//------------------------------// // Communing with the solar bodies // Story: To Swap Places // by The Blackcuno //------------------------------// Princess Luna trudged through the main halls of Canterlot castle to try and find her sister Twilight. She was having no success with any servant she asked saying that they hadn’t seen her, or that they were told not to say where she was. Even Radar, her assistant, was tight lipped about the princess’s whereabouts. Luna eventually decided that the best course of action would be to throw a castle wide search and was going too, had she not run into Twilight in the Hall of honour; Sitting with crown in hoof before the large stained glass window depicting the defeat of nightmare moon. Tears streaming down her face and onto the floor with a light dropping sound. “you had me worried Sister” Luna said, walking up to her she noticed that she had been crying of all things, “you’ve been crying. What has gotten you so worked up?” “I don’t know Luna” Twilight said. Luna had noted that she was holding her crown in her hoofs before her, “this was supposed to be a holiday for us both, or so Celestia had said. Yet as I was drunk at the time of you casting the spell, this may be permanent. Our minds got mixed up, she got some of my memories and I got some of hers. I can’t stand it” “She said that?” Luna asked draping a wrong over her sister, “Great. Mental note to self, prank Celestia at first opportunity” Both princesses laughed at the comment as Twilight placed the crown back her head. “Perhaps ‘Lulu I need to rest on this” Twilight stated, standing up she looked down at Luna, “Can I ask. What’s it like raising the moon?” Luna raised an eyebrow at the ‘left field’ question that she had just been asked. Both Princesses walked back away from the ‘Hall of Honour’ and back into the main castle areas. “It’s hard to explain. Perhaps you could describe what it was like to raise the sun?” Luna replied, she looked over to see Twilight oddly confused at the response, “well?” “it was like I forcing a small ball of warmth up from the horizon” Twilight said, “that as well as it hurting my neck as my horn jerked to point at it” “The celestial bodies tend to do that. Jerk you around like that” Luna admitted, “Though the moon and I have a sort of relationship. He doesn’t jerk with me and I play nice” “You called the moon a he?” Twilight asked, “Tell me why you said that” “Well when ‘Cele banished me to the moon for a thousand years, I got to get real close to my Celestial body. Quite literally” Luna admitted, “He kept me sort of sane while he helped me with Nightmare Moon” “Helped you?” Twilight asked, remembering two memories that were odd. One of those memories were where she had banished her sister to the moon in the first place, the second was using the elements to defeat her two years ago in the decayed castle of the ‘celestial sisters’ in the Ever-free. “Yes, for some reason when I arrived on the moon, He seemed to split me into 2 mares. Me, being full of regret and sorrow while he held nightmare moon on the dark side of, well himself” Luna commented sounding as though it was nothing, “the old mares tale of ‘colt in the moon’ is technically true in a roundabout sense. Try talking with the Sun at some time. You may be surprised as to what you can learn” Both Princesses stopped in the middle of a T-junction in the halls that lead to Twilights chambers. A Colt with an eye patch walked up in full night guard attire as the princesses hugged each other. The Night Guard’s armour design was much the same as the royal guards. The most notable exception was the colouration; the armour being a deep navy blue colour in comparison to royal guards sandy yellow. The armour also looked a little more ‘demonic’ in appearance due to the slightly more spiky ends. “Ahem” his semi coughed gaining the attention of the princesses, “Forgive the Intrusion, especially on your day off Princess Twilight, “but unfortunately we have need of a princess in the main court. A situation has arisen that needs one of your attentions as soon as possible” “Twilight, get some rest as I shall deal with this matter. Captain please lead on” Luna said, giving Twilight a look of ‘you better or else’ as followed the captain down the halls. Twilight let out a sigh, finally she was alone again. Walking up to the doors to Celestia’s chambers she noted that it was slightly ajar. Peering in she saw a familiar pink figure standing in the room it’s self. Composing herself for what was about to come she opened the door and tapped the Alicorn on the flank. “Why are you in my chambers Cadance?” She asked. Cadance froze in place and turned her head around partially before sighing and relaxing again. “Aunty Twilight. You spooked me. Sorry I should have waited outside for you” Cadance said, noticing the emotionless look on Twilights face, “I just want to check up on you after that outburst earlier” “I have a lot on my mind at the moment Candace. Please skip the ‘aunty’ part” Twilight said, she sighed as she removed the crown and placed it on the drawer, “and if you don’t mind Cadance, I would like to spend some time alone” Cadance was lost for words, but nodded and left her alone in her quarters. Twilight took the chest piece off and crashed on the bed. Rolling on to her back she stared at the ceiling for the first time. Arrayed in a rich blue were constellations mapped out, some of which she recognised from Celestia telling her about when she was younger. But there was a group of 6 that she never