While walking towards my home, a sudden flash of smoke half a meter in front of me makes me stop walking. A scroll appears after the smoke dissipates. Looking around, I see nopony. I shrug and pick up the scroll. I open it and read it to myself.

Dear Mark,

I understand that our friendship isn't the best right now. This letter isn't necessarily to change that. I drastically need help with a magic trick. You're resistant to magic, so I thought you would be the best to help me. Could you please come over to my home and help me? If I don't open the door for you, you can just walk in.

Also, what's your last name? I don't think you ever told me.

From Twilight

I exhale through my nose. I guess the date with Rainbow is in a few hours. I could do this thing with Twilight quickly and get back home.

Besides, Twilight's house isn't that far away. I don't really have any excuse to not go, I think. I put Twilight's letter in my pocket and walk towards her house.

Upon my arrival, I knock on her door. There isn't an answer at first. Twilight's letter said I could walk inside, so I do. I think Twilight would be in her library. I've already been in her house a few times already, so I know where it is from here.

I take a step. "Who." A voice calls out. It isn't Twilight's voice.

I turn to the voice expecting to see a pony. Instead, there's an owl on a perch. I blink. "Uh. Hi?" I give the bird a wave.

"Who." The owl replies.

I'm going to assume this owl can talk like nearly every other living creature in the country. "Do you know where Twilight is?"

"Who."

I raise an eyebrow. I haven't known of any owls on Earth to just say 'who.' I'm pretty sure that's just in bad cartoons. This owl is probably just a dick. "Twilight Sparkle? The lavender alicorn?"

"Who."

That confirms my suspicion that this owl is, in fact, a dick. I cross my arms. The owl just stares at me. "He's on first, but that's not important right now. I'm talking about Twilight."

"Who."

"Don't test me, owl." I point at the owl.

"Who."

"Suck a dick, owl. Erect or not. I'm giving you the freedom of choice here."

I hear a throat being cleared. I turn to the source to see Twilight on a flight of steps. "Were you arguing with my owl?"

I nod. “Twilight, I would like to point out that your owl is an asshole.”

"You mean Owlowiscious?" Twilight replies.

I blink. "What?"

"Owlowiscious." She repeats.

"Is that the owl's name?"

Twilight nods. "Yes it is. Why?"

I sigh. I don't feel like talking about... The owl with the unnecessarily long and complicated name. Instead, I change the subject. "Where's Spike?"

"He's in Canterlot right now." Twilight replies. "He has business for something. He ran out quickly, saying something about Princess Luna and a weird dream he had." She looks aside, towards Canterlot. "He's been having nightmares for the past week..."

I rub my neck. "Damn. Sorry to hear about that."

She walks to the bottom of the steps then to me. "Let's not dwell on that right now. I take it you received my letter?" I nod. "Then you know about my spell I need to perfect. It's for my upcoming annual magic test with Princess Celestia. It's a fairly powerful spell. I fear that it could have negative effects. Since you have a natural resistance to most spells, I assume you're also resistant to this one."

"Yeah, sure." I say in what's easily my most professional tone. "As long as it doesn't take too long. I've got a date with Rainbow in a few hours."

She gives me a strangely seductive smile. "Is this the date where she sees you naked?"

I can feel a blush form on my face. "Fuck, Twilight. We haven't even kissed yet."

She widens her eyes in surprise. "Really?" Twilight asks. "She's going slow this time..." She mutters. I don't know how I should take that. I'll have to ask her during the date. "Anyway, it's a healing spell I'm working on. I've been working on it since... You know." She gestures her head towards my scarred hand. The one that I burned a few weeks ago.

I rub my hand. I can feel my heart beating in my chest. The pain is long gone, but the memory remains. "Hopefully you're not going to need it..."

Twilight nods softly. "Unfortunately, the spell doesn't seem to work on healthy ponies."

I take the implication. I raise an eyebrow at her. "You want me to hurt myself in some way?" I ask. She sucks in a breath, but doesn't respond with any words. I take that as a 'yes.' I shrug. "Alright. Do you have a knife I can use?"

She takes half a step back. "Are you serious?"

I nod. "Yep. If you want to get better with your healing spells, and you need a damaged target, I can make a small sacrifice. As they say on Earth, 'Pain is temporary. Knowledge is forever.'"

Twilight opens her mouth, but closes it shortly after. She smiles and chuckles. "I can't argue with that. That's a good quote. I'll have to use that some time. I'll go and get a knife." She says. Twilight walks into a different room. About a minute later, she returns with a knife in her magic. I grab it in mid air with my scarred hand. I make a small cut on my non-scarred hand's palm. The cut's big enough to draw some blood. "Ready?" She asks.

