Sisterly Switched

by Harbinger Of Mist

Shenanigans at Dawn

The sun still lingered just above the mountain tops, waiting to rise to its further position. That is if a certain someone actually remembers how to do his one job during his little ploy. The popcorn can wait.

"Oh, my! 9 already?!" Discord scampered to his patio on an indiscreet tower of the castle. He put on a pair of sunglasses and held a chart out at arm's length that displayed various sun positions and the times at which laid. "Hmmm..." The devious draconequus bit his tongue as he studied the chart. He soon reaches out his free claw and "plucks" the sun from the its very top and raises it to a higher spot among the clouds. The light now less yellow and more vibrant, Discord took it as a job well done. "Eh, close enough." He rapidly folds the chart into an airplane and tosses it over his shoulder.

Eager to get back to his snooping as usual, I see, the imprints left in his chair welcomed him back with more fresh buttery delight at his beck and call. He ignores a male voice from outside exclaiming from sudden pain to his eye and leg and resumes his more important duty.

---

Having completely lost track of what she meant to attend to, Sweetie had been wandering the halls for ten minutes now. The hard clop-clop sounds of her adult hooves echoed throughout the emptiness. Thanks to her short attention span, Luna's usual duties were no longer a concern to her. As far as she knew, she had a holiday to spend as the princess of night with no responsibilities.

Yet she could not muster up what she could do to have fun. A filly in an adult's body, Luna's body, and she cannot put her imagination to work and find a way to put her new power to use? She lets out a sigh to herself in disappointment.

"Your Highness!" A mare's voice called from behind. Sweetie turned to face her. From her formal outfit and glasses, Sweetie's best guess was that she was an adviser. Her somewhat haughty tone of voice had Sweetie stand in attention. Not that she needed to, being a princess and all, but she felt it was important to show this dignitary any respect necessary. "There you are! Terribly sorry for being so up front, but where have you been? Your guards are still waiting!"

Sweetie instantly remembered what she meant to do after breakfast and began to panic. She had mere moments to process how she was supposed to respond. Asking about Luna's guards was out of the was question, it was sure to lead to her blowing her cover. Nonetheless, she kept a level head and quickly responded after a brief pause. "Oh my! How foolish of me!" She began to rush back down the hall in the opposite direction. "Forgive me! I've been having a little much on my mind lately! Thank you!" As she approaches a corner she was repeating over and over in her head hopes that the mare doesn't call to her she's going the wrong way. From the lack of a response, she could relieve herself in a safe assumption that wherever Luna's guards were waiting must have been where she was heading. Now if only she knew where exactly to go.

"Let's see... Lunar guards... probably sensitive to sunlight... check downstairs... near the center of the castle." Sweetie muttered to herself as she makes haste to a still undisclosed location. She knew for sure to keep heading down flights of stairs and get away from the sunlight from what she could deduce. One particularly wide set that began in a hallway not too far from the main throne room caught her eye. It led down to a large set of doors. Surely whatever it was must hold her answers.

Beyond the doors was a pair of spiraling staircases mirroring each other. The lack of natural light only fueled Sweetie's hopes. At the bottom of the stairs she walked down another long corridor, this one decorated with various portraits of bat-ponies donned in pale violet armour. Yes! This has to be it! She smiled and felt her worries were about to be put to rest. How lucky would she be to find to right room on the first try?

Passing through what she hoped to be the last doors of her journey, she was met with an alarming amount of dark-coloured ponies with their backs facing away from her. Sweetie took immediate notice to their wings; black and leathery, definitely bat-like. They all turned their heads to face her. She then spied that they all had narrow, serpent-like eyes. A few of them had their mouths open slightly. She could see fangs in the mouths of the guards closest to her. This had to be the place, without a doubt.

They all remained silent. Sweetie grew more nervous with every passing second. She looked around and noticed a podium on a stage on the opposite end of the room from where she had entered. No aisle down the middle, and no clearings on either sides of the columns upon columns of bat-pony guards. She quickly realized there was no need for such space; thestrals can all fly.

...Oh no. They're expecting me to fly.

