“Now, just remember what I told you, and you should be fine.” Luminare said as we neared the doors to the dining hall. Aside from my totally not checking out his sweet tight flank, he took the time to give me a few pointers for this encounter. It was a way to make sure I didn’t do anything that would tip them off to me not really being Skyla. From what I understood, Shining Armor knew all about my world and the process of swapping lives. Thankfully he was rather dense about such things and probably wouldn’t notice unless I made it obvious. At least, that’s what Skyla and Luminare told me.
“Right, just act disinterested in everything and I should be fine.” I paused. “Is Skyla really like that?”
“Well no,” Luminare replied stopping just long enough to brush my mane a bit. Where’d he get the brush? “But when she’s in a foul mood, she tends to act like that sometimes. With luck they’ll just leave you alone.”
“Ah, good plan.” I said as I leaned into his brush strokes. It felt really nice to have it’s bristles sweep across my head and neck. Was this what it was like for all ponies when their manes were brushed? I stole a glance at my present company. Or was it just because the pony doing the--
I stopped the thought mid sentence. No! If it was anything, it wasn’t that! It couldn’t be that! It was probably just some sorta animal instinct. Like how a cat or dog likes being petted. Yeah, I bet if I was to do the same to him--
“Enjoying ourselves?” His voice cut my thoughts short. In horror I realized that at some point during the brushing, my wings had begun to extend and now stood stiff on both sides. In haste I tried to tuck them back away, only for them to ignore my commands.
“Getting this worked up over a simple brushing. Are you sure you were male?” he asks quietly so we wouldn’t be heard.
“Yes I’m sure! Now let’s go before we’re late!” With that I very promptly strolled past him and toward the double doors, not wanting to be alone with him any longer then I had to. Pushing the doors open, I strolled in.
Then again... I thought, seeing the scene before me.
Sitting directly before me on the ground and glaring daggers at me was my younger ‘brother’ Eos. Ignoring his look for now, I could see the dining table behind him, almost taking up the entire center of the room! The thing looked like it could seat not only the mane six, but every background pony I ever remembered seeing in the show! Seated in the center on the opposite side was my ‘father’ Shining Armor. Sitting next to him, in some sorta foal seat, was a tiny purple unicorn filly. She sure was cute whoever she was, her mane a dark blue with a single strip of yellow in it’s center. She looked no older than what I remember the cake twins to be, at least how old when I had last seen them in the show. Geez, by now they would probably be in high school, or whatever the pony version of it was.
“You took waaaaaaaay more than just a few minutes!” Eos grumbled, cutely stomping a hoof. “It’s not fair sis! With the others gone I thought we’d finally be able to start meals on time!” Others? Don’t tell me there are more siblings for me to meet. Just how many kids did Shining Armor and Cadance have?
“I’m sorry Eos.” I said feeling crestfallen. I hated making ponies wait, but it was more than just that. Somehow the fact the pony I had made wait was him made me feel even worse. “I’ll make it up to you later okay?” I ruffled his mane a bit as an apology which only served to earn me a very odd look. Crap! I had already forgotten how I was suppose to be acting.
“You okay sis? You’re acting super weird today.”
“Um, well that is...” Shit! I was screwing it up! What do I do? What do I do!?
“Since young Eos appears to be preoccupied, I suppose I can finish off his portion of the breakfast this morning.” Luminare stated rather plainly as he made his way past us to the table, a very knowing smirk upon his lips.
“Wait what?! Oh no you don’t!” Eos yelled as he took off toward a seat. I couldn’t help but giggle even as I felt relief wash over me. Eos certainly had his priorities set.
“Good Morning sweetie.” Shining said suddenly as he looked up from the little foal he had been playing with. “Feeling alright today? It’s not like you to be so late for breakfast”
“I’m uh, fine d-dad. Just not feeling quite myself this morning.” Oh dear Celestia, I did NOT just say that! Ugh, it hadn’t even been five minutes and I’ve already shot the plan to hell. What the fuck is wrong with me?!
“You’ll have to forgive her,” Luminare said with a sigh. “It seems young Eos here got a lucky shot in that’s rattled her to the core.”
>>Just keep quiet and do as I say.
