Maids of Honor

Chapters

Chapter two: How a Blaze turns into Amber
Chapter three: Polishing Jewels in the Rough
Chapter Four: The Maids of Honor are Born
Chapter Five: Sea Star's Tea Time
Chapter Seven: Maids meet Twilight and Rarity
Chapter Eight: The Three New Recruits
Chapter Nine: Princess Celestia's announcement
Chapter Ten: A Shopping Spree
Chapter Eleven: Maids in Training!
Chapter Twelve: A Fight for Honor
Chapter Thirteen: A Date to Remember
Chapter Fourteen: The Dawn of the Maids of Honor
Chapter Fifteen: Maids for Days
Chapter one: Mop Head is Born
Chapter Six: The Spy Maids going into the Spa

Chapter two: How a Blaze turns into Amber

A week has gone by since the former guard Spear Point was turned into the maid now known as Mop Head. The mare in question was slowly getting out of bed as she yawned and stretched her limbs, then she walked over to her bathroom, where she then looked up at the mirror. Mop Head’s cheeks flushed pink seeing how cute, with the reflection of an adorable relatively young sexy mare staring back at her. Her more petite frame, short round face and long blue mane, and beautiful two big blue eyes. The whole ordeal was still like she was in a dream. She went about taking a shower, brushing her teeth, braiding her mane and tail. Once she was ready, she went to her uniform dressed over a ponyquin. The mare's cheeks flushed a slight red as she trailed a hoof over the fabric of the maid's outfit, feeling how soft it was. She just had the uniform dry cleaned, and they did such a remarkable job. The mare then dressed herself, adjusting the uniform around her waist and pulling her forehooves through the top sleeves. She then tied a small frilly apron around her abdomen and tied it together with a small teal bow on the back. The maid hummed a small tune as she put on fur white socks over each of her four hooves, and she smiled at herself in a mirror. She was indeed beautiful, and it made her heart sing. Despite the fact, Princess Celestia has offered to turn her back into a stallion multiple times, she was seriously considering staying like this for the rest of her life. She took one last deep breath, then opened her door and squeaked as she was surprised to see her new friend Soap Suds was standing outside. The mare in question was a funny-looking maid with a frazzled blue mane and a white coat with blue freckles all over her face. Out of all the maids, she's been the most welcoming.

"Hey! You're always awake super early!" Soap Suds squealed.

Mop Head's cheeks flushed pink as she threw a hoof and as she replied in a casual tone, "yeah, I'm used to it? Thanks for stopping by Soap Suds."

The white-coated mare just threw herself over Mop Head and pulled her into a tight hug. "Oh, I keep telling you to just call me Soapy!"

"I…I know…s…sorry…." Mop Head stammered; she was still somewhat stunned at how friendly this other mare was compared to the rest of the maids. As the two strolled down the stairs together, other butlers and maids would give her odd looks, most knowing who she was now. Mop Head turned her gaze, and it was evident that it would take some time to get used to a stallion-turned-mare walking around. But some did wave a hoof and flashed her smile, showing that they weren't judging her.

They eventually came upon the group of maids and butlers at the bottom of the stairs. Mop Head stayed in the back of the group, hoping not to get noticed. At the head of the group of the palace staff, a bitter old maid stood over them; she had a grey mane tied in a bun and had her glasses slanted down on her muzzle. The old maid looked more intimidating than she needed to. The head maid had a clipboard as she checked each pony off and gave them assigned tasks for the day. Mop Head slowly walked up to the old mare and bowed her head, cheeks flushing pink. The old mare seemed to hone her glare at the new maid, then snapped, "I see the stallion has reported on time."

"Of course, I have! I always report on time!" the mare shouted as she slammed a hoof to the ground. Mop Head was starting to get extremely peeved at this old mare signaling her out.

"You will not talk to me in such a manner!" The head maid snapped, and Mop Head went into attention, knowing she just incurred the wrath of the older mare.

The mare walked around the two inspecting them, but she mostly stayed her attention on Mop Head. The younger mare had to grimace as the older mare walked around the back and flicked her tail up. Mop Head had to keep herself from bucking the old mare but held stiff as aboard. Dusty Shelves came around and in front of the maids as she said, "there are so many things wrong with Mop Head's uniform. I can't even count how many infractions there are. Soapy, please help the new maid to get prepared for the day."

"Yes, mam," Soapy replied as she performed a curtsey throwing her dress out with a perfect bow of her head. The older mare strutted off as Mop Head had tears coming to her eyes. "I... it's just like when I was a guard…."

"Oh, don't worry about it; Old Dusty Shelves has been here since forever; she does this to all the new maids and butlers." They then both turned to see the butlers being screamed at about leaving crumbs and empty wine glasses last night as Soapy Suds whispered, "trust me, those guys get it way worse."

The two mares snickered behind their hooves as Soapy led the somewhat defeated-looking Mop Head away and helped her get tidied up. The grey coated mare just stood there as Soapy Suds helped adjust her uniform and dust it off.

There Princess Celestia was making pancakes and coffee. Dozens of ponies were already in line guards, butlers, maids, and even some nobles. Everypony knew the princess loved making breakfast for her sister, but she would make some extra food for her hardworking staff as well. Mop Head and Soapy waited patiently as they continued walking down the hall and into the kitchen. They picked up some pancakes and eggs before heading to a table where they sat down and ate together.

Mop Head watched as Princess Celestia was cooking, flipping pancakes, and finishing making a few more cups of coffee and straining orange juice into another cup. Mop Head had been a guard for some time, and she never seemed to recognize how maternal she was before. It was adorable watching her cooking breakfast and humming a tune. After the princess started cleaning herself up, she spotted Mop Head staring at her. The maid looked away with her cheeks flushing pink, now feeling self-conscious, having thought of the princess like she was her mother. Celestia walked over and gave the two maids a pleasant smile, then asked, "hello Spear Point...or would you rather be called Mop Head?"

"Mop Head is fine...I think I prefer it…" the mare squealed as she performed a curtsy, almost forgetting to do so.

The princess of the sun gave a nod and replied, "All alright then, Mop Head? How is my cooking?"

"It's amazing! I've never had breakfast like this before in my life!" Soapy squealed as she clapped her hooves together.

Mop Head placed her hooves over her face, and Celestia snickered behind a hoof as she looked over at the embarrassed maid and asked, "I see you made a friend?"

Before Mop Head could say anything, Soapy then hugged her and exclaimed, "yep! I'm teaching her the ropes, and she's doing really well! I've never seen a hardworking maid like her!"

Princess Celestia gave the mare a smile and said, "Even as a royal guard, he was such a hard worker...or should I use her?"

Mop Head was a bit unsure of what she would be called. She wasn't a hundred percent sure if she wanted to stay as a mare or identify as one...at the same time, Mop Head was feeling that she was enjoying herself as a mare more so than she ever was as a stallion. The maid looked upward with a small smile and replied, "she is fine for now...in fact, I am considering staying like this permanently."

Soap Suds perked up as Celestia bowed her head and replied, "I'm glad you've found your destiny, and if you ever wish to change back to a stallion, please let me know."

Mop Head lowered her head and whispered, "thank you, Princess Celestia."

The princess of the sun rose up on all fours and gave one last bow of her head. "Alright then, please enjoy your breakfast before you go off to do your duties."

"Of course, Princess Celestia," both maids chimed, and the princess walked off to perform her own royal duties. The two mares continued to eat their meal together for some time until Soapy asked, "so, are you really considering staying a mare?"

Mop Head sipped at her cup of coffee, taking a pause before she responded. "Yes, I always felt that I thought that I was supposed to be a mare for a long time…. I was always scared, though...I...I think I might be the only pony who thought he was born in the wrong gender."

Soapy Suds nuzzled into her and whispered, "well, I support you, either way, mare or not, you're such an amazing pony."

Mop Head looked down at her blank flank with a defeated look. She never felt amazing...in fact, her whole life, she felt like a failure who was just getting by doing a job she hated. For once, she had an opportunity to change and be something different. But despite her insecurity in regard to her gender and what she wanted in life, the mare nuzzled Soapy Suds back. "Thank you, you're probably the first friend I've ever had."

"Awww, that's so sweet," Soap Suds dawwed as the two wiped their mouths and got up. They went back to the bottom of the maid's quarters again, where the old craggy mare Dusty Shelves assigned their duties for the day.

When Soapy Suds and Mop Head got to the craggy old mare, she glared at them through her slanted glasses. She first gave a scroll to Soapy Suds. "Soapy Suds, you'll take a group of ten other maids and butlers, and you'll be in charge of all the east wing bathrooms, have them cleaned, scrubbed, and make sure they have fresh toilet paper. Also, be sure to spray to light a lavender-scented candle in Luna's bathroom."

"Yes, mam!" the young maid squealed as the old mare looked towards Mop Head with a smirk, "as for you, you will be in charge of cleaning out the entire royal library by yourself, that means you'll organize the books, dust the shelves, clean the loveseats, I don't want a speck of dust in that library!"

Mop Head was stunned as her face grew red, and steam was pouring out of her ears. She was trying to not shout the hundreds of colorful insults and curses at Dusty Shelves. She took in a deep breath, adjusted her uniform, and asked, "why did you assign me to clean the entire library by myself? I was doing fine, performing my other duties."

Dusty gave her an evil grin and said, "it's punishment for your rude behavior and misconduct this morning, plus forgetting to perform a curtsy in the presence of princess Celestia. I hope this will teach you a lesson."

Mop Head wanted to shout and demand her to apologize. Still, she sucked down her anger, performed her curtsy, and replied, "I apologize; I have learned my lessons; I will go and perform my duties as instructed."

She then trotted off as Mop Head steamed Soapy hopped by, "Hey, I'll get the bathroom cleaned in a jiffy and help you, ok?"

Mop Head had tears come to her eyes. Soap Suds was such a good friend, and the overwhelming emotion was too much for her as she pulled the as she whispered, "Thanks...but I got this, besides I don't want you getting in trouble."

"Ok, just don't overwork yourself, ok?" Soap Suds responded as she looked somewhat concerned for her new friend.

"I won't," Mop Head whispered as she went to the supply closet to grab her cleaning supplies. The mare knew that this was going to be hard and that despite her misgivings being a stallion, she, at the very least, knew that being a mare would be a lot harder than she anticipated. But she was willing to put up with the insults, the mean glares, and the unnecessary hazing. She can endure whatever life throws at her before she can do it again.

Later that afternoon…

After hours of nonstop cleaning, Mop Head looked somewhat exhausted; her uniform was a mess, full of dust, with bits of cobwebs all over her mane. She was breathing heavily, looking like she just ran a marathon. She swept, mopped, dusted the shelves, organized every book on them, and even took a broom and cleared every cobweb off the ceiling. The maid was taking a breather sitting down on one of the loveseats around the library. She then laid back as she stared up at the stone ceiling overhead. The mare cannot believe she just cleaned the entire royal library by herself. Mop Head looked over across the library, and there she spotted a clock and was astonished it was nearly seven P.M.

The tired mare gave an exasperated sigh, "I can't believe I spent the entire day cleaning this room…"

The maid blushed as she thought about how the guards used to joke and mock at the cleaning staff, belittling them. She realized that all they had to do was stand around and walk around the palace. While ever since she was turned into a maid, she had spent nearly every day cleaning the palace, sweeping and mopping floors, scrubbing the bathrooms, and fetching meals for the princesses.

Mop Head got back up on all fours and whispered to herself. "You never really know what others go through until you're put in their hooves."

Her stomach then growled as she placed a hoof to her belly. "Oh dear, I haven't eaten anything since this morning."

She set off out of the library and came through the stairs leading into another corridor. The maid then continued to walk down the aisle, looking outside seeing the sun setting. It was rather beautiful how the sun glistened off the rooftops. She took a second to admire the view and eventually came to find the two guards standing there. One she recognized immediately as Blazing Saddle but most just call him Blaze. He was a light brown coated stallion pegasus with a short-cut red mane and tail. Mop Head lowered her Head feeling somewhat nervous, as the stallion in question was the epitome of "toxic masculinity" he was always bragging about how many mares he's "mounted." He used to pick on him a lot as a guard. She can only imagine what Blazing Saddles would say to her as a mare. With her head bent downward, she slowly trotted through the two guards hoping to avoid their gaze.

She was making her way through the archway seeing the throne room in sight before she heard somepony say behind her. "Hey, so you're the stallion who got demoted, right?"

Mop Head winced; she could feel her heart racing seeing now she wouldn't get by unnoticed. She slowly turned her head and stammered, "y...yes?"

The stallion started tapping a hoof to his chin and asked in a condescending tone. "Wasn't your name Spear something…"

"I wouldn't mind putting my spear into her if you know what I mean," the other stallion snickered.

"Buck, you asshole!" Mop Head snapped at the other unicorn stallion; she didn't recognize him, but other guards usually just go along with Blaze's antics. Regardless she wasn't going to be targeted by some rape joke.

Blazing saddles walked around her, seeming to be checking her out. Mop Head stood there shaking all over, not knowing what to do as the stallion whispered, "oh yeah, she does look good for a mare, too bad we know her true gender."

"S... shut up! You two don't know anything about me!" Mop Head cried out as she stepped backward with her heart pounding in her chest. At first, she thought this would be some light teasing, but she was now scared of what could happen next.

Blazing Saddles then took a hoof and lifted the skirt of her uniform as she stood there terrified. She could feel him gazing her backside over, and in her mind, if he tried to do anything, she would buck him. Luckily he just backed off and scoffed, "What a ridiculous uniform? Honestly, is the princess just trying to humiliate you more than she already has?"

"Of course not! I love my new uniform!" the maid shouted once more.

The two stallions then burst into more laughter when Blazing Saddles threw a hoof and snickered, "we're just playing with you pussy."

The other stallion burst into more laughter as Mop Head dropped her gaze, with tears starting to fill her eyes. Pussy, it wasn't the first time she's been called that and not just by Blaze…

"What is going on here!?"

Somepony shouted down the hall. The two guards instantly snapped to attention as Princess Celestia came trotting down the hall; the other guards went to attention as Mop Head performed a curtsy.

The princess slowly walked forward and eyed the stallions; she then turned her attention to Mop Head and asked, "Mop Head, was Blazing Saddles just harassing you?"

Blaze glared at her knowing full well if she talked, something worse would happen as a result. Mop Head gulped and stammered," no...no, he was just teasing; nothing serious ha...happened."

Blaze smiled, thinking he was in the clear, but Celestia shook her head and said, "I know Blaze's "teasing," and I think that comes up much too often."

She turned to the stallion with a cold glare, then growled, "you're already on thin ice as it is, and you still pull a stunt like this!"

"I didn't do anything! Steel Horn was the one who made the rape joke!" Blaze shouted, pointing a hoof at the other stallion.

"N...no, I didn't!" the unicorn stallion cried out.

"Yes, you did! I just commented on her uniform!" Blaze snapped back.

As the two stallions were bickering, Mop Head did her best not to laugh, seeing the two stallions watching so bold a minute go now reduce to foals tattling on each other.

Celestia then raised her wings and shouted, "Silence!"

The two guards instantly clamped their mouths as Celestia's gaze was still on them as she growled, "harassment will not be tolerated under my palace. Blaze, report to my room immediately, and we can discuss your future as a royal guard!"

Blazing Saddles stomped off, looking rather furious as Steel Horn had a smirk on his face as the princess turned to him, making that smirk fade as she snapped, "for your actions, I'll reprimand you tomorrow."

"Y...yes, princess…." Steel Horn whimpered, lowering his head as Celestia then threw a hoof and continued, "now go, you're dismissed for the evening."

"Yes, princess," the guard squeaked once more before running off, knowing full well he was in hot water.

The princess then turned her attention to the library and was somewhat amazed at how pristine it was. The library glistened like morning dew on the grass with the shelves dust-free, the floor squeaky cleaned. Celestia looked around the library, looking for anything out of place. Mop Head just stood there shaking all over, hoping that she did her job well enough. Celestia then looked over and asked, "Mop Head, you did all this by yourself?"

“Y...yes princess…” Mop Head stammered.

Celestia looked around, seeing that the room wasn't just cleaned; it felt like a different room with new satin pillows and a cute violet rug near the window. The maid stood there somewhat nervous, hoping that she didn't miss anything. The princess slowly trotted up to her "Mop Head, you have a hidden talent, and I think that you were born to do more than just clean. You redecorated this place and gave it new life."

"Seriously!? You think I have a hidden talent!" Mop Head squealed; her heart was now racing.

Celestia bowed her head and continued, "yes, this is remarkable, thank you. This dusty old library needed a makeover...speaking of which...I might need your help?"

Mop Head's ears perked up in anticipation, wondering what the princess could want from her. Celestia cleared her throat as she then asked, "I know Blaze and his antics. I've given him stern warnings and even demoted his rank when he was a sergeant. But he clearly won't stop harassing other mares. I think he's a good stallion at heart, but I think he needs to learn a lesson or be forced to find a job somewhere else."

Mop Head paused as she was starting to catch on to what the princess was asking and stammered, "Yo...you mean to turn him into a...a maid?"

The princess nodded as she continued, "Of his free will, of course, if he wants to remain a guard here, you seem to like your new body, but I doubt it'll be the same for Blaze. I expect he will be resentful. If he decides to take the punishment and have his gender and job change for a week, and if you see him improve, I'll reinstate him as a guard."

Mop Head lowered her Head; she wasn't liking this idea at all! She would be basically babysitting a stallion who would try to make her life even more miserable. That's on top of dealing with Dusty Shelves! But she had to remember her place, and the mare cleared her throat as she performed a curtsy and replied, "I don't know, this could end badly, but I'll do my best to keep her in line."

"Thank you, Mop Head; if you do well, I will make sure you're promoted up higher in the ranks of the maids," Celestia replied with a smile before trotting off.

When the princess was out of sight, Mop Head just shoved a hoof into her face and shook her head. "This is a bad idea."

Blazing Saddles was now standing alone in the princess's chambers, fuming. He didn't do anything wrong! What he joked a little, it's not like he's ever hurt anypony. So what if he makes them cry? They're just pussies who want their safe spaces, in the real world; no one cares! Celestia treats them almost like foals, and it was insulting to him. Maybe he'll just quit and find a job somewhere else; nobles are constantly hiring private security.

His thoughts were paused as the princess walked into the chamber and went to her desk, where she tapped a stack of paper. The princess gave him a cold stone glare as she asked, "You see this? This is the list of complaints from staff and citizens that you've harassed over the past few months."

"Yeah, so what? You're going to fire me, right? So just do it!" Blaze snapped he had enough of the princess's patronizing bullshit. If she was going to fire him, fine.

Celestia's eyes lit up, "I am considering doing more than that; what you've done could be considered crimes, and some mares are pressing charges against you. I personally won't have any dealings with those, but I cannot have a royal guard with this behavior. This won't be the first time I've terminated a staff member here for harassment. But, most likely, you'll never change. So instead, I have an offer."

"What's that?" Blaze asked as much as he was ready to leave, and the pay was excellent. If the princess was willing to bump his salary, he may consider shutting his trap for a month or two.

"You will become a maid for a week and have your gender changed like what happened to Spear Head. After the week is over and I feel as if you have changed, I'll reinstate your previous status as a guard." Celestia explained with a smile.

Blaze raised his wings and threw his hooves up. "No bucking way! Just fire me already!"

The princess gave a sigh, "I should've seen this coming, but alright."

She then got out the termination form and started filling it out. Blazing Saddles just stood there glaring how dare she even consider he would want to be a mare for a second! He then took a quill and signed his name on the form. Then he dropped the quill back in the ink bottle.

He bowed his head with a smirk being rather pleased to see Celestia’s big butt one last time and snickered, "next time we meet, I'll be sure to stick my spear in that fine ass of yours."

The princess just stood there for a second. She didn't seem angry or insulted; in fact, she looked relatively calm. Then her horn lit up as the tendrils of magic wrap around him as his body started to change. He felt his body morphing with thick muscles becoming much slenderer as his bones morphed and clicked. He felt his skull morphing and he cried out in pain with the octaves getting higher as his face morphed and became more rounded. He groaned, kicking and gnashing his teeth as it was pretty painful. The stallion then felt his mane and tail grow out, and then he gasped, feeling the one thing he cherished the most slowly disappearing. A hoof went down his nether regions, and he realized that his stallion hood was gone, replaced with a hole...a...a….He screamed as he was placed back down onto the ground with his armor now turning into a soft fabric. The gold color turned into a pitch black with the armor growing out, until the now soft black fabric covered his entire backend with the outfit clearly now a dress with white frills outlining the skirt. He looked down to see his hooves now had four black shoes with white socks coming up his legs. Then he felt his helmet which was lopsided on his Head, turn softer on his mane. Blazing Saddles couldn't look into a mirror, but he knew what Celestia turned him into.

The princess then simply got out a new form and started filling it out as she explained, "now, you can be terminated from my duties and be a mare for the rest of your life. Or you can try being a maid for a week, and we can go from there."

"Y...you can't do this, change me back!" Blaze roared, not caring how cute and shrill his voice sounded. He didn’t care if Princess Celestia did this, he will not tolerate this!

Celestia rose up with her hooves on the desk as she growled, "You just threatened to rape me! If I was my sister, she would have thrown you in a cell and have you tried!"

"I... I'm sorry," Blaze whimpered, realizing he was clearly out of line.

Celestia settled down, sitting back on her seat as she presented two forms, "Of course you are, now change your behavior and see how it is to be in a mare's hooves for a week. Then maybe you'll respect them more, and you can be reinstated as a guard."

"Yes...p...princess…." Blaze whimpered as she looked down at the two forms, and she took out the quill again. She went to the one regarding being hired as a maid and saw that instead of Blaze or Blazing Saddles, it had Amber Saddles instead.

"A...Amber?" the newly transformed mare whined, hating the new name already.

"Well, I could've chosen more embarrassing names, but that sounded nice. Besides, it's not like you can change it yourself." Celestia scoffed, pointing a hoof at the forms.

The mare pouted and quickly jotted her new name on the paperwork. Once it was finished, Princess Celestia filed the form away before getting up. "Now, you'll be reporting to Mop Head's room and bunking with her. She'll be the one who will make sure you're performing your duties. It will ultimately be up to her if she thinks you're capable of being a royal guard again, understood?"

"Yes, princess," Blaze grumbled; he bowed his head, not bothering to perform a stupid curtsey, and ran out of the room. As he ran down the halls, she felt her heart racing with the silly maid's uniform flaying around her. He just had to be a stupid stallion for one week; it'll be easy just dressing up and cleaning? Then he'll leave this insane castle and never come here again!

Back in her quaint little chamber, with the place having posters of Princess Celestia plastered all over the room, with her uniform dressed over a ponyquin. In the middle of the room Mop Head was humming a tune as she was sitting down on a simple chair eating a dandelion sandwich over a small table and drinking a glass of wine. She was feeling relaxed after a long day's work, and she was told by Dusty Shelves she had the day off tomorrow for her praise by the princess. Soon she'll be promoted from chambermaid to palace maid and one-day head maid. She shivered, thinking how amazing it would be to be on the same level as those old craggy Dusty Shelves. A maid with a bright red mane then burst into the room seething, and looking rather angry, she stomped inside and slammed a form on the table. "We're bunking together! And that's that! You're not ordering me to do shit, just let me eat, and sleep for a week, then we never have to see each other again!"

Mop Head was just sitting there surprised and confused, then it hit her this maid was…She put a hoof to her mouth, trying to keep herself from bursting into laughter." Blazing? Is that you?"

"Of course, it is! But until I'm gone, Amber got it!" The maid snapped as she threw off her uniform and stomped over to the bathroom and slammed the door behind her. Mop Head casually finished her sandwich and drank down her wine as she read some of the forms that Amber set down. Basically, from what she gathered, she was to make sure she didn't harass any other pony and to make sure she performed her duties for a week. As easy as it sounds, she knew Blaze...now Amber was going to make this difficult. She then rose and walked over to the bathroom and knocked on the door, then asked, "Need help in there?"

"Nope! I'm fine!" the mare shouted.

Mop Head snickered under her breath. "Of course." She waited, humming as she could hear Amber cursing with her shouting, "how do mares do this every day!"

"Trust me, I had trouble my first time going; just lift your tail and relax," Mop Head chimed.

"I know how to go pee! Just shut up!" Amber shouted again.

Mop Head sat back and waited for the mare to finish when she heard a flush and then the rushing water of the sink. As Amber came out of the bathroom, Mop Head smirked as she couldn’t help to ask, "did you forget to wipe?"

Amber looked over at the mare and snapped, "of course not!” As she stomped off with Mop Head snickering betting she forgot to wipe.

The red-headed mare then took a good look around the small chamber and asked, "where do I sleep?"

"Well, this was rather sudden, so I guess we're sharing a bed tonight." Mop Head replied as she gave her bed a pat.

Amber threw her head up and scoffed, "then you're sleeping on the floor! I'm not sleeping in a bed with you!"

"As if I read those forms, I'm in charge, so you can sleep on the floor if you want," Mop Head snapped back; she wasn't going to take this any lip from Amber.

The red-headed mare slammed a hoof on the ground and shouted, "fine! But you stay away from me!"

Mop Head rolled her eyes and scoffed, "what? I doubt this is the first time you slept with a mare."

She then struggled to get the uniform off her, grumbling as she tried to take the straps from behind her. After some time, Mop Head walked over and asked, "Hey, come on, you need help."

"Just show me how you take this stupid thing off!" Amber grumbled.

Mop Head gently untied the apron around the mare's waist. She could feel Amber breathing seeing how it might’ve been too tight, she then slowly lifted the uniform from her fellow maid making sure gently pull it off her body. Mop Head then helped remove her shoes and finished by taking the little maid cap off her head as well. After that, each sock was taken from her hooves, and she made sure to be gentle. Mop Head then went to a closet and hung up the uniform, separating it from her other ones.

The grey-coated mare looked over and saw that Amber was now just looking at herself in the mirror. She seemed to be hypnotized by her appearance and her new body. Mop Head didn't like Blaze or Amber, but she couldn't help but feel bad for her and slowly came over and whispered, "Look, I've been there, and I know how you're feeling."

"You don't know anything about me!" Amber shouted.

She stomped over to the bed and slipped into the bed under the sheets. Mop Head followed after slipping in the sheets across from her. Mop Head wanted to comfort her, but she couldn't see that Amber wanted nothing to do with her. She snuggled under the sheets and looked up at the ceiling, wondering how tomorrow was going to be like.

Chapter three: Polishing Jewels in the Rough

The following morning came, and Mop Head was humming a tune feeling relatively relaxed as she enjoyed a breakfast of omelet she made for herself. She has been chomping down on her food with a pleasant smile on her face enjoying the rich flavor of the omelet in her mouth, which blended well with the small cup of coffee she made for herself. The former stallion was elated not just because of her scrumptious breakfast but also because she anticipated enjoying her time off with Soap Suds. They both had planned out all day with a spa trip; then, after that, they'll go out to Restaurant Row and end the day with a little shopping spree. Mop Head sat back in her chair as she continued daydreaming about this trip; she has gone out in public a few times as a mare. But this was going to be special; she'd finally embrace her new body and have fun at the same time. However, her train of thought was broken by the sound of the toilet flushing, and the maid smirked as she looked over to see Amber was walking out of the bathroom, grumbling irritably to herself. Mop Head continued to just smile at the pegasus admiring her petite frame, flowing red mane, and those lovely teal eyes. She pondered to herself should she take Amber with her on her little day out? As Mop Head sat back thinking, Amber turned her head and looked straight at her fellow maid, then scowled, "what? I wiped this time."

"Ok, ok…" Mop Head snickered, seeing how Amber was still brewing over their conversation last night. The maid then hoofed her an omelet; the pegasus slowly trotted over and sat down next to her, eyeing the meal with suspicion. She then pointed at the food and growled, "what's in it?"

Mop Head just rolled her eyes at the comment. Seriously, did Blazing think she'll poison her or something? "It's just an omelet with cheese, tomatoes, mushrooms, and spinach, a healthy breakfast to start the day."

