Imagine the sweet moment spent half awake, just before getting up. You wriggle around lazily, enjoying the softness of your pillow, stretching into the warmth with glee. Got it? Good. You now know how Princess Celestia started her days.
This day was no different. Celestia treasured these moments, a small, guilty pleasure before tackling the day. Soon a servant would come to wake her, and the serenity would be gone.
Better make most of it, she thought. Her extended hoof reached something... fuzzy. This caused her brain to switch into overdrive. When you lived under the same roof as Discord, you began to expect every unusual thing to be some sort of elaborate prank... which they usually were.
She opened her eyes, and identified the fuzziness as a... bear. While she didn't find it as funny as Discord probably would, she had to admire the creativity of the situation. Well, she wasn't going to give him the pleasure of seeing her freak out.
"Oh, ha-ha. Very funny," she said out loud. Then she paused, wrinkling her nose. There was something with her voice – it was too high-pitched. What in Equestria—?
A chilly breeze caused her gaze to wander to one of her hooves, which wasn't under the blanket.
It was yellow.
Putting all thoughts aside, she jumped out of the bed so fast it made her legs ache. The room was unfamiliar, but it definitely had a 'rural' feel about it. A thought forming in her head, she frantically searched in the house, until she found a pony-sized mirror. From it, a face stared at her that terrified dragons.
She became Fluttershy.
Fluttershy, on the other hoof, had problems on her own. She pretty much figured out what happened when an old earth pony with a bushy moustache urged her to get out of bed, and raise the sun. Thankfully, Celestia's room had a separate bathroom, so she used the time spent inside to think. If she was here, that would mean that the princess was currently in Ponyville. The other possibilities seemed too cruel to even consider. Right. She needed to get to Ponyville as soon as possible.
Which seemed farther than she'd have had it. As soon as she left the bathroom, half a dozen servants rushed into the room, making the bed, sweeping the floor, and generally making Fluttershy uncomfortable. The old pony showed up again, motioning impatiently. Which was, of course completely lost on Fluttershy, who had no idea who he was, or why he seemed angry.
Wordlessly, she wandered out of the room, followed by the agitated Moustache. She admitted to herself that it wasn't a very cunning nickname, but the presence of that moustache was overwhelming.
"Your Majesty!" he began. Flutteshy nearly stood at attention to the tone of his voice. "You need to raise the sun soon! Please do not delay your schedule any further!"
Fluttershy tried to imagine herself moving the sun perfectly in it's place. She failed. She then tried to imagine what would happen if she did move it. She supposed the word 'inferno' would have been a good word to describe it.
"Oh goodness," she said to no-one in particular. She desperately searched for an alternative. If the real Princess Celestia was in her body, she probably couldn't cast magic. Whom should she ask, whom should—
She blinked. It cannot be that simple.
"Um, if you don't mind, I mean, I wish to see Princess Luna first," she said. The stallion nodded.
"I suppose a minute or two is manageable."
The stallion took off at full speed, and Fluttershy followed him, hoping that he would lead her to Princess Luna. He indeed did, leaving her at a long, spiralling staircase. She trotted up as quickly as she dared, minding her step. After a good ten minutes, she arrived at the top, if somewhat exhausted. She knocked on the wooden door, then realised that Celestia probably entered by herself, and didn't wait for the door to be opened by her sister. She gathered her courage, and entered the room. The night princess welcomed her with a smile, and a warm hug.
"Sister! It is good to see you!"
"Yes, it's... nice," Fluttershy stammered, then remembered to add, "sister."
Luna cocked her head slightly.
"Sister? Though it is sisterly to address your sister as sister, it is highly unusual for you to do so, sister, since you said sister sounds sinister. Then you made a point not to call one sister, not even Sister Wolfsister, the Cistern Sister, sister."
Fluttershy caught a glimpse of the very reason why Princess Luna was a bit feared. She could make sentences that ground you in the dust, trampled you over, and left you utterly confused. It's not as if she was rambling, but she seemed to follow a secret set of rules for speech, which nopony else knew.
She was staring at her expectantly now, however, and Fluttershy realised that she probably needed a good reason to deter her suspicion.
"Oh, I'm sorry P – I mean, Luna, I'm just a teeny bit... excited."
Interest flashed in Luna's eyes.
"Excited? What about, pray tell?" she asked. Fluttershy shifted around nervously, which she realised must've looked silly, coming from Celestia.