I nod and hold my newly cut hand out in front of me. Twilight's horn lights up.

The spell casts a bright white light, which blinds me for a second. When my vision returns, I'm on the floor. My ears are ringing loudly. "Damn... My eyes... I can't see a fucking thing." I say. My ears are ringing loud enough that I don't even recognize my own voice.

"Whoa..." A vaguely familiar voice says after a second. My hearing returns to normal.

There's silence for a short time. "What did that spell even do?" Twilight asks. Except... It's not Twilight. The voice isn't hers. I recognize it, but I can't place the name. I turn to the source of the sound.

"What the fuck?!" I nearly shout at the sight.

"The spell switched our bodies!" Twilight, in my body, says. I stare at her.

I look down at my body. My new body. I'm in Twilight's. I try to stand up. I fall back down. Four legs to work with is incredibly difficult. Twilight's working fine with my body, though with some minor balance difficulties. It's almost like she's been in a human body before.

I glare at her the best I can. "How the fuck did you fuck that up that fucking bad?!" I shout at her. Pain stabs into my vocal chords.

Twilight looks at me apologetically. "I'm sorry, Mark." She says softly. It's incredibly strange to hear in my voice. "I don't... I think I cast the wrong spell..."

"Can you reverse it or something?" I ask with force, though not nearly as much as last time.

"I'll try." She says. She holds out her arms in front of her. Is she even a she in my body? Am I a guy in her body. She would know. He? Fuck, I don't know. Twilight looks back to me. "Nothing's happening, Mark."

"Yeah, I noticed." I reply. "Do something."

"I just tried to cast a basic telekinesis spell. Nothing happened." Twilight says, sounding absolutely terrified. She falls onto the nearest couch and pulls her legs into her chest and hugs them.

I lean my head back. "Oh shit..." I say bluntly. I realize what's happening. We're literally stuck inside each other's bodies with no clear way out. "How the fuck are we going to fix this, Twilight?"

"I... I don't know." Twilight admits. "Princess Celestia would."

"What are we going to say? That you put my brain into your body, or whatever?"

"I don't think we switched brains, Mark. We switched minds." She replies.

"Is there a difference?"

She nods and separates her legs from chest. "A brain is an organ. The mind isn't." She starts to explain. I don't pay any attention to that.

There is, however, something that I pay attention to. "Is that what my voice really sounds like?" I ask once she's done explaining.

Twilight smiles at me. Her smile looks very unnatural. It's like half her face is asleep. I shiver slightly at the appearance. "Is that what mine sounds like?"

"I sound so deep." I reply. The best way to describe my voice as I hear it is like a distorted Tom Waits, but with a bit of Marlon Brando in there. I look around. "You're really short, Twilight."

She scoffs. "Oh, thanks, Mark. That really helps my self esteem." She sighs and crosses her arms. Seeing 'me' do this is really weird and strangely terrifying. It's like an out of body experience. I think it counts as one. I try to stand up again. I fall back down. "Can't stand up?"

I nod. "Yep. Two legs is easy. Four? It's fucked up." I look at her as she stands up and walks towards me. "How can you walk?"

She shrugs. "It's a long story. I'll tell you later." Twilight says. "I get how you can manage two legs." She adjusts her crotch. I look away from the sight. "I don't get your... You know."

I look back at her. She's blushing deeply. I probably am, too. "It's called a penis, Twilight." I say bluntly. She looks down her pants. "Could you have a little decency? That is my dick you're looking at."

She puts on a sly smile. I don't know how, but she manages to look cute even in my body. That's not something I ever expected to think in my lifetime. "Technically, it's mine now." I groan. I didn't expect Twilight to be a smartass. She looks at my dick again. "Why is it so weird looking?"

I'm not going to answer that. "You didn't even leave me anything to look at on your body." I say. Her blush deepens. "Not comfortably, at least. And nothing to fondle." I add in. That gets a disgusted look from Twilight. She releases her pants. "So how do we fix this?"

She rubs her chin. "Since I don't have any magic in your body, I can assume you have magic in mine." She says. Twilight looks at me. "Could you try to use some, please?"

I scoff. "I can't even stand up. Do you really think I'll be able to use magic?"

"Using four legs is just like using two legs. It's just twice as much work. You can do it, Mark. It's easy."

I sigh and try to stand up. Working the front legs is easy enough. They're just like human legs. The back legs, however, are incredibly hard to control. There are just too many muscles I'm not used to. Don't even get me started on the midsection. I try to flutter my wings. Nothing happens. Damn. I don't think I want to have any wings as a human anymore. I give up trying and flop to the floor. "It's just too hard, Twilight."