I blinked. His voice was coming from inside my head!
How are you doing this? I could almost feel a pair of mental eyeballs roll.
>>You talked to Skyla correct? I would have assumed this was how.
Oh right. I’m an idiot apparently.
“Hey! I said I was sorry!” Eos shouted from his spot at the table. He had previously been jumping up and down in his seat, no doubt in his eagerness to eat, yet now sat completely still with his ears drooping ever so slightly. He just looked so adorable, I felt a sudden urge to hug him.
I had nearly leaned forward to do just that before managing to stop myself. Okay, this was really starting to concern me. I mean I didn’t normally act like this, right? I certainly don’t remember ever wanting to hug random strangers while a human.
“You are okay, aren’t you sis?” Eos asked hesitantly, genuine concern in his eyes. “You haven’t even teased me all morning.” His ears drooped lower as he added: “You aren’t mad at me are you?” Okay now I really wanted to hug him.
“I’ll be fine Eos, really.” Before I could stop myself I had given him a soft nuzzle, it just happened. I couldn’t bear to see him so down like that.
“Well, looks like you’re both getting along for once.” Dad commented with a smile. “You should tackle your sister more often Eos!”
I groaned and looked up at the ceiling. “Daaaaaaaaaaaad!”
Shining just laughed. “Okay enough fooling around.” He turned to one of the other ponies in the room who I assumed were staff. “Swift Spice, you may bring breakfast in now.” The pony in question, a brown earth stallion, bowed his head with a smile before trotting off into the kitchen, brushing his cinnamon colored mane aside as he did so. This left me with just my thoughts. Well, my thoughts and Prince Luminare in my head.
When did you have time to do this anyway?
>>Outside while I was brushing your mane, surprised you didn’t notice. Anyway, my father may not be the most sensible of ponies, but he did have a few good lessons to teach me. “Always have a plan B,” was one of the better ones.
I see... I sat down in a chair I assumed was meant for me as Swift Spice wheeled a large cart in. Given nopony said anything, I guess I chose my seat correctly. Turning to watch him wheel this thing in, and I couldn’t help but be amazed at the sheer size of it. Just what was he hiding under that thing, a motorbike?
The smell emitting from it was something else entirely. My first whiff of it instantly made my stomach rumble and mouth water. I couldn't remember the last time I had smelled something so wonderful! I couldn’t remember the last time my sense of smell was this accurate! Everything just smelled so powerful. It’s hard for me to explain it.
The food itself smelled wonderful, but that wasn’t all. Back on earth the flowers in the middle of the table would have gone unnoticed, but here their room filling scent was impossible to ignore. Not only did it make my entire body tingle a bit, but it complimented the food almost perfectly
Each pony had a different scent as well. Swift Spice smelled like some combination of flour and cinnamon. It wasn’t bad, but there was a roughness to it that I found off for whatever reason. Shining had a scent of something similar to a fine oak in the mountains, though I honestly couldn’t remember if I’d actually smelled such a thing before. It was just the first thing my mind could conjure up to describe it. It was a scent that gave me the impression of strong and proud. How weird, I hadn’t smelled anything like that with Swift Spice.
Eos had a similar scent, though his reminded me oddly of spring water. The little filly, whose name I still didn’t know, had a scent I could only describe as ‘new book smell’, which wasn’t unpleasant at all.
Then there was Prince Luminare. His scent... his scent was something else entirely. The fragrance I got from him reminded me of not only roses but lilacs as well, a combination of aromas that caused my wings to shudder. I never thought I could get so turned on by a smell before, but fuck! This was something else. Part of me wanted to jump him right here!
I violently shook my head to clear it, ignoring the looks it got me. This was just getting weirder and weirder. I’d better just focus on the food. Thankfully my empty tummy was loud enough to drown out anything else in my mind.
“Breakfast is served my prince!” Swift Spice announced proudly as he lifted the huge metal, dome? I really should learn the proper word for that sometime, anyway the big metal cover thing that was over the meal. Once up, it revealed to us the most amazing ‘breakfast’ I had ever laid eyes upon.
