History Recap / MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagicS7E10ARoyalProblem

** Never judge someone until you've walk a mile in their shoes.

-->'''Luna''': I'm sorry I never noticed that you make fruit faces on pancakes, but nights are long for me. You might be a morning pony, but ''I'' am half-asleep.\\
'''Celestia''': You think ''I'' don't get tired? I'm ''exhausted!'' Oh, I ''apologize'' for not noticing flowers in a wall sconce, but by the time I get to retire for the night, I can barely see straight! Even so, I still make an effort to ''smile''.

* TheCameo: In the various dream bubbles, we see Daring Do, Pinkie Pie riding Gummy like a surf-board, Fluttershy on a giant Angel Bunny, an infant Applejack in the arms of two ponies, Princess Cadance head-banging to the sounds of DJ Flurry Heart, the Flim-Flam Bros. playing in a huge pile of golden bits, Doctor Hooves scared and trapped in a garden maze with a [[Recap/DoctorWhoS29E10Blink seemingly innocent statue]], Discord playing with the Smooze, and Derpy in an regal outfit and holding the Twilight Scepter.

* BackhandedApology: Celestia and Luna do this to each other when Starlight tries to get them to talk about hurting each other's feelings. Luna apologizes for "never noticing that Celestia makes fruit faces on pancakes" and Celestia apologizes for "not noticing flowers in a wall sconce."

* BothSidesHaveAPoint: Celestia and Luna both have valid gripes about each other because neither fully comprehend the other's issues. Luna thinks Celestia is an AttentionWhore who doesn't appreciate her efforts because she's too busy basking in the adulation of her subjects, when Celestia is really a SlaveToPR StepfordSmiler who doesn't dare [[TheWomanWearingTheQueenlyMask show her frustration or weariness in public]]. Celestia thinks Luna is an UngratefulBitch who's too caught up in her own troubles to think of others, but Luna is just exhausted and desperately lonely from her solitary nights guarding everypony else's dreams.

Starlight suspects that the friendship problem is between the two royal sisters. Her first morning in Canterlot, Celestia makes elaborate pancakes for everyone, but Luna is too tired to want breakfast. That night, Luna hangs up lavender bundles as a way of providing more calming sleep, but Celestia is entertaining dignitaries and doesn't notice. This convinces Starlight that Celestia and Luna must be unknowingly hurting each other's feelings. She decides to go with her gut and confront the royal sisters the next morning. Though each is initially reluctant to admit to her resentment, Celestia and Luna soon devolve into a full-blown argument about which of them has it worse. On impulse, Starlight casts a spell: when the smoke clears, Celestia and Luna's cutie marks have been switched! The princesses are furious, but Starlight insists that the spell lasts only a day and suggests they take the opportunity to see what her sister's job is like. Luna and Celestia eventually give in, each believing the other's work will be easy.

** This is possibly the worst moment that Starlight Glimmer could've picked to forget that [[Recap/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagicS6E21EveryLittleThingSheDoes using magic on other ponies hardly does any good at all]]. It's heavily downplayed as she realizes that what she did was a ''horrible'' idea and starts having a nightmare over it. Also, to her credit, she resorts to using magic only in a fit of desperation, after her attempts to appeal to princesses' reason fall on deaf ears and both Celestia and Luna completely ignore her when she tries to stop them from arguing. So while Starlight's use of magic on them was wrong, they still had it coming to them.

* BodyHorror: Luna's nightmare has her ''teeth falling out'' when she tries to explain herself to the school-fillies.

* DreamWalker: Following the cutie marks switch, Celestia receives Luna's powers and duty to fend off nightmares from her subjects by entering their dreams. Unlike Luna, though, she lacks experience on how to deal with this and is soon calling for her sister's help.

* BackHandedApology: Celestia and Luna do this to each other when Starlight tries to get them to talk about hurting each other's feelings. Luna apologizes for "never noticing that Celestia makes fruit faces on pancakes" and Celestia apologizes for "not noticing flowers in a wall sconce."

* BrutalHonesty: Twilight realizes she may be making Starlight more nervous, and offers up a "I'm not helping, am I?" to which Starlight delivers a very blunt and terse, "No!" Starlight wasn't wrong she ''honestly'' admitted that the princesses have terrible communication skills after finding out that they are accidentally hurting each other's feelings.
--> '''Starlight:''' The princesses aren't the best at communicating.

* DeadpanSnarker: As is often the case when dealing with Twilight, Starlight is not shy with giving sarcastic responses.
-->'''Starlight Glimmer:''' Gee, thanks for believing in me, Twilight.

* SuperOCD: Twilight assumes that because the map only called for Starlight, she cannot accompany her to Canterlot, which makes her panic and develop her StalkerWithoutACrush methods of keeping tabs, particularly once she knows that the friendship problem involves the princesses. Only until the map calls back Starlight does Twilight then appear, since the mission is now over and she's not breaking the map's "rules". At no point has it been implied that the map disallowed others to help, just that it needs the one(s) it calls. (Not that this reaction is at all new; back in season 5, Twilight was one of the last ponies to be called on by the map, and is visibly upset that she "can't" go to some of the interesting locations such as the Griffon Kingdom.)

** Luna later slams her face against the diner table after realizing that doing Celestia's job isn't easy.

* LongList: The to-do list for Celestia's day, that Luna has to go through, is as long as the huge diner table used by the princesses. When Starlight unfolds it from one end, it ends up on Luna's head on the other.

* SeriesContinuityError: Luna's cutie mark transferred to Celestia includes the black patches that "[[Recap/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagicS4E26TwilightsKingdomPart2 Twilight's Kingdom]]" shows were part of Luna's natural coloration as opposed to part of the mark. [[AcceptableBreaksFromReality However]], without the black background to contrast it, [[RuleOfPerception the moon would blend right in with Celestia's white coat]].

Starlight suspects that the friendship problem is between the two royal sisters. Her first morning in Canterlot, Celestia makes elaborate pancakes for everyone, but Luna is too tired to want breakfast. That night, Luna hangs up lavender bundles as a way of providing more calming sleep, but Celestia is entertaining dignitaries and doesn't notice. This convinces Starlight that Celestia and Luna must be unknowingly hurting each other's feelings. She decides to go with her gut and confront the royal sisters the next morning. Though each is initially reluctant to admit to her resentment, Celestia and Luna soon devolve into a full-blown argument about which of them has it worse. On impulse, Starlight casts a spell: when the smoke clears, Celestia and Luna's cutie marks have been switched! The princesses are furious, but Starlight insists that the spell lasts only a day and suggests they each take the opportunity to see what her sister's job is like. Luna and Celestia eventually give in, believing the other's work will be easy.

Luna struggles through a typical day in Celestia's hooves, finding it almost impossible to maintain the cheerful demeanor her sister seems to possess with no effort. The low point is when her smile fails at exactly the wrong moment, endangering the funding for a school field trip. She goes to bed exhausted, as does Starlight, leaving Celestia to face night duty alone. The princess enters the realm of dreams to find someone's nightmare to soothe, only to see Starlight wracked with self doubt about her rash decision. In the dream, Nightmare Moon appears and taunts Starlight about the harm she's done. Then Daybreaker, a violent version of Celestia, also appears and claims she never needed Luna -- or anyone at all. Daybreaker and Nightmare Moon fight, and Starlight begins to have a breakdown over what she's done.