Twilight walks up to me and kneels down so she can look me in the eyes. "Come on, Mark." She says softly, but with force. "If I can handle your body, you can handle mine."

"Could you not say it like that? It sounds like I'm defiling you or something." I rest my head on the floor. Twilight rubs my head. I can feel my wings extend. I can see why Rainbow and Hammer liked being rubbed so much. Something else comes to my mind. "Twilight? Touch my wings."

She flinches slightly. "Are you sure? I remember when a pony first did that to me..."

"It's an experiment." The phrase makes her smile. It drops quickly. She thinks about it for a second. After a short time, she strokes her hand across my extended wing.

A jolt runs through my entire body. For lack of a better word, it's orgasmic. It's a good thing I can't stand up. I know that my knees would have buckled. "It's a good thing we're alone, Mark." Twilight says. "You look really aroused. You even smell aroused."

"Uh-huh..." I seriously underestimated the power of my fingers.

"Be glad I just got out of heat..." Twilight says.

Ten minutes later, I return from the orgasmic state. "Let's not tell anypony about this." I say immediately after. I ask her to move me to her bedroom. She does. Once we're in there, she places me on the bed. "Okay..." I start. "I need to learn a really difficult spell in..." I look at the clock. "Three hours if I don't want to be late for the date." I sigh. The pressure for this is worse than getting ready for a high school test.

"Remember, Mark. It's the body swap spell."

"Oh, really, Twilight? I thought it was the healing spell." I deadpan. Twilight sinks slightly. "I know what fucking spell I need to use. I just don't know how to use it." It's no worse than any of my high school math classes, now that I think about it.

"I don't really know how to explain how to use magic..." Twilight admits. "The only real tip I can give to you is to concentrate. Focus your breathing. Clear your mind." She says in a soothing voice.

I close my eyes and does as she says. "I'll try."

"Do or do not, Mark. There is no try." Twilight replies.

I smile at that. A strange sensation arises in my newly-acquired horn. I could best describe it as some sort of pressure. The pressure is immediately relieved. I hear the sound that I always hear whenever a spell is cast.

Fuck yeah! I cast a spell without any real training! I know it wasn't the body swap spell, but it still feels fucking awesome. I open my eyes. On Twilight's face, there's something new.

I see a smile through Twilight's new thick beard. I laugh hysterically at the sight. Almost enough to fall off the bed. Twilight only crosses her arms.

"You seriously have a beard spell?" I ask after recovering. I wipe a tear away.

"It's a growing spell, not a beard spell. I usually use it on plants."

"You can give plants beards?"

She smiles at that. "Despite being one to experiment, I haven't tried. I will once I'm back in my own body. For science."

Two and a half hours pass by. I still have no fucking idea how to do the body swap spell and there's only two hours left. My only progression is teleporting a book a meter away. Twilight told me teleportation is an incredibly difficult spell, especially on other objects. I'm definitely getting close.

I cast another spell. It's a bolt of lightning, like the one Twilight cast on me a few weeks ago after discovering my resistance to magic. As it turns out, Twilight's wall isn't nearly as resistant to the spell as my chest is. "Fuck. Sorry, Twilight. I'll pay for that." I mumble. I sigh and rest my head on the bed. "I don't think I can do this..."

Twilight sits by my side and strokes my head. "That spell did more than switch our minds. Mark, your personality is different now." Twilight says softly. "I've never seen you give up."

I pick my head back up and glare at Twilight. She pulls her hand back. "I can't fucking use a spell that a master magician needed to study for a fucking month in only a few fucking hours!"

"You used a teleportation spell." Twilight points out, still keeping a strong hold on that calm voice of hers. I turn away from her. "The teleportation spell and the body swap spell I used are very similar." Twilight continues. "Get this done. I want you to go on that date with Rainbow Dash."

"Thanks, Twilight." I reply after a few short seconds. I look back at her. I owe her for this. "When I get back in my body, I'm going to hug the shit out of you." She gives me a heartwarming smile.

I make another attempt at casting the spell. I can feel a headache digging into my skull as my horn lights up. I close my eyes. My eyelids barely shield my eyes from a sudden bright light.

The light disappears and I open my eyes. "Mark?" Twilight's voice asks. It's Twilight's voice, the one I normally hear. "I think you did it." I turn to the source of the voice. I see Twilight sitting on her bed with a toothy smile on her face.

How the fuck did I do that? "Haha! Fuck yeah!" I pump a fist into the air. I pick up Twilight off the bed. She squirms a bit in my grip. "I'm just hugging the shit out of you, Twilight. I gave you a warning."

