Rifty Shifty

by Mythee

28 Hays Later

It was a fresh morning, announced by the birds of spring and the dewey moisture in the air. Through the troubles of ponykind, nature remained calm, peaceful and unperturbed. After taking a well-deserved rest out of town, Applejack, Rarity and Pinkie Pie had recovered much of their energy. They had been keeping a steady pace to Canterlot ever since Pinkie startled them awake in the morning, putting shame to the average morning pony with her sheer amount of energy. There had also been a steady stream of distractions and arewethereyet's as a result of this. According to Applejack's internal clock, they were due for another one in three... two... one...

-"AREWETHEREYET???" Pinkie shouted, lifting the other ponies off their hooves.

-"No! Ah told you already two minutes ago, we're NOT-"

-"Ohh dearie, we're here!" Interjected Rarity's voice, in a manner more perturbed than joyful.

"Oh, huh. We're there, Pinkie! You can stop asking now. So, what's the situat-"

-"GAAASSSSSSSP!" Went Pinkie Pie, witnessing Canterlot.

-"You can say that again." Conceded Applejack.

-"GAAASSSSSSSP!" Pinkie went again. And then grinned sheepishly. "Sorry! I thought you wanted that. But really, I LOVE the new decor! But I wonder what it means?"

-"Ah don't know, but we're gonna go and find out."

Rising up above the gates and castle were great, billowing flags and star-speckled banners, all with the same words and distinct silhouette of somepony they all knew well. They read: NEW LUNAR REPUBLIC.

---

It was a highly atypical day in Canterlot, but a certain princess could see no end to the situation. Stallion-tall stacks of paperwork piled before her, and the walls to the castle were lined with these intrepid... "humans", waiting to serve her every need even though they had inconvenienced her more than anything. Luna had to keep asking herself how her life had turned upside down, and Equestria with it. They had come out of nowhere, certainly not by her power, and banded together into a kind of military structure, calling themselves the New Lunar Republic and spouting nonsense like "Overthrow Celestia's Tyrannical Reign!" and "The Mandate of the Sun is Already Over!"

The streets soon filled with propaganda, a protest vying for Luna's usurpation of her sister's throne. Celestia, with a hurt expression, had appeared before her, apologizing that she had never noticed that Luna wanted to rule so badly, and that she would take her leave. Before Luna could object and tell her that the perceived rebellion was fake, the sun's goddess had disappeared as quickly as she had come, leaving this mess for Luna to sort out.

And as much as she would like to go look for her sister, she could not abandon everypony in their time of need, especially since these overfriendly alien life forms had taken to her as their leader. Since they had (temporarily!) overthrown Equestria's ruling system and elected its new (temporary!) head, Luna understood that for better or for worse, they were now citizens- and she needed to create a place for all of these citizens, or all would fall into chaos. Jobs, housing, laws about Not Infringing On an Equestrian's Privacy... she had her work cut out for her.

"Tea, your highness?" Asked a cheerful, tentatively approaching human, holding up a cup.

-"No thank- NO THANK YOU." She answered in the Traditional Royal Canterlot Voice, recalling that these people seemed to prefer it, unlike the ponies. Unfortunately, she had already gotten out of the habit and was prone to slip-ups.

-"What about some coffee, then?" He asked, interrupting Luna in the midst of reading another sentence on a permit document for a new multi-story toy store that would create both jobs and a consumer-provider system for the immigrants, many of which were strangely obsessed with small figurines of ponies.

-"We said- WE SAID, NO THANK YOU."
Several humans being "guards" near the entrance to her office had to repress fan squeals.

-"Water, then?"
Luna peered at his tray, and realized it was in fact a rolling cart with multiple trays, each of them carrying a selection of drinks. From the looks of it, the enthusiastic human would not stop asking until he got through all of them. Luna hung her head.

-"WATER, THEN." Confound these humans, they drive her to drink...

All of a sudden, familiar figures erupted through the entrance (what are the guards even there for? Oh, they're taking pictures with them. Hm.) The three intruders were Applejack, Rarity and Pinkie Pie- three of the "Mane 6," as humans would call them. These ponies had helped the long-suffering alicorn out before, and it hurt her to see all of that hard-earned friendship put into peril from the misunderstanding that was doubtlessly taking place. Despite the circumstances, Luna could almost leap out from her seat and hug them.

-"IT IS GOOD TO-" Luna blushed with the mistake of using the wrong voice again,- "We mean, Applejack, Rarity and Pinkie Pie, it is good to see you here!"

-"What! Is!! The meaning of this, your highness?!" Huffed Rarity, with Applejack glaring some additional force into her implied accusation.

-"Yeah, Luna! What IS the meaning of this?! And what IS the meaning of autonomy in nursing practice? And what IS the meaning of the word 'pagination'? What- "

-"PINKIE!" shouted the unicorn and earth pony in unison. Their friend was going on a random tangent again. "What we WANT to know is why you've teamed up with these- er, these whatever they are-"

"-Humans?" Added Luna helpfully.

"-thankyou HUMANS, why you've teamed up with them to take over Equestria!!"
Luna shook her head calmly, having recited this dialogue many times in her head already.

-"This is all a misunderstanding, everypony. We never meant to create the New Lunar Republic. The humans decided that on their own, and now I am busy with the aftermath."

-"So yer sayin' that all this just... HAPPENED?" Protested Applejack, to whom the night-hued Alicorn gave a nod.

-"That is affirmative. We do not know when Celestia will return, but if you would help us restore order to Equestria, perhaps that day would come a little sooner. It would be most appreciated."

The ponies looked at each other in turn. She didn't seem to be lying, and... to tell the truth, they wanted to believe her. After seeing how much less chasing, panicking and mild violation of privacy was occurring in the streets of Canterlot, Applejack, Rarity and Pinkie Pie (if she had been paying attention) knew that if anypony knew how to repair all of this chaos, it was Luna. "Well then... I guess that's our only option, is it?" The sooner Ponyville was, er, "saved", the better. Luna's bottom lip quivered, a sparkle returning to her eyes, and she flashed the most brilliant of smiles.

-"I cannot thank you enough, my friends. Please, come with me." She said, getting up to lead them to another room, where she could discuss with them in private.

-"Okey dokey lokey, your highness!" Chimed in Pinkie Pie, bouncing after the royalty.