"Crystal matrix? Check! Magically imbued paint? Check! Electrum dream catcher with precious stones from the buffalo tribes of the northern Neighvada desert? Check!" Twilight Sparkle looked over her list of spell components. "That's nearly everything," she said to herself. "Just a few more items and I'll be able to conduct my research!" Twilight trotted in place, excited by the prospect of furthering her studies. She rolled up the check list and set it and the quill aside. "Time to get to work!"
First the floor was carefully cleared and scrubbed. A wayward clod of dirt could disrupt the magical matrix she needed to build. Next, Twilight took the paint she'd specially ordered from Canterlot and began to carefully paint an unbroken circle in the center of the room. Once she was certain that the circle was both perfect and complete, she consulted her diagrams and began to painstakingly paint the rest of the matrix.
"Careful, Twilight," she said to herself as she manipulated the brush with her magic. This was the final line. She drew the shimmering blue paint across the floor then up the wall where it joined an intricate circular glyph. She pulled the brush away and sighed in relief. Setting the paints down, Twilight examined her work, comparing it to the intricate drawing that she'd made.
The painted lines radiated outwards from the central circle which was large enough for a pony to stand inside. They snaked over the floor, up the walls, and even across the ceiling. Large, precisely drawn glyphs were oriented exactly to the cardinal directions. The magically imbued paint made the whole basement glow a cheerful yellow color. Not seeing any deviations, she double checked her work. Finally satisfied, Twilight returned the schematics to her work table.
"Well, that's done! Time to move on to the wiring." She took a step towards the stack of assorted magical foci when her stomach growled. "Or not," she giggled to herself. "I must have missed lunch." Leaving her work, Twilight trotted up the stairs, intent on a daisy and rye sandwich.
"Spike?" She called out, looking for the baby dragon as she came up the stairs. "Spike? I'm going to make a sandwich, do you want- Oh! Hi girls!"
Twilight found her friends and Spike seated in a semi-circle around the basement door. Frowning, Twilight wondered if she'd forgotten something. Her friends all looked universally serious - except for Rainbow Dash, who looked mildly bored. Twilight gave them all a smile.
"Spike, you didn't tell me anyone had come to visit. What's the occasion?" she asked.
"Darling, would you please take a seat?" Rarity asked.
Her curiosity overriding her hunger for the moment, Twilight trotted over and took a free spot on the floor. "What's going on?" she asked.
"I hate to do this to you, sugarcube," Applejack said, doffing her hat. "But it has to be done." She pulled out a piece of paper. "Twilight Sparkle, your excessive study'n has affected me negatively in the follow'n ways."
Twilight got to her hooves. "You're staging an intervention?" She looked at each of them in turn. "Because I've been studying?"
Rarity patted her shoulder. "Please have a seat and let Applejack have her say, darling. We're doing this because we care."
Sighing, Twilight sat down. "May I at least have a sandwich? I'm starving."
"That's because you missed lunch and dinner," Spike said as he got up, heading for the kitchen.
Twilight frowned. "Why didn't you call me?"
"I did!" he called over his shoulder. "Twice!"
"And the poor dear was so worried, he called all of us over," Rarity said. She made a 'tut-tutting' sound. "We realized that steps had to be taken!" Rarity struck a dramatic pose to match her tone. She shook her head at Twilight. "Really darling you must take better care of yourself. Now, Applejack?"
"Thank ya, Rarity. Twilight Sparkle, your excessive study'n has affected me negatively in the following ways. First, we were supposed to have lunch two days ago. I rearranged my schedule with Big Mac but you didn't show up until lunch was almost over!"
Twilight's ears drooped as first Applejack, then Fluttershy, read their intervention letters. Spike returned with a sandwich, but she found she'd lost her appetite. She really hadn't realized just how much time was being taken up by her newest project. Feeling she owed them an explanation she got to her hooves.
"Listen everypony," she said, looking at each of her friends. "I'm sorry I've become so wrapped up in my work that I was late for appointments or made it seem like I was ignoring you." She shook her head. "I'd like to think I'm better than I was when I moved here, but I guess I can still get wrapped up in my work."
"That's an understatement," Rainbow Dash said with a smirk. "We done here? I have some tricks I want to try."
Twilight offered her friends an apologetic smile. "Listen, why don't you come downstairs and see what I've been working on? I'm almost done and once I've finished my experiment, I promise I'll make it up to you all. How does that sound?"