As several guards continued to stare her down, Sweetie Belle tried her best to improvise; or at least stall for time to think of a better idea. She slowly splayed out her wings, more so to get accustomed to using them. Seconds went by as she continued to rise them up and out to her sides, being careful not to let her childish fears show. The guards remained silent as Sweetie felt her wings reach their furthest points.

It dawns on her: These guards do whatever Luna says. Why fly over when you can simply make your own way? Sweetie claps her wings together and swings them down directly in front of her, landing them inches away from being between two of her guards. Arrogance radiated from her facial expression as she took in a deep breath through her nose and tipped her chin up. She slowly parts her wings, and subsequently, the thestrals follow suit. Now with a clear path for her to walk up to the podium atop a small stage, Sweetie relaxes herself and cheerfully approaches.

Sweetie hops up and positions herself behind the dais with her chest puffed out. After a quick scan of the crowd, she breaks the silence by landing her front hooves on the top of the podium and gives a long, drolling speech.

"Now! We all know... why we're here." Her face was passably masked in authority as she takes her precious time with each sentence. She also darted her eyes to random guards in a shifty manner. "We are here... to review... some past events. As we always do. But first!... I need... to pinpoint... the perpetrator... of--"

"OK, YES! It was me!" One of thestral guards blurted out from near the middle of the crowd. "I did it, I did it! I took your sister's last cranberry muffin! It's here! I'm hiding it under the floorboards!" He pushes some of his comrades out of the way and pries up a loose board. "And you're not going to stop me!" He pulls out the incriminating muffin which was sealed in a small bag. "I couldn't stand knowing my favourite treat was so close by and not being eaten by ME!" He yanks it out and quickly stuffs it in whole. As he desperately chews away, begins to fall over to his side and sob softly in his guilt.

Sweetie and the other guards were noticeably confused. She was, however, immensely relieved. My dumb luck doesn't seem to have any limits. Now, how would Luna handle this? She regains her composure and beats on the podium once more. "Stand straight!" Her guard obeyed and stared back with the face of a guilt-ridden foal awaiting punishment. "Now... I see you are distressed. But I assure you, my sister is far more benevolent than you give her credit for. She has had plenty of treats in her lifetime. The..." She pauses to scan her limited vocabulary, "absence of but a single muffin would surely mean little, if anything in the long run." The guard began to calm down. "All you need to do is confess. Heck, I'll bet you she didn't even notice it was gone." A lucky line for her to end on, considering Rarity would have to go along with it.

"Yes, of course!" The guard responds in raised spirits. "Right away, your highness." He wasted no time in bolting out the doors to find the solar diety.

As the doors closed themselves back up, Sweetie bided her time by leaning over the podium and spouting more improvised nonsense. "Any other confessions?" Much to her surprise...

"I only took this job because I can't sleep at night!"

"I've never kissed a mare!"

"I once experimented with kissing a mare!"

"I'm scared of seeing more than two colours of the rainbow at once!"

"I've always wanted to be a concert pianist!"

"My fangs are fake!"

"STOP!" Sweetie halted them before she had a riot on her hooves. She turns her head toward one of them in particular. "You want claws for what?!"

---

Scootaloo's scooter rested securely locked to the porch of the farmhouse at their destination. She herself took the three's helmets and set them down next to the stairs leading to the front door. "Alright, are we all ready?"

Luna was about to answer in tandem with Applebloom when a middle-aged colt opened the front door and greeted them.

"Ah, There you are!" He wore a modest plaid button-shirt and a straw hat. Judging from how he spoke, he seemed to be pleasant. "I'm glad you three girls were nice enough to give me a helping hoof. Most fillies these days only seem to think of themselves."

"Probably because they're a lot more privileged today than they were back when you were their age." Luna blurted out in a mature deadpanned voice. "They don't understand the meaning behind a hard day's work when machines and magic are evolving to do everything for them." She soon realized her mistake and froze in place. Scootaloo and Applebloom stared at her in confusion, as did the farmer to a lesser extent. She desperately tried to cover it up. "Which... is why we are here!" She ensured her new tone was fraught with childish enthusiasm. "To set a good example for our generation!" Oh, sweet Pestilence... Do children speak like that from time to time? She smiles widely and nervously as she turned to face Applebloom standing inches away.

