//------------------------------//
// Chapter 2 
// Story: A Change of Face 
// by Lannakitty 
//------------------------------//

	"Okay, Pinkie!" Twilight Sparkle said. She walked around her friend and thought back to when she'd been the TA for the younger students at Celestia's School for Gifted Unicorns. "If you're going to pretend to be a unicorn, you'll have to be able to do some of the simpler spells. Let's try something that every unicorn foal learns; levitation!"

Pinkie braced all four hooves on the floor, her horn lowered, her eyes staring intently at the cup and saucer on the table. "I'm ready!"

"Er, you don't have to be quite that aggressive," Twilight said, with a small chuckle. She gently nudged her friend into a more casual stance. "Levitation of such a small object doesn't require that you brace yourself against the ground. Neighton's third law is adjusted by Starswirl the Bearded's second law of magical alteration."

Pinkie relaxed. "Oh! You know I always wondered how you get around the fact that mutual forces of action and reaction between two bodies are equal, opposite and collinear."

"What?" Twilight's head whipped around.

Pinkie's eyes were crossed, trying to stare at her horn. She noticed Twilight staring at her and asked, "What?"

Twilight put a pink hoof to her face. "Never mind. Okay, Pinkie. Envision you're holding the cup with your hooves and relax. Let the magic flow out through your horn."

Pinkie screwed up her face, a little bit of tongue sticking out. The cup on the saucer glowed with Twilight's purple aura.

"Excellent! Now think of your magic as an extension of your body, like another hoof, and lift."

The cup gently lifted off the tray.

"Very good, Pi-"

The cup shot off into the air and smacked against the ceiling. It was followed by the saucer and then the little stool Twilight had used as a table.

"-inkie." Twilight sighed as everything clattered to the ground

"Wow, Twilight, you're really powerful!"

Twilight had to laugh a little as she surveyed the mess. She'd forgotten Pinkie was dealing with her magic and not a typical unicorn filly's.  "That was a good first try Pinkie, but you're right. I'm sorry I forgot I had the same thing happen to me when my parents were teaching me the basics. You just need to use a softer touch. Why don't you try to pick everything up, and put it back on the stool," she said. She righted said stool with a hoof. "But this time, be gentle. Pretend you're holding a very delicate party decoration or, an egg, or maybe one of the Cake's twins."

"Okie dokie lokie!" Pinkie said, bouncing in place once. She pointed Twilight's horn at the saucer on the floor and very delicately lifted the saucer into the air and just as gently placed it on the stool. She let out the breath she'd been holding. "I did it!"

"That was great!" Twilight stomped her hooves on the ground in applause. "Now, let's move on."





After an hour or so, Twilight was impressed with Pinkie's ability to do simple tasks with magic. She wondered if it was because her body was already used to channeling magic, or not. In any case, she'd be able to pass for a regular unicorn - provided that no one asked her to do anything more difficult than eat or drink with magic. Spike's mustache spell, she thought with a little smile, was probably still too complicated for Pinkie's novice skills.

Pinkie set down the cup she'd been practicing with. "Okay I think I have the hang of it, but now it's your turn!"

Twilight tilted her head curiously. "My turn?"

"Right! You taught me how to be Twilight. Now I need to teach you how to be Pinkie!"

Twilight considered that for a moment. She'd never really thought that she'd need lessons on how to be Pinkie. Fair was fair though and wasn't that what scientific exploration was about?

"Okay," Twilight said.

Being Pinkie Pie, Twilight learned, was a lot harder than it looked. Pinkie rarely walked anywhere. She bounced, she cantered, she trotted, but she hardly ever just walked. She also always had a cheerful smile. Fortunately for Twilight, Pinkie's body was conditioned for such marathon outward expressions of joy; unfortunately Twilight's mind wasn't.

"Keep smiling!" Pinkie reminded her. She used Twilight's purple hooves to pull her own face into position.

