“Cadance!” Twilight cried in astonishment, earning a confused look from the pink princess. They were both seated in the dining room of the Crystal Empire. Twilight and her friends were over to visit Cadance and Shining Armor, Spike having been left in Canterlot to assist Princess Celestia and Luna. Mere moments ago, Cadance had announced she was expecting, when the lone maid serving them wine had frozen in place with a look of horror before running out with a cry. Cadance’s response had to been to pay her no mind, stating she was only a maid.

“Yes?” Cadance replied meekly at Twilight’s glare. It was funny that despite having her own kingdom, and having been Twilight’s own foal sitter while growing up, one disapproving look from the lavender mare was enough to humble her every time.

“Look, I know things are different here,” Twilight began. Cadance shivered. She had never heard Twilight sound so serious before. “I also understand that the maids are about a thousand years behind, and behave differently than the ones in Canterlot. Believe me, I’ve tried to keep that in mind while visiting, but just a maid? How can you just dismiss her like that? That’s not the Cadance I know!”

“Twily, you don’t understand.” Shining began.

“Quiet Shining! You’re not pardoned from this either! How could both of you treat your staff like that? Why with what you just said it’s like she wasn’t even a pony!”

“Oh Twilight.” Cadance replied with a sigh, “I’ve told you how the maids and staff of the castle seem to fret about every little ol’ thing. I’ve tried to calm them down, but they always go on about how they aren’t good enough for ‘the crystal princess’” With a roll of her eyes she placed the fork she had been using back down on the plate. “This isn’t the first time I’ve had a maid freak out over spilling something in front of me. Honestly I’ve gotten so tired of it that I’ve just let them be. I’m sure in time she’ll calm down.”

“Yeah Twi, leave em alone.” Rainbow Dash piped up, taking another swig of the wine. “Ugh, does this mean we have to pour it ourselves now?”

“I think you’ve had enough as it is Dash.” Twilight scolded, though Rainbow just blew it off. Twilight hated it when her friend got like this. It happened anytime she drank anything with an alcoholic consistency to it. Thankfully, being Princess Celestia’s personal student, she herself had enough experience with such things like wine that she was much clearer headed.

“Regardless Cadance, I saw her face, that didn’t look like something small to me. ‘Just a maid’ doesn’t cut it.” Cadance took another look at the door the maid had exited from. Maybe Twilight was right, what if it was something serious this time? Had she really gotten so caught up with being royalty and doing a good job as a Princess that she had been neglecting her subjects? Replaying those words in her head, she realized just how heartless they sounded. Thinking about it made her mind wander back to the time she snuck into the servant’s quarters to steal a maid uniform.

Once more the desire to upgrade the out of date commendations floated up in her mind. When she had first become Princess, they wouldn’t even let her near that area of the castle. Fretting about how it was not proper for a Princess to have to subject herself to such a place. At the time she had simply complied with their request, but after finally seeing it first hoof! She should have snuck in to see it long ago. How did they ever enjoy such poor commendations?

Yet whenever she brought it up to Noblebroom, he’d insist that while some upgrades were likely needed, what they had would do for the time being, and that change had to happen gradually. She had been princess of this place for almost a year now! How much longer did change need for it to happen? He had told her he’d work on the problem in time, but had he? Perhaps it was time to simply charge in there and demand progress. What was he going to do? She was in charge here! Not him!

“Ugh, Twilight I think you’re right. I got so caught up in being what they expected from me that I’ve lost track of what it really means to be a princess.” She chuckled. “Leave it to you to remind me of that. For the newest Princess, you sure seem to be doing a better job than me.” Twilight blushed at the compliment, trying to hide it by taking another sip of wine.

“Oh you know me, just trying to be the best Princess of Friendship I can!” She added with a nervous laugh. “Speaking of which, I should go talk to her.”

“No no, don’t trouble yourself Twily.” Her brother said getting up. “As you said, the blame isn’t completely on Cadance. I’m the Prince of this kingdom. I need to take a more active interest in my se-subjects well being.”

Inwardly he sneered. To think he had almost said servants, that would have been a red flag. Curse that stupid ‘sister’ of his. He spent a good deal of time keeping Cadance focused on courtly duties and trade routes so she didn’t think too much about what was happening in their own palace. Now he’d have to play damage control with an over eager Princess just longing to upgrade that Tartarus pit that was the servant quarters. Why waste their time or bits? It’s not like he had to sleep there anymore. Let it stay as it was.

It had been a wonderful, yet very cautious road he had been traveling since that fateful day Cadance had mistaken his old form for Shining Armor. How lucky he had been that Cadance’s little kink had resulted in the real Shining Armor being turned into an earth pony mare that could have almost been her twin. If Cadance hadn’t been so quick to fix her ‘husband’ she might have realized she had grabbed the wrong pony. Worry was a wonderful thing was it not? Course there was no chance of her figuring it out now. He had made certain the new maid “Lowly servant” would remain as she was for all eternity.

“Are you sure?” Cadance asked, getting ready to make the trip herself. “It was me who was speaking when she freaked out. Maybe I should talk to her and apologize personally.” In truth she was feeling a bit more guilty than she was letting on. Twilight’s scolding made her recall the time about three months ago when she had made Shiny into a perfect subservient maid. Going as far as to tell her that ponies above her were better than her. It had all just been part of the fun for the night of course, but perhaps it had begun to warp her view of the actual maids more then she realized.

It wasn’t like she considered herself better than them. True she was the Crystal Princess and they relied on her acting the part, but even she admitted she rarely noticed them anymore. They never really complained so she eventually just put them in the background of her mind. Perhaps it was time to rectify this. She was the Princess of Love wasn’t she? With Shining being so ambitious as of late, she should try to once again show them they didn’t have to idolize her.

“No no, you’ve been looking forward to seeing Twilight and her friends all week.” Shining replied with a smile, “You stay, I’ll be right back.” Giving his ‘wife’ a peck on the cheek he headed for the door. It was highly unlikely Lowly Servant would be able to warn Cadance of who they really were given his strict commands, but no sense in taking any chances. It had been very slippery during his first month as the new Lord of the Castle. It was only obvious that at times he’d act in a way that the old Shining would not have. Thankfully he was able to blame it on residue from the persona spell. The many transformations and commands she had given ‘him’ must have scrabled his brain a bit. How lovely that she accepted with ‘time’ he’d work the kinks out, and how fortunate that he was able to convince her to not cast that spell again in the meantime. No sense it putting himself into a position that would have him end up another Lowly Servant.

Being the Prince, while not easy, had been far more rewarding than he ever hoped. How incredibly lucky that he had been one of the few normal earth ponies sent over from Canterlot. Imagine if he had been one of the many crystal pony maids with no knowledge of the current world? Back when she was a maid, her original purpose was to help ‘teach’ the other maids about all the advancements in the last thousand years. Noblebroom didn’t care. He had his cushy little job and that was all that mattered to him. Then there was Miss Marinette. That old wrench thought such changes would make the house soft and weak. Ha! Well no matter, she was no longer his concern. He was the lord of the castle now. Let those other maids suffer.

“Oh, B.B.B.F.F?” Twilight called. The new Shining nearly continued out of the room before he remembered that title, whatever it meant, referred to him. He had to remember to be more careful, the entire reason he had asked Shining’s sister over was so he could learn what it was she expected of him. He couldn’t let the truth be discovered now.

“Yes?” He asked, turning to smile at her. Mmm, looking at her now, he could see she had quite the figure. Shame they were ‘related’ making her off limits. Perhaps he could convince Cadance to take her form one night..

“While you are out, can you see if you can spot my pupil Evening Storm? You remember what he looks like right?.” Shining blinked. Evening Storm? Oh right, Twilight had told him in a letter she had taken on a pupil of her own. Somepony who had weird magic or something. She had insisted that he come along to continue his studies. What had she said he looked like?

“He’s got a black coat with… a blue mane?”

“Sapphire blue mane,” Twilight corrected. “He was suppose to join us an hour ago after setting up our room, but obviously he isn’t here. He probably got lost. I really should have asked you to have somepony on hoof to lead him here.” With another smile, Shining nodded.

“Of course sis. You just relax. I’ll be back before you know it.” With that he was out of the room and down the hall. That pathetic little slut was probably back in the servant quarters feeling sorry for herself. Well no matter, he’d head down there, gloat a bit and order her to act happy for a while, and all should be well. He almost laughed right there in the hall.

