Dash shifted her weight as she blinked herself awake. She could see small pieces of dust illuminated by the slowly rising sun float down and hit the floor, she looked at herself and pulled the covers away to check if yesterday was truly a dream. She blinked as she saw her own body- the blue one of course- lay right beside her, snoring softly.

Great. Looking at her own face still would never get normal- she quickly tried to use the correct thought, training herself that while she was still Dash in her head, nopony knew that. Shaking her limbs and noticing a dull ache from when that spa pony did things- Dash remembered that point and shivered- she waited as she noticed strands of hair out of place on her original body. Brushing a hoof through chromatic locks, she made sure to take care around the ears and bangs, noting that her hair fell naturally like a wave around her head, sure nothing like her current hair do- Dash quietly blamed Fluttershy for preferring her pink hair to be a wild mass of faintly controlled waves crashing across her hairline.

Chalk another thing up on the list of things she'd like to do to Fluttershy's body. No wait, that thought came out wrong, Dash quickly amended that thought into 'Things to make Fluttershy's body better. There, no sexual way that could ever be misconstrued by her friends. Step one, do something about this hair, step two, eat more awesome food, and step three workout.

Noticing a brush on the other end table, she reached for it but her lower body was unresponsive. That shouldn't happen, gritting her teeth, Dash edged over to the other side, gingerly picking up each leg gently over Fluttershy's blue body. Silently wishing that Fluttershy was totally asleep to not have to have her friend notice that she was probably presenting her nether regions by complete and utter coincidence. She looked at her old body, now decidedly Fluttershy's for the foreseeable future and thought blue was not her friend's color. Dash grimaced thinking how weird that sentence was. Shaking her limbs gently, she felt her sensation of numbness start to leave- followed by a sharp, constant feeling of needles underneath the skin, nerves firing on every cylinder as blood and pain came back slowly.

Dash grinned to herself noticing the brush being only a few inches away now, reaching a hoof gently over she grasped it but slowly felt her center mass shift as the bed shifted, her weight now pushing down a new section of it. She tried to hold on, but her footing slipped and she slid out of bed with a thump.

"Ponyfeathers. Fluttershy, help, I can't move my legs."

She heard a rustle as Fluttershy peeked over the bed. "Oh dear, I forgot, that's what tends to happen when I go to the spa." She could see Fluttershy groan, her voice sounding like aged leather as she tried to stretch her small blue wings. Plopping on down, with a gentle tap, Dash looked into her own face and just saw Fluttershy. The caring mare now hijacking her body like an alien.

Dash frowned, the action creasing her face into an attempted Stare, her eyes straining as she tried to act as mad as she could, but only a small headache pulsed behind her eyes. Deciding that the effort was too much, Dash decided to facehoof instead, tapping herself gently because she didn't want to cause herself more pain.

"Fine, just can you help me? Cause this really feels weird."

Dash saw a slight smirk cross over her friend's face. She cringed as she heard a throaty laugh. "Sure, but from up here, you look good to me."

"Just give me the brush, Shy."

"Okay, I was just getting into my role here. I think I maybe was too forward or jokey, I don't want to over correct for all of our friends. . .I mean that can get to be too much sometimes."

Dash rolled her now baby blue eyes and shrugged. "Its fine, just go." She saw her friend zoom off, the rainbow trail lingering in the air for a few seconds, and groaned. Celestia dammit, either Fluttershy was accidentally failing at hitting on her or she was going crazy. She brushed her pink locks and mused that something had to be up with this.

She'd just talk to Twilight later, whatever. She felt a rush of wind as Fluttershy reappeared with a plate of eggs and hay bacon. Dash blinked, she had only been out of the room for like five minutes.

Fluttershy fidgeted and placed the food on the end table and slowly helped Dash up. "See I, uh, thought you might need some food to make up for what I said and then I remembered I totally put some eggs in my fridge and-"

"Thanks." Dash slowly laid back on the bed, feeling her limbs come back to reality. "You didn't have to do this. And you got that impression of me down well." Dash winked.

Fluttershy felt her body run on autopilot as she flopped as fast as she could on her own bed, its size now dwarfing her. She felt her wings shoot straight out in a lewd display and while she was fine with others sexuality, she always felt a tad bit worried about her own sensitive feelings. She knew how things worked, but she hadn't actually been forward enough ever to try something on her own.

"Um, d-do you want the food?"