The plate had no less than three stacks of food upon it. One of pancakes, one of waffles, and the final being french toast, though here in Equestria I had no idea what they would call it. All three stacks easily stood about the same height as the little filly next to Shining. In addition to these were a small bowl of hard boiled eggs, some toast, three jars of jam along with a couple full of syrup, and even something that looked a lot like bacon but made out of... was that hay? Last of all there was a small bottle of what I could only guess was milk for the filly.
“Swift Spice...” I heard Shining begin with mild amusement, “Didn’t I say you don’t have to do so much for breakfast? I’m not sure we can even finish all this. Or do you expect little Twilight here to have more than just her bottle?” Sure enough, the bottle I had guessed was for her, lifted up into the air via his magic to float over to the young filly’s mouth. Who in turn, began to greedily suck at the little nub on top. I may have found this adorable, if I hadn’t felt my heart jump at the mention of her name.
THAT’S Twilight!? Twilight Sparkle!? I thought at Luminare fiercely. What on Equestria had happened to her!?
>>Of course not! Came his amused reply. As it was, he could be seen rather obviously holding back laughter. Something everypony was thankfully too busy with the conversation between Shining and Swift Spice to notice.
“I know sir, but I just can’t help myself sometimes!” He grinned as he set plates in front of each of us, before serving each of us a fair portion of goodies from the main platter. “Fear not, anything you can’t eat will be finished off by the guards or staff, as always.”
“I suppose I can’t argue with that.” Shining says with a chuckle as he concentrates on feeding little ‘Twilight’.
Well who is she then? I thought she was my younger sister or something before he called her Twilight.
>>Well technically she’s Skyla’s little sister, but it’s good you are thinking in that mindset, it will make it easier not to give yourself away. Her full name is Twilight Sprinkle. I’ve been told by Skyla that it’s a tradition in the house to name a daughter with ‘Twilight’. As you know, Shining Armor’s sister is named Twilight Sparkle, and their mother is Twilight Velvet.
Ahh, that made sense now. I knew enough about the show that Twilight’s mom was based on the generation one design of Twilight, though I wasn’t sure where the ‘Velvet’ came from. Come to think of it, had they ever named her on the show? Oh well, it wasn’t that important. It was also probably best not to go into just how I knew all this with Luminare either. I don’t know just how much Skyla and him knew about their lives being a TV show in my world. In any case, I was too hungry to care about that right now. Which I soon realized lead me to another problem.
How in Equestria was I suppose to eat like this? Sure I had a fork and knife laying next to my plate, but just how the heck was I suppose to use them with hooves? I watched with no shortage of envy as both Luminare and even Eos lifted their utensils with ease using their magic. Well I certainly wasn’t going to be able to do it that way. I doubt I could even get my horn to glow. So my only options were either have someone feed me, or eat like a dog. Looks like I was going to have to try and be sneaky.
Trying to make sure they were paying attention to their own food, I quickly reached my head down to my plate and tore off a chunk of the waffles before lifting my head back up so I could chew and swallow. As the texture of them hit my tongue I swore I was going to faint at the taste! The fluffyness of the dough, the richness of the butter, and don’t even get me started on the syrup! Forgetting all about trying to sneak in bites, I began to devour them like a starved animal. Had I just been eating play doh my entire life before? Nothing I had on earth ever compared to this! Then again, that was store brand pre packaged product, but this was made from scratch for royalty. It only made sense the tastes wouldn’t be in anyway similar.
“Er, sweetie?” Shining asked, causing me to pause in my rather unladylike dining. “Is there a reason you aren’t using your magic to eat?” My body shivered every so slightly. Shit! How was I going to explain this one?
“Oh, she’d love to, but if she does then she loses doesn’t she?” Luminare said with a devious smirk as he stared right at me. Thankfully Shining didn’t notice the look of confusion on my face.
“Lose? Lose what?” He asked, while ‘burping’ my younger sister.
“Oh, just a small bet amongst friends.” He replied nonchalantly as he peeled and ate an egg. “I just bet her a favor that she couldn’t go three whole days without using her magic. Of course I just need to wait for her to slip up.” With that he gave me a knowing smile. “Which I’m sure she will.”
Ooo! Nice save!
>>Well yes, ONE of us has to think of these things I suppose.
