The two sisters stared at the sky as it melted from day to night. They were hard at work; one raising the moon and the intricately placed stars, the other lowering the sun so ponies could sleep without the light of day. However, what I, and most others, call hard work, is in no way the same. These sisters have over 1000 years each of experience. To say they can do it rather easily is no understatement, but it would probably be accurate.
“I trust you will not forget your engagement in the Shetland Forest tomorrow.” Celestia loved her sister, but entertaining her sister was simply not one of her strengths. It could be said that the two were as different as Day and Night, but that seems kind of cliche.
With a sigh, Luna reassured her sister. “Yes, I’ll be there.
“I realize meeting with the Griffins may not be your top priority, but I have other engagements that must be attended to first. I very much appreciate you taking my place.”
“Oh, it’s nothing,” said Luna, obviously not meaning it. “I mean, all I have to do is travel through a potentially-dangerous forest I’ve never been through before, negotiate a treaty with a species that not only hates us, and is at war with us, but also just happens to be meat-eating, and return in time to raise the moon and the stars.”
“Don’t worry about getting home on time. If you aren’t here, I’ll handle the night. I’ve had a thousand years practice, you know.” Luna sighed again. She didn’t like being reminded of her time as Nightmare Moon.
By now, the sky was fully immersed in night. “I’m sleeping through the night tonight, Tia. I’ll need my rest if I’m going to take your place.” Luna began to walk back to her room. “Tell Polaris to wake me at morning.”
Luna would need her rest this night. Otherwise, she would be far too fatigued to even make sense when speaking, let alone negotiate a peace treaty. She had no intention of listening to any star wishes tonight. However, one voice decided to ignore her need for rest, and ring into her ears.
“I wish, just for one day, I knew what it was like to be one of the princesses.” It was a voice Luna remembered, and a wish she could grant. Most wishes were well within her power, but she usually had no reason to grant them. This one, however, appealed to her mischievous side.
Somepony is already taking Celestia’s place. Why couldn’t somepony take mine? Just one day couldn’t do any harm, could it?
However, there was the not-quite minor problem of the treaty. If it wasn’t executed correctly, it could end in disaster. The question plaguing Luna’s mind, though, was the identity of the pony who made that star wish. She had recognized that voice. Now who was it? It had to have been from sometime after she had escaped from the moon. Any earlier, and the pony would have to be well over 1000 years old.
Whose voices had she heard recently. Not terribly many. Luna was still catching up with Equestrian society, and that took up most of her spare time. She spent a lot of her duties alone, or with her sister. But that wasn’t Celestia’s voice. Perhaps one of the elements; one of her saviors. Yes. It almost had to be. To think they had saved her from the eternal nightmare... She owed each of them very much. It certainly wasn’t Loyalty, Laughter, or Honesty. The personalities just didn’t fit. She had already heard Kindness, barely, so she could rule that out. Generosity seemed like one that would wish for something like that. Just as regal as her taste. No, Generosity had some sort of an accent. That only left...
Magic. Wasn’t that someone Tia knew? Yes! Magic was Tia’s protegee! Tia said she was bookish, a quick learner... Perfect! She probably knows more on the subject than I do! She’s going to be quite surprised, isn’t she. Ah well, she did wish for it. Now, where’s that book?
That night was one anypony who was awake would remember. For at the stroke of midnight, a blue flash of light shone from the moon itself, making way for two beams of blue light to invade two homes. One, the royal castle in Canterlot. The other, a simple library in Ponyville. Nopony knew why, and nopony would ever be told. But, more importantly, neither pony sleeping in those homes ever realised what was happening. They were both heavy sleepers.
“My Princess? I was told to wake you.”
Twilight was still quite sleepy. The thought never occurred to her that this might be a dream. “Princess?” she asked, sleepily. “Pinkie’s party last night didn’t get that crazy, did it?”
“I’m sorry? Oh dear, you’re dreaming, aren’t you?”
“Dream? Oh, maybe. Try pinching me.”
“Princess?”
“According to my studies, one shouldn’t be able to feel pain in their own dream. If I am dreaming, a pinch should wake me up. So pinch me.” Twilight opened her eyes, and saw the stallion standing over her. “P-preferrably near the hindquarters.”