How perfect his life was now. He had a hot trophy wife, that as long as he treated her right, he could go off and do anything behind her back and she didn’t even question it! In the past few months he had even made a small name for himself. Revolutionized the royal guard Cadance had said. To think that the simple knowledge of what it was like to be a maid in this place would translate so well into military strategy! It was funny really. Miss Martinette would make a better general than head maid.

Oh well, no sense in worrying about that now. He had a maid to taunt, and a unicorn to find.

Said unicorn, was currently turning down a hallway he had sworn he had already been down at least three times before. With a sigh, he began to poke his head into the various rooms, trying to see if he could flag down a maid. Of course it would just be his luck that that there had been none in sight for the last hour. He just knew they probably walked right to the area he had just left.

Some personal student of Princess Twilight. He couldn’t even find a stupid dining hall in a castle. With a sigh he turned another corner, heading off into a random door. There was no point in trying to make sense of where he was anymore, he was hopelessly lost. Guess he shouldn’t have offered to set their rooms up.

As her personal student, he wanted to be useful to her. She had told him several times that it wasn’t necessary, but he felt it was the least he could do given his history. It was that very history that had led him to even being her student. It was weird how life worked sometimes. Three months ago he had arrived at Canterlot, hoping to find a teacher in magic.

He scowled at the memory. Ever since he was a little colt, the simplest of spells refused to even go half right. A grooming spell once lit his mane on fire. A spell designed to combine simple ingredients together to make a peanut butter and jelly sandwich ended up with the bread becoming swiss cheese, and the jam to explode and cover the kitchen without harming the jar.

He never did figure out what happened to the peanut butter.

“Great!” He shouted to himself kicking a rug as he did so. “Not only am I terrible at magic, but apparently directions too!” He stomped off down the hall, only to return a few moments later to fix the rug he had kicked. He didn’t want to finally find a maid only to have them yell at him for messing something up. In Canterlot he might just get an exasperated sigh, here though. Twilight had told him the maids here were cut from a different cloth, having technically been from about a thousand years ago when the Crystal Empire vanished. He’d better not make a bad impression.

“HELLO!?” He called out once more, moving from room to room. How big was this stupid place, and how had he not seen a single- Ah ha! There was one now! A maid! Staring into a mirror for some reason. Why hadn’t she responded to his call? Oh well, he finally found one, that was the important thing.

“Finally! A maid! I’m sorry to bother you, but can… you…” His horn was vibrating. That meant there was a powerful enchantment in the area. He’d better be careful, last time he had come into contact with such an enchantment he had turned a stallion guard into a mare for a week. Why the hell couldn’t his magic work like other ponies? Absently he flicked his tail against his cutie mark. Even the mark that defined his ‘destiny’ made no sense. What did two red crescent moons, forming a sorta circle with a multi forked lightning bolt even mean?

Looking around he frowned. This didn’t seem to be near a treasury of any kind. Why would there be an enchantment of this magnitude here? Maybe there was a hidden safe nearby with extra magical protection?

He shook his head, he didn’t have time to worry about that right now. He needed to get to the dining room, and he finally found a maid. Though now that he looked at her, something definitely seemed off. Her coat was a homely grey, and her mane jet black. There was nothing special about her appearance or her cutie mark, a mop and a pail. Something about her eyes though...

He realized she hadn’t acknowledged him once despite him standing right next to her. She simply stared at herself in the mirror looking... broken. This along with his horn’s dull hum made him feel rather uneasy. He really hoped he hadn’t just come across a maid about to snap. He wasn’t sure he could deal with that. Well first thing was first, it was going to be very difficult to think with his horn doing that. With a deep breath he focused on calming it, willing it to stop it’s hum, breathing a sigh of relief as it did. It wouldn’t last forever of course and would start right back up before too long, but he didn’t plan to be here too much longer.

“Er, hello? Miss?” No response. Something was wrong alright, well great now he couldn’t go anywhere. No way could he just leave her like this.

“Hello?” He tried again, waving a hoof in front of her face. “Earth to maid! Hello!” That did the trick. With a blink of her eyes her gaze turned toward him, though the almost emptiness he saw in her eyes didn’t make him feel any better.

“S-sorry sir. How may I help you?” She said in a pleasant yet hollow tone. He flinched at the very sound of it. On the surface it was respectful if not a bit meek sounding, but underneath it just felt empty. No doubt now that something had happened to her. Whatever it was though, she seemed intent to hide it.

“Uh, are you alright?” He asked, looking her over for any possible sign of what could be the problem. She didn’t look hurt, her outfit was neat and tidy. The only indication of anything was the slight dampness under her eyes. It was like she wanted to cry, but couldn’t.

“I-I’m.. It’s…” She said as if she were struggling with the words. After a brief few moments she bowed her head. “F-forgive me!” With that she turned and ran for the door. It took Evening a couple of seconds to process that before giving chase.

“W-wait!” He called out, trying to catch up. His plea was ignored.

You’re an obedient castle maid, and you do whatever your superiors tell you to do. Without resistance or question.

A random peasant roaming the halls was not her superior. She did not have to do anything he said. What was she even doing? Her thoughts were a mess. There had been something said. Something that had caused great pain.

“I-I’m looking for the dining room!” The stallion behind her called.

The dining room! The memory of that place caused her heart to ache. That’s where she had been, w-where the news had been told. What was it again? Why did it even matter anymore? She was just Lowly Servant, a slave, a nothing. Her only purpose was to be a maid.

“Y-You see I’m Princess Twilight’s personal student, and I got lost trying to meet up with her-” He droned on, amazed by her speed. “Will you please just STOP!?”

Once more her command ran through her head. She was to do whatever her superiors told her to do. As Twilight was the sister to her Lord Shining, that made her personal student nobility and a guest. She must obey him. She stopped instantly.

Evening yelped in surprised as he almost collided with her. The hay was that all about? He thought as he took a second to catch his breath.

“Thank you for stopping…” He said slowly walking in front of her. Though her eyes remained lifeless, she bowed her head and nodded.

“F-forgive my rudeness sir! I-I am at your service!” Evening stared at her confused. First she runs away, then she’s suddenly eager to please? What in the world was going on?

“Did something happen? You’re acting really weird.” It was for only a moment, but he swore he saw a painful expression flash across her face before it once more settled into a stoic expression.

“N-No need to worry about me sir. I’m but a humble pony maid.” Evening raised an eyebrow. This was getting fishier by the second.

“But I am worried about you. Did somepony try to hurt you? You can tell me.” Again she bowed her head, her expression unchanging.

“P-Please sir, I-I have much work to do. I should leave-”

“Oh no you don’t, stand still!” He ordered, feeling frustrated. No pony had the kind of look she did while staring in that mirror unless something had deeply troubled them, and he was going to find out what. Much to his relief, she obeyed his command and stayed where she was.

“Now answer me, why were you staring in the mirror like that?” She shivered as her mind tried to come up with a response, only barely aware of her surroundings. She had to give him an answer, but could not tell him the truth.

“It was nothing-”

“Don’t lie to me. I know something hurt you, and I want to help. Please…” The kindness in his voice. She had almost forgotten what that felt like, but what now? She couldn’t tell the truth, but she couldn’t lie. She couldn’t move till he released her. What was she suppose to do?

“I-I lost something.” She finally said. It was as close to the truth as she could get.

“What did you lose?”

“Something very important… precious to me. S-something I’ll never have again.”

“What is this something?”

“Her majesty’s love.” The words stung, threatening to bring tears to her eyes once more, but the spell prevented her. She had to be discreet. It wouldn’t be proper of a maid such as herself to show such behavior.

“Who’s love? Princess Cadance? Twilight’s?” Evening was only getting more confused by the second.

“M-My majesty Princess Mia Amore Cadenza.” She replied. A small part of her mind was surprised she was able to say that. She wasn’t to reveal what had happened to her to anypony after all. Her Lord Shining Armor had commanded that of her long ago. No, telling this pony that wasn’t going against her Lord’s orders. She had lost her majesty’s love and affection. She was nothing but a useless maid. That was simply stating the truth. She had never been told to lie.

“How have you lost her love? I don’t understand.” Lowly did not answer him. To tell him anymore was strictly off limits.

“Can’t you tell me?”