"I'm trying!" Twilight told her through the rictus grin.

Pinkie eyed her critically. "Hmm that smile's not quite right. Maybe you should try a little less."

Twilight flopped onto the ground. "Being you is a lot harder than I imagined!"

Pinkie giggled. "Well, I've had a lot more practice than you have, Twilight. Okay, now," she got down to eye level with Twilight, who barely dodged out of the way of her own horn. "I'm going to show you something my Granny Pie taught me. Now, first-"

"Twilight? Twilight?"

Both ponies looked up as Spike called down the stairs.

"Twilight are you still down there?" he asked.

Twilight started to answer, but Pinkie put a hoof on her mouth. "Is it morning already, Spike?" she asked in her best 'Twilight' voice.

"Yeah!" He walked down a few of the steps and crossed his arms. "Don't tell me you guys were up all night."

What would Pinkie say? Think Twilight... "We had a sleepover!" Twilight said in her best "Pinkie" voice. Belatedly she realized she should probably be a bit more exuberant and she hopped to her feet. She hopped higher than she'd expected to, and landed in a tangle of legs.

Spike chuckled. "Pinkie, you're so random." He shook his head. "Anyway, I'm gonna make some breakfast. Do either of you want anything?"

"Breakfast would be lovely, Spike. We'll be up in a bit," Pinkie answered as Twilight.

"If you're not up in ten, I'm calling in Rarity again!" Spike warned, winking to make it a joke rather than a real threat.

'Twilight' giggled. "Understood."

Spike left, closing the basement door behind him.

Both Pinkie and Twilight let out huge sighs of relief.

"I give you a seven for the landing," Pinkie said as she helped Twilight back to her feet.

Twilight smiled at her friend. "You really are more bouncy than I am." She nodded towards the basement door. "Think he suspected anything?"

"No way!" Pinkie said.

Twilight nodded. "Then I guess we're facing our first test."

Both mares struck determined poses and spoke at once:
"Spike."
"Breakfast."

The girls looked at one another then dissolved into giggles.

"Come on," Twilight said. "Maybe Spike's made pancakes."





It had been years since Twilight had needed to use her hooves to eat breakfast. She'd started out the meal with slow, deliberate movements so she wouldn't spill anything. Pinkie was likewise doing the same thing with her own food. She carefully lifted each utensil with focused concentration, taking the time to carefully direct it where she wanted it to go.

Spike finished his breakfast long before either of the girls. He watched the two eat meticulously for a few minutes. "Uh, is it okay?" he asked.

"It's delicious!" Pinkie said. She winced when Twilight cleared her throat.

In her best Pinkie voice, Twilight said, "Yeah! This is Deee-Licious, Spikey... wikey! Twilight and I are just, ah- enjoying every moment!"

Pinkie nodded quickly then more slowly when she caught Twilight's small head-shake. "Yes. It's very good Spike. You don't have to wait for us if you're finished."

"We'll get the dishes."

Spike gave them each a dubious look. Twilight held her breath and put on her best Pinkie smile. He looked at one pony then the other. Would he see through their ruse, Twilight wondered.

"Okay." Spike shrugged and hopped down from his chair. "I'll see you later, Twi," he called over his shoulder as he left the kitchen.

Pinkie and Twilight heaved sighs of relief.

"That was close," Twilight said.

"Uh-huh, but we did it!"

"Hey, yeah! We did!"

The girls exchanged a high-hoof and spoke in unison:
"We fooled Spike!"
"I ate breakfast with magic!"

The two fell into a relieved fit of giggles.

Twilight smiled at her friend. With Spike gone she was able to eat a little faster if more messily. Pinkie gave up on the magic and used her hooves.

"So, what does Pinkie Pie have planned today?" Twilight asked as they were washing the dishes after breakfast.

"Well," Pinkie said drawing out the word. "I have to baby-sit for the Cakes, make some cookies, throw a party for Pip, greet a new pony, lead a musical number, and then you know what a new pony means!"

