I walked along the road to Sweet Apple Acres the day after, Applejack at my side, and we watched our four friends flying above us. But Fluttershy was apparently trying to avoid Rarity and Pinkie, though she was quite happy to fly with Rainbow Dash. A couple of minutes later, she came gliding down to walk beside us.
"So... um... how is Rarity an alicorn now?" she muttered.
"Twilight here cast that spell again, ya know the one which changed our cutie marks? Only because she was an alicorn, the spell was much more powerful and it changed our species too." replied Applejack.
Fluttershy nodded. "So... I was an earth pony working at Sweet Apple Acres... and you were..."
"A pegasus speedster like Rainbow." said Applejack, flicking her tail at the lightning bolt on her flank.#
"Oh...and Rainbow was..."
"A unicorn working at the boutique." I supplied. "Rarity is, obviously, an alicorn princess who's lived out my life, while I'm apparently just as eccentric as Pinkie. And Pinkie, well, she's a pegasus, and she's looking after your animals."
Fluttershy stopped dead. "Oh, my poor animals! They must be so confused..."
Applejack and I shot each other awkward looks. "Well, they don't remember you ever looking after them, Fluttershy. As far as they're concerned, Pinkie's looked after them for all the time you did."
Fluttershy looked sad. "So what do we do now?"
"We wait for Rarity and Pinkie to lose their wings, and then for me to regain my magic. Then we can get our cutie marks back, and life continues how it used to."
Fluttershy looked reasonably satisfied, but Applejack growled. "Ah cain't stand to have this gaudy lightning bolt on my flank a day longer! I want my lovely rosy apples back on my flank, and I want 'em now!"
Applejack sprung forward, and I grabbed her tail. But then a voice rang out from behind us.
"Gaudy? Oh, no no no no no! That lightning bolt is the height of fashion. If I could have another cutie mark, I'd have that one."
It was Rainbow, perched on the fence behind us. Applejack grinned slyly at me, and said to Rainbow, "I bet you could have this cutie mark if ya wanted. I got it by doing my first Sonic Rainboom. Maybe you could-"
Rainbow interrupted. "Oh, Applejack, don't be silly. A pony can only have one cutie mark; after all, it's a mark of one's destiny. And I'd never dream of even trying a Sonic Rainboom after what happened to you."
Rainbow flew upwards to rejoin Pinkie and Rarity, and Applejack turned to me. "Remind me again what happened to me?"
"You crashed into the ground at high speed after trying to perform two Rainbooms in one dive." I said.
"Oh yeah..." Applejack frowned. "Kinda irresponsible of me..."
"Wait. Where's Fluttershy?" I asked. The yellow pegasus was nowhere in sight.
"Dunno. She'll turn up." Applejack said offhandedly.
We rounded a corner and found Fluttershy talking to a group of squirrels who, apparently, had previously been eating the apples. But now they were all staring at Fluttershy, and as she murmured to them, Fluttershy's body began to glow with pale pink light.
"No!" I cried, shattering the spell; the squirrels bolted and Fluttershy turned to frown at me; the glow was gone.
"I told you, we can't get our cutie marks back until the others' species are back to normal." I snapped.
Fluttershy nodded sadly. "Sorry, Twilight. I just wanted to see if I could talk to them, and I just got carried away..."
"Hold on." I held up a hoof to silence her. I could hear talking and the thuds of hooves on tree trunks a short distance away. Trotting towards the sound, I found Applejack bucking apple trees, whilst in deep conversation with her brother, Big Macintosh. She was enveloped in a bright orange glow, and as I watched the lightning bolt on her flank began to glitter.
"Applejack!" I shouted crossly. "Stop!"
Applejack paused, and her glow began to fade. Her cutie mark stopped glittering. "What, Twilight?"
"I told you; no cutie marks until the others are back to normal!" I snapped.
Big Mac backed slowly away into the orchard, his wide eyes flicking between us. I ignored him. "You can't do this! It would just confuse the others even more."
"Oh, alright, Twilight." said Applejack sullenly. We rejoined the others, and then spent a whole day working the farm. Applejack kept away from the trees, reluctantly, and settled for dragging cart-fulls of apples to and from the barn.
It was here that Rarity declared, sadly, that she was due back in Canterlot in a week's time. Pinkie and Rainbow looked sad, but my mind was racing. I needed to get everypony back to normal before next week; this put an urgent edge on everything.
I desperately needed my magic back. But I had no idea how to trigger my magic to return. Instinct had done it for Fluttershy; maybe if I put myself in a situation where I'd usually use magic...
So I walked back home in the evening and sat in my room, brooding in the candlelight over what I could possibly do to regain my powers. But I could think of nothing I could do which wouldn't put my life in danger. So I went upstairs to bed.
I later realised I had forgotten to blow out the candle downstairs. But, figuring it would just burn out, I simply turned over and went back to sleep.
I woke up a couple of hours later, sweating. I looked out of the window. Stars still twinkled above, but there was an orange glow coming from somewhere nearby. I trotted over to the door and was about to push it open, but when my hoof made contact with the door it felt warm. I was puzzled, but then gasped. Surely the house couldn't be on fire? I remembered the candle and clapped a hoof to my mouth.
Just then, I heard something scratching at the door. I opened it on impulse, and two things happened.
A small, toothless alligator shot through the door, black with ash.
Orange and yellow flames licked over my fur.