“I can not.”

“Why?” There was no answer. She simply stood there bowing her head like the meek little maid she was, causing the stallion before her to sigh.

“Well is there at least anything I can do to help?” Nothing.

“Come on anything?” Again no answer. Evening had had enough. “Answer me!”

“Find the truth.” The words shocked her. How could she be so bold as to say that? Yet what else could she do? He demanded an answer, and she must obey.

“What? What do you mean.” She began to shiver.

“I mustn’t! I mustn’t! I’m just a humble nobody maid. I’ll be scolded if I do not get back to work!.” Again she tried to move.

“You’re not to leave until I dismiss you!” He commanded fiercely. No way was he letting her out of his sight now, not after all that.

Okay but now what genius? You’ve got her here, but either she won't talk or can’t for some weird reason. He couldn’t just leave her here like this, but if she wouldn’t tell him what the problem was, then how was he suppose to help her? What did find the truth mean? How had she lost Princess Cadance’s love?

Well there was a thought. Princess Cadance, the very princess who was in the dining hall with his teacher. He’d been looking for a maid to direct him there anyway, and if the problem was with ‘losing her love’ so to speak, perhaps asking the Princess directly would shed some light on all this.

“Okay, look I need a guide to the dining room. You wouldn’t happen to know where it is would you?” The moment he said ‘dining room’ her eyes widened.

“D-dining room?” She repeated quietly. “I-I no.” She hadn’t been told not to lie. She hadn’t. She had to lie, she was not defying an order. It’s just she couldn’t go back there. Not right now. N-Not with-

A sudden jolt in her neither regions broke her train of thought. It’s familiar touch causing her to stifle a moan. The vibration spell had just kicked on! She couldn’t pleasure herself now, she was in the presence of a noble! The student of Princess Twilight! It would be most improper to be seen indulging in such thing. M-Maybe she’d get lucky and he’d order her to fuck? That would be nice. She could cum with him inside her.

“So you don’t know? But aren’t you a- oh never mind.” Evening said rubbing his head. This was becoming really frustrating. Should he track down another maid? No, it took him this long just to find her, and look where that got him. What if the next maid was just as bad? Or even worse, what if he ended up wandering the halls all night, just missing any search party sent after him.

After several moments of thought he sighed deeply. Looks like he only really had one clear option. He’d better get this right or Twilight would be very disappointed in him. Concentrating he began to recite the necessary spellwork in his head for a compass spell. Focusing on his teacher Twilight, he could use her as a guidepoint. If done correctly, he’d be pointed directly to her location. She had shown him several times how to do this. S-sure he had failed every one of them, but twenty third time was the charm right?

Come on Evening! He thought fiercely to himself. It’s a simple spell! You can DO this!

Charging up his horn, he did his best to get the magic to flow just right. Only for his horn to immediately begin to vibrate again due to the same magical enchantment he sensed earlier. What? That was impossible! They had to have run a good two or three hallways away from the area he had found her in! The enchantment couldn’t have moved, for a thing of this power that was crazy! Yet here it was causing his horn to go into a frenzy, and his concentration to snap.

Without warning he felt the spell swell in force and power, a tugging at his magic that felt as if the very essence was being sucked out of him, into the force that was already threatening to burst from his horn.

This was bad! This was so, so bad! At this rate there was no telling what this would do! The nearby walls could turn into mayonnaise, a manticore could be summoned from who knew where, or he could even turn himself into a cow! It had already become too strong to stop, he’d have to direct it somewhere! Anywhere away from himself, wait the maid! She was in danger! He had to protect her! Without thinking, he turned his head toward her.

“Quick! You have to r-” He began desperately. She barely had time to look at him with the same dull expression before his spell sprang to life, firing directly at her like a bolt of lightning. There was a bright flash, followed by an explosion of air that knocked him backward several feet, slamming him against a wall.

Wearily he got to his hooves, trying to gain his bearings, the world spinning around him. There was no sound of the maid at all, clearly not a good sign. As his vision began to clear, he tried to spot any sign of what had happened, but found nothing in immediate eye sight. The walls were fine, there were no dangerous creatures or objects anywhere, and he was certainly still the same pony he had been before.

In fact the only thing that had changed was the fact the maid was gone. Had she run away after all? Or had he teleported her by mistake? He really hoped that wasn’t the case, as she could have ended up on the roof for all he knew. Maybe she was hiding? Placing a hoof on a nearby table to steady himself he took another look at where she had been. That’s when he saw the pile of clothing upon the floor. The same clothing the maid had been dressed in!

“Dear Celestia I vaporized her!” He cried out in horror. How? How could this have happened!? His magic was wild and unpredictable sure, but it had never been fatal before! Was it getting worse? Was he going to go to jail? Or would they turn him to stone to prevent him from casting any magic!? Or would he be turned to stone, then sent to jail just to be safe!?

No, no just calm down. He commanded himself, trying to get his breathing under control. He just had to focus, and not think about him maybe turning her into a bug or something and accidently stepping on her-

His breathing began to speed up again till something caught his eye. Was the pile moving?

Sure enough, the pile of clothing was shifting as if alive, or more likely that something was under it. Oh he hoped he hadn’t turned her into a newt. Using his magic to lift away the fabrics, he was met with a sight that both relieved and terrified him. The relief was he hadn’t turned her into any sort of animal or even teleported her. She was indeed still in the same spot he left her.

The problem was she was now no older than Twilight’s friend Rarity’s little sister Sweetie Belle.

Okay, he thought wearily. That’s a new one.

“O-Okay, just try and relax.” He said nervously, throwing her outfit aside. “My spell kinda uh… maybe turned you into a filly?”

“Nooo!” Said filly wailed, the persona spell jolted so badly by the sudden transformation that it was still trying to play catch up and thus was too busy to keep up the ‘meekness’ command.

“I-I know! But it’s not so bad! I-I’ll take you to Twilight and-”

“It’ll take me extra long to do my chores now! Miss Marinette will be most displeased!”

Evening’s mind froze. Seriously? She just got turned into a filly and her first thought is about her job? Just what were they teaching the maids here!?

Lowly on the other hoof was freaking out. How was she suppose to be a good servant like this? She could barely hold a scrub brush in her mouth, let alone a broom or mop. She’d never be able to do her work properly!

Evening was still staring at her as she trotted over to her outfit and attempted to put it on, a fruitless task as they were now much too big for her. The longer he spent around this pony, the less things made sense. What kind of pony gets age regressed and tries to go back to work like nothing happened?

“What? No! Stop that right now!” He demanded, causing Lowly to halt in her tracks. “I-I just turned you into a filly! Aren’t you surprised or anything?”

“Y-Yes sir, i-It’s just if I’m late in cleaning I’ll offend the head maid and-”

“Okay stop! Just stop!” She shut up immediately, unable to do anything else but stare at him. He took another good look at her as he tried to gather his thoughts. Was she really that afraid of missing work? He was going to have to have a long talk with Twilight about all this after she stopped scolding him for messing up again. With a sigh he put the only plan he could think of into action.

“Okay look, here’s what we are going to do.” He began, giving her a good hard look. “I need to get to the dining room. Get on my back and direct me as best you can. Don’t try to lead me astray, and don’t try to escape. We’re both going to see Princess Cadance about this. Got it?”

She didn’t look happy, but she gave him a slight nod. Good, that settled that. With luck she’d get him close enough that he’d be able to find his way, or perhaps they’d find another maid who could direct him. Now he just had to explain what he was doing with a filly on his back...

Spurred on by both the compulsion and obedience commands, Lowly had no choice but to point him in the direction of the very room she had fled from not half an hour ago. Just now she was in a form that wasn’t her own. The thought of that caused her to shudder. It was like back then. When she became who she was.

Who she firmly believed she’d always be.

“Evening! There you are! What took so.. long…” Twilight began before her eyes fell upon the filly on his back.

“Evening,” She began with a groan, “I know I’m going to regret asking this, but why is there a filly on your back?” Before answering, Evening began to rub the back of his neck, a clear indication to her that his wild magic had struck again.

“F-funny you should ask that.” He said with a forced laugh. Oh she wasn’t going to like this. “I kinda got lost on the way here and well I found this maid, but something really weird is going on with her, and she kept trying to run away, but I needed her to come here because of the fishy stuff and uh, well she wasn’t able to point me toward this room at the time, I mean she did later but for some reason-”

“Evening, are you trying to tell me.” Twilight said very slowly, rubbing a spot between her eyes with her hoof. “That you turned that maid into a filly!?” He flinched.