"Thanks," Amber grumbled as she started to eat the omelet as well. They ate and drank their coffee silently as Mop Head wasn't sure what to say. Things were still somewhat awkward between the two as they both still hated each other. But at the same time, the two former guards were also in the same boat. Mop Head took the time to think about what to do to make Amber's day better. As much as she hated her, the mare didn't want to be a bad guest and at least see if she would like to hang out with her and Soap Suds. On top of that, Celestia gave her the duty of reforming Blaze, taking her out on she and Soapy's spa trip could be the first step. The maid cleared her throat and reluctantly said, "today is my day off, and I already spoke with Dusty Shelves. She hasn't added you to the duty list."

Amber eyed her and asked in a rather suspicious tone, "so? What are you implying?"

Mop Headfirst took a sip of her coffee as she was a bit reluctant to say it out loud. The maid wasn't sure if she really wanted Blazing to come along. The former stallion would probably just complain the whole time and ruin everything. As Mop Head finished her coffee, she decided that she'd at least give her the option; she then turned to Amber and asked, "I'm just saying you're invited to join us if you want?"

Her fellow roommate stood up with her face turning a beat red and steam coming from her ears as she threw a hoof over her chest then snapped, "looking like this buck no!"

Mop Head gave an exasperated sigh but seeing that this wasn't going anywhere and that she was considering ending her efforts to make peace with Blazing. Mop Head shrugged and said, "fine, if you want to mope all day, then go ahead."

"Well, I wouldn't be like this if it weren't for you," Amber snapped back.

Mop Head didn't respond right away. Instead, she let Amber stew in her anger while trying not to let her anger consume her. She then casually finished her meal then wiped her face with a napkin before responding, "honestly, blaming me for this is really pathetic. But as I said, you can stay here while I go out and have fun."

"Going out doing what!? Being a bitch of a mare!" Amber snapped back, still seething in anger.

Mop Head stopped, then turned her head and glared right at Amber. She had enough of this mare's insults and wanted to show her that they didn't phase her all. The unicorn then turned around and shoved her rump inches from Amber's face as she swished her tail about. "Yeah, I'm being a bitch of a mare and loving every second of it."

Amber just stood there, eyes twitching, muttering insults. Mop Head just smirked and then started to strut off, having enough of this fight with her roommate. But Amber suddenly rose up wide-eyed and exclaimed, "wait!? Are you just going out without wearing anything!?"

"Yeah, so what?" Mop Head asked rather nonchalantly if she's been out in public without clothes many times.

Amber stood up and slammed her forehooves on the table, and shouted, "You're not even a little embarrassed! You don't care that you're a mare! What's wrong with you!?"

Mop Head stood there as she stared at Amber; she wondered why she snapped, "yeah, I'm a mare, and I realized I wanted to be one for a long time. So what? Celestia only turned me into one because I basically asked for it, and I actually feel a lot better and more alive than I ever have!"

Amber was somewhat surprised by the response as she asked, "But...you don't even have a cutie mark yet...how can you know if this is your destiny?"

Mop Head wasn't sure how to answer that question as she didn't know herself. But she did clear her throat and responded, "I know it is, and I eventually will find it! But for now, I'm going to enjoy myself."

Mop Head just wanted to leave, but the mission that Celestia had assigned her was still hanging over her head. She turned around and said, "now we're not friends, and we're probably never going to be, but I know that becoming a mare wasn't your choice. So why don't you come out and have fun instead of wallowing in your self-pity."

Amber was stunned and looked down, grumbling and growling. But the mare refused to take Mop Head's hoof; she shrugged then continued to walk off, and just as she turned her back once more, she heard Amber shout, "Wait...I… I'll go!"

"Ok," Mop Head responded with a smirk on her face.

Amber ran over and got in front of her roommate, and pointed a hoof at her. "But I'm not doing any girly stuff; I'm just tagging along, understand!"

"You can do whatever you want," Mop Head responded nonchalantly.

She then trotted off to the closet and started getting dressed. Mop Head was a bit confused and asked, "um, why are you getting dressed in your uniform for?"

"Because, unlike you, I'm not comfortable walking around like this," The pegasus snapped back.

Mop Head bowed her head, "to each their own." Amber just rolled her eyes as she stomped off with her head in the air as she went about dressing herself. Mop Head just stood back and watched in amusement as her roommate struggled to get on her black silk dress. Eventually, she trotted over and helped Amber fix the dress over her roommate; Mop Head then tied a frilly white apron around Amber's midriff as well. After that, she helped place the maid cap in the pegasus's mane and stepped back admiring the light brown coated pegasus adorned in her adorable maid uniform. "There, you look beautiful!"

Amber looked downward as her cheeks were now a shade of pink, throwing a hoof over her head and mumbled, "I was planning on just wearing the dress."

"Oh, come now, stop being so grumpy. Are you coming or not?" Mop Head scoffed, taking her friend's hoof and taking her down the halls of the castle, hoping that Amber would be willing just to let go and have fun.

As the two mares made their way through the castle, Blazing Saddles felt self-conscious about himself. The swishing of her dress, the uneasy feeling of his new body, and the missing weight between her legs. All of these things just made him feel more squeamish; she looked around, seeing many guards she recognized, all whispering and gossiping. Amber ducked his head, trying to ignore them, but she knew they were all talking about him. He couldn't understand how Mop Head has been able to deal with this for almost two full weeks. He must be insane and can only hope that insanity didn't spread to her. The two eventually made their way outside of the palace. As the two went down the steps of the palace entrance, the two turned to see that Soap Suds was already standing near the outer gate with a giant smile on her face. She bounced over and squealed, "Hey, Moppy! Glad you can make it!"

Soap Suds bounded right into the other maid, and the two hugged each other into a tight embrace. Blazing just stood there rolling his eyes, thinking how stupid it was for mares to always get so mushy.

Soap Suds eventually took notice of the other maid and asked, "So who's this? A new maid?"

"This is Amber, she's...um...was..a...well she's new!" Mop Head responded with nervous laughter.

Blaze wondered if he should tell this mare his true identity, but at this point, everypony was going to know, and he was too pissed off to keep it a secret anyway. "Yeah, I'm Blazing Saddles, or I was until Celestia turned me into a maid. I want to make it clear; I just came here to hang out since I have nothing else to do."

Soap Suds placed a hoof over her mouth as she gave an exaggerated gasp, "so the rumors were true! You're the second maid of honor!"

"Maid of what!?" Both stallions turned mares asked in unison.

Soap Suds nonchalantly casually threw a hoof, "oh, it's just something the other maids are throwing around; now come on, we have a fun day planned!"

Blazing tore at his mane; now they were giving them nicknames!? Even if he was turned back into a stallion, Celestia ruined his life forever! He then shouted, "seriously!? I don't want to go now! Maids of Honor what horseshit."

Mop Head couldn't help but laugh, "wasn't it just the other day you the one telling me to grow a spine?"

Soap Suds joined in the laughing as Blazing stood there pouting, seeing his words were coming to bite him in the rump.

Mop Head turned to face him and said, "as I said, it's your choice; come on, Soapy, the spa awaits!"

Mop Head and Soap Suds then began to walk off as Blazing kicked the ground and cursed. He might as well just follow the mares and try to enjoy himself to keep his mind off that stupid nickname...maids of honor!?... If he didn't do something, he was going to find Celestia and buck her. He then stomped off into the streets of Canterlot, following after the other maids.

As they were now on the streets of Canterlot, Blazing kept his head down, doing his best to avoid anypony's gaze. Despite now being in public, he had to admit things outside of the palace were less embarrassing; most ponies didn't know him, so most just thought he was just a simple maid. Regardless he kept her head down and did his best to avoid eye contact. They eventually made their way to a rather luxurious spa, with a rather exciting architecture with spiraling columns and a ceiling made of red tile, along with statues of two alicorn princesses standing overhead. Blazing was taken aback by all of this splendor; it made her squeamish again, but she continued to follow her fellow maids inside. He didn't fully understand why but he was curious to see what this place was like. Inside the building, there was a beautiful lobby; the ground had a beautiful white tile. In the middle of the room, a fountain spouting out bubbly hot water spread out a light mist around the room. That wasn't the only fixture all around the lobby; the room was filled with sculptures of Princess Cadance, Celestia, and Luna made of marble. The princesses' promiscuous poses show off their rump or standing on their back legs, exposing their beautiful bodies with playful smirks on their faces. Amber wondered if the princesses allowed the sculptures to be made. That was until he turned to see that there was a photo of Cadance, Celestia, and Luna with a rather lovely looking white-coated pegasus all wearing togas. Amber noticed that the mares in question must frequent this place.

Blazing was already starting to feel turned on looking over the statues, but that wasn't the only reason as many beautiful mares were trotting about. Despite being a mare, Blazing had to admit coming here was worth all the eye candy. His eyes couldn't stop checking out the dozen of mares trotting by him. The three eventually came upon the receptionist, and Blazing recognized the mare from the picture overhead, the sexy white-coated pegasus mare wearing a toga at the front desk. The strange receptionist waved a hoof with a calm, pleasant smile. "Hello! Welcome to The Bathhouse of the Goddesses! How may I help you?"

"Yes, we're here for a booking for Mop Head and Soap Suds!" Mop Head chirped with a smile as she placed down an appointment slip.

The receptionist looked up and eyed the three mares, "well, the booking says it's for two, not three."

Before anypony could say anything, Amber exclaimed in a sarcastic tone, "Great! Then I'll just go then; you two have fun!"

"Nope, you're coming to enjoy relaxing with us," The maid chimed as she placed a bag of bits on the table.

Amber turned to her roommate and snapped, "seriously! I don't want to do this!?"

"Of course not! But you're here, aren't you!?" Mop Head teased.

Blazing narrowed a glare at his fellow maids and was about to curse them out, but then Soap Suds bounced over and chimed, "Come on!? Just come over and have some fun."

The pegasus would just shout "buck no!" then stomp off, but the receptionist held up a hoof and was given a sense of ease. The angelic pegasus held up a hoof and said, "I have to agree with your friend here. Getting a reservation here is extremely difficult. If you leave now, it'll be a while before you have another opportunity to enjoy the finest spa in Equestria."

Blazing paused, somewhat unsure of what to say, she just stared into the receptionist's soft blue eyes. He wanted to say no, but he seemed compelled to stay for some reason.

"Sure, maybe just a hooficure?"

"What about a preening? You look like you could use one?"

A preening? It must've been years since he had a preening? Again he was going to say no. But the idea of having his wings cleaned was starting to sound rather pleasing, and he seemed unable to say no," s..sure, a preening sounds nice."

"Alright, one hooficure and a preening...and the name?"

"Blaze-I mean Amber."

"Well, that will do, Amber," the pegasus behind the counter chirped as she then picked up a folder and waved a hoof at the maids. "Alright, then follow me, you three."

The receptionist took the group to a vast room decorated the same way as the lobby, the walls and floor covered in white marble, and furnished with sculptures of the princesses. Of course, there were differences with the room being filled with hot tubs, massage tables, counters full of stool for patrons getting all kinds of work done where the patrons were sitting down on stools where a group of pegasi went about and manicured their hooves. A bunch of pegasi swarmed Blaze as they went about taking his uniform off his body. The former stallion wanted to kick and whine, feeling so violated but was hesitant with these lovely mares touching him. But when he was on the stool, and one of the pegasi started touching his hooves, that was the moment he snapped, "Keep your hooves off of me!"

The mares looked at each other with unsure looks as Mop Head looked over and rolled her eyes. "Amber, if you're too scared to get a hooficure, then don't get one, just go."

"Yeah, seriously stop complaining, just go relax in a hot tub or something," Soap Suds scoffed back.

The receptionist gave a nod to the two mares that were going to work on Blazing, and they left without a word. Blazing's heart was now fluttering in his chest as the mare's hypnotic eyes were now on him. The pegasus took one of Blazing's hooves and studied it with intense scrutiny. She then tapped a hoof to her chin and whispered, "hmm, seems this one never had a hooficure before. You need a gentle touch, Ember...no..was it Blaze? oh, I'm sorry, what was your name again?"

"A..A...Amb...Amber…"

"Amber, that's a lovely name for a lovely maid as yourself."

Amber just stood there being too embarrassed and turned on at the same time. This gorgeous pegasus was now standing in front of her with those piercing blue eyes, that soft light blue and sea green striped mane that fell around her head like a waterfall; it matched perfectly with her snow-white coat, which was partly covered by the toga draped over her body effectuated her beauty. She was a goddess, heck even her cutie mark was that of a statue of a pegasus spouting water from her mouth.

"Wh...who are you?" the former stallion asked in a trembling voice.

The mare smirked and cooed, "my name is Aquarius, but my friends call me Aqua."

She then took a pumice stone and took one of Amber's trembling hooves. "Please relax once I'm done with you; you're going to look as lovely as any mare."

Amber wanted to say no and run, but just having the privilege to gaze upon this lovely mare, she would do anything. So she reluctantly let Aqua take her by the hoof, and she then started to scrub down her hooves with a pumice stone. Amber squirmed and whined as it felt so strange that it wasn't phased as her hooves continued to be scrubbed down and smoothed out by another pony. Regardless, Aqua continued being unphased by Amber's squirming work humming a tune. Once she got them to a polished smooth, they went to work on her wings, preening them slowly one by one. For the former stallion, the entire process was rather sensual, and Amber squirmed and moaned throughout. It was unlike anything she's felt before, and she was starting to enjoy it. Regardless, Aqua continued polishing the forehooves until she applied a polishing oil and rubbed it over them. When Amber looked down, she was astonished at how shiny her hooves were. They were so pristine she could see her reflection off them.

"Oh, just look at her Amber's in heaven," Mop Head snickered as she was having her horn being scrubbed down and polished.

Soap Suds was having a green face mask spread over her face as she chirped, "Oh, it's her first-time Mop Head; you were just as squeamish."

"Yeah, she almost kicked me her first time," Aqua snickered as she bent down a little to work on Amber's back hooves.

"Ugh, seriously, Aqua!?" Mop Head whined.

Amber couldn't help but snicker as she couldn't help but feel a bit better seeing some misfortune befell her roommate. But her thoughts were interrupted by Aqua starting to scrub down her back hooved, making the former stallion kick and whine, feeling the same as before. She would've bucked Aqua, but her lovely pink eyes made him feel at ease and relaxed again and allowed her to continue. When the pumice stone touched the sensitive part of her inner hooves, it made her gasp in complete surprise.

"Ah, you need a massage; so much stress and pain are stored up in you," Aqua whispered as she finished polishing Amber's hooves with her oily rag. "We could schedule something next week?"

"I...I would like that, but I thought you said you're busy," Amber placed her hooves over her mouth. She couldn't believe what almost came out of her mouth! Sure she wouldn't mind a massage from this goddess as a stallion...But as a mare!? No, she couldn't…

"Oh, we can arrange that for another day; let me get to your wings," Aqua whispered as she took Amber to a soft massage table where she gently placed her down on her belly.

Amber couldn't see what was happening, but Aqua went to work on his wings. The white-coated pegasus started by taking a comb and gently and methodically going over every inch of dirt from her patron's wings. Amber couldn't see what Aqua was doing this time, but she was feeling the mare's work. It was even more sensual than her hooves, especially when the mare started to pull bent feathers from her wings. Every time she did, there was a pang of pain, but the mare also rubbed something where she drew the bent feathers easing the pain and relaxing her muscles. Amber was starting to feel rather tired with the spa's atmosphere lulling her into a relaxed state. But soon, she was back on the stool, and Aqua was now rubbing a green face mask over her face as well.

"I thought I said I only wanted a preening and a hooficure?"

"Sorry, this is a complimentary service; this is just a natural mud mask made of seaweed, aloe, green tea, and chamomile. There's also a secret ingredient." Aqua explained in a whisper as she continued applying it to her patron's face.

Amber wanted again to tell her to stop, but the words seemed unable to come out of her mouth. So the former stallion sat still as the cream was gently applied to her face, which did feel soothing. Once Amber's face was covered in the green cream, she was escorted to a bubbling hot tub where her fellow maids were already soaking. Also, to no surprise, they both had green mud masks covering their faces with cucumbers over their eyes.

Amber once again was a bit reluctant to get in. Still, eventually, she slowly waded into the bubbling suds of the hot tub. The former stallion flexed her wings, moaning as the hot tubs infiltrated her body. She felt so relaxed being immersed in the steamy water she looked to see the other two maids were already neck deep in the bubbly water. There was something in her brain telling her she should be hating herself right now enjoying this, but she couldn't help just letting her mind shut down and just enjoy the moment.

While the other mares were enjoying a hot soak, Steel Horn was standing guard in an empty meeting hall. The princess just finished a meeting regarding taxes and other boring expenditures. He just stood by, making sure nopony interrupted. When the meeting wrapped up, Celestia ordered him to stand guard for the time being. The guard himself was somewhat exhausted, having had a hard night, unable to fall asleep for hours. He was wracked with nervousness about what Princess Celestia would do after making that rape joke? Would he lose his job? Or worse, turned into a maid. Steel Horn shuttered and heard what happened to Blazing Saddles...he knew the guy was a prick, and he should've stood up to him. However, he always had low self-esteem and was unable to stand up to him...Instead, he ended up just following along with his antics and harassment. Steel could only wonder if he would end up getting fired...he would prefer that to being turned into a maid.

The stallion shivered at the thought Celestia didn't talk to him all day, so he assumed maybe she had forgotten about everything that happened last night. He stood there with his spear thinking that just perhaps he would be fine and nothing was going to happen. Steel Horn took a deep breath and relaxed a little. He brushed a hoof over his mane and whispered to himself, "I'm overthinking things. Celestia only turned Blazing into a maid because he's been harassing mares for some time now. I only made one stupid joke; there's no way she would turn me into a maid."

The stallion looked into the mirror across from him and saw his stoic frame covered in plate armor. He couldn't help but feel satisfied seeing his male physic and somewhat relieved he was still a stallion.

"I just need to relax; Princess Celestia wouldn’t just turn me into a mare," Steel whispered to himself; he took a few deep breaths and continued to stand guard as ordered. But eventually, he felt his eyes drooping as he felt a wave of exhaustion come over him. He gently lowered his head next to the spear in his hooves, "no pony's around, and the princess is done with her meeting. I can take a short nap." He then closed his eyes and slowly let himself fall into a deep sleep.

After the three maids finished their soak, they were all sitting down at a small table in the middle of Restaurant Row, eating sandwiches and drinking wine together. Mop Head and Soap Suds were enjoying their meal, laughing, and having a good time. Amber was still rather squeamish as she chomped down her sandwich and felt so strange; she felt relaxed as not being so on edge. Amber wasn't even wearing her uniform.

Mop Head looked over and asked, "so, how are you feeling? You've been silent all day?"

The mare gulped down abit of her sandwich; she didn't want the others to know she enjoyed herself at the spa. The pegasus bent her head down and grumbled, "I'm fine, alright?"

The other two maids just smirked at her; these two were really starting to piss Amber off as she took a bite from her sandwich and snapped, "Yeah, I'm just thinking things over! alright!?"

"Looks like somepony is starting to enjoy being a mare." Soap Suds teased as she took a sip from her wine glass.

"No, I'm not!" Amber snapped back.

"Oh, look at her blushing," Mop Head chortled.

Amber was now at her breaking point as she slammed a hoof down and scowled, getting up flaring her wings, "say that again, and I'll buck you!"

Mop Head casually rolled her eyes as she sipped her glass of wine. "Oh really? And mess up your lovely polished hooves?"

Amber wasn’t planning on actually bucking Mop Head, but she did reach for her wine glass getting ready to splash it all over that smug face. However, Soap Suds spoke up in a rather serious tone," after everything you said and did to her, she and I should be bucking you, not taking you out to lunch."

Amber paused, now wondering if these two took her out just to make fun of her!? Was all of this just revenge? The mare shouted, "Is this what this is then!? payback?"

"Of course not! You're just being paranoid and ruining a good time." Mop Head snapped back.

Amber paused as she was heaving, and everypony around her was looking at her with glares and some grumbling being somewhat irritated by all the shouting.

The pegasus realized that she was making a scene, sat back down, and growled, "sorry, I'm just still getting used to all of this, ok?”

Soapy threw a hoof and said, "You're doing much better than Mop Head. She was a mess when we went out for the first time."

"Yeah, I was a stammering and stuttering mess." Mop Head grumbled.

Amber scoffed as they continued to eat their meal together. They spent most of the time eating their food in awkward silence with nopony making any conversation. After they finished their sandwiches, Mop Head rose up from the table. "Before we head back! There's one more thing we just have to do!"

Amber took a long draught from her wine glass, knowing that whatever these mares had planned could only mean more embarrassing stuff. She then placed her glass down and asked, "what could that possibly be?"

"We're going shopping!" Soap Suds squealed as she threw up her hooves. Amber rolled her eyes and was dragged off to Celestia knows where. She was already knee-deep in this girly stuff. She might as well enjoy the rest of the day and see if maybe there were more cute girls to hit on.

Steel Horn suddenly woke up and realized he must've fallen asleep. He yawned and stretched his limbs only to realize he wasn't holding his spear anymore. In fact, he noticed that the weight of his armor was gone as well...instead, he was wearing some kind of soft fabric around his body. He trotted over towards a mirror and squinted, staring back at him was a mare with similar features: piercing gold eyes, white-colored mane, a soft grey coat. The only difference was she was a mare and sporting a rather adorable maid uniform.

"Hey, you're not supposed to be in..here…her..." he stuttered mid-sentence, hearing the feminine voice coming from him!

Steel Horn put a hoof to his throat and cried out, "My voice!? What happened to my voice!"

His shrill feminine voice made him realize precisely what was happening to him, and that's when he investigated his body. The stallion looked down to see a maid's uniform covering his body, with a black silk dress and a white apron tied around his waist. He then rose up on his back hooves, took a hoof, and lifted the skirt revealing his underbelly, and to see as he expected, his genitals were gone!

“Buck!” Steel Horn cried out, throwing the dress down with a swish , then went back on all fours and looked back at the mirror. That round cute face was still staring back at him as his mind raced. Maybe, this was some sister he had never met? Perhaps he was dreaming? Seeing that he needed to confirm what’s happened to him, the stallion took his hoof and slowly rubbed his round feminine face. Wherever his hoof moved, he could both see and feel it cross his fur and mane; he was just verifying what was obvious. He has indeed been transformed into a mare. "Oh, Buck!? Did Princess Celestia turn me into a maid!?"

The stallion paused, heart, thumping in her chest when she looked down and saw a paper with his name signed. He looked over the form and stammered, "Maid for a week…new name Silky Apron!? When did I sign this!?"

He started to trot back and forth, getting rather antsy about with butterflies in her stomach. What was he supposed to do? Trot down to Celestia’s throne and demand answers!? Will ponies notice him as a mare!? He pulled his mane and shouted, "buck! Why couldn't she just fire me!"

Steel Hron paused, slamming a hoof to the ground to figure things out, and to protect his identity, there was only one option...He had to act like he was just a brand new maid. "Buck Celestia, seriously!"

He then went about fixing his uniform, straightening his outfit before trotting out the door. He hesitantly headed down the hall, feeling awkward with this dress swishing around his body. On top of that, the missing weight of his armor was something else he started to notice. It was all rather nice not having all that weight on his body, but that didn't stop him from wanting to turn back into a stallion. As Steel Horn made it to the bottom of the stairs, he stopped in his tracks upon recognizing the Head Maid Dusty Shelves.

The older mare eventually turned her attention to him and, in a questionable tone, asked, "who are you!? What’s your name?!”

"S-" the maid stopped realizing he was about to say his name, his real name!? He needed a name. Then the name from the papers he” signed” popped into his head. "Silky Apron...my name is Silky Apron!"

"Yes, Silky Apron!? Are you here to apply as a maid?"

The former stallion gulped, seeing how intimidating this mare was reminding him of his old drill sergeant, and stammered out an answer, "Y...yes I am...sort of..."

The old maid trotted over and slowly started to circle him looking his new body over cautiously. "Hmm, do you have experience?"

Steel Horn paused for a second, thinking things over. Dusty Shelves was well known in the palace, having worked here for many years and has good standing with the princess. If anypony can help him out of this predicament, she should be able to. The stallion then hesitantly hoofed over some documents. "Well...about that…."

The Head Maid took the papers and read them over, then scowled. "Another one, seriously!? What is wrong with the princess!? Is she going crazy!?"

Steel Horn wanted to know that as well, but at the moment, he wanted to make it clear he didn't want to be known as the newest member of the maids of honor. He cleared his throat and said, "look, I'm not really well known...Blaze, was well...Blaze; and Spearpoint eventually wanted to be a maid…I just want to do this and be turned back into a stallion by next week. So, can you just have me labeled as a new maid and leave it as that? I don’t want ponies knowing I was a stallion or a former royal guard."

"Of course, also I'll speak to the princess at once as to why she's turning guards into maids," Dusty Shelves said curtly.

“That would be much appreciated,” Steel responded with a sigh of relief, seeing he didn’t have to bring that up. He then watched the old mare stomp off towards the throne room to most likely confront the princess. Seeing he was alone, Steel decided to trot back to the empty meeting hall quickly. He didn’t want anypony to see him like this, and he could only hope that maybe Dusty Shelves could talk some sense to the princess.

Chapter Four: The Maids of Honor are Born

Author's Note

I apologize for the wait but I'm finally getting back to this story. updates will be happening much more frequently.

Chapter Four: The Maids of Honor are Born

Silky Apron slowly followed Dusty Shelves as she was cautious not being used to her new body. She was definitely not used to being a mare, let alone being, and continued to follow her through the castle. The maid's uniform swished around her body; she continued to trot along, hoping to avoid the eye contact of other passabyers. The maids eventually found Celestia, and she was just trotting down the hall with her head held high. The two mares performed curtsies (with Silky's being rather awkward and she stumbled abit as she did so) as the princess approached. With the alicorn looking down at them with a smile she said, "Oh, hello, Steel Horn and Dusty Shelves; how are you two?"

"Doing well, princess," the two mares chimed together as they rose up. Celestia then looked over Silky Apron with a smile and said, "I see that we have a new maid in our ranks?"

Dusty adjusted herself before saying, "yes, I am here to talk about that, seeing that she was a former male royal guard, and I believe she needs to be turned back to normal immediately!"

Celestia took out the contract that Steel Horn signed with his new name, "Silky Apron," "ah yes, because of the series of allegations of sexual misconduct, you have been demoted to a maid for a week as it states here."

Silky looked over the unfolded scroll out before her; she seemed somewhat confused as she stammered, "yes, but I…I don't remember…."

The princess looked down and said, "Well, I think being a maid will do you good and understand how to have the shoe fit on her hoof."

Dusty Shelves grumbled under her breath as she got up and glared at Silky Apron. "Well, I can't say I completely disagree with your decision Princess Celestia. But you have to admit this is absolutely absurd."

"What do I do? I don't know how to be a maid!" Silky Apron whined.

"Well, you'll be back to full stallion in a week. Besides, this is about rehabilitation afterall," Princess Celestia added as she trotted down the hall.

Silky Apron looked somewhat flustered as the princess trotted off. When Celestia was no longer in sight Dusty just threw her hooves in the air and shouted,"Just wonderful! Now I have another imbecile guard to deal with!”

Just then three mares, Mop Head, Soap Suds, and Amber, were now all coming back from their shopping trip when they stumbled on the other maids. They were all laughing and chatting together as they seemed to have a good time together. Dusty glared at them, then shouted, "alright, that's it!"

"Tomorrow Princess Celestia will be at a meeting all day in the Crystal Empire! I want you three to be cleaning her room, and I want it spotless! You all can just do that tomorrow and stay out of my hair!" the maid snarled as she stomped down with a hoof.

"Wait, you want us to do that all by ourselves!?" Silky Apron cried in horror, somewhat stunned at this sudden turn of events.

"Yes, and I don't want to hear any complaining! You all should be grateful Princess Celestia hasn't sacked you yet! So prove that you deserve to be maids!" Dusty snapped back; she then stomped off as a cruel smirk grew on her face.

The other maids looked relatively confused as Mop Head understood secretly what Dusty was doing; she's putting them in a position where if they screw up and do a horrible job or make Princess Celestia's room worse, they will be punished and force her to fire them all or have them turned back to royal guards. She was setting them up to fail, and they would have to try to navigate through this trial tomorrow. Mop Head loved being a maid and, at the very least, wanted to get her fellow guards' ponies to be back to stallions.