Polaris hesitated. He was used to having the Princess making unusual requests of him. However, this was a first. Denying the request of a Princess, however, was not terribly appealing to him. He pinched her.
“Ow.” The princess’s expression didn’t change. “Alright. Either I’m awake, or I need new books on dreaming.
“I hope the first one is true. Now, please. You need to wake up. The Griffins won’t like being kept waiting.
“But, if I’m awake, who are you?”
“Please don’t tell me you have amnesia.” He paused. The alicorn just stared at him, still clutching her blankets. He sighed. “I am Polaris, your apprentice. I hold the same role to you as one young Twilight Sparkle did to Princess Celestia, prior to your return, my princess.”
“Twilight Spa-” Twilight was surprised to hear her name in the third person. Something suddenly clicked within her mind. She looked at her hooves. Something was wrong about them. Namely, that they were blue. “Polaris, I have to tell you something.”
“Anything, my princess.”
“That’s just it. I’m not your princess.” She could tell Polaris was confused. “I’m Twilight Sparkle.”
Polaris was silent for a moment. Then, came his reponse. “No. How could that be? You look precisely like Princess Luna.”
“Rutabega.”
“What?”
“Rutabega. That’s the royal call sign for situations where somepony has to make it known that they are telling the truth.”
Polaris was taken by surprise. “That... That’s not Luna’s call sign.”
“No. It isn’t.” Twilight knew exactly what she was doing here, but it was only now that it was becoming apparent. “It’s Celestia’s. And I would know it because-”
“You are Twilight Sparkle, apprentice to Princess Celestia.” He knew that now. She had proved herself. “But how?”
“I don’t know for sure. Maybe somepony cast a consciousness transferal spell.”
“That would take a lot of magical ability...” Then, it hit him. With no more warning to her mentally misplaced friend that a look on his face, he ran. Twilight followed him, as he ran to some place in the castle. She began to realize that they were headed for the Royal Library.
By the time she arrived, Polaris was already scanning for something. Apparently, he found it quickly, as he walked up to one of the bookcases. After a moment, he spoke again. “You were right. Somepony did cast a spell. And I have a sneaking suspicion it has to do with somepony else’s star wish.” He glanced backward to Twilight.
Twilight hesitated. “... I didn’t break a law or something, did I?”
“No, but I hope Luna gets less mischievous as she matures, rather then more. Equestria couldn’t handle it.”
It was much later that Luna woke. Without the duty of making peace between two races resting on her shoulders, she could afford to sleep in. To be specific, she did so until about noon.
Her awakening, however, was not pleasant. As Twilight had already theorized, Pinkie Pie’s party did get rather crazy last night, and Twilight got drunk for the first time. This morning (barely), Luna was feeling the effects.
“Twilight?”
“Wha?”
“Twilight, wake up! It’s almost noon!”
“Give me five minutes.” Her speech was slightly slurred.
“Twilight, you told me to wake you up”
“Look, um... Spike, is it? Yeah. Spike. I have this terrible headache, and I-
“‘And you will feel much better after you have a good breakfast.’ You told me yourself last night, before you got hammered.”
“I don’t suppose I can argue with my own logic.” Slowly, and reluctantly, Luna dragged her new body out of bed. Spike had prepared her a bowl of something. It had milk, something flakey-looking, and slices of banana, as well as a glass of apple juice, presumably. Honesty was an apple farmer. It seemed natural to have apples involved. However, there was a major difference from the food she normally ate at the castle. It looked tasty.
“My Princess, I felt I should notify you that your sister and I are just about to depart for the Shetland Forest.”
“We?” Celestia was surprised. She had expected Luna to be going alone. However, she was not disappointed. She was actually glad that she was taking Polaris with her.
“The Princess asked me to accompany her. I know the forest better than she does.”
“I intended to suggest such a thing anyway. I felt it would be dangerous to go alone, and that you knew her well enough to be a good companion.”
“Thank you, my princess.”
Celestia paused for a moment. “You’re welcome. Have a safe journey.”
