Demoted

by Nido_King

Silver Gleam P.2

“La, la, la~ La, la~. La, la, la~ La, la…”

“What are you so happy about?” Auburn Gust grumbled, the same sour look on her face ever since she had been “demoted” as she glanced over at Silver Gleam, who looked far too happy to be cleaning the castle.

The former guard was happily humming as she swept the hallway the pair were cleaning, swishing her tail and wiggling her rump as she worked with a song in her heart. She ignored Auburn as she swept one last dust bunny into her pan before scooping the whole thing into a nearby bin. “There, all clean!” She said, admiring her hoofwork for a moment before turning to her reluctant partner with a beaming smile. “How you coming along?”

“Go suck a railroad spike,” Auburn Gust retorted, grumbling again as she lazily dusted a vase occupying a pedestal along the wall, one of many in this particular hallway. “Just because I’m being punished by wearing this ridiculous outfit doesn’t mean I have to like it…”

Silver Gleam just shook her head. With that kind of attitude, she better get used to wearing that uniform…

“Silver Gleam!”

Silver snapped to attention as the head maid, Marble Clean, came trotting up to her. The Earth Pony mare could have gotten a job as a drill sergeant in the Guard if she had wanted to with how she commanded her charges, the sudden influx of “demoted” ponies joining her ranks doing nothing to diminish her commanding aura.

“Yes, Ma’am!” Silver swiftly replied.

“Princess Celestia wants to see you in the throne room, post haste. Seems I’ll have one less washout to have to deal with.” Despite her usual tough demeanour, Silver could have sworn the Marble sounded almost… saddened by that fact. It was for but a fleeting moment though, as the Earth Pony mare snapped her tail like a whip and smacked Auburn Gust in the flanks, causing the poor mare to yelp in surprise and pain. “You call that clean!? I’ve seen hogs that were shining in comparison to that shoddy job! Do it again, and if I find so much as a speck of dust I’ll have you cleaning every window in the castle! With a cotton swab!”

Silver made a quick exit as Marble continued to holler, making her way across the castle towards the throne room. It wasn’t long until she was standing outside the golden double doors marking the entrance to the throne room, raising a hoof to knock against the doors.

“Come in,” Celestia replied from inside.

Pushing the door open, Silver trotted inside, curious and a tiny bit afraid of why the princess had summoned her. Have a done a poor job in my maid duties? Am I going to be demoted again? Putting those concerns aside, Silver stopped in front of the princess and bowed. “You wanted to see me, Your Highness?”

“I did,” Celestia replied, gesturing for Silver to raise her head. “After going over the report from Marble Clean about the exemplary work you’ve done as a member of the cleaning staff, I feel it is time for your punishment to end. In a few moments, I will turn you back into a stallion and you will be reinstated into the ranks of the Royal Guards.”

Silver should have been ecstatic. The Princess had acknowledged all the hard work she had done and decided that she had earned her way back into the Royal Guard. And yet… Silver Gleam felt her heart drop at the knowledge that her time as a castle maid was at an end. Despite the work, he had enjoyed his time as a mare, even come to enjoy wearing the uniform in place of the cold armor of the Guards.

As Celestia’s horn lit up in preparation to cast a spell, Silver Gleam spoke up. “Uh… Princess?”

“Hmm?” Celestia stopped casting, looking at Silver Gleam as the mare shuffled nervously on her hooves, clearly having something she wanted to say. “Yes?”

“Um… it’s just… I mean, if it’s not too much trouble…” Silver Gleam took a deep breath as she prepared to say what she knew in her heart to be true. “Could… could I stay as castle maid for a little bit longer?”

Celestia blinked, tilting her head slightly. “… You can, if you desire, but I do admit to being curious as to why.”

“Well… I… I know this was meant to be a punishment for being a poor Guardpony, but I… I’ve come to enjoy it. I know it sounds silly, but the work is nice and the uniforms are so comfy I don’t really want to give it up. I was never cut out to be a guard, so if I go back I don’t know if I’ll be able to–“

Silver was silenced by a comforting hoof on his shoulder. “Say no more, I understand. If this is what you desire, then you may remain as this for as long as you wish.”