"A party?"

"A party!" Pinkie jumped into the air and threw confetti.

"How did you-" Twilight gaped then shook her head. She was Pinkie Pie. "Okay, so babysitting, cookies, party for Pip, greet the new pony, lead a musical number, throw a par- wait! Lead a musical number?"

"Uh huh!" Pinkie nodded rapidly, Twilight's mane bouncing around her eyes.

"O-kay," Twilight said, drawing the word out. "And how do you know there's a new pony coming into town today?"

"My Pinkie sense," Pinkie said, smiling.

One of her ears flopped and she arched an eyebrow. "Of course." Twilight sighed and put on her Pinkie smile. "I can do this!"

"Yay! You'll have lots of fun! Ohh!" Pinkie cantered in a small circle. "What do I get to do today?"

Twilight brightened. "I had a great day planned!" She went over to a nearby desk and retrieved a rolled up checklist. "First, I was going to write up my research findings from my spell." She giggled, "But I think that can wait until the experiment is over." Twilight unrolled the checklist. "Hmm, after I was done writing my report, I was going to catalog my desk, then file the books the Cherilee brought back from the school book reports, then Spike and I were going to do some cleaning." She looked over the list. "Other than that, I didn't have anything planned for today. Usually when I have free time I either study or see what one of my friends is doing."

"Hmm," Pinkie mused as she examined the list. "It's not really my usual thing, but it should be easy enough to do," Pinkie said. "Are you sure there isn't any mega-brainy-magical stuff you need to do today?"

Twilight laughed. "I already did that and look where we ended up," she said with a wink. "But," she added when Pinkie's face fell, "If you'd like to read my notes and my research on the spell I was doing you could do that. You were the one who said that since you were Twilight Sparkle, you should be the one to research a solution."

Pinkie considered that for a second, her lips twisted to one side in thought. She suddenly stomped the ground with a hoof. "Challenge accepted!"

"Just don't actually try anything without supervision, okay? Higher-level magic can be dangerous even for unicorns who have studied it for years."

They both heard the clock chime then, and realized that Pinkie was expected at the Cake's soon. They'd have to live as one another for the experiment to work and Twilight was beginning to feel a little nervous. Pinkie shuffled her hooves and Twilight looked down at her own borrowed pink ones.

"Uhm, Twilight?" Pinkie asked, her voice unusually quiet. "You don't think we're going to be stuck like this, do you?"

Twilight was quick to shake her head. Pinkie's frizzy mane floated around her head like a hyperactive cloud. "No. The spell had a timeout function built into it. Whatever else might have been altered, that part of the matrix I double and triple checked. At the most we're looking at a week." I hope, she added silently to herself. Any longer and, well, she wasn't sure what they'd do. She supposed they could go ask the Princesses, but Twilight was certain she could unravel the spell herself. Mostly.

"Oh. Okay then!" Pinkie said, perking up. She began to hustle Twilight out the door. Twilight yelped as Pinkie accidentally poked her in the flank with her own horn. Twilight scrambled to stay ahead of Pinkie.

"Remember," Pinkie said, "Taking care of foals is big responsibility but you can do it! I bet you'll have no problem with Pumpkin Cake since you were a baby unicorn, but watch out for Pound Cake. He's faster than you expect."

"Okay," Twilight said. "And remember to send Spike for me if you need any help." Twilight dodged away from Pinkie's borrowed horn again. "How about we meet up to see how things are going? Say, after lunch?"

"Great idea! You better go! Do you remember what to do?"

"If there's one thing I can do, it's schedules! Babies, cookies, party for Pip, new pony, musical number, party."

"Right! Have fun!" Pinkie called out, waving a hoof.

"You too!" Twilight called back. A half a block down the road, Twilight felt a little bit less confident. How did one lead a musical number anyway?