Switched

In the Equestria, we all know and love…
It had worked. Lunar was still surprised and pleased, when she looked at herself in the mirror. Her body looked so familiar and yet so strange. Her mane was fuller and she had no rings to turn it into a pigtail. The same went for her tail. They both just shivered and danced around, rippeling and sparkling.

Also her outfit was different from what she knew. Those are not even boots. Lunar lifted a leg and eyed the horseshoe, she was wearing. It was ridicolously small in her eyes. Silver metall, which was rather light. Instead of the helmet she was wearing a small, black crown. Only the necklace reminded her of her own version of it.

Still Lunar could live with these minor changes in her appearance. What was more important: She was in the other world. In the world, Celestiar tried to reach so furiously. Their little spell had worked. Oh, Celest will be so envious of me now! Lunar actually enjoyed it, that they had decided, that she would switch bodies with her goody counterpart. Now she could see all the things, Celestiar was dreaming about firsthand.

And this world really was amazing. It was so familiar and yet so strange. Lunar was reminded of her time as the Princess of the Moon and friend of Sombra. There her Equestria had looked similiar to this one: Futile and rich. Green gras, flowers blossoming everywhere and the place fumed with life.

But these times were long passed. Lunar was no longer friends with Sombra and when she had turned her back on him, she had doomed Equestria. Celestiar had gained even more power with the help of her dark sister. A large drought had dried out the land. The grass had crumbled, the trees had lost their leaves and the ponies were doomed to strave of thirsth and hunger.

Celestiar's reign of terror had stretched itself over the land. But she had been smart. She did not tormented the people in person. Instead she had her own way of dealing with the matter. Lunar knew her goal to reach this world, in which she was know, had more reasons then just the hunger for power. But Celestiar had never told her, which these were. Still the blue Alicorn supported her villainous sister, where she possibly could.

"Luna?“ Celestia stuck her head through the slit between door and doorway. Her long, rainbow coloured mane was floating around her and her face was so much friendlier then that of Celestiar.

Lunar turned around. She asked: "What is it, sister?“

Celestia entered the room and smiled. "I wanted to discuss something with you.“ Lunar frowned. Did she found me out? No, that was impossible. Lunar had been careful not to act to mean around her counterpart's sister and she still remembered enough about this world. After all Celestia had visited her world very often and had talked with her and Sombra about the many wonders of her world. So Lunar knew surprisingly much about habits, culture and people of this Equestria.

"What do you want to discuss with me, sister?“, Lunar asked.

Celestia smiled and laid a wing on her shoulder. "Why are you hiding yourself in your room?“, she asked and softly pushed her towards the door, "It is like the onethousand years ago. Come, walk with me.“

Lunar rolled her eyes, but fell into a simple trott. Both mares were walking through the hallways. Lunar peeked up at Celestia thoughtfully. Her long, rainbow coloured mane was rippeling and sparkling. Her dawncoloured eyes were wider and friendlier then the one of her sister on the other side of the mirror. Her whole body language spoke of grace, friendlyness, kindness and elegance. So different from Celestiar's dominance, cruelity, coldness and hypocricity. How could it be that two worlds could be so similiar and yet so different as if they were countries apart?

Sometimes Lunar wished herself a sister like Celestia in this world. Still, she was loyal to the Celestiar in her world. Her sister counted on her and she had to fullfill her task. Not, that it was difficult. It was actually easy and everypony could do it. Get to know that world, observe Celestia and her habits. Win over her trust. Behave like the Luna from that world. Learn as much as she could about this Equestria. The real work was done on the other side of the mirror.

Celestia explained: "You know, that soon we are having the 5th aniversay of the Summer Sun Celebration. I thought, we could make a small eclipse as we had not had that in a long time.“ The white mare looked upwards and added sadly: "After all the last one was an attempt to cause an eternal night over Equestria.“ Lunar had to bite her tongue to avoid asking anything. It appeared that Celestia was expecting Lunar knew what she was referring to.

"Yeah“ – Lunar tried to get her answer as vage as possible – "That really was bad. Luckly we defeated the threat.“

Celestia flinched in shock and looked at Lunar like she had been slapped in her face. Her dawncoloured eyes narrowed. "Luna?“, she said slowly, "Have you forgotten? During that fateful night I had to banish you as your alter ego Nightmare Moon to the moon. I might have defeated this threat, how you called it, but I lost you in exchange.“

Tears trembled in her eyes. Lunar quickly pressed her head against Celestia's neck. She laid a wing on her shoulder. "Easy, sister“, she whispered, "I am sorry, that I spoke so carelessly. I did not meant to bring back bad memories. That was foolish.“ Lunar lowered her head and added: "You wanted to have a solar eclipse during the Summer Sun Celebration.“ Celestia nodded. They both stopped in front of a mirrror, shimmering silvern in the background. Lunar smiled and explained: "I'd love to help you with that.“

On the other side of the mirror…
"What is the purpose of those?“ Twilight eyed the colorful stones confused. She lifted one of them with her hoof. The Malicious Six and Princess Luna were at Sweet Apple Acres – the expensive rich factory, which made the best, but most unhealthy apple jam – on the yard. Behind them the huge, grey factory was coozing black smoke into the sky and added to the polution.

