"Do you know what I'm thinking?" Twilight Sparkle asked Pinkie Pie.
"You're wondering what I could be thinking about."
"But what are you thinking about?" Twilight's horn glowed brighter with the extra effort applied to the newfound telepathy spell. "I still can't read you for some reason."
"I'm thinking about what you're thinking about."
"Well I'm thinking about what you're thinking about."
"I think that means it's working."
"I think that means it's not working."
"I think you just need to give it more time."
"I think you're right."
"I think it's fun," Pinkie closed her eyes and swayed from side to side, as if listening to some invisible music ensemble. "Your spells are all spangly in your head. Did you know that?"
Pondering that last comment completely snapped Twilight's train of thought. The horn's light went out with the spell. The basement of the library was again shrouded in darkness.
"Erg!" Twilight shouted angrily, relighting her horn, this time with a proper light spell. "That should have worked! I did everything right. Now I've got to start over!"
"Um … Twilight- I can still see what you're thinking."
"Maybe it's your imagination? Twilight stopped, her hoof a hair away from the light switch to flick the lights back on. "What am I thinking, then? Hmm... I'll think of a number, and you guess it."
"How is 'i' a number? That's cheating, McCheaterson."
Twilight smiled, "Well, your number is infinity. If you can get away with that, I can get away with … " she slowly dropped off as the implication of this realization hit her, quickly followed by a big, pink GALUMPH of a hug from Pinkie.
"You did it, Twi! I knew you could. As always, the only person who didn't think you could do it was you."
Twilight looked straight up, still caught in the hug. How DID she know what Pinkie's number was? "That's strange; we're supposed to actually see the results of each other's thoughts in our mind's eye. It's why I turned out the lights."
"Maybe if we close our eyes! I won't peek!" Pinkie covered her eyes with her forehooves.
"Maybe … But maybe … huh ..."
"Princess Twilight! Come quick!" Mayor Mare interruptingly burst through the library doors, desperately panting, speaking only pieces of thoughts, and only while breathing out. "Rockslide! Need your magic. Hurry!"
By the time Pinkie had uncovered her eyes, Twilight had already teleported outside, saying "Lead the way!" And the Mayor was already off running again, "We think someone's trapped. We're going to need to move a LOT of big rocks," she called out over her shoulder while Twilight ran frantically behind. Pinkie had already somehow caught up. "I know all about rocks! Are they BIG big rocks? Or big big big big rocks?"
Thirty seconds later, they'd arrived at the base of the mountain. "Those rocks."
Twilight immediately started moving the smaller stones closer to her on the outside, but it was obvious that the huge stones, larger than twenty ponies, lay right up against the cliff face, and were the most critical.
Pinkie had started burrowing a tunnel through the loose assemblage of stones around the edges. Twilight stopped not a zot while calling out, "Pinkie, are you sure that's a good idea?"
"I can scout ahead. I'm skooshier than you are." Pinkie was slightly muffled, as only her back legs and hind half were now visible out of the rubble. Her front half quickly snaked into the crevice she'd dug for herself. Pinkie's tushie quickly followed the rest of her, and only then did Twilight stop.
Twilight could see what Pinkie was seeing, instead of what her own eyes should have been telling her. As Pinkie meandered through pebbles, she at last came to the Core rock, and, coming into view through tiny cracks of sunshine, the bottom of this rock. Twilight stopped. Twilight thought. She knew the dimensions of the core rock now. Theoretically, she could lift it.
Technically, the moving things spell only worked on things she could see, and were aware of. Technically, the things Pinkie was seeing shouldn't count.
Technically, she didn't care anymore, as the titanic boulder started shivering, then shaking, and finally pulling back, inch by precious inch. She could see when it veered off right and quickly tilted it left with her magic; could see and make corrections when it moved left, and move it rightways a bit, and sideways and upways and all the ways, and could correct it always, as if Twilight herself were the one, not Pinkie, who were standing in front of it.
"Pinkie, could you move your head left?" Twilight said, as the rock threatened to leave her view, their view. Pinkie quickly complied, having heard the instruction despite being several yards away, an impossibly long distance to actually have heard it.
"Will do, Twilight!" Pinkie's voice ringing in her ears. HER ears, as the sound carried with no means to support it between them. Pinkie giggled, "This is like a game," as Pinkie carefully tracked the rock, keeping it also in Twilight's view, until at last, it had finally been cast aside. The ponies behind it were now freed.