Part of me wanted to smack him for that comment, but I couldn’t deny the truth in the statement. If it wasn’t for him, I’d likely have been tossed in jail or something before leaving my room. Swallowing my pride, I played along.
“Oh yeah? Well we’ll see about that!” I shot at him with a glare.
Shining just sighed. “It figures. You know, it’d be nice if you two did something other than occasionally throw a challenge each other’s way.”
“Yes, I’m very aware of what my parents desire Prince Shining, and I do so apologize, but I’m afraid I simply do not agree with the idea.” Luminare said with a deep sigh. This caught my attention. He had mentioned that Skyla would have never kissed him, but I thought they were at least friends from how he’s spoken of her.
“I understand that.” Shining replied simply, “And Cadance and I would never want you to pursue something that isn’t there, but you could at least give it a shot. Perhaps go on a date? It’d make your parents happy at least.”
“I would really rather no-” Luminare began before glancing over at me. Oh, I really didn’t like that look in his eyes. “Actually I think that’s a great idea. How about tonight?”
What!? I don’t want to go on a date!
>>Oh come now, what else are you going to do? Like I said, the crystals won’t be ready till tomorrow at the earliest, so why not see the city before then? Well he did have a point. Though I was still going to check the truthfulness to that crystal business as soon as this breakfast was done. Meanwhile Shining seemed quite taken aback by all this.
“Really? You’ll do it?” He looked rather pleadingly at me. “Both of you?”
I swallowed down my bite of toast rather hard. “I-If I must.” My answer obviously elicited a positive response as Shining went back to his meal with a smile. Surprisingly he said nothing more on the subject, perhaps fearful to find that he only imagined this was happening if he did. Great, so now I’m not just a princess, but I have a date with a dashing prince. I groaned inwardly, things just kept getting more and more complicated the longer I stayed here.
On the other hoof, this meant I’d be out of the palace, right? At least then I wouldn’t have to worry about how to act around a family that wasn’t mine. Hell I didn’t even know how to handle having a family like this. Back where I came from, I didn’t even have parents. Now I’ve got a dad, and at least two other siblings!
No, Skyla has all this. I had to remind myself that none of this was mine: not the family, not the potential boyfrie-good friend Luminare, and not the grand meals. Though I could certainly get use to that last one.
I brushed the thought aside. The last thing I needed to do was get too comfortable in this life. Skyla was going to want it back, and I had no intention of being a pony princess, no matter what the perks. For now I need to focus on eating my breakfas-
“HEY!” I screamed, causing most of my present company to stare at me in alarm. The only one who hadn’t jumped at my outburst was my current younger brother who had just snatched one of my pancakes from my plate. “That’s mine!”
“Pfft, you were staring into space instead of eating. Besides, don’t you have to watch your marish figure or something?” He replied while scarfing down my food. “Also, I’m a growing colt you know!”
The little brat! Just wait until I got my hooves on him. Why I... I stopped as a devious idea came to me. Or maybe I could.
“You know, you’re right...” I said, fighting to keep my expression blank. Even so, it was pretty clear Eos was being cautious. “You are indeed a growing colt, and you do need to eat.” The grin I was trying so hard to hold back began to slip through. “But you know what else is good for you?”
Eos didn’t like my tone. “W-what’s that?”
“A nice big cup of-- dear Celestia! Look over there!” I cried pointing behind him. Sure enough, he immediately spun to face the imaginary danger, giving me plenty of time to bring my head down to snatch up all three pieces of the hay bacon he had left on his plate. Realizing his mistake, he quickly spun back around but much too late. He took one look at what was sticking out of my mouth before screaming:
“No! Not those! You know they’re my favorite!” He swiped wildly at them, a move I easily avoided.
“Mnnnf! Nffft! Trrrf!” I said as I backed up further. I had meant that to be: ‘They’re mine now’, but that certainly wasn’t what came out. Thankfully I was pretty sure Eos got the message.
“Oh no you don’t! Give em sis!” He screamed leaping at me, only to crash into a chair as I ran past him to the other end of the room.The moment he recovered he was on my tail, screaming at me to give them back the entire while. I can only assume he wasn’t very proficient with magic yet, or either just didn’t think to use it to take them from me. Meanwhile, Luminare smirked at the display.
