sister, I’m afraid I have to leave for the moment as there are still some matters I need to attend to. Will you and the others be okay on your own?”."
"Sure," Luna replied as her eyes were glued to the T.V screen with the others equally as entranced.
The sight was certainly amusing and made it clear none of them were going anywhere. So with a flap of her wings the Princess left to finish her remaining royal duties, which ended up carrying well into the evening.
When Celestia finally drifted back to Luna's bedroom and peeked inside, she was amused to find the mares all knocked out across the room.
The sight broke another smile on her face as she used her magic to make the group a bit more comfortable
Fleur was given a mud mask on with cucumbers to help with her acne. Snowflake had a giant teddy bear in her hooves now while Rainbow Quill's sleeping bag was now in footed pajamas with pac-men on them. Luna herself now had purple and blue striped socks on her hooves, though the jolt seemed to wake her up.
Taking a look at her new attire, she gave her sister a half awake smirk.
"Playing some pranks, huh?"
“In a sense I suppose, mostly for you and it’s perfectly harmless,” Celestia mused as she floated over her sister’s head. “Besides, I think you look rather adorable in those.”
Luna rolled her eyes, stepping around in her socks. "They are rather comfy and a clear sign you’ve gotten a better grasp on your magic. If this was a few days ago, the socks would probably be wearing me."
Celestia held her head up in pride as she responded, "Well, with some help from Discord, yes, I'm doing pretty well."
The sigh of her sister fill with such childish glee made the more stern of the two Princesses feel more relaxed, happy this little experiment was finally working out for a change. Thank goodness for small miracles.
"Well, I’m glad to hear it. Now, if you’ll excuse me, it's time for me to raise the moon."
Celestia happily nodded as the two went to the palace's rooftops, with the still transformed princess to look at her sister with curiosity.
“So, anything you’d like me to do before you raise the moon tonight?”
Surprisingly eager, Luna quickly whispered in Celestia's ear, making her squeak. "No! I...I can't do that!"
"You already did mine; it's time for you to do yours," Luna nagged back.
Unlike before, Celestia didn’t immediately relent, stomping a hoof down in frustration. "Seriously! You already made me show the entire kingdom embarrassing pictures. I believe that makes us square."
Undeterred, Luna wagged a hoof in front of Celestia. "Discord said you have to do anything I asked."
By now the weight of the day was finally catching up with her and wanting to simply rip the proverbial band-aid off, Celestia finally complied. Thus with a flick of her claw, the moon started to rise, though in this case it was a moon of the other variety, namely Celestia’s pale, white bottom.
Naturally, the sight left Luna positively rolling with laughter, kicking her hooves about in every direction while Celestia was simply chuckling at the view.
After laughing for several moments Luna slowly got up, wiping the tears from her eyes. "Alright, I admit it, your rump is way bigger than mine."
"Of course it is, dear sister. I'm glad we can finally put this debate to bed." Celestia replied as she snapped a claw, returning the moon to its normal state.
Luna slowly came over and nudged her sister. "Alright, you should get to bed; you have a big day tomorrow."
"You have a point, but...to...tomorrow, I can’t say I’m looking forward to it," The princess of the sun muttered out. It would certainly prove to be a difficult day with her having to deal with Silver Dollar's embezzlement and simply deal with the stallion himself.
Seeing how distressed Celestia looked, Luna tried to reassure her sister. "I understand sister, I do, but you must not let that distract you. We also have the party tomorrow where the other nobels will be judging you. You need to be ready and a good night’s sleep is essential . "
The princess gave a deep sigh, "All alright, sister... I'll try to get some sleep."
Leaving her sister to handle her dream duties, Celestia headed towards her bedroom and found herself greeted by Bronze Helmet ,standing guard at her door.
Naturally the sight of the stallion she’d returned to infancy not too long ago proved a bit of a surprise and effectively set her quite off balance for the moment.
"Bro...Bronze Helm, you're here early."
"Well, I wanted to make sure you have a goodnight's sleep. I hope that's alright." the stallion responded while maintaining his professional posture and demeanor.
The concern served to help quell some of the Princess’s worry, and she offered the guard a bow in return. "Thank you Bronze, you have no idea how much that means to me.”
As Celestia prepared to head in for the night, she paused, turning once again to Bronze who was all to ready to lend his ear.
“It 's not too much trouble, can you stay by my side tomorrow? I ...I fear that things might get out of hoof."
Naturally, his response was almost immediate. “Of course, Princess. I will be at your beck and call whenever you need me.”
With one more smile, Celestia finally entered her bedroom and immediately plopped on the bed. Snuggling deeply under the covers as she looked upward at the ceiling, she found her mind still full of worries and dread that refused to leave sending her mind spinning in all directions.
Thus in a desperate attempt to quell the chaos she centered on a single thought.
“I wish I could be with Luna for tonight.”