“R-really?”

“Indeed. Even if you choose at any time to return to being a stallion, I can certainly make an exception and have you remain as a maid. Consider this your reward for all your hard work.”

Silver Gleam looked like she was on the verge of tears. “Thank… thank you , Princess.”

“Also, and don’t tell her I told you this…” Leaning down, Celestia whispered into Silver’s ear, “… I might have heard Marble talking about how much she would hate to lose you to the Guard. I may have heard her mention once how the castle hasn’t looked cleaner than it has since you were put under her watch.”

“Really? She… she said that?”

“If she did, you didn’t hear from me, remember?” Celestia said with a knowing wink.

“Or course, Your Highness,” Silver Gleam replied with a wink of her own. “I should get back to work soon. There’s still so many rooms in the castle that still need cleaning.”

“Of course. You are dismissed.”

Celestia couldn’t help but smile as Silver Gleam happily pranced out of the throne room, overjoyed to be returning to her duties once more.

Comments

[Winter Quill]

Glad to see at least one of the former guards is enjoying being a maid. Makes me wonder if she ended up in the wrong calling as a guard (wonder how she made that decision), maybe she was always meant to be a maid.

[Skittlebug]

9847535
Fate...is a fickle thing.

[DavisSentoV5]

Awww, this was so sweet

[Fiddlebottoms]

9847535

Even if you choose at any time to return to being a stallion, I can certainly make an exception and have you remain as a maid.

So presumably the maids are all females.
Sexism!

[Chrome Masquerade]

I've always held that there are 3 kinds of jobs.

1: Job. When the cash stops flowing, you stop going.
2: Career. When there's no more room to move up in the company, you start getting bored.
3: Calling. You do it because you just can't imagine yourself doing anything else. Because it makes you happy.

It seems that somepony has found the third.

[PonyDragon]

“La, la, la~ La, la~. La, la, la~ La, la…”

I think I know what she is humming...

Pushing the door open, Silver trotted inside, curious and a tiny bit afraid of why the princess had summoned her. Have a done a poor job in my maid duties? Am I going to be demoted again?

If she would get demoted again, in which position would she end up?

Huh, interesting developement.
I wonder if the others will get an promotion at some point and whether or not they accept it.

[Neece]

Marble Clean so is a "demoted" drill Sargent, no other way about it

[Eroraf86]

Aw, this is nice.

[Nido_King]

9849408
Nope, she just takes cleaning very seriously.

[lazyreader19]

Gonna have to echo some existing comments here, but awwwww.

Friggin Gleam, being all adorable and happy.

[PaintedPony]

9848058
“Maid” is literally a young unmarried female. The position of “Maid” is a shortening of “maid servant.” So it’s a description. A man in the same position would be a man servant or a janitor. So not really sexist.

[Herobrine1087]

So silver wants to stay a maid thats a surprise. I have heard of male servants before but I have never really seen them before. I guess sometimes a women job can also be a mans job

[StubobNumbers]

Someone should do a clop version of this story. The new maids suddenly go into Heat, and aren't used to the new sensations.

[Alticron]

I wanted to like this story, but I found I just couldn't. One issue I found is often, the descriptions of the characters were really lacking. A lack of description for the characters from the show is completely understandable, but the lack of it for the OCs in the cast is a problem since I find it makes it harder to connect with the original characters.

And another major issue I have is how this throws in forced sex changes for comedy. I have issues with this since I've seen this subject deconstructed and treated as something horrific before, so it seems pretty bad. Plus this may be seen ass transphobic since it doesn't really touch on how the characters react to having their sex changed against their will. It seems Silver seems to like her transformation and that's good, but we've yet to see any reaction from Polar Ace and Auburn seems to hate this situation. Whether it's due to the sex change or just the change in the job is hard to say, but it still seems a bit iffy to me.

[Marig The Dragon]

Great story so far, keep up the good work.

[TheOneAJ]

[Onekingdom1]

Nice

[Luckyfanisaac]

Have I done a poor job in my maid duties?

[Tailed_God]

9849408
I can see it very easily