"I do." Rainbow wiggled her hindquarters, partially because she needed to get comfortable again, partially not. "But I have one little question. . .why do you do that spa routine all the time if it causes your body to act like this all the time? Cause I don't want to call you out or something, but temporary paralysis the next day probably means something bad."

Fluttershy wanted to quickly dash away but her blue wings locked in place causing her to flop from the bed directly into Dash's yellow lap. She felt her cheeks burn hot as she felt a heat that she didn't exactly know what to do with. Well she had ideas, but she kept those in her writing and outside of her actual life.

Dash could only make out the stream of words because of her hearing combined with feeling the vibrations of words echo on her chest.

"It just happened the first time I went. I accidentally asked about the special and Aloe and Lotus were so happy and Rarity was impressed and I didn't want to say no exactly so I didn't. And that's how that happened. Though I wonder if Aloe and Lotus like me somehow cause they kept mentioning how nice I looked all the time and then wondering if I was part Earth Pony, I don't-"

Dash pushed the food away for a moment to get better leverage. She felt so small in this bed, even though it was a good size, she still felt a bit cramped. Drawing herself all the way back, she leaned her head on the headboard and sighed. "Oh of course. I can't even be mad about that, I want to. But I can't. I mean who else would decide 'I don't like this, but everybody else is happy so I can't say no?'" She picked up her friend and flipped her into a sitting position, like she was a stuffed animal that she could hold in her hooves. She slowly picked up the brush and ran it through the hair of her friend, slowly detailing each strand and color with a soothing hum. "You know, you could have always said no, that's probably Aloe and Lotus' whole job, making sure ponies actually feel comfortable in their own bodies. That or they are weirdly Uralpean."

She felt Fluttershy chuckle at that and lean into her brush strokes, "Was that an attempt at a joke?"

"Guity."

Dash could feel Fluttershy cuddle closer, "Well I liked it."

Dash brushed Fluttershy's blue coat, noticing marks of dust and cloud stuff matted into her fur. Digging the brush harder, she began easing the knotted fur apart, each brush stroke earning a slight yelp from Shy. "Sorry, but I have no idea how you got all this stuff in my fur. I mean your fur? This is confusing."

Fluttershy groaned in protest. "I just wanted to have a surprise for you so I got all the stuff you wanted from your place. I just also ran into the ground a few times, and a few dozen clouds, and maybe into a tree or two. It was kind of dark."

Dash noticed small cuts on the wings probably from brambles and tree branches, Fluttershy's borrowed wings were missing feathers and the few that looked okay were covered in a light dusting of grime and sweat. Dash had standards- while some ponies liked the whole cleaning process and getting dirty, it was another thing entirely for her to enjoy the taste of dirt. Sighing, she put down the brush and picked her newest and weirdest trainee in the ways of the Dash ever.

Fluttershy said nothing, her cheeks maroon going towards dark purple in surprise. Dash inwardly sighed. Great. It wasn't like Fluttershy could destroy her with cuteness before. And now she's travel sized and looked like her. A slight tinge of narcissism flared as Dash wondered silently if Fluttershy was down for trading places in the bedroom.

Though the colors would be all wrong. Maybe paint?

Shaking her head, she opened the bathroom door and set Fluttershy down in the tub.

"Dash, what are you doing?"

Dash grabbed a few soaps from the counter, noting that her brands and bottles that she used were there, Dolloping a bit on her yellow hoof, she began to work slowly on Fluttershy.

"Nothing much, cleaning you off, if you don't want me to do this I'll go and let you do this on your own."

Fluttershy blushed. "No I'm okay with this." She laid her head on Dash and smiled.

"Um, well, okay. I'll keep asking you about it, just to be sure cause I probably have to get all over."

Fluttershy felt her blue wings stiffen. "O-o-h. Well, okay. And thanks, Dash."

Dash rubbed a hoof through her now smaller friend's hair. "I also need to teach you to calm down your wings, I think its cute and all, but that's super not the Dash way of things. Plus then I can tease you and nopony needs to know. . ."

Dash booped her friend on the nose and laughed. "I'm just teasing you. But Shy, don't tell anypony I did this for you, it totally hurts my awesome factor. Now turn around cause I need to preen you. You don't just let dirt get everywhere? Where did you learn your cleaning habits, a barn?""

Fluttershy eeped as she felt Dash slowly pick out each feather that was slightly torn or out of alignment, each sharp pull hinting that Dash had found another feather that was not up to snuff. She hadn't realized that there was a thing to preening. Her mother never showed her the ins and outs of the habit.