"Ok, look, I get that this will be a tough task ahead, but I think we can do this." Mop Head said with a look of worry on her face. She turned to her fellow maids and said, "let's just do our best tomorrow! Ok!"

"Ok…" Amber mumbled with a smirk as she dragged Silky Apron away, and then they went off as Mop Head eyed her as Soapy trotted over. "You know Dusty is setting you up, right!?"

"I know, but I don't have a choice," Mop Head grumbled; she then looked over at Silky Apron and how she was whispering something to Amber and said, "also, I don't like how Princess Celestia has turned another guard into a maid. We need to know why she's doing this? Something is going on."

"Right, so you accepted because you want to investigate!" Soapy then hugged her friend with her hooves and nuzzled her.

"Well, I wish you luck!" the mare chirped as she trotted off alongside her friend.

The following morning the maids were going about cleaning Princess Celestia's room. They were going about vacuuming her room (full of white feathers, light rainbow-colored hair, and cake crumbs); they went about fixing her bed, cleaning her bathroom, and just mostly sprucing the room up. The task wasn't too hard, but they were all anxious because this was the princess's chambers, and they all wanted to make sure the room was spotless. While Mop Head was dusting the bedside chamber, she accidentally found the princess's diary set aside in the bedside drawer. As much as she wanted to respect Princess Celestia's privacy she wanted to see if it can reveal why she was turning guards into maids. With sweat forming on her brow the nervous unicorn took the diary and snuck off into the bathroom to read it.

Meanwhile, Amber then had an idea to get back at the princess; she saw Philomena on her perch, calmly preening herself. Anger seemed to boil up in her as she started shouting and waving her hooves, freaking the bird out as it flew upward and squawked at her. The pegasus had a smirk grow on her face as she exclaimed, "Ha, take that!"

Philomena squawked back, but Amber kept chasing the phoenix until it flew out through the door. Silky threw her hooves over her mouth, looking, and gasped, "why did you do that for!?"

"Why not!? Princess Celestia turned us into maids and was supposed to just accept that!?" Amber shouted back.

Silky stomped and snapped, "I get that she's gone too far with punishing us!? But this is insane! You just let Philomena loose! She's done nothing to you!"

"Like I care! I'll fry that bird and feed it to that stuck-up princess if I can!" Amber shouted back.

Silky got furious, seeing that they may have issues taking a pillow. "Go get Philomena back right now!"

"No," Amber snapped,"I'll go get her stupid bird back when she turns us back into stallions."

The pegasus then shoved her muzzle into her friend's face. "What Steel!? You finally grow a spine!"

Silky stood up with the pillow getting more furious. "I used to just go along with everything you said because I was scared you would target me. But this time, I'm standing my ground!"

The newly formed maid slapped her friend with the pillow, and Amber roared, “you’re dead!” As she took another pillow and smacked her back. The two soon had a pillow fight getting feathers all over the room; they tackled each other and rolled around the room. Mop Head, hearing the commotion, came back into the room and gasped upon what she saw, and shouted, "girls!?"

The other two maids stopped fighting to see the mess they made with goose feathers covering the room. Amber burst into laughter, getting up on her hooves and snickered, "this is perfect! Let Celestia come back to this mess!"

"Are you bucking, kidding me!" Mop Head shouted. "Look; obviously, something is off with Princess Celestia, but this is insane!? If she comes back and sees her room like this, she'll make sure you won't be able to get a job again!? Let alone be guards!"

The two stopped as Silky got up and curtseyed as she apologized. "I should be the most furious with her, but I'm not. I know that she has every right to have me and Amber fired, and the fact that she's even giving us a chance is good. But I didn't have a say in being a maid."

Mop Head nodded, pointing to the diary. "Look, I was reading this, and I'm learning that something is going on at the spa. Every day she goes there, she comes back with an idea to turn one of her guards into a maid. Princess Celestia says she's fighting the thoughts, but something is wrong. I believe she's being brainwashed."

The other maids paused as Mop Head continued. "Princess Celestia says she's having headaches, throws up a lot, and constantly needs to go to the spa. These are similar symptoms former Captain Shining Armor had when he was being brainwashed by the Changeling Queen Chrysalis.

Amber paused, being somewhat surprised, and shouted, "wait…so…she doesn't want us to be maids? It's a changeling manipulating her!?"

"Maybe, and if that's true, we may be the only ones who know; we have to investigate that spa and help her, if not take down the changeling manipulating her." She closed the diary and said, "that means we need to keep our cover as maids and not be fired! So I suggest you two start cleaning this place up and find Philomena before she comes back from her trip."

Silky nodded as she performed a curtsy, "you're absolutely right. I'm sorry for causing all of this mess."

A smile grew on Amber's face as she said, "yeah, if we save her, then we'll be heroes like Twilight and her friends!"

Mop Head rolled her eyes. "Amber, we can't let anypony know anything. This changeling could have spies; if they learn we know something, they can brainwash us or have us foalnapped. So stop thinking of yourself for once and go find Philomena; that's an order."

"Fine! But if we do save Princess Celestia from some changeling conspiracy, I better get some compensation for it!" Amber snapped back as she stomped off. Meanwhile, Silky trotted over and whispered, "um…after we finish cleaning up this mess would it be ok if I bake Celestia a cake?"

"You bake?" Mop Head asked with a surprised look on her face.

Silky Apron bowed her head, looking somewhat embarrassed. She explained, "yes, I was always afraid of doing it as a stallion. I thought the other guards would laugh and tease me for dabbling in baking but as a mare…."

Mop Head rolled her eyes again, "Silky, I'm learning a lot being a mare. You as a stallion should be comfortable doing whatever, so even when you turn back into a royal guard, you should bake cakes whenever you want."

Silky lowered her head and scratched the ground with a hoof as she never expressed this side of her. Still being cautious, the mare asked, "So, is it ok if I go bake a cake?"

"Yes, go bake a cake if Amber fails to find Philomena maybe we can get Celestia to clam down a bit!" Mop Head exclaimed as she pushed Silky out the door; the mare smiled back and performed a curtsey. The maid then looked around the princess’s room covered in goose feathers. She gave a long sigh shaking her head as she said, "well, I better get to cleaning all this up myself."

While Mop Head went to cleaning up the princess's room. Amber was hunting down Philomena looking all over the palace, and eventually makes her way to the garden outside. The maid spotted the phoenix sitting in a tree. The mare atarted to feel bad about what she did to Celestia's pet and sighed, "hey Philomena, I'm sorry for scaring you and being a bitch. Can you come down from there?"

The phoenix just glared at her, seeming to be still angry. Amber flashed her wings, flew up towards her, and asked, "look, come down and come back with me? I'm not going to hurt you."

Philomina shook her head as Amber pulled on her mane, then shouted, "I'm trying to be nice and help you out! I'm sorry ok!?"

The phoenix eyed her, seeming to distrust her; she flapped her wings and landed in a fountain nearby. There Philomina started to bathe and groom herself, and Amber slowly came over and watched her clean herself. A thought crossed her mind to try bonding with the bird. She sat down nearby on the fountain and watched her preen, and it was rather lovely thinking about her own mother who would preen her as a child."I preened my mother before, believe it or not. So I got some experince."

The maid then started to groom the phoenix while getting the dirt and bent wings out from her, then cleaned her back and chest. After that, Amber helped the phoenix onto her back. She trotted off to some mangos that fell on the ground. The pegasus then heard the phoenix squawking and flapping her wings. The mare turned around and knew subconsciously that Philomina was looking rather hungry. She then bent down and helped smash the mangos up with her hooves, and the bird chirped happily as she fluttered down and started to peck at the seeds now soaked in the mango juice. Amber stood by and watched over her; she looked over the guards walking by, eyeing her and giving her bedroom eyes as some even whistled at her. The pegasus started to feel rather angry being objectivified. At the same time she was beginning to reflect a little on her behavior. How she treated mares just the same, if not worse. Amber blinked realizing that for once in her life, she was reflecting on her past behavior.

Meanwhile, Silky Apron snuck off into the kitchen, trying to find Luna, who was looking rather tired of getting a snack. The princess of the night gave her a long look before she grumbled, "Oh no, she did it again."

"Yes, I'm a former royal guard," Silky mumbled as she looked somewhat embarrassed seeing Princess Luna recognized immediately she wasn’t a maid.

"That's it. I need to talk to her! She is going way too far!" the princess of the night shouted.

As she knew the truth of why Celestia was turning them into maids, Silky shook her head and lowered her voice, "Princess Luna, I don't mean to alarm you, but we found out that she could be getting brainwashed."

Luna scratched her chin with a hoof and asked, "hmmm, you think it's a changeling?"

"Well, that's what we think; my friends and I will investigate later, but um… let's just say that despite me not completely agreeing with the princess, I want to do something for her that I was too cowardly to do as a stallion."

She got the ingredients for a cake from the various pantries, sugar, flour, eggs, milk, and butter from the fridge. Luna then put a hoof to her mouth and laughed, "you bake!?"

"Yes," Silky said. "Well…um…Princess Luna, would you mind helping me bake a cake for your sister? "Also, I wouldn't mind baking one for you as well?"

"Oh really!?" Luna chimed. "Well, if I know her, she likes vanilla with strawberry frosting and some of those cute hard candies." Then, the princess placed a hoof to her chest and said," as for me I'll take dark chocolate with some marshmallows and hot fudge drizzled over it."

"Oh, that sounds exciting!" Silky chimed as she went to work pouring the ingredients into a bowl while Luna assisted her with getting the oven prepped and getting out other ingredients, such as marshmallows, chocolate, and candy. They both went to work baking the cakes for the rest of the evening.

The following morning Amber, Silky, and Mop Head were all somewhat nervous as they ate breakfast together, all looking rather shy with each other. They all did their best to clean up Princess Celestia's bedroom, and they left her a lovely cake, and Amber took Philomena back to her room. But they were still all nervous about what happened and if they would be sacked for letting Philomena loose. Then they heard the clops coming close over to her, and the three maids all looked across the room. Standing with Princess Celestia looking rather regal, Dusty kept giving them this evil smirk as Princess Celestia came into the dining hall and chimed, "Silky, Amber, and Mop Head, please come to my chambers immediately."

"Yes, princess," the four mares chimed together. They followed her into the room as she rubbed her head with a hoof. As they went inside, she sighed, "mares, I have to ask who cleaned my room yesterday!?"

"I apologize, princess; it was those guards you turned into maids. I assure you that whatever they did, I'll take responsibility. They should be punished; I suggest firing them, seeing how incompetent they are."

Princess Celestia turned her head and se her gaze right at them and said."Well, that's good to hear seeing they are probably the best maids i've ever had!"

The maids looked rather asstonished by Princess Celestia's reaction as Dusty shifted about in her uniform and scoffed, "that's absurd! They let Philomena loose and had a pillow fight! Such inc-"

"Dusty Shelves!?" Princess Celestia shouted she then glared right at the old mare and continued, "you have no right to fire anypony without my approval! And don't think I haven't heard the rumors of how you set ponies up for failure or punish them unnecessarily.”

“But princess I!”

“Dusty, as of today, you will no longer be the head maid of the new division, which I'm calling the maids of honor!" The old maid was somewhat stunned at the alicorn's outburst; she curtsied and trotted out of the room in silence. The princess of the sun turned her attention to the younger mares and with a smile said, "that honor will be given to you Mop Head."

The maid blinked as Celestia turned her attention to her. "You have proven to clean my room and help Amber show compassion to Philomena and helped Silky have the courage to bake me such a lovely cake," She winked at Silky and added, "which was rather delicious, I might add."

Silky lowered her gaze with her cheeks flushing pink as Mop Head curtseyed and said, "thank you, princess, I appreciate you giving me such an honor, but unlike me, I want to stay a maid while Amber and Silky wish to turn back into stallions. As much as I understand why you turned them into maids, there's something wrong in doing this against their will."

Celestia lowered her head, looking somewhat ashamed as she said, "yes, my sister spoke with me last night…something is wrong with me…I don't know what, but I didn't mean to change any of you into maids. Everytime I've done so it was like something came over me like somepony was controlling my mind. I don't know how else to describe it."

Both Amber and Silky looked at each other with worried looks, while Mop Head, despite feeling nervous, wanted to see what they can do to help and said, "Princess Celestia, I don't mean to overstep; if something is going on, can we help?"

"Yes, I'm making this task force; I believe that somepony is trying to invade like the changelings, and I'm their target," Celestia added. "However, I believe these two wish to be stallions again I'm sure."

Silky lowered her head, seeming too embarrassed to say anything immediately. Meanwhile, Amber took a hoof over her mouth and cleared her throat, "Princess Celestia, as much as I would love to be a stallion again. I would rather keep my cover as a maid and assist in hunting down whoever is messing with you."

The newly turned maid added, "yes, there's obviously something going on here. If we turn back to stallions, the invaders will be tipped off so that we might know what's going on. We talked about it last night and we both agree that it would be best if we stay like this."

The princess looked somewhat surprised as she said, "Well, I admit that's brave of you…however that means you three need to be assigned to me at all times. I don’t trust myself seeing how I turned not one but three of my guards into maids," She rose up and held her head high and said, "henceforth, starting today you three will be my personal maids. We need to find out who is brainwashing me and stop them before they do it to my sister or others in the palace!"

"Yes, princess!" all three maids chimed together as they all looked at each other with worried looks. Obviously, they had no idea what they signed up for and what being Princess Celestia's personal maids would entail.

Chapter Five: Sea Star's Tea Time

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Chapter Seven: Maids meet Twilight and Rarity

The two maids, Silky Apron and Amber were slowly trotting down the road heading towards Golden Oaks library to find Twilight Sparkle to convince her to help them save Equestria from Aqua. They continued their long trot from the train station, which was rather strenuous for the two as they were worried about the outcome of their encounter with the two unicorns, Rarity and Twilight. They had heard the stories about the two, seeing they were rather famous, having saved Equestria multiple times. But they were never sure what to think of the elements of generosity and magic. The two ponies eventually came upon Twilight's library, and they were hesitant to meet the newly crowned princess alicorn. Not only was the mare once a simple unicorn turned royalty, but she was also Equestria's savior and the wielder of the element of magic. But eventually, Silky Apron knocked on the door and waited until somepony shouted. "Oh, wow, who are you two!?"

Before the maids could explain anything, the young drake held up a claw and asked, "Let me guess, are you models Rarity hired?"

Amber started to growl under her breath and was going to curse out the young drake. But Silky intervened, put up a hoof in front of her friend, and quickly said, "My name is Silky Apron, and this is Amber; we are maids from Canterlot Palace. We are here to see Twilight about a top-secret mission that requires her utmost attention."

"Oh, really!?" Twilight asked as she trotted downstairs with a smile on her face. The two mares were led in by Spike as they sat down around the library. The violet alicorn continued, "What sort of issue!? I could get you a book on cleaning or how to make tea properly?"

Amber's cheeks flushed red in anger, and she was going to shout something. But Silky cleared her throat, and the pegasus stood down as the grey-coated unicorn turned her attention to Twilight and explained, "Can we talk in private?"

Twilight nodded as she led the maids to her bedroom; the door closed. Silky wasn't sure how to start a conversation. Amber was the one who cleared her throat and spoke up. "Ok, listen, this might sound weird, but we aren't really maids."

"Well, you could've fooled me; your cutie marks give you away, but where are those cute uniforms you wear?" Twilight asked rather inquisitively with a somewhat confused look on her face.

Silky felt embarrassed, trailing a hoof through her mane this time as Amber lowered her head and growled, "We did until Mop Head threw coffee and mud at us."

"What!? Who threw mud and coffee at you!?"

"A bitch that's going to get her a-"

Silky quickly held up a hoof to her friend's face and had her step back as she continued to explain, "we simply came here under the pretense that we needed to see your friend Rarity for replacement uniforms."

"Oh, I see! You're undercover!" Twilight exclaimed, seeming to get worried as she asked, "so, are the princesses in trouble? Are the changelings back!?"

The two maids gave each other unsure looks as they didn't want to overexcite the newly crowned princess. Amber glared at her and said, "So, let me explain basically, a creature called a siren is manipulating Princess Celestia's mind and having her perform gender-swapping spells."

"Oh my! So, you two we…." Twilight trailed off as the maids still felt somewhat awkward about the situation. The two maids just gave each other awkward looks as Silky sighed deeply, "Yeah, we were stallions, ok!?"

"Make that royal guards!" Amber shouted, still furious, as her masculinity was taken away from her.

Twilight put her hooves over her mouth and gasped in surprise, "Oh wow!? You two really were transformed into maids!"

Amber was starting to get riled up, flapping her wings wildly while cursing. Silky Apron held up a hoof to try to calm the alicorn princess down as she continued, "Yes, we need your help to solve this issue and take down the Siren so that Princess Celestia can revert her transformation spells on us."

Twilight was rather overly excited about the situation as she continued flapping her wings in the air and shouting, "Yes, that would be a great idea!"

She flew over towards them and said, "Let's get started with some research on these sirens; then, did you get a good look at the spells she was using?"

Amber and Silky shivered as they talked about the voodoo doll statue and Aqua's spell book. The pegasus then turned to Silky, "Hey, why don't we fix something to eat? Then we should talk things over?"

"Ok, let's do that," Twilight insisted with a smile.

They then sat together around a table as Amber and Silky prepared sandwiches and tea. The mares then sat around a table and talked about what they saw, including the spell book, the statue moving, and the images in the water. Twilight continued to ask questions about what was going on and how things were, and they both did their best to keep up with her. After writing most of what the two mares said down, Twilight was now looking much more worried as she turned to the maids and said, "I have to say what we have here is very serious; now, my friends and I lost the elements of harmony recently, so we can't just turn them into stone."

The two maids lowered their heads, remembering the incident when strange vines invaded the castle and foalnapped the princesses. Everypony was panicking, and it was mass chaos; the soldiers did their best to keep the peace while Twilight and her friends set off to take care of the danger. After that, the big shock of learning the elements of harmony left quite an impression on the royal guard, seeing that they needed to be much more vigilant with their best line of defense gone. The purple-coated alicorn wasn't ready to throw in the towel and continued to explain. "I'm not aware of voodoo magic or what a siren is, but I'll definitely research all of this thoroughly and will do everything I can to help save Princess Celestia."

"Of course, thank you, Princess Twilight," the two maids chimed together.

Twilight slowly got up and stretched her legs. "Meanwhile, to keep your cover, I suggest heading towards Rarity's; she would love to make your new uniforms."

Both maids buried their heads in their hooves as neither Silky nor Amber looked forward to that. Spike, however, perked up and said, "Hey, I wouldn't mind escorting you, gals!"

Amber roared and was going to tackle Spike to the ground. But Silky held her back as the pegasus shouted, "Oh buck no, we are not going to be escorted by some pudgy bab-"

"Oh, thanks, Spike, that'll be very helpful," Twilight chimed as she levitated her little assistant and the maids and pushed them out the door.

Amber was furious, cursing and shouting at the door as it slammed into their faces. Silky sighed loudly as she brushed her mane back and said, "Well, guess we should just go see Rarity."

"Right, follow me!" The young drake exclaimed as he got up, looking rather excited; for some reason, the other two maids just shrugged and followed the drake down the dirt road.

Amber and Silky Apron followed Spike through the streets of Ponyville, with the two trying to keep a low profile, ducking their heads as they weren't used to being in their mare bodies. Luckily, for the most part, most ponies were minding their own business and weren't paying attention to them at all. Seeing that nobody knew who they were, all the other ponies saw was just two mares trotting down the road. They eventually made it to the Carousel Boutique; Spike knocked on the door with the two former guards standing there, wishing they were anywhere else but here.

It wasn't long until a white-coated unicorn with a swirly purple mane and tail popped her head through the door and said with a smile, "Oh, hello, Spike! I didn't expect you to be here?"

"Hey, Rarity got ya some new models for ya," Spike whispered as he waved a claw at the maids.

The maids were about to pummel the dragon, including Silky Apron. Still, the fashionista was over the moon when she heard what the drake said and squealed, "Oh, how delightful, darling! And what would your names be?"

As Rarity said that, the two mares got quiet, with Amber lowering her gaze, being too embarrassed to show how she felt. Still, at the same time, the unicorn stood up and said, "My name is Silky Apron, and this here is Amber; we're maids that work at Canterlot Palace and need new uniforms.

"Royal Maids from Canterlot at my boutique!?" The fashionista was bouncing up and down in excitement, unable to stop.

Seeing that Rarity wasn't going to stop being excited anytime soon, Silky cleared her throat and said, "Um, Rarity, we are in a hurry."

"Apologies, darlings, come along," Rarity chirped as she waved a hoof. The two mares slowly followed into the boutique and were blushing, surrounded by all the beautiful gowns. They were stallions at heart, but they both secretly desired to try some of these dresses on as they trotted through the store. Rarity must've noticed them being interested and said, "Do you want to try some other clothes on? I can only imagine having to wear maid uniforms all the time."

Amber, of course, was hesitant, but Silky was the one who spoke up, "Oh, we would love to! But we're in a rush at the moment. We need to get back to Canterlot ASAP."

Rarity threw a hoof and chimed, "That's quite understandable, darlings, just follow me."

The white-coated unicorn led them to the back of the shop, where she started pulling out fabric, some pins, and measuring tape. She then started measuring their entire bodies, from their chests to their legs. The two mares both couldn't help but blush as Rarity went behind them and measured their rumps (which made them both rather uncomfortable).

As the fashionista finished her measuring, she asked, "So I assume you want the skirts to show off more or less of your rumps?"

"Less!" both mares chimed in unison.

"Ok, take it easy, just making sure," Rarity snickered as she wrapped up measuring their more sensitive areas. She asked Amber, "Can you spread your wings for me?"

The pegasus grumbled under her breath, but Silky nudged her friend, and her fellow maid rolled her eyes and slowly spread out her wings. The unicorns were somewhat surprised by Amber's wingspan being rather massive. Rarity then took her measuring tape to go over the joints attached to Amber's back, wrote down notes throughout the process, and commented, "Amber, your wings are so beautiful and well-kept."

"I…thanks…" the pegasus' cheeks flushed red as she replied, somewhat surprised at the compliment.

"Where did you get them done?"

The two mares gave each other awkward looks, not knowing what to say, seeing that the spa they went to was being run by evil sirens.

"I do them!" Silky chirped rather suddenly, trying to stop the conversation from going towards the fact that they really were royal guards and that they were turned into mares by Princess Celestia.

The unicorn maid paused with sweat coming down her face, hoping Rarity bought her lie. To her surprise, the fashionista flashed her a smile and said, "Well, I would love to introduce you to my friend Fluttershy. I would also have you do Rainbow Dash's wings, but knowing her, she'll decline."

Amber rolled her eyes at the lie while Silky quickly added, "I'm flattered, but honestly, I did it mostly because Amber is my friend."

"Oh, don't be modest; seeing how well-manicured your horn is, I assume Amber did that?"

The pegasus' expression went from angry and peeved to somewhat embarrassed and hesitant. Silky realized Amber was also going tag along with her lie as she looked downward and brushed a hoof over her mane with a hoof as she said, "Yes, I did."

"Well, you did an amazing job. I can see my face in Silky's horn, plus your faces look so soft. Did you two get facials recently?"

The pegasus looked away and said, "Yeah, we are pretty good at giving ourselves facials, massages, and stuff."

After the measuring was finished, the fashionista got some black silk fabric and, in no time, sewed some rather fancy-looking black silk dresses; she tidied up some cute, yellow-colored aprons around their waists. Then, they were outfitted with little headpieces, silky white socks, and lovely little black shoes.

"Vala!" Rarity exclaimed rather proudly and showed the mares into a mirror. "So, what do you think?"

The two maids were shocked to see their new uniforms; there wasn't much difference between what they used to wear and Rarity's designs. But what differed from their old uniforms was that now there was a frilly yellow trim around the end of the skirts. At the same time, the sleeves were a bit poofier, with yellow fabric around the ends. The apron tied around their waists was now a buttercup yellow with Princess Celestia's cutie mark embroidered into the material.

"Well, I think the other maids are going to be jealous," Silky Apron explained with a giggle as she was rather pleased with the new uniform.

Amber was rather pouty, unlike her fellow maid, who shouted, "This is silly! Why didn't you just make a normal maid's uniform!?"

"Well, I couldn't see how adorable you look in that now," Rarity squealed and clopped her hooves on the ground with a smirk; she asked, "Come now, stop lying; tell me who did all of this! I love the spa here in Ponyville, but whoever worked you clearly has talent that can't be matched!"

Both mares were now sweating profusely as Amber's anger reached a boiling point. "First off, we're not really maids; we were once stallions in the royal guard! But that crazy bitch Princess Celestia turned us into maids! The place where we got our wings preened, horns manicured, and massages are run by sirens trying to take over Equestria! We didn't come here to be patronized by you!"

Rarity was somewhat taken aback by being shouted at; she said, "I…I apologize."

The pegasus maid pointed at her new uniform and added, "Well, seeing I'm not satisfied I'm not paying you a single bit!"

The mare then stomped off in a fit of rage. Feeling somewhat embarrassed about how her friend acted, Silky trotted over to Rarity and hoofed her a bag of bits as she whispered, "Sorry, she can be rather rude."

Rarity happily took the payment and said, "Well, it's not like I haven't dealt with ponies like her before. You should see my friend Rainbow Dash; she would give Amber a run for her money."

"I bet, well, we should be getting back to Golden Oaks," Silky replied; she then trotted off after her fellow maid, being rather pleased with Rarity's service and hoping Amber's behavior didn't ruin their relationship with the seamstress. In fact, as she ran after the pegasus, the mare got more furious just thinking about how rude her fellow maid was. Upon reaching the pegasus, Silky shouted, "Amber!"

The maid looked over her shoulder and growled, "What!?"

The unicorn got in front of the other mare and shouted, "You need to go back there and apologize."

"For what!? Look what we're wearing!" Amber shouted as she threw a hoof over her outfit.

Silky threw a hoof up, pointed right at her own uniform, and said, "These uniforms are amazing, and Rarity poured her heart and soul into making these. She did nothing to deserve you blowing up on her back there."

For a second, Silky thought Amber was going to fight back. But to her surprise, the pegasus simply lowered her gaze and didn't say a word for some time, seeming to be reflecting on her actions, and said, "I know, I'm sorry."

"Then, stop shouting at every pony for how you feel. You decided to stay like this to save Equestria, right!?"

The pegasus grumbled under her breath, getting rather angry, and nodded in acknowledgment. Silky felt like she needed to drive home how she felt and continued, "I know you hate being a mare, but I think you're starting to understand what it's like to be one. Come on, we got one more day and are back to being stallions again."

Amber was still silent as she gave a nod; the pegasus seemed to take these last words to heart as she slowly trotted back to Carousel Boutique. The pegasus stood back and looked over with a smile, seeing that Amber was slowly changing, thinking that maybe she could become a better pony through this experience.

Later that evening, when the maids returned to Golden Oaks Library, they endured a long round of laughter from Twilight upon seeing their new uniforms.

"Shut up!" Amber snapped as she slammed a hoof into her face.

Silky sighed deeply as she saw that despite the progress with her, Amber was still quite angry. The violet alicorn started to take a few breaths as she seemed to calm down. "S...s…sorry, I didn't expect you two to look so cute."

Twilight threw her mane back and said, "Well, let's start at the beginning. First, sirens are legendary creatures that are known to live in the sea. They were known to wreck ships off the coast with their beautiful music. But the issue was that with no survivors of ponies meeting them, it was hard to pinpoint exactly if they ever existed."

Amber rolled her eyes and threw a hoof. "We know they exist; we literally saw one manipulating Princess Celestia; what else can you tell us about them?"

Twilight got a little peeved, muttering under her breath about how they should be patient, then continued, "As I was saying, though we don't know a lot about them, they have been known to take on the form of pegasi. However, they are not pegasi much like the mysterious bat ponies; they are a hidden pony tribe we don't know much about."

"Ok, so is there anything explaining how they can brainwash an alicorn princess?" Silky asked with a troubled look on her face.

