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// Chapter Seven: Maids meet Twilight and Rarity 
// Story: Maids of Honor 
// by Foal Star 
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The two maids, Silky Apron and Amber were slowly trotting down the road heading towards Golden Oaks library to find Twilight Sparkle to convince her to help them save Equestria from Aqua. They continued their long trot from the train station, which was rather strenuous for the two as they were worried about the outcome of their encounter with the two unicorns, Rarity and Twilight. They had heard the stories about the two, seeing they were rather famous, having saved Equestria multiple times. But they were never sure what to think of the elements of generosity and magic. The two ponies eventually came upon Twilight's library, and they were hesitant to meet the newly crowned princess alicorn. Not only was the mare once a simple unicorn turned royalty, but she was also Equestria's savior and the wielder of the element of magic. But eventually, Silky Apron knocked on the door and waited until somepony shouted. "Oh, wow, who are you two!?" 

Before the maids could explain anything, the young drake held up a claw and asked, "Let me guess, are you models Rarity hired?"

Amber started to growl under her breath and was going to curse out the young drake. But Silky intervened, put up a hoof in front of her friend, and quickly said, "My name is Silky Apron, and this is Amber; we are maids from Canterlot Palace. We are here to see Twilight about a top-secret mission that requires her utmost attention."

"Oh, really!?" Twilight asked as she trotted downstairs with a smile on her face. The two mares were led in by Spike as they sat down around the library. The violet alicorn continued, "What sort of issue!? I could get you a book on cleaning or how to make tea properly?"

Amber's cheeks flushed red in anger, and she was going to shout something. But Silky cleared her throat, and the pegasus stood down as the grey-coated unicorn turned her attention to Twilight and explained, "Can we talk in private?"

Twilight nodded as she led the maids to her bedroom; the door closed. Silky wasn't sure how to start a conversation. Amber was the one who cleared her throat and spoke up. "Ok, listen, this might sound weird, but we aren't really maids."

"Well, you could've fooled me; your cutie marks give you away, but where are those cute uniforms you wear?" Twilight asked rather inquisitively with a somewhat confused look on her face.

Silky felt embarrassed, trailing a hoof through her mane this time as Amber lowered her head and growled, "We did until Mop Head threw coffee and mud at us."

"What!? Who threw mud and coffee at you!?"

"A bitch that's going to get her a-"

Silky quickly held up a hoof to her friend's face and had her step back as she continued to explain, "we simply came here under the pretense that we needed to see your friend Rarity for replacement uniforms."

"Oh, I see! You're undercover!" Twilight exclaimed, seeming to get worried as she asked, "so, are the princesses in trouble? Are the changelings back!?"

The two maids gave each other unsure looks as they didn't want to overexcite the newly crowned princess. Amber glared at her and said, "So, let me explain basically, a creature called a siren is manipulating Princess Celestia's mind and having her perform gender-swapping spells."

"Oh my! So, you two we…." Twilight trailed off as the maids still felt somewhat awkward about the situation. The two maids just gave each other awkward looks as Silky sighed deeply, "Yeah, we were stallions, ok!?"

"Make that royal guards!" Amber shouted, still furious, as her masculinity was taken away from her.

Twilight put her hooves over her mouth and gasped in surprise, "Oh wow!? You two really were transformed into maids!"

Amber was starting to get riled up, flapping her wings wildly while cursing. Silky Apron held up a hoof to try to calm the alicorn princess down as she continued, "Yes, we need your help to solve this issue and take down the Siren so that Princess Celestia can revert her transformation spells on us."

Twilight was rather overly excited about the situation as she continued flapping her wings in the air and shouting, "Yes, that would be a great idea!"

She flew over towards them and said, "Let's get started with some research on these sirens; then, did you get a good look at the spells she was using?"

Amber and Silky shivered as they talked about the voodoo doll statue and Aqua's spell book. The pegasus then turned to Silky, "Hey, why don't we fix something to eat? Then we should talk things over?"

"Ok, let's do that," Twilight insisted with a smile.

They then sat together around a table as Amber and Silky prepared sandwiches and tea. The mares then sat around a table and talked about what they saw, including the spell book, the statue moving, and the images in the water. Twilight continued to ask questions about what was going on and how things were, and they both did their best to keep up with her. After writing most of what the two mares said down, Twilight was now looking much more worried as she turned to the maids and said, "I have to say what we have here is very serious; now, my friends and I lost the elements of harmony recently, so we can't just turn them into stone."