"Uh, sure! What she said." The adolescent apple-bucker blindly concurred.

I suppose so. Luna sighs and let's herself relax.

The farmer disregarded her remark for the most part. "Well, at any rate, I'm still thrilled to have three willing assistants." He makes his way down the front stairs and follows a path leading to the back field. "Come. Let's get down to business."

Now gathered in the large barn out back, the Crusaders were awaiting instructions as the farmer put on a long white coat. "Alright, While I get the stations set up, I just need you three to out into the field and let the cows know it's time for milking. Should be simple enough, just be polite and you shouldn't have any trouble at all." He points them to the doors at the other end that led out to the field. "I'll be right here if you need help."

Did I just agree to physical labour? Luna reluctantly followed the other girls out into the field. They all spread out to different sections to gather groups of cows more efficiently. Luna decided to take an area close to the barn. Well, at any rate, just don't blow your cover. Being a pleasant little filly. She walks up to a random cow and smiles. "Good morning, my bovine friends."

"Oh!" One of the cows turns her head to the source of the sweet voice. "Who might you be?"

"My friends and I are helping out with the milking this morning. It is time for all of you to report to the barn." Luna made sure to maintain her nice and innocent demeanor.

"Ah, now how could we say no to such a polite filly?" She begins to take heed toward the barn. "Old Brown sure knows how to pick his assistants."

As Luna sees the other cows following suit, she began to ponder. Wow. I doubt it would've been that easy as myself. I guess being a cute little filly has more advantages than I thought. I wonder how else I can use my new cuteness... She begins to raise her hoof to her chin but gets it covered in dirt. "Ah!" She looks down in momentary horror. Okay, just dirt. Phew.

---

Ding dong!

"Cranberry muffin!" Celestia chirped as she was stirred from her brief slumber. The sound of the bell, still unfamiliar to her, was enough to have her immediately spring back to life. Her first thought was to, naturally, answer the door. She got out of bed and started to head down the stairs, noticing along the way that her migraine had subsided. Upon opening the door...

"Good morning, Rarity!!" Pinkie Pie nearly pressed their faces together with her abrupt greeting. The sudden noise causing Celestia to yell in surprise and fall backward onto her rump. "Or rather 'Good belated morning'! Isn't that weird?! You think the princesses were planning something so special they had to hold off raising the sun for 15 minutes and 23.0462855397 seconds?"

Celestia brought herself upright and smiled timidly. She knows little of what Twilight's friends are truly capable of, but that little is still enough to know what to - or what to NOT expect from Pinkie. "Well... I'm not entirely sure what to make of it, Pinkie. Are you here to speculate with me?"

"Oh, no," Pinkie responds with a wave of her hoof. "This occasion was so unusual and special that I had to go to every pony in town for a personal greeting. How often do you get to celebrate a belated morning?! This is something that may -neigh- should never happen again! I am going to say it to ponies until it is exhausted!" With a confident expression and pump of her front leg, she turns and marches off. "There will be a party for this!" She exclaims back to her friend.

"Goodbye, you eccentric wonder of a pony, my friend." Celestia closes the door but momentarily starts thinking about Pinkie's party habits. "Wait... they probably go to so many of her parties that they must know by instinct when they occur. She must expect me to know when it is. Hmm... Asking her might tip her off... Maybe I should tell her I'll be too busy. The dresses, of course." She then reopens the door to find no Pinkie in sight, but another pony staring her in the face, supposedly about to ring the bell.

"Oh, Rarity!" A cream-coloured earth pony with various shades of blue in her mane greeted in shock. "Don't tell me you've gotten so good with your clients that you can read their minds. Because that would scare me a tad." She chuckles.

Faced with only a mere moment to conjure up the name and give a greeting right back, Celestia set her mind into overdrive. High-end client... probably from Canterlot... fashion... blue mane... "Sapphire Shores!" She opens her hooves to greet with a hug. Her guess was verified when her offer was accepted without hesitation. "It is so nice to see you." They separate and Sapphire makes her way inside.