"Yes, it seems their music can be focused on a victim to do whatever they want; now, this is where we get to the part about the voodoo doll. The siren has been known to use their music to control inanimate objects with the DNA of sailors, like hair or hoof clippings. They then fused the biological material into clay. They then molded the clay into a statue of their victims, which they then used to manipulate by singing to the inanimate object and giving it orders.

"Wow!?" Everypony said at once, with Amber's eyes lighting up," So it's simple: we destroy the statue of Celestia, and the spell is broken, right?"

Twilight nodded and said, "right, but we also need to drive out the sirens, which they will probably invade soon now that Princess Celestia is under their control."

"Yes, we need to get this information to our head maid, Mop Head; she's in charge of us guards who were turned into maids," Amber chimed as she rose up on all fours.

Twilight closed her books and began to put them back onto the shelves. "that's right…seeing that Aqua may know of my friends and I through our exploits, it'll be hard for us to sneak into Canterlot to help you. But, they don't know anything about you maids. In fact, from what you told me, she doesn't even see you as a threat to her plans.

The two ponies nodded in agreement as Twilight gave them both a smirk and said, "So the plan is simple; while Aqua tries to take over Canterlot palace, you maids find a way to stall her invasion. While she's distracted, I'll sneak into the spa and destroy the statue. Once it's destroyed, we can capture the sirens and save Equestria."

Amber was a bit surprised at how well thoughout the plan was despite its simplicity. Silky clapped her hooves and said, "Sounds like a plan to me."

Twilight looked up to see the maids were rather tired and asked, "Why don't you get some sleep here, and we can take care of Equestria? You should be at your best when we take on these sirens."

The pegasus wasn't sure as she was going to say "no," but her fellow maid quickly butted in and said, "That sounds like a great idea."

Amber turned to her maid and shouted, "What!?"

"Oh, come on, let's spend a night here!?" Silky chimed, nuzzling into her friend, trying to convince her to take Twilight's offer. The pegasus maid just stood there pouting at first, but the alicorn mare gave her a wink as Amber rolled her eyes, "Fine, I'll stay!"

"Excellent!" Twilight cheered as she clapped her forehooves together and flew off. Amber turned to Silky, who just stood there with a smile on her face. "so…."

"So…what?" the mare asked in return.

"So…do you want to share a bed?" Silky asked, sweat forming on Amber's brow as she began to stammer. "I..I…I…."

Silky just snickered, seeing she got her usually angry and moody friend turned into a nervous wreck. "I'm just joking." She gave her friend a wink and walked off feeling proud that not only did she get Amber to start apologizing for her behavior. At the same time, she showed that she was somewhat interested in her. It was about time to see the wall she put up around her crumbling down and see if maybe they could try to see if this relationship could go to past just them being friends.

Chapter Eight: The Three New Recruits

Lemon Tart was somewhat nervous as he slowly trotted behind his fellow royal guards, an orange-coated earth pony named Orange Julius (but most just called him Julius) and a gray-coated pegasus who goes by the name Storm Cloud. He was somewhat nervous as they sneaked back to the barracks after a night out with some of his fellow soldiers. All three stallions were new recruits who were staying within the barracks. The three were all somewhat nervous as everypony within the palace knew that Princess Celestia was going crazy and had been turning her guards into maids! So the three continued to sneakily trot back to their barracks, their heads bowed while trying to keep a low profile. As they all knew, they would also be turned into maids if caught. The yellow-coated earth pony was the most nervous seeing that his friends were much braver; he wouldn't have come along without them pushing him to go out like this. The stallion's cheeks flushed red, reminiscing that his twin brother Sea Star was recently turned into a maid. The fact he went to a rave seemed rather stupid considering that he also was in the same boat as he, as they were both recently fired for being clumsy and took being royal guards to earn a living for the time being. Being a royal guard wasn't their destiny, so they were pretty terrible at the job and usually in a lot of trouble. Most of the royal guard was all under a lot of stress because of what was happening with Princess Celestia, who had transformed so many guards into maids. Many started to depart from the service, while those who stayed started to "walk on eggshells" around the princess. While thinking about all this, the stallion raised his head to the night sky above him. It was a relatively quiet night, though, with the moon out and the stars shining overhead as they were trotting through the courtyard. It was all so beautiful and majestic, and it was nice to take in the serenity of the castle being shrouded by night. The best part was Princess Celestia was nowhere in sight and seeing that they hadn't turned to maids. It seemed that their little outing was a success and nopony knew they had left. It was almost too good to be true with how well everything happened, and Lemon Tart could only hope things stay that way.

"You think "you know who" will know we snuck out?" Lemon Tart asked somewhat sheepishly.

The other stallions looked over each other, and Storm Cloud turned his head and snapped, "don't jinx us! Just shut your mouth and keep quiet."

Lemon Tart nodded quickly, seeing that he wasn't the only one being somewhat nervous. Julius shrugged, not seeming to be too worried as he said, "We made it this far. If Princess Celestia knew we snuck out, we probably would've turned into maids by now."

The yellow-coated stallion relaxed a little, thinking about their fun night. They had a ton of drinks, partied with some cute mares, and the music was fire, with Vinyl being there to be the DJ. It was a night he would never forget as he said outloud, "yeah, this was a great idea; I had a lot of fun tonight!"

Lemon Tart's comment seemed to put his other fellow guards into a better mood. However, Julius' nonchalant demeanor seemed to shake off a little as he turned towards Storm Cloud and asked, "are you sure we can sneak back without getting caught?"

The gray-coated pegasus seemed to get more annoyed as he mumbled, "we'll be fine as long as you two stay quiet."

Julius and Lemon Tart finally stopped talking, and the three were just outside the barracks. Lemon Tart squealed a little, seeing they were outside the barracks and about to be home free. But then he started to feel strange. The stallion put a hoof to his face as he felt himself shrinking a little. Then the stallion began to groan, feeling his body morphing with his bones and muscles shifting about in his body. The transformation was rather sudden as he could feel his orange mane start to grow out and curl around his head (along with his tail). The feeling of his stallionhood no longer being present. But the transformation didn't stop with his body as he could feel that his rather cold metallic armor now felt more clothlike, the weight of his helmet vanished as he felt the soft cloth like material now ontop his mane, and his gilded hoof shoes feeling much more clothlike as well. Lemon Tart looked over his body a little seeing his armor was now turned into the silky black dress of a maid's uniform along with a cute white apron tied around his midriff. Then he raised a hoof to see that his former gilded horseshoe was now a cute black shoe with a silky white sock up his leg. He trotted around in circles, seeing that all four hooves had the same shoes and socks. The former stallion then slowly turned his attention to his fellow soldiers, wondering if they were maids too. Julius now looks like a cute-looking mare with his eyelashes having grown slightly longer over his much-rounded face. The royal guard also sported a frilly maid's uniform dressed around his body, with his rusty, reddish mane, which was braided (with tiny sky blue colored ribbons tied at the ends of each braid) with his tail now much longer and looked well groomed. Then he looked over at Storm Cloud; he realized that the pegasus was turned into a mare as well, sporting a cute frilly maid's uniform; his mane was still relatively short now, which covered the right side of his face (with some hair clips in the left side of her face), and with his tail had grown out a bit. But overall, Storm Cloud has seemed to have been changed the least, minus the fact he was now a mare. But the realization of what happened didn't fully set in until they all started looking over each other and gasping at their new bodies and cute uniforms. They were all somewhat flustered, looking over at each other (while both Lemon Tart and Storm Cloud did their best to stifle their laughter, seeing what Princess Celestia did to Julius's mane). But the question on their minds was how in Equestria did Princess Celestia discover they went out!? But the answer to their question came in a scroll that slowly fluttered down from the sky and there at their hooves. The three former stallions surrounded the scroll. When it was unfurled with what was written, it shocked them as it declared they had been demoted for sneaking off at night while on duty and that their punishment was to be maids for a week. Also, they were to report to Mop Head for their new duties as maids as new members of the group known as the "maids of honor." There were no if and or buts as the three former stallions were maids. Begrudgingly, the three started to trot off in the opposite direction as they headed to the maids' quarters. Meanwhile, Lemon Tart had a sheepish grin on her face, and she did her best to lighten up the mood as she said, "At least we don't have to be sneaky anymore. Right guys?"

But Storm Cloud was too pissed off about their predicament as she had her head lowered and cursing under her breath.

Meanwhile, Julius was in utter disbelief, looking around the courtyard as if her head was on a swivel as she cried, "H-how did she catch us?"

All three maids started to look around the courtyard, but Princess Celestia was nowhere in sight; it was as if she spotted them overhead and transformed them into maids. But why would she be up this late at night in the first place? And how could she have known they went out? But as the three stopped looking around and continued their trot of shame, they all were thinking the same thing. Somepony told on them about their little outing and had them turned into maids on purpose. But who did? And for what reason, they did not know, but all three mares were going to find out.

Chapter Nine: Princess Celestia's announcement

Mop Head woke up the following morning, and she rubbed her instead with bags under her eyes and then stretched her hooves over her Head. She suddenly needed to use the bathroom and rushed over and gnashed her teeth upon seeing a line of maids waiting outside the bathroom. The unicorn gritted her teeth and then stomped off, seeing there was no point in trying to get to the front of the rest of her fellow maids. Mop Head trotted down the hall as she was rather angry that she had to go to use the bathroom down the aisle. But it wasn't too bad seeing the other maids who frequently use it was done mainly by now, being much more efficient in getting ready for their duties. She then took a shower, fixed her makeup, and tied her mane in a braid. At this point, all of this was second nature to her. She squeaked out loud as Soapy slammed into her wrapping her hooves around her midriff with a smile as she chirped, "hello!"

"Oh, hey, Soapy! Long time no see!" Mop Head chimed as she turned to face her fellow maid.

Soapy trotted over next to her and hugged her; she then assisted in fixing up her friend's makeup as the mare sighed "so what's going on, sweetheart? It's been a few days since we last spoke to each other."

Mop Head looked upward with a sheepish smile. It said, "I'm sorry, but I've been trying to get to the bottom of this issue with Princess Celestia turning her guards into maids. Hopefully, this is all coming to an end soon."

Soapy Suds was busy polishing up her friend's makeup as she added, "I hope so too; you look utterly exhausted, let alone being so antisocial recently. Hopefully, we can have a girl's night out when this is all over."

Moppy threw her head over Soapy's shoulder and said, "oh yes, that sounds like a wonderful idea." They held themselves in each other's embrace; then the two broke off as Soapy said, "well, I gotta go get to cleaning Princess Luna's bathroom."

"Right, I have three newbies to teach," Mop Head sighed as Soapy snickered behind a hoof and said, "Oh I heard, the three guards that snuck out to a rave last night?"

"Um, Hmm," Mop Head mumbled as she still felt terrible for them despite sneaking off to party while they were supposed to be on duty. But it was too late, and she had to teach the new maids their responsibilities. She then trotted back to see that the rest of the former guards were dressed in uniforms and fixed their hair. The white-coated pegasi were working with each other getting themselves ready. Meanwhile, Sea Star was helping her sister's mane with a curling iron. Also, Storm Cloud was sitting at the far side of the room as she was working on her short mane and tail, seemingly content to be alone. Mop Head then turned her attention to Orange Julius (who was having difficulties braiding her mane alone), and she seemed embarrassed. Mop Head could relate with her seeing she had her mane in a braid when she was turned from a royal guard to a maid. After getting her hair done and her maid uniform on, she turned to see all three new maids and cleared her throat, "alright, I know I tried to explain things as best I could; my name is Mop Head and as you know, I am in charge of the Maids of Honor but hopefully this won't matter soon. If everything goes well, you should only be maids for a day or two."

"You sure!? You better not be lying to us!" Storm Cloud shouted as she smashed her hoof on the ground.

Leamon Tart patted her curly mane and said, "I don't mind too much but would like to be stallions as soon as possible."

Orange Julius nodded as Moppy adjusted her uniform and said, "I know, but as I explained last night, we know why Princess Celestia is turning her guards into maids. I sent others to get Twilight to help save the princess before she completely brainwashes her. We need to be patient and give them time. So I'm going to ask you to be on your best behavior and do your duties well."

"Yes, mam!" The other maids all chimed as they performed curtsies; they all did it at once as Mop Head raised her Head and adjusted her little maid's cap and said, "alright, let's go!" They headed out of their dorm and towards the kitchen for breakfast.

As the other maids were eating breakfast, Amber and Silky Apron were heading back after a long train trip and were somewhat exhausted. Amber was feeling rather anxious as she was wearing her new uniform from Rarity, as did her friend Silky. Luckily it was early in the morning with Princess Celestia recently raising the sun, and she was trying to get to the castle as fast as she could.

"Come on, stop being so nervous!" Silky Apron exclaimed with a smile as she nuzzled into her friend. "These uniforms are so cute! How can you not love them!?"

Amber rolled her eyes and said, "I think you forget we have to save Equestria while wearing these ridiculous uniforms."

"So what? That's not a big deal! Come on!? We're saving Princess Celestia's life! Keep an eye on the prize, and we'll be living the easy life soon!"

Amber gave a somewhat reluctant nod as she seemed to be still disgruntled; she just focused on getting back to the palace. The two eventually made it through the grand hall where Princess Celestia was yet to hold court, which was odd, seeing she was rather late. Silky Apron was thinking the same thing as she commented, "this isn't good; you think maybe she had another appointment?"

"Probably getting orders from Aqua and her minions," Amber grumbled under her breath; they then made their way through the castle towards the kitchen to where they assumed their other guards turned maids were at the moment. They then entered the kitchen, where their fellow maids all got up in unison and started coming over to them. The mares all started to introduce themselves, with Amber shouting, "woah! Woah! One at a time!"

The first two white-coated pegasi names were Dusty Feathers, and the other was Broom Handle, both rather hilarious names. At the same time, she knew Sea Star (who was hoofing her and Silky a cup of tea). The other three were much shyer with the chubby yellow earth pony, a curly orange mane named Lemon Tart, and the cute orange warth pony with her mane in braids named Orange Julius. The moody gray-coated pegasi is nicknamed Stormy. Amber was somewhat angry, though, having her attention fixed on Mop Head and shouting, "you were supposed to keep Princess Celestia from turning more guards into maids!"

"Yeah, I have! I've been keeping her occupied and having her attention away from the other guards. It's not like I can be there with her twenty-four seven," Mop Head growled as she threw her mane back and asked, "so how was the trip? Was it successful?"

"Yes, it was; we got Twilight to help us, so we did our job," Amber snapped back.

Mop Head rolled her eyes as she admired their new uniforms and said, "well, it seems you have and much more."

Amber started to grumble and curse while Silky Apron chirped, "yes, we have! Aren't these so much better than those stereotypical maid uniforms?"

"Yes, they are, and we could get a good word in with Rarity if she makes us new uniforms," Silky added as she went on the tables to show off the uniform to the others.

Then they all heard Princess Celestia's voice boom across the castle, "may I have the Maids of Honor all come to my chambers? I have something important to discuss! I repeat, all of the Maids of Honor, please report to my chambers immediately!"

The mares were all somewhat concerned as they all started to talk together in hushed whispers. Mop Head got up on the table and shouted, "Everypony, listen up! Just stay calm and collected. We should all go to Princess Celestia and see what she needs us for. So keep your heads high, and let's move!"

Mop head's fellow maids all scurried off with the swish of dresses echoing across the halls as they all trotted together. She wondered what Princess Celestia wanted from them as she led her fellow maids to the princess's chambers.

The head maid alongside everypony curtseyed as they approached the princess. The mare was lying on her bed with Aqua wearing a toga nearby. Mop Head could feel sweat forming on her forehead, wondering if the leader of the sirens knew that she and her fellow maids knew more than what they were letting on. However, Princess Celestia gave them all this plastered smile as she proclaimed, "hello everypony, I think that you all know Aqua?"

"Hello Aqua," many of the maids chimed at once.

Aqua performed a curtsey as she flashed them a smile and said "yes, I thank many of you for coming to our spa. It's been helpful to us as we have lost our home to the evil tyrant Storm King and we've been seeking a home with your ponies."

The other maids all blinked, looking somewhat confused as they were rather surprised that Aqua had just exposed herself. Mop Head looked over at the princess of the sun and then asked, "Princess Celestia can you elaborate?"

Princess Celestia continued, "today, I wanted to announce that we will be holding a great banquet to welcome the Sirens into Equestria! It will be held within a week, and I want you to ensure it's perfect!"

The maids of honor looked at each other with unsure looks, with Mop Head clearing her throat and asking for all of them. "Many of my fellow maids wish to return to the stallions and their station as guards? Is there any way we can have that done sooner?"

Princess Celestia's gaze narrowed towards the newest maids and growled, "well, for you, Amber, and Silky Apron, you can return to stallions if you wish to. But as for the others, they all have a week until their punishment is up. Besides, with you as maids, you can provide extra security with your former training as my royal guards are still intact to ensure that no one tries to harm the Sirens in any way."

"Yes, Princess," Mop Head mumbled as she lowered her head while seeing that Aqua was smirking. She then turned her attention to Amber with Silky keeping a hoof on her.

But that was also when Princess Celestia noticed their new uniforms as she slowly trotted around them, seemed to be rather impressed by the outfits, and asked, "where did you get these?"

"Oh, Rarity made them!" Silky exclaimed as she twirled about in her's. "What do you think!?"

"Oh, it's lovely. I will be sure to have Rarity come by to have her make uniforms for all my maids!"

Amber growled as she seemed to hate this idea, but the princess continued, "also, she will make you all personalized gowns for the less formal part of the ball."

The red-headed pegasus wanted to scream, but Silky placed a hoof over her mouth and quickly said, "oh, that does sound lovely; thank you, princess."

The princess of the sun flashed Amber a smirk, then threw out her wings and proclaimed, "well then, that is all! Please go about your duties, and if you have any questions, you can always come to me!"

The rest of the maids curtsied as they trotted off with their heads bowed and rushed out of the room as fast as possible.

The rest of the day passed rather quickly as the maids were busy keeping the palace clean and making sure Princess Celestia was comfortable (while learning more about this "banquet"); later that evening; the second the maids were getting off shift, Amber shouted, "So there goes all our plans!?"

Every other maid grumbled in agreement as Mop Head tapped a hoof to her chin. "Not exactly; in fact, this can prove useful in getting the sirens out of the spa allowing it to be wide open for Twilight to take down the statue of Princess Celestia."

"So…until we do this, we gotta be all girly and stuff?" Silky sighed as she lay down on one of the beds.

"I guess so…" she turned to the new recruits (including the two white-coated pegasi) and said. "I apologize for getting your hopes up. I didn't know that this was going to happen."

The rest of the maids seemed to give each other unsure looks. Then Storm Cloud said, "Hey, we all don't want to be maids, but we got a swarm of evil Sirens brainwashing the princess and trying to take over Equestria. At this point, us being maids doesn't sound that bad."

Mop Head smiled as she came over and held out her hoof. "Well, I have to say all of you did such a good job as maids, and I think we all will have to learn to live together."

Everypony just looked at each other as the maids were unsure how they would last for a whole week.

Chapter Ten: A Shopping Spree

Author's Note

I want to thank anyone who reads this chapter and hopefully, you'll enjoy the rest of the story.

Chapter Ten: A Shopping Spree

The following morning, Mop Head was sitting alone in the royal dining room, mostly empty as it was relatively early and still dark outside. The glow of the chandelier above illuminated the empty hall. The Head of the "Maids of Honor" was sitting alone, trying to enjoy a light breakfast of some fruit and waffles, with bags under her eyes and her blue striped mane a frazzled mess, looking distraught. As she chomped away, she seemed unable to stop worrying a lot about how they would take down the sirens and save Equestria weighing on her shoulders. Just as she was lost in thought, she didn't notice Soapy bounce over as she chirped, "Morning, Moppy! How ya doing!"

The mare turned towards her friend and flashed her a smile as seeing her best friend always brightened her day and replied, "Hey ya, Soapy… I'm not doing too well."

She then returned to her breakfast and popped a strawberry into her mouth. Despite being somewhat her friend sat beside her and whispered, "So, I assume you're worried about Princess Celestia's announcement, huh?"

"Of course, the sirens are evil and are trying to take over Equestria, and I'm not sure our plan to stop them is going to work."

"I'm sure you can do it; you got this far."

"Only with blind luck."

Soapy shook her head and seemed to get frustrated with Moppy's self-deprecation, snapping, "No, not luck; you're a hard worker, and you never gave up, not when you were a stallion, not when you were demoted into a maid, and not now."

Mop Head looked into Soapy's big blue eyes. She wanted to believe her, but this nagging feeling was in the back of her skull, saying otherwise. The mare then asked, "Do you really think that about me? Or are you just trying to make me feel better?"

"Moppy, since the first day you were turned into a mare, you've persevered through Dusty Shelves, who tried to get you fired multiple times, dealt with horrible stallions treating you like trash, and now you're helping Princess Celestia, who is being brainwashed by sirens. Moppy, you are amazing!"

Mop Head was a bit surprised and overwhelmed by what Soapy just said, and she wanted to say something in return, but as soon as she opened her mouth, somepony shouted.

"Mop Head, there you are!"

The head" Maid of Honor," upon recognizing the princess' voice, jumped onto her hooves and turned around to see Princess Celestia coming towards her with a bright smile; she curtseyed, bending low and using her magic to throw out the end of her dress and replied on queue, "Your grace."

Princess Celestia looked somewhat surprised and replied, "My goodness, your curtsey is perfect."

"Thank you, your grace. I've been practicing."

"Now, to make sure the banquet for the sirens goes off without a hitch, I need you and your maids to make this castle look great and be at the top of your game."

She then took out a massive sack of bits and gave it to her, making Mop Head gawk in awe at the bits; she had never seen so much money in her entire life.

"Now, this is a bonus for you and your maids to be ready for the banquet this Saturday, and for all the extra work you'll have to do. So don't spend it all in one place."

Mop Head's eyes went wide as she cried, "Of course! Thank you!"

The princess nodded, then trotted off, and then Soapy trotted over with her eyes just as wide as hers and just came over, still looking thoroughly in awe at the bits. "Oh, we got to go have a shopping spree!"

Mop Head had to slap herself on the cheek to ensure she wasn't dreaming, but the bag of bits was there. She gulped, wondering what she could do with all this money. Then she slowly turned her gaze at her friend, and a thought crossed her mind. She didn't know what to say exactly, but she had been slowly falling for this cute klutzy mare and wondered aloud. "Better yet, what if, well...what if we um...had a date?"

Soapy blinked as she slowly turned to face her again and squeaked, "Did you say a date?"

Mop Head bowed her head, looking somewhat embarrassed, but she'd already said the hard part, so she continued, "Yeah... I... I've been meaning to ask that since, well, for a while… I'm not sure if you're interested."

Soapy's cheeks started to flush pink, then asked, "Sure, a date! Um, where do you want to go?"

Mop Head paused and tapped a hoof to her chin, pondering the question, then said, "What if we met in the castle gardens for a late-night picnic? We could get all dressed up too!"

Soapy got super excited as she clopped her hooves on the ground in approval, then cheered, "That sounds great! And seeing we have today off, it'll be perfect!"

Seeing her crush being so happy about asking her out was something she did not expect as she felt a sense of relief and joy come over her; she then said, "Yes, tonight will be perfect; I need to take my mind off things just for today."

Soapy bounced over, fixed her mane with a comb, and said, "Oh yes, your mane is a mess! Come on, let's get you all cleaned up!"

Soapy then took her friend by the hoof and led her upstairs for a much-needed makeover, with Moppy still not wholly believing what just happened and wondering if she really could.

Later that morning, Mop Head led her fellow maids to the middle of the shopping district, which was already bustling with ponies going about their day. The mares were all standing in front of her (with the five newbies looking nervous, being naked in their mare bodies) and standing in the shopping district. The maid cleared her throat and exclaimed, "Alright, everypony, listen up!"

All the former guards were looking towards the head maid with unbridled attention, with many still looking concerned and worried about what she would say. However, they needed clarification as they were in the middle of the shopping district in Canterlot. Mop Head then cleared her throat and said, "Now, Princess Celestia, for our trouble in making sure the banquet for the sirens goes smoothly, she has given us a massive amount of bits in advanced!"

The rest of the maids all looked at each other with worried looks on their faces as they weren't sure how to take the news. Some of them looked eager, but Amber and Stormy were somewhat concerned as the red-headed pegasus slammed her hoof down and shouted, "Do we have to spend all the bits now!?"

"No, of course not, but she does advise it would be a good idea to stock up as it would be busy for us getting the castle ready for the banquet. Also, since we have the day off, let's have fun, as we'll be busy for the rest of the week. So please take this time to relax and enjoy yourselves!"

"Yes, mam!" The crowd of mares shouted back; they then began talking amongst themselves as they talked about what they'd be doing with their share. Mop Head then bowed her head and cleared her throat as there was a minor rather embarrassing issue she and a few other mares were dealing with and meekly replied, "Furthermore, we also are going to need somepony to get us some meds for our heat cycles!"

Everypony got quiet real fast, and then Mop Head pulled out straws. "Whoever pulls the smallest straw has to buy them!"

Many started to grumble, but from the lack of "neighs," she could tell she wasn't the only one having her first period. So one by one, they came up and drew the straws from a cup that Mop Head held out, and then as they compared, Stormy groaned as she saw she drew the shortest straw and slammed a hoof onto the and shouted, "Buck! Can we do a redraw!?"

Soap Suds hopped over and nuzzled her, "Don't worry, I'll accompany you."

"You better," Stormy grumbled under her breath and just looked off with a pout.

"Now, the final order of the day: go out and have fun! Destress and relax!"

"Understood!" Everypony chirped as they all started to trot off to go shopping, seeming to be relatively happy upon hearing this.

"Where are we going?" Lemon Heart whined as her sister led him through the streets; she mentioned something they needed but wanted to keep it a secret.

"Oh, you'll see so enough," Sea Star snickered as she continued to lead Lemon Heart along, who was bowing her head a little as she was not used to being looked at by other stallions. She moved some of her orange mane from her face and kept her eyes to the ground.

Lemon Heart looked up to see her "sister" was bolder than she remembered when she was a stallion; she had so much more life with her bouncy, cute blue mane. If she were a stallion, he would say she looked rather attractive, making him more self-conscious, wondering how pretty he looked.

They trotted through the streets for some time, and Lemon Heart gave her "sister" a suspicious look as she followed her when they left to go shopping. Sea Star's playful smirk made her look like a normal-looking clothes store; it was rather fancy, and she scoffed, "Clothes! I don't want clothes!"

"Well, we are here for some specific article of clothing."

They went to the back of the store, and there were bras with many mares rummaging through them, some of them pregnant or carrying young foals.

"Bras!?" Upon seeing where they were, Lemon Heart whined and was surprised his "sister" would bring him here!

Looking nervous, Sea Star bowed his head and whispered, "Well, your teats are rather massive. I doubt you want them bumbling around as you go about your duties?"

"Don't say that out loud!" Lemon shouted, looking around as other mares started to snicker.

"Oh, stop fussing as everypony else is concerned. You're just a mare." Sea Star chirped as she trotted off to help pick out some cute bras for her sister. Lemon Heart noticed many mares were pregnant and whined, "You mean my teats are as big as some mare with a foal?"

"Of course not! Our mom had big ones, and she had to wear them all the time way, even after we were born. It's nothing to be ashamed of, but you must learn to live with them for a few days."

Lemon Heart was now self-conscious of her "crotch teats," looking downward to see two massive bulbs around her underbelly. "Did Princess Celestia do this to me!? Am I a freak?"

"Well, like I said, it could be genetics or a side effect of the spell, but don't think of it as bad, ok? No one is judging you." Sea Star chirped. She then took out some fluffy yellow bras and asked, "So you wana to try some on?"

Lemon Heart sighed, "Why not?" she took them and then asked, "Um…c…can you help me?"

"Oh, sorry, sure!" Sea Star responded as she was escorted to a changing room in the back. Sea Star helped her strap the bra over her nether regions, ensured the fabric was snug over the bulbs, and tied a bow around the base of her tail to keep it from falling off. She was then taken to a mirror, and she looked over herself, admiring how the fabric held her teats together so they wouldn't bounce as she walked, as it was rather painful when they did that.

"See, told you you'll like it," Sea Star teased and kissed her. Lemon Heart then looked down and saw her sister had a crotch bra as well. "So, I see we have the same problem?"