"Well, you know about me raising the sun everyday—"
"Which you never let me try, sister," Luna interrupted with a slight pout. Fluttershy sighed in relief, for not having to come up with a more complicated cover story.
"Yes! I mean, I think I might have been... um, hasty in my judgement. Would you like to, um raise it today?"
Luna's eyes began to sparkle, and more impressively, her mane, too. It seemed like her excitement took physical form.
"Would I?!" she said, grinning. Then she remembered herself, and swept off a nonexistent speck of dust from her chest. "Ahem. What I meant to say was that if you wish it to happen so much, I presume I will have to comply."
Fluttershy said nothing, because she realised she must have been suspicious enough, only clouded by Luna's childish glee. From what Fluttershy gathered, raising the sun in general is a hard, exhausting task, requiring proper concentration. Yet Luna acted as if it was her birthday. She trotted to the balcony, even sticking out her tongue in concentration. Her horn glowed with magic, and soon, the sun appeared on the horizon.
Fluttershy politely watched the whole time, but felt the urge to make one little observation.
"Um, I don't mean to be arguing, but, um, the sun stands at high noon right now."
Luna did not answer, instead she stuck out her tongue even further, and started going cross-eyed from the exertion. The sun began to slowly crawl backwards, then, after a painfully long minute, it settled in it's proper place. Fluttershy hoped that Luna set it at the correct place, because Celestia always set it with such precision that a clock could be tuned to it. Clocks were tuned to it, in fact.
Luna stomped triumphantly.
"Ha! Into your visage, decaying hidrogen! I have triumphed over your flaming posterior!"
"Very well done!" Fluttershy said. She looked around nervously, thinking of an excuse to leave Luna's room. Fortunately, one presented itself, when a guard entered the room from the balcony, with a half-panicked expression.
"Your Highnesses! There is a pegasus wishing to converse with Princess Celestia immediately!"
"I wonder who might that be," Luna said, "I feel a bit tired, though, sister, so I must plead you to see what this pony needs. Good day."
"Sweet dreams," Fluttershy said, watching Luna retreat to her bed. She turned back to the guard. The only one who could demand to see her must be the princess.
"If it wouldn't be much of a hassle, could you take me to this pony?"
Celestia sat in front of herself, giving her body a look full of criticism. Her mane wasn't perfectly groomed, her horn didn't shine, and worst of all, Fluttershy didn't wear any of her regalia. The regalia was important when dealing with othe ponies. They expected princesses to glitter. Celestia did not know why, but it was simply so.
"Um, I don't mean to bother you, or anything, but could you, um please turn us back?"
Celestia merely sighed at the innocent question.
"I cannot. Every sign points to a spell being cast, but currently I am unable to perform any magic. You, on the other hoof, are a newborn, so to say, to having a horn; I do not believe I could teach you enough know-how to turn us back in a short while."
Fluttershy perked up.
"Your Majesty, do you mean it's not permanent?" she asked. Celestia nodded.
"Oh, yes. This whole thing just screams prank – not a very tasteful one, but a prank nevertheless. I suppose it will wear off by the end of the day. And then I'm going to find out who did this, and Discord will pay."
"It might not have been him," Fluttershy said. The princess snorted, which came out doubly eerie, since it came from the pegasus' body.
"I think you will find out that half the mischief around here is caused by him. Not to mention he is conveniently out of castle, so to speak."
"May I go home, Your Majesty?" Fluttershy asked. Celestia shook her head.
"Alas, you can not. If I suddenly disappeared from the castle, panic would break out immediately. No, I suggest we take care of each other's tasks for the day, and be done with it. Thankfully the griffon ambassador is scheduled for the day after tomorrow; you only need to sit on the throne, and look regal. What looks like it can wait – postpone it. Ponies won't say no to you."
Fluttershy's expression reminded Celestia of a turtle: ready to retreat at the moment's notice.
"It sounds worse than it is," she said, trying to encourage the meek pony. Fluttershy raised her head.
"Oh, goodness, I don't mean to impose upon you, but today is the day when I help the beavers build their dam. I had an agreement with Applejack, and she found a good spot for them to live in. It would break their hearts if I didn't help them! Oh, and I really, really, really, really don't want to test your kindness, but could you please feed the critters around my house at 5 p.m? They get sad if they are not fed in time."
"Of course, of course," Celestia said with a dismissive hoofwave, "I arrange logistics for a whole nation, it shouldn't be too hard to feed a few pets."
Oh, how wrong she was.
Fluttershy sat upon the throne of Equestria, finding it comfy. If she had to do this all day, she would have no problems until the change wore off. At least she hoped so.