"I figured I'd make a detour to your base of operations along my trip back to Canterlot to give myself a sneak peak at your line." She takes a quick seat on a nearby couch. "With the show tomorrow evening, I trust you are making great strides for completion?"

"I have had the designs finalized a while ago, and you will be pleased to know that I am close to finishing the dozen duplicates for each as per your request."

"Splendid to hear! Might I see them?"

"Oh... I see no reason not to."

They both make their way up to Rarity's room and Sapphire is pleased to see her dresses brought to life just as she had envisioned. She gasps at the fashionista's signature flare being accentuated in each design: The different colours and accents, the jewels, the flashy yet modest shapes; everything was to her expectations and then some. "You have the workings of a diety, my friend. How long will the rest of the dresses take to complete?"

Celestia tilted her head and smirked. "I trust myself to have it all done by noon."

"Phenomenal, my dear!" Sapphire begins to leave. "I'll be back from Canterlot just in time for the presentation. Until then, ta ta!" She exits out of the boutique and closes the door behind her.

"Rarity's fashion show is here in Ponyville?" Celestia ponders as stays up atop the stairs. "That certainly works out: No train ride for me, and Rarity will be right here when it comes time for Discord to switch us back. Speaking of which..." She trots down the hall to a window and looks at her sun in the sky. "Next position! Anytime now!"

After several seconds, the sun is seemingly flicked to a higher position in the sky, nearing the high noon state. Celestia groans at the display. "Not so abruptly!"

---

Rarity laid nearly plastered down on the rim of the fountain as the solar guard continued his massage. She let herself melt away in pure ecstasy as the trembling of Celestia's voice leaked from her. "O-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-oh. Yo-ou are cer-rtainly... pr-r-r-rodigious. A-a-a-a-all the guar-r-rds lear-r-rn to m-m-m-massa-age like this?"

Her willing soldier was quite literally dancing atop of her spine; mixing in folk, salsa, disco, and tap dancing into his session. "Only to the light-hoofed, Your Highness. Certain ponies, pegasi in particular, are light and delicate enough to use such unorthodox methods effectively." With a grunt, he jumps and back-flips off of her and lands on solid ground on all fours. "Bear in mind, your masseuses are adept in chiropractics. They are much more accurate in hitting those sweet spots, not just for pleasure." He starts to turn back to his position at the entrance. "But you know that already, Princess. Thanks anyway for the opportunity." He reassumes his stance with helmet donned and spear in hoof.

Rarity peals herself off and tries to stand up. The massage had certainly left her felling limp. Surely, Celestia's body would be able to resist such effects, but she had not anticipated such finesse and left herself vulnerable. While still being able to remain upright, there was a subtle relaxing treble surging throughout. "Oh no, thank you. I should probably make a habit of having massages like that every evening."

The guard spoke up. "Forgive me if I sound out of turn. But would that not sound a little unfair for the more massive of your forces who never learn these techniques?"

"Oh, yes. Silly me. We don't want anypony getting jealous, do we?"

They were both interrupted by the sound of wings flapping frantically close to the ground. As the noise arrived from around the corner behind the guard, he took a defensive pose and splayed his weapon out to block access to the fountain area.

The figure responsible for the sound was a distraught thestral from Luna's guard. His eyes were shot open and his mane was disheveled. He was almost charging in their direction with a spark of insanity in his eyes.

The solar guard was grappled him and wrestled him down to the ground after rolling several times over back to the fountain.

Rarity looked on in horror and confusion. She couldn't see much past the cloud of dust they were kicking up. She had a feeling that Celestia would have broken up this skirmish herself almost immediately, but something about her kept her quiet. A snap decision was pushed to the wayside as she began to see the crazy thestral holding his opponent to the ground and bending his leg back in uncomfortable manner. Now she knew she would have to intervene no matter what. "Alright, what is the meaning of this?!"

"IT WAS ME!!"

Rarity was taken aback by his sudden declaration. All she could do was arch her neck away in fear and stare back with eyes just as wide as his.

"You're being quiet... I knew it! You wanted it more than I did! I'm sorry!!"

The solar guard beneath him could offer no assistance. "Ow ow ow..."