"Yes, unfortunately, I think our mom is to blame," Sea Star admitted. "I don't think the other mares have the same problem as we do."

"You better not tell Mom about this! She'll probably force us to have foals!"

"Of course not; in a week, we'll be back to stallions; as far as she'll be aware, this never happened, and instead of being guards, we'll be making tarts and brewing tea for the princesses. How does that sound?"

Lemon Heart looked downward, her cheeks flushing pink, and stammered, "It...it sounds good, thank you. I don't think I could've done this by myself."

Sea Star hugged her sister and rubbed her back, "Hey, it's ok, I'll do anything for you."

They then went to the front desk and paid for their clothes, and then Sea Star asked, "Now I'm hungry; want some tea and pastries?"

"You read my mind!" Lemon Heart squealed and followed her sister out of the shop.

Meanwhile, Amber found herself in a shop full of makeup and smelt heavily of perfume, which permeated the entire store with its suffocating aroma. The brown-coated mare looked rather pouty and didn't want to be here. Meanwhile, Silky Apron looked rather smug as she said, "Now I know what you're going to say. But I started to get into makeup, and I think you'll look amazing with some on."

Amber just rolled her eyes and looked away while grumbling under her breath. "Whatever, you can buy as much makeup as you want, but I'm not putting any of that crap on my face."

"Oh, come on!? Stop being such a party pooper!"

Silky took her friend by the hoof and led her through the store. They looked over the various lipsticks, first with Amber picking out some fiery red-looking ones, some mascara, and powder for their cheeks.

They then trotted towards some lovely-smelling hair spray and perfume. Silky loved going through the perfume bottle, levitating them towards her, and spraying herself with some. Amber trotted behind, picking out a bottle that had a pleasant smell of a spring morning. Silky then continued to lead her friend through the aisles as they picked up a few extra items, such as mane spray and some cute hoof polish of various colors. The two then went towards the cash register after paying for their makeup, perfume, and other feminine products they picked up. Silky then pulled her friend to the side and chirped, "Hey! Hold still!"

She then applied lipstick over Amber's lips while the pegasus shook back and forth, trying to avoid the makeup. But Silky gave her a stern look and snapped, "Just stop! We'll eat together, and you want to look stunning, right?"

"I don't care ab-"

Before Amber could finish, the lipstick was applied along with the mare shouting, "fi…fine!"

Silky then took a tiny brush to apply the mascara under Amber's eyes, darkening them and some blush to her cheeks. After that, the red-haired mare was sprayed with perfume and her mane with hairspray. "There! You're looking so cute!"

Amber still felt somewhat irritable and grumbled, "Sure I do."

"Oh, come now!? You look adorable."

Amber eyed herself, seeing her eyes looking bolder with fake eyelashes; she did look rather cute and sexy, and she was still feeling uncomfortable looking like this and cried, "You may like this girly stuff, but I'm still not used to it."

Silky lowered her head, "Sorry for getting carried away, I just…well…I just wanted you to express yourself."

Amber paused, seeing how she was making Siulky feel bad, making her feel guilty for what she said. The mare let out a sigh and relented, "Well…I… I'm not totally against it; you know me by now."

Silky beamed at her, then said, "Hey, if you're uncomfortable, just let me know. I just wanted to try something out with you."

"Right, well, how about we do our makeover after we eat, okay?"

"Sounds like a plan; let's go out and get something to eat. I'm starving!" the gray-coated mare cheered as she tugged her "friend" towards Restaurant Row. Amber had to admit she liked shopping for all this girly stuff, and she did look good with some mascara. She also couldn't help but see that Silky seemed to enjoy being a mare, almost like Mop Head. He should try convincing him that his friend should stay this way even when he himself turns back to a stallion. Also, seeing how much Silky wanted to make him feel comfortable and change him, he wondered if they were more than friends.

It was about midday, and Mop Head trotted through the streets of Canterlot, heading to the new boutique Rarity opened up a few weeks ago. Along the way, she turned to see that Orange Julius was following her, looking downward with an embarrassed look on her face. The head maid paused and asked, "Orange, I hope you're okay with tagging along. If this is too uncomfortable, please let me know."

"It's really fine, but I don't know why you needed another mare to come with you or a dress in the first place."

"Well, I uh…um...need one, and I just needed another mare to come with me to give an opinion. You don't have to buy anything yourself."

"Ok, but why me?"

Mop Head blushed and whispered, "Don't take this the wrong way, but you seem to enjoy being a mare, and I thought you might have a good eye for fashion."

"What!? No…I… I'm…"

Mop smirked as she watched Orange trying to explain why she was against being a mare but seemed unable to explain why. She rolled her eyes and sighed, "Fine, you have a point."

"Ok, now come on, let's get some cute dresses together. It'll be fun!"

Hearing Mop Head say "dresses," Orange blushed, indicating she would pick one out for the new maid. Inside, the boutique was clean and orderly, with rows of dresses ready to order lined up on cloth lines. Then they came inside and saw a tall light blue unicorn with a striped mane and tail with bright orange eyes. She waved a hoof and welcomed them with a smile. "Hello! Welcome to the Carousel Boutique! How may I help you?"

Mop Head paused, being a bit overwhelmed by the display of lovely gowns around the place, and stammered, "Well, I just came for a …a dress. I have a d…date."

Sassy gave her a smirk and exclaimed, "A date! How wonderful!? Well, lucky for you, today's been slow, so I'll personally find your outfit."

She then took her to the backroom to get her measurements. Then she went over her body extensively with measuring tape as Orange Julius stood by and watched.

As Sassy went about her work, she asked, "Now, what is your name?"

"Oh, me, I'm Mop Head."

"Oh, that's an interesting name. Is that what your parents called you?"

"Actually, um…I did pick it out myself."

"Oh, I didn't mean to be rude; there's nothing wrong with it,"

Sassy then looked over at the shy orange-coated mare and asked, "What is your name?"

The orange-coated mare was a bit more hesitant to talk, looking downward as she mumbled, "It's Orange Julius."

"Oh, what a lovely name. Well, if you want a dress, just let me know, ok?" Sassy then took out a lovely teal-colored dress with white frills around the ends and started to dress over Mop Head, affixing a cute blue bow into the back of her tail.

Mop Head was stunned seeing the cute gown around her body. It looked abit like her maid's unfirm but much more frilly. She couldn't help but admire the pretty dress that covered her petite form and matched her coat and mane so well, and whispered, "This is beautiful."

"You think so. Are you sure you don't need any adjustments?"

Mop Head twirled in her new dress and squealed, "Yes! This is amazing! I love it!"

She turned to Orange Julius, who seemed unable to keep her eyes off her. Mop Head bounced over and asked, "Do you want a dress too? I'll pay for it out of my cut of the bonus, Ok?"

The new maid seemed to really want one but seemed somewhat nervous and whispered, "Would that be okay?"

Sassy threw a hoof and encouraged her to come over. "Of course, come over here, darling."

The orange-coated mare then slowly trotted over with a blush on her face and went to the same pedestal as Sassy took out her measuring tape and went to work getting her measurements. She then turned to Mop Head and asked, "So, you mentioned a date?"

"Yes,"

"Are you going to give details? I might make some small talk. This could take a while."

Mop Head gulped as she scratched the back of her mane and stammered. "Well…it's uh… with a maid named Soapy Suds."

Sassy was taken aback by what she said and, with a smirk, replied, "Oh, you're into mares, are you?"

Mop Head seemed to get a little nervous as this was the first time she expressed this side of her as she continued, "Well, yes, she, in particular, has been a dear friend of mine since I became a ma-" The mare squeaked putting a hoof over her mouth.

Sassy then gasped and exclaimed, "Oh, you're one of those guards I heard that was demoted to a maid?"

"Yes…" Mop Head squeaked, feeling embarrassed for letting that slip from her mouth.

Sassy then turned to Orange, who was sweating bullets as Sassy smirked and asked, "And I assume you one too."

"Yeah, so what," Orange whispered angrily.

Sassy then rummaged through the dozens of gowns and continued, "I don't mean to be demeaning; I'm just surprised. Are you two getting more comfortable in your new hooves?"

"Yes, well, I intend to stay like this permanently," Mop Head replied happily. "Sorry about earlier. I'm not entirely comfortable letting ponies know about me being a stallion."

"It's wonderful, darling, and what about you, Orange?"

"I plan on turning back to a stallion, but I wouldn't mind indulging in some feminine activities."

"Well, there's no judgment from me regardless of what you choose."

She then took out a beautiful firey red and orange dress that matched Orange's mane and coat and dressed her to see how this "maid" was mixed with the two colors at the ends of the fabric, poofy fiery orange sleeves. Sassy finished her outfit with two orange bows in her braided mane and a big one around the base of her tail. After finishing, Sassy stepped back to admire her work as Mop Head went wide-eyed at how cute Orange looked in her new outfit and commented, "Wow, you look absolutely amazing."

Orange blushed, looking at her reflection for the first time that day; her nervous expression turned into a smile as she whispered, "I guess so…"

"Guess so? Darling, you look so cute!" Sassy chirped as she trotted around her and admired the outfit.

Orange was also impressed, twirling about and seeing how she looked from various angles. "It does look good…… I'll take it!"

"Wonderful! Let's get you ringed up at the counter."

She then led the two to the checkout counter, where Moppy happily paid for their dresses. The two maids trotted out from the boutique, still wearing their new dresses. Orange then whispered, "Moppy, thank you…I…I don't think I could ever have done this if you…"

"Orange, it's ok; I know you still see yourself as a stallion. And if you're worried about the dress. When you turn back to a stallion, you can return the dress or give it to somepony else. So let's just relax and have fun, ok?"

"Ok…"

"Alright, now I'm starving. Let's meet up with the others at our favorite sandwich shop. My treat!"

"Moppy! You don't have to pay for everything!"

"Trust me, it's ok! I want you to be comfortable!" Moppy chirped as she dragged Orange through the streets towards Restaurant Row.

Meanwhile, as the rest of the maids were finishing their shopping sprees, Stormy was grumpily trotting through towards a local pharmacy. The place was small, with various ponies looking through the rows of pristine white aisles, with rows of shelves filled with all kinds of medical and hygiene supplies, pills for colds, headaches, and then the "heat cycle pills" as she and others mares started to get antsy with their "heat cycles" maybe it was the reason why she was getting pissed off all the time. The mare was escorted by Soapy Suds, skipping alongside her, looking as cheerful as ever. She still looked embarrassed and angry, seeing they were in the feminine hygiene product aisle. She said, "So, I assume you're having your period?"

The pegasus bowed her head, cheeks flushing red, and grumbled, "Yes."

"Oh, it's ok! That's why we're here, so don't be ashamed," Soapy explained. "As a mare, it's just something you'll have to get used to…but hopefully for not too long."

Stormy mumbled curses as she followed Soapy and led her into the pharmacy. They then went to the aisle full of tampons and other feminine hygiene products, picking some out. Then Soapy picked out some birth control pills, and then Stormy squeaked, "Wait, we don't need that!?"

"Hmmm, trust me, if one of you has sex, it's better not to be too careful; I doubt any of you want to endure being pregnant," Soapy commented.

Stormy paused, knowing Soapy was right, and she nodded and said, "Alright, let's pick up a few pills."

"Trust me, this might be a bit embarrassing, but it would be much more painful if you have to abort a baby you don't want," Soapy added as she had her followed through the aisle, picking some other random knick-knacks, toothpaste, some hoof cream, and a couple of hoof files. Stormy seemed to look around once in a while, seeing most of the other mares in the aisle not paying them any attention and feeling somewhat embarrassed, "y…you don't think that it's rude or weird I'm um doing this right?"

"Of course not! It's just buying stuff!"

"But…you know I'm still a stallion…"

"Well, yes, you are, but biologically, you're a mare, and we're just making sure you and your fellow former guards live comfortably until you're back to normal. If you're too uncomfortable with this, I can wrap up buying the stuff?"

Stormy got a bit furious as she didn't want to be called out for being uncomfortable when she tried to be polite and snapped, "No, of course not! I just…just making sure you're comfortable with me!"

"I am! Don't worry about it, ok? Heck, I'm going out on a dat-" Soapy placed a hoof over her mouth as Stormy's eyes widened, "Wait, you're going on a date with one of us?"

"Oops, um…oh, look at the time! We better wrap this up and not be late!"

After they paid for their items and were leaving the store, Stormy bowed her head and mumbled, "Thank you…"

"Hey, no problem!" Now come on, I'm starving!" Soapy squealed as she took Stormy by the hoof and dragged her off to Restaurant Row.

Later that evening, Moppy was out in the castle's gardens wearing her beautiful new gown and looking nervous as she crossed through the massive palace gardens. The stars above shined lovely, and the ground was covered in a silver glow. She was much more relaxed than this morning, having a fabulous brunch with her fellow former guards; they then went out dancing as well. She was tired from all her excitement, but Moppy was determined to go through with this date. Then she came upon Soapy sitting in the middle of the garden with a picnic blanket and wearing a cute, frilly, bouncy blue and white dress. She waved a hoof, and her eyes widened as she saw her date, "Wow!? Moppy, you look um…"

Mop Head paused, somewhat speechless herself seeing how gorgeous Soapy looked, and then the mare cleared her throat and finished, "Beautiful."

Moppy squeaked upon hearing this, threw a hoof over her face, and cried, "Really!? You think so!?"

"Yes, you look amazing; that dress is just so…so...you!"

Moppy paused and then trotted over and laid down next to her date, and then they continued to eat the tiny sandwiches and drink some wine. As they had their meal, they were silent throughout, seeming both a little nervous to speak. Soapy eventually broke the silence and asked, "So you're feeling relaxed now?"

"Yes, very much so. Orange Julius and I had a great time at the Carousel Boutique that opened up in Canterlot and bought some lovely dresses."

"I see that your outfit is so stunning!"

"I love yours too; it's so fluffy!" Moppy chirped as she poked the poofy fabric of Soapy's dress. She giggled and smacked her date's dress. "Not as fluffy as yours!"

The two hugged, then they returned to their meals, ate for abit longer, and drank most of the wine. Later into the evening, Soapy got abit serious and asked, "So, after all this siren business is over, you going to stay like this?"

Mop Head didn't hesitate as she nodded and replied, "Yes, I already said it before; I am a mare and want to stay as one."

"Ok, I was just wondering…"

After they finished their meal, Soapy crawled over towards her, and the two lay together under the stars and then asked, "When did you come to this conclusion?"

Mop Head paused and pondered for a few moments, then whispered, "I don't think there was a single moment; being mare just felt more natural to me."

"Right, and when did you fall for me?"

"Um, would it be embarrassing to say the second we met? I know we were only friends back then, but I've had a crush on you for some time."

"Really?!"

Mop Head was more embarrassed but expressed all these hidden feelings and continued, "Yes, really, your charm, your klutziness, your adorable smile…"

Soapy started squirming and cried, "Ok, stop embarrassing me!"

The big, bouncy, white-coated mare climbed on top of Moppy with this look in her eyes, and then they started making out. Then, afterward, they just stared at each other with a look of love and affection. Mop Head then whispered, "Guess that makes it official…"

"It sure does," The two hugged and started to make out underneath the stars, with Mop Head feeling much more confident about taking down the sirens and saving Equestria. She had to do it to save the kingdom or Princess Celestia and her new mare friend.

Chapter Eleven: Maids in Training!

Something has gone wrong. We don't seem to have an archived copy of that chapter.

Chapter Twelve: A Fight for Honor

Despite Shining Armor's insistence that they don't need to train for a confrontation with the sirens, Mop Head thought otherwise and that they should try to do some combat training in the morning. So early the morning after they started their new routines, the mares were all out in the courtyard practicing drills, training spears into dummies, and going over various combat techniques. Mop Head then noticed that some guards were coming over to laugh at us. One dark grey unicorn came over with a smirk as he commented, "Wow, you are all so hot. I didn't expect the worst guards to turn as hot as you guys."

Mop Head glared back at the soldier and saw it was one of Amber's former posse, seeing he was a maid. She turned towards him and said, "Sorry, did you need something? We're quite busy?"

"Yeah, I can see that; how about you come over and clean my pipe, huh? Put that mouth of yours to good use."

Many of the mares glared back, annoyed but hesitant to say or do anything in response. Surprisingly, Amber came forward and then shoved a hoof into her chase, "Buck off, Iron Heart, we seriously don't need your bullshit right now."

"Or what, Blazing!? You and the rest of these maids are such a joke. Do you seriously think even if Princess Celestia turns you back, you're going to be the laughingstock of the entire Royal Guard? You all should adjust to stay as sexy-ass maids."

Amber was going to tackle the guard, but Silky quickly came over and dragged Amber away before anything happened. Seeing these guards insulting her fellow maids, Mop Head then trotted over, got right into Itron Heart's face, and said, "When was the last time the royal guard did anything right!? We let Princess Celestia get kidnapped three times! We allowed an army of Changelings to invade Equestria!? If anything, we have failed so much, which probably concerns that massive ego you're compensating for. So how about you leave and let us save Equestria while you go stand somewhere acting like you're doing something important."

Iron Heart started to seethe in anger and snapped, "Easy for you to say!? We were all doing our duties even when Celestia and Luna were kidnapped! But how about we see who is better? How about we face off tonight."

"Tonight!?"

"Yeah, tonight here at midnight, you and your mares face of me and few other guards; if we win, you get to spend an evening serving us."

The rest of the mares gagged in disgust as Mop Head scoffed. She wasn't keen on risking such humiliation, especially for the maids who wanted to turn back to stallions. But she couldn't let these soldiers pick on her and her other maids. Then she said, "And if we win, you all have to wear maid uniforms and do our duties for an entire day."

This time, the soldiers all stepped back, looking somewhat surprised and abit unsure of this "bet," but Iron Heart gritted his teeth, held out a hoof, and snapped, "Fine, it's a deal!"

They shook hooves, and then the soldiers left as Mop Head and her fellow maids went back to practicing, seeming to be more focused as they now had about to prepare for the night's bout.

After practice, the maids were all having lunch together in the dining hall. Still, it was relatively quiet, with it being a rather tense atmosphere. Amber got into my face and shouted, "Are you serious? Why would you just accept a bet like that!?"

Mop Head turned to her and then the rest of her maids and said, "Because I believe in you, every one of you has been doing so well with their training. Consider this a test of your capabilities. But I was rash with my decision. We can always back down and forget all of this, but if we do, I fear we'll always be teased regardless of whether you decide to change back to stallions."

Most of the maids seemed unsure of what to say at that moment; after a long pause, Sea Star rose up then asked, "No offense, but even if we were stallions, we're going to get our flanks beaten; there's no way we can take on seven royal guards!"

"Yes, we can," Mop Head replied quite sternly; she then got up and continued, "Don't you see what our biggest problem was and why we've failed Equestria?"

They all looked at each other as Mop Head continued, "Ego, our ego thinking we're these macho stallions who can take on anything, and we end up with egg on our face when Twilight and her friends do our job for us. We were once like those guards picking on us or, worse, just cowards scared of our own shadows. This time as maids has made you vulnerable but allowed us to see our potential to improve."

The unicorn paused and saw her words stung, seeing the angry and hurt expressions on her fellow maids. Hence, she continued, "Ever since being a maid, I thought this was some detriment to our ability to defend Equestria, yet we're not only embracing ourselves but trying to stop an invasion of sirens on our own."

This got a rise from the other mares, who all seemed to look much more hopeful; Silky then got up and said, "Look, I hate to admit it, but Mop Head is right. When the changelings invaded, almost every guard ran! Ran! When we return to royal guards, we must change how we act and operate."

Sea Star was the next to get up and add, "Yeah, I agree; we really should try to step up our game and do more."

Stormy got up, slammed a hoof, and said, "I agree. I vote we do this bout and buck those jerks up!"

Looking the most squeamish, Orange Julius shook her head, "Sorry, but I don't. This was dumb, and I don't want to be a part of this."

Amber raised a hoof. "I vote yes! There's no way I'm letting Iron Heart walk all over us!"

Silky nuzzled Amber and added, "I agree; there's no way I'm letting those jerks get away with what they said to you." the pegasus nudged the unicorn away bashfully.

"We're in!" Sea Star and Lemon Heart replied in unison.

Mop Head turned to Orange, who looked downward and then said, "Well, we're all in agreement except for Orange; listen, you don't have to come. We can work with six."

"No, if you're all sticking your necks out…I..I can, too!" Orange cried, squeaking as she hid her face behind a hoof. Stormy nuzzled her face and then whispered something in her ear. Mop Head felt a little bad for putting Orange in this, as she clearly didn't want to fight. Still, it seemed they were unanimous in having this bout with Iron Heart's group, so she cleared her throat and said, "It's settled. Then, after we eat and do our other training and usual duties, we'll meet with Iron Heart's group tonight, agreed?"

They all nodded in agreement and then went their separate ways to go off and do their various training and assigned duties for the day.

After a long day of training and work, the maids all went out of the castle at the stroke of midnight, and Mop Head led the rest of the maids through towards the courtyard. A few lanterns were lit up around a circle drawn in the middle of it with Iron Heart, and several other guards were there, all waiting with smirks on their faces. Iron Heart then trotted over as he toward above the mares and said, "There you all are; thought you chickened out?"

Mop Head scoffed, rolling her eyes, then said, "Sorry to disappoint, now, how will this go exactly?"

"It's simple; we will have one-on-one bouts in the ring. You will only use the training spear to knock your opponent out of the circle. Pegasi can use their wings to fight or fly, and hover unicorns can levitate your spear. Are the rules clear?"

The mares all saluted and said together, "Understood."

Iron Heart then stepped back, threw up a hoof, and said, "There are seven of you and seven of us; whoever gets the most victories wins."

Mop Head looked to the other maids, who all reluctantly gave nods. The head maid turned towards Iron Heart, saying, "We accept these terms."

The stallion laughed and then asked, "So whose first?"

The other maids looked at each other, and then Silky hopped forward. "I'll go first."

Silky was nervous thinking about what Mop Head said before made sense as she had become a much better pony since being a maid, once nothing more than a lackey to Blazing Saddles and his misogyny. She was much more capable and knowledgeable of her faults. So she finally agreed and slowly trotted forward into the ring with a determined look on her face, levitating a training spear with her magic and giving a deep breath; she got on her hind legs, levitated her spear, and then eyed the stallion. She was facing. The soldier in question was a stocky-looking earth pony with a training spear between his teeth. She gulped, feeling abit underprepared for what would happen, but she then went in for the attack and tried to knock him out; as they clashed, he started to beat her pretty severely with his strikes, packing a bigger punch than she expected. He was clearly much stronger, so Silky decided to keep him at a distance and try to see an opening. But she was losing hope by the second, unable to see a way to take him down or strike back. She stood there shaking, and then, out of nowhere, the mare heard.

"Come on, Silky, don't let this wannabe guard beat you!" Amber shouted.

Silky turned to Amber with her beautiful teal eyes glaring at her, which made the mare tingle in excitement. Somehow, that was all the motivation she needed, and then she said, "Don't worry, I won't."

Silky then dodged another swing and thought things over as she continued to evade; there was no way she could beat him head-on. Then she shrieked as she was hit and fell across the ring, making the other mares gasp. The unicorn mare then saw her apron torn and thought for a second with a plan formulating in her mind. She threw the spear aside, ripped off her apron, stood up with her torn piece of cloth, and levitated above her.

The buff stallion then laughed, "Do you seriously think you beat me with that."

"I sure can; come on and do your worst!"

The stallion ran at her at full speed, preparing to give her a whack with his spear, but Silky could use it to wrap around the other weapons and then throw it aside. Then he looked over to see the mare bucking him in the face and sending him flying out of the ring. She turned around and waved a hoof at her friends, who all started cheering her on as she skipped over to join them.

Iron Heart scoffed, "Fine, one point for the maids of honor. Who's up next?"

Silky turned to Amber and whispered, "Thanks, I couldn't have done that without you."

"No problem, now it's time to show you how we maids get things done," the brown-coated pegasus replied with a nuzzle, making Silky's cheeks turn pink. Amber turned towards the stallions and snapped, "Alright, it's my turn!"

Amber slowly stomped towards the ring; she took up a training spear and flared her wings as she went straight into the ring and slammed her spear down. "Bring out whoever you want!"

Iron Heart laughed, "Well then, let's bring out the Crusher."

The guards started to chant, "Crusher! Crusher! Cusher!"

A much bigger black-coated earth pony stallion stomped forward towards the ring with a smug look on his face, taking a training spear and hoisting it into the air.

The brown-coated mare glared as she eyed Crusher, the most giant bruiser in the royal guard. He was a dimwit, but nopony could match his strength.

"Alright, let's do this!" the mare then took out her training spear and flared out her wings, preparing for anything. This soldier was much more trained than Silky's, being able to block her more aggressive attacks, and every hit with the staff felt like being smacked by a ton of bricks. She was then smashed into her chest and then hit near the outer circle. Crusher smirked, then said, "I remember you, Blazing, man; who would have thought this is how you would turn out, especially considering how you treated mares."

The mare spat, "Shut it. I changed."

"Have you!? You're still trying so hard to show how masculine you are!" Crusher laughed and then lunged for an attack, but Amber could block it with her wings. She cried at the pain and then shouted, "Shut up!"

"I mean, you know most of us knew that you were a blowhard jerk; in fact, it's rather poetic you're getting a taste of your own medicine."

"I said shut it!" Amber threw her spear aside and then rammed her entire body into the stallion, trying to shove him out of the circle. Still, Crusher barely nudged abit and took the opportunity to whack her, throwing her out of the ring and into some sandbags. The rest of the maids then

The mare got up, seeing the rest of the stallions laughing, and then shut, but Silky held her back, "Stop."

"I can't. I gotta get them!"

"You will, but not right now. We have to beat them fairly."

"Who cares about that!?" Amber cried with tears in her eyes.

"please, we'll get them back, but you must calm down."

Amber looked at Silky's pleading expression realizing she was just making a fool of herself, having played into Crusher's plan to piss her off, and she lost. "Fine, I'll simmer down…for now."

Silky led her away as Iron Heart smirked and said, "So the score is one-to-one."

Mop Head turned to face. "Sure, but you haven't seen anything yet. Stormy, you're up!"

Stormy nodded and flew into the ring, slamming down into it and kicking up a cloud of dust around her as she tilted her head up and snapped, "Oh, you have no idea how long I've been waiting to hear that!"

Stormy was getting up with blowing her mane from her eyes, seeing how these punks humiliated Amber and pissed her off. So she was ready to throw down and show that the maids of honor were not to be messed with. She got up, twirled a spare about, and pointed at the stallion coming forward; he was a quiet, somber, grey-coated pegasus and seemed more patient than the last two combatants.

Stormy eyed her opponent, who then went at her. She dodged and whacked him back, unfurled her wings and hoped over, and then readjusted her stance as the stallion soon were both going at it with a flurry of wings and spear clacking and whisking; it was hard to keep track of what was going on; with pure instinct kicking in. She did her best to remember her training and keep her cool, not letting her anger take over like what happened with Amber. Then, as the battle continued, a dust cloud appeared around them, making her cough and wheeze. Still, Silky kept up the attack, dodging weave and strike, and eventually, the stallion was beneath her hooves, knocked out cold. With a smirk, She stood up and asked, "So what was that about kicking our flanks?"

Iron Heart stomped a hoof, then said, "Alright, send in the next fighter!"

Stormy flew off as she gave Orange Julius a tap on the shoulder. The earth pony seemed nervous, but she then slowly came forward and said, "I guess I'll go next."

Orange was nervous despite being more battle-ready than most of her "sisters." She needed to be more confident and prepared for a battle, especially in front of her fellow maids. Then she saw her opponent, a dorky-looking dark blue-coated unicorn with a spear, come forward, looking just as nervous as she was. They both slowly entered the ring and gulped as they stood there for some time. Orange looked up and asked, "So, uh, what's your name?"

"North Star."

"North star, well, I have to say that it's nice to meet you…um…look, I was never really on board with this whole fight. Why don't we both step out of the ring?"

"Sorry, no can do, you can, but I'm staying."

Orange Julius groaned. Seeing she had no choice, she placed her training spear in her teeth and then went for the attack. At first, she seemed to think she had the upper advantage, being more aggressive and putting her opponent on the defensive.