Half a day quickly passed, and after a lonely, if delicious dinner, she was about to go back to the throne room, but was interrupted by somepony she really didn't want to see. Namely, Prince Blueblood. The stallion was wearing something... repulsive, to simply put it. No sane pony would have put it on, especially not Rarity. Or Fluttershy, for a matter of fact.
"Dearest aunt! Gaze upon my most splendiferous visage! With this outfit I shall rule the ballroom for years to come! What do you think?"
This brief intermission had filled Fluttershy's shout quota for the day. The word splendiferous in particular made her cringe.
"It's... nice," she said softly. Blueblood furrowed his brow, and stomped at the ground.
"Dearest aunt! You are avoiding the subject here! I want your honest, unconcealed opinion here!"
Fluttershy took a deep breath.
"Well, to be absolutely honest, the fabric looks like fine silk, but in actuality is really old linen, the stitches look crude, and the thread is clearly visible in places where it shouldn't be, the left foreleg is four millimetres shorter than the right, the style was clearly meant to be Chicoil, but instead looks like a wanted poster nailed on the wall, and the backside of it is clearly clashing with your posture. But, um," she added, "it's really nice nevertheless."
Blueblood's jaw dropped open. For a minute nopony moved or said anything, but then the agitated moustachy stallion came, and dragged Fluttershy along somewhere. She didn't really mind her step, because she was bouncing with joy on the inside. She was helping!
"Now, Your Majesty," the stallion said, interrupting her happy moment, "there is a matter of importance which you will need to take care of."
Celestia was amazed. Throughout her life, she'd never met something so foul-mouthed, so rude like this beaver. He could make a simple statement sound like the world has offended him.
That is, of course, speaking with the broadest of terms. Since they changed places, she could understand what the animals said in general, but they didn't as much speak, as use fragments of words strung together. For instance, the beaver always referred to Applejack as 'muddy – ugly – nosy – bad.' It wasn't as bad when you got the hang of it, but it took her some time to interpret things properly.
As for lending a hoof building the dam, she found it easy. Sure, not being able to use magic was mildly annoying, but her vast knowledge, and previous possession of wings made the whole ordeal a lot easier. Still, it took her half a day to actually finish it.
She took a glance at the sun. It was 3:17 in the afternoon, twenty-eight seconds later, to be precise. Punctuality, as she always said, is important.
Seeing as she had a bit of time left until she had to feed Fluttershy's pets, Celestia decided to take a quick walk around the outskirts of town. Quick became short, short became long, and before she knew it, it was getting a bit dark. She set way towards Fluttershy's cottage, feeling a little guilty. The promised time had passed, (by 23 minutes and 37 seconds), but she was intent on feeding the pets, maybe apologising to them.
She doubled her pace. At least Flutteshy was having a glimpse of the duller side of being a princess.
"Oh, goodness!" said Fluttershy, "I didn't know you needed the lands south of Equestria so badly!"
"Indeed I do!" said the griffon ambassador, who has been trying to sweet-talk the princess for more than an hour now. "In fact, I believe it would strengthen the bonds between our nations by a tremendous amount!"
The moustached pony leaned closer, and whispered something to her ear.
"Oh my! I always thought irrational relations are important!" said Fluttershy. The moustached pony leaned in again, and whispered a bit faster this time. She blushed furiously.
"International relations! I meant international relations! I am so sorry, I am feeling under the weather."
The ambassador chose to ignore this, but then his attention was drawn by a loud fanfare, signalling the arrival of Princess Luna. They exchanged formalities, then Luna excused Fluttershy. She brought her to the far end of the grand dining room, and leaned closer.
"What did the old windbag ask for?"
"Um, the lands south of Equestria," Fluttershy answered. Luna smiled mischievously.
"Ooh, please, let me facilitate this one, sister!"
"Of course! Thank you-I mean, I hope you have a good idea how to handle this."
They returned to the ambassador, who was eyeing Luna warily. The moon princess shot him a sparkling smile, and slapped him on the back. The ambassador nearly fell over, but managed to gather himself at the last second.
"I say, jolly good!" Luna's voice couldn't be louder if she used a megaphone. Fluttershy wished it wasn't.
"It is?" the ambassador asked, trying to hide his surprise.
"But of course!" Luna said. "It was about time someone took those filthy lands off our hooves! I am positively ecstatic about giving these lands to you!"
"You are?" the ambassador asked. His gaze jumped from one princess to another.