"Dear, I have told you before. If the kids bully you at school, just let them know that you just have a lot of feathers. And if the school calls about you being dirty, just say our water is off for the moment. You are fine. You don't need preening anyway. Ponies only say you need to, see, that's how they get you. Then you have seven mane conditioners and ten shampoos and feather care treatments. That's how they get you. And I keep telling ponies that its all a government scam, built so you have to spend your money to look nice. So honey, what do we say about the government?" Fluttershy stared at her mother wanting to ask something she couldn't quite place on her tongue. She only got silence in response. She quietly turned and walked back to her room, her mother's cold laughter echoing through the halls as she talked to her friends. Each voice echoed off the walls as she entertained them.

Her mother didn't have friends.

At least tomorrow she'd see if Flight School was okay.

"Dash, I, uh, never learned about that."

Dash just stared at Fluttershy, her borrowed blue orbs tracing her thoughts as she got a fair hint of Fluttershy's memories. Dash stopped preening, and opened her mouth, blue feathers slowly falling like raindrops onto the floor in a localized clump. She saw Dash try and fake a patented Fluttershy smile, the edges of it faltering and wobbling as she tried to hold in a sense of emotion. Dash breathed in and out and just hugged Shy, her body enveloping her friend's.

Fluttershy triend to move, her blue limmbs held fast by Dash. She tried to swirm out as her limbs started to become numb as Dash squeezed her tight. It hurt to breathe and then it stopped. Dash broke the hug and sat there.

"Dash, I'm okay."

"But-"

Fluttershy picked up some soap and began to scrub Dash's now long, pink mane.

"What are you doing, Shy?"

"I mean if you want, you can teach me how to do some of the things I missed out on, and I can teach you what I learned down on the ground. Earth Ponies have some good ways to keep clean. Now can you please get in the tub? I don't want to use that much water to get us both presentable. It might feel nice since you were complaining about your spa trip. . ."

Dash felt her massive yellow wings stiffen at that. Flexing each muscle slowly, she kept Fluttershy from noticing it entirely. "S-sure. Can you move over? I don't think your tub is big enough for the two of us."

The water level rose as Dash entered the tub, her body displacing far more water than she was used to- though she mentally chided herself- of course it did, it was Fluttershy's body of course. She felt Fluttershy swim over to her gently and lay on her stomach. Dash felt a slight blush at that thought. Sharing a tub? That was new to her. Hopefully Shy wouldn't look up.

"Shy, don't we have a party with Twilight later?"

"Mmm, we have a while until then, Pinkie set it for noon."

Dash laid her head back and just relaxed, if they had four hours until then, well that's not bad at all. At least she hoped Fluttershy would decide to get her out in time. If not, well they could always blame Twilight for something.

Twilight's eye twitched. "Pinkie, this isn't working." Twilight ran through all the spells she had used in a furious rush, checking off each random spell that she had already cancelled and she was only left with one. Well more than one, but the main problem was that she had no clue how the gender spell worked with all the others and now there was a noticeable matrix of spells feeding onto Pinkie's aura- not deadly, just more self sustaining and decidedly difficult to unmake. Sure the few size increasing spells were mostly all gone, besides in some areas that Pinkie had told her to keep just as a 'fun addition'. Thankfully, Twilight knew an invisibility spell or two to hide Pinkie's currently noticeable Post Office parcel, but at least she had gotten Pinkie back to a relatively normal size.

Cause her friends would most definitely try to hold an intervention if Pinkie remained thirty feet tall.

She didn't have a problem, maybe a small one, but it was all in her Princessly duties- she was the main pony that created spells, so of course there would be catastrophic failures, just she didn't want to have it now be a daily occurrence- weekly she could handle, but misusing spells daily? That had to break like every magical tome's rulebook.

"You aren't making this any easier, Pinkie."

Pinkie lay on the Friendship Table, no saying a word, just suggestively sitting there, no care in the world. She winked at Twilight, her now masculine features and size hiding the graceful pony. A deep baritone started chuckling at just how funny this whole thing was. "But, Twily, look, its like I'm a giant on this tiny map. I can see my parent's house from here." Pinkie waved at the map, "Hi, everypony."

Twilight picked Pinkie up in her purple aura. "No don't even touch that. That's a magical artifact of mostly unknowable power, its not a toy."

"Well that's not what you said during our fun. I liked using my magical artifact to power you up."