But then she saw the unicorn smirking, whacking her with his spear, and knocking her about left and right. At the same time, he dodged nearly every oncoming attack she was throwing at him. It was like he was reading her every move, and she fell right into his trap!"

He then hit her left and right, nagging and insulting her attacks, "Come on, I've seen baby foals fight better!"

"Shut it!" the mare snapped. She may have the same anger rising in her, seeing how North Star tricked her into thinking he was weak. Orange tried to remain focused, but with every attack, every swing and dodge, she could feel her teeth losing grip on her spear and her body aching. Being out of breath, it didn't take much for North Star to thrust his spear into her, knocking Orange out of the ring.

The dark orange-coated mare groaned in pain and frustration but was helped by Stormy and Silky, who brushed the dirt off her. North Star gave them a playful smirk as he trotted out of the ring.

Iron Heart laughed and stared at Mop Head as he gloated, "Two for two."

Mop Head growled, then turned to see that Sea Star and Lemon Heart both started to trot towards the ring.

The two yellow-coated mares came forward. Sea Star looked to Lemon Heart, who nodded as she rose a hoof and asked, "Lemon Heart and I have a question: could we do a two-on-two bout and fight together?"

Iron Heart tapped a hoof to his chin and pondered for a second, "Well…We can make that work as long as you agree that if you both lose, it will count towards two losses, meaning the match is over, and we win."

"Same goes for you, Iron Heart!" Mop Head shouted, "Whoever wins this match will have their side declared the winner!"

"Agreed, let's end this! Thunder Snap, Lightning Crash, show these mares their places!"

Two dark grey pegasus stallions flew into the wing, unfurling their wings and twirling their spears in unison.

Sea Star and Lemon Heart came forward, holding their spears up close and preparing to fight.

The two sisters did their best to hold off on their own, with the two pegasus twins crashing and smacking into them and the two mares doing their best to hold their own, protecting each other and being more defensive.

Sea Star was doing her best to keep up but could see Lemon Heart was taking some hits. Sea Star wheezed, "We need to think of something fast!"

"Yeah, thinking outside the box, right?" Lemon Heart smirked, taking some small cakes from her apron and throwing some to her sister, who caught them.

Without a word, the two nodded, knowing what they had in mind. As the two stallions swooped in for a final assault, the two sisters were pushed back to the edge of the circle. The two mares threw the cake into their eyes as they both cried out and crashed into the mares, who all crashed into sandbags together in a massive clump of ponies. The maids and soldiers went over to help their respective team members as Iron Heart stamped a hoof, "That doesn't count! Your mares cheated!"

Mop Head scoffed, "As if you ever said they couldn't use pastries as weapons!"

"Like I needed to! You played dirty; we won those bouts."

"Last I recall, you said they lose if a pony stepped out of the ring. All four members went out of the ring simultaneously, so technically, there were no winners or losers for either team, leaving only us."

Iron Heart stepped forward into the ring, taking a training spear into his mouth, and growled, "Finally, I get to shut you up myself."

Mop Head placed the yellow-coated mares down and whispered, "Thank you for all your effort now; leave the rest to me." She then hopped into the ring and levitated a training spear as she readied herself for the bout.

Mop Head came forward into the ring, eyes narrowing at Iron Heart, willing to give it her all, and snapped, "Honestly, you and the rest of your posse were pissing me off so much; I can't wait to see how you all look in black and white."

"We'll see how great you are at showing your ass, Spear Point!" Iron Heart roared and went for the attack; he tried to knock Mop Head off balance with his staff but seemed unable to keep up with the maid, who blocked and weaved. Somehow, she remembered all her training when she was a royal guard and was using every trick she learned. But Iron Heart was a much better-trained fighter, which kept her from landing any blows while being bruised and beaten.

"Come on, Moppy!"

She heard the other mares shouting and changing her name. Mop Head knew everything was on the line. The last thing she wanted was to have her and her fellow maids serve these asshole stallions! Then, like a lightbulb going off in her mind, she remembered the spell Twilight had taught her; sensing her opponent was the only way she could get any advantage. She then twirled her spear about and could block Iron Heart's attacks. Being able to sense his movements made him more aggressive. Now, he was making mistakes and getting exhausted. Mop Head smirked as she took advantage of the situation, hitting him in the face and the chest, then pushed him back, and then, with all of her might, smashed her spear into Iron Heart's chest and threw him out of the ring. She raised her spear triumphantly and shouted, "Don't mess with us! We're the maids of honor!"

This got a loud cheer from her fellow maids as they warmed her, all talking about how cool she was, and as Mop Head was bashful from all the praise she was receiving.

She looked up at the stallions, horrified, seeing they had just lost. She breathed, wiped the sweat from her brow, and said, "So now for our reward…"

"Ok, line up!"

The next morning, down in the grand hall, Iron Heart's posse of royal guards was standing in formation, all dressed in maid outfits, with crushers barely fitting on and all, complete with little frills at the end and pristine white aprons and cute black bows in their manes. The mares, upon seeing the soldiers all in their adorable maid outfits, couldn't help but burst out laughing, making them growl and snap in anger. Mop Head then trotted over and shouted, "Stand at attention!"

The stallions all stood up, chins held high as Mop Head and her fellow maids inspected their uniforms, adjusted them, and fixed the bows in their manes, along with the added teasing about how cute they looked. Mop Head then went straight toward Iron Heart and adjusted his bow. "So, how do you like your new outfit?"

"Don't even start Mop Head!" Iron Heart growled.

"Well, for today, I'm in charge, and you'll address me as Madam Mop Head."

"Don't push your luck,"

The mare smirked as she stepped back and then started to address orders, "Now remember you will be doing all our duties today; that means cleaning the entire castle top to bottom, making Princess Luna & Celestia their meals, cleaning their rooms, and making sure that the grand hall is scrubbed clean. Understood!"

"Yes, Moppy!" the stallions all growled.

"It's madam Mop Head! Or should I ask Princess Celestia if she needs more maids for our growing roster?"

"Yes, madam Mop Head!" the stallions all cried in horror.

Mop Head laughed as she would never do that, but she wanted to scare these jerks a little to keep them in line. She then resumed her drill sergeant persona and shouted, "Good! Now, what are you all doing standing around? You all have your assigned duties, and Princess Celestia will need her breakfast ASAP!"

"Yes, madam!" The stallions grumbled and started making breakfast for Princess Celestia, with Sea Star and Lemon Heart showing them how. Meanwhile, the rest of The Maids of Honor went off to relax, all looking rather worn out from last night's fights. Soapy nudged Mop Head and whispered, "Since you mastered Twilight's spell and we have no duties for today, want to go on another date?"

"I was afraid you would never ask," Mop Head chirped in excitment. Soapy then got rather bashful suddenly then asked, "so we only have a few days before the banquet and the showdown…"

"And?"

"And you saw how Silky and Amber were…I think they, you know…"

"Might be a thing?"

Mop Head blinked, then asked, "Yeah, and?"

"Well, they have a few days, and when we defeat the sirens, they might just revert back to stallions."

"So?"

"So? They, well, you know…might be better as mares if they return to stallions. They might lose their love for each other… I'm not saying we interfere, but maybe push them in the right direction?"

"Like set up a date for them?"

"Yeah! It doesn't have to be big,, you know, dinner reservations somewhere quiet where they can be alone…they might not get another chance, and I doubt you want Blazing to return to his old ways."

Mop Head paused to ponder what her mare friend was suggesting and shivered at the idea of dealing with Blazing as he was before, then said, "You're right; if we want to help these two lovebirds alone, we only have today and tomorrow, and we'll be busy tomorrow preparing for the banquet. So if we want any chance of those two becoming marefriends, we need to do something tonight!"

"That's what I'm talking about!" Soapy chirped as she nuzzled the unicorn mare, then asked, "So now we need a plan; how do we make these two finally get with each other?"

Mop Head once again pondered for a moment, then an idea came to her and said, "We have the princess of love, for crying out loud! Come on, she'll know what to do!" she grabbed her marefriend by the hoof as they ran off to find Princess Cadance.

Chapter Thirteen: A Date to Remember

Princess Cadance was enjoying breakfast in her room along with Mop Head and Soapy that morning, listening to them as they discussed their idea about getting Silky and Amber together. She couldn't help but burst out laughing as Mop Head and Soapy both explained their idea to get Amber and Silky and getting them together.

Cadance couldn't stop laughing, paused, and then said, "Ok, so let me get this straight. Do you want to get the two "lovebirds" together? After hanging out with them for the past two days, it's pretty clear that Amber will have more difficulty showing her true feelings. Also, we have to consider their gender identity. They both have been mares for a while. At this point, they might only like each other because they are both mares. The second one of them, most likely Amber, turns back into a stallion; the relationship could fall apart."

Mop Head let out an annoyed sigh, "We know, but it wouldn't hurt to try and see what happens; if everything goes well tomorrow and we stop the sirens, they'll turn back to stallions, and if that happens, they might lose interest with each other completely. I just think we should do this now before that happens."

Princess Cadance nodded along, then said, "Well, I guess we got some work to do; first, let's separate the two and then set up a date for all of you, but have your friends leave abit at a time. Then, they'll be alone by the time everyone is gone."

Soapy tapped a hoof to her chin and then exclaimed, "I see! That does sound like a good idea!"

The princess of love then added with abit more serious tone. "Also, to be clear, this should feel natural. You don't want to try forcing two ponies together; that never works. Remember, you shouldn't force them to be in a relationship if they don't want to be together."

"Yes, princess," the two chimed in unison.

"Well, you two better start booking a place in Restaurant Row."

"Good idea! We better go out now! Come on, Soapy," Moppy then took her marefriend by the hoof and led her out the door as Princess Cadance sat back with a smirk.

After the two returned from their breakfast with Princess Cadance, they met with Orange and Silky in the dining hall. They told them about their plan to get Amber and Silky together. Orange couldn't help but squeal, "Oh, that does sound like fun! But how should we do it without them figuring out what we're planning?"

"That's easy. Just get them away from each other for the day. Soapy and I will handle dealing with the reservations. We're thinking of a nice, lovely pasta restaurant."

Soapy nodded, "definitely going to need the extra carbs for tomorrow. Also, it just sounds like the perfect romantic evening for the two."

The moody grey-coated pegasus raised a hoof and said, "Well, count me in; that sounds like a great idea. So how would we get the two alone?"

Orange blushed, then explained, "I've been meaning to get Silky to come on and get a dress; she keeps asking where I got mine so we can spend some time at Carousel Boutique."

Stormy nodded, "I'll take Amber to get preened; I know a place with a nice little cafe and spa. We can hang out until we meet up for dinner tonight."

"Wonderful! So we have a plan: Stormy is going to get preened with Amber, and Orange pick out dresses with Silky," Mop Head chirped just then as the four went their separate ways. Two pegasus mares in cute black and white maid uniforms flew over with scowls on their faces as they landed and snapped in unison, "Did you forget about us!?"

Mop Head was somewhat surprised to see the mares and then asked, "Well, no, I just, um…who are you two?"

The pegasus on the right placed a hoof on her chest and then said. "My name is Sword Feather."

The one on the left did the same and said, "Shield Wing."

Mop Head eyed them, then her eyes widened, remembering the two pegasi turning into maids the week previously, and asked, "You two were turned into maids last week, right?"

Sword Feather cried, "Yes, and we've been told to go the maid's quarters for the past week, but we realized we were being pranked!"

Shield Wing then gave a cute pout and said, "Yes, and then we're told by Sea Star that you are planning on saving Equestria without us!"

"Yes, we want to help; please give us anything we can do?"

Soapy whispered into Mop Head's ear, and then she gave a nod. "Well, it seems we have something we need you to do: tail Celestia and make sure she doesn't accidentally turn anypony else into a maid."

"Yes, try to keep her distracted, please."

"Yes, mam!" the two chimed, then trotted off as Mop Head sighed and said, "Well, that takes care of that."

"Good thing, too; now we can get going!" Orange chirped, and the maids all went off in different directions.

An hour after breakfast, Silky was confused as she was out suddenly, out of nowhere, taken by the hoof of Orange Julius and was now being escorted through the streets of Canterlot. She was somewhat surprised as they were making their way toward it. Even though they had a day off, the usually shy earth pony came out of nowhere, insisting they should go shopping for a dress. Suspicious of what was going on, she asked, "So Orange, where are we going again?"

The earth pony looked worried, then quickly said, "Oh yes, we need to get you a dress."

"Um, you know…you might need one for tonight."'

"Tonight!? Why tonight!?"

Orange nervously replied, "Well, the other girls and I were talking, and before the big banquet tomorrow, we're going to have a get-together in Restaurant Row, and I think you'll look great in a dress."

Silky's cheeks flushed pink, then said, "Seriously? You don't mean that."

"I do…I mean…" She paused and then whispered, "I mean, you're going to stay as a mare, right?"

Silky squeaked being, shocked at the question; the mare has indeed thought a lot about her gender identity, and for some reason, she has been feeling much more natural as a mare, more so than a stallion, and said, "Well, I thought about it for some time, and yeah I thought about it, and I think I might stay as a mare."

"Well, me too…" She then pushed her mane and said, "In fact… I've been wearing dresses long before I turned into a mare."

Silky was shocked at this sudden revelation and squeaked, "Really!?"

"Yes, and I…I…" tears came to her eyes, "I've been loving every day. I just thought everypony would laugh at me."

The grey coated unicorn slowly trotted over and hugged her, "I'm sorry before I turned into a mare. I may have been one of your bullies…now…now, I regret everything I did. If you stay like this, I'll help get you reinstated as a royal guard."

The earth pony asked, looking up with tears in her eyes, and asked, "You mean it?"

"Yes, you know we have mares in the royal guard!"

The mare gulped, blinked, laughed, and said, "Right, we do…. It makes you wonder if we could've just been soldiers since the start?"

"Who knows, we can be super spies as maids; no one would ever expect us to be badasses. It's the perfect cover."

Orange laughed, "Sure, that sounds like a great idea;…thank you for being so understanding. Now, come on, let's get going!" The mare then dragged her into the Canterlot boutique with a bounce to her step. Upon entering the building, Silky was blown away by the dresses on display, all lined up and looking absolutely gorgeous. The amazing part was that they all had different designs, all equally beautiful in their own way. As they came through the main showroom, they came upon a tall, light blue unicorn with a flowing orange and yellow striped mane with a pair of stunning orange eyes. She turned towards them with a smile upon seeing the two. "Oh, a returning customer!?"

The earth pony waved a hoof and then chirped, "Hello, Sassy, I came to pick up some bows, but..." Orange pulled Silky over and said, "My friend here came for a dress tonight for a da- I mean a dinner!"

"Splendid! Today's been rather slow, so I'll personally find a dress for your friend," Sassy hopped over and started looking over Silky as she held out a hoof, "I'm Sassy Saddles, manager of Canterlot Boutique."

"Oh uh, I'm Silky, Silky Apron," the unicorn chimed back; they then shook each other's hooves.

"Oh!? What a lovely name! Do you have any idea of what kind of dress you like?"

The mare's cheeks flushed pink, and she said, "Not really? I never tried on a dress before."

"I see," she bent down and whispered, "You're one of those poor guards who was turned into a maid."

Silky bowed her head and then said, "Yes, that's true."

"Well, don't worry, we shall pick something out that'll make you stand out. Now come on."

Sassy then took Silky to the back of the boutique, where she had her try on dozens of different gowns. Silky tried on various different kinds, but nothing really stood out. Then Sassy picked out a beautiful dress clearly inspired by Princess Luna with her cutie mark emblazoned in the chest area and said, "How about this? Rarity designed it herself and named it "Over the Moon."

The grey-coated unicorn gasped in shock at how beautiful the gown looked and saw how she admired the dark purple with the lighter purple making up the skirt, along with the dazzling teal gems at the end of the gown. It was so beautiful she was utterly speechless. She adjusted the sleeves of her dress and then whispered, "It's beautiful."

"Well, it is one of the big hits here; now, how about you try it on and see how it fits."

Sassy then helped drape the dress over her, tapped the shoes over her hooves, and looked at a mirror, seeing how the dark, shady blue colors matched her grey coat rather well.

"Ah yes, what do you think?"

She looked at her reflection, twirled about, and then, with a smile, replied, "This is so beautiful, I'll take it!"

Orange trotted over and asked, "So, is this the one!?"

Silky hopped off the pedestal and giggled, "Yes, it is!"

She then trotted to the cash register and was about to pay for it, but Orange shook her head, took out her purse, and purchased it along with some bows. Silky was surprised by the gesture and, as they walked out of the boutique, asked, "Why did you do that?"

"Just paying it forward. Now, come on, we have to show that gown off to the rest of the girls!" Orange chirped as the two headed through the streets of Canterlot.

Meanwhile, Amber was being pulled by the hoof through the streets of Canterlot, looking somewhat confused as she was pulled by the hoof by Stormy almost seemingly out of nowhere. The grey-coated mare dragged her as she shouted, "ok, what's going on here!?"

The pegasus threw her mane out and said, "Nothing's happening. I just thought you could use a preening."

"That's it a preening?"

"Yeah, a preening come on."

"We're only going to be stallions again in two days. We might as well enjoy the time we have as mares."

"Yeah, like we can't get preenings as stallions."

"True, but will you be able to?"

"What do you mean?"

"Well, considering how we were…"

"We aren't going back to how we were… I'm not even sure if I could ever even be a tenth of how I was."

Stormy looked over and said, "All I'm saying is that we really should consider that how we feel now may change when we turn back to stallions."

Amber started to feel self-conscious about that and replied, "Well, in any case, we can worry about that later, so why preening? Not a hooficure or anything else?"

Stormy blushed and explained, "Well, we pegasi should be getting preened. More often than we do, especially us stallions."

"So there's no other reason for dragging me out here?"

The grey-coated pegasus scoffed, "Of course not! Just you know, filling in some time before we save Equestria tomorrow?"

Amber was still suspicious; there was obviously a reason almost out of the blue. Stormy had dragged her out here for what felt like no reason. But despite her suspicion of the mare and reasoning to drag her to a preening, she didn't care. The scary part about what she was reconciling with was that she was slowly enjoying her new life, feeling like it was a new leaf. But she was too scared to admit it and proud to say it. So, for now, she'll enjoy today and take a hoof towards enjoying herself before making a decision she wasn't sure of. They continued towards a beautiful-looking blue building with the cover in the shape of clouds. Amber was astounded as Stormy pushed open the doors. In the lobby, the ground was covered in clouds, making the pegasus squeak, seeing how fluffy and soft it was. Stormy laughed, "You've never been to Cloudesdale, have you?"

"What!? no…I haven't."

"Figures, you see pegasi, who immigrated here, created this place to make it feel like Cloudesdale, and well, I come here often."

She then led Amber to the cashier; a friendly blue-coated pegasus waved a hoof, "Hello! How may I help you?"

"We need two professional preenings, please; thank you."

"Of course, names."

"Storm Cloud."

"Storm Cloud!?

The stallion rose up, "So it's true!? You really did get turned into a mare!?"

The grey-coated pegasus threw her mane back and said, "So what?"

"So what I mean…wow, I am just surprised, is all."

"Yeah, I'm a mare. Can we skip to the part where we get our wings preened?"

"Of course!" the stallion exclaimed as he led them to two pegasus mares who both gasped and asked together, "Storm Cloud, is that you!?"

The mare lowered her head and mumbled, "Yeah, it's me."

The two then flocked over Stormy, admiring her as they commented on her mane and wings, making those grey cheeks turn a shade of red. Amber couldn't help but snicker and then asked, "So, uh, about that preening?"

"Preening, right? Let's get to that, shall we!"

The two pegasi then took the two to benches, which were laid out. Then, one of the mares whispered, "Spread your wings out, please."

Amber did as she was asked and spread her wings out as instructed. Then, two pegasi went to work, going over her wings and clearing out the bent feathers and the dirt between them. Amber remembered years ago, her own mother preening her as a child. She cried a little as it felt so nice, and she realized how much care she had lost and how she had been a jerk before. After the preening, Amber and Stormy were taken to a comfy cafe where the seats were also made of clouds.

Stormy then sat down across from Amber as they enjoyed some small deli sandwiches and cups of coffee. Then, as Amber stared at her reflection, she sighed, "Stormy, don't tell the others, but I…I think I might stay as a mare."

The grey-coated pegasus looked up and asked, "Any particular reason? I mean, out of everyone, I thought you would certainly turn back."

"I…I think it's well… it's grown on me, but I want to…I think I want to be the royal preener."

"Well, if you insist, nopony's stopping you. Still can't believe you're blazing saddles; you sure you're not a changeling or a siren?"

"Trust me, I think this is right…"

Later that evening, the maids gathered together at Restaurant Row, enjoying themselves and having a good time at a fancy pasta restaurant with a massive plate of spaghetti and drinking copious amounts of wine. Silky was somewhat nervous, blushing in her new gown, but the other mares were just complimenting her and enjoying their time with her. She couldn't help but feel great showing off her new outfit. Orange Julius was also wearing the cute dress, and the two just gushed over how fabulous the Carousel Boutique in Canterlot is and how great Sassy Sadles was picking out their dresses. Then, as they continued their conversation, Silky turned to see Amber wearing nothing. She just trotted over and plopped down, showing off her wings, "how do I look?"

Silky's mouth dropped upon seeing Amber's wings as she flashed them. She wasn't wearing anything, seeming to embrace her natural beauty as she trotted over and whispered, you're so "Beautiful!"

"Thanks, it took forever to get my wings done."

"No, they look gorgeous," Mop Head chirped as she settled in.

Amber then turned her attention to Sea Star and Lemon Heart and asked, "So how was dealing with the jerks from last night."

"Oh, they did a decent job as maids," Sea Star laughed.

"Oh yes, they did such an amazing job."

"And they are still stallions, right?" Mop Head asked as she turned her attention to the two newcomers.

Sword Feather rose and saluted, saying, "Yes, Princess Celestia was in her room for most of the day, so we kept her company and had somepony to talk to."

"Yes, she had a raging headache, so we gave her soothing teas, massaged her, and preened her." Shield Wing replied.

"Well, that's good. Hopefully, she feels better for tomorrow," Mop Head mumbled, looking worried, "but for now, we all have our tasks for tomorrow."

"Except us!" Shield Wing snapped.

"Well, you two can accompany Orange Julius and Stormy to guard the castle and ensure no sirens come out to attack."

"Understood!" The two shouted.

The maids then went about chatting and drinking, with the crowd slowly dispersing over time, and soon, the only two were there with a plate of spaghetti. Amber and Silky were quite drunk and had a plate of spaghetti. Slurping up noddles and looking at each other with bashful expressions.

"You look beautiful," Silky squeaked as she gulped down her wine. Amber flushed red, then said, "You look stunning yourself…"

"So I think you should know since it might be quite obvious, but if everything goes well tomorrow, I want to stay as a mare."

"Ok, any reason why?" Amber asked; then Silky continued, "Because I…I like who I am as a mare, I like baking, and after this, I want to open my own bakery."

"And you think you can't do that as a stallion? You know Donut Joe is a guy, right?"

Silky blinked, then slammed a hoof into her face, seeing how stupid that sounded, then said, "I know, it's more than that; it feels natural for me, and I enjoyed being like this. As a stallion, it felt like I was just going through the motions and being a jerk because I was too scared to say what I wanted to say."

"And that is?"

"That I admire you."

"And why do you like me so much?"

"Because…because I see that you're so much better, so much stronger than how you were and your transformation to the asshole to this kind loving mare…but…"

"You think I'll go back to being a jerk if I turn back."

"I'm not certain…But we might lose whatever we feel if that happens."

Amber laughed drunkenly as she looked up with a sheepish grin. "Well, lucky for you, I think that's not something you'll have to worry about." she then came up and said. "I'm planning to stay this way as well and work as a preener."

The grey-coated unicorn spat out her wine and then cried, "Seriously!?"

Amber threw her wings over her face and whispered, "Yes, as long as you're ok with it…"

"Of course! I'm just surprised, is all! How!? why!?"

The brown-coated pegasus just looked stunned even at her own statement, then added, "I don't know…maybe fate's hoof decided that this is how we can be…:

Silky's heart was a flutter; maybe she was just drunk, but she was thrilled to hear Blazing was going to stay a mare. "Well, seeing that we're both set…and just admitted we like each other…"

"Want to be my marefriend?" the two asked in unison; without hesitation, they both kissed and gave each other a longing look. The two threw a bag of bits on the table and quickly trotted off somewhere private.

Chapter Fourteen: The Dawn of the Maids of Honor

It was early in the morning, and Mop Head was standing before the rest of her maids of honor, all in their specially designed maid outfits made by Rarity. The head mare over them, she couldn’t help but feel proud of them and their accomplishments, not only finishing their training with the princesses and Shining Armor. But were able to hold their own against some jerks from the royal guard. For the first time since being dubbed the head maid of the Maids of Honor, she felt ready to take on whatever today threw at them. She cleared her throat and then said, “Now I know we’ve only known each other for a few weeks or less; I have to admit, first, when we created the Maids of Honor due to our shared unfortunate circumstance of being demoted to maids, I didn’t think we would be friends.” she brushed the mane from her eyes and continued, “in fact, I thought you would grow to hate me as I decided to stay like this instead of trying to turn back into a stallion and reinstated into the royal guard. But the honest truth is I grew to like you, even care for you as if you were my sisters. I don’t have a doubt in my mind we won’t succeed,” Her eyes went wide, and then she said, “When you all return to royal guards, please don’t forget about me, ok?”

The mares all gave each other nervous glances, and then she finished, “So let’s take down these sirens and let the maids of honor go out with a bang!”

“Yes, ma'am!” the maids all chime, and they all leave. As Moppy stayed behind, she pushed the furniture and beds aside, lit some candles, and sat in the middle of them, concentrating on her friends as Soapy came by with some tea and eggs. “Ready.”

“Yes, let's do this.” Mop Head tied her mane and knelt into the circle of candles as Soapy doused the lights and then closed her eyes, concentrating. She lit her horn and realized she could feel the others. Sea Star and Lemon Heart are already in the kitchen; Amber is feeding Philomenia in Princess Celesta’s room, and Silky is talking to Princess Celestia and going over which gown she should wear to the banquet. Orange and Stormy were bickering in the Grand Hall about who was the best at dancing the other night.

Dawn broke as Sea Star and Lemon Heart were busy whipping up pancake batter together and frying up pancakes in the royal kitchen. The two were working diligently and continued to make sure that the pancakes were fluffy and covered in Celestia’s favorite toppings, berries with whipped cream. Once they settled the stack onto a plate and cleaned up, Sea Star looked a bit worried.

“So you think we can do it?”

“Do what?”

“Save Equestria, of course!”

“Yeah, save Equestria…I think we all did pretty well, considering the circumstances. I’m sure everything will turn out fine.”

Sea Star sighed, “I hope so, I really do.”

She then looked to see Lemon Heart, still looking disheartened.

“Us failing to save the world isn’t what is bothering you, is it?”

Lemon Heart looked over and said, “I know we’re trying to help Princess Celestia, but what we’re doing feels like we’re tricking her.”

Sea Star saw tears in her sister's eyes and, feeling bad, came over and said, “I know it sucks, but we need to keep Princess Celestia occupied as long as possible until we can take down the sirens.”

“Right, we can do this.”

The two mares then saw the princess of the sun flex her wings, coming in with a beautiful yellow and white gown streaming around her body as she yawned, “Good morning, Sea Star Lemon Heart.”

“Morning, princess,” the maids chimed and curtseyed; they then gave the princess her breakfast, and her eyes grew wide as she ate. “My goodness, these pancakes are delicious.”

“Thank you, princess,”

“Oh, stop with the formalities, grab a plate and some coffee. I would love to just chat for a few minutes before the banquet.”

“Of course!” Sea Star exclaimed; she then led her sister to the table, and there they talked and chatted for a few hours about the banquet. Shield Wing and Sword Wing then came down and curtseyed in their cute maid uniforms, and they said in unison, “Good morning, princess.”

“Morning girls.”

“We are ready for that rehearsal of your speech; we can be your audience and give you pointers.”