The two maids lowered their heads, remembering the incident when strange vines invaded the castle and foalnapped the princesses. Everypony was panicking, and it was mass chaos; the soldiers did their best to keep the peace while Twilight and her friends set off to take care of the danger. After that, the big shock of learning the elements of harmony left quite an impression on the royal guard, seeing that they needed to be much more vigilant with their best line of defense gone. The purple-coated alicorn wasn't ready to throw in the towel and continued to explain. "I'm not aware of voodoo magic or what a siren is, but I'll definitely research all of this thoroughly and will do everything I can to help save Princess Celestia."

"Of course, thank you, Princess Twilight," the two maids chimed together. 

Twilight slowly got up and stretched her legs. "Meanwhile, to keep your cover, I suggest heading towards Rarity's; she would love to make your new uniforms."

Both maids buried their heads in their hooves as neither Silky nor Amber looked forward to that. Spike, however, perked up and said, "Hey, I wouldn't mind escorting you, gals!"

Amber roared and was going to tackle Spike to the ground. But Silky held her back as the pegasus shouted, "Oh buck no, we are not going to be escorted by some pudgy bab-"

"Oh, thanks, Spike, that'll be very helpful," Twilight chimed as she levitated her little assistant and the maids and pushed them out the door.

Amber was furious, cursing and shouting at the door as it slammed into their faces. Silky sighed loudly as she brushed her mane back and said, "Well, guess we should just go see Rarity."

"Right, follow me!" The young drake exclaimed as he got up, looking rather excited; for some reason, the other two maids just shrugged and followed the drake down the dirt road.









Amber and Silky Apron followed Spike through the streets of Ponyville, with the two trying to keep a low profile, ducking their heads as they weren't used to being in their mare bodies. Luckily, for the most part, most ponies were minding their own business and weren't paying attention to them at all. Seeing that nobody knew who they were, all the other ponies saw was just two mares trotting down the road. They eventually made it to the Carousel Boutique; Spike knocked on the door with the two former guards standing there, wishing they were anywhere else but here.

It wasn't long until a white-coated unicorn with a swirly purple mane and tail popped her head through the door and said with a smile, "Oh, hello, Spike! I didn't expect you to be here?"

"Hey, Rarity got ya some new models for ya," Spike whispered as he waved a claw at the maids.

The maids were about to pummel the dragon, including Silky Apron. Still, the fashionista was over the moon when she heard what the drake said and squealed, "Oh, how delightful, darling! And what would your names be?"

As Rarity said that, the two mares got quiet, with Amber lowering her gaze, being too embarrassed to show how she felt. Still, at the same time, the unicorn stood up and said, "My name is Silky Apron, and this here is Amber; we're maids that work at Canterlot Palace and need new uniforms.

"Royal Maids from Canterlot at my boutique!?" The fashionista was bouncing up and down in excitement, unable to stop. 

Seeing that Rarity wasn't going to stop being excited anytime soon, Silky cleared her throat and said, "Um, Rarity, we are in a hurry."

"Apologies, darlings, come along," Rarity chirped as she waved a hoof. The two mares slowly followed into the boutique and were blushing, surrounded by all the beautiful gowns. They were stallions at heart, but they both secretly desired to try some of these dresses on as they trotted through the store. Rarity must've noticed them being interested and said, "Do you want to try some other clothes on? I can only imagine having to wear maid uniforms all the time."

Amber, of course, was hesitant, but Silky was the one who spoke up, "Oh, we would love to! But we're in a rush at the moment. We need to get back to Canterlot ASAP."

Rarity threw a hoof and chimed, "That's quite understandable, darlings, just follow me."

The white-coated unicorn led them to the back of the shop, where she started pulling out fabric, some pins, and measuring tape. She then started measuring their entire bodies, from their chests to their legs. The two mares both couldn't help but blush as Rarity went behind them and measured their rumps (which made them both rather uncomfortable).

As the fashionista finished her measuring, she asked, "So I assume you want the skirts to show off more or less of your rumps?"

"Less!" both mares chimed in unison.

"Ok, take it easy, just making sure," Rarity snickered as she wrapped up measuring their more sensitive areas. She asked Amber, "Can you spread your wings for me?"

The pegasus grumbled under her breath, but Silky nudged her friend, and her fellow maid rolled her eyes and slowly spread out her wings. The unicorns were somewhat surprised by Amber's wingspan being rather massive. Rarity then took her measuring tape to go over the joints attached to Amber's back, wrote down notes throughout the process, and commented, "Amber, your wings are so beautiful and well-kept."