Twilight blushed furiously and groaned. "We'll talk about that later, and stop using turns of phrase, I can't get off track with this. And I I already made Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash's lives worse off by doing yesterday's experiment. I can't have you being, well, you right now. Aren't you at least a little bit freaked out? What if I can't fix this and you are stuck like this forever?"

Pinkie poked Twilight on her horn and gently floated down. "Twilight, serious mode Pinkie here. I don't really care if I'm like this, I don't care what gender I am, I could be whatever I feel like and I'm perfectly comfortable with it. It doesn't change who I am in any way besides those parts that ponies take so much stock into, but I'm just me. Like I love parties and sweets and you- and my friends and family. You are currently here-" Pinkie pointed at the ceiling, "and with how much this affects me, you should be down here." Pinkie pointed at Twilight's horn. "You have better things to worry about."

Twilight sputtered, "But what about if your family comes and you are a stallion? Or the Cakes?"

Pinkie laughed, "Well, they already know I tend to get into some weird situations. This is probably only the fifth most interesting thing that's ever happened to me."

Twilight shook her head, "Okay. Well I guess if you are okay with it, I can be about ninety nine point nine percent not okay with it. I still want to get you out of that as soon as possible."

Pinkie patted Twilight on her head. "I don't know Twily, I can find a lot of ways to make you probably be okay with this."

Twilight was going to respond until she heard a distinctive drawling voice.

"I already told ya, Rares, I don't think Twilight really wants us in her castle before the party."

"Oh, don't be a spoil sport dear, I just want to check if Fluttershy was telling the truth about that little information she told me. It just made me stay up all night wondering of the possibilities."

Twilight froze. She was not going to have another repeat of yesterday and her mind boggled with what to do. Finally, after what felt like a frozen eternity, she came up with the best possible solution. "Pinkie, go hide in my closet."

Pinkie cartwheeled away. Twilight rubbed her temple. She may like her marefriend, boyfriend, ponyfriend, whatever but the sheer gall of Pinkie to break all forms of physics and general flexibility still irked her.

She walked towards the arguing pair, Twilight mused that at least her friends annoyed her with freindship issues even if she thought the general populace of Equestria saw her as a completely useless princess. She read the papers. Turning on her smile and stretching her wings, she strode out to meet them.

"-I told ya, I don't feel like having one of them fencediggers on me."

Rarity chuckled, her voice exuding an air of regality, "Oh well that's fine, darling, but I think I remember you saying a few things when we were together, you know, in that place, something about you wanting to be a family mare?"

Applejack pulled her hat off her head and hid her face. "I mean I was just thinking about it is all, not like I planned for this to just pop up in my lap or nothing."

Rarity twined her tail in Applejack's and lifted her hat off. "Now, Applejack, darling, you don't have to be the one that gets Twilight's little spell, if you don't want to, I could easily try the gentlestallion approach and sweep a fair maiden like you off her hooves. I have many a fine novel like that."

Applejack blushed. "Well, that is a mighty fine proposition, but uh, I can always see what Twilight says first. But I'll remember that offer, Rare."

Twilight took that cue to clear her throat and announce to the adoring crowd of nopony that her court was in session. Or at least she imagined that in her head, in reality, it was more of a sputtering cough announcing her presence behind a low curtain that unmasked her. Pulling herself into some semblance of normalcy, she quickly scooted herself out from the curtain and nervously laughed. "Hello, uh, so Rarity and AJ, what brings you two into my ridiculously huge and totally empty castle today?"

Rarity smiled and bowed slightly, while Twilight usually said no to the ins and outs of royal formality, Rarity was more a stickler for each and every Equestrian custom. "Oh we just had a bet between the two of us about a fancy new spell I heard you just made."

Twilight stopped and tilted her head. That was decidedly vague. She was the research arm of the tetrarchy of princesses. Which still felt wrong to Twilight, and her first reaction to every single new spell was borderline mental breakdowns and neurotic behavior. Thankfully Pinkie was her centering light or else Twilight would have burned down at least her own castle, if not the town in one of her paranoid fear of Tartarus spells. Her psychiatrist said she was doing far better now. Or maybe she could pick up alcoholism. Never tried that mess, with how her week was going why not? If social drinking worked for both Dash and Applejack, what the hay, why not start it?

Twilight shook her head and thought hard about which spells she had created recently- matter transference, portable portals that could see infinite bag space be an actual possibility, future prediction, transmutations of elements beyond the known five, and the-

Oh. Buck it to the Moon. She cursed her overactive libido and wished that this wasn't going to become a thing. She was the Princess of Friendship and Magical Research, not the Princess of Inventive Ways to Get Laid. First of all, that was a horrible title and second of all, Twilight wondered if that would invalidate all of her years of researching ways to make Equestria a more advanced and modern place and pushing the limits of what was deemed possible with magic.

