Trot a Mile in My Hooves

Twilight Sparkle slowly yawned, stretching her forehooves out in front of her. The sun was just beginning to peek over the horizon, and the unicorn silently congratulated Celestia for such a beautiful dawn. This reminded her...

She peeled the covers aside and touched down onto the floor. Her horn was surrounded by a soft magenta aura, and the sheets and pillows psychokinetically rearranged themselves neatly. Nodding at her handiwork, Twilight then turned to Spike.

The equine knew that her scaly assistant hated getting out of bed this early in the morning, but they had work to do. She pulled back his blanket and gently shook Spike awake. “Spike,” she said. “Spike, wake up.”

“Bzuh...huh?” The little purple dragon lazily opened one eye. “Come on Twi, five more minutes...” Spike tightly hugged his pillow, desperate to return to sleep.

“Spike, come on. We have magic to practice for Princess Celestia.” There was no response. “I’m not going to stop bothering you until you get up.” Still no response from Spike. Twilight rolled her eyes. “The sooner you get up and help me, the sooner you can go back to bed.” The little dragon was lifted magically out of his bed and deposited smoothly onto the floor. He rubbed a green eye, and grudgingly followed the unicorn downstairs.

“So what kind of magic is Celestia having you l-l-look at?” Spike tried – and failed – to suppress a yawn. Twilight was already sifting through books, taking them down, looking at their covers, and putting them back on their shelves again. “It was a certain teleportation spell involving the use of artifacts. It’s here somewhere...” she muttered vaguely.

Spike raised an eyebrow and then glanced at the table. There was a brown package lying on the surface, halfway opened with a letter on top. He picked them up and examined the letter.

“To my faithful student,

“In this package is a book I think you might find useful. I want you to study the use of the enclosed Stellar Anklets and discover the secrets behind them that my sister and I have failed to unlock. I believe your magical capability will help you to understand what these anklets may be hiding.

“Yours, Celestia.”

“Twilight, is this it?” Spike asked, holding up the package. The equine turned around, saw the package, and let the three or four books she was checking fall to the floor. “Yes, I can’t believe I forgot it was in a package sent to me!” Her magical aura surrounded the small box, and before Spike could let go, both package and dragon zoomed over to the unicorn. Spike fell flat on his face, and the box was wrenched from his grasp. “Um…sorry,” Twilight said, blushing.

The box was ripped open all the way, and Twilight levitated out the book and two silver, star-emblazoned bracelets, one tinted slightly blue, the other shaded faintly pink. “Oooh!” she squealed. Then she opened the book, Moving Without Moving: A Guide To Teleportation. “Celestia said in the letter that I needed to read about the Stellar Anklets,” she said, flipping straight to the index. “Stellar…Stellar…S, s, s! Aha, here we go! Stellar Anklets, page forty.”

The book was flipped to the designated page. A drawing of the two anklets was inked above the words, “Trading Places”. Twilight read aloud,

“Only one pony is required for this spell, but two are recommended for best results. When cast correctly, the pony casting the spell and whoever is wearing the second anklet will trade places, each wearing the other anklet.” Here, Twilight silently read through the magical process for activating the spell, then went on to read the final note:

“The magic of the horn will activate the enchantment inside the bracelets, which is what will cause the two to swap positions. WARNING: The spell-caster must be thinking clearly of the other anklet or its occupant for the spell to work.”

“Okay, the instructions seem simple enough.” Twilight slid the pink anklet onto her, and then put the blue anklet on the floor across the room. “Here we go.” The unicorn’s horn shone a powerful magenta, and the Stellar Anklets shivered and began to vibrate, emanating a soft silver sheen. Twilight closed her eyes against the power and felt the familiar cold tickle of magic sweep over her.

When she opened her eyes again, Spike was cheering for her. “You did it, Twilight! First try!” Twilight opened her eyes. She was now standing on the opposite side of the room. She looked down, and saw with delight that she was now wearing the blue anklet on her opposite hoof. “Alright, Spike, I want you to put the other anklet outside somewhere, anywhere. Come back when you’re finished.”

Spike nodded, took the pink bracelet, and dashed out the door. Twilight sat down to wait, levitating the teleportation book in front of her. “Hmm…that’s interesting…” she mused to herself, busied with the History of Teleportation section.

Soon enough, Spike was back. “Oh…kay…” he panted. “It’s…somewhere. Try…it…now.” He sat down, gasping for breath. Twilight nodded and once again, focused her mind sharply on the pink bracelet. The magic swirled around her again, and she vanished.

Twilight once again opened her eyes to find herself sitting by the Carousel Boutique. She blinked a couple of times. Oh, Spike…she laughed internally. The little dragon was obsessed with Rarity, and it wouldn’t be a surprise if he had visited the fashionista while he had the bracelet. That’s right, the bracelet, she thought, looking down to assure herself that the pink bracelet was now on her hoof. It was, and she couldn’t resist hopping around in a circle a couple of times. “Yes! Yes yes yes yes yes yes!”

Finally, Twilight calmed herself and used a regular teleportation spell to reach home so that the anklet would stay with her. When she once again set down on the wooden floor with the pink anklet still on her, Spike’s eyes widened. “Wow, Twilight, you’re really good at this! How did you know?”

“I didn’t know where it was, Spike. But I did have a bit of a hunch…” Spike blushed. The unicorn grinned.