"I can't be forgiven for something like this! I'm a disGRACE!!" He lets go of the leg in his grasp and hastily removes his armour. he shoves everything into Rarity's chest. "Tell your sister I quit!!"

Rarity's expression did not change as the now naked thestral flew off in a direction toward the city. She cradled the armour in one front leg as she tried to process what may have happened. The first thestral she ever meets, and he was a complete psychopath? Surely this couldn't be normal.

The solar guard stretched and returned to a standing position. "My apologies, Your Highness. It seems they're more brutally trained than we are."

Rarity breaks herself out of her trance. "Not to worry, I'm not harmed, just flabbergasted." She dropped the loose armour where she stood and began to fly back to the castle with a clear idea of what may have influenced this unusual event. "You're dismissed."

---

The thestral forces remained down in the lunar gathering hall where they originally waited for their princess. They all stood proud and patient, but above all, confused as said princess gave an out-of-ordinary speech in a much more dynamic and matter-of-fact fashion than usual.

"...A bird in hoof could be very unsanitary, ponies who live in glass houses can't get a moment's privacy, and he who laughs last... does not get the joke." Sweetie Belle leaned over the dais with a serious look glued on her face. She internally panicked as Luna's soldiers seemed to stare her down. All she could do was hope she at least acted like Luna. Maybe they'll all draw a parallel between the delayed morning and the princesses' behaviours, a different one that is, and wave it off as nothing to worry about. She formally ends her speech with a quick slam on the podium and declared, "dismissed!" Don't flip the podium! Don't flip the podium! Sweetie took heed to her own words and simply hopped off the front of the stage and parted the crowd anew with but a simple strut as she exited the room.

With the giant doors now closed, the guards were all free to discuss their boss' odd behaviour, as well as several of the secrets that were blurted out amongst them. Two guards in particular decided to leave for the dormitories immediately. The first one spoke up. "Okay... It's clear to everyone that that was not Luna." The two of them enter a hall leading to the sleeping quarters. "I mean, an hour and a half of nonsense? The most she's ever stayed up for the routine review was 15 minutes. And have you ever had one of the meetings start off so strangely? How do we have a guard who's afraid of rainbows? Jedd?"

His friend replied, "I don't know, Waning. You know more about this stuff than I do. I just got done with the academy two months ago, I still don't know what's considered normal around here. Heck, not two days into my tenure as a guard did I see one of the mares break out into a song and dance routine in the middle of the messhall."

The two of them pass several doors before coming across one with a brass plaque labelled 'W. Braid - J. Gibbous'. "Oh yeah, I remember her." Waning takes out a key and unlocks the door. "I don't know if anyone's told you, but we thestrals cannot sing."

"So I've noticed." Jedd rushes past his friend and quickly retires to his bottom buck. He groans exasperatingly as he neglects to remove his armour and lets his right legs dangle over the side. "But what do you think is up with 'Princess Luna'?"

Waning locks the door behind them and begins removing his uniform. "I think she's a changeling, so we should be able to take her if we sneak up on her and tie her up for answers."

"Uh, Waning... We only know of ONE changeling that's fully capable of coherent speech."

Waning reconsiders his plan as he settles into the bunk above his partner. "Right... I'll think of something else. Give me until sunset; we're going to get to the bottom of this."

Author's Note:

If the end of Sweetie Belle's speech seems familiar to anyone, I am so proud of you.

What should be obvious are the puns I used for the two thestrals' names.

Oh, yeah. Sorry i haven't updated this in a long time. i'll try to do it more often from now on.

Comments

[dj-pon3fan]

Weekend at Raritys is a good name.

[Harbinger Of Mist]

6718508 Not bad. I thank you for the suggestion, but most of the antics are going to be at the castle.

[ApplejackRocks]

I've really enjoyed this story. Any plans for another chapter?

[Harbinger Of Mist]

7652157 I've had zero motivation since I became unemployed. I have PLENTY of content planned for this story, but unfortunately, I'm just never in the mood.
I don't want to force myself to work on it and churn out a lack-luster product.
Believe me, I DO want to work on this story. I just need to get my drive back.

[Dreadnought]

Oh, I do hope you plan on writing some more of this great story.