The Switch

It had been two weeks since the disastrous Poison Joke concoction had switched the races of Twilight Sparkle and her six friends and they were just beginning to get into a consistent routine with their lives.

Pinkie and Twilight had taken Rainbow Dash's job in the weather patrol and had spent a lot of time learning the tricks of the trade. While neither of them were as efficient as Rainbow Dash at clearing up the clouds (when Rainbow was motivated to actually do the job) seeing as how even though Twilight had Rainbow's wings, they were still far slower than she was. However, they were still highly efficient at clearing away the clouds and the other Pegasus ponies were grateful that somepony could do it.

It had been decided by all that Twilight and Pinkie would live on the ground instead of Rainbow Dash's home in the sky, for fear that Willem's guesses about how long they would be this way were wildly inaccurate and they would wake up without wings and begin falling from the sky. As such, the two of them remained in their normal homes, which is what both of them preferred anyway.

During the past few weeks, the friendship of Rarity and Applejack had grown far stronger than what it was before. They now spent most of their time together helping each other with their jobs. It turned out that Applejack was quite adept at Rarity's gem finding spell and they two of them could often be seen happily hanging out in the outskirts of Ponyville collecting gems while talking happily amongst themselves.

In fact, when they weren't seen collecting gems, the happy pair could often be spotted at Sweet Apple Acres where Applejack would be trying to teach Rarity how to buck apples. It wasn't uncommon for anyone who passed Sweet Apple Acres to stop and watch for a brief moment as Applejack demonstrated to Rarity the proper pose and the best spots to hit the tree so that the most apples came down. It turned out that Rarity wasn't very good at bucking apples as Applejack was at finding gems. Her first attempt at bucking apples had her completely miss the tree and fall flat on her stomach. Applejack had snickered at this but she encouraged her to keep trying. It took Rarity a few more tries, but eventually she hit the tree truck with all of her might causing a single apple to fall into the barrel below. Needless to say, she still had some work to go on it. However, two weeks later, Rarity's legs had strengthened enough that she could usually get a dozen apples down from the tree with a single kick and the two ponies would spend much of their days apple bucking through Sweet Apple Acres' trees.

Of the six ponies, the six ponies, none had adjusted to the change as well as Fluttershy had. She had hardly used her wings very often and she was still very able to care for her animal friends on the ground as she always had. The only brief problem was tending to her animal friends in the sky. However, she was so attuned with animals that they sensed that she could no longer come to them and they came to her instead for whatever they needed. Life was actually pretty normal for Fluttershy.

If Fluttershy had the easiest time adjusting to it all, then without a doubt Rainbow Dash had the hardest time. Her wings were her life. They were who she was and thanks to an explosion of Poison Joke, she didn't have them anymore. Instead, she had Twilight's horn. No one was quite sure what should be done with Rainbow Dash. When Pinkie and Twilight tested their ability to walk on clouds (successfully), Rainbow Dash had gingerly stepped out of the balloon in the vain hopes that she too still had the ability to walk on clouds. The second her hooves left the basket, however, she began plummeting towards the ground and had to be caught by Twilight and Pinkie. The fact that she had magic now instead provided only a temporary comfort for her.

It had been decided that Rainbow Dash would stay with Twilight for the time being unless something better came up. Rainbow Dash spent her days aimlessly walking around Ponyville, maybe doing an odd job or two for the citizens whenever they needed her help, but it was like the life had gone out of her. She had no drive, no passion for anything if she didn't have her wings. It was not uncommon for Twilight to walk into Rainbow's makeshift room and see her sadly staring out a window while levitating a book. Twilight walked in on her one day, determined to talk to her about it. She saw Rainbow, sitting where she always was, staring sadly out of the window while levitating the nearest object around the room. "Hey Rainbow, how's it going?" asked Twilight in a sympathetic tone. Rainbow shrugged.

"Oh you know, it's just kind of going," she said nonchalantly, not making eye contact with Twilight.

"Can I talk to you for a minute Rainbow?" said Twilight.

"I don't see why not," she said, spinning the book around.

"Look, Rainbow, we've all been worried about you. You haven't been yourself lately and we want to know if there is anything that we can do to help," said Twilight.

"Unless you can get me my wings back, no," said Rainbow blankly.

"Look, you need to get out there and do something! You can't just sit here and do nothing all day, you have to get out there! You need to find some purpose to fill your time!" Rainbow spun around to look at Twilight for the first time, anger and sadness flashing in her eyes.

"Oh yeah, like what!? What in Equestria do you think that I can do right now!? My wings were everything to me Twilight, I NEED them, and I don't know what to do without them! Name one thing I was good at that was useful to everypony that didn't involve my wings!" said Rainbow, tears starting to well up in her eyes. Twilight shrank back, unsure of what to say.

"Look Rainbow, it happened to all of us. My magic was who I was, it was my cutie mark, and it was why I was Princess Celestia's protégé in the first place! I don't resent you for having my horn and I don't want you to resent me for having your wings!"

"Well that's just too bad isn't it Twilight!?" yelled Rainbow Dash. "You at least have your brains to fall back on but I am NOTHING without my wings!"

"That's not true and you know it," said Twilight sternly. "You are a good and loyal friend, that's your element!"

"Screw the Elements of Harmony, just get me my wings back!" yelled Rainbow Dash, who was seconds away from breaking out into sobs.

"We can't right now. We all just have to make the best of things. This will end Rainbow, we won't be like this forever," said Twilight. Rainbow began crying now.

"How do you know?" said Rainbow quietly. "How do you know that this will go away? What if I'm stuck as a unicorn forever?"

"You won't be Rainbow, we'll get through this," said Twilight.

"I just want my wings back," said Rainbow weakly. "I just want them back." With that, she got up and hugged Twilight, crying into her shoulder. "I'm sorry I yelled at you, it's just..."

"Don't worry about it Rainbow, we're all stressed out about this," said Twilight, trying to comfort Rainbow Dash.

"But the others seem to be adjusting so much better than I have!" said Rainbow.

"On the outside maybe, inside, they feel like a key part of them was taken away from them, just like you do. You're not alone in this Rainbow, we are all going through what you are going through."

"But what about Pinkie and Applejack? If anything, they can do what they do better than ever! How do they feel bad about all of this?" asked Rainbow, looking up at Twilight.

"Well, that is true that their lives are a bit easier now, but neither one of them want that at the expense of their friends! Even though they now have powers that they never imagined, they would give them up in a second to make us all happy again," said Twilight.

"Are you sure about that?" said Rainbow.

"100% positive," said Twilight, managing a small smile that Rainbow copied. She sighed and wiped her eyes.

"Thanks Twilight, I do feel a bit better now. You're right, I do have to start finding a purpose, I have to make the best of all of this like you five are," said Rainbow. Twilight smiled.

"I know you'll do great at whatever you do," she said.

"Thanks Twilight, thanks," said Rainbow. The two hugged again and Rainbow went out to figure out what to do with her new unicorn powers. As Twilight watched her go, she wondered if she herself believed what she told Rainbow. Not the stuff about Pinkie and Applejack, she knew without a doubt that that was completely true, but she wondered if they really would go back to the way things were.