recalled seeing in the night sky. Wracking her brain to try and find the answer she couldn’t find anything. An image of Luna with a doughnut on her horn and two marks on the side of her face sprang to mind, but nothing important like the 6 new constellations pictured on the roof. Sighing in defeat she decided that it was time to try out talking with the sun of all things. Closing her eyes she tried to picture the same feeling that she felt that morning. Instead of finding the small warm sphere of energy, she felt a significantly larger sphere of magical warmth. She felt her horn jerk again but she resisted this time. “No, stop jerking with my horn please I only want to talk with you” she said to no pony in particular. She felt the jerking subside and something entirely different instead. It was a voice literally inside her head “Then speak young one” it deadpanned, it for some odd reason had a male English accent to it, “it has been quite a while since anyone has spoken to me” “Wow, Luna was right. You can speak” “And you are not Celestia. What has happened to her?” it replied getting annoyed, “Answer me lest you want to burn eternally at the heart of myself” “I'm Twilight Sparkle. She implemented a spell that swapped us quite literally” Twilight replied “Oh. My apologies for jerking with you this morning” it apologised “what then, shall we speak about. Seeing as we both have nothing better to do at this time, apart from the obvious burning or country ruling” “Well there are these constellations on Celestia’s ceiling...” Twilight began to explain to the voice in her head. ~0~0~ Darkness descended on the town of Ponyville as Luna raised the moon that evening. Sitting on the grassy knoll on the outskirts of town was Celestia with her telescope out. She had a book at her side in her yellow TK field with a quill busy scratching her observations. Oddly enough she found this relaxing and being further out of town meant that she didn’t get the light pollution she would in Ponyville or Canterlot. Though technically Luna would always remove the pollution on a nightly basis but tonight she didn’t need to. She heard soft flaps of wings behind her. Glancing to her side she saw Luna appear beside her. Sighing she returned to her stargazing. “’Lulu, Why are you here?” Celestia asked, noting in her book that Equestria Major constellation was three and a half degrees to the west than its normal position in the night’s sky, “don’t tell me. Problems in the castle” “Yes there is a problem in the castle. Twilight freaking out is one thing, but when we have changelings on our borders” Luna began, “then yes. Yes we do have a problem” “Twilight freaking out is not an issue that I can help you with” Celestia stated, she continued to spy through the telescope only to have Luna fly in front of it blocking the view, “you are blocking my view ‘Lulu” “If this is the only way to get you to pay attention to what I have to say, then I shall block your view” Luna said, she continued to fly in front of the telescope every time Celestia moved it, “I am an insomniac as you know. I can keep this up all night if I need to” “What exactly do you want from me then?” Celestia asked in defeat, she closed the book and turned to face the Alicorn. Luna had since landed in front of her and now sat cross-hooves on the grass. “For starters did we not agree to not tell her about this?” “Well yes” “And did we both not agree that at the first sign of a backfire we would revert it the spell immediately to avoid any complications?” “Again yes we did agree to that” Luna cleared her throat “Then why pray-tell did you not come to Canterlot with her when you found out that she was drunk at the time of casting. Does thou not realise the repercussions of this spell as it has backfired?” she said in the Royal Canterlot voice, She toned it down after Celestia was blasted back into the telescope. “’Lulu, I know full well what could have happened” Celestia said, “I experienced it first hoof. I had a mental breakdown earlier today” “Then why didn’t you contact Twilight by Spike?” Luna said before she realised the stupidity of the comment “The note, her saying teaching you a lesson. Oh boy” “Spike tried to send a letter, but Twilight didn’t respond. If it wasn’t for her friends I would more than likely be in Ponyville medical in a self induced magical coma!” Celestia stated as she began to pack up the gear that was now spread all over the place thanks to Luna’s outburst, “So yes I know that the spell has backfired. But right now, not my concern is it really?” “Cele’ what are you saying?” Luna asked looking hurt “At this very moment in time, I am not your sister; Twilight is. Now if you will excuse me princess but I need to get some sleep” Celestia said putting on the saddle bags. “Celestia, Let me tell you this right now. Should you not be in Canterlot by tomorrow afternoon to help me fix this, then I will take matters into my own hooves” “Is that a threat Luna?” Celestia asked only to get a glare from the nightly princess. “That’s Princess Luna to you Celestia” She said firmly “You have been warned. You better come or I will fix this in such a way that you will regret” the princess of the night said taking off and leaving Celestia to sigh in defeat. As she walked back along the pathways of Ponyville, she could have sworn that she saw a flash of Blue and black dart out of her view. Raising her walk up to a gait as she jumped to the side as the pursuer tried to jump her. She never glanced back as she burst into a run to try and