“Uh, y-yeah. I was trying to cast a compass spell.” Twilight stared at him.

“You did this via a compass spell!?”

“This time, yes.”

“This time?” Cadance asked clearly confused. Why was nopony else reacting to this? Age manipulation magic was one of the hardest spells there were!

“Ha! The bumbling mage does it again!” Rainbow cried slamming her cup on the table in laughter. “Oh man! This is better then that time you were trying to summon an apple and got a live hornet’s nest!” She stopped and tapped her chin for a moment. “No scratch that, that was way funnier! You should do that again!”

“Alright dearie, that’s enough wine for you.” Rarity said suddenly floating Rainbow’s cup away from her.

“Hey!” She protested trying to grab it out of the air. “You can’t just take that from me! I’m still using it!”

“Not anymore ya ain’t.” Applejack chimed in while fixing Rainbow with a stern gaze. “No offense, but ya’ve had enough to where yer acting like an ass.” It looked like Rainbow wanted to protest for a moment, before she looked around at her friends and finally slumped down.

“S-sorry everypony.” Pinkie was quick to hug her.

“It’s okay misses grumpy dumpy. You can have more wine after you sober up a bit.” Rainbow looked annoyed but kept quiet.

“There’s just one thing I don’t understand Evening,” Twilight said turning the attention of the room back to him. “How did a compass spell turn her into a filly? It even took away her cutie mark! I mean I know it’s your magic, but usually when you cast minor spells, minor mishaps happen. Like how your grooming spell catches your mane on fire.” Inwardly Evening groaned. Did everypony have to bring that one up?

“Well uh, there may have been one… other minor thing…” Twilight’s glare returned.

“Eeeeeeevning…” She growled, “What aren’t you telling me?” He’d have given anything to keep it secret, but knew it was far too important to keep quiet about.

“My horn was doing that uh… twitchy thing.” Her response was instant.

“YOU TRIED TO CAST A SPELL DURING THE TWITCHY THING!?”

“Oh deary, you should know better than to ever try and cast a spell during the twitchy thing.” Rarity scoffed.

“You always listen to twitchy things!” Pinkie agreed. Cadance stomped a hoof.

“Will somepony please explain to me what the hay the twitchy thing is!?” The room stopped to stare at her, causing her to blush and quickly compose herself.

“I-if you would please.” She said a bit more meekly. Lowly almost smiled, to hear her majesty speak in the same humble tone she used. It was so nice to be near her again. To watch her laugh and play just like… like when...

She squeezed her eyes shut as if it would block out the memory.

“Right, you wouldn’t know.” Twilight said straightening up. “The ‘twitchy thing’ as my pupil refers to it as, is an unique ability to sense magical enchantments, especially strong ones.”

“I don’t know why I can do that.” Evening said tapping his horn. That’s weird, he could feel the buzzing trying to come back. “My magic is just… well…”

“Firmly in the land of making no darn sense.” Applejack finished helpfully. Evening only sighed. He couldn’t argue with her, it was the truth.

“That reminds me,” Twilight said pulling out a checklist and scribbling something down. “You need to show me where you cast your spell Evening. I’ll need to scan for enchantment disruptions.”

“Enchantment disruptions?” Cadance echoed.

“It’s just another one of the fun quirks of having my magic.” Evening said with a droop of his ears. Twilight was quick to follow up.

“The first time I saw him cast a spell during his twitchy thing, resulted in a magical discharge that completely obliterated all the lesser enchantments in the area. I had at least ten dozen self sending scrolls in case Spike wasn’t around. All of them rendered into normal paper scrolls in an instant! It took me all night to re-enchant them all!”

“And because of my magic’s tendency to mess up, I couldn’t even help her.” Evening added miserably. Lowly couldn’t believe what she was hearing. Just what kind of unicorn was he? She almost felt a strange kind of connection to him. She had a feeling he had suffered in the past, much like she was suffering now.

“Speaking of my horn’s magic sensitivity.” Evening said staring up at it. “It’s doing the twitchy thing again. Just how many enchantments are in this castle?”

“It’s going off now?” Twilight asked, to which Evening nodded.

“That’s strange, I’ve calculated your range to be only a few meters, why would it be going off in this room?” She looked to Cadance.

“I-I don’t know why Twilight.” She replied with a shrug. “I don’t have any spells active in this room. Perhaps there’s another hidden passage way nearby that Sombra made?”

“It’s possible I suppose.” Twilight tapped her chin. “Where else did you sense these Evening?”

“Only two other times. Once in the guest room I found the maid in, then once in a hallway a good distance from the room.”

“Oh my gosh the maid!” Twilight said suddenly, looking at the small filly still upon his back. The filly looked back at her with a blank expression. It was a little bit eerie, why wasn’t she saying anything? She had just sat there without so much as a peep this entire time.

“Yeah, about her.” Evening said, while levitating Lowly to float in front of him. Just as he thought, she made no fuss.. “I uh would like permission to speak freely Princess Cadance.”

“Oh you don’t have to be so formal.” She replied waving a hoof. “Evening Storm right? Any friend of Twilight’s is a friend of mine!” Evening actually blushed.

“W-well it’s just I found her staring at a mirror as if she was lost or something. When I asked why she told me she lost your love, but won’t tell me anything more.” He took a moment to debate if he should mention the part about ‘finding the truth’ but decided against it. Best see what she said first. “I was hoping you might be able to shed some light on this mystery.”

“L-lost my love?” Cadance’s color almost seemed to pale. Inching her head closer to the floating filly she looked into her eyes. Said filly just sat there almost lifeless staring back at her.

“Oh my!” Cadance said suddenly. “Those colors! Why, why…” Despite herself Lowly’s breath caught in her throat. C-could it be? Could her great majesty possibly actually recognize her!?

“She’s the maid from earlier!” Cadance blurted out. The small moment of hope died instantly, her heart sinking. Of course that was all. What did a mere servant like herself expect?

“She is?” Twilight asked, taking a good look at the filly. “I think you’re right, she does look like her. Um, miss? Are you by chance the maid that ran out of here a little while ago?” Lowly couldn’t bring herself to speak. All this was just too much. However she had been addressed by a Princess. She must respond, and so she ever so gently nodded her head.

“Oh thank goodness!” Cadance exclaimed, causing Lowly to actually jerk in surprise. Her majesty continued on. “Are you alright? I’m so sorry for being so dismissive earlier. I thought you might have just been upset for spilling the wine. I never meant to make it seem that I didn’t care about your well being! I assure you, as your Princess I do want you to feel safe and happy!” Lowly just stared at her blankly. No she wasn’t alright. She’d never be alright again, and it was...was… no she shouldn’t think such things. This was her mistress, she was suppose to serve her unconditionally. She bowed her head.

“P-please my mistress, I need to return to my chores. I-I’ll be punished.”

“She keeps dodging the question.” Evening said with a sigh. “It’s like her job is worth more than her own life almost.”

“That’s just silly.” Twilight interjected, getting closer to the filly herself. “Please, Princess Cadance and I wish to know what troubles you.” Lowly stared at her with empty eyes. Oh Twily, if only I could, but that would be going against Lord Shining’s orders.

“I-I’m nothing you should concern yourself with…” She whispered, her heart lurching in her chest as she spoke. Meanwhile her majesty sighed.

“You really don’t have to be afraid you know. I won’t punish you. I promise.” Still Lowly said nothing. She couldn’t.

“I see what you mean from your words earlier.” Twilight said with a frown. “Still she’s in no condition to go back to work.”

“Agreed.” Cadance added with a nod. “Speaking of which how long will she be like this?”

“Well that’s the thing.” Twilight said shooting a glance toward Evening, who simply flinched. “Knowing my pupil’s magic, I’m not sure it’ll even wear off.” Lowly’s eyes widened. She could be stuck like this!? How would she ever get through her days like this? W-would the other maids make fun of her? Even worse, what did this mean for her nights? Would they lay off her because she was a filly or did they maybe…

She shuddered at the thought. How was it going to sound? A little filly like herself moaning into the night because of the accursed vibrator spell. Her eyes widened in horror. The vibration spell! The only time it let her get off is when a stallion was deep inside her. How was she suppose to get that to happen now!?