The girls exchanged looks of dismay. Rarity and Applejack heaved sighs and Rainbow Dash groaned. Pinkie pie bounced in place.
"Oh! Me! Pick me! I want to go next!" Pinkie pulled out a piece of paper that had been covered in sparkly sequins and smelled faintly of icing. "Dear Twilight! This is so cool! It's kind of like writing a letter to Princess Celestia, except you're not a princess and I'm writing to tell you that you forgot you were going to help me make a brand new flavor of cupcake, so I guess it's not really like writing to the princess at all-" Pinkie gasped for air.
"Thank you Pinkie," Rarity interrupted. "I think she understands."
"Okie dokie lokie!"
Rarity adjusted her red glasses and cleared her throat. She lifted her letter with her magic and heaved a dramatic sigh. "Twilight Sparkle, your overzealous studying habits have negatively affected me in the following ways."
"Seriously, girls," Twilight said as she stood. "I'm sorry for the way I've been acting." She turned towards the basement and motioned for her friends to follow. "Come on! I'll show you what I've been working on!" She trotted towards her lab with a spring in her step. Her friends would understand once they saw what she was doing! They followed her into the basement.
"Well," Twilight said, "This is my project!" She tossed her mane and grinned. "What do you think?"
"Uh. It's a nice... whatever this is?" Dash said.
"You were redecorating?" Fluttershy asked. "It's very... nice."
"Yes, yes. Quite, ah, modern," Rarity said. She examined one of the walls. "What was your inspiration? VanGoat?"
Twilight chuckled. "Oh girls. No, this is a magical matrix. I've turned the basement into a spell focus." She picked up various pages of her research diagrams and floated them over for her friends to see. "I'm working on a spell which will allow any pony standing in the center of the matrix to experience what is happening to another creature someplace else. Can you imagine? You can connect to a deep sea fish or a magma-otter and see what their life-cycles are like. Or you could follow a herd of golden hinds and remotely observe their social structure without interfering with them! Imagine being able to witness and experience another culture first hoof! All from the safety of Equestria! My passive observation spell will allow naturalists to study their subjects in depth without their presence confounding any of their results!" Twilight giggled. "Isn't that amazing?"
"Yeah, you lost me at magical matr-whatever," Rainbow Dash said.
"I'm not sure that's such a good idea, Sugarcube. What if some of those critters don't like being watched?"
"Oh, I don't know," Fluttershy spoke up. "It'd be nice to see what animals in different places do without disturbing the poor dears."
"Oh! Oh! You could even see dragons Fluttershy!" Pinkie said.
"Oh. Yes. I suppose I could."
"Exactly! This spell will revolutionize science in Equestria!" Twilight struck a pose.
"So what you're saying is that eggheads like you can sit in a nice, safe lab and watch what the rest of the world is doing?" Rainbow Dash arched an eyebrow at Twilight. "Yeah that sounds boring." She and Applejack shared an unconvinced look.
"And safe," Fluttershy spoke up.
"Same thing." Rainbow turned and headed for the stairs. "Look, Twi, can you promise to get out more?"
"As soon as I am done with my experiment, I will be free and clear."
"Awesome. Later guys!" Rainbow Dash left before anyone could say anything else.
The girls exchanged a look before sighing. Applejack spoke for the group this time. "Listen Twi, we're just worried about you." She walked over and bumped Twilight's shoulder with her own. "This seems real important to you, an' I respect that. But don't get so lost we have to come down and find ya again, okay? We're just try'n to look out for ya, sugarcube."
"Thank you Applejack. I means a lot to me that you care. I promise I'll wrap this up and will try to be better in the future. I'm just so close right now and-"
"Say no more," Rarity spoke up. "We'll leave you to your work. But I can promise you this," She made a dramatic pose, one hoof raises. "if you're not done in a week, we're going to drag you to treatment."
Twilight backed up a step. "Treatment?"
"A party!" Pinkie said, jumping into the air.
Laughing, Twilight began to herd her friends towards the basement door. "I think I can agree to that."
Twilight said goodbye to her friends. She leaned down and nuzzled Spike. "I'm sorry if I've been ignoring you, Spike."
Spike sighed. "At first it was kinda fun," he admitted. "But then I ran out of comic books." He tapped his claws together. "You're not mad, right? I kinda wandered over to see if Rarity needed help since I didn't know what else to do."
"Let me guess, she got all dramatic and you didn't want to say no?"
Spike's blush told her all she needed to know.