“Of course, my princess.” And with that, Polaris left Celestia alone. Celestia already knew the other engagement that would take up her time during her sister’s trip. She was thinking about it when a scroll suddenly appeared in a plume of green smoke. It was from her student, Twilight Sparkle. She hadn’t been expecting a friendship report...
“‘Hey Silver Spoon, guess who gonna be a blank flank?’” Luna had just read something she could hardly believe anyone would put into words. She then proceeded to wrap up the pages like a scroll, and lie it on Spike’s desk, with a note. “Send to Princess Celestia”.
As anypony might have expected, Luna was proudly abusing her position in Twilight’s body. Of course, she wasn’t about to admit that. She had other ideas.
“Lets see what Twilight has for music.” She searched around for a bit until she found Twilight’s radio, and her CDs. She was not impressed at finding titles such as “Waltz of the Flutterbys”, “Rhapsody of Equestria”, and “Piu Allegro”. However, what surprised her was that her new body seemed to disagree with her on that last one. Her new heart was beating at what Luna thought was top speed, and her entire body seemed to warm up. But why? Then, it hit her.
Twilight, you dog! I had no idea Tia’s dear, most faithful student had eyes for someone, let alone... wait, what’s this mare’s name?
She opened the case, and saw a suspiciously familiar name: Octavia Treble. Where had she heard that before. Regardless, she had an idea. Who ever said she couldn’t do this filly two favors at once. In the midst of granting her star wish, she would set her up with the filly of her dreams. The words “harvesting two trees with one buck” came to mind.
However, if she had a chance at Miss Treble, she would need to make Twilight look her best. The first step was the mirror. She looked at her reflectio-
“AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!”
… It would seem she had seen Twilight’s mane. It wasn’t hideous. Some might say it was rather appealing. However, after that story, Luna couldn’t look at her pink highlight without remembering the horror. She realized two things in that moment. 1, she would have trouble getting to sleep for the next few months if she kept remembering that story every time she saw the color pink. 2, she had her work cut out for her.
“This reminds me of the Everfree Forest.”
“How so?”
“It’s dark, the clouds are moving without the help of pegasi, and there are a lot of trees. Trees as far as the eye can see.”
“You’re starting to sound like the Princess.” Polaris had had much more time around the Princess to understand what she was like. Twilight just took his word for it. “Not that that’s a bad thing. It’s often quite refreshing to see Royalty act like a sixteen year old filly.”
“Really?”
“Oh, yes. It’s certainly better than a Princess acting like a Princess. You know, the stereotypical kind that’s spoiled and terrible to put up with. Honestly, I much prefer her like she is, even if she does cause havok.”
“Havok? I find that hard to believe.”
“You don’t know her very well, do you? You know one time, she actually tried to create a miniature zombie apocalypse in the Everfree Forest?”
“You’re kidding!”
“Not at all. We had to build them their own little villiage and put a magical barrier around them.”
“Why would Luna do that?”
“I haven’t the slightest idea. Honestly, I’ve stopped trying to figure it out. Sometimes, I wonder if she knows why she does what she does. But I put up with it, mainly because its fun.” Polaris’s tone suddenly switched to a sadder one, as he began remembering his past. “I’m starting to ramble. I’m sorry. I get like this when I remember what life used to be like. You wouldn’t be interested in that.”
“You know what? I am.”
Polaris sighed. He wasn’t ever happy recalling his past, but telling other ponies occasionally was better than bottling it up. “Fine. I was born in a town called Hoofington...”
Spike had come and gone, having sent the story to Celestia. Only hours afterwards was Luna finally finished. Although tedious, she had managed to make Twilight look like a new mare. Her mane seemed to glow, as if it were an amethyst. It left a forelock, resembling Octavia’s, but most of it flowed back, with elegance, but a just a few misplaced hairs to give the hint of non-pretentiousness (Octavia Treble may be a royally acclaimed cellist, but Twilight vanquished Nightmare Moon. She had to make sure not to look as if she was on a pedastal.)
However, regardless of the fact that she looked confident, neither case obscured the more important fact: she looked marvelous.
Now, all she had to do was find Twilight’s dream filly. But before she left, she decided to leave a note.