“She’s stuck like this forever?” Cadance asked surprised, only for Twilight to shake her head.

“No no, I’m just saying I don’t think it’ll wear off. I haven’t tried age spells since that duel with Trixie, but with some studying, I think I can figure a way to reverse this.” She glanced back at Evening again, and actually grinned. “I can say this about having Evening for a pupil. He keeps giving me reasons to keep up my studies!”

Oh thank Celestia! Lowly thought in relief. If she was lucky, she’d be a grown mare again by tomorrow morning knowing Twily. Then maybe Lord Shining would take her into his room again, and she’d be able to finally get rid of the burning sensation…

Wait.

Something had been nagging at the back of her mind ever since she brought up the vibrator spell. Shouldn’t she be feeling the vibration even now? It had only just begun to pick up when she met Evening. With a start, she realized she hadn’t felt anything from it since being turned into a filly. The spell never just shut off before getting her despairingly close to climax. Why had it chosen to leave her alone now? It couldn’t be just because she was a filly could it?

“Enchantment disruptions.” She heard Twilight say again in his mind. “The first time I saw him cast a spell during his twitchy thing, resulted in a magical discharge that completely obliterated all the lesser enchantments in the area”

Her very being began to shake. C-could it be? Was the reason she couldn’t feel it humming away even now was because it was simply gone!? Despite all that had just happened, she couldn’t suppress the utter joy she felt from that simple fact.

It had seemed like an eternity since that accursed spell had been cast upon her. Constantly driving her to the brink of sexual insanity, but never allowing her to cum. No matter what she did, she remembered Cadance’s words clearly.

“It will go on and off at random, take you to the threshold of ecstasy, and leave you there. And it will suppress any attempt to trigger an orgasm by feminine ministrations. Clop all you want—the only way you’ll get off is with a big, meaty dick in you.”

So many nights of twitching in bed, so many of the other maids taking advantage of her, mistaking her obedience command as being a willing slut. So many times they’d only make it so much worse as she’d reach the razor’s edge of climax, only for that spell to deny it.

The fact it could be gone, was nearly too much for her to handle. She could be free from it! For good! Lord Shining didn’t know about the spell, and there was no way in tartarus she was going to tell him about it. If this was true, and it certainly seemed that way, then she could just rub herself and that would be it! She could make herself cum.

The mere freedom of that would have made her dance for joy, if she was allowed to. The thought did tell her that the Persona spell was certainly still in effect, but that was no mere enchantment.

“With your help Cadance we can probably fix it by tomorrow.” She’d be back to normal by tomorrow? The notion only barely soured her mood. In truth she had no desire to go back to being Lowly Servant the maid, but such was the job commanded of her. Even so, it’d be a lot more bearable now that she was in control of her own libido.

“Awww, does she have to?” Pinkie asked popping up right in front of her, causing her to verbally eep. She never did understand how this pony managed to move around like that.

“You see!?” Pinkie continued, spurred on by Lowly’s reaction. “She’s just soooooooo cute!” Reaching into her mane, and against all logic, she pulled out a single cupcake with blue frosting. It appeared perfectly fine, not single hair upon it. Lowly’s stomach growled upon seeing the confection, but she dare not reach for it. Such things were far above what she deserved. A maid like her was only suited to table scraps.

“Cupcake?” Pinkie asked holding it closer. Oh it’s smell! It was heavenly. She hadn’t had anything of the sort since she had become the maid she was today. How she longed for the days of sitting at this very table, being presented with all sorts of fancy delicacies. Still, it wouldn’t be proper. She averted her eyes.

“What? What kind of filly doesn’t like cupcakes!?” Pinkie cried, practically shoving it under her nose. “Come on, take it!” That did it. Propelled by the obedience spell, she leaned forward and ate the thing in one bite, before nearly fainting. The taste! The texture! To imagine she’d be allowed to partake in such a wonder once more!

This is like the best and worst day of my life… She thought as her sad eyes once more looked over her ex-wife. She tried very hard not to think about what was currently growing in the area of her tummy.

“Pinkie! She isn’t really a filly!” Applejack interjected. Pinkie’s response was to roll her eyes.

“Well, duh, I know that, but look how happy she is!”

“She does look happy.” Cadance added rubbing her chin. “If you don’t mind my asking dear. What is your name?” Lowly gulped. If only she could speak her heart.

“I-It’s Lowly servant.” She answered meekly. The room shared a collective blink.

“Come again?” Evening asked.

“L-Lowly servant…” She repeated, doing a good impression of Fluttershy.

“Your name is Lowly servant?” Evening asked. How nice it would have been to shake her head no, but that wouldn’t be the truth anymore. Instead she just slightly nodded. Evening scoffed.

“What kinda messed up parents-”

“Evening!” Twilight cried.

“I’m sorry but Lowly servant? Who the hay names their child that?”

“We can discuss the origins of names later.” Twilight huffed before turning back to the filly. “I apologize for that, er Lowly servant. Will you be okay with waiting till tomorrow to be an adult again?”

“I-I can’t! My job! My chores!” She squeaked. Twilight slowly raised an eyebrow. Much like Evening, she was beginning to wonder just what happened to this maid. The way she was so intent on her job was really weird.

“Oh bother look here.” Cadance said, forcing Lowly to stare directly into her own eyes. “You can stop being a dedicated maid for one night alright? Just enjoy your time off!”

You’re an obedient castle maid, and you do whatever your superiors tell you to do. Without resistance or question.

The command ran through her head. She had to be an obedient maid! That’s what her majesty told her! Except she was told not to be a dedicated maid. So what was she to do? The persona spell shuddered inside her. She was told to just take one night off. She could be a maid again tomorrow then, but what was she suppose to do in the meantime? Her mind swirled with confusion as she sat there staring blankly at her princess.

“She did this earlier too.” Evening said. “It’s like being a maid is her only purpose and she simply can fathom being anything else.” Lowly tried to clear the fog in her mind.

“M-Miss Marinette expects me back…”

“I am your princess, and I am giving you the night off. The castle can handle one less maid for a night! As for Miss Marientte and Noblebroom, if they say anything, or try to punish you, I’ll deal with them personally!” Lowly wanted very much to accept the offer, but she was told never to run away from her job. She couldn’t just take a night off unless her Lord commanded it.

“Oh, how can I get you to relax?” Cadance asked in desperation. Her relation to the staff of this castle was far far worse than she ever imagined.

“Oh! Oh!” Pinkie yelled, holding her hoof up. “Make her act like a filly!” Applejack tsked.

“Really Pinkie? Are ya still going on bout that?”

“She makes a cute filly!” The party pony protested. The train of thought Cadance had earlier came back. Lowly really did seem happy when she was eating that cupcake, and she really did look like any normal filly when she did so. Well it was worth a shot.

“How about this?” Cadance said, looking in her eyes once more. “I know you want to please me and do the best job you can, so for my amusement, can you act like an ordinary happy little filly for the night?”

Lowly could feel the persona spell finally relent. When put like that, it was like the Princess was telling her that her job was to be a filly for the night. Therefore, she was still being an obedient maid, and wasn’t running away from her job. This also meant she wasn’t defying her master. He never did say she shouldn’t act like a filly if her majesty commanded it of her.

With another shudder, she felt the memories of all the ‘adult’ stuff to happen to her in the last three months, fade to the back of her mind. A little filly wouldn’t be thinking of such grown up things like that.

“Y-Yes my dearest princess Cadance!” Lowly squeaked out while bowing her head. She still had to be humble and watch her step. The grown ups were better than her. She’d have to be very careful.

“No no no!” Pinkie said grabbing her face. “That’s not how a filly acts! You have to smile more! Like this!” Pinkie gave her the widest grin she had ever seen. Knowing she shouldn’t offend those above her, she did her best to smile as well, though it appeared more nervous than happy.

“Pinkie! Leaver her alone!” Fluttershy cried, recognizing the uncomfortable look on Lowly’s face.

“No, Pinkie has a point.” Cadance said. “No filly I know of acts like that. Please miss Lowly, if you could. Just forget about being meek and humble for tonight, and stop worrying about offending us or something! I want to see you laugh and play. You’re suppose to be a cute normal filly after all.”