"You were pretty wrapped up in your research. You even missed my special hay fries!"
Twilight blinked in surprise. "Wait, what day is it?"
"Wednesday, why?"
"Ohmygosh! I thought it was Monday! I said I'd send a paper to the Royal Canterlot Academy of Sciences! I have so much to do!" She turned and raced for the basement. Remembering the sandwich, she ran upstairs again and grabbed the plate with her magic. "Thank you for the sandwich Spike!" Then she raced back downstairs again.
Hours later Twilight heaved a sigh of relief as she finished hanging the last delicate crystal on the web of gold thread. "There we go," she said aloud. Realizing what she'd done, Twilight smiled and shook her head. "And just in time too. All this work is making me talk to myself." She chuckled as she picked up a sheaf of papers.
"Aw, I thought you were talking to me this whole time."
Twilight jumped into the air. "Pinkie Pie!" The papers scattered to the ground around her.
"That's my name!" Pinkie said with a grin. She hopped down from the stack of boxes she'd evidently been sitting on and bounced over to Twilight. "So is your magical matrix thingie done?"
Twilight caught her breath from the minor scare and picked up the pages she'd dropped. "I'm sorry, I didn't notice you." Twilight paused, then said, "Why are you here, Pinkie?"
"To keep you company, silly!" Pinkie bounced over and began to help Twilight clean up the documents. She set them on the lab bench Twilight was using. "That and I want to be the very first person to know if you discover any new parties."
Twilight began to order the sheets. "New parties? Pinkie, I'm going to be exploring the extreme ends of the world."
"Right! With your mind-meld-observation thingie. And if you should just happen to come across a society never encountered by ponies before, I want to be the first to know how they party." She stomped a hoof in certainty. "For science!"
Laughing, Twilight went over the steps she'd created while researching the spell, the components of which she'd gathered from the Starswirl the Bearded section of the Canterlot Royal Library. "Well, I suppose scientific discovery can certainly include relevant social rituals."
"Right. Parties."
"Hmm," Twilight mused. "I wonder if I can send multiple ponies at once. She looked over the careful webbing of golden thread and hanging crystals. The dream catchers were placed precisely in the centers of the glyphs, but there was enough room in the central circle, and if she added a few more lines... "Pinkie. How'd you like to see how the Zebras party?"
"How would I like it? What kind of a question is that? I'd like that a lot!" Pinkie began hopping in place. "Zecora's told me all kinds of things, but I've never been there!" She followed Twilight as purple unicorn began to make the appropriate adjustments to her matrix.
"I figured I'd try it on something I'm somewhat familiar with first. Now, if my calculations are correct, I should be able to move this thread here, and put that crystal... there!" Twilight finished her adjustments. "Okay, that looks correct."
"Ohh!" Pinkie cantered in place. "This is so exciting? Are you excited Twilight? Because I am excited!"
Twilight laughed and stood in the central circle. "Okay Pinkie, stand here with me." She waited until Pinkie bounced over and stood beside Twilight. It was a tight fit in the circle but they both made it. Twilight closed her eyes and began to concentrate.
The concept of seeing things far away was not new. Scrying, a difficult and finicky spell, brought images to a mage. What Twilight was trying to do was almost the reverse; her spell would project her mind across vast distances. The mage inside the matrix would be a passenger only, a silent witness to what happened to the life form they "followed". She built up her power and began to channel it through her horn and into the circle. The magical construction snapped to life, creating a glowing barrier around them. Pinkie "ohhed" but remained at Twilight's side. Twilight continued to will the magical energy into the circle. It swirled around them then dispersed evenly into the matrix, following the painted lines then down along the lacy network of golden threads, catching in the crystals.
"Almost... have it..." Twilight squeezed her eyes shut as she fed power to the spell, directing it with her will.
Suddenly she felt something shift. She gasped, her eyes snapping open as the power jumped connections and changed the direction of the spell. She focused her will but it was too late.
"Uhm, Twilight?" Pinkie Pie said, concerned.
The magical webwork around them was humming with energy, but citrine colored sparks were arcing between the strands of gold and dancing between the painted lines. Twilight stopped feeding magic into the network in the hope that it would shut the spell down, but it was too late.
"Uh oh."
Pinkie and Twilight exchange looked and as one, they attempted to run from the center of the circle. They hit the glowing barrier and the world exploded into a cacophony of sound and a cloud of sparkles.
