Trading Places, part 4

Trading Places, part 4

Cheerilee wandered around the swap meet in a daze, as everything in the world around her seemed to have gone totally mad. She tried to ignore a flying pizza that zipped over her head, and the winged food was being chased by two deer hopping past her, one of whom the teacher could've sworn looked like Twilight. Staring at her surroundings in disbelief, the pink earth pony tried to make sense out of all the nonsense surrounding her.

"Okay, maybe some kind of powerful artifact that was being traded went haywire, and affected everybody?" Cheerilee thought aloud, as a floating needle and thread chased a scarf down the path beside her. "Okay, maybe Discord came back and is wreaking havoc again? No, Paradise told me he was dead. Ohhh, there must be some explanation for all this wackiness!"

"Cheerilee! Help meeeeee!" The exploding mass of spinning fireworks above her wailed. "I can't stop blowing up!"

"Oh no, Locket! Is that you?!?" Cheerile called out in shock. "Oh no! What in the world happened to you!?"

"Miss Cheerilee, something horrible happened!" The flying pizza cried out in a familiar voice. "All our trades became real in a twisted way, and now we're all cursed!"

"Surprise! How did-?!" But the terrified mare was interrupted by a needle and rainbow thread, that wound it's way around her, and tried to sew her tail into a single long braid. "Ahhhh, get away from me!" The mare kicked the spool and needle away, and made a run for it. Bolting around the corner, she bumped into another mare... who didn't seem to have a mouth!

"Mmmmph!" The other pony screamed horrifically, the sound of her panicked shrieks coming from her throat. "Mmmpppphhh!"

"Aieeeee! Get away!" The pink mare screamed, galloping away from the mouthless horror. But everywhere she went, the some other freakish monstrosity greeted her. In one area of the bazaar, Daring Do and the power ponies were teamed up in battle against the Mane-iac and Azutohil, no doubt having come to life from a vintage traded comic book. In another area, what looked like a construction pony was being chased by a bunch of tools he had traded for, obviously getting more than he bargained for, as his own saw tried to cut him in half.

"This is insanity!" Cheerilee gasped, trying not to crack up as a living supper dish ran by her, carrying a living spoon in it's arms. "Who could possibly have caused all this craziness!?"

"Why, I did my dearie." The old hag who she had traded with before appeared out of nowhere, cackling wickedly. "And it's all thanks to you, my dear little pony!"

"You? But who are-" And suddenly, remembering the descriptions Lickety Split and Gusty had given her, the earth pony finally realized just who she was dealing with. "You... you're Hydia!  The witch from the volcano of gloom!"

"That's right, dearie! And that wonderful saddle you took from me, did all of this!" The old witch replied with a chuckle. "And by the time sundown comes, all of these ponies will be like this, forever!"

"You tricked me!" The angry mare leaped at Hydia, but the old witch disappeared in a cloud of smoke. "I demand you change everyone back, right now!"

"Afraid not, dearie! Making ponies miserable is way too much fun!" Her cackle carries on the wind. "Oh, and you can keep the saddle, it's almost out of magic, anyway!"

As the old hag vanished from view, the teaching pony looked around frantically. "Okay, this isn't unsolvable, it's trades that drive the magic! If I remember my rules of the Rainbow Falls swap meet, all I have to do is find Twilight, and get all these trades declared annulled!"

But even as Cheerilee thought about this, she again noticed the throne Twilight was in was empty. Trotting over towards the empty stands, the mare found a note declaring that Twilight had had enough of the bazaar's ponies whining, and she was going home.

"Okaaaaayyyyy... looks like I can't get help from Twilight!" Cheerilee sighed, trying to keep herself from panicking. "I'm sure I can think of something... before it's too late!"

But as the hours ticked by, no ideas about how to solve the current predicament came to her mind. Cheerilee paced around the swap meet, totally unable to think of any solution to Hydia's curse. She tried to think  hard, of something- anything- that could be a loophole the villain hadn't thought of in her evil scheme... but all the insane distractions around her prevented the teacher from coming up with a plan.

"Blast it, Locket! Could you please keep it down up there!" Cheerilee snapped skyward, finally at the end of her rope. "I can't think with all of that racket!"

"I'm sorry Cheerilee! I can't help it!" The Pegasus wailed, obviously still in great pain. "I just feel like I have to keep exploding!"

The teacher snorted in disgust, trying to ignore all the racket from above. Realizing how hungry she was, the teaching reached out and grabbed a slice of a pizza that seemed to be floating right in front of her.

"Cheerileeee!" The horrified voice of Surprise wailed, as the teacher lifted a slice she had pulled from the pie to her mouth. "Noooooo!"

"Oh no, I'm so sorry!" The mare wailed apologetically. Wandering around the bazaar full of madness, the pink earth mare finally snapped.

"Gah! This is insanity!" The pink pony exclaimed. "I can't even get a moment to think about-" And her thoughts were again interrupted, as the flying rainbow scarf whipped down and wrapped around her face.

"Mppphhh! GET OFF! THAT'S IT I'VE HAD ENOUGH OF TRANSFORMED PONIES!" The mare spat angrily, as she threw the scarf off. But as she looked up at the sky, Miss Cherilee quickly realized that time was running out.

"Oh no! the sun is setting!" The pink pony wailed. "What am I going to do now!?"