The Apples were a determinded, narrowminded, focussed family. Ambitious business ponies. They were harvesting all apples, before they placed them on a conveyor, which transported the fruits into a machine, which created the apple jam with tons of sugar and chemical substances to keep the jam fresh, tasty and stable.

Luna had not only brought a few coloured peebles, but also drown several circles on the floor. She looked at the Malicious Six and explained: "There is no purpose. It is a game. It is all about the fun.“

Pinkamena hardly rose her head and asked sniffing: "What is fun?“

Twilight explained factual: "Fun is an activity, which let the brain spill out happiness hormones like dopamine. It controlls the motivation and working increase.“

Luna's maw dropped and she stared at Twilight. That mare is a scientist and nothing more. The other Malicious Six did not looked that surprised. Rainbow Dash, who laid on a cloud, rolled on her back. Stretching her legs, she shouted: "Twilight, we know! We are not in a university.“

Fluttershy spat: "Cann't you keep your mouth shut for a few seconds, Smartass?“

Luna opened her wings and called: "Please! I did not meant that sort of explanation.“ The Malicious Six looked at her. The Alicorn smiled weakly. "Just trust me, okay?“ Luna stepped to Twilight and pointed at the ring. "Twilight, try to hit the ring with your peeble. Only use your muscles, no magic.“

Twilight gave her a sceptical look. "If you say so.“ She took her peeble and threw it. It flew through the air and landed near the ring. The unicorn's lips twitched into some sort of smile. "Hey“, she stammered confused, "I enjoy this fun.“

Luna laughed and laid a hoof on her shoulder. "See?“, she said, "But it can even get better.“

"Rainbow Dash!“ Luna's call made the cyan pegasus lift her head.

"What?“, she grumbled.

The Alicorn smiled and explained: "Throw your stone. Maybe you can outbeat Twilight in her length.“ Rainbow looked at the stone and then at then at the unicorn's stone. Her ambition had been awoken.

"Top that!“, called Rainbow and threw the stone, while falling off the cloud. She used her wings to keep herself in the air. It flew around and landed a few inches in front of Twilight's. "Ha! I win“, cheered Rainbow Dash, "Awesome.“

Applejack snarled: "I can do better!“

"No, you can not.“ The pegasus leaned herself down to face the Earth Pony.

The farmer snarled: "Of course Ah can“, she responded and lifted her nose, "Yah cheated from that cloud up there.“

"Say what?“, shouted Rainbow and hit her hooves together, "You are the cheater here not I!“

Luna called: "STOP!“ They looked at her. The Alicorn explained: "It seems you have not understood, that this is not a competition. Friends are just doing that for fun. It is about the being together, enjoying oneself. It is not about winning!“

Twilight blinked and asked: "But what is the point in it?“

"No winning!?“, called Rainbow Dash and Applejack, "I am out of here.“

Luna only facehoofed. How can I show them, what I mean? How can I show them what real friendship means? It is not only about having fun together, it is about trust and relying on one another.

At that moment a loud roar could be heard, which almost swallowed the high-pitched the screams. Luna looked up. Her wings trembled in worry. "What was that?“, she panted. The Malicious Six stopped playing at once. They gathered around Luna.

Applejack snarled: "Looks like the CMC have caused trouble again.“

"Cutiemark Cursaders?“, guessed Luna, who remembered the three livley foals very well.

"No“, replied Applejack merly and shot her a surprised look, while raising an eyebrow, "The Cute, Mean, Cursed.“

Rarity threw her head back and explained: "They are the local troublemakers. It is annoying and ennerving, what they do. And they always use their looks to cheat themselves out of the situations.“

Rainbow Dash grumbled: "Well, at least they are not wanted by the guards like we.“

Luna did not responded. She only narrowed her eyes. A cloud of dust had appeared, followed by loud screams. The Alicorn and the Malicious Six were standing on the main street. From the corner of her eyes Luna could see, that the other ponies had been awaken by the noise. Head stuck out of windows and some even stepped out of the doors.

Their eyes widened and some even stumbled backwards. Not good, thought Luna, This is not good at all. She could see the Cute, Mean, Cursed, runing out of their dust cloud. They looked a lot like Sweetie Belle, Scootaloo and Applebloom from her world, apart from the facts, that their faces were mean, despite having huge, adorable eyes. Also there were shades of violet, crimson and black in their manes.

A loud growl could be heard once again. The nearby trees rustled. Luna stumbled back, when she smelled a sharp, clear scent like acid. The sky seemed to move. The Cute, Mean, Cursed rushed passed the Alicorn and the Malicious Six and hide behind a few boxes. Rainbow Dash asked sharply: "What have you done now?“

Applebloom opened her maw to answer, but another growl cut her words off. Luna gulped and jumped backwards. Oh my god! In front of them stood a giantic bear. Blue, transperent fur, sprinkled with stars. Yellow eyes, glowing like two suns and a maw, full of white, large theet. The three fillies had lead an Ursa Minor into Ponyville.