Spike,
I will be gone for the night, and will not return until the morning. Please close the library for me, and open it again in the morning, if I have not returned by then. If you are uncomfortable sleeping in the library without me, feel free to ask one of my friends for temporary lodging.
Sincerely, Twilight Sparkle
P.S. Moondancer said ‘hi’.
“You have to be kidding. There is no way Luna is afraid of baseballs.”
“She is, though.” Polaris himself was laughing at this one. “It was this one time when she was pretending to be a normal unicorn. She went to this baseball game with a Ponyville family, and the little girl wanted to catch a fly ball, so she cast a spell. It backfired. All the fly balls whacked her right in the head. To top it all off, she couldn’t figure out how to turn it off.”
“I hope she did when she got home.”
“That’s the best part. She never did.”
“Really? Well, if she ever turns into Nightmare Moon again, I’ll bring a few pitchers with me.”
“Lets just hope you don’t have to worry.” They continued on until they noticed a small hut up ahead. “That’s the agreed location. Are you ready?”
Twilight hesitated. “... Yes.” With that, they walked towards the hut.
As they entered, they saw one lone griffin sitting at the end of a square table. “Princess Luna, I presume?”
“Y-Yes.” The griffon seemed to snarl at her very presence.
“And who is your guest?”
“Well, …”
“I am her apprentice, Polaris. You, I shall assume, are Queen Platia?”
“Yes.”
“Good. I know the Kingdom rather well. I shall act as a neutral third party.”
“Very well.” Platia was not happy, but neither pony had the misconception that it was because of Polaris’s descision. “Let the negotiations begin.”
Let the games begin. Luna could see her goal, Octavia, up ahead. She was alone. It was just a matter of how to approach. Can’t be too subtle, or she won’t pick up on anything. Can’t come on too strong, or she’ll panic or something. We don’t want that. It’s going to have to feel normal, sort of a transition. By now, Luna had a plan for her approach. The world may never know if it would have worked.
She approached, set herself beside Octavia, and in a relatively flat tone, said “Hi.”
Octavia was this close to breaking into tears. That doesn’t work as well when you can’t see me, or when I don’t have fingers. However, lets get back to the subject.
“What’s wrong?” Luna was genuinely worried. Not that things weren’t going according to plan, but for Octavia’s sake.
“IT’S JUST NOT FAIR!” the cellist screamed, unable to hold her tears back now. She cried into the purple shoulder next to her.
“Oh dear. Listen. You can tell me anything. I’m here for you.” There was no response. Only an ever-dampening patch of shoulder fur acted as Octavia’s response. “You don’t want to say in public, do you?” Octavia shook her head. “Come on. Is your place near here?”
Victory.
Victory.
“Alright. I think we have here an effective peace treaty.” Polaris was a very good negotiator, but Twilight had managed to prove herself a better one than he could hope to be. “I shall spare you the details, but I feel I should refresh our memories of the points made in it.
“Equestria and the Griffin Kingdom shall cease conflict as of midnight, tonight. The sale of Griffin quills will be made illegal. The owl trade between the two nations shall be opened, so as to provide an alternative source for quill feathers. The base price for every six owls to from the Griffin Kingdom shall be set at one dragon egg, or any amount of Equestrian commodity equal in price. Any Griffins that remain illegally in Equestria, and any Ponies that remain illegally in the Griffin Kingdom shall be deported to their proper nation. Are there any objections?”
Twilight spoke up. “I would like to propose one more condition.”
“What could that possibly be?” Platia seemed to disapprove.
“That Polaris stop using the word ‘shall’ for 24 hours.”
Platia was taken by surprise for a moment. Then, in a more pleased tone, she contributed a simple “Agreed.”
Polaris, this time, was the unhappy one of the three. “Fine”, he grumbled. “Anything else?”
“I think that will be all.” Platia, as a change, seemed content. “Right, Princess?”
“I tend to agree, Queen.” Both Twilight and Platia signed “Might we say this is the beginning of an inter-species-”
“No.”
“...That was quick.”
“I happen to be married.”
“I wasn’t suggesting that! I was going to say friendship.”
“Oh. … Perhaps.”
“Goodbye for now, Queen Platia.”