“Yes, let's get to that.” She dabbed her lips and then followed them as Sea Star and Lemon Heart followed suit. They then continued towards her bedroom, where they saw Silky and Amber leaving, winking at them. Sea Star was looking rather unsure, but she took a deep breath and then continued forward, willing to do whatever it took to keep Princess Celestia occupied as that was what they were tasked to do.

Not far along that morning, Amber and Silky were going downstairs, with Silky nuzzling her marefriend and whispering, “So you think we can take care of Aqua?”

“I'm sure we can; let’s just stick with that and make sure we keep her away from Princess Celestia, unaware that we’re trying to stop her crazy plan.”

“I'm sure we can.”

The two then continued to the grand hall, where a group of pegasi wearing togas were standing in the Grand Hall the head of them being a pegasus, was now standing in front of her with piercing blue eyes, that soft light blue and sea green striped mane that fell around her head like a waterfall; it matched perfectly with her snow-white coat, which was partly covered by the toga flowing around her body.

It was Aqua she came over to them, and with a group of pegasi, the guards standing at the doorway bowed as they came by strutting towards them. Aqua then smiled at them, threw her hooves over her, and said, “Amber, It's been so long!”

The brown-coated pegasus gulped and hugged back as they both embraced, then replied, “Yes, it has. I should go by your bathhouse more often.”

“You should, and so should the princesses,” she then looked around and asked, “Talking about the princesses, where are they?”

“Oh, uh, I think they’re busy preparing for the banquet.”

“That's good to hear,” she turned to face the grey-coated unicorn and whispered, “Now, uh, meet my marefriend Silky.”

The grey-coated unicorn trotted towards them and held out a hoof. “Pleased to meet you again.”

“Ah yes, Silky Apron, it’s a pleasure.” they shook hooves, and then Aqua went up to Amber and whispered, “So, um, until the banquet starts, want to hang out together? It’ll be great to catch up.”

“Yes, that would be a lot of fun; come on, let’s go catch up. Besides, I’ve been feeling quite peckish.”

Aqua then led her fellow mares to the Royal Dining room to chat over tea. Silky eyed Amber, who blushed, seeing she was getting jealous, and she continued talking to her.

Meanwhile, Twilight was making her way through the streets of Canterlot, knowing full well she didn’t have a lot of time left to stop the sirens. She charged forward, rushing towards a massive temple-like building, recognizing from the description given to her it was the bathhouse of goddesses. It was a lot bigger and seemed grander than she originally recognized, and as she continued towards it, she saw that the front doors were unlocked, surprisingly enough. She then continued scurrying through the marble hallways, being somewhat enthralled by the architecture, and recognized it as pegasus-inspired with a hint of an aquatic theme. She then slowly opened it, looked around, and made their way through the building, scurrying about the halls and opening and closing doors. Twilight was getting rather pissed as they passed another room. They eventually came upon two giant golden doors and then pushed them open. Inside was a vast pond with a waterfall flowing down over everything; it was like an indoor garden with flowers and willow trees everywhere. The room was rather beautiful, and Twilight, looking around, checking her surroundings, hesitantly trotted in with this look of awe on her face. Standing above the water, in the middle of the pond, was a statue of Princess Celestia. There she was surrounded by candles, and on the pedestal was a book. The two mares slowly trotted over the water. The alicorn then came upon an old-looking spell book and read the passage about spells they were using to control Princess Celestia. She then read how they used a spell to use the statue, like a voodoo doll controlling the princess’ actions. She couldn’t believe it was that easy all it was there. She then said, “ok, all I need to do now is reverse the spell and destroy this statue. Simple enough.”

Then, as Twilight was reciting the spell without warning, she felt something hit the back of her head, and she suddenly blacked out.

The banquet started with the sirens talking and being enamored with Amber talking, with Sea Star, Lemon Heart, Princess Cadance, and Princess Celestia all gorging on cake together. Seeing everyone seated and having a good time, the Princess of the Sun rose from her chair. She clanked her glass, and everypony looked towards her; she said, “Well, it’s good to see you all are here well. These lovely creatures, sirens, have come to this magnificent banquet to enjoy this wonderful dinner we are about to enjoy with each other.”

Everypony nodded and smiled, “in fact, the sirens had been at odds with the pony race for nearly a Millennium, and it warms my heart to see you all gathered here enjoying a wonderful meal. So please eat and be merry!”

Everypony clopped together then as they all sat down with Princess Celestia. Sea Star and Lemon Heart then took her aside as they watched Amber and Silky swoon, Aqua, leader of the sirens.

Mop Head saw it all from her room with tears in her eyes, wishing the princess's words were her own, but she knew she was being manipulated and used in a plot she was unaware of. She then suddenly lost her connection to Twilight Sparkle, and she started to get scared as she instantly sent a message to Shining Armor. “Shining, I just lost contact with Twilight Sparkle; get to the bathhouse now!

“Got it!”

Shining Armor then ran off and saw some pegasi talking to the other maids of honor near the door. The pegasi turned with one whispering, “What are you doing here?”

“I uh need a breath of fresh air.”

“Sure he does,”

The two pegasi started to circle around him, “Maybe he needs to come to bed.”

“Yes, he needs to relax.”

“Sorry, but I'm with somepony now, excuse me.”

“Oh no, he's taken!?”

“Well, are you married?”

“What, no-”

“Then you're not taken.”

Stormy stomped forward with a glare, then snapped, “Hey, you heard him go to the banquet and leave Captain Shining alone!”

Orange followed suit and said, “Yes, please back off. That’s the Captain of the Royal Guard you're harassing.”

“Or what!?” the two pegasi hissed. Then the sirens rushed over, and the four started brawling, with the two maids whipping out their brooms and detaching the ends with two wooden staves. They then went at the sirens fighting back, with kicks and flips, looking like some martial arts movie. Despite the sirens being trained in combat, Shining could tell that the maids he trained were winning and coming out on top. Eventually, the maids held the Then they shouted, “Shining! Moppy said to get moving!”

“Right!” he was just suddenly shaken from his stupor and burst out the doors as the two mares came in close to ensure none of the sirens followed him. Once the doors were closed, Sword Feather and Shield Wing flew in shouting, “Need back up!”

“About time!” Stormy shouted just as another group of sirens rushed them. They then went at each other as Mop Head looked on the fight from her room, wanting to go down there and help; she then shouted, “Soapy, we should go help them!”

Soapy shook her head and said, “No, keep in connection with everyone; if Twilight has been kidnapped or knocked out, Shining is our only hope of salvaging this. If you lose your connection to the spell, we’ll lose.”

Mop Head sat down and asked, “Girls, are you doing ok?”

“Yes, we’re fine, Mop Head. Do what Soapy said; we got this!” Stromy shouted in her mind.

“Yes, please, without you keeping an eye on things, we’re screwed!” Orange thought out loud.

“Ok, but if things get out of hoof, let me know if I can help! Just keep it together until Shining can save Twilight!”

“Yes, moppy!” Everyone thought at once, and Mop Head sat down and then decided to continue making sure everypony was ok and doing their assigned tasks.

Back at the banquet, things were wrapping up, and Princess Celestia stood up and then rose up and went to the head of the table and clanked her glass once more, “I thank you all for coming, and as the banquet is wrapping up, I am here to give an announcement.”

Everpony was stunned, and then they listened intently, and she continued, “I have been waiting for a long time to say this finally, but this, but I'm retiring.”

The crowd was stunned, many just gaping. She then continued and said, “With my retirement, the sirens will rule Equestria. I know that sounds crazy.”

Everypony in the hall rose up in an uproar, shouting angrily and stomping their hooves, but Aqua dabbed her mouth with a napkin as she rose up and shouted, “everypony sit!”

And they all did as they sat back down and waited as she continued, “That's right, Princess Celestia already signed away the right to be a princess, and I am now your new princess of the sun! Seeing Princess Luna will resume being the princess of the night!”

“This is a Coup d'etat! No way are you going to give up the kingdom like this of your own free will!”

Dozens of soldiers came in, surrounding the sirens, then Aqua turned to celestia and shouted, “Do it now!”

The princess lit her horn, and the dozens of stoic soldiers cried out as their bodies morphed, most of them shrinking, manes and tails growing out, armor turning into fluffy black and white maid uniforms, as their shouts and cries turned into the shrill terror of mares now wearing cute prench maid uniforms and their spears replaced with mops and broom all looking utterly confused. Princess Celestia’s eyes glowed as Aqua’s voice boomed, “I am your queen, and you will bow to me!”

“Yes, Queen Aqua!” everypony shouted in unison as they all sat down at her command.

This time, the sirens surrounded them all, smirking at them with this sadistic look in their eyes as Aqua took out some scrolls, “Now, before my rule is official, there’s a lot of paperwork we need to get done, so let’s get that done, shall we!?”

Meanwhile, back at the bathhouse, Shining Armor was sneaking about, trying to look for his sister or anything, but everything he came across was bolted locked. Then he heard something down in one of the rooms at the end of the hall. He then looked around for a way to break it but then smashed it with the back of his hooves and then saw Twilight groaning on the ground. He then helped her up onto her hooves and asked, “Twilight, are you ok?”

“Ye…yeah ”

She looked around. “Wait, we need to get to the statue.”

“Right, the statue, come on, we need to get to it Moppoy is saying. Aqua just had Celestia turn the rest of the guards into maids and control them. We need to destroy that statue now!”

They nodded, then rushed into the lobby, and there were a dozen sirens all laughing and hissing.

Twilight braced herself and shouted, “This is it! We have to take them on, or Equestria is doomed!”

“Just stay by me!” Shining shouted, and just as the Sirens lunged and started to swarm them, Stormy burst through and slammed down, causing a wave of water to burst out from the massive baths and pushing the sirens aside. Orange dived in and started watching any of the sirens still up as Sword Feather and Shield Wing flew in, protecting Stormy as she maneuvered the water into storm clouds. She turned to Shining and Twilight and shouted, “Get to the statue!”

Twilight and Shining Armor rushed through the lobby and slammed through the doors to the statue, and then Shining Armor put up a shield and shouted, “Twilight, do whatever you need to do now!”

She nodded, brushed over, and went over the spell. She then shot a beam of energy, sucking the power from it then, shattering it into a thousand pieces. As it crumbled to dust, the sirens shrieked as they flew off in terror.

Back at the banquet, the nobles were being forced to sign into law that Aqua was to be the queen of Equestria, all being hypnotized as the sirens silently sang a song with the former guards now serving them food or cleaning up around them. Amber herself was preening Aqua's wings with a stupid grin on her face but then felt her mind break free as she shook her head, getting a message into her head that Twilight had just destroyed the statue! Stop Aqua now!”

Amber held Aquas into a choke hold and shouted, “Fellow soldiers of Equestria, snap out of it now! Equestria is being taken over, and I don’t care that you're now mares or dressed in maid outfits; fight back and help me defeat these sirens!”

The maids all looked amongst each other with worried looks as Silky came forward and slammed a pie into a siren’s face; soon, the other maids and the nobles at the banquet started throwing food at the sirens, who hissed and attacked. Soon, there was a massive food fight with pies, cakes, and cups of tea being flung all over the place!

Queen Aqua bit Amber’s hoof as she cried and then fell back as Aqua’s eyes lit up, and every bit of tea, wine, and juice swirled into a massive liquid ball, and it exploded, sending everypony flying. She then turned to Amber, and they slammed into each other. The two pegasi crashed onto the massive, long dining table as they rolled about in platters of dishes. Aqua cried, “Why are you even siding with Princess Celestia? She was going to fire you even before I demoted you to a maid! You should be joining me; I can make you rule alongside me!”

Amber scoffed, flexing her wings and standing up, “I learned a lot about myself the past few weeks, and the one thing I realized I needed to stop trying to be an asshole. Maybe it's about time you did the same!”

“How dare you!”

Aqua's eyes lit up once more as another massive ball of liquid started to form above her, and then she flung it, this time right at Princess Celestia, who was standing by looking dazed.

“No!” Amber cried as she saw Silky jump up, lit her horn, and then catch the ball, dispersing it into a massive spray. Then Amber flew over and slammed Aqua to the ground as Celestia blinked, rubbing her head and looking at the hall, now covered in food stains and slightly flooded with juice, wine, and tea, as she asked, “Girls, what happened? Where did all these maids come from?”

They all looked at each other, confused, and then Amber pressed a hoof on Aqua’s muzzle to keep her from saying anything, sending a thought to Mop Head, Mop Head: come down here. You can explain everything.

A few hours went by after the fighting was over. Shining Armor led the rest of the Maids of Honor alongside his sister, with the rest of the sirens all gagged and in chains. After the nobles cleared out and evacuated, the former guards helped clean up, and they are better at it now due to their transformations. Once everything was cleaned and the Sirens all brought to the grand hall, all the maids stood at attention as Mop Head explained everything to Princess Celestia and Princess Luna. As Mop Head recited the entire tale, Princess Celestia was moved to tears as she looked among all the maids and bowed before them and cried, “I know I was brainwashed when I turned you all into maids, but it does not excuse the pain and torment I caused you all, please forgive my actions.”

The maids all blushed, and then Mop Head cried, “Don't be. You’re not to blame.”

“She’s right!” Amber shouted. She shoved Aqua towards her in shackles. “She’s to blame; she brainwashed you into turning us into maids so it would make it easier for her sirens to take us down and had you almost sign Equestria over to her.”

“She’s right; you did nothing wrong. You held back when we saw you, but they were using some powerful brainwashing spells.”

Celestia glared at Aqua, who looked rather pitiful now; she then said, “Remove the muzzle.”

“But princess, she can.”

The princess of the sun held up a hoof and continued, “I know she can, but I want to speak to her mare to mare.”

The maids did as she asked and then stepped aside as Celestia addressed her, “Queen Aqua.”

“Yes.”

“I understand why you tried to brainwash me and control me; your species is facing a crisis, and you needed my lands for protection and safety.”

“Yes.. we lost our homeland to a creature known as the Storm King; we were seeking refugee here.”

Princess Celestia then rose up and said, “As you know, we have had dealings with yaks, dragons, the horses from Saddle Arabia, and I'm good friends with Queen Novo of the hippogriffs, who sadly lost contact for some time. Why wouldn’t you think we couldn’t come to an agreement?”

“Our history with the ponies has been dicey at best. We wouldn't think you would welcome us with open arms.”

“Most of those battles you speak of were fought long before I ever ruled, and I tried to reach out for a peace agreement, but I was always met with hostility from you. Queen Aqua, I have every right to banish you or do far worse for what you did to me and my soldiers. But luckily for you, nopony was truly harmed. I can easily change back those you had me change into maids. So, instead of continuing the cycle of hostility, let's end it here and now.”

She brought out a new treaty, and they signed it as the sirens bowed and left the hall. The princess then turned to the maids and, with an embarrassed smile, said, “Now, we need to right some other wrongs; please, let’s do this one at a time. The curse placed upon you all is rather complicated to dispel. So this might take a while.”

One by one, Princess Celestia took her time to change the maids back into stallion soldiers with their old cutie marks, but soon, only the original Maids of Honor were left standing before her, all looking sheepish. She then asked, “I'm sorry for leaving you last; the truth is I owe you a great debt…in the face all of Equestria does, so I wanted to thank you all personally and apologize for what I've done.”

The maids looked at each other, unsure of how to respond as Mop Head spoke up; she bowed and said, “In truth, there’s no need. We know you had no intention of turning us into maids.”

“I understand, but I still feel it necessary now I'll turn you back into royal guards,”

“Wait!”

They turned to Amber, who came forward, “uh, Princess Celestia, we um…”

“We came to a decision.” Silky continued, “Amber and I wish to stay this way permanently.”

She turned to see Orange come forward and nod, “Yeah, me too. I want to stay as a maid.”

Stormy sighed, “Yeah, me as well. I have to admit I had way more fun like this than I ever had as a boring old royal guard.”

She turned to Sea Star and Lemon Heart, who both blushed as they chimed in unison, “It would be an honor to stay as your maids of honor! And making your breakfast and cake every day!”

The princess of the sun was quite surprised by their answers and continued, “I see, so you wish to be the Maids of Honor?”

Mop Head continued, “Yes, if that is ok? We not only wish to stay as mares but be your covert operatives to keep Equestria safe from hidden threats. ”

“If you wish, then consider it done.”

The maids all cheered and hugged each other as they gathered with the sun princess, who embraced them all with her wingspan. Princess Luna flew over, took out a camera, and said, “Come now, face me!”

The mares all cried out in surprise, but before anyone could do anything, the camera went off with a flash.

Chapter Fifteen: Maids for Days

A month had passed since the sirens' plans to take over Equestria were squashed by the Maids of Honor. In honor of their heroic efforts, the Maids were given an extended vacation and most of the mares left to enjoy their newfound lives. However, one maid, Amber, decided to stay behind. She looked rather distraught as she was busy preening the princess' beautiful wings. The mare had gotten rather good at it, practicing on Philomena and working part-time. The princess was laid out on her bed, wings outward as Amber delicately went over them with precision, ensuring that any hint of dirt was gone, taking out any bent feathers and smoothing them. The princess of the sun was in ecstasy as she moaned, "My, you've gotten so good at this."

"Thank you. I've had a lot of practice," Amber winked at Philomenia, who winked back. The pegasus continued to finish the preening, being extra careful as she brushed over the princess' feathers. Once the preening was completed, Princess Celestia yawned and stretched, "Seeing I have no meetings until noon, do you wish to have breakfast with me in the gardens?"

Amber was stunned at the request, somewhat reluctant to reply, "Of course, that sounds wonderful."

The two then sat down for a light breakfast outside in the palace gardens, mainly fruit parfaits with tea. As they dined, Princess Celestia eyed her maid and said, "Amber, I have to ask why you decided to stay here while everyone else is on vacation?"

Amber paused. She had been avoiding that question for the past few weeks, and at this point, it was clear the princess wanted to make sure she was doing well. She then courageously said, "Well, the truth is I needed time alone. There is a lot to work on considering my past."

The princess chuckled and said, "Amber, I still can't believe you wish to stay like this. You were determined to continue your ways a few weeks ago and even threatened me."

The mare winced, remembering how she acted, and said, "That's the reason why I wanted to stay like this. Recently, we had a fight with some royal guards, and seeing how they acted like me showed we needed to change; I needed to really change. I want us to be better, and being a mare has made me better."

"Well, that doesn't mean you need to stay as a mare?"

Amber nodded in agreement and added, "You're right, but as much as I hate to admit it out loud, I enjoyed my life as a mare much more than I ever had as a stallion."

"I see. I don't mean to pry, but how are things going for you and Silky?"

"Better… it's getting really good, and I can't believe I never saw her like this. I mean, I've heard of ponies being transgender before, but I was always disgusted by the notion…Silky truly was always meant to be a mare."

Princess Celestia nodded in agreement and continued, "Well, it seems maybe my subconscious may have chosen stallions who either needed to see a mare's point of view or who are transgender."

Amber couldn't help but laugh at the thought and said, "Maybe I'm just glad you're back to normal."

"Me too. I know my mind wasn't mine, but I still feel awful for turning my guards into maids. Even now, I feel uneasy in the ranks."

"It will take time for your soldiers to trust you fully. But I'm certain over time, things will mull over. I bet they'll be joking about this whole experience in a few weeks."

The princess laughed, saying, "I can't say I feel the same, but that gives me hope."

"Now, enough about me. How is your dating life?"

The princess paused, then looked out and said, "It's not something I like to discuss openly, but I had a special somepony. But he and I might never be together."

"I'm sorry that was brash of me."

The alicorn shook her head and contemplated for a few moments as she sipped her tea and took a few bites of cake, then continued with a sullen smile. "The truth is I was as brash and brazen as you when I was younger, and it got me into a lot of trouble. I fell in love with somepony from another dimension, but if we were to ever stay together, it could mean the downfall for both of our worlds. So we are forced apart for all of eternity."

"That… that's awful."

"And even though I know going to him could lead to disaster, it would mean the destruction of this world. I have half a mind to go and see him even now. Don't wait; go to Silky and embrace your love for each other."

"I…I will thank you for sharing that."

Just then, a pegasus soldier flew over and bowed, "Princess, I have the information from your informant about Queen Novo's whereabouts as requested."

The messenger hoofed Princess Celestia a letter, which she unfurled with her magic. Then her eyes lit up as she read it, gasping, and dropped it. "Urgent news! We need the maids of honor this instant!"

"But most are out on their vacations!?"

Princess Celestia paused but shook her head and continued, "I know, but we need to call them back; this can't wait."

She then started getting out parchment, writing down her messages, and sending them to Philomenia, who flew out the window in a stream of flame.

Meanwhile, Sea Star and Lemon Heart were in their family's home, a small, cozy house with bright yellow walls covered in framed pictures. The sisters were in the middle of baking cupcakes and brewing tea as their mother, a portly yellow-coated earth pony mare with a massive mop of blue and teal striped mane, thick glasses, and wearing a cute pink apron, was happily chatting with her daughter. Despite their mother's acceptance of their gender change, the two yellow-coated mares looked somewhat embarrassed, considering their situation and knowing their mother would cross boundaries.

"I can't believe I'm having breakfast with my so—I mean daughters. Celestia still can't believe your mares still."

Lemon Heart looked rather anxious and didn't know how to respond. Meanwhile, Sea Star spoke up."I'm sorry we didn't tell you earlier. It's just that we weren't on board turning back to stallions," as she poured her mother a cup of tea.

Lemon Heart blushed as she was feeling abit nervous as she was busy baking them some pastries. "Yes, we had a long conversation about this and decided that we both always felt we were meant to be mares."

Feeling the most squeamish, Sea Star bowed and said, "I'm sorry that we didn't tell you earlier. We weren't sure that we wanted to stay like this permanently and wanted to make sure we had a decision before telling you."

Their mother was quite surprised by their response: "Girls, please, it's alright! You don't owe me any apologies. I couldn't care less. If you two want to transition into mares, I will support you every step of the way!"

The two mares blushed and lowered their heads, happy that their mother was so accepting but embarrassed at her eccentricity. Sea Star added, "Well, to be clear, we both are taking this slowly, so don't expect grand foals any time soon."

"Of course not. Please take your time. I can wait, but minus the gender swap, are you two having any other problems?

Lemon Heart slammed a hoof over her face, being too embarrassed. Sea Star gulped and said, "Well, it's not all bad, except we have the same problem you had when you had us…"

Their mother eyed them as they both looked at each other with worried looks on their faces and then the mare replied, "You know.." she then showed off her flank.

Then Ocean Breeze's eyes widened. "Oh, right. That's why you're here. I apologize." She then rushed upstairs and heard some banging. Their mother came down with a bunch of bras, helped them try them on, and sighed, "Oh, you two look so cute. Now, let's have some girl talk."

They then all sat around and began to chat, having a lengthy conversation. Then, as the mares got up to leave, their mother bowed her head a little and started t tear up as she said, "I know you have to go but please come back, and if you do get pregnant, please let me know."

"Mom!"

"I'm just saying your girls now."

"Doesn't mean we want to be pregnant," Sea Star grumbled.

"But you know you can always ask for advice if that does happen; you're going to be in heat now, and you never know."

"Mom!" the mares shouted as they both rose angrily.

Then before the maids' mother could emberass them any further Philomena flew through the window and dropped a letter on them just then. Sea Star took it and read it, gaping in surprise, "Lemon Heart, we have a mission from Princess Celestia!"

Sea Star took the opportunity to break off the awkward position she and her sister were in and said, "Right, uh, sorry we have to cut our breakfast short, but we got to get going!"

Lemon Heart nodded as their mother threw them into a hug, squeezing them tightly."Oh, we can always discuss this another time. Now go save Equestria and be safe!"

"Yes, Mom!" The two sisters chimed as they ran off together as fast as they could.

Meanwhile, Stormy, Orange, and Silky were with Rarity on a spa date, all sitting in a massive hot tub with face masks. There seemed to be some tension in the air, but overall, they were having a good time and were in high spirits. Silky looked a bit awkward as she mulled over things. Her relationship with Amber has dramatically improved since they decided to stay as mares. She was nervous about proposing to her and how serious she was, and she needed a bit of time to figure this out. The mare then turned to Rarity and asked, "So, Rarity, I need to ask you something."

"Yes, dear?"

"I need your help with uh…" she looked around, and attempting not to draw attention to herself, she tried to whisper under her breath, "a wedding dress."

Despite her trying to be inconspicuous, the rest of the mares gasped in surprise, and then Stormy shouted, "Wait, that's why you're here!?"

"You and Amber are getting married!?" Orange cried.

Silky was getting more nervous by the second, then said, "Please, I don't mean to alarm anyone. But Amber and I are getting more serious, and I really want Rarity to design our dresses."

"Well, darling, I would be thrilled to make your dress! Do you want me to make one for Amber as well?"

"Of course, as long as it's not too much work."

Rarity scoffed and threw a hoof. " Please, darling. It's no big deal at all. I can gladly make you and your future wife wedding dresses."

"Do you think I'm being too presumptuous?

"Of course not!" everypony chimed at once.

Orange laughed, then said, "Well, you love each other, don't you?"

"Yeah, but it feels like I'm rushing things."

Stormy scoffed, "As if you two have been at it for weeks, we can barely get any sleep every time you guys have se-"

"Stormy!" Orange slammed a hoof over her friend's mouth. "What my friend here is trying to say is that you two are clearly meant for each other and should get married."

"Yeah, I think so too."

Just then, Philomena flew through an open window, dropped a note as Rarity caught it, and read, "Well, girls, it seems you three have to go."

They read together as Silky groaned, "Seriously, I was going to get my hooves done!"

Stormy got up. "Come on, we can do that anytime. This is our first big mission! Let's not keep the princess waiting!"

Orange came over and whispered to Rarity, who nodded, "Right before you go! Let's get you outfitted! You can't have an audience with the princess without proper attire!"

After the mares dried up and removed their face masks, the fashionista dressed the maids in their flashy custom maid uniforms. After a few minutes of adjustments and light makeup, the mares emerged from the spa, spotting a chariot waiting for them. They started to get on, and then Silky came forward and hugged Rarity, who hugged her back, whispering, "Thank you."

"No problem, darling. You're going to look gorgeous in a wedding dress. While you're saving Equestria, I'll pick out some designs for you to choose from."

"thank you!" Silky couldn't help but squeal in delight as she skipped to the chariot and flew off into the air.

Mop Head stirred as she felt something shift beside her. She turned to see that Soapy was lying next to her beneath the sheets, snoring peacefully. The sun rose, and she saw birds chirping as they flew by. It was a rather beautiful start to her first day. But she couldn't nuzzle her. She slowly climbed out of bed, and they got ready for the day, going through their morning routine. Then Soapy turned, "I still can't believe we have a whole week off!"

"Yeah, I still don't know what we'll do?"

"Well, today, I thought we could start by spending the whole day at the spa. Then we can go to Fluttershy's cottage and help feed her bunnies, and maybe go catch a Wondebolt show…"

Mop Head laughed, getting up, "Yes, that does sound amazing,"

Just as they got up, Philomena flew over and dropped a scroll. The two looked confused as Mop Head picked it up and read it over. "Huh, it seems like Princess Celestia needs an urgent meeting with the Maids of Honor."

"Seriously!?"

Mop Head blushed then said,"well it must be serious; she even apologized."

"Why can't Twilight and her friends handle it?"

"I think it might be something more covert, but regardless, we can't ignore the princess' summons."

She kissed her marefriend on the cheek and ran off to see a chariot waiting for her to get on. Then, she was whisked back to Canterlot.

The mares were now all in the grand hall, looking quite annoyed that they had been pulled from their vacations. Princess Celestia trotted towards them, followed by Amber, who had a tired phoenix on her back and looked utterly exhausted. The princess bowed before them and said, "I apologize for disturbing your vacation. I wouldn't have, except this is of the utmost importance."

Silky pouted but grumbled, "It's understandable."

"Well, you saved us from a rather awkward conversation with our mom," Sea Star and Lemon Heart chimed.

"I was looking forward to getting my hooves done," Orange mumbled.

"Rarity and I were talking about we- I mean dresses, we can do that anytime."

"Sure, as long as that's all you're talking about."

"Amber, are you accusing me of cheating!"

"Wait, no, I didn't mean to say that out loud!"

"Girls!"

"Yes," the mares all turned towards a rather angry-looking Mop Head. "Please let the princess speak."