"I…thanks…" the pegasus' cheeks flushed red as she replied, somewhat surprised at the compliment.

"Where did you get them done?"

The two mares gave each other awkward looks, not knowing what to say, seeing that the spa they went to was being run by evil sirens. 

"I do them!" Silky chirped rather suddenly, trying to stop the conversation from going towards the fact that they really were royal guards and that they were turned into mares by Princess Celestia.

The unicorn maid paused with sweat coming down her face, hoping Rarity bought her lie. To her surprise, the fashionista flashed her a smile and said, "Well, I would love to introduce you to my friend Fluttershy. I would also have you do Rainbow Dash's wings, but knowing her, she'll decline."

Amber rolled her eyes at the lie while Silky quickly added, "I'm flattered, but honestly, I did it mostly because Amber is my friend."

"Oh, don't be modest; seeing how well-manicured your horn is, I assume Amber did that?"

The pegasus' expression went from angry and peeved to somewhat embarrassed and hesitant. Silky realized Amber was also going tag along with her lie as she looked downward and brushed a hoof over her mane with a hoof as she said, "Yes, I did."

"Well, you did an amazing job. I can see my face in Silky's horn, plus your faces look so soft. Did you two get facials recently?"

The pegasus looked away and said, "Yeah, we are pretty good at giving ourselves facials, massages, and stuff."

After the measuring was finished, the fashionista got some black silk fabric and, in no time, sewed some rather fancy-looking black silk dresses; she tidied up some cute, yellow-colored aprons around their waists. Then, they were outfitted with little headpieces, silky white socks, and lovely little black shoes.

"Vala!" Rarity exclaimed rather proudly and showed the mares into a mirror. "So, what do you think?"

The two maids were shocked to see their new uniforms; there wasn't much difference between what they used to wear and Rarity's designs. But what differed from their old uniforms was that now there was a frilly yellow trim around the end of the skirts. At the same time, the sleeves were a bit poofier, with yellow fabric around the ends. The apron tied around their waists was now a buttercup yellow with Princess Celestia's cutie mark embroidered into the material.

"Well, I think the other maids are going to be jealous," Silky Apron explained with a giggle as she was rather pleased with the new uniform.

Amber was rather pouty, unlike her fellow maid, who shouted, "This is silly! Why didn't you just make a normal maid's uniform!?"

"Well, I couldn't see how adorable you look in that now," Rarity squealed and clopped her hooves on the ground with a smirk; she asked, "Come now, stop lying; tell me who did all of this! I love the spa here in Ponyville, but whoever worked you clearly has talent that can't be matched!"

Both mares were now sweating profusely as Amber's anger reached a boiling point. "First off, we're not really maids; we were once stallions in the royal guard! But that crazy bitch Princess Celestia turned us into maids! The place where we got our wings preened, horns manicured, and massages are run by sirens trying to take over Equestria! We didn't come here to be patronized by you!"

Rarity was somewhat taken aback by being shouted at; she said, "I…I apologize."

The pegasus maid pointed at her new uniform and added, "Well, seeing I'm not satisfied I'm not paying you a single bit!" 

The mare then stomped off in a fit of rage. Feeling somewhat embarrassed about how her friend acted, Silky trotted over to Rarity and hoofed her a bag of bits as she whispered, "Sorry, she can be rather rude." 

Rarity happily took the payment and said, "Well, it's not like I haven't dealt with ponies like her before. You should see my friend Rainbow Dash; she would give Amber a run for her money."

"I bet, well, we should be getting back to Golden Oaks," Silky replied; she then trotted off after her fellow maid, being rather pleased with Rarity's service and hoping Amber's behavior didn't ruin their relationship with the seamstress. In fact, as she ran after the pegasus, the mare got more furious just thinking about how rude her fellow maid was. Upon reaching the pegasus, Silky shouted, "Amber!"

The maid looked over her shoulder and growled, "What!?"

The unicorn got in front of the other mare and shouted, "You need to go back there and apologize."

"For what!? Look what we're wearing!" Amber shouted as she threw a hoof over her outfit.

Silky threw a hoof up, pointed right at her own uniform, and said, "These uniforms are amazing, and Rarity poured her heart and soul into making these. She did nothing to deserve you blowing up on her back there."

For a second, Silky thought Amber was going to fight back. But to her surprise, the pegasus simply lowered her gaze and didn't say a word for some time, seeming to be reflecting on her actions, and said, "I know, I'm sorry."

"Then, stop shouting at every pony for how you feel. You decided to stay like this to save Equestria, right!?"