“The same to you, Princess Luna, and Polaris.” With that, the two ponies departed.
“I will never know how you managed to do it. Even the Princess had no idea how she would do it.”
“What?”
“You not only managed to get the Queen of the Griffins to call a truce, but to also open up the owl trade. The Princess was worried she wouldn’t even get close. In fact, for quite a long time, she thought she would get eaten.”
“Eaten?!”
“Yes. Did you not know Griffins were carnivorous?”
“Well, yes, but eating diplomats was made illegal by the Detrot Conference of 963.”
“Oh, didn’t you hear? That was repealed last Tuesday.”
“WHAT?!”
“April Foals!”
Twilight was not impressed. “It’s November 12th.”
“Worth it.”
“We should settle down for the night. Princess Celestia has agreed to handle the night until your return. There will be no harm in taking rest before returning to Castle Canterlot.”
“Wait... You don’t intend to return me without swapping our bodies back, do you?”
“I won’t have to worry about that. Your bodies will automatically be swapped at midnight. You’ll probably wake up in your own body.”
Twilight hesitated. She had almost grown used to Luna’s body. However, as much as she sort of liked being a Princess, she realized she had to return to her original body at some point. “Alright.”
The two ponies found a large tree. Polaris claimed the branches, and Twilight took to the the inside. And then, they fell asleep.
When Luna awoke, she was inside a tree, and covered in tree sap. She was not happy. She crawled out of a small hole in the bark, wiped the sap out of her eyes and looked up to see Polaris lounging in a tree branch.
She then decided to throw rocks at him.
“Ow!” He fell out of the branch. Luckily, he had no broken bones, but he did sprain his ankle, as a few royal doctors would later discover. “I see you’re up, my Princess.”
“Explain the tree sap, please, Polaris.”
“You slept inside a tree, my Princess, does it really need explanation?”
Luna thought for a moment. “No, I suppose not.”
“May I ask how your out-of-body experience was?”
“Oh, marvelous. F.Y.I., if Princess Celestia wants to read you a story from Twilight Sparkle, deny her. Tell her I gave you permission if you have to. Do not let her read it to you under any circumstances.”
“I assume it was one of your pranks?”
“You know me too well, Polaris. Oh, and I hooked her up.”
“You... She didn’t tell me she had eyes for any colts in Ponyville.”
“She doesn’t have eyes for a colt. She has them for a filly. Ever heard of Octavia Treble?”
“The cellist. Yes. You said she played at our last family reunion.”
“Yeah... About that...”
Twilight awoke much later, in a strange bed. She thought she was dreaming, and that she was going to wake up in her own bed at any moment. She was wrong.
“Hello, sweetie,” spoke a voice Twilight had never heard before (though it was oddly familiar), suspiciously close to her ear. She was still a little groggy, but she forced herself to wake up.
“Who are you?”
The voice chuckled at her. “You don’t remember last night, do you? It’s Octy.”
“Huh?”
“Octavia Treble. You started calling me ‘Octy’. We met near Sugarcube Corner last night, and the rest, well, was my best night ever.”
“You mean we...”
“Yes, we certainly did”
Twilight paused, before saying, with a hint of relief, “You don’t know how long I’ve been waiting for this.”
“Care for another verse?”
“If that means what I think it means, yes.”
Luna returned safely to Canterlot Castle, and promptly took a shower to wash off the tree sap. When she got out, she had to ask her sister a question.
“While I was out risking my life in those negotiations, what was the urgent matter you had to attend to?” Celestia looked worried. “Come now, dear sister, out with it. What do you have to hide?”
Celestia suddenly found a way to stall. “Actually, while you were out, I got a letter from Twilight. I haven’t had time to read it. Would you like to read it with me? It’s unusually long...”
“NO!” That was such a big mistake. What could I possibly been thinking?
“Oh, come now. It wouldn’t hurt you a bit to hear about my student’s studies of the magic of friendship. Now, then. ‘Dear Princess Celestia. I have a story I would like to share with you...’”
Celestia was lying in the bed, staring at the handsome colt lying beside her. “That was absolutely marvelous. Would you care for another go?”
“Eeeyup.”