"Yes, Mop Head," the mares all grumbled.

They then turned toward the princess, who cleared her throat and said, "As I said before, I have an urgent mission for you, but first, let me introduce you to Captain Celaeno!"

They heard the doors open behind them, and they all looked behind themselves. They were surprised to see a massive parrot come in and eye them. "These are your elite warrior's, maids!?"

"That's Maids of Honor to you!" Amber snapped.

Princess Celestia held a hoof. "Now, these mares just saved Equestria and are perfect for the assignment." She then turned to address the maids and continued, "Now, if you remember, the sirens' news of this Storm King sounded urgent, and it's not the first time I've heard of him. So I looked into his whereabouts and learned he may be connected to the disappearance of the hippogriffs. You must go to the land of the hippogriffs and Find my old friend Queen Novo."

"Yes, princess!" the maids all saluted and exclaimed.

She then turned to Captain Celaeno and said, "I hired you to escort them and ensure they find my old friend and make sure she and the rest of the hippogriffs are safe. From there, we will start deliberating on a strategy to take down the Storm King."

"I'm not a fan of the Storm King and don't mind teaming up to take him down, but are you sure these are your finest warriors?"

Princess Celestia bent her head toward the mares and bowed. "I assure you these are our finest warriors. Now go with my blessing, and on your return, I promise I'll make sure you can rest for as long as you like.

"Yes, princess!" they all chimed and saluted. They all trotted off, with Captain Celaeno leading them, looking rather irritated and grumbling, "I can't believe the princess is having me babysit a bunch of her maids."

Amber was getting furious as she shouted, "Didn't you hear a word she said? We're not just maids! We took down the sirens and saved Equestria, so how about showing us some Faust Da-"

Silky placed a hoof over her finance's mouth and said, "What Amber means is we are highly trained and skilled in combat, and we can handle ourselves."

Mop Head thought the pirate would be angry, but she just smirked and asked, "Sure, I like your spunk, but who is your leader?"

Mop Head came forward and added, "That would be me, and I look forward to cooperating with a pirate. I have to ask, are you part griffin?"

"Griffin!? Please no. We come from the islands in the south, but the Storm King has invaded the area, and I and my crew have been holding his ships ever since."

"Saying about your ship, are we going to the ocean? We can ha-" Before Mop Head could finish, her mouth dropped upon seeing a massive airship outside the palace. And Captain Celaeno ruffled her mane, "We're not going by sea, little one."

The maids all gathered on the massive pirate ship. They were impressed as they went aboard and were seen by the many other enormous parrot pirates going about their business. The mares hugged each other as the ship started rising into the air all being and it sailed off into the sky onto their next big adventure.

Chapter one: Mop Head is Born

Late one evening at Palace in Canterlot, Spearpoint, a grey coated unicorn with a dark blue mane and tail with a pair of teal eyes was dressing himself into his armor. The stallion was trying to be as quiet as possible as many of the other soldiers were fast asleep. Meanwhile, Spearpoint was sitting on his bunk in his barracks feeling somewhat nervous. He recently had his evaluation from Shining Armor before he left to the Crystal Empire, and it was horrible. He was ranked the worst royal guard under Celestia, and he felt like the worst. He was always late to formations, he was a coward running away at the sight of rats, and constantly having missing pieces of his armor. But to be fair his destiny was never being a royal guard in the first place as he looked over at his flank…he never received his cutie mark; and he never knew why…being a royal guard was an act of desperation to make a living. He was mocked and ridiculed his whole life, but despite all that, he made sure to make it as a royal guard, and he did alright. But he was never good at fighting and was always lagging behind his fellow comrades in arms.

He was looking upward to the ceiling thinking things over; tonight was the night he would have a private meeting with Princess Celestia herself. She was always sympathetic to her staff, even the ones who weren't that good at their jobs. He can only hope she just dismisses him without much of a fuss, but it was still odd that she would be doing this in the throne room. He slowly walked down the barracks with the other stallions still up snickering and whispering amongst themselves. Spearpoint just ignored them and continued down the barracks until he came through the halls of the castle. He was somewhat depressed and wasn't really paying attention to them and continued to trot through the aisles wondering what he should try next…Donut Joe maybe hiring; he should try getting a job with him. He was going down the grand hall and was heading to the throne itself. There Celestia sat alone in the dimly lit grand hall where the princess decided to have that dreaded personal conversation with him.

He stood shaking; all overall he wanted to do was run and cower, but he had to confront this head-on. Spearpoint trotted over to the throne and bowed in front of her, ready for his dismissal, "Private Spearpoint is present as ordered!"

Celestia was busy reading the report in front of her; she then looked over and acknowledged him. "Yes, Spearpoint, it seems, you are quite the colorful individual."

"Yes…" he grumbled, lowering his head, not knowing how to take that. The mare looked down at them with a smile. "don't be so nervous, please relax."

Spearpoint scratched the back of his mane realizing he didn’t have to be so formal as he kept forgetting that this is Celestia, not his commander.

The guard rose up and stood there waiting as the princess continued to read through his evaluation. "So, I assume you know why you're here."

"Yeah, I… I'm getting dismissed, aren't I!?" Spearpoint cried out.

Celestia looked down at her guard and replied, "I'm thinking of a more interesting decision……I know you like to cross-dress."

Spearpoint's cheeks flushed pink…he always had his strange fetish of dressing up as a maid, but he thought he was always alone when he did it. Even if it was the princess, he couldn't believe that she would spy on him and cried out, "How do you know about that!? We're you spying on me!?"

"N…no! that's not it at all!" Celesta cried out, "I…I found out more on accident when I was flying by the barracks…I do apologize; I didn't mean to expose your secret."

The royal guard scratched his mane and looked upward, feeling somewhat embarrassed. "It's fine, princess… I'm just a bit defensive over that secret."

The princess's cheeks flushed pink as she continued, "I also noticed that you have an odd habit of helping the maids clean up the castle…and you seem to be enjoying it."

The guard groaned, seeing another one of his secrets being exposed by the princess. This was becoming more embarrassing than just being dismissed outright. "Oh great, you saw that too…."

The princess snickered behind a hoof then asked, "so…the reason I brought you here is I wish to ask if you would want to be one of my cleaning staff?"

The guard gulped and thought things over; at the very least, he wouldn't be jobless and then stammered, "s…sure I wouldn't mind that…."

Then Celestia's cheeks flushed pink and continued, "Right, I um…also proposing something else…would you want to be my maid? As such…be transformed into a mare? I know this is quite a proposal, but I can tell that you desire for a new identity?”

Spearpoint was stunned by this odd proposal and stood there looking somewhat baffled. He thought the proposal for a bit. All his life, he wasn't sure of his gender as a stallion…but having the ability to change it? Can it actually be a possibility…but this is so sudden and so strange he didn't know how to take this. The stallion looked up then asked, "well…I…um…would that be, ok?"

Celestia was stunned too, "of course it is, it's rare to see a pony who wishes to be switched to a different gender, but it happens from time to time."

Spearpoint was now shaking all over…a different gender…he wasn't sure about this at all. He wasn't sure of this life-changing decision, but the longer he stood there, the more that the idea excited him.

Celestia held up a hoof, "I see that this is quite a decision, and you may need a few days to think this over, but I must warn you once we do this, there's no going back for a while…this spell will drain me, and it can be a week or two before I can turn you back to normal.

Spearpoint paused as he wasn't sure at first, but a few days to think it over didn’t sound…what if Celestia changes her mind or he chicken's out…no, he has to make the decision now! This might be the only opportunity to figure out who he is! He then slammed a hoof down and shouted, "I don't need a few days! I… I'll do it. I have nothing to lose! If I don't like being a maid, then I can be turned back to normal like you said."

The princess gulped as she was looking unsure. "You sure? You know what you're asking for, right? You will be a mare for an entire week maybe even longer."

The stallion was sure and adamant about this decision. It was secretly a dream come true, but he didn't want to say it out loud. Spearpoint gulped as he closed his eyes, "yes, I understand; just go on with it."

Celestia gave a slight nod as she lit her horn; she sent tendrils of magic to wrap around the stallion. Spearpoint squeaked as he felt the transformation start to take effect as his body start to morph underneath his armor. The stallion felt his muscles and bones rearranging; he felt his skull cracking and his face morphing. This transformation was quite painful a lot making him grunt and gnash his teeth, but he endured the pain. But when the transformation was coming to an end, what made him squeak and feel queasy was feeling his stallion hood disappearing. It felt like his underside being tickled and stretched then in a matter of seconds something that's been there for his entire life suddenly went missing. He squeaked, feeling it slip up through his body and cheeks flushing pink, knowing his reproductive organs were now officially rearranged.

Celestia's horn dimmed as she looked down at the transformed mare and asked, "are you ok?"

"Yes...yes, I believe so…" Spearpoint stammered and squeaked, hearing his new high-pitched voice. It was elegant with a Canterlot accent. With, something about it made her think of Princess Cadance.

"Wow, you have such a lovely voice," Celestia whispered; she then got up and looked the mare over.

The mare looked over her new slender body with her armor still covering her. Still, it was now loosely covering her body with her helmet lopsided over her head. Everything about the former stallion was gone now standing in his place was a much smaller more adorable frame. The only thing that stayed the same was Spearpoint's mane and tail which were still cut in a basic military style. "So…um…I guess I need a maid's uniform?"

"Yes, and your mane and tail could use some work," Celestia explained as she lit her horn. The armor around her body started to transform as well with the metal turned into a silky cloth, and her helmet started to shrink on her head.

"Eep! My armor!" Spearpoint cried out, being somewhat surprised.

"Well, yes, you do need a new uniform…and…um…it would take some time to get one tailored but trust me, I will make this a work of art," Celestia explained; she concentrated on her spell and continued it.

Then the gold color started to turn into a pitch black with a teal sash wrapped around Spearpoint’s midriff. Her helmet was then slowly transforming into some kind of maid's cap, as her gauntlets covering her hooves were turned from metal to a softer, more comfortable fabric, with white socks growing up her legs. She then felt her mane and tail growing outward and squeaked out an "ouch!" as Celestia's magic brushed and braided her now long flowing hair.

"Sorry, trying to be gentle," The princess apologized.

The mare grumbled irritably under her breath but let Celestia continuing braiding her mane…this was odd even for the somewhat uncouth princess. But she let her finish brushing her mane. Then a tiny white apron was tied around her midriff, and white frills appeared at the end of the skirt of her dress. She sat back, feeling the new light uniform dressed over her. This entire transformation was a lot to take in, and it made her feel so strange like a giant weight was lifted from her body.

"There, it's complete!" Celestia squealed, clapping her hooves together. She then gave her new maid a look over, walking around the mare and admiring her work, then whispered, "wow, you're cute."

"Y…yeah…you think…I… I'm cute!" the mare squealed, hugging herself with her hooves and feeling so bashful.

"Yes, you're adorable, Spearpoint," Celestia whispered, helping Spearpoint to her hooves. The mare paused that as she felt as that name no longer suited her…in fact, she always wanted to change it. It was such a dumb name. She had almost zero magic ability as a foal, and it's why her parents named her Spearpoint because she used to stab her toys with her horn.

The mare then turned to Celestia and asked, "can I have a new name?"

The princess paused as she tapped a hoof to her chin, "sure…but…what would you want to be called?"

The new maid thought about her new name. She…she also used to be called Mop Head due to her usually unkempt mane…and now she was a mare (and she did like mopping); she replied, "hmmm, what about Mop Head or Moppy for short…."

Celestia dawwed at the comment and replied, "oh Moppy, that's an adorable name."

She then turned to another form wrote her new name down and some other information about her new maid. Celestia then drifted it over to Mop Head, who took the form; she read it over basically all the information regarding her was the same… except, of course, her gender change, and all the male pronouns switched to female ones. Then there were her new duties. The tasks she'll be performing were as expected, cleaning, mopping, dusting. There were actual rankings among the maids as well, the low-level maids which she'll be starting did most of the cleaning, then mid-level maids were in charge of keeping the library and the royal chambers cleaned, and the head maids hand-picked by the princess herself managed entire parts of the castle managing the duties of the other maids under them.

"Well, I guess I gotta start somewhere." Mop Head whispered; she then wrote down her name on the form.

"Well done," Celestia exclaimed and clapped her hooves as she rolled up the scroll. "Alright, all the official paperwork is finished now; I know you're still living at the barracks due to you still saving up for a home. So you can have a room at the maid's quarters, and I expect you to behave yourself."

"Yes, princess," Mop Head replied as she performed a curtsey almost flawlessly.

Celestia couldn't help but joke, "looks like you've been practicing."

The new maid's cheeks flushed a shade of pink and threw a hoof. "Glad you noticed."

The princess then rose up and held out a hoof, "come, I'll show you to the maid's quarters."

Celestia then led Mop Head towards her new home.

As the maid walked around the palace she felt so relaxed without all that heavy armor, it was rather lovely having all that metal clanking around her. If she was honest, she never felt like the armor fit her body anyways. In fact, the way that the silk dress around her body and the feeling of the soft slippers on her hooves was rather comforting. As Mop Head was embracing her new comfortable outfit the two eventually made it to the maid's tower, where Celestia opened the door slowly to reveal a long winding staircase. Mop Head slowly trotted through a long spiral staircase; she came to an empty room near the top. There Celestia opened up to show a quaint little room complete with a dresser, a bed, table and chairs, and a ponyquin in the back of the room for her uniform. There the maid went about undressing herself. Celestia looked away as Mop Head finished and draped her uniform over the ponyquin; she turned to see Celestia’s cute expression and snickered, "why are you looking away? You know we usually are naked, right?"

"Oh…so…sorry didn't know if you were comfortable in your body yet…." Celestia stammered; she turned to see the naked body of her new maid, and she was pretty cute even without her outfit with the coat looking softer than when she was a stallion. Mop Head walked over to the princess, swishing her tail, and with tears in her eyes and hugged Celestia.

The princess stood there and placed a hoof over the young mare, then whispered, "I hope you're not discouraged about your demotion."

"No…in fact, I'm excited…thank you for giving me a second chance…." Mop Head whispered as well.

"It's no problem, now get some sleep; tomorrow will be a busy day," Celestia cooed as she walked out of the room.

Mop Head waited for a few minutes until the echoes of hoofsteps dissipated, then with a ton of pent up excitement exploded as she squealed in delight, hugging herself. "I can't believe this happened; I'm a mare!"

She bounced up and down, getting excited, going over to a mirror to admire herself, and gasped in surprise, seeing how cute she looked for the first time! Her dainty eyes, long lashes, small frame, round face. She was, without a doubt, cute…she then turned her entire body around and threw her tail up to show off her cute rump. It was thicker than when she was a stallion with a little tight virgina and two tiny bouncy crotchboobs. Mop Head was just in awe at how she was now an actual mare…she was just speechless beyond any words that can describe how she was feeling. The mare then trotted over to the bed and laid down under the covers. She didn't even know if she was going to be able to sleep tonight with all these thoughts going through her mind.

Chapter Six: The Spy Maids going into the Spa

Sea Star was looking somewhat worried as she was sitting down on a bench waiting in the spa alongside Mop Head in the massage parlor and spa known as "The Bathhouse of the Goddesses," which they previously went to a few weeks ago, was still rather beautiful with the ornate statues of the princesses along with a cute looking pegasus mare working the front desk. The two maids were both undressed, and they were both feeling rather exposed, not being in her uniform. The yellow-coated earth pony herself was not comfortable in a mare's body and wished she could turn back into a royal guard. But for now she'll focus on the spa treatment she slowly looked over at her friend and asked, "so…um…what am I to expect with this?"

Mop Head laid out her hooves and stretched her limbs, and said, "Just relax; there's nothing to worry about, and even when you turn back into a stallion, you should definitely do this more often,"

The mare's eyes lit up as she quickly added, "though I suggest not a place where they brainwash you."

Sea Star couldn't help but snicker behind a hoof at the joke; she added, "well, that being said, I'll definitely try spas more when I'm back to normal…"

"Right," Mop Head giggled under her breath.

The yellow-coated earth pony looked somewhat nervous as she crossed her forelegs and looked downward. The mare seemed to be in a trance, she never had a massage before, let alone a full-on spa treatment. This was definitely something that was out of her comfort zone, but at the same time, the mare was rather curious about getting one as well.

The earth pony threw her mane back and sighed, "yeah, so we just sit here and wait?"

"Yes, until our spa bath is ready," Mop Head responded with a smirk on her face. Sea Star looked away with a painful expression resonating on her face.

"Hey, are you ok?" The head maid asked as she scratched her mane.

Sea Star gazed upwards with a smile and said, "yes, I'm fine; I'm just trying to go through being a mare which is like being in a prison, ya know? I am ok with being a maid to help Princess Celestia. But, I feel uncomfortable with ponies touching my body and stuff like that."

The yellow-coated mare lowered her head, seeming to be ashamed for saying all of this out loud. "Look, Sea Star, you don't have to go through with this, ok? You can go back and get the princess to change you back into a stallion. The last thing I want is to make you feel uncomfortable."

"Right, I understand," the mare sighed as she brushed her hoof over her mane. "It's fine. I wouldn't want Princess Celestia to continue being a puppet to whoever is doing this to her. But yes, I want to turn back into a stallion."

"Ok, you will, and I will make sure that happens," Mop Head added as she hugged her friend. Sea Star was somewhat surprised at the sudden embrace and wasn't sure at first. She started to squirm and make noises, but she stopped seeming to begin loving the feel of the fellow mare's embrace they held each other.

"Aww, you look so cute together," Somepony said out loud as the two mares looked across the lobby standing there was a gorgeous pegasus was now standing in front of her with piercing blue eyes, a lovely soft light blue and sea green striped mane that fell around her head like a waterfall; which matched perfectly with her snow-white coat, which was partly covered by the toga draped over her body. The goddess known as Aqua slowly trotted over and replied relatively smoothly, "hello, Mop Head; glad you decided to return?"

"Yes, me as well. I can't wait for another massage," the head maid said with a smile on her face.

"That's nice to hear," the mysterious pegasus said as she turned her attention towards Sea Star, who looked downward with her cheeks flushing red. She continued trot towards her, and with a smirk, she asked, "so, how are you?"

"I'm fine," the unicorn sighed, "I've just been busy the past few days now that I'm princess Celestia's personal assistant."

"Right, I bet that is rather taxing," the mare added as she went to ask what they wanted, "now, I presume you want to manicure your hooves and horn?"

"Yes, please," Mop Head chimed as she clopped her hooves on the ground.

Aqua then turned her attention to Sea Star and asked, "for you? Do you want a hooficure and a back massage?"

There was a long awkard pause before the mare pointed a hoof at her self."Oh, you talking to me?"

The pegasus seemed to snicker behind a hoof and said, "yes, I'm talking to you."

When Sea Star realized she was being talked to and quickly stammered, "Oh uh…yeah, a hooficure and a back massage sounds nice."

The mare threw a hoof over her and asked, "ok, you two come along with me."

The two maids gave each other worried looks and then continued their way toward the spa baths. The pegasus then laid the others down on the table where she laid them down, and she went to work massaging their bodies. The mare then went about and rubbed some oil over her hooves and went to work massaging their bodies. Sea Star was in heaven as she had her body being worked on. The mare kicked and moaned in ecstasy as she felt her aching muscles relaxing and all that tension seeming to flow out from her body. Years of martial training and hard work seemed to fall off her shoulders as she was being worked on. Sea Star was flipped on her back, and she squeaked as Aqua went to work on the mare's hooves, going about with a hoof file and rubbing it along each of her hooves and grounding out the rough edges. The grinding of her hooves made her squeak as she felt the file grinding away at the ends of her legs, feeling them tingle. Luckily the mare wasn't too rough, only going about a gentle grind with the file as Sea Star laid there, loving every second of the procedure. The mare then went to pour oil on them and started to polish them up with a small rag until they gleamed in the sunlight. Sea Star was in complete bliss throughout the treatment as she laid her head back and sighed, seeing that despite her misgivings being a mare, she was sure enjoying this lovely spa date.

As the two other mares were getting massaged, Amber and Silky lay down relaxing in one of the back rooms; they were wrapped up in white towels, and with green mud masks rubbed all over their faces. The two looked relaxed with their manes all done up, and they seemed rather happy with smiles on their faces. They peeked through one of her cucumbers that was laid on top of one of her eyes and looked around the room. The pegasus maid peered around the room and whispered, "Hey, looks like nothing is going on here?"

"Ok! The other mares chimed they then slowly got up from the benches and made their way across the long white-tiled room. They continued their trot through the bright lights as they headed for the door. There they opened it and continued on their way through the building, scurrying about the halls and opening and closing doors. Amber was getting rather pissed as they passed another room. They eventually came upon two giant golden doors and then pushed them open. Inside was a vast pond with a waterfall flowing down over everything; it was like an indoor garden with flowers and willow trees everywhere. The room was rather beautiful, and Silky slowly trotted in with this look of awe on her face. In the middle of the pond standing above the water, was a statue of Princess Celestia. There she was surrounded by candles and on the pedestal was a book. The two mares slowly trotted over the water. They came upon an old-looking spell book, and Amber read the passage about spells they were using to control princess Celestia. She then read how they used a spell to use the statue like a voodoo doll controlling the princess alicorn's actions.

"My Faust!" is what is controlling Princess Celestia into turning so many of her guards into maids!"

"Yes, it has to be!" Silky cried out. "It's written right here plain as day!"

"Hey, who's in there!?"

Upon hearing somepony shouted the two mares gasped in fright; they scurried behind the statue and climbed up on her back, seeing she was standing on her back legs, so the princess's belly and chest, along with her wing span, hid their presence. As the two mares stayed silent, they heard Aqua stomping through the water, hearing loud splashing noises as the pegasus came closer. The two alicorns looked down at the reflections below seeing Aqua standing by, looking rather angry as she looked around the place, trying to find the intruders.

The mare looked around the place and tried to find the alicorn, then she glared at it angrily. "Seriously!? What was that!?"

One of the other pegasi flew in and asked, "Is anything wrong, Queen Aqua?"

Aqua looked around the entire enclosure, trying to figure out where the intruders were. Still, the two mares were as quiet as possible, and it looked like nopony was around.

"I thought I heard something," the mare grumbled.

Aqua adjusted her toga, then turned her attention towards her underling and said, "do we have other ponies working on those pesky maids?"

"Yes, your honor, we do! They are being taken care of as we speak."

"Good, keep them busy," Aqua snickered as she slowly trotted towards the statue and glared at it. "Ok, let's do this."

She cleared her throat and began to sing a song as the maids stood behind the statue. The music drifted over them, and it was rather trance-like as it made them pause and listen to the sound that drifted from the pegasus's voice. As she started to wobble dance and forth, the statue began to move as well; it went from a cold stone to a hot flesh and blood body. The two mares clung to the back of the statue, and as weird as it was hiding behind the princess statue coming to life, they stayed still and tried to be as silent as possible. The princess statue then stopped, and two maids paused in their tracks and stood relatively still as Aqua cleared her throat and said, "now, princess, what are you up to?"

The water started to ripple as a reflection with her standing by with two white-coated pegasus guards standing at attention. It looked like they were watching what Princess Celestia saw, seeing them in first-person view. The two guards were deeply asleep, and Aqua got rather appalled by their behavior as she said, "these two boneheads are sleeping on the job, seriously!? Come on, princess, they are sworn to protect you, and they can't stay awake while on duty!?"

"Yes, I agree these two clearly don't care about protecting me or my sister at all," the statue growled.

"Well, maybe it's time to teach these two a lesson, hmmm?" Aqua snickered under her breath with a smirk growing on her face. The princess lit her horn and her horn as the maids watched in horror as the stallions were turned into maids, with their male bodies becoming like those of mares, their sets of armor turning into maid uniforms, and their spears slowly transforming into brooms. The two maids wished they could fly to Canterlot Palace and stop this right now, but Amber placed a hoof on Silky's shoulder seeing there was nothing they could do here. They just watched the former stallions stand there sleeping soundly as the princess went about her business.

"See, we're making progress soon, every royal guard will be a maid, and the castle will be left totally defenseless."

"Yes, but won't they still be around…."

Aqua just threw her hooves in the air and scoffed, "Oh please, they're just a bunch of maids? What's the worst they can do? When I rule, they'll be my servants, but for now, I'll concentrate my power on controlling Princess Celestia. Once she's mine, I'll take over Equestria."

As soon as Aqua left and they no longer heard her hoofsteps the statue slowly turned back into hard cold stone and the image below faded away. The other maids waited until she was gone before running out of the room as fast as they could. They ran down towards the spa throwing off their towels and sliding into a hot tub. Just then, the mysterious white-coated pegasus walked into the room, and there she looked down at them and scratched her head. "Where were you? I thought you were just getting facials?"

Silky started to stammer and shake with sweat coming down her forehead while Amber cleared her throat and simply said, "we were here the whole time. After our facials, we got up to stretch our legs and decided to take a dip in one of your lovely hot baths."

Silky started nodding her head relatively fast as she chirped, "yes, that is true!"

Aqua eyed them as she seemed unsure if what they said were true, but it was apparent she didn't seem to care, shrugging her shoulders. "Ok, just don't go running off without an escort. I don't want you two getting lost."

"Ok," the two mares chimed as they went back to relaxing in the hot tub with the bubbles around them and giving off deep, relaxing sighs seeing they just dodged a bullet. Silky was clearly agitated as she whispered, "did that all just really happen?"

"Yeah, just relax and don't worry about that now; just relax, ok?" Amber whispered back with agitation in her voice. The pegasus then laid down into the hot bubbly suds and stretched out her wings showing off her massive wingspan. The maid then laid her head back and gave a long deep sigh trying to take in everything she saw and read. The statue of Celestia? The reflection of her changing more guards into maids? They now have evidence of what was happening, but they couldn't trust Princess Celestia. Faust knows how much influence Aqua has on her now, and she could only hope they can save her before it's too late.

The maids were now just sitting around a table outside a small cafe. All four mares were slowly drinking their cups of coffee, and they seemed to be relaxing as they were making small chat. They all looked much better with their hooves and horns polished, Amber's wings preened, their faces looking smoother, and they just looked relatively relaxed from the hot baths they took. But eventually, the chat died as the mares just looked downward-looking rather worried as Amber explained what she and Silky saw, there was a long pause of awkward silence. The red-headed pegasus then took a sip from her cup and asked what everypony was thinking. "So…what do we do now?"

The head maid sipped her coffee and said, "We only have one option." She splashed her coffee on Amber's uniform as Sea Star splashed some muddy puddle onto Silky and Amber's uniforms. The mares cried out in shock seeing their uniforms were now all tarnished and torn as the maids were in shock.

"Hey, what gives!" Silky cried out at what had just happened.

"Oh, I'm so sorry I thought I saw a wasp!" The unicorn mare cried as she got up from her chair, came over, brushed off the mud from their uniforms, and wiped the coffee from their faces. Amber was going to curse Mop Head out, but then the head maid continued, "oh I'm so sorry your uniforms are all dirty and ruined."

She then helped her fellow maids up and brushed the mud off them, and they saw their uniforms were now ruined with mud and coffee staining the clothing. Mop Head lifted the dresses and aprons off their bodies and added, "well, I believe that it's time to go to Rarity's Boutique to get some new ones, maybe even meet up with Twilight; she could give some tips on caring for Princess Celestia."

Amber blinked, somewhat confused as she was still angry but curious as to what Mop Head was implying. "What are yo-" But then she slowly started to understand what the head maid was trying to say. The pegasus grabbed Silky by the hoof, and they trotted off through the crowds as they headed right to the train station. Silky was rather surprised as she shouted, "Wait, where are we going!?"

"We're heading to Ponyville," Amber whispered as she continued to lead her friend along by the hoof.

Silky blinked, completely confused, and asked, "But why!?"

"I'll explain later," the mare chimed as they continued onward onto the train with Silky following right behind her. Amber knew Mop Head implied they needed to get the information to Twilight and understand what they were dealing with. They needed to figure out what Aqua is. Then maybe come up with a plan to take her down and save Princess Celestia. As much as Amber hated admitting it they had no idea what they were dealing with. They're going to need Twilight and her friends to help stop the solar monarch from turning all her royal guards into maids!