“Not going to stop them Prince Shining?”
Shining shook his head. “I long ago gave up on having a peaceful breakfast around here,” he said with a smile while pushing a giggling Twilight back down into her seat after she started levitating herself.
* * *
“There, satisfied?” Luminare was asking me as I absently rolled one of the crystal’s between my hooves. Breakfast had pretty much continued in the same manner with me and Eos trying to steal each other’s food, balanced with trying to scarf down our own before the other got to it. Much as I hated to admit it, I had more fun during that breakfast then I had with most events in my life for the past couple of years. I really hoped Skyla appreciated what a wonderful little brother she had.
“Yeah yeah, not a spark. I guess it really won’t do anything till tomorrow,” I sighed placing the orb in a saddle bag I brought with me via another suggestion from Luminare. It wouldn’t do me any good if Shining found this thing, given that Luminare said he’d know what it was. Made sense if he knew all about body swapping and the like, though I was still a bit confused on the how. Should I ask Luminare what he knew?
“Say, that reminds me about something.” I said slowly, turning to face him. “How come he’d know what this crystal is? I remember Skyla telling me something about it, but it’s hazy.” I tried thinking back to the conversation we had not eight or so hours ago. How was it that I couldn’t remember? “I know it has to deal with stories her mother told her, but why does she know?”
Luminare stared at me dumbfounded. “Oh dear, don’t tell me you haven’t figured it out.” I stared back at him sheepishly.
“Really? You really haven’t put two and two together?” I again shook my head in embarrassment. I felt like the answer should be so obvious, yet for whatever reason, it wouldn’t come to me.
“Oh my, either you are very dense, or you have a severe lack of intelligence.” He groaned rubbing a spot next to his horn. “Skyla’s mother was from your world. According to what Skyla has told me, she swapped places with the first Cadance years ago, in other words taking her place.”
As this new information sank in, I could feel my eyes practically popping out of my head. If that was right, then that meant.
“Wait Cadance. You mean Princess Cadance was from my world!?”
Luminare nodded. “Of course! How could you not pick up on that!?”
I just sat there staring at him. I really was an idiot! Skyla had even told me during our chat! Of course I can remember that now. So Cadance at some point did the same thing Skyla had done to me, except she got stuck on earth, while whoever ended up in her body just sorta took over?
“Wow, that’s... kinda scary. Shouldn’t you be afraid of me doing the same thing or something?” He rolled his eyes.
“Right, be afraid of the pony who still came to this room just to make sure they couldn’t go back yet, that they might want to stay as Skyla.” I blushed, okay so maybe that was another stupid question. Of course I didn’t want to stay here...
...Right?
“Even so,” he went on, “I wouldn’t allow it. I may not want to wed Skyla like my parents desire, but she is still my friend. I’d never leave her over there.”
“You seem to be a really good friend...” I didn’t even realize my ears were drooping. It sure must be nice to have someone care about you like that.
“I must say,” Luminare lifted my muzzle with his hoof to look me in the eyes, “you are taking the information about Cadance rather well.”
“Oh, I guess I am,” I said mulling it over. “It’s just, it happened many years ago right? I dunno, I guess I just figured that by now, there isn’t any reason to feel shocked over it. Well, I am curious as to why the old Cadance was just cast off like that.”
“Yes well,” Luminare said, rubbing the back of his neck, “Again, I can only go off of what Skyla has told me from her mother’s story and the diary entries she mentioned, but if I understand the situation correctly, the old Cadance was... oh how should I put this? A bit of a uncouth ruffian. To put it lightly”
I blinked. “You’re kidding! Cadance!? But she’s the princess of love!”
“Well apparently the old one was a very good actress then. I obviously can not say anything for certain, the princess Cadance I know is very sweet and wise. If not a bit... ‘generous’ with her love at times.”
I had a feeling I was going to regret what I wanted to ask next. “What do you mean exactly?”
“Let’s just say I know the real reason my parents make so many trips here for ‘business’” Oh boy was I right! Okay, time for me to change the subject.
