Trot a Mile in My Hooves

Twilight asked Spike to put on the blue Stellar Anklet. “I think I’m ready to perform this on someone else, Spike. I’m definitely getting good at this.” Spike nodded, slipping the silvery-blue bracelet over his wrist, where it hung loosely. “You are! I have complete confidence in you, Twilight.”

“Glad to hear it, Spike. Now, I don’t want to mess up the streak I’ve got running-” Here, Twilight could not suppress a grin, “-so I need complete silence. We don’t want anything distracting me from this.”

Spike raised a questioning eyebrow as she began the spell. Honestly, Twilight, this is a library, not to mention your home. What could possibly distract-

“GAAAANGWAAAY‼” Spike’s thought was abruptly cut off by a loud yell, followed by a deafening crash as something slammed him into the bookcase. The anklet flew high in the air and landed squarely on the wingtip of Rainbow Dash.

Twilight’s eyes widened as the shocking event pulled her focus away from Spike and the anklet. Her horn began to vibrate violently, the magenta changing to an angry shade of red. Both anklets began rumbling and quaking, the silver sheen racking up to a powerful, blinding white. Rainbow looked at Twilight as her eyes took on the same glow as the bracelets. “Um, Twi?” she asked nervously.

There was a deafening roar as the magic was released in a huge wave. Twilight’s body rocked with spasms as the tingle of magic, amplified by a thousand times and now searingly hot, washed over her body with the force of a tidal wave. She screamed. Above the din, she could barely hear Spike’s shouts of fear and Rainbow’s yells of pain. She closed her eyes. She just wanted it to be over…

And, almost in response to her prayer, it was. Her body ached all over. She was lying down now, though she couldn’t remember collapsing. Slowly, Twilight stood up, putting a hoof through her hair to check her horn for damage.

She froze.

The horn wasn’t there anymore. Twilight began to hyperventilate, rifling through her hair, knowing the horn was gone, but wanting so desperately for it to be there. Finally accepting the fact that she could no longer use magic, she slumped in defeat. Had the surge of magic literally obliterated her horn?

“Ow! Ow ooo ow…” Twilight disbelievingly recognized her own voice, and looked over to the source, freezing up for the second time. She blinked hard. It was still there.

There was a second Twilight standing across from her, with a slightly smoking, but otherwise intact, horn. Had she somehow cloned herself? The answer was waiting for her as she looked down at her hooves to escape the second unicorn. She froze up again for the third time in less than two minutes. A lump formed in the pit of her stomach as she stared at her cyan hooves. No, no, no. My hooves are lavender, they aren’t blue. Unless…

Unless these aren’t my hooves. Comprehension dawned on the once-unicorn as she dreamily sat down. When the mind isn’t focused on the anklet or its bearer, the spell will still cause the holders of the Stellar Anklets to trade places. I’m quite literally in the place of Rainbow Dash.

She resignedly looked behind her. There was only a slight thrill of surprise when she saw wings on her back. I’m Rainbow Dash. And Rainbow Dash is me. We’re stuck like this until Dash can learn magic.The panic set into her once again as Twilight re-thought that last sentence.

We’re stuck like this until Dash can learn magic.

Oh, of all cruel twists of fate, why did it have to be Rainbow Dash?

The now-pegasus stood up and walked over to Twilight-no, Rainbow. She had to think of this unicorn as her friend, not herself. “Rainbow,” she began. Her voice was rough, coarse. She suppressed the urge to clear her throat. This was Rainbow’s voice, not hers. She began again. “Rainbow Dash, look at me.”

“H-huh? What happened? Why is there another one of me? Are the changelings back?” Rainbow glanced around nervously. Twilight sighed.

“Rainbow, it’s Twilight. I know this is going to be hard on you, but my teleportation spell malfunctioned, and we are in each other’s bodies.” Twilight prepared for the explosion. She didn’t need to wait long.

“WHAT?! You’re…you’re joking, right? Twilight, this isn’t funny! This kind of prank is totally uncool! It’s supposed to be funny when you realize it’s a prank, and believe me, it isn’t!” She stomped a hoof on the ground. “Knock it off, wherever you are, Twi!”

Twilight reflexively tried to hold Rainbow still with magic while she explained, then remembered that she was a pegasus now. Instead, her wings shot out as she tried to calm her friend down. “Rainbow, I am dead serious! Does it look like I’m the type to prank you?”

Rainbow stopped her advance on Twilight. “We’ve…we’ve really switched bodies? I…I won’t be able to fly?” The mixed anger and fear in her now-indigo eyes was replaced by despair. “Twilight…you’ve gotta fix us, you just gotta.”

Twilight shook her head. “I can’t, Rainbow. I’m a pegasus now. You’re a unicorn.” Rainbow felt for her horn, found it, and stared blankly at her lavender hoof. Twilight swallowed hard. “You’re the only one that can fix this, Rainbow. I need to teach you to use magic so you can reverse this. Until then…” She paused, realizing what a body swap could mean, “Until then, we have to live each other’s lives.”

“I can’t live an egghead life like yours, Twi! Reading books, doing that weird floaty stuff with your horn, turning rocks into top hats...the friendship reports, I can handle, but there’s no way I could live your life! Honestly, I’d rather take even Fluttershy’s life over yours! Taking care of animals may be hectic, and I can’t be the awesome mare that I am, but at least I can fly!”

“I don’t like it either, Rainbow, but I don’t want to be the one explaining to our friends, the entire town, and probably Celestia herself that we’ve switched bodies. It would cause a full-scale panic! ‘What if it happens again and we ALL trade lives’?”

Rainbow looked at Twilight. “I guess you’re right…” She sighed. “When do we start magic training?”

“Right now. All you need to know right now is basic psychokinesis.”

Rainbow could not possibly look any more confused. Twilight sighed. “The floaty thing.”

“Ohh! I see. It shouldn’t be too hard, you manage it easily.”

“Well, for a case like yours? It might not be as easy as you think.”