The pegasus grumbled under her breath, getting rather angry, and nodded in acknowledgment. Silky felt like she needed to drive home how she felt and continued, "I know you hate being a mare, but I think you're starting to understand what it's like to be one. Come on, we got one more day and are back to being stallions again."

Amber was still silent as she gave a nod; the pegasus seemed to take these last words to heart as she slowly trotted back to Carousel Boutique. The pegasus stood back and looked over with a smile, seeing that Amber was slowly changing, thinking that maybe she could become a better pony through this experience. 







Later that evening, when the maids returned to Golden Oaks Library, they endured a long round of laughter from Twilight upon seeing their new uniforms. 

"Shut up!" Amber snapped as she slammed a hoof into her face.

Silky sighed deeply as she saw that despite the progress with her, Amber was still quite angry. The violet alicorn started to take a few breaths as she seemed to calm down. "S...s…sorry, I didn't expect you two to look so cute."

Twilight threw her mane back and said, "Well, let's start at the beginning. First, sirens are legendary creatures that are known to live in the sea. They were known to wreck ships off the coast with their beautiful music. But the issue was that with no survivors of ponies meeting them, it was hard to pinpoint exactly if they ever existed."

Amber rolled her eyes and threw a hoof. "We know they exist; we literally saw one manipulating Princess Celestia; what else can you tell us about them?"

Twilight got a little peeved, muttering under her breath about how they should be patient, then continued, "As I was saying, though we don't know a lot about them, they have been known to take on the form of pegasi. However, they are not pegasi much like the mysterious bat ponies; they are a hidden pony tribe we don't know much about."

"Ok, so is there anything explaining how they can brainwash an alicorn princess?" Silky asked with a troubled look on her face.

"Yes, it seems their music can be focused on a victim to do whatever they want; now, this is where we get to the part about the voodoo doll. The siren has been known to use their music to control inanimate objects with the DNA of sailors, like hair or hoof clippings. They then fused the biological material into clay. They then molded the clay into a statue of their victims, which they then used to manipulate by singing to the inanimate object and giving it orders.

"Wow!?" Everypony said at once, with Amber's eyes lighting up," So it's simple: we destroy the statue of Celestia, and the spell is broken, right?"

Twilight nodded and said, "right, but we also need to drive out the sirens, which they will probably invade soon now that Princess Celestia is under their control."

"Yes, we need to get this information to our head maid, Mop Head; she's in charge of us guards who were turned into maids," Amber chimed as she rose up on all fours.

Twilight closed her books and began to put them back onto the shelves. "that's right…seeing that Aqua may know of my friends and I through our exploits, it'll be hard for us to sneak into Canterlot to help you. But, they don't know anything about you maids. In fact, from what you told me, she doesn't even see you as a threat to her plans.

The two ponies nodded in agreement as Twilight gave them both a smirk and said, "So the plan is simple; while Aqua tries to take over Canterlot palace, you maids find a way to stall her invasion. While she's distracted, I'll sneak into the spa and destroy the statue. Once it's destroyed, we can capture the sirens and save Equestria."

Amber was a bit surprised at how well thoughout the plan was despite its simplicity. Silky clapped her hooves and said, "Sounds like a plan to me." 

Twilight looked up to see the maids were rather tired and asked, "Why don't you get some sleep here, and we can take care of Equestria? You should be at your best when we take on these sirens."

The pegasus wasn't sure as she was going to say "no," but her fellow maid quickly butted in and said, "That sounds like a great idea."

Amber turned to her maid and shouted, "What!?"

"Oh, come on, let's spend a night here!?" Silky chimed, nuzzling into her friend, trying to convince her to take Twilight's offer. The pegasus maid just stood there pouting at first, but the alicorn mare gave her a wink as Amber rolled her eyes, "Fine, I'll stay!"

"Excellent!" Twilight cheered as she clapped her forehooves together and flew off. Amber turned to Silky, who just stood there with a smile on her face. "so…."

"So…what?" the mare asked in return. 

"So…do you want to share a bed?" Silky asked, sweat forming on Amber's brow as she began to stammer. "I..I…I…."

Silky just snickered, seeing she got her usually angry and moody friend turned into a nervous wreck. "I'm just joking." She gave her friend a wink and walked off feeling proud that not only did she get Amber to start apologizing for her behavior. At the same time, she showed that she was somewhat interested in her. It was about time to see the wall she put up around her crumbling down and see if maybe they could try to see if this relationship could go to past just them being friends.