"Sorry. I'm not used to being picked up." She replies. She moves into a more comfortable position so we can actually hug each other. After at least a minute, I set her down. "You have strong hugs, Mark." Twilight says to me.

"Sorry about that." I reply. I look around. "Could you not tell anypony about this? About us swapping bodies?"

She nods hastily. "I wasn't going to." She replies. I feel a weight fall off my shoulders. "I'm sorry about looking at your... You know." She points a hoof at my crotch.

"My penis. Yeah. Apology accepted." I say. "And I'm sorry for being a dick about not saying sorry before. About the telekinesis thing."

"Apology accepted." Twilight replies.

I rub my shoulder. "I... I should probably go get to Rainbow Dash for our date coming up soon." I say.

Twilight nods. There's something in her nod that's sort of strange. I'd call it jealousy, but I don't know why she would be. I recall Hammer telling me that there's one stallion for every six or so mares. That would mean every male could legally, and I guess morally, be with six mares. I'm not saying that I would want to have six mares at once. "Oh, Mark. The Grand Galloping Gala is coming up soon." Twilight says. "You should ask Rainbow to go with you."

"That's the dance thing in Canterlot, right?" I ask, getting a nod from Twilight as an answer. "I thought you needed a ticket to go?"

Twilight shrugs. "I can ask Princess Celestia for an extra ticket for you."

"If you want me to go with Rainbow, I'm not going to stop you." I say.

"Then I'll get a ticket for you." Twilight says, giving me a wink. "I'll see you there."

"Thanks, Twilight." I tell her. "I should get going. Only fifteen minutes to the date." I say. We bid each other a temporary good bye right before I leave. I sprint to my house.

By the time I get home, I'm sweating. Once I'm inside, I look at a nearby clock. I have three minutes to get ready before Rainbow arrives. I take off my sweat-coated shirt and throw it to the side. Hopefully, Rainbow won't notice that I smell terrible. I put on a clean shirt. At that moment, I hear a knock on the door.

I open the door. "Hey, Mark." Rainbow says to me.

"You're right on time." I say.

She gives me a smile. "When I say I'm going to come at a certain time, I mean it." She says. I gesture for her to come inside. She does. I hear her sniffing at the air. "Damn, Mark. You need a shower."

"I was just at Twilight's place. I had to sprint to get here on time." I say.

She raises an eyebrow. "What were you doing there?" She asks.

I fight back a gulp. She probably thinks we had sex, seeing as how I'm sweating. "I was helping her out with a spell." I say. A half truth is still the truth.

Rainbow shrugs. "Alright." She jumps on my couch. I sit next to her.

"While I was there, Twilight mentioned something to me." I start. "She said you were taking this relationship slowly. What did she mean by that?"

Rainbow suddenly puts on a pained expression. It's like she witnessed a horrible car accident. She fights it off a second after it arrives. "Do you remember how I said my last relationship ended terribly?"

I suck in a breath. "Oh." I say simply. I rub my forearm. "If it's bad, you don't have to tell me about it."

"You told me about your past, Mark. I should tell you about mine." Rainbow says. She has a point. "The last stallion I was with was a pegasus named Shooting Star." She starts. "He was pretty cool. You would have liked him. He would have liked you." I don't like how she's using past tense. Did they have a bad break up or something? "Star was a member of the Equestrian military. He worked with Shining a few times before his wedding a couple of months ago." She shudders and fights back tears. She seems to decide it's a futile fight and lets tears flow. I pull her into a hug. I can tell where her story is going now. "A-A few days after the wedding, Star had to go on a mission to Saddle Arabia. He never came back. I know he died there. I never got to tell him good bye." She rests her head on my leg. "After he died, I got a gift from him. An elephant with a jewel on it. There was also a note saying he died while saving one of his friend's life. It wasn't in his hoofwriting. I think his friend sent it."

Damn. I expected Shooting Star's death after mentioning he was in the military, but I didn't expect a gift to come from him. Something tells me that it wasn't Shooting Star that sent the elephant, though. I wipe a tear from her eye. "I know what it's like to have a loved one in the military. My brother, Adam, was in the Canadian Army before I came here. You'd like my brother and he'd like you." I say. "He was really into mythology. If he knew of a place with pegasi and unicorns, he'd want to go there in a heartbeat."

She picks her head up. "Are you saying you weren't like that?" I can tell she's trying to change the subject. I don't blame her.

"Before Equestria, I always thought myths were just myths. I was wrong to say the least." I give her a smile.

Author's Note

As I said in my blog, I'm putting Rebirth on another hiatus. Details for why are here.