Lemon Tart was somewhat nervous as he slowly trotted behind his fellow royal guards, an orange-coated earth pony named Orange Julius (but most just called him Julius) and a gray-coated pegasus who goes by the name Storm Cloud. He was somewhat nervous as they sneaked back to the barracks after a night out with some of his fellow soldiers. All three stallions were new recruits who were staying within the barracks. The three were all somewhat nervous as everypony within the palace knew that Princess Celestia was going crazy and had been turning her guards into maids! So the three continued to sneakily trot back to their barracks, their heads bowed while trying to keep a low profile. As they all knew, they would also be turned into maids if caught. The yellow-coated earth pony was the most nervous seeing that his friends were much braver; he wouldn't have come along without them pushing him to go out like this. The stallion's cheeks flushed red, reminiscing that his twin brother Sea Star was recently turned into a maid. The fact he went to a rave seemed rather stupid considering that he also was in the same boat as he, as they were both recently fired for being clumsy and took being royal guards to earn a living for the time being. Being a royal guard wasn't their destiny, so they were pretty terrible at the job and usually in a lot of trouble. Most of the royal guard was all under a lot of stress because of what was happening with Princess Celestia, who had transformed so many guards into maids. Many started to depart from the service, while those who stayed started to "walk on eggshells" around the princess. While thinking about all this, the stallion raised his head to the night sky above him. It was a relatively quiet night, though, with the moon out and the stars shining overhead as they were trotting through the courtyard. It was all so beautiful and majestic, and it was nice to take in the serenity of the castle being shrouded by night. The best part was Princess Celestia was nowhere in sight and seeing that they hadn't turned to maids. It seemed that their little outing was a success and nopony knew they had left. It was almost too good to be true with how well everything happened, and Lemon Tart could only hope things stay that way.
"You think "you know who" will know we snuck out?" Lemon Tart asked somewhat sheepishly.
The other stallions looked over each other, and Storm Cloud turned his head and snapped, "don't jinx us! Just shut your mouth and keep quiet."
Lemon Tart nodded quickly, seeing that he wasn't the only one being somewhat nervous. Julius shrugged, not seeming to be too worried as he said, "We made it this far. If Princess Celestia knew we snuck out, we probably would've turned into maids by now."
The yellow-coated stallion relaxed a little, thinking about their fun night. They had a ton of drinks, partied with some cute mares, and the music was fire, with Vinyl being there to be the DJ. It was a night he would never forget as he said outloud, "yeah, this was a great idea; I had a lot of fun tonight!"
Lemon Tart's comment seemed to put his other fellow guards into a better mood. However, Julius' nonchalant demeanor seemed to shake off a little as he turned towards Storm Cloud and asked, "are you sure we can sneak back without getting caught?"
The gray-coated pegasus seemed to get more annoyed as he mumbled, "we'll be fine as long as you two stay quiet."
Julius and Lemon Tart finally stopped talking, and the three were just outside the barracks. Lemon Tart squealed a little, seeing they were outside the barracks and about to be home free. But then he started to feel strange. The stallion put a hoof to his face as he felt himself shrinking a little. Then the stallion began to groan, feeling his body morphing with his bones and muscles shifting about in his body. The transformation was rather sudden as he could feel his orange mane start to grow out and curl around his head (along with his tail). The feeling of his stallionhood no longer being present. But the transformation didn't stop with his body as he could feel that his rather cold metallic armor now felt more clothlike, the weight of his helmet vanished as he felt the soft cloth like material now ontop his mane, and his gilded hoof shoes feeling much more clothlike as well. Lemon Tart looked over his body a little seeing his armor was now turned into the silky black dress of a maid's uniform along with a cute white apron tied around his midriff. Then he raised a hoof to see that his former gilded horseshoe was now a cute black shoe with a silky white sock up his leg. He trotted around in circles, seeing that all four hooves had the same shoes and socks. The former stallion then slowly turned his attention to his fellow soldiers, wondering if they were maids too. Julius now looks like a cute-looking mare with his eyelashes having grown slightly longer over his much-rounded face. The royal guard also sported a frilly maid's uniform dressed around his body, with his rusty, reddish mane, which was braided (with tiny sky blue colored ribbons tied at the ends of each braid) with his tail now much longer and looked well groomed. Then he looked over at Storm Cloud; he realized that the pegasus was turned into a mare as well, sporting a cute frilly maid's uniform; his mane was still relatively short now, which covered the right side of his face (with some hair clips in the left side of her face), and with his tail had grown out a bit. But overall, Storm Cloud has seemed to have been changed the least, minus the fact he was now a mare. But the realization of what happened didn't fully set in until they all started looking over each other and gasping at their new bodies and cute uniforms. They were all somewhat flustered, looking over at each other (while both Lemon Tart and Storm Cloud did their best to stifle their laughter, seeing what Princess Celestia did to Julius's mane). But the question on their minds was how in Equestria did Princess Celestia discover they went out!? But the answer to their question came in a scroll that slowly fluttered down from the sky and there at their hooves. The three former stallions surrounded the scroll. When it was unfurled with what was written, it shocked them as it declared they had been demoted for sneaking off at night while on duty and that their punishment was to be maids for a week. Also, they were to report to Mop Head for their new duties as maids as new members of the group known as the "maids of honor." There were no if and or buts as the three former stallions were maids. Begrudgingly, the three started to trot off in the opposite direction as they headed to the maids' quarters. Meanwhile, Lemon Tart had a sheepish grin on her face, and she did her best to lighten up the mood as she said, "At least we don't have to be sneaky anymore. Right guys?"
But Storm Cloud was too pissed off about their predicament as she had her head lowered and cursing under her breath.
Meanwhile, Julius was in utter disbelief, looking around the courtyard as if her head was on a swivel as she cried, "H-how did she catch us?"
All three maids started to look around the courtyard, but Princess Celestia was nowhere in sight; it was as if she spotted them overhead and transformed them into maids. But why would she be up this late at night in the first place? And how could she have known they went out? But as the three stopped looking around and continued their trot of shame, they all were thinking the same thing. Somepony told on them about their little outing and had them turned into maids on purpose. But who did? And for what reason, they did not know, but all three mares were going to find out.