Another ripple flowed through the spell. As a filly she wasn’t to be humble, she wasn’t to be afraid of offending the grown ups. They may be better than her, but they expected her to be happy and playful. She could feel the spell altering inside her as it added this extra layer on top of what already existed, yet still reminding her that even though she wasn’t to act like a maid tonight, she still had to obey any command given to her. That was part of her job regardless of the situation.

“Y-Yes pwincess Cadance!” She cried a bit louder that time. She still couldn’t be an outgoing filly, Lord Shining had ordered her to be extra meek after all, but she hoped it was enough. Thankfully she saw the princess smiling.

“That’s more like it!” Cadance said with a laugh. She couldn’t help but find the slight lisp cute. “And I don’t want to hear you mention or even think about maid duties for the rest of the night okay?” She winked. “That’s an order!”

Lowly blinked. What had she been doing earlier today? Didn’t it have something to do with wine? She giggled softly to herself. Why would a filly like herself be doing something with wine? That was a grown up drink! She was just Lowly Servant, happy yet meek little filly.

Her head tilted. Lowly Servant? Was that really her name? What a weird name for a filly. Somewhere in her mind she still knew that none of this was correct, and that she shouldn’t be a filly, and that Lowly Servant hadn’t always been her name. However, that wasn’t important to her right now. She had to focus on being a happy filly. Somehow, the mere act of it felt liberating.

“Well that settles it then.” Twilight said matter of factly. “For the rest of the night, you’ll be a happy little filly while Evening watches over you. With my occasional supervision of course.”

“Wait what!?” Evening cried. Twilight fixed him with a stern glare.

“It’s your fault she’s like this. You should have known to test the area for possible enchantments before trying to cast any spells. Therefore I think it’s only right that you be held responsible for her condition and well being!” Evening opened his mouth to protest, but quickly shut it. He knew better than to try and out argue Twilight. Guess he was stuck being a foalsitter for the night.

“Alright fine, so what should we call her?” He asked, “because there is no way in this world or the next that I’m calling her Lowly Servant if I’m her babysitter”

“Yeah, that sounds all kinds of messed up.” Applejack agreed scratching her chin. “Let’s see, how about Appleseed?”

“Oh really darling,” Rarity said with a wave of her hoof. “That won’t do at all. How about Diamond le sky?” Lowly made a face. How could they call her something else? Her name was Lowly Servant! Except it was suppose… It hurt her head trying to think about it.

“Um, h-how about Blossom Forth?” Fluttershy added timidly. Rainbow Dash made no suggestions or even sounds except for a few light snores. At some point she had fallen asleep.

“I know! Shining Armor!” Pinkie yelled suddenly, causing Lowly’s heart to skip a beat.

“My brother’s name?” Twilight asked in bewilderment “Why on Equestria would you suggest that!?” Pinkie blinked a few times and shrugged.

“I don’t know, it just popped into my mind! Much like a pinkie sense twitch.”

“Well we obviously can’t call her that.” Cadance said. Lowly wanted to scream, but that wouldn’t be a very meek thing for her to do.

“Peppermint.” Evening said quickly, “we’re calling her Peppermint.” It didn’t really seem all that fitting for her, but if he didn’t come up with something now, they’d be at this all night.

“That sounds fine.” Cadance said with a nod, before looking at Lowly once more. “For the duration of being a filly you’ll be known as Peppermint, understood?” Lowly slowly nodded. Was this alright? She was suppose to only consider herself as Lowly Servant.

You will obey my orders above all others, and you will not seek to defy me or undermine me in any way…

Those words her Lord Shining Armor said repeated in her mind. She was to obey his orders above all others, therefore she could not defy his order to be Lowly Servant. Except she was only instructed to be Peppermint while a filly. This was not defying any order, this was following the order her majesty the princess had given her. A filly was suppose to listen to their elders, and just like that, she stopped being Lowly Servant, and embraced the role of Peppermint. Happy little filly.

“Yes pwincess Cadance!” She cried with an honest touch of glee. Even if it was for a little while, to be anypony other than who she had been was an improvement.

“Good that’s settled then.” Twilight said, walking up to the newly dubbed Peppermint. “Just hang in there okay? It’ll get better.” Peppermint happily nodded her little head. One night free of all the horrors of being Lowly Servant. Though Peppermint couldn’t quite remember all that had happened right now with the absence of the more adultish stuff she use to know, she did remember that none of it was happy.

It made her sad to know that it’d end sometime tomorrow. She should enjoy herself while she could.

“Well I know the rest of you have probably eaten, but I haven’t.” Evening said looking at the table. “May I sit?”

“There’s plenty left Evening, help yourself.” Twilight said, moving two chairs to her right. With a nod, Evening settled in next to Twilight, placing Peppermint between himself and Princess Cadance.

So the night went, with Evening chatting with Twilight and her friends at the table. A table Peppermint never dreamed she’d ever sit at again. Seated with such foods before her. Anything she could want. She began to reach for another cupcake before Applejack stopped her.

“Now now, no dessert before ya finish yer veggies.” The orange farmpony said, placing a heap full of peas upon her plate. She made a face as she looked at them. She hated peas, but to not eat them would be going against a grown ups orders. With a sigh she began to chew away at them. Bleh they tasted just as bad as she remembered.

“Ugh, I’m glad I’m not a filly anymore.” Twilight said as she watched Peppermint.

“Twilight! That ain’t an encouraging thing to say to a filly!” Applejack scolded before she blinked. “Oh hay, guess with having a sister I fall into the role a bit too easily don’t I. Almost forgot she ain’t really this young.”

“No no I think keeping up the ruse is a good thing for her relaxation.” Twilight said after she swallowed some of her own food. “Though maybe give her something other than peas.”

“What’s wrong with peas?” Evening asked, taking a big scoop himself, which only caused Twilight to grimace.

“Both my brother and I hated peas growing up. I’m surprised he even has them on the table.”

“Well you aren’t the only two at the table Darling.” Rarity added, taking her own portion of them.

“I know, it’s just. Ugh Peas. Here Peppermint. Have some asparagus instead!” With that she placed several pieces onto her plate.

“You hate peas but like asparagus? Ew!” Pinkie said making a face. Twilight laughed.

“My brother never understood it either. He’d always secretly give me his portion at dinner.” Meanwhile Lowly continued to munch away at two of her least favorite foods. If only she could give Twily her portions this time.

“We can’t just give her vegetables guys.” Evening said with a huff, as he levitated a big slab of food upon her plate. “Here Peppermint, have some hay steak!”

Peppermint looked up at him with wide thankful eyes. In more ways than one tonight, he had become like a knight in Shining Armor to her.

A small part of her brain still realized how ironic that was.

===

The ‘new’ Shining Armor was getting annoyed. It had been over half an hour now that he had gone looking for Lowly Servant, only to find that none of the other maids had seen her since she delivered the wine at dinner. Just where had she gone? He knew she hadn’t run away, he made certain she couldn’t. So where the fuck was she? When he finally did find her, he’d have to give her an order to not hide herself away. Even after being in her new role for three months, she was still an annoyance. He’d have to make sure he fucked her extra hard next time.

Well no matter, he had instructed Miss Marinette to inform him the moment she was found, and keep her isolated as well. How wonderful it was to be able to order that bitch of a head maid around for a change. He’d love to punish her, but then if he did that, she might let up on making Lowly Servant’s life miserable, and he couldn’t have that.

Closing his eyes, he thought back to the night Cadance had made her, LemonFresh, a random nopony maid, into Shining Armor the lord of this castle. At first he had been confused, wondering what was going on. It was only after Cadance had tried to remove the persona spell that he finally began to piece things together.

He still couldn't believe the pure dumb luck involved in all this. Cadance had thought she needed to re-connect to the spell in order to make more commands after such a stretch of time. She had no idea the spell remained in effect indefinitely, one of many reasons it was ‘forbidden’. Of course, by trying to reconnect it, she had instead cast it upon him, telling him to act like Shining Armor. Lemonfresh didn’t know everything about the prince of course, but she knew enough that with the aid of the spell, he was able to trick Cadance into making her think he really was her husband.

Not too long after that Cadance had been called to take care of some royal emergency, leaving him with the instruction to relax in their room, since he had ‘done enough’. With the spell still in effect, he spent the next few hours trying to gain a good grasp on what the spell made him do as ‘Shining’ while searching the room for any idea of what was going on. Lucky enough, seems the real Shining Armor kept a ‘diary’ of sorts, something which to this day he had been reading over and over in private, committing its pages to memory.