"Oh I do hate it when Twilight zones out like this. Equestria to Twilight, if you can hear me, I just want to see if Fluttershy's gossip was correct and, if so, can I use the spell."

Twilight snapped out of the daze, recognizing where exactly the blame for her tightest little secret getting out truly lay. She quietly thought to talk to Rainbow Dash later. This was probably one of her pranks to get back at the alicorn just for switching her body by accident.

"Which spell did she mention?"

Applejack piped up. "Uh, it was the gendery bendery spell."

"Oh yes, dear, I'm simply begging you to show me the ropes, if you will, about that one. It'd be simply marvelous."

Twilight quickly thought up the first excuse.

"Oh its just that I haven't attuned the spell matrices correctly yet, so its an incomplete version."

Rarity laughed, her mirth brightening up the room. "Well Twilight, be glad I'm here then. Gemstone arrays are almost a field of interest of mine. I would call it a hobby, but sadly the business does come first. Now which way to your lab?"

"Second door on the left?"

Rarity cantered over and pulled open the door. "Are you sure dear, because all I see is your bedroom. You should really clean up in here, looks like somepony had a party."

Twilight froze. "No wait, Rarity, that's the wrong room!"

It seemed as if time stopped as Twilight grabbed Applejack's hoof and fired up a teleportation spell, time and space slowly bent around them as Rarity gasped, her voice having a strange downward pitch as the noise hit their ears before the jump, and a upward rise as they exited.

Pinkie waved at Applejack and Twilight as they appeared.

"Twi, why does Pinkie look similar to my brother? Cause I have many questions as to why Pinkie's up in your closet, sure, but that's totally not the first question I have. Why's Pinkie a stallion? That's the main head scratcher, if I am honest."

Twilight nervously shook. "No reason, just the spell did that. Everything's perfectly fine."

Pinkie thought, since she was now a he for the foreseeable future, she switched her mental pronoun into something less confusing for all- he had to do something cause while he loved the alicorn, Twilight tended to be rather stuck in her worries.

"Girls, can we just focus on the party? Its the thing that's far more important." He started bouncing out of the room to get his backup party cannon that he stored in the basement of the castle/ Pinkie always planned for every party eventuality and being stuck in a closet for thirty minutes was not exactly on his list of things he wanted to deal with. There was so many parties and so little time. He sped away as the girls watched.

"Twilight, can I please have that spell? I need to have it for reasons."

Twilight sighed. She was tired and she felt the tinge of a stress headache coming on. "Sure, I give up. Did you girls at least bring the drinks?"

"Sure Twilight, I left 'em outside. You want me to get the cart?' Applejack brought a few casks of cider that the Apples had stored up in preparation for Cider Season. It was great for their taxes to give a few to Twilight, then they could write that off as a princess related tax deduction. It was so much easier dealing with the local economy, and local princess, than hoping for some increased reach into the Canterlot market. She remembered the Gala.

Twilight felt like she was on edge, everything the last two days was getting on her nerves. But she tried breathing in and out, her breathing giving her something to focus on getting her mind away from the stressful situation. Getting her mind off things was a useful tactic, usually it worked. This was not one of those times, not that she tried, but she felt a pressure on her horn as a familiar tickle came through her magical aura.

A dark blue aura began to appear in her vision, as her eyes readjusted to a magical link. She accepted the link to happen- it was far less annoying on her end because the world would stop being colored like dusky nighttime. A tiny scroll slid out of her horn- a new spell Twilight had discovered a year or two back made Princess letters much less difficult and let Spike do other things. Glancing at the archaic prose still littering the page- though, thank Celestia, there was more singular pronouns instead of the royal we than there used to be. Luna seemed to be getting modern dialect better than the last time Twilight had received a letter from her. Scanning the message, she crumpled it in her haste.

"Dear, what does that letter say?" Rarity tried to peek over Twilight's shoulder but she couldn't see the letter in time.

Twilight grumbled and walked off, talking about how much she needed a drink. "Luna's coming to help me with a certain problem."

Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash quickly hurried to the party. Fluttershy quickly dragged Dash along- to the outside observer it was a strange sight seeing the smaller blue pegasi attempt to drag the larger yellow one along. A foot in the air. But Fluttershy was trying to get to the party as fast as possible- which meant going slow and steady rather than the trademarked Rainbow Dash zoom.