avoid the wannabe kidnappers. Darting into a side street she breathed heavily, the telescopic gear in her saddlebags was heavy enough to weigh her down. Looking around the smell of fresh food scraps wafted past her nose, making her cringe at the idea. Glaring around the dimly lit streets she looked up to see the sky darkening. “We aren’t expecting rain tonight?” she said as a few drops began to fall onto the mare, “What the bucking hell is going on here!” she said fuming while casting a quick bubble shield spell over herself and her bags. What she wasn't expecting was the hoof coming over her mouth, the jerking of her horn as something was slammed roughly down its length cutting her from her magic or the sickly sweet smell of a liquid that made her vision swim in confusion as stars began to appear in her field of view. Within seconds, the Ex-princes of Equestria collapsed in a heap like a sack of potatoes on a cart. Standing over her was a mare clad in black attire, soft green coloured tail jutting out of the back. “Time for the revenge for my changelings my dear and sweet Celestia. Oh and don’t think I didn't know what you tried to pull, swapping places with your sweet little student. So naive of you to make yourself so vulnerable like this” she said. Hefting the unconscious mare onto her back, the Pegasus mare jumped into the night sky, taking with her the previous ruler of Canterlot ~0~0~ The next day ~0~0~ Twilight awoke again the fluffy bed that she had crashed onto the night before. After a lengthy talk with the sun, she looked up to see something that she hadn’t before, a small bell like object mounted on the wall. Throwing the covers off her, she got up and stretched the kinks out of her wings and legs. With a few pops her wings flexed to their full glory again. “Being an Alicorn has its perks I suppose. I could get used to the wings” She muttered as she craned her neck to remove anther kink out of it. The small bell rang a few times softly and then stopped. Twilight raised her eyebrow at it, but thought nothing of it at the time. walking up to her balcony and casting the doors aside with her magic she stepped out into the dusk of the day; the sun sitting neatly at the edge of the horizon casting a deep red colour across the landscape, eager to bask Equestria in his warm loving embrace. Lowering her head this time, she aimed her horn and felt something subtly different. Instead of the jerking like the morning before, she felt a warm towel like thing wrap around her horn, sending warmth through her form. This caused her to jerk from her partially sleep deprived state into one of pure attentive in a split second. Raising her head, horn still pointing at the sphere of warmth, she watched this time as the sun rose across the horizon, signalling a new day for Equestria. “Thought you could use a pick me up” a voice said as Twilight giggled, recognising it as the actual sun. “Thanks. But coffee would have been better” “Ah phooey, nothing beats a jolt of pure solar energy. Celestia never asked for it. She was kind of a nuisance like that” There was a knock at the door, followed by the sound of a colt’s voice twilight recognised as Shinning Armours. “Princess Twilight? We have a situation that needs your immediate attention” “Shinning you may enter if you wish” Twilight said casually. “I would not Princess Twilight. It is after all your quarters” “Very well then, what is the problem?” “It’s about my sister, Celestia” “Ah” Twilight said softly, magically using a comb to remove any moulted wing feathers. “What is the problem this time? Wrong coding in the library or something a little more stupid?” she replied with a hint of sarcasm “I... she has been taken. Last night after Luna paid her a visit, she was abducted shortly after. A Wall eye mare, Ditzy Doo, reported it late last night to the town guards, but the report didn’t come in till this morning” Twilight dropped the brush onto the carpet and she was at the door before it hit the floor. Flinging it open with enough force to send shining armour sprawling into the opposite wall due to the wind speeds “But who would do that!” Twilight demanded ‘Who would want to pony-nap Celestia. On second thought, don’t answer that” “We don’t know, but from the reports, it was a Pegasus that flew into the Everfree. I want permission to go after her myself. Well her friends as well, but that is beside the point.” Shining said firmly while dusting himself off. “Granted, but I'm coming with you to bring her back here to Canterlot immediately. I will need to have a firm talking to her after this” twilight said as Shinning saluted before giggling as walking away. “What’s so funny captain?” “Princess, your necklace is on upside down” he said trotting off to organise the search party. Twilight looked down and smirked “So it is. Whoops” she said walking back to her room and closing the door. Sighing she picked the brush back up and proceeded to remove yet more feathers from her wings. As she did though, a Piece of parchment floated into her field and as she continued to remove any offending feathers she wrote to Spike the following message ~-~-~ To Spike Shining Armour and I will down to assist in the search for my student Celestia. She has been taken by an unknown Pegasus. Please gather her friends and wait for his arrival at the library, Luna will be attending only briefly as this is vital that we find her. The fate of Equestria may rest in us finding her as soon as we can Princess Twilight, Princess of the sun. ~-~-~ To be continued.