Twilight woke up to the faint smell of burned paper and fur. Bits of text fluttered down to the floor. Somewhere in the back of her lab, she heard a "twang" as one of the golden threads snapped. She winced. Her entire body ached and she'd somehow landed upside-down on something mostly squishy. The squishy thing moaned and Twilight rolled to one side, pink legs flopping out on her peripheral vision. Wait a moment... pink legs? Pink... "Pinkie Pie!" Twilight clapped a hoof over her mouth. That didn't sound like her voice.
"Oof," the other pony said - with Twilight's voice.
Twilight turned her head, dreading what she knew she'd find. She stared at herself, sprawled on the floor of her ruined lab. Her hair was a mess and her fur was singed but she seemed otherwise unharmed - except Twilight wasn't the one currently occupying her own body. Twilight looked down, and yep, there was the bright pink fur of her friend. Wincing, she put a tentative hoof to her forehead. Yep. No horn. Twilight shuddered a little.
"Pinkie?"
"Huh?" Pinkie shook her head rapidly then put a hoof to her current forehead, finding a horn. "Hey what gives!" She looked at her purple hoof, then focused on Twilight in her body. "Twilight?"
Twilight sighed. "I'm afraid so, Pinkie."
"Oh, wow. That's what I sound like? Hey, I sound weird too!" Pinkie sprang to her hooves and staggered a few steps before falling on her rump. "You're much less springy, Twilight." She began to examine her hooves and Twilight's body's purple mane.
"Pinkie," Twilight said, solemnly, "I think we've switched bodies."
"Well, duh. Or at least that's what I'd hoped. It'd be kinda weird if somepony else was in my body."
"This is awful," Twilight said, bouncing to her hooves, and staggering a step. Pinkie was right, their bodies weren't the same. She sat on Pinkie's, now hers she guessed, rump as well. "This is awful and terrible. I could have sworn I had made the correct adjustments! The spell was only supposed to project my mind, not swap it!"
Twilight got to her hooves and began to trot in a worrisome circle around her lab, tripping a little as she adjusted to her new body. She stopped in place. "I have to figure this out! But I can't tell anyone! I'd be the laughing stock of the Canterlot Science Academy!" She rounded on her friend. "Pinkie! You can't tell anyone what happened!"
"Well, won't we need help to switch back?"
"I can figure this out! You have to promise me!"
Pinkie sighed. "On one condition."
"Okay?"
"I want to do some magic!" Pinkie jumped straight up into the air, legs quivering in excitement. it was surreal for Twilight to see herself do that, but it was quintessential Pinkie. If they were going to hide this until Twilight fixed things, actions like that might be a problem.
"Okay. I'll show you how to do a couple simple spells."
"Yay!"
"Do you promise?"
"Cross my heart, hope to fly, stick a cupcake in my-ow!" Pinkie rubbed her eye. "Does that always happen to you?" She looked around. "So what do we do first and will it take long, because I had a really full schedule planned for today."
"I need to do some research," Twilight said, running over to her books. She tried to open the top book with her magic, only to be reminded that, for right now at least, she was an earth pony. "This is going to slow things down a bit," she said, frowning.
Pinkie gave her a look as she trotted over and sat beside Twilight.
"I guess you go about your day while I try and figure a way out of this?" Twilight suggested.
Pinkie rubbed her chin as she thought. "If you're me and I'm you, then shouldn't I be the one, since I am you, to try and figure it out? Because I'm Twilight and you're Pinkie, even though I'm really Pinkie even though I look like Twilight." Pinkie suddenly gasped. "I'm a unicorn! I've never been a unicorn before. Well, except for that one Nightmare Night, but that was because I was originally going to be cotton candy using real cotton candy, but I got so hungry I ate the whole thing, so I decided I was going to be a unicorn! So I used an ice cream cone for my horn and-"
"Uhm, Pinkie? Breathe?"
Pinkie gasped for air, then giggled when she'd caught her breath. "And this is what you wanted anyway, right?"
Twilight blinked. Well it was. Sort of. She smiled. She'd discovered a new spell, just not the one she'd intended to create. "Hey! You're right! I can't conduct the experiment I wanted to do, but I can certainly do this one."
"Ohhh, so I get to be Twilight Sparkle for a day?" Pinkie bounced in place. "That's so neat!"
"And I'll be Pinkie Pie for a day!" Twilight stomped a hoof on the ground. "For Science!"
"Yay! Science!" Pinkie cheered.
Twilight giggled at her friend's exuberance. "Besides, what could possibly go wrong?"