She was working herself up to that.

Dash complained loudly and tried to move around as little as possible. "Shy, at least please dodge the cobblestone street. I don't want to get road rash going four miles an hour." She frowned, her yellow face showing her real emotions. A slight frown, to be sure, but Dash had only so much to work with.

"Sorry. Sorry. I know. I should have been watching the clock more. But the bath was nice."

"I get it Shy, you've only apologized like ten times. Can you just keep me alive and I'll call it even?"

Fluttershy felt herself blush. "Yeah."

Rainbow thought they were making decent time. If only Fluttershy's cottage wasn't minutes away, they'd have been fine. If only there wasn't so much hoof traffic. Sundays were a good day for ponies- stores and businesses stayed open to unload their wares at a slight weekly discount. Which would be perfect if they weren't trying to get anywhere.

Slowly Dash saw the crowd melt away, a throng of ponies walking in the opposite direction, which was odd since there were not stories on the outskirts of the town unless Filthy Rich had some stupid chain store idea. If only Fluttershy trusted herself with her new speed above a foot from the floor. Then Dash could finally stare at what was causing this fortunate parting of the crowd.

Then she began to hear what they were running from. A perfectly excitable Princess Luna.

"That is truly a work of art, dear baker, perfectly serviceable. Back in the more masculine times, this masterpiece of culinary art would allow you to live comfortably in you manse. Be proud for you have a skill that would keep your children alive in times of starvation. How wonderful."

Luna spied the two pegasi and waved. "Hello you two. I was just congratulating this baking stallion about pastries. And I hath discovered that orange tarts are what I would wage war over. Alas, this stallion is wed and therefore I cannot add this male to my harem."

Mr. Cake stood there awkwardly, not moving, fearing that the alicorn would decide to smite him for some unfortunate accident. It was better to not react, he remembered the last time the well known Ponyville destroyer came to town.

"T-thank you, princess." Mr. Cake stuttered out as he quickly backed away.

"You are welcome, fine merchant" Luna turned around and saw the earth pony make a dash for safety. "Good idea, for I do desire to procure more of your sweets. But alas, that may take a while and I have places to be." She chuckled, oblivious of her presence causing mayhem in the street. "Now Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy, please walk with me."

Dash turned on her best Fluttershy impression. "Um, well. If you want to."

Luna smiled and patted Dash on the head. "Well thank you, Rainbow. That would be my pleasure."

Rainbow quickly dropped the act and her yellow body twitched in surprise. "How did you-"

Luna laughed, her laugh swallowing up the airy mirth of the town, like an encroaching night or a dangerous nocturnal predator. "Let me assume that Twilight hasn't filled you in on the perks of being a high powered magical being, like the princesses, among other less savory creatures, have. We can see the aura in things. Every thing has a color, slight variations and patterns make it a singularly unique item of rarity. And anyway, your aura, has one of the most recognizable patterns I've seen before. Not every century can you see a rainbow." Luna smiled. "Well I also may have already known there was something amiss, since Twilight did explain to me what was wrong."

Fluttershy dropped Rainbow Dash to focus on what was being said. Also her original body was heavier than she remembered. "Well can you fix it?"

Luna's smile faltered. "Perhaps, though I would have to make sure exactly what spells Twilight dared to use. I have not seen a mind transference spell many times previously, and sadly, I never had the wherewithal to devote myself entirely to the purpose- the last one I saw attempt a spell like this was Sombra, and his was much less potent than this. Thankfully, this looks far more stable than those attempts, so at least you two won't become insane as your minds slowly fall apart."

Dash and Fluttershy nervously laughed at that horrible though. "Oh that's good."

"Oh it truly is, for the legions of ponies that I and my fair sister lost in the camps because of that magical malady would be still here today in spirit through the familial bonds they could have made. But that's what happens when you are invaded by fell beasts- war. And loss." Fluttershy swore she could see a shifting mass of emotions behind Luna's eyes. "But that is a story for another day perhaps, for we are dreadfully late for this engagement."

Luna picked the pair up in her magic, slowly enveloping them both in an inky blackish blue aura. Dash noticed tiny motes of light as she opened her eyes. Each red and blue shifting light shining in relief- keeping the total darkness at bay. Suddenly she felt a sucking pressure as she entered back into space, light bending around her like a living coat of warmth. She felt so infinitesimally small as she stared out into space. She saw starts wink out of existence and a cool heat washed over her.