Then when Cadance came back, oh when she had come back! With her leading the way, they had the most wonderful of times, her showing him first hoof just what it meant to have the Princess of Love for a wife. He hadn’t known the full story yet, but had learned enough to know that Cadance’s persona spell was the cause of his sudden fortune. A spell he managed to remove from himself by pleading to his ‘wife’ to just dispel any magic on him at the time just to ease his mind.

Speaking of magic, he had been worried it’d be a problem. As a maid he had always been rather quick to learn and adapt to whatever situation Miss Marinette threw him into, but this was a whole new world of problems. Turns out he needn’t worry. With this time of peace, the most he had to use magic for was simple levitation. A skill he managed to pick up quickly enough with with a few long sessions of practice. Anytime Cadance questioned his behavior, he’d just chalk it up to being under the persona spell for so long. A lie that had the added bonus of her not attempting any more spells on him for the time being.

His only concern then had been what happened to the real Shining Armor, till she unwittingly gave herself away right to his face. Since then, he had made Lowly’s life one of endless suffering and humiliation, while his own had become one of luxury and joy. The added bonus of rubbing it in the old Shining’s face made it all the better.

Making his way back to the dining room, he suddenly recalled that he hadn’t told them to find that pupil of Twilght’s. Oh well, he was sure the buffoon must have found his way to the hall by now. Unless he was a complete idiot. Either way he didn’t really interest him. If only the pupil had been a mare. Then at least he may have had something to look at. The guy was suppose to be bad at magic. Maybe he could get Cadance or Twilight to turn him into one as a ‘test’ to see if he could reverse it. He licked his lips at the mere thought as he came to the dining room.

“Hey everypony, I’m ba-” He began to announce pushing open the doors, only to stop at the strange display before him. Sitting between his new sister, and his wife Cadance was a black Stallion that could only be that pupil he heard about it. Huh, guess he wasn’t too bad looking for a stallion. Back when he was a maid himself he might have considered teasing him.

That wasn’t what caught his main attention though. What he found strange was the small grey filly seated between that stallion and his wife. That was weird. He didn’t remember Twilight saying the guy had a daughter. Had he missed something in her letter? He had read it like five times! How could he overlook such an important detail!?

“Welcome back Shiny!” Cadance called to him with a grin. “Come meet our new guests!”

“Ah, you must be Evening Storm, Twily’s student. A pleasure to meet you.” He said holding out a hoof to shake. The stallion smiled and shook it. Guy didn't look to threatening, probably wouldn’t be a problem, but he hadn’t gotten this far by being careless. If Lowly hadn’t vanished today, he might have entertained the thought of her trying to seduce him, just to keep him out of the way, but she no longer deserved such pleasant treatment.

Hmm, then again it might just really embarrass her. He hadn’t tried having her act like a whore to visiting nobles yet. Perhaps he’d entertain that thought later after all. Assuming he couldn’t get Twilight and Cadance to agree to the genderswap thing.

“Twilight told me all about you in her letters though uh,“ He looked down at the filly who was staring at him with such strange eyes. He swore he knew them. “She didn’t tell me you had a daughter.” Evening nearly choked on his food while Peppermint’s face turned red. For some reason that idea made her a little happier.

“W-what? No! You’ve got it all wrong!” Evening cried once he recovered. The rest of the table merely erupted in laughter. Shining was starting to get a bad feeling about this. What was so funny?

“Aw don’t blush Evee! I think you’d make a wonderful daddy!” Pinkie jeered causing the black stallion to sink lower into his chair. Now Shining was really confused. If she wasn’t his daughter then who the fuck was she?

“Guys, we’re confusing Shiny!” Twilight said with a laugh as she turned toward her ‘brother’. “Evening doesn’t have a daughter, though he will be looking out for her like a father.” She winked at Evening causing him to cover his head with his hooves, much to the amusement of the others.

Well, all the others except Shining Armor who was starting to get annoyed. Why would they bring this little runt in here if she wasn’t related to any of them? Keeping his voice steady, he turned toward his wife.

“With all due respect Cadie, can you fill me in on the joke?”

“Of course sweetie.” Cadance said waving to his chair. That was weird, why did the filly blink when Cadance said that? It was like the statement pained her somehow.

“You remember how Twilight told us about her pupils rather unique magic abilities?” Shining slowly nodded.

“She said he could do some really weird stuff.”

“Well, we got a first hoof demonstration tonight.” Rubbing the little filly’s head she continued, “I present to you the missing maid from earlier.”

Shining Armor’s brain stopped. What did she just say?! Taking another look at the filly sitting not two chairs away from him, he took in the grey coat, the inky black mane. Despite her cutie mark just being gone somehow, he finally recognized her for who she was. This is where Lowly Servant had ended up?

“She’s our missing maid!?” He cried. He could barely suppress the shock in his voice. He was no stranger to transformation magic by now, but this? It had to be some sick joke.

“I’m afraid so sir,” Evening said with a sigh. Shining carefully kept the glare out of his gaze. This was not a situation he needed, Lowly Servant was just like her namesake. His slave, his property, as it should be. What use was she to him like this?

“How long?” He asked, working hard to keep his voice level.

“S-sometime tomorrow morning.” Came the nervous stallion’s reply. Twilight nodded.

“It’ll take at least that long for me and Cadance to figure out a reversal spell.” Shining inwardly scoffed. Tomorrow afternoon!? Tsk, this meant he wouldn’t have his favorite fuck toy during Cadance’s morning jog. Worse yet, he still didn’t know why she was seated at the table. Glancing over at her, he saw she had been given hay steak. His already sour mood darkened even more. How dare she partake in such a thing! How had she even been able to muster up the ability to do so?

A small stab of worry pierced his heart. What if that meant the dominance spell was breaking thanks to the new transformation? He tried to calm himself as he looked her over. If it was gone, she would have told them by now who she was. Unless this was a trap. His gaze turned to Cadance. No, she was a good actor, but not that good. She had no idea he wasn’t her original husband.

“I see,” He said the slightest hint of an edge on his voice. “And the reason she’s at the table?”

“Shiny? Is something wrong?” Cadance asked giving him a concerned look. Immediately he clamped down on his emotions, something that came easily due to his old maid training. Guess that was a bit out of character for him. The old Shining just had to be the goody two horseshoes didn’t he? Well, it was just one minor downside all things considered.

“Sorry Cadie, guess I’m just a big let down that I missed all the excitement and have to play catch up.”

“Aw, don’t worry. I’ll bring you up to speed.” She said giving him a nuzzle. Damn she was sexy as all tartarus. He could see the brief moment of pain flash across Lowly’s face as Cadance did that, causing his mouth to break into a sly grin. She’s mine now bucko.

“I still don’t know what upset her so much,” Cadance continued, “but since she’s a filly for a night, we decided to just let her act as one. Call it taking the night off.”

“I see.” Shining repeated. So that was the situation huh? He didn’t much like the concept of the old Shining getting any ‘time off’ from her new role, but he didn’t think trying to protest it now would do much good. Being a mare once himself, he knew not to argue with a room of them.

“What’s the matter Peppermint?” Evening Storm asked, glancing down at the nervous looking filly. “You stopped eating. Everything okay?”

“S-sorry mister Evening.” She squeaked, before going back to her food. Shining’s eyebrow raised.

“Peppermint?” He asked surprised, before he remembered he wasn’t suppose to know her name. “Is that her name?”

“Well not really no.” Cadance replied. “It’s just Evening didn’t want to call her by her real name while taking care of her, and frankly I don’t blame him.” Again Shining’s brow rose.

“Evening is taking care of her? Any particular reason?”

“Because it’s his responsibility that she’s like this.” Twilight said matter of factly.

So that’s how it is huh? Shining mused as he looked the new filly over. Something else seemed different about her. He could tell he made her nervous, but she didn’t seem as meek as she usually did. Just what had they told her to do while he was out? She wasn’t suppose to be able to run from her job, and yet here she was acting like an ordinary filly. Perhaps they gave her the ability to harm him now? No, no he was very careful about that part. Likely Cadance had just somehow undone her original brainwashing. Well he could re-implement that well enough.

