Change Up

This is a problem. No, this is a HUGE problem. The Princess tried not to panic, but she couldn't help herself. She had to find who took them, why, and what they were planning to do with it. She started pacing frantically, trying to come up with a reasonable solution to this problem.

She could not. She sighed, and sat down once again. She needed more time to think this through.

Chrysaslis probably tracked me down and took them so I wouldn't be able to use them against her. . .she's obviously planning to destroy them or lock them away in a place nopony dared to look. . .how could I have let this happen? I shouldn't have gone to Vanhoover at all. . .No. I can't think that way. Clear mind. A cleeeeear mind is what I need right now. She sighed, and began to meditate.

Then, Princess Celestia heard some giggling behind a tree in the orchard, disrupting her meditation. It sounded like a child's laugh. . .hopefully. If it wasn't. . .

And so, as everypony knows, curiosity killed the cat.

She quickly galloped to the tree and looked behind it, expecting the worse. But the worse never came. Why? There sat three little ponies: Applebloom, Scootaloo, and Sweetiebelle. . .and saw the Elements of Harmony with them.

"Girls!" scolded Princess Celestia. The three small ponies bowed their heads. "Do you have any clue what those things are?" questioned the Princess.

They gulped.

"Yes," replied Sweetiebelle.

"Yes," continued Scootaloo.

"No," said Applebloom, honestly.

"Yeah, we don't either. . ." agreed Scootaloo and Sweetiebelle in unision, feeling guilty.

"They're the Elements of Harmony," explained the Princess. They have been used for good for thousands of years, and would be deadly if they fell into the wrong hooves. What, um, exactly, were you planning to do with these?"

"Um, nothing," replied Sweetiebelle.

"Yeah, uh, nothing!" continued Scootaloo.

"We're trying to get our cutie marks in dressing up dolls," said Applebloom, honestly.

"Yeah, we were. . ." agreed Scootaloo and Sweetiebelle in unision, feeling even more guilty.

An idea began to take shape in the mind of Princess Celestia. "You girls. . .wouldn't mind. . .helping me with something, would you?" asked Celestia.

"She's going to lock us away!" screamed Sweetiebelle.

"Throw us in a pit and lock us away!" continued Scootaloo.

"We'll be fine," said Applebloom, honestly. "Yes, Princess Celestia. Whatever you need, we'll do it.

Now she just knew it would work. It had to. It was their last chance at defeating Chrysalis. And Princess Celestia was going to take it.

"Now," commanded the Princess, "put this on." She handed Applebloom the Element of Honesty. It began to pulse with light, brightening the area around them significantly.

It had worked. The Princess smiled, her perfect teeth gleaming in the afternoon light. One down, five to go. And a little bit more than ten hours. At this rate, the Princess would find the remaining bearers just in time for the invasion to start. . .at least enough to ambush the changelings.

Once again, the gears in Princess Celestia's head started turning. She knew exactly how to find the people who qualified for the other elements. At least one more, anyway. Along with the Cutie Mark Crusaders, she headed off into the Everfree forest to find Zecora.

Despite all the Cutie Mark Crusaders' attempt to persuade Celestia to get the hell out of there, it didn't work. They were scared the whole way and definitely showed it. It was just a quarter mile walk, though, so it. . .wasn't. . .that. . .bad. . .

As soon as Princess Celestia, along with the CMC, reached Zecora's hut, they let themselves in to find Zecora brewing up a potion.

The hut wasn't all that big. It was circular, and ingredients for potions lined the walls. In the center of everything sat a black cauldron, currently bubbling with. . .whatever Zecora had added. There were also quite a lot of relics, probably from her homeland. It was just a place that made you feel good on the inside.

Then, Zecora finally spoke.

"Ah, Princess Celestia and the CMC, why exactly have you come for me?" questioned, being careful to rhyme the words as she always did. It was a habit that wasn't easy to break, and besides, it wasn't exactly a bad habit either.

"We've come for your help," explained the Princess. The changelings are about to take over all of Equestria, and with Twilight Sparkle and her friends out of town, there is no one to use the Elements of Harmony. That is what I am trying to figure out, who is supposed to bear what." She paused, waiting for a response from the zebra.

"I think I know what you will need,. You'll use this in order to succeed. I do not dare to use it myself, the result would be tragic. It only responds to alicorn magic." Zecora took a potion off the shelf. It was purple, and contained by a triangular-shaped vial. It looked quite delicate. She placed it carefully on the edge of the cauldron. "Twilight has used this in the past, to free us of this forest's grasp. Using black magic will make it shine, so use white magic and make it divine."

Zecora picked the potion back up, and handed it to Celestia. "Princess Celestia, you can turn the potion from purple to haciendas. Wait, no, that's not right. Hm. Let's try that again. Princess Celestia, you can turn the potion from purple to influenza. Not right either. . .huh. How about, Princess Celestia, you can turn the potion from purple to. . .mozzarella? YA KNOW WHAT?! FUCK IT. PRINCESS CELESTIA, YOU CAN TURN THE POTION FROM PURPLE TO MASCARA. GOOD ENOUGH. Now, shall we continue? I have a library book I need to renew.

The Princess drank the potion. From anypony else's perspective, her eyes would be as white as, well, white, but she could see the future. She would also be shaking like mad, and anything she said during that small timeframe would simply just be a small mumble to everypony else. And. . .and then she saw something.

She saw. . .Scootaloo. She was carrying the rest of the six elements, being confronted by a small group of changelings. It looked as if the invasion had just started; buildings were starting to burn, changelings scaring off civillians.

"Hhhanddd overrr the elementsss," the changelings hissed. "Nooopony willll get hurrrt."

Scootaloo looked scared. Out of nowhere, she opened one eye. "Repeat your last," she commanded.

"Hhhanddd overrr the elementsss, and nooopony willll get hurrrt! Nowww give usss the damn elementsss already," they demanded, impatiently. The changelings tried to appear tall, but their small bodies kept them from doing so. They wouldn't have scared Scootaloo anyway, though. Why?

"No! I won't! All you are is a big group of meanies! I know you'll keep hurting ponies because you've done it before. Elements or no Elements, we're still going to beat you. Applebloom, here! I'm going to go deal with this!" Scootaloo passed the Elements to Applebloom, and then Princess Celestia regained conciousness.

"I know who the next Element goes to," cried Princess Celestia. If she was correct, that would be two in less than an hour! Well, of course she was correct. Who else would it go to?

"Thank you for all your help, Zecora!' the Princess added.

"You're welcome, Princess Celestia. Consider wearing a pull-up bra." But by the time Zecora had finished that sentence, they were already long gone.

Apparently, the trip back was more scarier than the trip to. Sweetiebelle wet herself and Applebloom was in such shock she dug a hole more than five hooves deep.

Back in Ponyville, Princess Celestia took it out of the case and snapped the Element of Loyalty onto Scootaloo's neck.

It started pulsing.