Twilight collapsed to the ground in exhaustion, the magic draining what little strength she'd had left after the telepathy spell. The double whammy causing her to pant more deeply even than Mayor Mare's summons, gasping in a flood of air with every breath. All of her muscles groaned with the exertion, her horn triply so.
So was quite a sight as she walked up to herself lying there and looked down at herself. The purple alicorn looked so very tired, eyes closed, mouth agape, laying on her back with wings and hooves splayed off at odd angles. Frantically pulling in air as her chest heaved up and down. "Poor Twilight," she thought.
"Wait a minute, I'm Twilight!" quickly followed, and her eyes snapped open.
This time she was looking at Pinkie's face smiling down at her in that ever-present beaming smile of hers. "Poor Twilight," this time it was spoken aloud. "Tell me when you're ready for another hug!"
* * *
Twilight was now laying in her bed, Pinkie standing over her, this time looking concerned, "I didn't know you were THIS tired. Maybe you should get some sleep?"
"Every-time I close my eyes, I see what you see, Pinkie."
"Oh that's fine. Whenever I close mine, I see what you see! Unless your eyes are closed too; well, I still see what you see, except it's black."
Twilight rolled her eyes as Pinkie continued, "With little flashy colors sometimes; just like mine!"
Twilight tried to lift the glass of water by her bed, but she just couldn't do anymore magic. And it was out of her reach. "Pinkie, could you give me some of that water," she'd have to do this the old-fashioned way.
"Of course, Twi. Hey, does this mean we'll see each other's dreams? Do you dream about flying? I love dreaming about flying. Except when I fall, and then-when I wake up-it's like I'm still falling for a second and … " But the words went nowhere. Twilight was fast asleep.
Seeing this, Pinkie jumped in the next bed to see if her dream hypothesis were true. She wanted to experiment.
* * *
Twilight woke up seeing her own body under the covers in the bed next to her. Great. She was still seeing in Pinkie-vision. She reflexively went to rub her eyes, when two pink hooves came up to meet her. Was she controlling Pinkie's body now, too? This would be a problem when Twilight woke up- when PINKIE woke up.
But for now Pinkie's mind was still asleep. Twilight trotted Pinkie's body over to the table with the glass of water and drank some. She was thirsty. Or Pinkie was thirsty. One of them was thirsty. At least.
Twilight's eyes in the bed flittered open, "Heya, Twilight," She heard herself say and saw herself get up out of the bed. "Oh wow, this is nifty. I'm you! Do you have a mirror?" Twilight-Pinkie then ran off to the bathroom to find a reflective surface. All this happened as Twilight Sparkle proper, still controlling Pinkie Pie's body, stood there dumbfounded.
At least she wasn't thirsty anymore.
Twilight Sparkle's body was making funny faces in the mirror, as Pinkie tried to get a good look at herself. "So how are you going to change it back?"
"I … don't know?" Twilight, being as Pinkie, continued to stand there dumbfounded.
"How long is this going to last?"
"I … don't know?"
"Am I going to be late for work?"
"I … really don't know."
"Or .. I can go to work as you! That sounds cool! Ponyville will get a kick out of Princess Twilight being there. Imagine what will happen when everyone finds out."
Twilight imagined how that might work out; complete the pastry shop being mobbed; yeah that was a bad, bad, bad idea. "Maybe I should go to work as you, instead."
"Oh yeah, you can be me, and I can be you! And I can do library stuff!" She tilted her head to one side quizzigly, "How do I do library stuff?"
Twilight, as Pinkie, face-hoofed. This was going to be an interesting learning curve, "Well, maybe we won't have to do this for too long. Maybe the spell will simply... work itself out?"
Then, they both heard a beautiful sound, as if the twinkling bells of angels rang out in chorus. The tinkling, ringing, shining sound reached a crescendo with a small glow of purest white light.
Twilight looked down at the source of the light, behind herself; it was her cutie mark. Pinkie's cutie mark was completely gone! In its place was Twilight's own cutie mark of a constellation of six stars, largest at the center, although rather pink-tinted now with the pink fur behind it. Twilight looked over at Pinkie Pie inspecting her own change. Twilight's body was now adorned with Pinkie's party balloons, not the one that normally featured on its own flanks.
It seems the universe had caught up with them, instead of the telepathy spell yielding to reality.
Twi'd been hoping this effect was temporary. But this … really wasn't a good sign.