“Well that was more than I needed to know,” I said, quickly turning to trot out of the room. I knew we’d have to come back to this conversation at some point but right now I really didn’t want to think about it. Besides, I had a more pressing concern, and it could only be dealt with after I had gotten back to my room. Luminare rushed after me, thrown off by my sudden departure.
“My word, just where are you off to in such a hurry?” he asked, before his lip slowly curved into an impish grin. “Or are you that eager to prepare for our ‘date’?” Leaning over, he gave my neck a little ‘nip’ sending sensations through my body that I really didn’t want to think about right now. Thankfully my current concern was more than enough to take my mind off it.
“Not even in your dreams ‘prince’. As for the question, to be blunt I need to go powder my muzzle.” Luminare stared at me blankly.
“Powder? Say what now?” He asked slipping out of his ‘proper’ way of speaking for a second. It was rather cute.
“You know, drain the snake? Oh wait I can’t do that anymore. Oh foo, what would a mare say? Leak th- ew no. I need to well, uh...” Frustrated, I spun on him stamping my hoof as I hissed: “I need to pee!”
His eyes widened in sudden clarity. “Oh! Say no more, let us make haste!” He began to lead the way back to my room rather bashfully. Thank Celestia it didn’t take long for us to get back to my room. One quick point from Luminare later and I was rushing into my own personal restroom before freezing in place.
Okay first off, this was the most amazing latrine I had ever seen. The size of the bath alone looked like it could fit ten of me! However, that wasn’t what had caused me to hesitate. No, that would be the sickening revelation I had just come to upon stepping inside here.
I had no fucking clue how the hell I was suppose to pee as a pony mare. I mean, did I just go in the tub? Did pony mares sit down? How do I get it out? Okay calm down, first thing I should do is look for a toilet.
Surveying the room, I could see something to my right that looked kinda like one of those wall toilets you’d see in the men’s room except the shape was unlike any I’d seen back home. The thing’s bowl extended far enough into the room that I felt I could lie on the thing if the lid was down, though from the look of things it didn’t have one. It did have a type of seat to it, but instead of something I could put down or up, the thing seemed to have been carved right into the top of it. Meaning the porcelain simply curved into a chair up top, rather than it being a separate piece of plastic. Well I suppose it did make this a bit easier. I was a mare, and if this worked the way I think it did.
Turning, I backed my rump over the bowl till I felt something cold touch my behind, causing me to leap forward an inch. Looks like I reached the end, peering under me I could confirm that I should be in a position where I wouldn’t make a mess when I went, or so I hoped. Laying down upon the nice cool seat, I attempted to get this over with only to be reminded that I still wasn’t sure how I was suppose to get this body to do it.
Well relaxing should do the trick right? I just need to settle down, breath slowly and my body shou-
This was weird! Dear Celestia this feeling was so weeeeeeeeeeird!
Now the problem with that, was it made me tense back up, forcing me to try and relax myself again, which only reminded me a few seconds later about how utterly bizarre this was. All in all I spent way more time in here doing this then I had ever cared to.
After what seemed an eternity, I was finished, which only lead me to another confusing predicament. I didn’t see any toilet paper by me. How did they expect me to ‘take care of myself’ without it? I swear, there better not be a shelf with three seashells by me. Also, how do I flush this thing? Hold on a second, were there buttons by my front legs? Hmm one on each side.
Pressing the one on my right caused the toilet to emit a very familiar swishing sound. Okay so that one was the flush, but then what did this other one do? Well only one way to find out. Pressing the button, I was rewarded by a sudden cold jet of water shooting right up my backside. My reaction was about what you’d expect, “EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEK!”
Mere seconds later Luminare came bursting into the room. “What is it!? Is thy lady alrigh-” that’s about as far as he got before being pelted in the face by a towel.
“AHHH! No! No! Out! Get out!” I heard myself scream as I threw item after item at him. I don’t remember exactly what I was grabbing, or how I was tossing them, but apparently I was doing enough damage that he quickly hightailed it out of there nearly crashing into the door frame in his haste to escape. Leaving me once more alone in a bathroom that was alien to me, within a kingdom I didn’t understand, where I was suppose to survive for three days. With a defeated groan, I slumped to the ground.
“Is it tomorrow morning yet?”