She opened her eyes. And was greeted by the best sight she could ever hope for. Even though she hated Twilight's castle at least it was better than whatever just happened.

Dash quickly hugged the ground, flopping around to check if she was still in some normal world that made sense- not caring that in this instance she looked like she was having a mental breakdown. Fluttershy just sat there and looked into the sky, her blue wings slowly flapping around to check if air existed.

Luna coughed. "Oh my dearest apologies, Celestia had told me to stop bending the laws of space-time to teleport other ponies. She said something akin to 'these mortals are too weak to see the face of their own existence' or something similar. Probably nicer, Celestia after all these years has softened. Though that new teleportation spell they created during my absence is so much simpler to cast- it just never showed the real majesty of magic in my eyes. Why use a parlor trick when you can awe the crowd with a real experience?"

The two just nodded and followed Luna in silence, her hooves slightly bouncing along in a clopping pattern of joy as she entered her first real party in ages. Luna was having a fantastically great day.

Applejack looked as Twilight opened the first cask of cider and grabbed a large mug. She wondered to herself if Twilight had every really drank anything before- guessing that it was highly unlikely. She had never truly seen Twilight drink alcoholic beverages. What cracked the case was that Twilight floated a small straw over in her magic and set it daintily in her drink.

Well that was a first.

"Twilight are you okay?"

"Doing great." Deciding that the straw was just not doing it for her, Twilight quickly crumpled it in her magic and tossed it into a nearby garbage can. She rubbed her temple as she heard the happy glee that was coming to ruin her life. Quickly deciding this conversation would either be far easier at least buzzed or get over with this mess faster, she downed the whole mug in one go, her body swaying as she got up to meet Luna. It was a strange feeling to Twilight; not being used to alcohol so her world felt like it was on the ocean slowly rocking back and forth as the alcohol sped her along.

Twilight quickly saw Luna enter with Dash and Fluttershy in tow. "Hello, dear Twilight, it is perfectly amazing to see what modern amenities you have in this castle. Now I know I should have brought a present because that seems perfectly acceptable to most ponies' sensibilities in this modern age, but I couldn't figure out what was best so I found the best pastry I could find in this locale." Luna floated a box over to Twilight, wrapped hastily with magical speed, the purple bow not matching the red box well.

Twilight pulled the string and noticed a crushed orange tart slowly slide out and fell out on her floor, Twilight tried to grab the tart with her magic and missed. "Well that's a good gift, sure, that's pretty cool. Sorry, Luna, just like go and talk to ponies. Like its great you are here. Have a cup of cider, that's some great stuff."

"Verily, that sounds like a good idea, the chance for a mead or two is something I've missed from the Canterlot crowd." Luna skipped towards the snack table, quickly noticing Pinkie's different look. "Twilight, your spellwork is just a marvel to see in action, reminds me of when I got to meet Starswirl, he knew some fine ways to make me impressed with magic. Hello there, pink one, what are we having today on this fine menu of sweets?"

Twilight could faintly hear Pinkie's rich baritone on the edge of her senses. She felt okay.

"Twilight, are you okay?" She felt a small blue hoof on her head as she looked and saw Dash- mentally she slurred to herself that that was Fluttershy. Oh of course. "

"I'm fantastic, you are fantastic, everything's fantastic." She lightly giggled as she floated her mug over and got another glass and slowly sipped at it, her magic slowly swaying her glass. "Well, buck it to Tartarus, guess the gang's all here, not like I have anything better to do." Twilight laughed silently to herself as she cast a low level amplification spell. Clearing her throat, the echo brought everypony to attention. "I have some news, just a little news, um, I messed up a spell and now Dash and Fluttershy are totally stuck and I just can't fix it and I have no idea what I'm doing and oh gosh here come the tears." Twilight brushed a tear from her face and quickly ported out of the room.

Silence reigned. Nopony spoke until Dash broke the silence. Slipping out of any pretense of acting anything like Fluttershy, she shrugged. "Well I can now see why Twilight doesn't drink. Am I right, girls?"

The party just stared at her as the reality of which pony was which.

Rarity's eye twitched as she pointed in between Fluttershy and Dash, her mind now filling in the strange happenings that she sort of noticed at the spa. "So you two. But that means. And if that means what I think it means. . .oh Celestia, I need a fainting couch as soon as possible."