"I am indeed!" Luna said. "After all, those lands are worthless to us, with the changeling infestation and such."
The griffon's face looked like as if he bit into sour grape.
"Changelings, you say." His voice was less excited by then.
"Oh, not many, just one or twenty hives." Luna said. "I'm sure you could clear them out in a breeze! Of course, they tend to secrete acid into running water, but I believe you could handle it with ease!"
"Um, maybe I shouldn't have been so impudent to ask you for the territory. It would be wrong for me to take away such historical lands from Equestria, no, I really couldn't. I-I must excuse myself for now, Your Highnesses, I remembered I had an appointment with some very good pony friends of mine. Have a pleasant day, Your Majesties."
Luna chuckled softly as the griffon hurried out of the room. She turned to Fluttershy, but her smile faded when she noticed that she was massaging one of her temples, eyes closed.
"Sister? Are you all right?"
Fluttershy opened her eyes, and tried to focus on Luna. It didn't really work.
"I-I think I'll take a short rest. I'm sorry, I don't know what came over me."
"You need not apologise," Luna said. She motioned a guard closer. "Straight Line, please escort my sister to her quarters."
Meanwhile, Celestia was in the middle of a warzone. When she arrived to Fluttershy's cottage, the door was locked, and the curtains were closed. Thankfully, poking around the mailbox revealed a rusty key, which fit into the lock perfectly. With a clack, she opened it – and was assaulted in the face by a ripe pumpkin. Her instincts made her jump sideways, and just about in time, because three potatoes hit the place she was standing at.
"Attack!" she heard, "Show nasty-not-thin-evil forget food bad!"
She wiped her face, and peeked inside. The bunny identified by Fluttershy as 'Angel' was sitting on top of a perfectly constructed barricade, surrounded by fruits and vegetables as ammunition. Celestia was confused. There existed an animal that put revenge before lunch?
Well, she was not going to be intimidated by a bunny. She struck a regal pose, and pointed at the assailant.
"I demand you let me in immediately!"
A tomato to the face was the only answer she got. Red mist blocking her vision, her mind began to be clouded by it, too. She took some steps back, and charged at the barricade. Unfortunately, a gust of wind closed the door, and Celestia was unable to stop before she came crashing into it headfirst. She took a few wobbly steps to the side, then collapsed.
When Fluttershy woke up, her head really hurt. She opened her eyes to see the familiar shape of her cottage loom over her. A smile spread to her lips. She was home.
Speaking of home, a very disgruntled rabbit was tapping with his foot until he got her attention.
"Food need Clan-mother!" he said.
"Goodness, did the princess forget to feed you?" she asked. She rose to her hooves, and trotted inside the perfectly barricade-free house. For a while, only the satisfied sounds of the animals could be heard.
Careful observers would have found Princess Celestia's behavior a little odd. She was jumping around her room, occassionally pumping a hoof in the air, singing 'It is good to be the princess' over and over. Being a careful observer herself, however, she made sure nopony was within hearing or seeing distance when she did this. When her excitement receded, she called for her butler.
The butler appeared a few minutes later, his moustache barely covering his frown.
"Yes, Your Majesty?"
"Ah, Skilled Hoof, I need you to—"
She could not continue because the butler broke out in tears.
"Is everything all right?" she asked.
"It is, Your Majesty! It finally is! I am relieved that you said my name after such a long day of not doing so. I feared that I have offended you in some way!"
"No, not at all," Celestia said, mentally cursing herself for not mentioning this to Fluttershy. "I do, however, have a task for you."
"Yes, Your Majesty!" The stallion practically radiated pride.
"I need you to take a book from our library, and send it to the good Fluttershy as soon as possible."
"Certainly! Which book shall it be?"
Celestia flashed him a vengeful grin.
"Oh, I was thinking about a particular book called '100 rabbit recipes.' "
"You have to admit, the whole thing was a success," said Luna. "And I most certainly proved that I am capable of devising and executing good, funny pranks!"
"Yes, yes," said Discord, "but why did you make it one day? It would have been funnier if you changed them back only after they begged you to!"
"Ah, but by then their actions would have become more sophisticated, would they not?" Luna asked. "One day ensures us that the confusion lasts long enough, but also that they do not get used to their bodies."
Discord rolled his eyes.
"If there is one thing I hate more than logic, then it's reasonable logic. Please don't bore me to death, Luna."
Luna winked at him.
"Oh, I don't think you will be bored. How about we exchange Twilight and Shining Armor next?"
THE END