Very well, he mentally sighed. There was nothing he could do at the moment. he supposed he could give her a one time pass on being his fuck toy for one morning. After all, this gave him the perfect opportunity to pour salt in the wound. Putting on the biggest smile he could muster, he placed one hoof around Cadance.

“Well then, this seems to be working out great!” He announced smiling at Peppermint as he did so. “She gets a night off and we get to see what it’ll be like having a little foal running around. Perfect practice for the future.” He made sure to give Cadance's tummy a small rub as he said that.

“Mmm, I can’t wait either.” Cadance replied giving his neck a few quick licks. He loved how devoted she was to Shining, to him now. She didn’t even question what he did when she wasn’t around. The maids he’d had his way with. Even better, his words had the exact effect he hoped for, as little ‘Peppermint’ flinched out right.

“Peppermint? Something wrong?” Evening asked again, having noticed the reaction.

“She’s probably just tired.” Shining said with grin. “Perhaps I should take her to your room to rest?” If he could just get her alone for a bit. Oh the fun he could have.

“No, it’s my duty to watch her. Thank you for the offer though Prince Shining.” Evening replied. Oddly enough, he didn’t like the idea of her being out of his sight right now. He was still confused and worried over what she had been saying earlier.

“Ah I see, well no helping it then.” Shining replied, keeping his poker face up. Infuriating twit. The maid was his property. How dare this third rate magician speak to him, the prince in such a manner! Sadly, any other reaction would raise too many questions about his behavior. Like it or not he was stuck with things as they were.

A giggle from Twilight’s friend Pinkie Pie, interrupted his thoughts.

“Awww, Evening is worried about little Peppermint. What a great daddy you make!” She said with a snort of laughter. Evening could feel his face flush again as he sighed.

“This daddy thing isn’t going to be a running joke is it?”

“Are you saying you’ll abandon your own daughter deary?” Rarity asked with a smirk, earning her a round of snickers from the other mares, along with a groan from Evening.

“I think Peppermint is embarrassed enough okay?”

“Oh but it’s so cute!” Pinkie cried jumping up and down. “You don’t mind right Peppermint? Come on! Call him daddy! It’ll be funny!”

“D-daddy…” Peppermint involuntarily squeaked, forced by the obedience command to comply.

“OHMYGOSHSHEREALLYDIDIT!” Pinkie cried in glee while most of the others erupted into fits of giggles. Evening on the other hoof looked like he wanted to disappear.

“Well looks like somepony is finally letting her guard down.” Cadance piped up, giving Peppermint’s head a short rub with her hoof. “Do you like thinking of Evening as your daddy?”

Peppermint just stared at her confused. Did she like thinking of Evening that way? He was very nice to her, and clearly wanted to help and protect her. After all, it was only natural that a filly had a daddy right? She squeezed her eyes shut as she tried to make sense of her thoughts. She knew she wasn’t really a filly, but after being… she had been something else right? She knew that. It was so hard to fight these things now. It was so much easier to just give in. Evening wouldn’t hurt her, he’d make sure she was okay.

Before she knew it, she was nodding.

“Well,” Cadance continued with a smile, “if it makes you happy then go ahead and consider Evening your daddy for the rest of your time as a filly.” Another shudder rippled through her, another layer upon her convoluted situation. She was Peppermint right now. Daughter of Evening Storm. Somehow that made her happy and yet still sad at the same time.

Shining however, was not enjoying this at all. Cadance had no idea that her commands were being taken literally, and that ‘Peppermint’ had no choice but to obey.

“Now dear, perhaps that’s going a bit far.” He interjected. “You all seem really eager to treat her as a foal, and after she ran from the room crying earlier.”

“My brother has a point,” Twilight agreed, “Maybe we’re taking this too far. Sorry Peppermint or er, Lowly Servant. You don’t have to do any of this if you don’t want to. This is about you relaxing after all.”

Peppermint stared up at the beautiful princess. She was something special to her right? She thought so, her mind was such a mess at the moment. For so long now she had wanted to give up, but she knew she couldn’t. Forced day in and out to do things she had never dreamed of doing. The spell began to shake in her mind, overworking itself by trying to keep all her commands in check.

Something had happened tonight. Something that filled her with despair. Her daddy had helped her, but, but she hadn’t been a filly right? She’d been grown up, and somepony else. Was that who she was? No, no she was somepony before that too. Wasn’t she? Why did her brain hurt when she tried to remember? What was her real name? Who was she? Once more the spell slipped.

Shining Armor, the true lord of this castle, and rightful husband to Princess Cadance.

She blinked, the thought pulling her back out of the mental pit she had long ago fallen into. It was only for a moment before the persona spell once more tried to gain dominance, but the deed had been done. She remembered who she really was, and now she didn’t have to worry about being Lowly Servant for at least one night. She still couldn’t tell anypony who she really was, or what happened, but with all of the conflicting commands, her meekness had been greatly weakened.

Wracking her brain she tried to remember all that had happened tonight. The news Cadance had brought still stung deeply, but her renewed hope at possibly finally breaking free of this horror was too great to let it stop her now. She couldn’t run away from her job, or defy her Lord Shining Armor, but if her job was to be Evening’s daughter, then maybe…

It was worth a shot. With the persona spell working so hard to keep everything straight, she might have a chance. She wouldn’t let this small thread of freedom, no matter how thin go to waste.

“N-No, it’s okay.” She said, shocked by her own voice. She had actually managed to speak! The reminder of Cadance telling her not to be so humble shown like a blessing. Shining however, wasn’t pleased. That didn’t seem like something a meek pony would say, just what kind of commands had she been given while he was out of the room? Now more than ever he needed her alone. He was going to fix this.

“P-Please say okay D-daddy.” Peppermint said while hugging Evening.

I’m not disobeying an order! I’m not running away! I’m just doing what I was told! She repeated in her mind over and over. This had to work! It had to! The look she gave him was the biggest puppy dog eyes she could muster, all her hopes and longing stuffed inside it.

“Gah! Alright alright! You all win! I’ll be daddy for now!” Evening cried defeated. He was weak, he knew that. How could anypony say no to such a face? She acted like her entire existence depended on him saying yes. To make matters worse, this caused another round of aww’s and giggles around the table. Well all except for Rainbow Dash of course, who was still sound asleep. He’d only know her for a couple of months, but he swore she could sleep through anything.

Shining put a smile on his face, but inside he was anything but happy. In fact he was close to glaring at Evening. He was really beginning to hate this student of Twilight’s. Not only had he taken his favorite sex toy away, but was actively giving her a possible way out. Even he saw the loophole that if she was allowed to keep being his daughter as a ‘job’ she could not only take that chance to escape, but possibly re-gain some of the happiness he had taken from her when he took over her position.

No, he needed a way to turn this around to his favor. What if by allowing this to happen they someday discovered the spell and the truth? That wouldn’t do at all, but how to tip the scales in his favor? Perhaps if he could get her to anger Evening? If he didn’t want her around him, then problem solved.

He could command her to be an unruly brat, but that might cause another loophole that would let her speak her mind. Too risky. Perhaps if he told her to do the opposite of whatever Evening asked of her? No that was even worse. It was very likely she’d be told not to hurt herself. He wasn’t sure if his previous command could hold up to a newer one. Bah, there were too many variables in this. So how? How could he get her to disgust Evening so much that he’d abandon her?

At once it came to him. Of course! That would work perfectly. It’d have its risks of course, but at this point, anything would. Given how much of a nice stallion Evening seemed to be, he had a good guess that the odds were in his favor this would go down just as he wanted.

All he had to do was wait for the perfect opportunity to issue his commands…

Author's Notes:

Well there we have part one. The next few parts are already mostly written. (I'm talking like 96% finished) and will be released shortly. Like in the next day or so. No waiting several months for this one to finish. I'll not have it.

So yeah this fic. I just couldn't help it. I'm not sure what it was about Maid to Please, but it got to me. Like under the skin. I couldn't rest till this was started, and hopefully by it's end, we can give 'Lowly' a different ending then she received.

In the process I began to give myself a little writing challenge. See in the original fic maids were sorta seen as nothing more than slaves, and that really didn't settle well with me. So for this fic I tried to give reasons on why the characters acted as they did in that fic, while trying to make them sound the way I believed they would be like.

Also since it's my fic, I wanted to have some fun, and well threw my OC into the mix.

Hopefully the end result still ends up being entertaining.