Applejack just shrugged. This wasn't the absolute strangest thing that Twilight had ever done with magic and after Pinkie's gender swip swop stuff, she stood there unfazed. At least it wasn't some weird spell that made ponies want a creepy doll. That was a real humdinger of a problem. Big Mac still had nightmares about dolls.

Pinkie stared pinpricks into Dash, not caring that it was Fluttershy's body that the pegasi was inhabiting. "Not funny. I'm going to check on Twilight. Seems like she partied too hard." Pinkie pointed a hoof around all the party decor. "Nopony party until I come back, this is party defcon five- an alcoholic mishap. The worst kind of thing. Party's going to have to be rescheduled" Everypony blinked and Pinkie was gone.

"Well it seems like somepony learned her merriment and ruckus having skills from my sister. Celly never was one for the raid and pillage style of things- I, on the other hoof, love what mortals have done to the nightlife." Luna stifled a yawn, the coffee that she had downed to stay up long enough to say hello to the small hamlet of Ponyville wearing off. "Now where is the guest quarters for visiting dignitaries? I need a bit of rest to keep up with you day enjoying lot." Luna hummed a song to herself, the melody echoing off the walls.

Fluttershy just tried to drag Dash out of the castle. Her wings beating fast as she tried to move a slightly movable object. She gave up once Dash dug her yellow hooves in and stopped all forward motion. Dash could only hear the ragged and short angry breaths of Shy. Dash slumped over and lay there, looking at the ceiling.

"Why did you have to joke about Twilight? You know how much she tends to beat herself up about her mistakes."

Dash tried to open her mouth, a slight breath escaped from her lips as she wondered why herself. She felt a memory well up in her own mind and felt a connection to Fluttershy form ever so slightly.

Dash stared up at the one patch of light she knew was her way out. Turning over in her bunk, she heard a snoring noise below her as the sky train slowly snaked its way to the next town. She shivered as she pulled the wool blanket around her.
She slid out of bedmake and followed the dim light to her favorite place. Her steps echoed softly though the train until she saw the one room that she loved. It's painted entrance showed a clown smiling back at the small filly.

Ponyacci's room. She'd never entered, being too new to the circus and just imagining the wonder that awaited her on the other side being almost better than the cold reality of a train moving through the sky, going from town to town. Gently rapping her hoof on the door, she heard a slight groan as a tired pony answered the knock. A older pony, the oldest pony Dash had ever seen for she was seven and the slight lines on the orange earth pony's face made him look ancient to her.

Ponyacci smiled at the small pony. "Well look at who woke me up. You here for some lessons in clowning around, little miss?"

Dash nodded.

"Okay, well lesson one: Laughter is the best medicine, it can bring parties together and ponies closer, and it is the cheapest gift one can give. Also I'm a clown so I might be biased. . ." Ponyacci laughed to himself, noticing that the new filly was not responding. "Tough crowd, huh? Well that's fine. You got anywhere to be, new kid?"

Dash shook her her no.

"Well you'll fit right in, here I'll show you the ropes. . ."

Dash looked at the ceiling again, her voice no longer loud enough to echo through the castle, each word being sucked up into a dark, unknown void. "Shy, its the only way I know how to react to things. Jokes, that's what I got. I just-" Dash let the word hang there open ended and without a real answer.

She felt Fluttershy move closer to her, her friend's now rainbow tail slowly twist around her pink one. Dash fought the urge to pull away as her chest felt heavy, her emotions on the inside wanting to show how she felt. A tear slowly rolled down her cheek before Dash wiped it away.

"Do you want to talk about it, Dash?"

Dash stayed quiet and nodded from side to side, a negative. She opened her mouth to breathe and her borrowed voice, Fluttershy's own, began to crack with emotion. "I- can we get something to eat? It's lunch and I'm a little hungry."

Fluttershy chuckled. "Sure, and if you teach me how to fly with these later, you can get whatever you want. My treat."

Dash quickly picked herself off the floor and weakly smiled. "Sure, you need some practice after all, and who better to teach you than the most awesome pony in Equestria?"

Rainbow didn't pull away when she felt Fluttershy land gently on her back. She must have been imagining things as she left, because for one moment she heard the sound of a crowd cheering her on, an echo from the past, as that exact sound was what kept her going all those years ago. She remembered the years of living and soaking up the spotlight, barely seeing her family, just existing on the fringe of society. That freedom was too confining.

"And now introducing the youngest member of the Sky Circus. the filly of speed herself, the one that outrace the sound barrier, you've heard of her and you love her, Rainbow Dash!"